Astoria got to Gulliver's Glen early to make sure the table was situated how she wanted it. She'd chosen a fairly simple wine-colored dress with heels and a clutch and swept her hair back. She waited anxiously for Angelina, not really believing the other woman had agreed to this, but it would be nice. It would. They would talk with no one to interrupt them.

It was stupid to be nervous for this. Right? Right. It's just dinner with a friend. You did this loads of time with Fred and Katie. With Alicia. No. Not like with Alicia, really. Frowning, Angelina jogged up the three steps leading into Gulliver's Glen. Her dress had given her issues. She didn't know if she'd overdressed.

You did. You overdressed. This is just dinner. She's a nice girl and you wanted to look nice for her. For her? With her. Because she'll look nice. Not for her, for her.

Shaking her head, Angelina smiled at the hostess. "Yes, I'm meeting a friend?"

Astoria fidgeted when she saw the hostess leading Angelina over. She did not know if she was supposed to stand or not. Astoria did. She rushed over and took Angelina's hand to shake it.

"You look lovely."

Astoria felt awkward and dorky. She should have talked to Daphne about how to do this. Daphne knew about people more than she did. Thinking on it, she probably should have asked Daphne's advice on Marcus as well. She always seemed to go wrong with him. Things seemed to go right with Angelina, but her signals weren't making it through.

Angelina's eyes widened when Astoria shook her hand. They were shaking hands. Odd. "Thanks. So do you. Lovely." She laughed when Astoria seemed to realize that they were shaking hands quite a bit. Pulling her hand from Astoria's smaller one, she gestured to the table for them to sit. "Did you look at the menu? I haven't been here in a while, I think I forgot what I liked."

"I have not. I haven't been here too terribly long. I'll admit I was too distracted watching for you."

They both opened their menus and Astoria was distracted. She kept looking over the edge of her menu at Angelina. She scanned over, knowing she'd have the salad that had apples, lettuce, strawberries, pecans, and raspberry vinaigrette dressing topped with grilled chicken. She'd drink white wine.

"Did you sing this weekend?"

"I sing every weekend. Whether I get paid to or not," she answered Astoria with a smile. "Same thing with dancing. I work at the bakery for my money. I dance and sing for me." She set the menu down on the table and leaned forward on her elbows towards the blond. "What about you, Astoria? What do you do for you?"

Marcus Flint. "Palmistry, tarot, tea leaves. I suppose you could say I delve in Divination for me. I've recently taken up flying, but I've only had one lesson, and I am afraid I will never be better than a casual flyer, but I did not take it up to be a quidditch player. Neither myself nor my sister were particularly athletic outside of the bedroom."

Astoria blushed. She probably should not have added that last bit, even though she was referring to Daphne, and she knew Daphs didn't care. It was not ladylike conversation.

Angelina's eyes widened. "Don't let them talk you into a broom in the bedroom. Ever." She wasn't quite sure what to say to that. If Alicia were here, they'd be laughing about it, being as brash and crude about it as they could. Astoria was not Alicia Spinnet. She was a Slytherin and raised in a conservative wizarding household. They were the farthest thing from each other that she could think of.

Astoria's eyes shot to Angelina's as she unconsciously rubbed the bruised bite mark on her shoulder. She let out a little giggle.

"Considering my penchant for dumping myself off of it and shooting up into the air due to violent sneezes, that seems particularly dangerous for me. I think I'll pass."

She sensed that Angelina was holding back on something without even using her gifts. She did not want the other woman to confuse good manners in public with stuffy in private. Astoria thought she had proved that she was not at all proper when no one was watching.

"This one time, during a brutally cold match against Hufflepuff, I fell off my broom because my arse went numb. Flying isn't particularly safe for anyone." Angelina looked up and smiled at the man as he stood over their table.

"What would you like to begin? Drinks? Perhaps an antipasto?"

"Um..." She looked over at Astoria with a raised eyebrow. "A bottle of wine? I don't have to be at work until ten tomorrow."

"White wine? Or would you prefer a red? I am for whatever to begin with. I'll be having the strawberry Waldorf salad with grilled chicken for my meal."

Angelina nodded and looked back up at the waiter with a smile. "A bottle of white wine and a grilled chicken breast with steamed vegetables and wild rice." Her smile widened when he smiled back and turned towards the kitchen with their order.

