Title: Ice Cream and Happiness
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter
Warnings: N/A
Prompts:
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments) : Fairytales (Assignment 1) : Write a minor character, a character that everyone seems to overlook and not give enough love to. (Your minor Character should have no more then 3000 stories written for them on the site including mature stories.) - Extra Prompts : [Animal] Cat, [Name] Zezolla, [Phrase] Bippity Boppity Boo!, [Dialogue] "It's... you.", [Emotion] Worthlessness, [Word] Care, [Color] Blue, [Word] Rainbow, [Word] Unknown, [Item] Wand - Extra Credit : Include a fat mouse named Gus Gus and a cat named Lucifer in your story.
Word Count: 980
Summary: Florean Fortescue spends a couple of hours getting to know his niece.

Dearest brother,

I would be grateful if you were able to take care of Maisy for just a few hours on Saturday. I'll drop her off at 3. As you know, the magical world is unknown to her so if you could talk to her - maybe walk around Diagon Alley, that would be great.

Let me know if that's alright.

Thanks,

Frederick.

Florean stared down at the letter and sighed. He'd received it only a few days ago, hardly enough time to prepare. He had never met his brother's family, and rarely even saw the man. Frederick had retreated to the muggle world as soon as he could, never comfortable in a world that he could never truly be a part of. The sense of worthlessness that so many like him felt had proved to be too much. His parents had been glad, it was an easy solution to the embarrassing problem of having a squib for a son. They were never a close family, and after Frederick left they had grown further apart. Frederick had never told his children about his family, about the world in which he had come from, clearly holding onto the foolish hope that neither of them would inherit the magical ability. Now he was supposed to take responsibility for his niece for an entire afternoon. Florean didn't know the first thing about looking after children. Fortunately, he did have one advantage; what better place in which to entertain an eleven year old than an ice cream shop?

He looked up as the chimes above the door sounded to see a little girl waltzing past the closed sign. Florin smiled a reluctant smile and raised a hand in greeting.

"Ah. It's... you..."

She seemed undeterred by his less than enthusiastic greeting and simply grinned up at him. "I'm Maisy. Dad says that you're uncle Florean"

"You came here by yourself?" He asked. Surely he was right to be concerned? Children didn't just run about the place alone did they?

"Nope. I brought Zezolla." He winced as the girl dragged a kitten out of her bag before releasing it onto the ground. The poor cat looked more than relieved to be free and curled itself happily around Florean's ankles.

"Zezolla?" Florean clarified, unsure whether he'd heard right. "What kind of a name is that?"

"A princess's name. It's from a fairy tale"

"Hmph."

She was about to respond defiantly to his mild disapproval but was distracted by a quick movement across the floor, followed by the cat streaking towards it. Florean frowned and leant down, quickly scooping up the ball of fur which had caused the disturbance.

"A mouse!" Maisy squealed, and he sighed.

"Yes. This is Gus Gus."

"You shouldn't have a mouse in a cafe. You should get a cat like Zezolla."

"This mouse is special. I've known him for a very long time." The mouse had been a present from his parents when he'd left school, and it was a miracle that he'd lived as long as he had. Clearly that wasn't going to continue if certain children and cats were left to their own devices. "And besides, I have a cat."

"You do?"

Clearly neither he nor Gus Gus were going to get any peace until he'd dragged the poor cat out of his resting spot.

"Lucifer! Come here."

Maisy clapped her hands as the lean black cat slunk out of the kitchen. Florean sighed. The old cat wasn't used to being dragged around by children, and he didn't want to be responsible if the cat lashed out at the girl. He decided a change of conversation was called for, and cast his mind around for an appropriate topic.

"What do you thing of Diagon Alley, Maisy?"

She looked up at his words, and smiled.

"It's incredible how... real it all is. Back home everyone thinks that magic is something that belongs to fairy godmothers who can change your life with a wave of a wand and some nonsense." She looked around, gesturing with a spoon.

"Abracadabra! Bippity boppity boo!"

Florean watched her, his bemusement obvious.

She turned back to him with a grin. "Now I have a real wand though. Look!" She grabbed a wand box from her bag and opened it to show him. There was indeed a wand inside, but when she reached for it he stopped her, worried that her next 'spell' might cause some actual damage.

Maisy looked at him, obviously disappointed, and he looked around to find some way to rectify the situation. "Would you like an ice cream?"

"Yes please" She said happily, clearly appeased by his offering.

While Florean made up the cone, his niece continued chattering away. Even when he presented her with the ice cream - a tower of scoops topped off with a cherry and rainbow coloured sprinkles - she kept up the conversation. He found little jobs to do, and all the while she carried on cheerily discussing everything from the weather to her shoes. Eventually it faded, until it was simply a rhythmic background noise, and he found that it was quite nice, not to be alone.

Finally the chatter ceased and he turned around to see the girl watching him expectantly. He couldn't help but chuckle when he saw her face - her mouth was smeared with blue ice cream. He handed her a napkin, and she giggled as she caught a glimpse of her face reflected in the window.

"Thank you" she said softly, and as he looked down at her face, he knew that this would not be the last time he looked after the girl. Something that he had been missing for years - family, love - had finally found him again, and he wasn't letting go.