succumbing to the sweet tooth//OPEN

Alex had tried to resist it, but it was just too strong. He couldn’t fight it anymore. His sister had tried and tried to do what she could to help him resist, but it was no good. He needed sweets. Yes, Alex had always had a particularly strong sweet tooth. Zelda had always disapproved, so Alex had started hiding them away in his office in hidden drawers and fake books – places where she would never think to look whenever she came to see him – which was often. His stash was finally running low after his last splurge at Honeydukes, so he decided it was about time for another trip.

It was a Friday afternoon and it was the perfect time to slip out of his office and head down to Hogsmeade. So he did. He really did adore that little village. It just felt so quaint and homey to him. He loved all the little shops and restaurants. Alex always associated Hogsmeade with Hogwarts. He had been to Hogsmeade before he attended Hogwarts, of course, but his best memories of the little village were on those wonderful Hogsmeade weekends while he was at school. Going on dates to Madam Puddifoot’s and nerding out on the interesting quills at Scrivenshaft’s.

Alex was trying to be particularly sneaky on his trip to Honeydukes. After all, his sweet tooth was not a secret and he was constantly being teased about it by both students and teachers alike at the school – all in good fun, of course. He slipped inside and grinned as he took a look around at the variety of sweets that the little shop offered. Alex bit his lip, trying to decide what he was in the mood for – it all looked so good that it was difficult to decide! He paused in front of the chocolate – one could never go wrong with chocolate.

James strode down the long corridor of the secret passage. He was still amazed at how many secret places he had found since his first year. He had found this passage just last year and it was the best thing that had ever happened to him. This passage happened to lead right into the cellar of Honeyduke's. He couldn't think of a better place for a secret passage. Coming to the stairs he cocked his ear, listening for any sounds above him. When he heard nothing he quickly lifted the trap door and crawled out, closing it softly behind him. He clambered up the stairs to the main store then darted behind the counter into the main store. He sighed and started acting like he had been there the whole time.

His sweet tooth had been acting up. He had gotten all sorts of things from the house elves, but he just couldn't shake the need for something else, something sweeter. The result? James ending up in Honeyduke, browsing through the different chocolate and gummy options. He grabbed a few licorice wands, he could never have too many of those. He went to the section with new candies, bending over to look at the names of each one. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a familiar figure. Turning his head slightly his breath caught in his throat.

"Professor Garrett!" he said under his breath. He hadn't counted on a professor being here, even if it was one he was friends with. He couldn't handle detention right now, his homework was stacked so high he couldn't see over it. He tried to act natural, but didn't succeed very well. He stood up straight and stiff then took three backward steps until he was behind another display of sweets, then he crouched down with wide eyes.

"Oh, stupid James!" he mouthed to himself before heading to the counter. He grabbed a few other sweets randomly off the shelf and dumped them on the counter.

Alex rested his chin in his hand as he evaluated the wide assortment of chocolate bars that were spread out on the shelf in front of him. Ah, decisions, decisions. It appeared that they had even more flavors that when he was in the shop before. Now he really wished that he had brought someone along with him. Olivia would have been the perfect person. She wouldn’t reprimand him, like Zelda would have been more than happy to do, and she would actually give insight to which flavor would be the best to choose, unlike Harry, who would probably just make some joke about this very serious topic – of course, Harry was supposed to be in hiding anyway.

He was quickly pulled out of his thoughts, though, when he heard his name whispered somewhere nearby. It immediate thought was that it might be Zelda using his proper name for intimidation purposes – but then it registered in his mind that it was a male voice, not female. Besides, if Zelda caught him, she wouldn’t be whispering – she’d be yelling and she would have confronted him right off the bat.

Alex lowered his head and turned to look in the direction of where the voice had come from just in time to see someone ducking behind another sweets display. He narrowed his eyes as he recognized the person from behind. What in the world was he doing here? It wasn’t a Hogsmeade weekend for the students, was it? He quirked an eyebrow and followed the student up to the counter. “Mr. Black?” he said, after clearing his throat from behind the young man.

The voice was right behind him.
James turned around casually.
"Professor Garrett! Fancy meeting you! What are you doing here?" he smiled as he asked, clapping him on the shoulder, as if this were a completely normal occurrence and he was not breaking any school rules.

Turning half way around, James pulled some money out of his pocket, dropping it on the counter and picking up his sweets, which were now packaged in a brown paper sack. He picked up the sack and stepped away from the counter, to the other side of Alex. The tall man may have been his favorite teacher, but he was still a teacher and James didn't know if he wanted to find out if Professor Garrett was the sort of teacher to look the other way once in a while. Obviously, it would be nice if he did look the other way, but if finding out today meant getting detention, James would just as soon skip out on this surprise meeting.
"Well, It was lovely to see you! I'll see you in class on Monday!" He started to walk away, hoping that he wouldn't be called back.

Alex glanced down and pursed his lips as the student not so subtly tried to act nonchalant about the whole situation. He had momentarily forgotten that it was a Friday, so it definitely wasn’t a Hogsmeade weekend. Alex huffed out a sigh when he heard James’ question. This was the thing that he hated most about being a professor at Hogwarts. He absolutely hated having to exact punishments on the students when he caught them doing something that they weren’t supposed to be doing. Alex picked this job because he felt like he would be good at it and because he loved instilling knowledge in the minds of the students.

He let James take a few steps towards the door before speaking up. “Mr. Black, just one moment,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest before walking up to the student so that he was in front of him, blocking his path to the door. “It’s not a Hogsmeade weekend…what are you doing here?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. It was an unnecessary question, but Alex felt the need to ask it.

James turned around, once again. "Well, professor, I was just getting some candy. You know. It helps me get into studying." James just shrugged. He had to figure out how to get out of this, because he really didn't have time.
He was wondering how to make a good impression, but that seemed to be out of the picture. Maybe if he just told him the truth? Could he bribe him? People react differently to bribes, but it couldn't hurt... could it?
"Look, Professor. Can you just let this slide? Seriously, I'll buy your sweets. I just have way to much homework to get detention." he confided. It almost hurt to tell him, but he needed to know that Professor Garrett understood he wasn't a bad kid. He wasn't! He just needed some candy and the house elves didn't have what he needed! Otherwise he would be tucked up in his bed, studying for his huge tests and writing his million page essays on things no one even cares about.