Sweets for your bitter attitude

Dru walked into the sweets shop with a sense of relief. She had stormed out of Mystic Spirits in such a rage she had gotten lost again. Dru cannot be so careless, she has now made at least two enemies. oh while too late now she won't let that stop her. Dru turned her attention to the sweets that surrounded her. Her mouth watered and her tummy begged for at least one of each.

Dru of course went straight for the sour jelly slugs. She grabbed three bags then wandered the store looking at all the treats. Dru saw a name that stood out to her, Acid pops, no way that could be real. As she was reaching for a packet to read about them her hand ran into another reaching for the same packet. Dru immediately pulled her hand back. "Oh, I'm so sorry. Go ahead."

Autumn had come to the Sugar Shack on a whim. She and Julie-Pierre were fifteen now and they spent very little time eating candy. However, eating candy had been the bulk of their friendship as children. And apparently the way into his heart. So Autumn decided to get him a few sweets. Or sours. Or other candies. No reason to be specific.

Autumn saw the display for acid pops and giggled. She'd seen one of her classmates get a burn straight through his tongue with one of those. She remembered Professor Cox's rage as he sent the boy to Monsieur Avery.

She went to the display to grab one (just to see, not to purchase), but when she reached in, her hand brushed against another's. "I apologize," she said at nearly the same time as the other person.

She took a step back. "Go ahead. I was just looking. Oh! I'm Autumn," she tacked on. "I'm one of the Prefects at Beauxbatons. I assume you're going there," she corrected. She was happy to use her new title, but she was so bad at communicating. Although the girl in front of Autumn could possibly be an eleven-year-old, it was wrong to just assume so.

Dru did not really know what to do her hand floated in the there near the pops as she listen to the girl, Autumn, talk in matured, musical voice. Dru dropped her hand and smiled, "My name is Drusilla. It is very nice to meet you Autumn and I will be attending Beauxbatons this term. If you do not mind my asking what is a perfect?"

Dru could not stop smiling or staring at Autumn. She had no idea what was wrong with her. Dru had completely forgotten about the pops and the tiff from earlier. She could listen to Autumn talk for hours. What is going on?!

Autumn looked at the girl who was grinning and looking at her funny. Not like Autumn looked bad, but that she looked...good? She wasn't sure what to think, but she had been still been asked a question.

"A Prefect is like a hall monitor," she answered. Autumn then back tracked. Not everyone would know what that was. Not everyone was full or part Muggle. "Er- more like law enforcement. Except not that strict. Or with that much power. They are fifth, sixth, and seventh years that help the other students. We also do patrols and run errands for Madame Leblanc, our headmistress."

Autumn stood in her place awkwardly. "Did that answer your question?" she asked, already knowing the answer to her own pointless question.

Oh gosh, Dru thought, I am scaring her and why the hell could I not stop smiling? Oh great I have finally gone mad from all the changes! Dru had retreated far into her mind and had almost missed what Autumn said. She quickly tried to recover, "Well you sort of did, I understand the part that it is like a hall monitor but what are patrols? I am sorry I am asking so many questions I do not really know much about this place. If you would prefer I could leave you your sweets shopping."

What is wrong me?! Dru could hardly believe what had just come out of her mouth. She had never, ever, not even once apologized for her presence, let alone to someone she had just met. Dru was shocked that she had opened up so much to Autumn and she was still smiling like a buffoon!

Autumn was glad that Drusilla mostly understood. It was hard explaining Muggle things to wizards. But the smile was still there. And still making Autumn uneasy. Ignore it, she thought. This first year was just a kid. Maybe Drusilla was a bit socially inept like Autumn had been at her age.

"I don't mind answering your questions," Autumn responded. "The patrols are basically the Prefects walking through the school at night. The students aren't allowed to be out of their dorms after a certain hour. We make sure that they stay in bed. We each watch the students in our houses. I am a Cerisier, so I patrol the eighth floor where my dorm is. Do you know what house you want to be in?"

"Oh no! It's perfectly okay. I was just looking at them. They're mildly dangerous, these pops. They burn the inside of your mouth," Autumn replied with a giggle after. "My boyfriend would think it's hilarious."

The huge smile was finally replaced by a look of confusion. Dru had not heard very much about the houses. How was she going to answer? Dru could not even remember one name. Dru's shoulders slumped a little at Autumn's last comment, she had no idea why! When she realized what Autumn had said about the pops her eye's widened in fear. She took her chance to bypass to house question.

"They burn the inside of your mouth?! Thank goodness we bumped hands or I would have probably gotten them. I have no idea what I would have done if I had been sucking on a pop and then my mouth started to burn. Why are they even in a sweets shop? How are they legal to be sold?" Dru said all of this as she took a couple steps away from the pops.

"They are allowed to be sold because they don't cause too much damage. If you had eaten one, any witch or wizard could heal you. Even I could. If magic were allowed outside of school, of course. However, I am unsure of how the Ministry would handle an emergency case of underage magic..." Autumn said, her sentence trailing off as her comments switched into her mind. "It's more of a gag gift than normal sweets," she concluded. "I'm a chocolate person, myself. My boyfriend tricked me into liking it."

She laughed at the memory. White chocolate ducks were her weakness.

Dru was in shock that these pops exsisted. Who would give these to someone even as a joke? Dru tried to wrap her mind around it. At the mention of Autumn's boyfriend again Dru got a weird feeling almost saddness but she tried to ignore the it. Instead she listened to Autumn's sweet laughter and talked about her favorite sweet. "I love sour jelly slugs. I've liked them since I was 3 and my pa would bring them home to me from work. I have never cared much for chocolate, too sweet for my tastes. What is your favorite sweet Autumn?" Dru's mind went back to the first time her pa brought her sour slungs. It had been a wicked hard day at day-care, every one was picking on Dru and her little sister Louise but when her pa came home from work he pulled Dru onto his lap and handed her a bag of the sweetest, most sour, and yummy candy. Dru missed her pa something fierce.