Characters: Sarah Fawcett, Morgan Corner, Padma Patil Locale: Quin Cottage Date: October 27, 2003 Open? Only to these three! Warnings? Literature lovin' and baked goods aplenty!
Sarah moved around Quin Cottage's cozy kitchen, putting the finishing touches on the veritable feast she'd prepared for this evening's Book and Bake. She deftly drizzled a light sugar icing on a still-warm spice cake, while moving the kettle onto the burner with her other hand. Perhaps she'd gone overboard, but she'd been rather excited when Morgan said that she'd invited another "kindred spirit" to come and join them. Their book group was fairly small. Sometimes, Nate's sister Felicity would drop by, and Penny Clearwater and Audrey Weatherby would come from time to time as well, but often it would be just Morgan and Sarah. Which was wonderful fun, but it would be nice to add a new true book lover to their group, and Morgan had said that Padma seemed to be as book-infatuated as they were. She actually remembered Padma a bit from school, as she'd been a couple of years behind Sarah in Ravenclaw, but they'd never really connected at Hogwarts.
Finishing with the spice cake, she turned and piled a batch of lemon drop cookies on an oversized plate. She picked up the cake and the cookies and moved through to the front room, putting both plates down on the coffee table near the soft couch and worn-in armchairs they'd gotten as hand-me-downs from Nate's parents a couple of years ago. She moved back to the kitchen to check on the tea, and pick up a plate of fudge she'd made from her mother's recipe and a basket full of iced sugar cookies. Though I was testing those out for Halloween, so, really I didn't make that much stuff just for tonight, she tried convincing herself.
She deposited the other items on the coffee table as well, and moved to light the fairy lights that wreathed the mantel and front windows. Originally put up one Christmas, they'd just stayed and now served as alternative lighting for the room. Sarah was just plopping down a stack of her recent reads, the copy of The Winter's Tale she'd bought from Miles on top, when she heard a knock at the door. Bounding over she threw it open wide.