Classroom of Dinner [MINNA, OPEN]

[Jaminson Redpaw]

James led Minna to his classroom, silently hoping that he would have enough ingredients to make dinner for two. He was thinking about having mac n cheese or maybe pasta.

"Hmm... Maybe the pasta." James thought to himself "I have some extra seafood that I got so I hope Minna likes seafood. Oh! I know! Baked salmon with freshly baked bread and I dunno what for drinks."

James finalized the idea with a nod and a proud smile. It was nice when he knew what to get and do beforehand so he could take the plan into action straight away.

"Welcome back to the History of Magic classroom!" James grinned when they stepped inside "What do you think of the changes I made?"

You never would've guessed that this was the old, dull classroom it was before. There were couches, sofas, rugs, bean bags, costumes, sculptures and a small mini-library space in the corner. In another corner were two small beds and a bowl of water. Two furry figures slept in the beds and didn't stir when the professors entered the room.

[Willhellminna "Minna" Theoreux]

Minna was in awe. The last time she was inside that classroom, it was dreary and boring. Now the placed looked wonderful and inviting. Well it had to if you were teaching history to young people who might not really care at all.

"Wow... I am impressed. And that is coming from the Head of Slytherin House. This place seems inviting and... Well, it's just different from the last time I was here... As a student of course." she said as she looked around the room.

The sofas looked soft and then she couldn't stop herself, she dived down on one of the sofas and giggled. "And their soft too... I can fall asleep here easily..." she said. Minna sat up and watched James moved around.

"I wonder what's he going to cook? I hope it's seafood... Though that would be a long shot seeing as he doesn't know that I like seafood at all..." Minna thought. She then mentally slapped herself.

"You're going a little bit too fast... Just slow down a little and let him lead... Guys don't like being told what to do when it comes to things that they are supposedto be good at..." Minna's inner voice told her. She merely nodded and watched him, waiting for him to say something.

However, Minna didn't know that she was staring at James already. The kind of stare a woman gives a man when she loves just sitting down and watching him move. The kind where emotions are involved.

[Jaminson Redpaw]

"Thanks! I'm glad that my hard work hasn't gone to waste." James laughed and joined Minna on the couch "This job has been my dream since I was a 5th year. I loved History but I couldn't stand how boring the teacher made it. It was ridiculous!! But now I'm here and I guess my dream is coming true but what do you do after your dreams are completed? I was planning more dreams but now..."

James' voice trailed off and he shook his head sadly. After a few moments he stood up with a sigh, hoping that he could just forget the past but he already tried that. It failed horribly and became part of the worst years of his life.

"Well, I'll go feed the pets first before I start dinner." James forced himself to smile but his eys betrayed his sadness "Oh, and what do you want to drink? Though I'm not fond of alcohol I do have some good bottles of alcoholic beverages."

[Willhellminna "Minna" Theoreux]

Minna's side of the supporting bargain has already began. She saw the sadness in James' eyes and knew that it will take them both time to adjust and understand each other. Since they decided to try, she knew that she had more to do for him that he had to do for her.

"Pets? You have pets?" she asked him, trying to hide her excitement. She always wanted to have a pet but her father never allowed her to have one. She immediately stood up and walked to James' side. "Can I help you feed them?" she had a smile on her face, just like a smile of a child.

Then she held his arm and smiled at him lovingly, "Any drink you give me will be fine. Relax. We are in the stage of trying to understand each other. No awkward moments allowed. Do you understand that?" she asked him.

She wanted to make the experience smooth as possible. Though she knew that there would be bumps along the way but it was expected. All relastionships do have bumps, as people say. She smiled to herself as she smiled at James.

Someone was going to try and understand her. James was going to try and support her. The things she had always wanted. He was willing to give it to her. And this made her very glad indeed.

