So maybe Zinnia hadn’t actually asked Millie if she wanted to stake out Mr. Grimstone or Mr. Honeyduke with her, and maybe she should have asked Thistle or Calla if they wanted to tag along, but it wasn’t like she had carefully thought the plan through before deciding she was going to do it. Her sisters weren’t in the house or in the shop, so it was up to her to put her detective hat on. The more time that passed the more serious Daffy and Dahlia’s relationships were getting with these men, and Zin didn’t know much about them! They were nice from what she could tell, but who knew if they lived separate lives that no one could see. This was for the good of the family, she swore.

So, she decided to stake out the first one she saw, and well… she’d deal with the other later. But of course it would look weird if she was alone following a man, so she had to swing by to pick up Millie from her house while telling Auntie Beth it was girl time and yes Millie would absolutely be coming home without any dirt or mud on her because it wasn’t going to be that kind of day. Didn’t say anything to her cousin about staking out someone though, and instead ushered her toward Hogsmeade for a quick stop at a bakery for breakfast. If they ate facing the window she could see Honeyduke’s, and Dahlia had mentioned him doing deliveries today so it was a perfect time to see what he did during his day; on the flipside, Daffy may have mentioned that Mr. Grimstone was testing out some new brooms…

Zinnia blinked as a tired cashier smiled at her. “Is that all for you?” She smiled at the poor woman with dark bags under her eyes and turned her attention toward her little cousin, motioning for her to order. “It’s on me! Whatever you want.” Millie was going to need her energy if they were going to stake out a gentleman or two. After the younger girl ordered it took only a few minutes for them to receive their order — just in time for someone to slip out of Honeyduke’s with a hat covering their head.

Suspicious. So Mr. Honeyduke it was, then.

Zin reached out to take Millie’s hand, tugging her out of the bakery without saying anything, and then pushed her flush against a wall, blue eyes boring into the back of the man. “We’re playing detective today, if you’re okay with that. Mr. Honeyduke seems suspiciously… nice, doesn’t he?” Her gaze flicked over to her cousin quickly to gauge her reaction before it was back on the man. She didn’t want to lose him.

A shadow flitted over them for a minute, someone on a broom. Maybe Mr. Grimstone was a better option? No, the man on the ground made more sense to her. At least for now; maybe Mr. Grimstone would land.

---

---

"Detective?!" the cornered, young witch asked her captor. Zinnia's blue eyes darted ahead to the man retreating briskly on the walk ahead of them. Millie thought she had recognized Dahlia's soon-to-be husband in the shop with them, it simply hadn't occurred to her it was anything more than a coincidence. That her cousin had asked her out for anything more than a rare breakfast outside of kitchen —much less outside the house! Millie followed the gaze of those blue eyes with her own, considering the question. "I don't know, Mr. Honeyduke seems really honest about being nice, though. He didn't get mad when I divulged his secret months ahead of time, I got a bunch of sweets from his shop with letters from your sisters, and—"

She stopped, realizing Zinnia wasn't a professor she needed to answer with a convincing argument. Still, now that Millie put it into words, Mr. Honeyduke's sweetness was a bit...cloying? The young witch didn't see what her cousin did yet, then again Zin had the better vantage point in height and years. Slender shoulders shrugged under the blue shoulders of her cotton dress, scraping against the wall she was held against by Zinnia's hand. Hazel eyes darted down to the bag in her cousin's hand, making her choice with a nod and a word. "Yes."

If she went along with it, perhaps the youngest Potts would discover what her cousin found so suspicious about Dahlia's fiancé. The weight of an empty stomach reminded the young witch that, first of all, she would need what was in the bag Zin gripped as tightly as she held her cousin against the wall. Millie groaned out a strained breath, her hand reaching for the bag to snatch it away, taking out the paired halves of the crumpet that was growing colder since she watched it slathered with butter and marmalade just a minute ago.

"How do we play detective, Zin?" Millie asked between bites of the concoction melting into a pool of warmth on her tongue. They were bigger bites than she would have tried under her Mum's watchful eyes at home, but the young lady was still trying to savor the taste of it as she swallowed. "Is that like what Mister Daubney did in On Account of a Penniless Djinn?"

Millie wasn't sure if Zinnia knew the book, she simply didn't want to disrupt the adventure her cousin had in store. Armed with breakfast, and perhaps the guidance of a book's character pointing the way ahead, the young witch was ready to tackle the kindness of Mr. Honeyduke's being thrown into suspicion. A ready, furrowed brow was aimed squarely at the man's back, painting Millie's intentions in clear-enough language for her cousin to read.

