RP thread: Astoria and Augustus
Who: Astoria Greengrass and Augustus Pye Where: La Patisserie Bakery, Diagon Alley When: Sept 21 What: Two former cell neighbours run into each other.
Astoria was stressed out. She'd been stressed out the moment the Death Eaters had come to take her and Daphne off to Azkaban, and even now that she'd been released, she was stressed out. An unwanted marriage. A fiance who was overly attached to his dead mother. Nightmares that still came every night. The constant threat of being sent back to Azkaban if she didn't toe the line. The loneliness and isolation that came from being so limited in what she could and couldn't do or say. It was enough to drive anyone to distraction.
Or, in Astoria's case, to baking.
It was what she always did to calm herself. There was something soothing about shutting out everything and simply focusing on kneading bread or experimenting with tastes and textures. Baking was something she didn't even mind ruining her nails for. But her mother had always disapproved of Astoria's one talent, saying it was something best left to house elves and people who couldn't afford them, so Astoria kept it a secret. She'd done some baking while Theodore had been on patrol, but now, with the Chang/Flint wedding coming up and Astoria having to make sure it went without a hitch - lest she get thrown back in Azkaban - the anxiety was mounting again. She hadn't even been able to sleep last night, and it was only thanks to copious makeup and potions that she was able to hide the dark circles under her eyes.
Obviously, more baking was in order - which was why she was in La Patisserie now, pretending to look over the cakes while surreptitiously noting down the supplies she needed to instruct the house elf to get.