[Jaminson Redpaw]

"You know, I was once a DJ and a producer of electronic music." James replied to Minna, not giving her a straight answer "During that time I DJ'ed for many Muggles for different occasions. I even DJ'ed at a funeral party, however people call those things. It was depressing to play music to mourning people but everything was worth it once I played a nice, upbeat song. No doubt they were a bit mad at me first but after awhile, they laughed and started to remember the good side of life. I tried to be like them when my wife died but it took me a long time to realize the beauty in life again."

"Yeah, you can help me feed them." James smiled again, it was a true smile but he hid his other feelings deep down inside.

James went to a small room inside the large classroom and got a large, frozen rat, a small container of oatmeal, some fruit and some shredded rabbit meat. He then put them on his desk and went to the corner where two beds lay, a weasel and a small badger cub lay in the beds, peacefully sleeping.

"Wake up the two of you!" James gently poked the animals to help wake them up "It's your dinner time!"

[Willhellminna "Minna" Theoreux]

Minna smiled as she saw a badger sleeping soundly. It looked so adorable. However, the other animal caught her attention. “Is that a rat?” she asked, trying to see if it was really a rat. “Or is that a ferret?” she asked again. She didn’t really know much about animals but she likes them.

Minna wondered a little why James suddenly talked about his past job as a DJ. Not that she didn’t care about it, it was just strange to hear about his past. He didn’t seem like he wanted to say anything about it. And she didn’t want to pressuring him to say anything.

She smiled again and squeezed his arm a little, “You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to. We will have time for those. If time will allow us to have those moments in the future.” She told him. No pressure. We must not have any pressure. We just started and pressure will not do us any good.

[Jaminson Redpaw]

"You're close! Captain Berry is a weasel." James smiled, happy to talk about his pets "If I remember correctly, the two of you met already."

The two animals yawned and stretched. Captain Berry easily climbed up to his master's shoulders while James picked up Redwall, the badger cub, and made his way to his desk. His desk was pretty much neat and only had a picture of his wife, some parchment, cigars and sugar quills, quills and some ink. And all of it was nicely organized so James was quite proud of his neat desk.

"Minna, can you please warm the food?" James requested "I'll thaw out the rat so don't worry about that!"

"Hopefully time will be generous this time..." James murmured, mainly to himself.

The last time he thought he had time, everything was taken away from him. Like hell if James wanted that to happen again so he became a bit more catious about taking time lightly.

[Willhellminna "Minna" Theoreux]

Minna gulped when James said "Minna, can you please warm the food?" She was bad at cooking. She didn't even know how to heat up a meal. The last time she tried, she almost burned down her kitchen.

She giggled nervously as she looked awaay from James, "Well, I don't think I should heat up anything. I'm very bad in the kitchen. I can't even heat up a meal without burning down half the kitchen. That's why I asked my father, though I didn't really want to, to provide me a house elf. I'm useless in the kitchen. Sorry." she told him.

She sighed and was expecting James to laugh. To think that her, a woman, can't even cook or warm up a meal without a disaster happening was just a sad fate. But she had to be honest. No point in pretending to know how if she'll just ruin the meal.

[Jaminson Redpaw]

James smiled as Minna told him about her inability to cook but didn't laugh. He knew what it was like to be riduled by your cooking skills. It happened to him way too many times.

"Don't worry, you can at least heat something up. I'll help you!" James grinned supportingly "Okay, so you know the Hot Air charm right? You're supposed to learn it as a fourth year. Just use that to heat up the food. That's what I use."

James used many spells he learned at Hogwarts to make his daily life easier. Like doing the laundry, cooking, cleaning etc. After all, wasn't that the reason why magic was there? To make life easier?

[Willhellminna "Minna" Theoreux]

Minna nodded and took a deep breath. She never thought of using the charm for cooking at all. She was too used to having elves to doing the work and she just waited for the meals to come. She turned to the meal that James had laid out and took out her wand, aiming at the food and used the hot air charm.

And for the first time in her life, she was confident that she could do it.However, when she was half way into the heating process, her wand hot out fire balls, and the meal was now in flames! She panicked and turned to James.

