Merry Christmas everyone! This story was a present for my friend Fry because we saw Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Moana all in the same day just as our uni exams started. She is my go-to for all things nerd, fangirl, adventuring and food-loving. She's pretty great, so I'm hoping that this story is alright too. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: You know I don't own this

Sweet Tooth

See the stone set in your eyes
See the thorn twist in your side
I'll wait for you

Sleight of hand and twist of fate
On a bed of nails she makes me wait
And I wait without you

-With or Without You, U2

Some of the girls from the Wand Permit Office wanted to go out for lunch, so out they went.

"Please not The Thunderbird," Bianca said squeamishly.

"Did you and Erasmus fight again?" Petra teased.

Of course it was true.

"You stop Petra," Bianca said. "This is different from when you fought with Georgie- he's in the kitchen. John's at the bar, you wouldn't understand."

"Oh honey, I know what will cheer you up," Queenie said linking her arm to Bianca's. "Something sweet."

"I don't want to go to Sugar Riley's," Mimi said.

"Did you do something stupid with Matthias," Petra asked.

"New plan," Alina said. "We're going to duck in here."

"Oh, there?" Queenie said. She gulped.

"Why not?" Alina said. She hushed her voice. "I know it's No-Maj, Queenie, but it might be the only place in all of New York where no one will find an ex."

"That's not a problem," Queenie said. "It looks lovely."

"It does, doesn't it?" Bianca said.

They stepped inside. Kowalski Quality Baked Goods smelled as incredible as it looked from the outside. The warm and hearty smell of bread, the heavy scent of piernik and all its spices, the sugary cinnamon scent of apple pie filling, the sweet smell of strawberry jam, chocolate- so much chocolate… She loved the blue of the walls as soon as she saw them. She loved the gust of heat from the stove and the hum of people placing orders, children bickering with their parents about which cookie to pick out, the staff calling for more dinner rolls… It was warm.

"Oh, my," Mimi said.

"Look Bianca, see?" Alina said. "Angel cake. Ten cents a slice. We picked a good day to come by."

"Picked a good day to get my heart broken," Bianca said. But she was smiling a bit, and then she cooed when she noticed a leprechaun-shaped cookie decorated with green sugar.

Bianca had her angel cake, and the others spun around the bakery endlessly.

Queenie found a spot by Grandmother's paczki and hugged a tree. She had the exact right angle to see behind the counter.

Newt had sent word by owl that he'd given Jacob the occamy eggshells. He'd been nervous about it but Tina and Queenie had said it was a wonderful idea. Tina had been keeping an eye on the non-Maj papers they had at the Congress, and clipped a short little article about its opening.

"He'll be alright Queenie," Tina had said handing her the clipping. "You don't need to worry about him."

And Queenie had been strong enough not to step into the bakery so far. Mostly because she'd hexed most of her shoes to forbid them from turning onto Rivington Street, in case the temptation ever overwhelmed her.

Today she'd stolen a pair from Tina. Served her right. There she was, and there he was. There were twenty-five tiles on the floor separating them.

"Did you want anything before we go, Queenie?" Mimi asked. "There are these little raisin buns shaped like toads if you'd like, didn't you have one in Ilvermorny?"

"No," Queenie said. "I'm alright."

And they left.

« This is delicious, » Tina said slicing another bite of birthday cake off her piece. Queenie smiled and Tina's thoughts jumped out of her brain like a jack-in-the-box. This isn't your usual recipe, Queenie.

"I thought we could do something special for your birthday," Queenie said. "It's not every day that my big sister turns…"

"Don't finish that sentence," Tina said. Queenie laughed.

"You have a sweet tooth," Alina said.

Queenie licked the sweet remnants of sernik from her fingers. Jacob had said it would be taste a cheesecake. Queenie had no idea, she hadn't really paid attention and her stomach was still squeamish from the three lines apiece they'd exchanged while she ordered. It had been delicious.

"I do," Queenie said. She munched on her thumb. She'd never had a sweet tooth before.

"I think they're going to start recognizing us if we keep going," Alina said. Queenie laughed nervously.

"Although between you and me," Alina said, "I think I'd be okay with it. The baker's assistant is kind of cute."

Queenie couldn't even fake a laugh at that.

"Queenie?"

Her laughter was rather shrill.

"Yeah, he is pretty cute," Queenie said.

"Did you want him?" Alina said. "Because honey, if you do, you…"

"No," Queenie said. "No, that's alright. I got the last one, didn't I?"

