(1940-01-26) The Obliviator's New Robes
Details for The Obliviator's New Robes
Summary: Zack stops in for the special Lamb Pie and some tea. Elly fixes up his uncomfortable work robes so they are nice and cozy.
Date: January 26th, 1940
Location: London - Leaky Cauldron
Related:
Characters
EllyZack

Leaky Cauldron


It is a winter night. The weather is cold and overcast.


Stepping into the Leaky Cauldron is a bit like standing in two places at once. As the doorway between Muggle and Wizarding London, this establishment strives to maintain a cheerful air of welcome and conviviality. Wooden surfaces are clean, brass is polished to a bright shine, and the smell of great food and even better beverages wafts through from the kitchen and behind the bar. The owners of this wizarding establishment have clearly gone to great lengths to create a hallowed neutral meeting place where politics are kept polite and fights are not permitted. However, despite all the enlightened neutrality, the technology and substance here is all Wizarding. There are floating candles and lanterns, wizarding beverages, wizarding food. There's a table or two of wizard's chess and an enchanted dart board up against the far wall that alternates colours and even shifts the bull's eye around.

http://wandw.wikidot.com/location:e-4-9


Zack walks into the Leaky Cauldron a little after typical dinnertime. As he weaves his way through tables to get to the bar, avoiding other patrons whenever he can, he pulls his hands free from the sleeves of his black robes where he'd been trying to warm them. They're pale from the cold outside - he doesn't seem to have been wearing gloves. Reaching the bar, he looks around for whoever's behind it tonight.

Elly is having some friendly banter with Reece who is behind the bar. She's really just standing there with Squidge on her hip. The toddler gnawing on a spoon that looks about as cold as Zack's hands. When Zack does saddle up to the bar Elly presents him with a warm welcoming smile. "Ello loverly. Been busy have ye? Cor, look at them 'ands! 'Ere, let ol' Elly give ye a warm up…" With her free hand she pulls her wand out and a quick warming spell later cast on his robes it's like having clothes fresh from a dryer on. "Betta?" Squidge waves his own free hand at the newcomer and smiles to the man around all the drool the nomming of the spoon brings with it. "Specials today are Soup, Leaky Leaky for the Soup an' Lamb Pie. Good enough to warm inside an' out. Wot will it be dearie?" Reece also points out that one of his brews from behind the bar will do well to warm a man too.

"Hello," Zack says to Elly, flicking a hand at her in a quick wave before he goes back to rubbing them together. He looks at his hands, then back to her, and flinches when she draws her wand on him. "Oh. Okay. Oh, that is better. It's warm now." He peers at the kid on Elly's hip. "You have a child at the bar," he tells her. "I thought children weren't allowed at the bar. I wasn't allowed to be at the bar when I was a child. I had to stay at the tables." He looks between Elly and Reece. "I want the lamb pie. Please. Are the brews tea? I want tea. With two sugars. And milk. Please."

Elly's beaming smile warms all the more when he appreciates the warming spell. "I do, this is Squidge. He lives 'ere so 'e gets special treatment." She gives a wink and bounces the boy and it makes him giggle. "One lamb pie, comin' up." While Elly goes into the kitchen to pass her son off to her little sister with a "Bed time for bof of ye." She is child free for the night and like a ballet she bustles about the kitchen and in really no time at all she brings out a steaming golden brown pie in a cast iron cauldron, small, the perfect size for a single hearty portion. It's place on the bar before Zack and then she arranges a tea tray that is a server yourself deal with a little pitcher of milk and a bowl with sugar cubes beside a basket filled with an arrangement of tins of loose tea and a tea ball resting and waiting to be filled in the tea cup. There's usually more to select from, but she gives him what he wanted. Reece puts a tea pot down on the tray and Elly lifts it to slide it in place above the lamb pie. "There ye are loverly. Iffin ye need anyfing else, just let ol' Elly know, righ?"

"Hah," Zack says, smiling when Elly makes her little boy giggle. He stays where he is while she busies herself in the kitchen, his eye wandering around the place until she places his pie in front of him, startling him. "Oh," he says. "That was quick. Yeah, I will. Can I eat it here or do I have to go find a table?"

