So not my fault (Aurie/Ed)

Damn.

Oh damnations.

Aurelie knew going to this tea shop was a bad idea. She knew it was a very, VERY bad idea. In fact, it was most possibly one of her worst ideas ever. No, wait, her worst idea ever was jumping into a iced-over lake. Never mind that.

"I'm sorry!" she cried, backing away and promptly crashing over another tea tray. Today was definitely not her day. She ran her hand through her light brown hair agitatedly and stood quite still.

"ENOUGH!" shouted Madam Rose, waving around her wand and repairing the tea trays and other utensils and such. "GET OUT OF MY SHOP!"

She scurried.

Rhys had barely managed to save a teacup from crashing to the floor, breathing a sigh of relief. He really should avoid places full of breakable items. It was pretty, in a way that reminded him of Lena. An ache of longing throbbed in his chest. He really missed her.

He turned towards the back of shop... and promptly collided with someone in a rush to get out. The teacup smashed against the floor as Rhys and the other person fell into a heap of tangled limbs.

Aurelie squeaked as she crashed against someone. "Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!" she chanted, trying to untangle herself. "Ouch," she muttered, yanking her hair from under the guy. "Sorry! Again! Merlin, I am so sorry!"

Popping up, she flushed with nervous energy. "Sorry!" She yanked up the guy and winced. "I smashed another teacup. God dammit."

"Crap!" Rhys exclaimed, speaking in Russian. "So sorry - I should've watched where I was going. Sorry!" He slowly untangled himself, pausing to grab the girl's wrist to keep her from putting her hand in the broken glass.

"Careful." The redhead pulled himself up, offering her a hand.

"Sorry fae runnin' inta ye, yes?" Rhys said, his English mangled by an accent that was not only Russian, but Welsh, as well. "Are ye okay?"

"Um."

Aurelie stared at him for a second, her eyebrows pulling together. He was speaking, but seemingly in a different language, and when he spoke English, she couldn't make out what he was saying. "Sorry, come again?"

Rhys grimaced, scratching his head with one hand. "Ah wis born in bludy Wales, fer Merlin's sake," he muttered to himself, "but ye wouldn't know it.

"Um..." Rhys said, trying again slowly. "I... am sorry. I di'n't mean t' run into ye. You... are alrigh', yes?"

Dear Merlin, let her understand me... he thought.

"I... am sorry. I di'n't mean t' run into ye. You... are alrigh', yes?"

Her eyes brightened.

"Oh yes, I'm uh, I'm just brilliant, sorry, distracto and everything," she said fast, the words spilling over each other. "You, uh, heard me break a couple of things and whoa!"

With that last word, her foot slipped on the floor and she fell with a wince. Her leg knocked into the boy's.

"I am SO sorry!" she cried again.

Rhys laughed. "Ye talk faster than I do," he remarked. Eyes going wide, the redhead managed to avoid falling on top of the girl by making a made grab for the closest table.

"Bloody hell!" Rhys exclaimed in Russian. "I think ye also..." His face scrunched in thought as he tried to think of the proper English word. "Big klutz. Me, too.

"Do ye wan' back up? Or is th' floor safer?" he teased.

"Klutz. That's me!" laughed Aurelie, slowing down her speech in a remarkable effort. When she was nervous, or humiliated, she tended to talk fast. "Um." She glanced around herself and straightened her top. "The floor seems safer, yet I think I'm going to get back up and go...out." She grimaced.

Grinning, he offered her a hand up. "I... will help ye. Maybe..." He drew the sentence out a bit, as though considering his word carefully. "Maybe, t'gether we get out an' not break anething." Rhys gave a crooked smile. Though, he had no trouble understanding her, the boy made certain to speak as slowly and clearly as he could manage.

"Me name is Rhys, by th' way," he introduced himself. "Rhys Edmunds."

Aurelie matched his crooked grin with a lopsided one of hers. "Together it is," she said and took his hand, lifting herself up. "Breaking nothing would be nice."

When he introduced himself as Rhys, she smiled. "Heya. I'm Aurelie Bones. But everyone calls me Aurie, so...just...call...me...Aurie. Or Aur?" She shrugged. "Whatever floats your boat. Shall we go out?"

