2026-11-11: A Cup Of Cocoa

Participants:

Ariyann_icon.jpg Sophia_icon.jpg Marcus_icon.jpg Chloe_icon.jpg Heather_icon.jpg

Scene Title A Cup of Cocoa
Synopsis Gathering in the Leaky Cauldron to escape the first snow of the season.
Location Taproom, Leaky Cauldron
Date November 11, 2026
Watch For Spiked cocoa and belgian dips.
Logger Ariyann

Leaky Cauldron - London

This cramped, angular room is the taproom of the Leaky Cauldron. A long bar stretches along one side of the room with rickety wooden stools set out before it. Dim, musty sunset light streams in through a few dirty, old windows covered in soot and grime from years of fires on the taproom's hearth. The place smells distinctly of pipe tobacco, burnt tallow, and wood smoke and seems to lack basic electricity.

The ceiling is a cavernous two-story affair with visible rafters which muffle the noise of the tavern's patrons. Tables and chairs are scattered about the floor and a few booths which look to be of victorian vintage are jammed against the opposite wall from the bar. An archway next to the bar leads down a hallway containing a staircase and the entrance to a private parlor. At the rear of the building a door leads out into a small courtyard, and at the front another narrow door gives access to Charing Cross Road.


November and the first snows of the season have driven a lot of people to seek the comfort of the Leaky Cauldron. Despite the chill and a building that looks like it would have a mean draft, the taproom is toasty warm and full of witches and wizards out for an evening of good company and better mead. Candles are on nearly every table and waitresses and waiters dash about with platters of finger foods and cupsful of drinks — one may even spot a steaming mug of tea, cocoa or coffee, given the climate.

Ariyann likes to go out sometimes in the evenings and sit at the bar. She has no plans in particular, but the nights always hold some surprises — especially when people are in comfy, chatty moods at bars. This is why she's arriving now, climbing up onto one of the stools between a sour-looking stick of a man and another empty stool ("climbing" being the operative word, poor thing.)
Not far behind Ariyann is Sophia bundled up in her winter coat. It's too cold out, in her opinion, which makes this a perfect night for some hot cocoa with mint shnapps. Best drink there is, in her opinion. She sits down in that empty stool next to Ariyann and gives the woman a smile. "Horrid weather we're having, hmm? Somewhere tropical would be so much better."

Chloe walks into the bar, tugging the scarf from around her neck as she does so. The tall woman easily looks over the crowd, a wry smile tugging at her lips. She wanders over towards the bar as she takes her gloves off and tucks them in her coat pockets, wearing muggle clothing instead of the more traditional Wizarding stuff. She smiles at the people there before leaning over in between Ari and the stick of a man to catch the bar tender's attention, "Hey, could I get an Irish hot cocoa?" Then to the other women, "It's bloody cold out there."

Heather is here too. Which is really odd because lately one usually only sees her at her place in the Golden Cue. But its frigid out and she had some magical shopping to do. Thus she is here and moving to the bar and asking for some hot cocoa with amighty kick. After she finds a stool to occupy she then glances around the room as he opens her winter jacket. She takes coins out of her pocket and offers softly "Warm drinks all around if you please." The bartender arches both brows at this but as he nods the mony is just /gone/!

The Leaky Cauldron's door opens wide, letting a cold wind wander inside, something that would probably cause a few annoyed heads turning, specially from the ones that are closer…it's freezing cold after all. A figure wearing a set of dark robes wanders inside, the man runs his fingers over his hair to get the snow out of it and then looks around. Marcus looks over his shoulders at the cold evening outside and then back to everyone gathered here. Yup, another 'all night' day of work, he is doing some follow ups for the MLE. With his hands in his pockets, he steps towards the bar but since it's kinda crowded, he just waits for a moment.

Having managed to summit her tower of a stool at her stature, Ariyann perches prim and proper on the top and asks the bartender for a cocoa, and no, she doesn't want schnapps, thanks, but just the cocoa. And maybe a little bit of whipped creme on top. Whipped creme is rather good. "I don't know about tropical," She says to Sophie when the woman sits. "I rather like it when it snows. Although I like the springtime, too." She kicks the heels of her feet against the leg of her stool and props her elbows on the bar, canting her head to the side to glance at Chloe. "But the cold's also all the better to get nice and toasty inside! And I do love cocoa. And cocoa in the warm is fundamentally wrong."