---

So maybe Zinnia should have clued Millie into what they were doing before she decided to rope her little cousin into this little adventure, but she couldn’t help herself. Millie would have to understand, and as she exclaimed (quite loudly, but at least she hadn’t attracted the attention of anyone around them), Zin grinned at her and nodded. Detective was right. She had a detective friend — Tommy Harvey, and if she’d had the time, Zinnia would have dragged Millie over to his shop and demanded that he give them the ins and outs of being good ones. Maybe they'd wear little detective hats like Sherlock Holmes did, or he’d give them some items to use.

(Zinnia quickly decided that she was Sherlock while Millie was Dr. Watson. It only made sense.)

Blinked blue eyes at her cousin once she realized that she’d been talking, trying to explain why she thought Mr. Honeyduke wasn’t hiding anything. Maybe he wasn’t, but they had to find out for the sake of her sister! “I just need to make sure.” She murmured, although whether or not it was for her sake or Millie’s, Zinnia couldn’t say. When she reached for the bag, the older witch let it go, a slow grin spreading across her lips as she watched her dear cousin scarf down the food. She took out her own biscuit and took a bite out of it, contemplating what she wanted to tell her as she slowly chewed.

“Well,” She started slowly as she swallowed the biscuit lathered with a thin layer of milk chocolate, because she did have a sweet tooth and was pleased the idea of having a baker in the family so long as he wasn’t a weirdo, “We need to trail him, but make sure he doesn’t see us. So that means if he turns around, whoever sees it first has to grab the other and pull her away so as not to be seen. Maybe we could use a code word like… crumpet or chocolate whenever we think he’s getting suspicious of us. We don’t have to watch him the whole day, but just long enough to make sure he is who he says he is.” Blue eyes flicked away from the man as she turned toward her cousin. “I’m not familiar with the book, but it sounds like you have a good idea of what we want to do.”

Zin’s face flicked with confidence as she nodded. Then she stepped forward to begin following the man, who had disappeared into the crowd of Hogsmeade. He took a left (or so Zinnia thought), so she took a sharp left, keeping them more toward the walls than the middle of the crowd. Her hand shot out to stop Millie as she watched him enter a shop. Suspicious.

---

"That's awful suspicious, Zin-Zin," Millie remarked, not doing much to hide the grin it broached on her face. She took another bite of the crumpet, the young witch was finding it to be a real struggle not to devour the entire thing in one go. Instead, she distracted herself by fixing her gaze back on the the retreating man's figure, and the haste in her feet as Zinnia pulled her along. "What happens if he sees us?"

Millie had a feeling she knew what would happen. In Mister Daubney's adventures, the villain didn't always confront the main character with an air of innocence. Sometimes, he simply led Mister Daubney on a dull, routine sort of day without anything untoward happening at all. Just the sort of thing an innocent man might do, or that one playing at innocence should.

Her empty, buttery fingers caught the edge of her necklace, free now to give it a quick, thoughtful touch.

She nearly caught herself on Zinnia's hand, and set her fingers on it lightly to pull herself closer to her cousin. Hazel eyes looked up at the confident witch by her side, turning Millie to the shop with a mirrored intensity in her gaze. Her eyes searched the shopfront, determined to suss out the meaning of his stop other than just a casual appointment.

"This isn't the post office," Millie whispered between them. It felt right to whisper, despite there being no one stopping to listen in on them. Yet the door to the shop continued to open, releasing determined wizards carrying tightly-wrapped packages under their arms. "What do you suppose they've got in those packages?"

Millie was starting to feel a bit more suspicious about Mr. Honeyduke now.

---

What happens if he sees us? That was something Zinnia hadn’t considered but she highly doubted that Mr. Honeyduke would do anything other than give them an awkward smile and wave — a, I see you kind, which meant their game would be over. Zinnia scrunched her nose up. “We’ll be careful. And if sees us… duck inside a shop. If we get separated, our rendezvous point will be Whizzhard Books.” Seemed like a good place an adult and child would go to separately, plus she doubted that Mr. Honeyduke would be reading any books anytime soon.


If only Tommy Harvey would suddenly pop in. He was a real detective and Zinnia could really use her friend’s expertise right now.

Tommy probably would have told them to stick near the walls, which she had; it was a good thing because Millie almost ran straight into her, and Zin wasn’t sure she would have kept herself upright, not as she was already popping up onto her tippy to watch the man disappear into the store. Millie had a good point, this wasn’t the post office, and blue eyes flicked up to the wooden sign above the shop: Twilfit & Tattings.

“How fitting…” Zinnia murmured to herself before she turned toward Millie, whispering with her despite no one else around them knowing — or caring really — what they were doing. “What if he’s turning in a disguise and getting a new one?” Her eyes narrowed as she turned back toward the shop, teeth grazing her lip in thought. “Come on, let’s go in. We should get hats anyway, to hide our identities, don’t you think Mills?” Not that Zinnia waited for an answer because she pushed away from the wall and tilted her head toward the shop before she was skipping over to enter it.