"Let's go down Rivington," Queenie said.

"Why?" Tina asked.

"Because it's nice out," Queenie said. "Because soon it'll be too cold to go on walks. Because you don't want to get home too soon or else you'll have to start reading every report some lunatic has filled up about seeing Grindelwald in North America."

Tina couldn't argue with that. Generally it was hard to argue with thoughts that came from your own brain. She held out her arm, Queenie grabbed on and they kept walking.

"When you were little, Mom would bring us to a healer in that building over there," Tina said pointing. "One time, you were scared of getting another prescription for those godawful medicines and-"

She frowned and look at the building she was pointing out.

Kowalski Quality Baked Goods

She tightened her fingers around Queenie's arm.

"No," Tina said. "No, we are backtracking Queenie, we are backtracking right now."

"Tina, relax," Queenie said. "We're not going to go in."

"Of course we won't at all go. Don't ever come here again, don't ever go in there, don't ever buy any baking, and don't flirt with him," Tina said, her hold on Queenie's arm unwavering.

"You are my big sister but I am not a little girl," Queenie said.

"That doesn't mean you can't get hurt," Tina said. "Don't do it again Queenie. I don't want you seeing Jacob anymore."

"Why not Ti, what's the harm?" Queenie said. She knew she was pouting, but she couldn't… well… not.

"Because it worked once and it may happen again," Tina said. "You don't want anything to develop with Jacob again."

"It wouldn't change much," Queenie insisted. "To live in secret then instead of living in secret now."

"If it wouldn't change much, you wouldn't bother," Tina said.

"It would change everything," Queenie said quietly. She pulled the lapels of her coat over one another, burrowing inwards. Tina picked at the skin by her thumb.

"Queenie when are you going to start living outwards again?" Tina asked.

"I don't know what you mean," Queenie said.

"You always know what everyone means," Tina said. She took Queenie's arm and pulled her away.

"Heya Tina?" Queenie said. "You awake?"

"Take a guess," Tina asked.

"Do you think it's wrong to always want more?" Queenie said. "Even when things work out for the better and you should be happy and… I don't know. I mean, how do you know.. When do you know you're happy enough?"

"When you stop wanting," Tina said. "That's when you stop."

"That feels like a lot of wanting," Queenie said. "I mean, it could be."

"You should know," Tina said with a short laugh. Queenie flipped to her side.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Queenie asked.

"Well, Mom used to make rugelach at Passover- do you remember that? They were little cookies with, like, hazelnut or cherry or almonds or apricot jam in them. She'd let you have one after she finished and you'd get, say, a chocolate-hazelnut. But your favourite was apricot, so you'd pick another but get cherry almond, so then you'd grab another hoping to get apricot. And then by the time you got one, well maybe then you were starting to really like cherry- so you kept eating them. Your first magic as a baby was summoning a tray of rugelach across the house. Eventually you would make yourself sick; I suppose that's where your sweet tooth went. But that's who you are, Queenie. You were a little girl who ate sweets until she was sick because she liked the taste."

"Now I'm a big girl," Queenie said.

"So you're going to be a big girl that swings by a bakery until… until the world changes," Tina said.

"That could be a long time," Queenie said.

"I still have Mom's rugelach's recipe," Tina said. "We'll be able to burrow here until then."

Queenie burrowed her cheek into the pillow and smiled a bit. She could taste apricot jam on the tip of her tongue.

Maybe as a big girl she still craved chocolate and hazelnuts and cherry and almonds, but she was very different from the little girl she'd once been and so no, she didn't listen to her big sister and she did go back to Kowalski Quality Baked Goods whenever one of the girls suggested it for lunch. It came often, the suggestion. They were all enamoured with the fantastic snacks and meals. So far, Queenie's favourite was a viennoiserie on which a small face had been painted to make the pastry look like a Pygmy Puff.

But Tina was still her big sister. Which meant that she was usually right.

Queenie fumbled with the No-Maj paper bills in her purse, and then handed the money over the counter, about to open her mouth.

A paper bag landed in front of her before she could order.

"Here you are Miss," Jacob said. "On the house today."

Queenie stuffed the bills into her coat pocket.

"Thank you," she said smiling. He smiled back. She smiled even more and held up the line before saying goodbye and have a nice day and thank you (again).

On her walk back to MACUSA's headquarters, she reached into the bag but her fingers only found a heart-shaped cookie that she hadn't asked for, paid for or…

It made her smile at first. But then she bit her lip. She hated when her big sister was right.

