"Are you expecting payment for this?" she said with a laugh. "I will consider the yellow tinge." Or a cleaning enchantment. He did have a point regarding the air in London.
She conjured a table in the middle of the empty space, all with the appropriate china, and sent her house-elf off to deal with the finer details.
"The rose platter, Dolly," she instructed. The kitchen was set up with a range of different platters with new pastry designs she had been experimenting with that morning.
Motioning for him to take a seat at the table, she did the same. "We all fall foul of sentimentality," she agreed. "I think it must be difficult in your case as you grew up there. I always struggle with a blank canvas." It was the same with her menus. She spent hours agonising over every little detail; only when she was given some validation was she ever truly happy with the final outcome.
The platter and tea arrived a few moments later, as well as a piece of parchment and a lavender shaded Quick-Quotes quill. "Forgive the quill. I will be expecting constructive criticism on the platter, too," she smiled. "The official opening is mid-September, depending on the results from the taster."
She poured two cups of tea and left him to add the extras himself. “I heard you were away from London for some time,” Ophelia enquired. She had enough social graces not to ask about his supposed resurrection, but she couldn’t help a degree of curiosity.