This is the flat in the Westminster area of London, that belongs to Iain Hunter. He is the Division Head of International Cooperation's Trade Division. This thread is where Iain will spend his time out of work with is family, friends and beautiful girlfriend Liliana. Beware of the smells drifting out of this thread, he spends a lot of his time cooking with Lili.

This tale starts at the end of Iain's first week as Division Head at the British Ministry, and after a quiet week with nothing much happening it all changed over two hours. After meeting another Division Head in his department, and taking her out for lunch in Muggle London and then for ice cream in Diagon Alley.... Here they are. Their first real date. How will it go for the guy who, while being a Lady's Man, hasn't dated someone in ten years?

Anyone is welcome, especially Becca Todd (Becky), Lili Hayman (Thumper) and Brian Lee (Mathi). Please remember to knock before entering (OOC, please PM me before posting).

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As you get out of the lift, and walk along the corridor you stop in front of the door that has the number '7' on it. After knocking, Iain welcomes you with a smile and you are welcomed into a magnolia hallway that has wizarding pictures on the right, and muggle pictures on the other. They seem to be of two different families--Iain is included in both. There are two doors on each side of the corridor, and a staircase at the very end of the hall.

The first door on your left leads you into a gorgeous wooden kitchen that has a connecting simple dining room that has a connecting balcony. The door from the dining room leads back to the corridor.

The door that is slightly up the hall from where you are standing now, after you have come out of the dining room leads you into the living room, which also leads onto the balcony. Moving back into the corridor and back towards the main door, the door on your right leads you into a small but classy bathroom with a shower, but no bath.

If you take the time to go upstairs, you will realise that there are only two rooms. On the right through the door there is a study where books fill shelves from the floor to the roof along the whole wall to your left. To your right, there is a large wooden chest-of-drawers that holds plans, and in the top section alcohol. There are a three of leather sofa's with a coffee table between them in the center of the room. At the very bottom of the room, in the corner, stands a double desk. One with a muggle computer, and the other with Ministry work and research on it. Between the desk and the start of the book shelve, there are three large bay windows. What little of the wall can be seen, has been done mocha for the bottom half, with cream on the top half with a day-do rail around the middle to separate the colours.

Crossing the hall, you walk into Iain's bedroom. This final room continues the wooden and pale theme that travel's throughout the house. Through the arch, is the wardrobe.

Iain apparated straight into his flat kitchen and with a small groan, let the many--many--grocery bags drop (aka settle gently) on the island. He made a little bit of a face as he looked at the amount of bags he had taken home, but knew that if they helped him impress a certain blonde from his department, then it would all of been worth it.

After putting the meat into the fridge along with the piece's of fresh salad he had brought and the fruit for dessert, he washed his hands and quickly whipped up the base of a cheesecake. Muggle style. Beating the biscuits to a pulp with a rolling pin, he added it to the butter, icing sugar and syrup before patting it into the base of his Cheesecake tin. Cheesecake was one of his favourite desserts. Ever.

With a quick glance to the clock, he groaned and put the tin into the fridge. Lili and I can make the topping and ice chill it so that it will be ready. He thought as he ran up his staircase three-steps at a time. He had just enough time to have a shower, get dressed and then apparate to the London Eye to meet her. His heart skipped a beat at the thought of spending a night alone with her, but he knew that he could do this. He had too, he didn't think he could face her at work again if he mucked this up.

Fifteen minutes later, he was standing infront of the sole mirror in his flat, and he looked over his outfit. As he turned this way and then that way, he decided that the palest blue shirt, the top two buttons undone and the sleeves rolled up neatly to his elbows, would suffice. He looked at his neatly pressed jeans and wondered silently if they were too casual. After all, it wasn't like they'd specifically said this was a date... but he didn't want to offend her either.

With a strangled groan he decided to leave it and after pulling on his leather jacket, he apparated to their arranged meeting point with four minutes to spare. Whoops.

Lili smiled as she walked through the door of Iains place and looked around in amazement at her surroundings. She squeezed his hand lightly and let go, taking a couple more steps into the room. After a minute of standing in silence, just taking in the room, she turned back to Iain. "This place is amazing," she told him. "It's..." she began, but couldn't continue at a loss for words.

