It was a lovely day outside, if a bit chilly, and Hermione slipped into the cafe to wait for Morag inside. Unwinding the light scarf that she wore both to ward off the chill and because she liked it (Molly had knitted it for her the first Christmas she and Ron had been dating) she hung it and her jacket on a hook by the door.
Finding an empty table that was visible from the door, she took a seat and pulled out some notes to go over while she waited on the other girl to arrive.
Morag had finished her teaching for the day. Generally she didn't do long hours because private teaching allowed for a lot more to be fitted in and the children she taught were young and so didn't need hours upon hours of teaching everyday.
She made her way to Capella's and upon entering spotted Hermione straight away. "Hi." she greeted, taking a seat across from her. "How are you?"
There she was. Hermione straightened, putting her notes away in her bag, which she placed on the floor beside her feet. Smiling up at Morag, she replied, "I'm quite lovely, actually. Doing some studying, as well as planning a wedding. It's stressful. I don't even have a dress yet," she admitted, ducking her head. That was so not Hermione Granger behavior, and so she was a tiny bit embarrassed to be admitting to it.
"How about you?" she asked curiously. She hadn't really seen Morag much, though they had sort of kept in touch- more so now with the journals, which had reminded Hermione just how much she had always liked the other young woman.
"I'm sure you'll find a beautiful dress in time though." Morag commented kindly. "It must be so exciting, even if it is stressful!" she added. It really did sound exciting and Hermione seemed as if she really loved Ron. She was lucky!
'I've been good. Not being doing anything near as interesting as planning a wedding of course, but I can't complain." She picked up the menu and examined it thoughtfully. "What do you think is least likely to have love potion in it?" she joked. She wasn't one to boycott the place just because of a small accident especially since it wasn't as if the love potion had had any drastic effect on her permanently and she doubted there would be love potion in any of their food now so she wasn't actually worried. It was probably less likely for them to have love potion now, really, since they were probably checking everything extra carefully. She didn't see why people were making such a fuss over it.
"I hope so! It's in just a couple of weeks!" Hermione had been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately, but it would all be quite worth it in the end. She still couldn't believe that she was marrying Ron at the end of the month.
Chuckling, she shook her head. "I have no idea, just don't get the muffins," she replied with a small smile. She herself had been victim of the doctored muffins, and while she was a bit wary, she wasn't going to stop eating there.
"You work with kids, right?"
"Wow, so soon!" No wonder she was a bit stressed! "Are you looking forward to it?" It was a stupid question really, why wouldn't someone be looking forward to marrying someone they loved? Still, she was curious about the wedding.
"It's a shame really, they were such nice muffins." Morag mused, mainly to herself. "Although, maybe the love potion changed the taste a bit. I'm not sure."
She nodded. 'Yeah, I teach them and do some baby sitting and stuff." she answered. "It's a pretty good job.I enjoy it." she remembered Hermione saying she'd quit her job recently and was studying again. "What type of job are you studying to get?"
Thinking about marrying Ron always made her grin like a fool; it was one of the only things that she disliked about being in love, looking like a fool. It didn't matter too awfully much, though. Not when she had him.
"Yes. I can't wait. That's actually why its so soon- we were discussing dates one day and just decided that neither of us want to wait. It's going to be very small, though, just close friends and family mostly. At his parents' house."
"I'd really like to work in law," she began passionately, "because there's just so much that needs to be changed, and I just wasn't getting the opportunity to do that where I was, so I'm going back and going through the law program. This way, I'm certified to work in legislation at the Ministry."
"That sounds really nice. And it's so cute that neither of you could wait!"
She listened to Hermione's explanation of what she wanted to do, nodding in agreement occasionally. "That sounds really good. There certainly is plenty that needs to be changed." she said. "Good luck with your studying." Not that she needed it, probably. Everyone knew how smart Hermione was.
Hermione grinned. "Cute, insane. Perhaps they go hand in hand."
"Thank you, I'm just excited that I actually made it into the program," she said feelingly. Their waitress came and they ordered quickly, and Hermione waited until the waitress was gone before she resumed speaking. "I just want to make a difference, you know?"
Morag laughed. "Well, a least cute insane is better than scary insane."
She nodded. "Yeah, it's really good that you've found something that will help you make a difference. You'll be great at it too, I'm sure."
"Absolutely. Scary insane always makes me think of Ron's mother. She gets a little...overwhelming at times," Hermione said diplomatically.
She grinned at the other girl. "Thanks. I mean, it's like that with you and your teaching. Sometimes I think people don't really realize how important that is."
Morag laughed. She's never meet Ron's mother, not having been particularly close with any of the Weasley's but being described as scary insane was not making Morag want to meet her. She was probably a nice person really but she did sound sort of terrifying.
She nodded. "Yeah, I mean, it's not as important as in it's going to fix world problems or anything but education is definitely important."
"She's a lovely woman, and a terrific mother...its just that because of that, she gets a mite intense sometimes." Hermione adored Molly Weasley, but there was no denying that she was an intimidating presence.
"It could, though. Being educated...somehow, it makes you care more about how things happen, and I feel like really has the potential to help our world change for the better. The more people that are educated, the less likely anyone could be taken advantage of....and the more strong minds we'll have in charge. Things like that."
"From what I've heard she does sound a little scary." Morag agreed. "It's good she's a lovely person though. Especially since she'll be your mother in law and all."
Morag nodded in agreement. "Definitely. Education is very important. But I think it's more at Hogwarts that that kind of education happens. I'm more just preparing them for Hogwarts. School's easier if you're not completely confused the minute you start class." Or so she'd assumed. She'd had a tutor herself before she started so she didn't know what it was like to know nothing, something she was glad for. "But all education is important so it's nice to know I'm doing my bit."
Hermione nodded thoughtfully. "That's true, most education does happen at Hogwarts. But then I've always been of the opinion that the earlier you start a child, the more likely it is that they will actually enjoy it...." She trailed off, chuckling to herself.
"Look, I've turned this into a debate over education. And this was supposed to be a fun social lunch." She grinned across the table at Morag. "I don't know, should we gossip or something? Isn't that what you're supposed to do at things like this?"
"No more education talk then." Morag agreed, grinning back while trying to think of some gossip to share.
"Most of the gossip I've heard lately is just about who people fell in love with under the love potion influence and that's hardly real gossip since it wasn't real love. Have you heard anything interesting?"
Hermione flushed. "Yes, well. Apparently I fell in love with Dennis Creevey.Thankfully I managed to realize that there was something odd going on and so it wasn't real."
She settled back into her chair, smiling at the other woman. "I have no idea where it came from, though. Obviously someone here with access to the muffins had to have something to do with it, but...other than that I haven't heard a thing."
"Lucky. I had to wait for it to wear off before I realised I wasn't actually in love with Barney. Thankfully it wore off after a few days. He was in love with Angelina so I wasn't very happy." It was so weird how love potions made you feel.
"You'd think people would have better things to do than add love potion to the muffin mixture." she mused. "But maybe someone just wanted a laugh or something."
"Yes, those aren't really any fun. And it's awfully mean to do something like that to someone just for a laugh," she said with a small frown.
"Ah well. It's over and done with."
Just like their lunch nearly was. Still, though...Hermione felt like maybe this was the beginning of a great friendship.