Area 51

Henrietta's

It took a few stops to get back to Paradise, and Helena was relieved to get something to eat. They walked into the door, and the restaurant was oddly still empty. Surely, as it was lunch time, it should be packed like it normally was.

"Thank Merlin you guys are here! We haven't had any business all day!" Diana said. Merlin glared at her.

"Sorry, not you Merlin, just white beard Merlin. Sometimes I forget you were named after him," she said.

"Ignore him," Helena said. "He's just too sensitive towards his name."

"No, it's fine by me if he wants me to quit. It's just a habit. My mom says it all the time. It's nothing against you Merlin," Diana explained quickly.

"It's fine, Di. It just bugs me sometimes. Anyway, what are the specials today?" Merlin asked.

"BLTs with potato wedges, and sour cream lemon pie," Diana said. "Oh, and this is also our last week for our cherry-blueberry lemonades."

"Well, we've gotta get some of those cherry blueberry lemonades," Merlin said. "They're delicious. And we also need some BLTs." Diana wrote that down, and took it to the kitchen.

"And now we wait," Helena said dramatically, sitting in the booth nearest to the counter.

"I wonder why they have so few customers," Merlin asked.

"I have no idea. Maybe it's just a slow day. Most people probably got their school shopping done a few weeks ago," Helena said.

"But normally this place is packed every single day at lunchtime," Merlin said.

"I've been wondering the same thing," Diana said. Merlin jumped.

"How long have you been standing there?" Merlin asked, holding his chests, feeling how fast his heart was beating.

"A few minutes. Anyway, I heard my mom and Grammy talking, and they were talking about how a new restaurant opened down the street. Some graduate from Hogwarts owns it. Some guy named Seamus Finnigan," Diana said.

"Seamus Finnigan? You're telling me one of Harry Potter's dormmates opened up a restaurant in Nevada?" Helena asked.

"Well, I didn't know he knew Harry Potter," Diana said. "I just thought he was a random British guy."

"He's Irish actually," Helena corrected.

"Whatever. They're close enough together. The point is, we've lost all our customers to him. Apparently he cooks in front of the people using fire magic, which is so weird. Most people who are experts in elemental magic went to Sagebrush." Merlin looked slightly annoyed at her using the real name of the school, but let it go.

"Well, you won't lose us," Helena said. "I never liked the Seamus interviews. People would go to him to ask him if he ever saw Harry Potter in his underwear, or if Harry ever talked to him about who he had a crush on at the time."

"That's stupid. But I guess people like getting meals from celebrities more than anyone else. My whole family has been Ignis for as long as we can remember, but we don't cook in front of people. It's a safety hazard. Especially when we have little kids come here," Diana said.

"Do you just have Ignis back there, or do you have jobs for other houses?" Merlin asked. Helena looked at him kinda weird. She had no idea he was looking for a job. She guessed he was turning fourteen in a couple months, but she hadn't even thought about him working.

"I mean, we have a couple Aquas responsible for the ice in our drinks. We have some Terra's working at the gardens down the road where we get our produce. And then we have a Caeli working for us to air condition this place. It gets too hot for three quarters of our customers with all the fire," Diana told him. Merlin considered this.

"Are they hiring at the gardens?" Merlin asked.

"They're always hiring. A lot of the people who work there have been working there since before Sagebrush was founded," Diana said. This shocked Helena.

"They're that old?" Helena asked.

"Well, at oldest they're seventy five or eighty. Sagebrush was founded in the 60s. Not like Hogwarts which was founded thousands of years ago," Diana told her.

"I didn't know it was that new of a school," Helena said. "I mean, the state schools were founded because Ilvermorny was too small for all of the school age magical people in America. I figured Nevada would've realized sooner that they needed a school."

"I mean," said Merlin "Before Area 51 was founded, everyone went to Golden Prep or Salt Lake Institute or Gemstone School. They were founded sooner. Nevada was founded kinda late compared to every other state. Alaska, Hawaii, South Dakota, and Nebraska were the only ones after us I think."

"Why do you even know that?" Helena asked.

"We do have history classes," Diana said shrugging.

"DIANA!" someone in the back shouted.

"Oh, I guess your food's ready," she said, hurrying off to the back. They waited for a few minutes before she brought the food back. She floated it out to them.

"Wow!" Merlin said. "You just levitated that without an incantation. Inpressive." She blushed a little.

"Well thank you, Merlin. Anyway, you'll be interested to know that everything in that glass of lemonade, besides the water, was grown in the garden down the street. The lemons, the sugarcane, the blueberries, the cherries."

"Huh, I didn't think sugarcane could grow in Nevada," Helena said.

"Magic exists silly. Remember?" Diana said. "Magic can make things grow in places it can't. Terra's are amazing that way," she said, looking Merlin in the eye, and smiling.

"Well, thanks, Di," Merlin said.

"Your welcome Merrie," she said. "Do you mind if I sit with you for a minute? We're not gonna have any customers for a while. The dinner rush is still the same, it's just the lunch rush that's the same. I heard my Grammy say that he closes at like four everyday."

"Sure. Take a seat," he said sliding over so she could sit next to him.

Oh boy Helena thought. Somebody has a crush.