Who: Roger Davies and Georgi Draganov What: Playing tourists. When: Monday, 11 December. Where: Hogsmeade! Warnings: None. But maybe an advisory for adorableness.
Though it hadn't been long, Ro was impressed by how well Georgi was already fitting into the team, not only during practice and matches, but on a more social level too. In fact, he’d go so far to say that he was looking like he’d been there far longer than just a few weeks. It felt good to have another Beater in action, the team seemed more untouchable now they had a full complement of reserves to swap into matches should any of the starters be injured, as Lex had been.
The former Ravenclaw had made sure to chat with Georgi as often as he could during breaks in practice and it was during one such conversation that he’d learned Zayo had yet to visit Hogsmeade. He’d offered to play tour guide on their next day off, delighted when he had been accepted, and was just as thrilled as Georgi as they walked into the very familiar (to him) village.
“Where would you like to go first?”
Hogsmeade was enchanting from Georgi's first glimpse at it: the village, nestled into the mountains and looking up at the school, was exactly like the pictures in the book he'd read about it that had made him want to come here immediately. Decked out with floating candles and wreaths for Christmas, blanketed in clean white snow, it looked cozy and warm and a little bit like home, and he loved it immediately.
Standing in the middle of the main street, he was trying to take in everything at once and not succeeding very well, and the idea of choosing somewhere to begin seemed impossible. "I don't know," he answered, still gazing around wide-eyed. "Anyplace. What's your favourite? You came here when you were in school, yeah?"
There was no doubt about it, Hogsmeade was just as charming as it always was. Roger would never forget the first time he’d set foot in the village, so different to the bustling city where he’d grown up. A fond smile came to his face as he observed Georgi’s reaction, giving his new friend time to take in the atmosphere before their tour started. “I love the Three Broomsticks, they have the best Butterbeer. But it’s probably best to go there after we’ve explored a bit.”
Nodding at the question, he gestured toward the opposite end of the main street, “Hogwarts is that way, beyond the station. The Shrieking Shack is also in that direction.” He grinned at the thought of the place, he’d never been inside himself, but he knew plenty of students had tried. “I usually went to Honeydukes and Zonko’s first.”
"Okay, yes," Georgi answered immediately, tearing his eyes away from the village before them to shake his head in agreement at Roger. "Honeyduke's is the sweet shop, right? I love sweets." He smiled, ducking his head. "Maybe too much for Quidditch player. But also, I'm wanting to send something British to my young sister. Zornitsa is student at Durmstrang, I think she will like if I send sweets for her friends."
He started down the main street, still trying to look everywhere at once and peer into every shop window as they went. "You can help me choose things, right? Or else I will buy one of everything."
“The best sweet shop in Britain.” Roger confirmed, falling into step beside the Bulgarian as he started down the street. He offered a smile to those passers by who acknowledged them, still finding it a little strange to be recognised in the street. Goodness knew how Harry coped with it. “Surely not too much, sugar gives you energy and we need that on the pitch.” As far as Ro could tell Zayo was all muscle, so he definitely needn’t be worried by eating sweets every so often.
“Of course I can! Though I doubt Zornitsa or her friends would mind something of everything in the shop.” He hoped he’d pronounced Georgi’s sister’s name correctly. He’d tried his best to get the Durmstrang students’ names correct when they had visited Hogwarts for the Triwizard Tournament, though naturally his accent was terrible. “What year is your sister in?”
"Zornitsa is in year seven," Georgi answered readily, beaming with pride. "She's a very smart girl, very clever. She plays Quidditch on the same team I played when I was at school, Salamander team, as Chaser. I have told her to try out for Quidditch teams after school, but she says no. She will work at newspaper."
He could tell Honeydukes without looking at the name on the sign; the steady stream of customers let the scents of sugar and chocolate out the door. Georgi followed his nose without hesitation, entering the store to look around in happy anticipation. "You have brothers and sisters?" he asked Roger.
“Quidditch runs in your family then?” He had to smile a little as Georgi told him about their differing opinions on her possible career choice. It was clear he was proud of his sister.
“No, I'm an only child. I sometimes wished I had a brother or sister growing up. But I have a few cousins my age.” He often wondered what it would be like to have a younger sibling, though the age gap now would be too big. He wouldn't be around at home anyway.
“What sort of sweets would Zornitsa usually choose?” Ro asked, heading for the fudge, as he normally did.