"So, besides working at the Ministry and dabbling in divination, what else makes Astoria Dolohov, Astoria Dolohov?" They'd been having chats for a few months now, but she couldn't say she actually knew much about the woman besides their light conversations.

"Daphne makes me who I am a bit. I have to counter her, be the supposed light to her supposed darkness. I was married, but he was killed in the war. Aleksey was a Death Eater, but not because he wanted to be. He was a good friend, not at all like his father."

Astoria paused, trying to think of things that weren't sad to talk about.

"I get any fashion sense I have from Aleksey. He taught me Russian. I know broken German from working at the Ministry in Berlin. Thank goodness my coworker spoke English pretty well. My broom obeys orders in German better than English, so the broken German is a good thing."

"It must be fun to speak another language. I'm not bilingual. Well, unless you count Latin... which I wouldn't."

She wasn't sure how to broach the subject about Astoria's husband. She didn't want to make their evening go to that dark place too soon. She didn't want the dark place at all, if she could avoid it. "Fashion sense is always good. Was Aleksey a snappy dresser?"

"He was," Astoria said smiling. "He was prissier than I am. He's the one who got me interested in manicures and shoes. He loved picking out shoes for me. He had a penchant for granny pants though. I'm afraid my undergarments are quite ugly and boring."

She blushed again. Yes, do let's bring up your underwear in dinner conversation.

"I'm sure he didn't think so," Angelina said with a small smile.

Astoria actually snorted. It turned into a laugh. "Aleksey didn't... we weren't... our marriage was a sham. I was... what do they call it? His beard. Yes, I believe that's the word. He was very discreet about his boyfriends though."

"Astoria Dolohov was a gay man's beard? Really?" Angelina shook her head. "I'm glad you had a good relationship with him. He sounds like a very good friend. I'm sorry he's gone."

"I am as well at times. He could not have possibly been attracted to me though - even were he not gay. He said this once. I was fifteen when we were married. He was not a pervert. Perverted, yes, but not truly a pervert. I was, in true Greengrass fashion, rather scrawny when we first met."

"You grew out of that," Angelina said with a smile. "I think it was noble that he wanted to keep your relationship pure. And honest."

"In private, Aleksey was never good at pretending to be what he was not. I feel very lucky to have known the real him, and very sad for those who did not have the privilege."

Angelina couldn't have told you how long that sat there and talked after their food had arrived and been eaten. The conversation continued on and flowed easily. The Gryffindor found herself both intrigued and amused by Astoria's stories. Some of them were sad, some of the things Angelina was able to relate to. Stories about Daphne, while Angelina still didn't care for the witch but could understand that her view of the girl might be biased, were also interesting and full of information.

Most of the night was filled with stories of Astoria's past. Angelina seemed full of questions tonight, which was fine. Astoria did not mind talking about herself to people who were honestly interested. They stayed long after their meal was finished, just talking. To the point the wait staff was likely ready to pitch them into the street.

Finally taking the hint, Angelina placed her napkin on the table and stood, a waiter almost immediately whisking the piece of cloth away to be cleaned. She let out a large sigh, the wine and the food filling her belly as she stretched and looked down at Astoria. "That was a good meal, with equally good conversation."

"Agreed," Astoria said, placing enough money for the entire spread on the table.

When Angelina tried to protest, Astoria linked her arm through the other woman's and pulled her away.

Lips still turned into a frown, Angelina let Astoria lead her from the restaurant and onto the street. "Did you have anything else planned for the rest of the evening? I know it's a Sunday and you probably have work tomorrow. Do we have to cut the evening short?"

"We probably should," Astoria said sadly. "I'm sorry. I do have an early day tomorrow. Can I see you home?"

"I think I'll be alright," Angelina said with a small smile. "I know the way." They'd stopped at the corner of a street, and she looked both ways down the quiet lane.

"Wait," Astoria said chasing after her.

She had not expected Angelina to take off so quickly. Astoria caught up to her and placed a friendly kiss on Angelina's cheek before disapparating abruptly.

Angelina's eyes widened as she watched Astoria pop away. Friends don't do that. No, no, friends do not do that. Absently, her hand came up to touch the place Astoria's lips had been.

She turned, content on walking around for a bit, reflect on the evening. There was a lot to reflect on. She hummed under her breath as she moved down the street.


{SUMMARY} Angelina and Astoria have dinner.