February 15th, 1895 - Hogsmeade Hall
Chocolate Expo

They'd desperately needed some time out of the house without children, Elsie knew, but she wasn't quite up to late evenings yet. Maisie was teething, Marley was cluster feeding and thank Merlin Bentley was over the cold he'd had for the last few days. Els was exhausted, but a short afternoon out at the chocolate tasting wouldn't be the end of her. Plus she was immensely looking forward to some time alone with Tyb without wrangling children.

They'd left the girls in Mrs. Halliwell's capable hands while Ben was with her mother overnight. Elsie always felt a little guilty leaving all three of them with the nanny for extended periods of time, even though that's what she was paid to do. All three of them was a lot. Even when Elsie was home they divided them up to make things more manageable. This was only a couple of hours and Mrs. Robinson was there as backup if needed. She had talked herself out of feeling guilty about it just a few streets from the house. This was good for them all, necessary even.

Now her only focus was her husband and some of the delectable treats they were about to enjoy. "You must be thrilled," she teased him after they entered, arm looped through his comfortably. He'd always had a bit of a sweet tooth and so between getting out for a little while and a whole bunch of chocolate at their disposal, he likely had few complaints. Elsie wasn't quite such a sweets fiend, but she could certainly appreciate trying new things. And really, it was just to enjoy the time together; maybe she'd even have a glass of wine!

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Tybalt Kirke

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   Tybalt Kirke

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MJ always makes her so pretty

Tybalt was fairly tired too, but he was determined to save that crash for later, so he was running on something of a high, even before putting any sugar into his body. Maybe it was partially an odd thrum of excitement at being in a place that was not work or home with three children clambering all over them. (Unfortunately for Elsie, even here she was not free of hangers-on; Tyb had forgotten their arms were intertwined as he steered them towards the first booth at a pace that was distinctly faster than an amble.)

Maybe he was a little guilty that they had let Valentine’s yesterday pass without much incident, just the end of another long week – but he had been trying to convince her into getting out of the house for an outing just the two of them for some time, so he felt at liberty to start by teasing her. “About having some time together, or about these chocolates?” He grinned at her, in between the mouth-watering gazing he was doing around the room. “Because I’m entirely ready to leave my job and become a professional taste tester for Honeyduke.”

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Nearly tripping at the increased pace, Elsie chuckled to herself, managing to keep up with him simply because of her hold on his arm. "I know your true love is chocolate." She teased right back, but she knew what he meant. They didn't get all that much time alone together anymore, but it was to be expected. With three littles Els felt she hardly had time for herself most days, except for the time she got to go to work, but she didn't altogether mind. Their little family would only keep growing and she had settled comfortably into their routine.

Since they did have this time together, she was perfectly content to let it stretch as long as possible and squeeze in whatever they wanted while they could. "I wonder if you could make a living off that." She mused, expression curious as she brought her free hand up to her chin in thought. If anyone could make it work, she was sure Tyb would. "What do you want to start with?" She teased, looking at the wide variety of sweets on offer.

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MJ always makes her so pretty

“No, no, you’re always my favourite, honey,” Tyb promised back, though suddenly every sweet-related sign that caught his eye sounded oddly like an affectionate pet name. “Toffee. Treacle. Whizzbee. Lollipop.” Elsie, the love of his life, his sweetest... chocolate frog? Hmm. In any case –

“If they ever sack me from the Ministry I’ll beg for the position on my hands and knees,” Tyb added carelessly, of his taste-testing back up plan; as for what to start with, Tyb had no firm plans, since every booth was already catching his eye. There was the chocolate fountain in the middle, a fruit-flavoured booth and one with mints, one with liquor flavours, sweet to sour to salted caramel to spicy. He grinned. “How brave are you feeling?”

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   Elsie Kirke

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"Whatever you say, Sweetie," Elsie teased easily. There was no shortage of inspiration here if they were going to use treat-related nicknames. Not that they'd ever really used pet names, she supposed. More often than not she just called him Love, because it encompassed everything she felt where Tyb was concerned.

She had to chuckle at his insistence for the back-up-job plan. She truly hoped he was not let go from his ministry job; the whole reason they were able to live so comfortably, but considering he had gotten a promotion they hadn't been expecting, surely he couldn't be doing poorly at work. "I'm sure Mr. Honeyduke would oblige, on enthusiasm alone." She continued to give him a hard time, mostly because she could.

At his question of her bravery, Elsie pulled a face. "I was never the best example of a Gryffindor, but I suppose I can try anything you like." Within reason of course. She would not be trying any chocolate-covered-crickets or anything of that nature.

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MJ always makes her so pretty

He laughed at sweetie, and at her assessment of the confectioner. Tybalt rather wished enthusiasm did count more towards obtaining a career – but he didn’t know if sweet-making or chocolate-eating would pay very well, in the scheme of things, besides in sweet treats. “I’m sure he would,” Tyb agreed, mock-seriously, “because let’s face it. Honeyduke is a genius, and a saint upon earth.” The best thing to ever happen to Hogsmeade, probably.

But he grinned at Elsie, shaking his head at her protestations of non-Gryffindor-ness, which he did not believe. (She was and always had been more sensible than most other Gryffindors he knew, and certainly more quiet, but her bravery had never really been in question.) “But we trust each other, don’t we?” he said mischievously. “What if I closed my eyes, and you pick for me?” Blind taste-testing would be more of an honest test of flavour, he thought, and might even develop his chocolate palate somewhere beyond ‘yes’. And – if she agreed to try it in turn – Tybalt wouldn’t abuse the power of the game.

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