Chloe chuckles softly, "It's the best to curl up near a fire with some cocoa in the middle of winter. I'll probably end up doing that later. If I don't get called back into work. Oh the life of becoming a healer." She says dryly before reaching to the bartender to get her mug. "THank you…" She murmers before she looks back to them, contentedly ignoring the disgruntled sounds of the man she's sort of squeezing in beside.
Heather sips her cocoa as the bartender tells everyone no charge for this round. She is out of the cold and happy for now. Granted she takes a LARGE bag out of the pocket of her coat. It so should not of fit in there. But hey she had to shop. Then she opens a copy of the paper and starts to skim the headlines.

"Tho snow can became a pain, from time to time…." idly offers Marcus as he keeps pushing snow away from his robes. He looks up and shows a slight smile "Hi there Ariyann…" he doesn't know either Sophie or Chloe but "Good evening" is offered to them, with a polite nod. His gaze wanders to the others here and he spots Heather, the man offers a wave to her along with a smile but given that she seem focused with her reading, he doesn't know if he saw it or not. Granted, the man extends his hand and accepts that free cocoa…dum dee dum.

The sallow, rather anti-social individual that had been sitting beside Ariyann has finally had enough. With a loud scoff and a completely bothered expression, he abandons his seat and retreats to a dark corner where no sudden crowds of overly cheerful people will interrupt his brooding time. Ariyann doesn't even really notice him; she accepts her steaming cup of cocoa (with extra whipped creme!) from the bar tender — who looks at her like he can't figure out if she's an adult or a rather large child. "Only if you're on the wrong end of a snowball fight!" She laughs. "Hullo Marcus. It's good to see you haven't been dismembered by evil lately." She takes a tentative sip of her cocoa and manages to get whipped creme on her nose. Whoops.

Chloe happily takes the now abandoned seat, triumphant in her not so hostile takeover of allied territory. She too takes a sip of her cocoa, sighing happily as the warmth quickly starts to spread through her. "Mmm, I'm Chloe by the way. Chloe White. And you have some creme on your nose." She winks and then looks to this Marcus character, waggling her fingers in greeting. "Hullo there…"

Heather watched this mini takeover and smirks. Good for her!! Then she waves to Marcus "Yes it is good to see you in one piece Marcus. On shift tonight?" She takes another deep sip of cocoa and offers to "I'm Heather Meldrion." She folds the paper and slips it into her pocket. Must really get out more "Creme is the new winter statement." She rises and moves closer to the two ladies.

Marcus smiles at Ariyann's words and offers "Hey, I'm really good at throwing snowballs…" he chuckles softly and nods "Aye, I'm still in once piece….for the time being" he shrugs and adds "Who knows what will happen in the next 10 seconds right?" This is of course directed to both Ariyann and Heather "So how's everyone this fine evening?" Now he nods to Chloe "Marcus Hollingberry, it's a pleasure"

"Oh," Ariyann says, going a bit cross-eyed in an attempt to look at her nose. "Oh, whoops." She raises a hand and wipes the creme from her nose with a bit of a giggle. "Thanks! I'm Ariyann Lynch," She does have a bit of a Scottish accent to go with the name. "And I remember you from the poker," She says to Heather, grinning. "How is business?" She shoots Marcus a look at his snow comment, though. "We'll have to test that theory of yours one day, then"

"A pleasure to meet you both." Chloe smiles at both of them, nodding. "And as long as you don't end up in my ward, I should only see you" directed at Marcus, "in civil situations. I'm going into Trauma." She sips at her hot cocoa again. "I'm doing rather well. Had a long day at work, and if anything goes wrong, it'll be a long night too. I figured I'd relax until my friend got off shift too."

Heather offers softly "A pleasure also." She asks Ari "Did you enjoy the game?" Then she offers after another long drink "Oh going into Trauma you will see many Aurors … likely Marcus among them from time to time." She considers "Actually I was thinking of having a Thanksgiving feast at the Golden Cue once the time arrives. What do you all think? Oh of course not /on/ the day. After al they are for families."

Marcus smiles at Ariyann and nods "Anytime…" Challenge? Maybe! XD He now looks at Chloe and offers "Hopefully, it will be that way….or at least I'll make my best effort to avoid that" he smiles and then arches his eyebrows at Heather's comment, he chuckles softly and says "Well, thanks for the vote of confidence Heather" a soft laugh comes from the Auror but, he knows that at some point, he'll end up in Mungos. It happened in the past, more than enough times and it will happen again. "I'm up for that, Thanksgiving feast that is"

"That would be splendid," Ariyann agrees. "With a great big turkey and everything, even. I mean, I agree that Thanksgiving is for family, but sometimes, friends can be a second family, you know? And it's all about keeping good company, anyway, and /staying alive/" GLARE AT THE AUROR. "to enjoy said company." She takes another sip of her cocoa. "Although I can't say I've never been in Mungo's, myself," She admits to Chloe, shrugging. "Sometimes the beasties don't like being bothered very much."