You say, "Special's always are, all ready to go then a quick bit o magic to get eryfing warm an' bubbly." She gives his forearm a light pat. "Ye eat where evah ye like loverly. Just let me know and I'll help ye carry it." With that she's back to bustling about, going here and there cleaning up tables and handling the payments. Everyone, even the more seedy looking of customers gets a warm farewell and a 'come back soon'."

"I'll eat here then," Zack says. He slides his food down the bar a little to line it up with a stool he likes and then sits down. He starts fiddling with his tea, carefully pouring out precisely the right amount and adding exactly as much milk and sugar as he wants. When Elly comes by the next time he looks up all of a sudden and says, "Oh. I forgot to pay you."

Elly gives Zack's back a little rub when he states he forgot, "We handle that when ye are all finished. Just in case ye might like a little bit of dessert. Ye just enjoy your meal loverly." Another pat to his back and she continues about her business, "Did ye have a birthday? Those are new robes, ay? Very dashing iffin I might say."

"Oh, right," Zack says, returning to his tea. He looks up again at the question and then glances down at his robes. "I don't like these robes. They're too stiff and they're not as warm as my other ones. Well, they are now because you made them warm, but usually they're not. And it's not my birthday. It won't be my birthday for three more months. The 19th of April."

You say, "Nineteenf of April, righ." She obviously makes a mental note of his actual birthday. "Iffin ye don't like'm why ye wearin'm loverly?" She comes back around to him after lightening her load of dirty dishes into the slide that sends them into the sudsy sink in the kitchen on the other side of the wall. "Lemme see…" She reaches out to take a small feel of the fabric between her fingers in a spot that won't disturb his eatting. "Ay, see wotcher mean." Stepping more around so she can better be face to face she makes a motion of her hands. "Give it over and Elly will fix it right up."

"They're for work," Zack says. "I have to look professional. My hair's combed and everything. I look respectable. People have to respect me." He glances at Elly's hand as she feels the fabric of his robes, but then his eyes widen at her request. "You want me to give them to you now? I can't take them off here. That would be indecent!"

Elly's smile sweeten. "Ay, very respectable. Dashing an' all. Not the whole kit dearie. Just the over robe. Can 'andle the inside bits later… Promise ye, nufing indecent." She crosses her heart and holds up her right hand still smiling. "Where ye workin' now?"

Zack looks around the pub, uncertain. "Okay," he says, eyeing the other patrons. "As long as I'm not going to get in trouble." He stands up and takes off his robe, handing it to Elly. "I work for the Ministry of Magic."

Elly takes the robe and folds it over her arm. "Ay!? Cooor, very respectable indeed dearie. Now, no more interuptions, I promise, ye tuck back into that pie. Fink ye would care for somethin' after?" Her tone is sing song, trying to tempt him into something sweet for dessert.

"Yeah, I know," Zack says. He can't help but grin. "I'm a government agent now. Or I will be in three months. I'm still in training." He shakes his head. "No. Wait, yes. I want my robe back. You're going to give it back, right? You'll have to interrupt me again."

Elly laughs and nods. "Just going to take it into the back and give it a bit of Elly Magic. Then I'll bring it back with a bit of apple pie?" She doesn't wait for an answer. She heads into the back and lets him finish off his food and in wondrous timing when he's just finishing up the meal out comes Elly from the kitchen, with his robes and with a piece of apple pie. 'A bit' seems to be in Elly speak near on a quarter of the pie! "Here ye are loverly, dessert an' yer robes back." Once the pie is down on the bar she holds up and out the robes to help him slip back into them. The fabric is soft and warm though it looks crisp and pressed. The robe in feel is barely unrecognizable, but it looks exactly the same as it did before. "How's tha'?"

Zack opens his mouth to respond, but she's already gone off before he can. So he turns back to his lamb pie and finishes it before it can get cold, and when he looks up again Elly is back with his robes. He stands up to get them back on, then runs a hand up and down his sleeve and then the side of the robes. "Yes, this is better. I won't mind wearing these." He sits back down to start eating his apple pie, then looks up all of a sudden. "Oh. Thank you. You're very nice." After that he has his dessert, pays, and leaves as abruptly as he arrived.

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