Taste of Home

Charleston's Cottage

Ever since he was old enough to live on his own, life in the forest was all that Charleston Maverick knew, and he quite enjoyed the peace and quiet of his lifestyle. He was born into a family of magicians and witches, and when he was wandering around the forest one afternoon shortly after leaving home, he happened upon a nice clearing before deciding to create his own house there. After giving the matter a little thought, he decided to have a house made of candy and sweets from the foundation to the roof, complete with gingerbread siding and a walkway of chocolate chunks lined with gumdrops. Along the corners of his house were candy canes, the roof was covered in white frosting with assorted candies decorating it, and the door knob was made from a large jawbreaker.

It seemed like the perfect place for him to reside in the woods. Still, even with such a fascinating exterior as a cottage made of candy, there was a problem with his choice of décor. Unlike in the days when witches and wizards ruled the forests, children these days had heard about the witch that tried to make a meal out of Hansel and Gretel, so many people avoided the house for years. It got to the point that Charleston decided to enchant his house with a spell that could make it invisible unless it was necessary, all while staying in that forest clearing. Thanks to a magic cauldron that worked like a crystal ball, showing him the outside world whenever he cooked a View Brew, Charleston had seen many a hiker pass by the clearing and never made the house visible to them.

One night, Charleston was sitting in his cottage when he heard the sound of someone praying, and he looked into his cauldron before seeing Ginny as she prayed outside. Upon hearing her mention her wish to be hidden from her parents, he curiously dropped some Flashback Elixir into the cauldron before watching scenes from her past, and he felt his heart break as he saw what she went through. After choosing her to be the next person to see his cottage, he was making a new brew he noticed a few rough patches on her teddy bear, and he wondered if he should fix the bear now or wait. In a rare burst of eagerness, he managed to slip out of the house and take Mr. Snuggles out of Ginny's arms before tiptoeing away to his house, where he snapped his fingers before the cottage became visible. With a wave of his hand, the walkway stretched out towards Ginny's feet, which would lead her right to the cottage when she woke up. He then went straight to work on fixing Mr. Snuggles, and as soon as the bear was ready to be presented, he added a few accessories before setting the toy in the dining room area for the moment.

When Ginny woke up early in the morning, she startled herself by waking up without Mr. Snuggles, causing her eyes to pop open before she started looking for him. As nervous as she was about losing her special friend, she knew better than to start heading home to cry to her parents about it, and that was when she noticed the pathway lined with gumdrops. Ginny had to rub her eyes to make sure she wasn't dreaming, and she crouched down and felt one of the gumdrops before gasping and giggling at how real it was. After packing the rest of her belongings into her satchel, she followed the path while looking down at the chocolate under her feet, not even leaving a dent on the sweet street.