Chloe blinks and tilts her head, "I've never celebrated Thankgiving. Too much of a Ynk think…" She chuckles and shakes her head. "Lots of autumn stuff though, and I suppose we can be thankful that the Yanks left us when they did." Another grin before she takes a sip of her cocoa again. "I try to not treat most of the aurors that come through, leave them to others, because a lot of them got their injuries out of stupidity I find. It irks me."

Heather mms "Well even so I will need decorating help." She hesitates and looks at her empty cup "After all we have missed celebrating so many holidays. Maybe I should wait for Christmas?"

Marcus looks back at Ariyann and offers "I have to stay alive, how am I going to beat you in a snowball fight if I'm not alive?" he smiles at that and nods. It's good to see someone that worries. His attention moves to Chloe as she makes that last comment and he says "While I don't agree with your comment on the stupidity thing..I admit there have been some exceptions. Me for example, when I first joined, I got a couple dumb injuries. But everyone grows to understand not to do stupid things…" he shrugs casually at that, after all, everyone is entitled to an opinion. "If you ask me, I think there should be special days at the Cue for each Holiday"

"Oh, genuine injuries are something else, but if it comforts you, the stupidity levels in the general populace are higher than with the auror corps." Chloe chuckles and nods, "It's just irritating, the blatant stupidity I mean. Maybe being stuck with a broken arm for a few weeks will teach a person not to climb on the top step of a ladder, like it says on the bloody thing." She huffs.

"Oh, but let's talk about something other than injuries," Ariyann says, wincing. "Just thinking about it brings back some phantom pains I'd rather not have." She likes sitting inside and enjoying her warmth and her cocoa and not thinking too much about things that hurt, like falling off ladders.

Heather arches a brow and considers Marcus' comment and laughs softly "Keep dreaming on that one Hollingberry. That's to much work…maybe one day." But with a glance to her watch she sighs "If you'll excuse me…I have to cover for my bartender tonight." She shrugs fully into her coat "Stay warm all and be well." With that she moves to the door.

The man follows Heather with his gaze as she walks towards the door "Take care Heather, and be safe" He looks back at Ariyann and Chloe and shows another smile before taking a small sip from his Cocoa "I wouldn't say it brings comfort…" says the man to Chloe, a smile on his lips. When Ariyann speaks, he nods and asks "So you two are done for the day with work? Sadly enough, I got the night shift, gotta help some Hitwizards with something."

"I was on call last night, and it was quite enough to last me for several days, thank you," Ariyann says with a huff. "Although they'll probably have me doing it again tomorrow night. I work at the Ministry, see," She says to Chloe, who may or may not have seen her in the hospital for something minor. "Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures."

Chloe winces a little, "I was working swing for a bit, and let me tell you, that's particularly no fun. But yes, I'm off for the night theoretically." She sighs happily. "I'm hopefully going to be picking up my friend in about an hour and then we're probably going out to dinner. Because I don't know that either of our mums will have leftovers…" She laughs and nods to Ari, "Gotcha. Sounds like an interesting job."

The man sighs and offers "Lucky you" he runs his fingers over his hair and then rubs them over his eyes, he blinks a couple times and adds "The good part is, I'll get the day off tomorrow….I think. I need to do some shopping and go to my parents house…my dad and a couple of his old friends decided to play Quidditch on an amateur league and they want me to play as well"

"It can be. But sometimes it's beastly, and I don't mean that to be ironic. Mountains of paperwork." Ariyann laughs. "Amateur quidditch with your pa? Mine would kill himself if he tried to get on a broomstick. Granted, part of that's 'cause he's Muggle, but even if he weren't, it'd be the same."

"Amateur quidditch? Man, Wil'd be thrilled to get on a broom again, not that we've got the time currently, but maybe once we graduate to full Healers…" Chloe says thoughtfully. "My mum's a muggle, though I think she'd be ok up on a broom if she could. She's a choreographer… dance stuff."