Tossed the door open with more force than necessary that caused the clerk’s eyes to draw toward her, but then she instantly slunk over to the display in the window, staring out until she saw her little cousin finally move.

---

Millie nodded once at her cousin's suggestion, should they be detected today. It seemed sensible to her, many of her mystery novel characters had a hideout or a meeting place of sorts. And considering that Mr. Honeyduke knew well of the Florist Potts, the flower shop was simply out of the question for that.

Besides, Millie couldn't possibly say no to a bookstore visit regardless of circumstances.

"A disguise?!" Millie tried to keep her voice to the whisper, unable to temper it this time. She tossed a glance aside to any eavesdroppers, yet all she saw were the average passersby on any Hogsmeade avenue. Luckily. She lowered her voice again to ask, "What would he need with a—"

Zinnia was already halfway toward the shop entrance, forcing Millie to kick up her skirts in order to catch up. She was surprised by her cousin's determination today, finding it to be oddly inspiring. The young witch had no notion they might discover something untoward in Mr. Honeyduke today, it was simply the thought that there might be which drove her forward.

Was it not better to uncover the truth than let it lie undisturbed?

She entered the shop a second behind Zinnia, offering a silent consent to her cousin. The young witch passed by an assortment of ladies hats, so posh and elegant. They seemed to be just the sort of thing Millie might might wear someday to a tea party or banquet. She paused at the hats more suited to a ball, and thought otherwise, turning to the other side of the shop.

The men's hats seemed far more appropriate to a disguise in her eyes. The bowlers and top hats carried that distinguished look she wouldn't think twice of eyeing on a street. Millie stopped with a soft sound when she found a hat, dressed in plaid, that must have stepped right out of her mystery novels.

"Zin," she called quietly, unsure if they should maintain their whisper voices within the shop as well. Millie glanced around for her cousin, then picked up the deerstalker to carry it over to Zinnia herself. Holding out the hat, she felt a bright grin growing on her face to present it for her cousin's approval. "Here, you can look just like Mister Daubney. Or that other fellow, the Muggle one!"

---

Zinnia hadn’t even realized Millie was talking when she waltzed into the store, her mind already made up that Mr. Honeyduke (if that was even his real name) was changing out a disguise. It did beg the question, why did he need one to begin with, but that was what they were going to find her. Her eyebrows pinched together in thought as she turned away from the window toward her younger cousin when she felt her standing next to her.

Finally, Zinnia looked around the shop as she trailed behind Millie. There were elegant hats with large feathers and enchantments that made birds coo as they peeked out from the brim of it, which would drive her insane if she had to wear it for extended periods of time. Luckily she’d never really worn a fancy hat and didn’t have plans to. The other side of the shop were mens, and dressing as such seemed like a better idea if they were going to be following one.

Her younger cousin paused and Zin tilted her head to the side as she watched Millie curiously, humming as the young witch called her name. They were still whispering, which was a good thing because who knew who the man had on his payroll! Maybe the clerk would rat them out. She took the hat as it was held out, grinning at her cousin as she put it on; she turned toward a mirror and adjusted the hat. “Oh Millie, it’s perfect. You have such a good eye for these things.” Zinnia said as she adjusted the hat a bit more, pulling some long strands out from under it. “Come, let’s find you one.”

For a moment Zinnia forgot all about their mission as she walked down the aisles, fingers brushing against the hats. She paused at a particularly tall (and rather ridiculous) top hat, which she picked up and placed on her cousin’s head. Then she giggled and shook her head. “I’m afraid that would probably cause you more harm than good,” she explained as she placed it back on the shelf. Her fingers brushed against a brown felt derby hat, and she held it out to Millie as he offered her a soft grin. “Or, we could match if you’d like. We’re equals in this, after all.”

---

The young witch beamed under her cousin's admiration, sprouting a grin at Zinnia's new headpiece. It really did make Zin look like a sleuthing detective on the case, one that would have fit perfectly right alongside Mr. Daubney in her novels. Or the Muggle fellow, Sherlock Holmes, just without the pipe. With one disguise down, Millie followed Zin among the rows of hats, searching for one that would fit her head this time.

Millie didn't consider herself much of a hat-wearer. Those were for the fine ladies to attend tea or balls, it was a costume. Then again, their disguise would be just as much of a costume today. If they were to suss out the character of Mr. Honeydukes properly, a hat for disguise could get them just to the right place at the right time. The young witch didn't entirely understand how one was supposed to benefit the other, but her cousin did and that meant she was certain it would work.

Her question was nearly answered when a top hat dropped onto her head, though Millie had no more time to get used to the unwieldy hat than Zinnia had already whisked it away. The flurry of selection made her giggle, as Millie made a closer inspection of the next hat her cousin held out to her. The short bristles of the brown felt were soft yet firm under her fingertips. A far cry from the soothing, metal links of her necklace, but not irritating. Millie's crown demanded the choice even before Zin offered her another one.

