Toujours Pur | Euphemia Black

Chapter 18 | Second Best

Mia's eyes were still fixated on Charlus and Rebecca locking lips in front of her and she shook her head in exasperation and disgust for a second before sitting down in the chair that Jackson had held out for her in a very gentlemanly fashion that made her smile.

Jackson seemed sweet but he hung onto her every word and was rather like a little annoying puppy that kept parroting comments like he was a robot repeating the same things over and over.

"How do you take your tea?" Jackson asked her when Madam Puddifoot finally caught his eye through the busy teashop full of kissing couples and over the sounds of clattering teacups and scrapes against the pink carpet when people stood up to leave, usually with hands intertwined.

Some brunette girl by the side of Euphemia and Jackson was crying quietly into a handkerchief as she lashed out angrily at her boyfriend, who was looking startled and embarrassed.

Mia lost focus for a second, dazing off before she finally came to her senses as Madam Puddifoot had now made her way over to their table and both her date and the woman were looking at her expectantly.

"Uh, milk and one sugar," Euphemia told her and Madam Puddifoot wrote the order down on her little pad of parchment with her magical quill that wrote by itself without the owner in question actually lifting a finger whatsoever.

"Same for me," Jackson said quickly, beaming and ordered a plate of cakes with the tea which Mia approved of as she tapped her painted fingernails on the tabletop as an awkward silence ensued.

"So....favourite book?" Jackson asked her after a minute or so of silence and Euphemia had to hide a smile behind her hand at how Ravenclaw the question was though she was relieved that he had actually attempted to make conversation.

"Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield," Mia answered immediately, without even having to think about it - she had first read the book when she was ten and was experimenting with muggle culture.

Clover had lent it to her for a week or so and then she had gone out and bought her own copy of the book from the local muggle library. Not that her mother knew, of course.

Ballet Shoes had been the sort of book she read whenever she had free time, the book she would choose over any of the sophisticated novels that her bookshelf was crammed with.

It was one she could lose herself in and totally geek out over the story, though she always had to hide the fact that it was a muggle book when she was reading it in public and so she used her charms skills to bewitch the cover to read something about witches, so that no one would question her for it.

"Interesting choice," Jackson smiled and Mia was faintly surprised as she had half expected him to nod and say 'me too!' despite knowing a lad like Jackson would never read a book like Ballet Shoes.

"What about you?" Euphemia asked him, trying not to look behind his head as that meant she had to look at Charlus and Rebecca, who it seemed hadn't actually paused for breath since Mia had last looked.

Not that she was making a habit of looking, of course. Why would she do that?

"Mine has to be 1984 by George Orwell," Jackson told her and went on to elaborate about the plot - a story set in the muggle idea of a dystopian future where everything and everyone is watched by the all seeing Big Brother, which Mia thought sounded rather interesting.

"It's funny to think of the future - in 1984 I could be married and have kids, even grandkids!" she exclaimed and Jackson nodded eagerly, reaching for her hand across the table, resting it beside the sugar bowl discreetly as if he was trying to decide which way would be best to grab her hand so Euphemia simply placed hers over the top of his gently with a smile.