Instantly she blushed. "Not like that, I meant as in...out of the tea shop. Y'know."

"Aurelie," Rhys repeated, his odd accent giving the name an odd inflection. "It is pretty."

The redhead laughed. "I know what ye mean. Me... uh, girlfriend? Lena. She would kill me," he replied as they made their way towards the door. "Bare-handed."

"Ha," said Aurelie, amused. "Sounds like my kind of friend."

So he had a girlfriend that was both violent and very attractive, by the sound of it.

Innntterresstingg.

Her thoughts were broken off by the swift wind that rustled into the shop when she opened the door. The tinkle of the brass bell sounded above her and she rushed out quickly. Wintertime had shown up clearly; white snow covered the tops of the houses. The dim sunlight caught in it and reflected many colors.

"Gorgeous, isn't it?"

Rhys followed Aurie outside the shop, breathing in the cold air. Taking his hat out of his pocket, he pulled it on over his head.

"It is very beautiful," he agreed. "Winter is me girlfriend's fav'rite time o' year. She really, really likes th' snow."

Either his head was cold or he just liked hats, Aurelie thought wryly as he talked on at length about his girlfriend. "She's at Durmstrang, right?" she asked.

"Me accent gave me 'way, yes?" Rhys remarked with a grin. "We both go t' Durmstrang. I wis born in Wales, though. Onle I grew up in Russia."

"Uhm, okay," said Aurelie. "I grew up in...England." She waved her hands around. "Very verbose, I know, but that's all there really is." She grinned.

"Nothin' wrong with zat. Ye go t' Hogwarts, then, yes?" Rhys asked. "I almost went t' Hogwarts, then me aunt changed her mind. I want t' do z' exchange student program. Make me English better."

The redhead peered down each side of the street. "I am lookin' for me cousin," he explained. "She's around h're somewhere."

"Oh." She grinned. "Planning to do the exchange thing? I wonder what your girlfriend will think about that..."

"What does you cousin look like?" asked Aurelie, searching the street intently. There was a disturbance in the bushes, and several pidgeons took flight. "If she's in Hogwarts, what's her name?"

"She has applied as well," responded Rhys with a smile. "Are you, as well?

"Me cousin looks nothin' like me. Except z' ... uh, pale skin. She is tall an' has dark hair," he explained. "She went t' Durmstrang, but she is a student no more. Her name is Ana. Anastasia Zlobin. She is twente-vone."

The boy drew in a deep breath. Trying to talk so he could be understood was rather more work than he was accustomed to. He just wondered how much the girl was actually understanding.

It was lucky that Aurelie was especially good at noticing details, or she wouldn't know half of what the boy was saying.

"Ah," she said, grinning. "Am I, uh, keeping you? Because...I can leave, if that's what you want. Or I can help you search for her?"

Rather belatedly, she realized that he had asked her as well about the transfer program. "Unfortunately, I'm not applying," she said with a slight grimace. "However, I think it would be cool!"

"No, no - it is fine," Rhys assured, then pointed. "There she is. ANA! Cюда!" He waved his arm and a dark-haired woman several shops down, spotted spotted and waved back, heading in their direction.

"Флирт, Rhys?" she called back. "Что Lena сказала?"

Rhys promptly turned bright red. "Вы знаете, что я не так!" he denied.

Ana laughed, patting the boy's cheek fondly. "Конечно, нет, дорогой кузен. Lenа убьет вас," she said. Upon first glance, she was rather ordinary in appearance. Another look, however, revealed that she possessed that rare, understated beauty that was easily overlooked.

"I'm Ana," she introduced herself, her English, though accented, much easier to understand. "I'm this one's cousin."

"Zis is Aurie," Rhys told his cousin. "She goes t' Hogwarts."

"Pleasure to meet you," Ana said, then turned to Rhys. "Rhys, mother and father say we're about ready to go."

"Oh." Aurelie smiled. "It was nice meeting you, Rhys!" She made as if to hug him, realized that it was terribly presumptuous of her to do so and ended up just sticking her hand out to shake.