Enchanted by freckles - short stories

Story 25 - Garreth's golden goods

Caelie's point of view (6th of August 1912):

Sebastian and I were baking some small cakes when Garreth came home in the early afternoon. He was called to school two days after his birthday. It was quite unusual for him to be called to school during the summer holidays, but we knew it couldn't be anything bad, because he was just an excellent teacher.

"Guys! You won't believe this!" he exclaimed excitedly and put his arms around our waists.

"What's up?" "Matilda is retiring. We have a new teacher, you might remember him, he was in the year below Jennie, Albus Dumbledore. He's taking over as the transformation teacher and because he was in Gryffindor himself, he's also going to be the Head of House, but anyway, that's not what I'm going for. Accordingly, Black wanted to know who would now take over Matilda's role as Deputy Headmaster and the WHOLE staff suggested me," Garreth said, smiling proudly at us.

"That's awesome." said Sebastian, giving him a kiss on the cheek, "But do you want to do it?" "That's what I wanted to talk to you about first. I'd still be allowed to sleep at home because it's worked out well for the last years, but I'd have more work and probably have to stay at the castle longer."

"If you want to do it, then do it. We won't get bored here," I said, putting a hand on Garreth's short-bearded cheek. "What do you think, Seb?" "I see it the same way as Caelie. If it makes you happy, it makes us happy. And I think as long as we see each other at least most evenings, it's perfectly fine." "You two are the best. Really." he said, hugging us tightly, "What do you guys do?" 

"We test recipes." "Why is that?" Sebastian turned to Garreth and smiled, "Because now we have time to make our dream come true. Found out today that a shop has just become vacant in Hogsmeade and we were thinking if this wouldn't be just the right time to open the bakery."

"That sounds fantastic. Then I can come by on my lunch break and eat cake before I go back to work. But do you think you can do that?" "Sure, I learned from the best, didn't I? Only you have to give us the potions. None of us can do them as well as you." "You guys are cute. Where's the shop? Do you know how much it costs yet?" "It's right next to Honeydukes, so it's in a perfect location, but it's not cheap," Sebastian said, calculating everything for him.

Meanwhile, I continued to pack Fiona's suitcase. Her time at Hogwarts started at the end of the month, so I was already packing up her books and stuff.

When I came back into the kitchen, Garreth and Sebastian were standing over a sheet of paper, calculating something.

"We'll do it. If we don't try, we'll regret it." said Garreth after a few minutes of thinking, "But I really can't help you much then. Black hardly does anything himself." "That's okay. We can handle it.", I said giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"And you should say yes quickly. With a location like this, it'll find another buyer pretty quickly otherwise." "I'm on my way," Sebastian said and changed his clothes before going outside. Garreth poured us some wine, and sat down on the sofa. I sat down on his lap and snuggled up to him.

"You two make me so happy, Caelie. So, so happy." he whispered in my ear. I stroked his slightly bearded cheek, which by now had a silver sheen to it depending on the angle. Sebastian and I were 37 by now, and Garreth turned 38 two days ago. We had been together for so long now, and it all still felt so right.

"And you make us happy, Garreth," I said, resting my forehead against his. It was a lot quieter at home right now. Fiona was with Anne and Ominis, Sammy was home but was in his room with Tessy, Sebbi was at Runa's house, while Eddie and Venia decided to travel around Europe a bit until winter.