"See??!! I told you I'm bad at kitchen work!" she yelled as she was trying to come up with an idea what to do with the fire. She was trying to remember the water charm but was failing because panic was getting the better of her.

[Jaminson Redpaw]

James chuckled then sighed at the flames. He quickly put Redwall down, got his wand and casted a nonverbal aguamenti charm, causing the water from his wand to kill the flames. Happily the food was still edible though nicely cooked so he cast a Hot Air charm to dry them off and put the containers in the corner where Redwall and Berry slept. The two of them quickly scampered to the food and hungrily ate their meal.

"See? You did pretty well!" James praised Minna proudly "It got very nicely cooked and it didn't burn! There's a start."

Though James was proud of his colleague he couldn't help but but think how lucky she was not to have his mother. Alice Redpaw was very demanding from her son, always wanting him to be perfect and do everything right. James hated it. It made his childhood before Hogwarts like hell. If Minna was in James' place she'd be punished and forced to cook all over again until she got it right. That's what James had go through after all.

[Willhellminna "Minna" Theoreux]

Minna sighed and wondered if he was just saying it to make her feel better or he really meant what he said. But she decided not to dwell on the thought. "Shall we have our dinner now? I am beginning to fell hungry." she told him, trying to smile. She didn't know what to feel.

She felt like James was trying to control his feelings around her. And she was doing the same thing. But at least, she was doing a good job of not making it that obvious. Minna sighed again and went to sit at the sofa and was in deep thought. She wondered if James really wanted to try and be the one she need out of his own will or he was just doing it because he felt sorry for her.

"Why don't you just ask him then? There's no point in making all this theories." she thought to herself. Then Minna looked up and looked at James, "James, I just want to ask you something.... Are you really sure you want to try and be my support? Or are you just doing it because you feel sorry for me?" she asked him. She didn't want to hear the answer but she knew she had too. She needed to hear it.

But she looked so crushed already, like he was going to say that he just felt sorry for her and that he said that he would try because that time she was really down and in need of comfort.

[Jaminson Redpaw]

"Yeah. So am I... I haven't eaten since breakfast so I'm pretty hungry." James nodded and went back to the small room to prepare it.

Just as he was starting to cook the salmon and start on the dough for the bread, Minna asked him of his true intentions for supporting her. Or well, something like that. James didn't really process information well but he just understood it.

"I do want to be your supprort!" James answered truthfully "Honestly and truthfully I do! I've worked with those 'I'mma just pity you for a bit then stab you in the back' people for so long that I've tried not to follow their ways. And I know the feeling and what it's like not to have someone support you too so of course I want to help others who feel the same way."

[Willhellminna "Minna" Theoreux]

Minna didn't know whether she wasnted to smile or cry. No one has ever wanted to support her in anything, except Maryn. All these years, she had always been alone and tired that no one will be able to make her happy and just be there for her. Now, James wants to honestly be there for her.

She then wondered if it was possible that she might actually fall for Redpaw. He seemed like a nice man despite how they first met. She wanted to try but was a little scared. But then she knew that she couldn't let the opportunity pass he by away. She wouldn't be able to handle it if it would happen to her again the second time around.

"Just so you know, I won't let this opportunity to pass me by now. Now that I can do something to grab this chance. I just hope that whatever will happen, we both will handle it... Together." she told him sincerely.

[Jaminson Redpaw]

Once the salmon and bread finally finished baking, James used his wand to make their dinner float and follow behind him while he held the eating utensils.

"Of course. I'm as loyal as a dog so when I say I'll be by your side, I'll be by your side." James chuckled as he put the food on a small table "Well, today's dinner, baked salmon and freshly baked bread with a mug of my special apple cider!"

Jame summoned the cider and 2 mugs with a non-verbal Accio spell and poured the cider into the 2 mugs. Apple cider was one of James' favorite things to drink as he decided to stay away from alcohol many years ago.