black as night, sweet as sin
He isn’t normally an early riser. He hates getting up early, prefers to stay in bed with his head pushed under a pillow until his brain screams at him to get up. Most of the time it’s the smell of Rose’s potions that make him leave the warm cocoon of blankets and duvets so he can throw open the windows and get some kind of fresh air in the tiny space they inhabit. He gets why she does it, understands why she spends half her time huddled over a tiny cauldron, with books tottering around her and empty bottles and packets scattered around her feet.
The floorboards are cold underneath his feet as he shuffles from the bed to the kitchen. Coffee. He needs coffee. And toast, with that homemade jam that they get from the small farmers market every Thursday. He rolls his shoulders as he walks. Stretching his muscles out in an attempt to wake himself up. Outside the sun is already high in the sky, and the distant sound of traffic mixes with the sound of birds. It’s so different from Hogwarts, and he loves it.
The coffee floods the flat, masking the smell of whatever Rose happens to be cooking today. He has no doubt that one day she’ll crack the secret of magic induced scars, he just wishes it didn’t stink. He doesn’t know how long it’s been since Rose got out of bed – hours, he knows that – but he’s so out of it when he sleeps he rarely notices, but he misses her. And bringing her coffee is the perfect excuse to stick his nose in to what she’s doing. So he makes his own coffee (black and bitter, just like his soul), downs it in three, and pulls the cream from the fridge. The date says it went out of date a week ago, but Rose seems to have worked her magic on it and it tastes as fresh as it did when they first opened it. The sugar is running low, he always says she uses too much, but she never listens and he’s given up arguing. With his hands full of toast and coffee he has to use his elbow to push at the door. The tiny space that Rose uses for her laboratory of sorts was supposed to be the bedroom, but they manage with the bed where it is.
“I bought you coffee.” He says, coming up behind her chair and sliding the mug next to her cauldron.
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