Marcus nods to Ariyann's comment "Yeah, my dad never got to play Quidditch at school, then for some time, the Ministry had some sort of internal league but it was shut down. He retired from the Ministry and now found a new place to play, so he's kinda pumped because of that." Now he offers a smile Chloe and offers "Both mum and dad are muggleborns, I'm sort off…the first Half-Blood in the family…." he shakes his head and shrugs "Not that bloodline actually matters to us" To Chloe "Well, I can give you all the details of this league if you want…." now he moves to Ariyann "…to both of you"

Ariyann makes a face. "I've not even played Quidditch since Hogwarts, and THEN I only managed to get on the team because they were desperate for a Keeper. It was rather fun, though. And I'm sure you want the company with all the old fogeys around," She laughs.

Chloe chuckles, "Yeah, I'm more for watching myself, but I'll certainly take the info for Wil." She nods and drains the last of her cocoa, sighing happily and leaning against the bar as she chatters. "He'll probably dance with glee."

"I know, I know, I'm a bad person…" offers Marcus to Ariyann after her comment "I just don't want to be left alone with the old guys, they scare me…" he chuckles softly and then looks at Chloe "Sounds good, I'll get the details to you, I'm afraid I don't have them with me at the moment"

"No problem at all. You can owl them to me or catch me at Mungos. Usually the safest way to catch me." Chloe nods a little, tilting her head in amusement. "Such is the life huh? Anyway, I can't garuntee that he'll want to play, but I know he'll be interested at least. It's our last year of training, so we're just a mite busy."

Marcus shakes his head "No worries, the more the merrier…." he smiles to that and adds "And I understand how that goes, my last year of training was quite a busy one. And I hate to tell you this but, it's going to get busier…specially for Healers and if the rules that you mention apply more and more…you know, the rules on stupidity" He smiles at that and takes another healthy sip from his Cocoa.

"How's it going to get busier?" Ariyann says suspiciously, cocking her head and peering up at Marcus in a kind of squinty-eyed way. She has basic logic skills, you know. Busier means more injuries means either a higher incidence of stupidity or danger.

"Yeah, I'd rather be forewarned too…" Chloe says honestly and then wrinkles her nose. "While getting more work is always interesting, it also sucks." She nods.

Marcus looks at Ariyann and shrugs "Well, in any work situation, when you are out of training, you get more work. I'm sure it has happened to you as well Ariyann…." he smiles softly and he knows what she meant, in the case of an Auror…danger grows. In the case of Healers, they are taking care of more people at the same time…being them hurt due to stupidity or dangerous situations. :P He looks at Chloe and chuckles "I'll make a note on that"

"Oh, right," Ariyann says with a laugh. "I don't know why, but the way you said it sounded like you might know something that we didn't!" She finishes off the last bit of her cocoa, which was starting to grow a bit cold anyway. "And that would just have been no good at all."

"I know, I'm always nervous when Aurors are cryptic." Chloe chuckles and shakes her head a bit. "But yeah, I expect that the workload is going to get worse, but at the same time, we wont have to deal with the school portion of it all." She sighs. "Not that I'm not having fun, but still."

Marcus laughs softly "I'm not being cryptic…" he shakes his head and smiles. The man finishes his cocoa and places the empty cup on the counter "Alright, Ariyann, Chloe…it has been nice seeing you. Well…meeting you in your case, Chloe…" he smiles to that and then looks at Ariyann "I do warn you something tho…." and here he goes cryptic "…watch out, snow flies fast and Aurors have good aim…" he chuckles at that and then adds "Enjoy the rest of your evenings, see you guys later…" After that, he turns around and leaves…

"I'm used to much worse than snow flying at me!" Ariyann calls after Marcus. "Take care!" She looks down at her own empty mug with pursed lips. "Although sometimes I wonder how we all manage to find such interesting careers, you know," She says to Chloe. "When muggles go around becoming accountants and insurance salesmen and McDonalds workers."

"I don't really know, but I am friends with a few shopkeepers and grocers and streetcleaners." Chloe chuckles softly and shrugs. "But you have to admit that Hogwarts does prepare you for the strange and unusual." She smiles wryly. "But I think that's the point."

"I s'pose you're right," Ariyann says. "It'd be rather bad to go from Hogwarts to being a janitor. Even a magical janitor."

Chloe nods and smiles faintly, "I mean, I could see it if you left before OWLs or something, but passing NEWTs and the like… Yeah, it would be kind of a step down unless you -wanted- to do that sort of thing."

"Ah, well. I'm out of cocoa," Ariyann says a bit sadly, looking down at her mug. "And I probably should be getting home to feed the cat before he shreds the curtains again. It's his way of punishing me when I don't bend to his every demand. It was very nice meeting you, Chloe!" She slides down off of her stool, tips the bar tender (for her hot cocoa, even) and waves at the other woman before disappearing back out into the cold.


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