The Chosen Hot Chocolate || Open!

Hot anything was Mali's official winter time drink. Hot chocolate, hot butterbeer, hot tea, as long as she could put a warming charm to it then it was her favorite of the moment. It just felt festive! But, hot chocolate was not her aim of the day, Mali'd popped out to Hogsmeade (literally popped, splinching didn't stop her from apparating for long) to do a little bit of last minute shopping and to distract her from her current relationship woes. Things between her and Theo were strained while things between her and Lupin were strange.

The witch weaved through the mass of patrons crowding the street, easily lost in the sea of heads if it wasn't for her brightly colored hand knit rainbow scarf and the jinglebells tied up in her hair. The bells announced her walk from the quill shop to Honeydukes where she spotted an increasingly familiar head of messy jet black hair. She wasn't a hundred percent sure where she stood in Harry Potter's world, she'd lied to him after all, straight to his face and then sassed him when he was trying to help but Mali knew where he stood in hers. She and Theo owed him a lot, their lives and their freedom at the very least and that earned him a Christmas gift. Luckily, Mali'd been carrying it stuffed down into the bottom of her bag on the off chance she'd run into him, not wanting to intrude on him at home while also wanting to avoid the auror department (there were still no warm feelings between her and that place).

Mali joined the queue of people waiting for hot chocolate, entertaining herself by bopping her head in such a way that her bells jingled out the christmas carol of their namesake or humming out a Christmas song she made up in her head. The line moved, people shuffling away with hot chocolate in hand and when it was her turn she stepped right up with a wide, cheerful grin. "No, actually. I just wanted to give you this." The witch held out a red handknit cap patterned with lightning bolts wrapped in light blue paper decorated with snowmen and topped with a metallic silver bow. "Something about you reminds me of lightning bolts. I think it's your famous scar, so it sort've seeped into my knitting and.. well, I think red's a fabulous color on most anyone, but especially you."

She wasn't quite as star struck around him, but still not quite comfortable and it showed through tense, stiff posture and the way that she fidgeted with the hem of her shirt once he took the package. She also glanced away from him every so often, as if maintaining eye contact with him was difficult. "Having a good Christmas?" It would be rude to toss the gift at him and take off, although it would be on par with her current level of social awkwardness..