Shrugging out of her jacket, she hung it over her arm before she asked, "Where would you like me to put my jacket?" She wasn't sure if she should take her shoes off or not...but she didn't want to wreck the floor, so she glanced down at her feet, then back up at Iain, hoping he may understand without her having to say anything.

Iain smiled a little, as she squeezed his hand and became speechless. That was a good thing... right? He let out a small sigh, as he looked through the open doors in the hallway and saw glimses of what was to come when you stepped through each door. He smiled down at her gently.

"I'll take your jacket." He told her, as he shrugged out of his own leather jacket. "Make yourself at home. Shoe's can stay on or come off. However you feel most comfortable." He added as he hung the two jackets up behind the door in the pegs that were there.

She looked good, and he silently wondered what he had done to deserve her. "Can I get you a drink Liliana?" He let the name roll off his tongue, as he motioned for her to take the first door on her right into the immaculate kitchen.

Sliding her shoes quickly off her feet she placed them neatly by the door. Normally she wasn't this neat, and she couldn't explain why she was being so right now.

With a smile, she walked through the door he pointed out, giving him a bright smile as she slide gently past him, her shoulder brushing his as she past. "I'll have some ice tea, if you have some," she said to him. She walked around the kitchen, taking everything in. She could see why he offered to cook, this was really a place that you could get used to cooking in.

Iain smiled and nodded. Anything for her. He took a glass out of one of the cupboards, and moving to hie fridge poured her some iced tea. He smiled gently to her as he handed the glass. "Did you get finished in enough time?" He asked, as she looked around his kitchen. Apart from his bedroom, he definately liked the kitchen best. It was his territory.

With a small smile, Iain opened a can of muggle cider, and poured the amber liquid into a pint glass. It was with a grin that he looked at Lili again. "So, ready to cook dinner?" He asked, as he was mocking all of the amazing than one of them. Not one. Surely he had to be? He did have magic on his side... Right?

Lili smiled as he poured and handed her a cup of ice tea. She lifted it up and took a sip. Perfect she thought, it tasted just how she liked it. "Yes, what are we having?" she asked, as she spun around, her lilac dress flaring out slightly as she turned to face the counter.

dress

Iain smirked, as he leant against the island and she swirled to turn around. She looked stunning. He gave her a large smile as she asked what they were going to have to eat. "Well." He started, with a small laugh.

"It depends how many courses you want to have. I have ingredients for four courses, of which we definately are eating two of." He stopped and looked at her with a small smile. "So, Lili, how many courses are we having?"

She stopped suddenly. The question had caught her slightly off guard. "Three?" she said, almost making it a question. "Would you like help with anything?" she asked walking up to him and giving him a soft smile. She really was enjoying herself, she wasn't as nervous as she thought she was going to be, she didn't even know if they were considering this a date or not. She really hoped so.

Iain nodded a little and gave her a smile. "Would you like a prawn salad or soup for a starter?" He asked as she moved towards him. As she asked if he would like any help, he caught her eyes and nodded. "Love some." He gave her another small smile as she stopped infront of him and then continued. "I thought we could have steak with traditional trimmings, and then Cheesecake for dessert." He told her with a small grin. He hoped she liked everything that he had picked out. If not, he would change the menu.

"That all sounds really good," she told him, placing her hand on his chest, all nervousness suddenly gone. "Salad sounds good," she said after a couple seconds. "What would you like me to get started with?" She asked.

Iain grinned at her. He was glad that she liked his menu. As she placed her hand on his chest, his heart raced a little and he couldn't help himself from kissing her forehead softly. "Good. I'm glad that you like it." He said, as his hand moved to rest on the base of her back.

"Would you like to make the salad's? I'll make the cheesecake topping, and then do the main course." He gave her a small smile, wondering why having her so close wasn't making him nervous. Although, he was glad because he really didn't want to muck things up with her.

