Clara stared down into the teapot in disbelief.
Had she messed up again? At this, of all things? She'd made enough tea since becoming Klaus' Buddy that she'd been positive she hadn't done anything wrong. And even if she wasn't the best wizardess, she was supposed to be good at cooking!
But something was very, very wrong. She brought the cup to her nose and sniffed hesitantly. The smooth, fragrant aroma was unmistakable.
Coffee.
She gulped. Klaus was not going to be happy.
Luckily it was still early and he hadn't seemed to notice. There was time enough to start again, though she winced at the thought of having to throw out a perfectly good batch of tea leaves, now coffee-soaked. It had been Assam tea, too.
Though she was extra vigilant this time, it happened again.
"How?! Ugh!" This time she couldn't hold back the frustration.
"What did you do now?"
She froze, and then spun around. Klaus was looking irritated, as he often did in the morning. Usually nothing calmed him down like his first cup of tea. But now…
"Umm…" How was she supposed to explain this to him?
He sniffed suspiciously. "Is that smell…coffee?"
She giggled desperately. "Um…I thought we could switch it up for today?"
He stared at her in incredulity, as if her suggestion was so unfathomable that it took actual time to process. "What."
"Never mind! Just wait a little longer!" She hurried to clean the coffee up. Third time was the charm, right?
"I'll do it," he grumbled, and she quickly moved aside as he took over. The water was still heated, so he cleaned and refilled the little wire basket with fresh tea leaves and began pouring, from high above, just the way he'd taught her. When he was done, he covered the teapot, and they waited in silence.
When he lifted the lid off the pot, there it was again. Coffee.
"What is the meaning of this…" Klaus hissed, looking increasingly furious. Then suddenly his eyes narrowed. Reaching into his cloak, he grabbed his wand, muttered an incantation, and concentrated.
Within seconds, a scowl had crossed his expression. "Deleccio!" he hissed. And then, "One more time, Clara. In the meantime, I've got something to take care of…"
With hardly a glance back, Klaus stormed out the door.
Clara blinked, and then turned back to start the process a third time. She emptied the pot, refilled the infuser, reheated the water, and poured. Finally, she could smell the comforting, woodsy fragrance of Assam tea filling the air. The smell always brought her thoughts back to this very place, to a day long ago when she and Klaus had sat together and truly spoken for the first time…
The door suddenly swung open, causing a gust of wind to blow through the room.
"Clara!" Randy waved, a wide grin across his face. "I'm sorry if the teapot got you in trouble with Klaus! But it was a neat trick, wasn't it?"
She stared. "Randy…you did this?"
Suddenly there was a loud sound from outside the hallway. "Oops! Gotta go!" Randy's expression looked momentarily panicked as he bolted back outside.
The door swung closed, but Clara heard a startled yelp, and then two sets of footsteps frantically rushing down the hall.
"Wahhhh, Klaus! It's not fair! You hid and surprised me! You cheated!"
"You've got some nerve! Did you really think you could mess with my tea and get away with it? GET BACK HERE!"