Georgi followed him, feeling like a kid in a candy shop. Well, they were in a candy shop, and the delicious sugary smells were transporting him back to childhood, so that wasn't much of a stretch. "Chocolate," he said without hesitation. He and his youngest sister were alike in that way. "And all sweets. Can you help pick ones that are very Scottish or British or so? I want to send her things we don't eat at home."
That was probably going to be easy -- many of the sweets here looked foreign and excitingly new. He picked up an attractive blue-and-gold box with the intriguing label "CHOCOLATE FROG" and peered at it curiously.
"My family do everything at home in Bulgaria," he added, and glanced over at Roger, his face bright and open. "You know Viktor Krum is my cousin? So, yes, we are in Quidditch. But my close family are in paper and newspaper business." He held the box up for Roger's approval. "Are these good? Do they taste like chocolate, or like frog?"
“I’m not sure how many of these sweets are actually exported for the overseas market. So I'm sure a lot of them will be new to you both.” The fudge counter, as usual, had his mouth watering in seconds and he had already decided what he would buy after they had sorted Georgi out.
“I met Viktor during the Tri-Wizard Tournament. He's a nice chap, which must also run in the family.” Smiling his approval at the Chocolate Frog, he nodded. “They are very good. They taste of chocolate, really creamy, rich chocolate.”
He picked a couple of them up for himself, reminded just how good they were by his description. “They're charmed so they jump like frogs, but they only really have one good hop in them. I used to collect the cards that come with them.” He explained, “each card has a famous witch or wizard on it with a mini biography.”
"Ah!" Georgi answered, pleased with the concept, and added a few more to his basket, floating along at his side. "My sister will like that. She is like me -- likes history and chocolate."
He moved down the aisle, inspecting the other specialty sweets on offer, and added a few of everything that looked good to his basket. "Ice Mice? This sounds good. Fizzing… what? Oh, Pepper Imps, I think we have something like these also. They're called 'dragonfire sweets' in Bulgarian." He grinned over at Roger, struck with nostalgia. "At Durmstrang, my Quidditch team was named Salamanders. During a match we chewed these to breathe fire. It worked very nice."
“History and chocolate, you would have fitted in well in my corner of the Ravenclaw common room.” Ro smiled, eyes drawn to the shelves as he tried to locate something specifically Scottish.
“The mice are lovely. Fizzing Whizbees. They're very good, if you don't mind a tingly tongue afterwards.” Grinning at the story he nodded to confirm the similarity between the sweets. “I bet that was very effective. Was Salamander the name of your House at Durmstrang too?” He wasn't sure if the Bulgarian school had the same sort of structure as Hogwarts, and was interested to find out more about the place.
Georgi paused in dropping a few of everything that looked good on the shelves into his basket to look over at Roger and nod his head in the negative. "We don't have houses at Durmstrang like you. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, nothing like this. Students are living in one building, in different halls, but Quidditch teams are picked by captains. Whoever is good enough at getting players to follow him can be captain and make his own team. Many teams are going on for years and years with the same name and colors and same families playing. Salamanders were playing since my grandfather was a student, before the war."
He smiled over at Roger. "I know, this is very different than Hogwarts. I have learned about your school, and it sounds very nice. If I was British, I'd like to be in Ravenclaw house, like you. Did you like it there?"
“Wow, that sounds wonderful. So you have your own league effectively, within the school.” Roger nodded, listening closely as Georgi explained. It was fascinating really, the differences between their school experiences. His mother had told him all about Beauxbatons, so he wasn’t naive enough to believe that every school was like Hogwarts, but just how different they were was interesting. “I think I would have liked it there, the History of the place is fascinating.”
He couldn’t keep the bright smile from his face when Georgi spoke of Ravenclaw, Roger adored his old house and had nothing but fond memories of his time spent there. “I loved every second.” He answered honestly, “we were lucky enough to have our common room and dormitories at the top of one of the towers. Absolutely perfect for stargazing, though not as good as the Astronomy tower. When you have everything you need from here, we could go and take a look at Hogwarts if you’d like. I don’t suppose we could get too close, perhaps just to the gates.”
"Yes," Georgi answered immediately, his eyes widening. Hogsmeade was charming, the shops looked like fun, and he was curious about the other places Roger had mentioned like the pub, but Hogwarts had fascinated him since he'd first heard about it as a child. "I want to go look at Hogwarts after here. One time I'd like to visit there, but seeing the outside is good too, and you can tell me everything."
He wasn't a guy who went for much physical contact, but he smiled at Roger and patted his shoulder carefully. "Thank you for bringing me here. I'm glad to have you for my friend."