Blush rose up her cheeks as he kissed her forhead. She stood still until he started talking again. Taking a couple steps back she said, "Sure, I can do that. Is the stuff all in the fridge?" She asked, pointing to the fridge as she talked. Without waiting for an answer, and backed up, his arm falling off her back, and made her way over to the fridge. She rummaged around until she found the stuff she needed, then took it over to the counter. Setting it down, she looked around until she found a chopping board, and a knife, and a bowl to put the salad in. Taking it all back to the counter, she got to work on cutting up the ingredients for the salad. "What kinda of dressing is your favourite?" she asked him as she worked.

Iain smiled at her, and decided that he would have to kiss her more often if she looked at shyly cute with a blush. As she moved, he let his hand fall to his side and nodded, although she was already moving towards the fridge so she obviously didn't actually need an answer. With a small smile in her direction (how well does she fit into my kitchen) and then a smirk at the thought, he took began to get the things that he needed for the cheesecake.

Moving up behind her, he grabbed the creamcheese, cream and strawberries from the fridge before it closed after her. He grabbed the muggle baking mixer from a cupboard, and plugged it into one of the hidden plugs under the counter. He loved the muggles for their appliances. It was always much more satisfying if you had hand-made your food.

As he cleaned the strawberries in a bowl of water, and skulled them he added them to the mixing bowl which was turning slowly and turning the mix into mush. Afterwards, he added the creamcheese, half of the cream and then icing sugar from a small packet.

"I will eat any of the dressings you can find in my cupboards. You pisk you're favourite. Ladies should get what they want." He told her with a grin as he let the blend as he went to get the base--which was now set--from the fridge. He added the mixture over the top and set a small chilling charm onto it, so that it would set three times faster than it normally would. It would be ready in three hours. Basically, it would be ready in time for dessert. Perfect.

As she finished cutting up the lettuce, she put it all into the bowl. She then added all the other ingredients she had chopped up. Going back over to the fridge, she found a dressing that she liked. Two actually. Having just heard Iain say that she could chose whichever dressing she liked she pulled a ranch and ceaser out of the fridge. She set them next to the salad, she wasn't sure which he would like more, so she didn't want to add them to the salad. Looking for some larger spoons, she placed them next to the large bowl when she found them. She knew that finding things on her own may seem a little forward, but he looked so handsome with a that look of concentration on his face that she didn't want to interrupt him.

After just watching him for a few minutes she when over to him, and tapped him lightly on the shoulder to let him know she was behind him before saying, "would you like be to take these out to the table?" She could see the table from here, and it would give them more space to finish cooking. She went back to where she'd been working while she waited, and took out her wand to clean up any mess that she had made. Automatically washing the utensils too.

As he placed the cheesecake into the fridge, he picked up his selected vegetables (basically everything that they would be eating with their steak and placed it on his section of the counter. Turning, he got a chopping board and a knife and noticed with a smirk that Liliana were just getting the things she needed. He was glad.

Just as he started to chop the mushroom's up, she tapped his shoulder and asked him a question. "Oh!." He said, as he turned around to look at her. "I forgot to set it." He sighed a little and moved and washed his hand. "Two seconds Love, I'll just put everything on the table." He told her with another smile as he moved in the direction of the drawing room. He noticed, with a small smile that she had followed him, and was now leaning against the archway.

As he walked through the kitchen into the drawing room, he opened a cabinet and smiled as he noticed that he had everything still there. With his wand, he charmed the white table cloth, and red runner over the table. Candles and flowers graced the center of the table. Next, two were laid out in the centre of each side of the table. The glasses and cutlery were polished to a perfect gleam. He smirked as he charmed the chrystal chandelier into a soft glow.

"Add anything you wish onto the table now." He gave her a smile, as he moved to stand infront of her. With a glance over his shoulder to the table, and glanced at her again, suddenly worried. "Is it too corny?"

"No, not at all," she said, after she had stood watching him set the table. She really liked it, and the candles were perfect. She wasn't sure whether or not she should go back into the kitchen, and bring out the salad yet. She really didn't want to move, especially with him standing right infront of her. She looked up and looked into his eyes that she liked so much, suddenly deciding that he could be the first one to move away.

