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The ice cream parlour was particularly crowded that morning.
Astoria stood at the counter, and before her was a long line of customers - especially teenagers - waiting to get their orders. She moved swiftly, scooping ice cream from the large tubs in front of her and placing it gently and carefully into cups or cones, as desired by each customer. She smiled at everyone who came, greeted them with a good morning, sometimes asked questions like How are you doing? Most of the time, Astoria felt like she was getting paid for being nice to people, not for feeding them ice cream.
"Have a nice day," she said to a teenage boy, who had just bought two cups of vanilla ice cream. He smiled briefly at her and left the line, allowing more people to move forward and place their orders.
The tip jar by the counter began to fill up fast with sickles and knuts, but not as fast as the stash of ice cream decreased. Astoria quickly knocked on the small window behind her and let the people at the back know that they were out of chocolate ice cream. Her hair came loose, but with more people piling into the small shop, she hardly found time to breathe.
"What is up with people today?" she asked a couple of minutes later, after switching her role with Lyla. She was now at the reception, receiving their customers' bills.
Lyla laughed. "You don't remember? It's August. Term will start at September, and witches and wizards all over the country are coming into Diagon Alley to buy their school things."
Astoria nodded. She had completely forgotten about it. Now that she understood the reason behind such hype at the parlour, she looked at her customers in a whole new light.
While initially she has been slightly annoyed by the crowd, now she only saw young witches and wizards preparing for a new academic year at Hogwarts. She remembered how excited she used to get before a term would begin. She would start packing her trunk at least two weeks before the first of September, and she would check to see if she has taken everything at least twice each day. Her trips to Diagon Alley were special for her, as it meant new books and new accessories and new robes, signifying a new chapter of her life. She has visited Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour a couple of times herself, and she remembered the joy she would get as she indulged into her favourite ice cream - sticky toffee pudding with chopped nuts.
Now she was at the giving end of that joy, knowing how much happiness this must bring to the children who were coming into the shop brought a wholesome feeling in her chest. Although this was a temporary job, she loved doing it, she loved watching people's faces light up into a smile, she loved the utter satisfaction it gave her. When she had left home and got the job, she had had second thoughts about it. But now she had no doubt the she enjoyed her work, and she never felt exhausted of serving ice cream to people.