She shook her head, "We couldn't be equals, you're so much better at this than me." Instead, Millie took the derby hat and set it on her head, adjusting it slightly before tucking any errant hairs behind her ear. She looked up at her cousin with a steady, decided gaze. "We can still be partners, only you'll in the lead. I'll be your Dr. Watson!"

With her disguises chosen and their partnership established, Millie followed Zinnia to the shop clerk to handle their expenses. Her eyes wandered onto the array of other hats, cloaks and finery, until they caught a glimpse of the scene beyond the windows. She glanced back once before spotting something that made the young witch grasp Zinnia's arm and pull her close enough to whisper in her cousin's ear, "Who's that talking to Mr. Honeyduke out there? Is that who I think it is?"

Millie had no idea if she was right, only that it certainly constituted a big development in their investigation.

---

Zinnia couldn’t help but giggle at her cousin; she wasn’t any better at this than Millie was, she was just throwing caution to the wind and seeing what happened. If she was any good at this they would have trailed Mr. Honeyduke a little closer and not lost him a thousand times in the crowd. And they would know why he was buying a costume to begin with. Oh well, at least she was having fun with Millie, watching her with an amused look as she settled the derby hat on her head.

Laughing then, Zinnia gently poked Millie on the tip of her nose. “Elementary, my dear Potts.” She winked at her. “You will make an excellent Dr. Watson, and I am proud to have you by my side.” She nodded then, finding both their disguises were acceptable before wandering up to the clerk to purchase them. She turned once Millie tugged on her arm, blue eyes squinting at where her cousin was trying to point. “Is that Dahlia?”

She hummed, eyebrows creasing in thought, only once the woman turned toward them, her arm looped through the man’s arm, it was clearly not her little sister. Zinnia shook her head. “That’s also not Mr. Honeyduke. We must have lost him. Come, let’s go get a snack, some ice cream perhaps, and figure out our next move?” She tilted her head toward the exit before making her way out of the door, adorning their new hats. Zin figured that taking them to the shop itself would help find some clues as to where he might have gone plus they could interrogate his employees if it came down to it.

Only, as they walked through the door, the scent of baked goods and candy wafting through the air, she locked eyes with Mr. Honeyduke himself serving ice cream to a patron. Zin groaned audibly as she turned to Millie. “He doesn’t need to know about this, right?” Of course he didn’t. Maybe he wasn’t such a bad person after all.

---

Millie scrunched her nose short, trying hard not to giggle at her cousin's finger and words taking a poke at her. She shook her head to throw Zin off her, loosing a snicker of mirth all at the same time. The young witch straightened her face, biting at her lip to force herself to take this sleuthing adventure seriously. Mr. Honeyduke was on the prowl and now only they could stand between him and—

And what?

That was the question they were trying to answer, she supposed. Millie shook her head at the suggestion that Dahlia, her cousin Dahlia, Mr. Honeyduke's bride Dahlia, was in cahoots with him here today. No, it couldn't be her she was staring at, Millie was certain of it even before the woman turned toward them. Her eyes widened at the figures on the street outside, she wasn't Dahlia, and worse yet for their mystery, he wasn't Mr. Honeyduke either!

Millie's mouth hung open as she gaped up at Zinnia, surprised even more that her cousin didn't seem to be too bothered. "But...I thought this was important!"

Her protests didn't seem to make much of an impact on her cousin, leaving the young witch to thumb her necklace the whole way to the candy shop. There was nothing elementary about losing their quarry and rewarding themselves for it, at least Millie didn't think so. Zin knew a lot more than she did, but sometimes Millie suspected her cousin of having a lot more whimsy than wisdom in that head of hers.

The assault of sugary sweets on her nose changed her mind almost immediately. As Millie glanced up to Zin, her eyes darted to follow her cousin's gaze. The young witch's mouth dropped, staring straight at the person she had least expected to find in Honeyduke's, Mr. Honeyduke himself!

She was lost for words and breath, struggling to connect the pieces together. Had Mr. Honeyduke lost their scent before they even started following him? Did he have a double to switch with on the busy streets and lead them astray? He couldn't really have been here the whole time, that would have meant their whole adventure was for nothing at all.

Millie looked over to Zinnia, nodding slowly. No one needed to know they had just followed a complete stranger around town. "Especially not Dahlia."

No, her cousin could never learn they thought her soon-to-be husband was anything but an upstanding, genteel wizard who served ice cream and sweets to the people of Hogsmeade. A bowl of ice cream helped banish the suspicion from Millie's mind. She was going to like having a candy man as part of the family, especially one as upstanding as Mr. Honeyduke.

Well he was perfectly upstanding, wasn't he?

---