Iain nodded a little, looking down at her. He blinked a little, wondering how she could look so gorgeous simply standing against a wall. He gulped a little, as she looked straight into his eyes, and silently he wondered if it was possable to suffocate from a simple look. Without even thinking about it, he took another few steps, and one of his hands ended up on her waist as they continued to look into each other's eyes. "You know... You're gorgeous."

Lili tried to stop the blush from entering her cheeks, but it was a loss cause. She was speechless as he stopped right in front of her and was only aware of what he said in a different part of her mind. Still mesmerized by his eyes she tried to speak, "I-I-I..." was all she got out before she gave up. She gave him a small smile and then reached up to tuck a strand of hair out of her eyes.

Iain gulped a little more, feeling like he should do or say something to make her feel more comfortable. He licked his lips and bit it straight after, as he wondered what he could say when she started blushing and stuttering. He gulped, he wasn't used to females not knowing what to say... "It's true." He told her, as he leant in and kissed her forehead. He would have loved to of kissed her properly, but they hadn't known each other for that long... Added to the fact that he wasn't sure if people kissed on the first date or not. Hmm.

Lili smiled up at him, and then closed her eyes for a minute. When she opened them, he had leaned back. She gave him a soft smile, and then placed her hand on his side and stepped up on her toes and gently kissed his cheek.

Moving away she headed back to the kitchen, grabbing his hand as she walked away, bringing him with her. Letting go of his hand, she took the salad bowl in one arm, and held it securly with her arm and picked up the dressings and spoons. She went back to the dinning room and set them on the table. Once she was back in the kitchen she asked him, "What else needs to be done?"

Iain watched as she closed her eyes and simply took in the moment, then watched him. As she moved to kiss his cheek, he couldn't help but smile. She smelt so good, and he couldn't believe that she was giving him the time of day.

He laughed softly, as she dragged him back to the kitchen, and taking a few quick steps, he stood up behind her as she stopped walking, his hands resting on her hips softly. Then, he moved for that she could take the salad to the table. As she asked if she could do anything he nodded, as he started to cut up the rest of the mushrooms.

“There are bottles of white wine and water in the fridge. Also, there is a red wine in the cupboard to the right of it.” He stopped and then smiled. “There is also a pitched or fruit juice in the fridge.” He added. “Do you want to put them on the table and place a cooling charm over them to keep them at the right temperature?”

"Sure," she replied going over to the fridge and getting the juice and wine. She took the wine that he had mentioned out as well and carried them out to the table. Quickly taking her wand out, she placed a spell on them before she went back to the kitchen. Grabbing the icetea he had given her earlier, she took a sip of it before setting it back down and walking over behind him.

She placed her hand on his shoulder and watched him work for a minute before she asked, "So does your sister go to Hogwarts?" She was pretty sure that his youngest sister wasn't quite old enough yet so she added, "your youngest sister isn't 11 yet is she?"

As he worked away, he glanced up to watch Lili working. He suddenly wasn't sure how he was going to get through a day at work... Especially considering her office wasn't that far from his own. With a small shake of his head he started to cut up onions as she came back over to stand with him.

Sniffing, and blinking widely, he tried to not start crying from the effects of the onion. This being said, as he looked up to answer Lili's question, his eye's were brimming with water as he tried to stop the inevitable. A single tear rolled down his cheek as he nodded. "Yes, Aurelie is in Ravenclaw. She's just away to start her sixth year." He gulped a few times, shaking his head as he tried to get rid of the sting.

"Cassandria probably won't get to go to Hogwart's, our Father and Alexandria are both Muggle's... Although she might be lucky and get to go. Although, you are right. She is turning ten this year." He grinned at Lili once more, her memory was really good it appeared. He looked down at the pile of onions then back at Liliana. "Do you like onion's with steak?"

"I'd really like it if I had more siblings, but the ones I've got are great, even if they are quite far away. Kaitlynn is great, she actually lived with me for the last two years while our parents were living in the artic. That's to cold even for me, and that's why she came to live with me. My brother though, isn't that much older than me, only a couple years, so he was in school with me most of the time, so we were closer that my sister and I, but he was always really protective of me in school." She stopped, really feeling like she had been rambling.

After all he had told her of his sisters though, she really wanted to meet them. But she really didn't want to say that, she didn't want to see to forward.