It was time to take a break from the bakery.

She and Tina were in Times' Square, Christmas shopping. Since they were together it was hard to shop for each other, but the window-shopping gave Queenie a few good ideas for later.

Queenie's fingers pressed against a window display, face to face with some toy soldiers, which Tina babbled on and wondered out loud if they had any little kids to buy toys for.

"I heard a story about the Great War, from one of the boys in International Relations," Queenie said.

"Did you?" Tina asked as she examined a china doll with a pretty painted face.

"He said that on Christmas day in 1914, when the soldiers had all thought they'd be home, the No-Majs made a pact. The two sides, the Germans and the French and Brits, they all played soccer and sang carols and traded buttons and tobacco and threw snowballs at each other instead of those silly bombs," Queenie said.

"That's nice," Tina said distractedly. Now her eyes were languishing on a dollhouse with dozens of pieces of tiny furniture.

"Not really," Queenie said. "They had to start killing each other again twenty four hours later."

"When did you notice that I started eating sweets again?" Queenie said.

"What?" Tina asked looking up from the paper. Queenie put her coffee cup down.

"You said I stopped eating sweets when I was little, because I'd poisoned myself with rugelach," she said. "When did I start eating sweets again?"

"I don't know," Tina said. "When you started wanting them again, I suppose."

"Right," Queenie said. "You want things sometimes and sometimes you don't."

"Are you alright?" Tina asked.

"I'm splendid," Queenie said. "It's only a half day at work, after all."

"Are you staying for the Christmas party?" Tina asked.

"Maybe," Queenie said. "I have a headache that just won't go away."

When he turned around he just about ran into her.

"I am so sorry Miss," Jacob said. He cracked a smile when he saw her. "Hey. You're Viennoiserie girl. Your laugh's really nice too. And your- well, umm, haven't seen you in a while."

"I know," Queenie said. "It's been a while."

She held out her hand. "Queenie. My name is Queenie."

"Pleasure to meet you Queenie," Jacob said tripping over his words and blushing as he shook her head, looking flustered and adorable. "I'm-"

"Jacob, I know," Queenie said. Her wand slipped from her sleeve and she caught the handle before it fell away. "Hold still for a second."

He frowned but Queenie seized her opportunity and tapped the side of his neck, whispering the spell she'd had to flirt her way through the Auror's Department behind her sister's back to learn. The spell to undo a memory charm. The new perfume must be paying off; she'd even gotten a brief history on why this worked. See, memories that were obliviated were not erased from the corpus of one's memory, like a letter cut in half. It was like blotting out a line of writing with extra ink; the memory was still there, but it was unattainable. Unless someone knew the spell and knew exactly what to look for and where and when and who and how and had a very, very powerful why.

Jacob could have been a new man considering how much his expression changed when he saw her.

"Queenie," he said under his breath.

"Jacob," she said dropping her wand and throwing her arms around his neck. As he came to his senses, she felt his hands nestle against the small of her back while he held her too.

"What… I didn't think I could see you again… have the laws changed, is it over?" Jacob asked.

"No," Queenie said. "No, but I… were you in Europe in the winter of 1914?"

"Not yet, no," Jacob said.

"That doesn't matter," Queenie said. "All you need to know is, I'm calling a Christmas truce."

And she kissed him.

This year he was still closing up the shop when she came in.

« I'm sorry Miss, » he said. "We're closed for Christmas already. I'm afraid I don't have anything to sell you either, all our leftovers are already on their way to the city's homeless shelters…"

She smiled. Still her Jacob.

She raised her wand. "Reditum."

The change seemed to flow through his body from head to toe like a shower melting him down.

"Queenie," he said with a smile.

Still her Jacob.

"Merry Christmas Jacob," she said.

He smiled even more brightly. "Merry Christmas Queenie."

« Good evening M. Kowalski, » Queenie said striding by the bakery. He turned around, key in hand. "How's the wife?"

"Oh, umm, none of that for me, no," Jacob muttered under his breath. Queenie spun around, waved her wand and grabbed his hands before he could even come back to himself fully.

Jacob's face desolved into a smile once his memory returned.

"I missed you Queenie," he said.

"I missed you too," she said shifting her weight to her toes to stretch up and kiss him.

"Merry Christmas Queenie," Jacob said with a smile.

"Merry Christmas," she said. She kissed him quickly; she couldn't wait longer, she had to tell him.

"I have a Christmas present for you," she said.

"Me too," Jacob said. He gestured to the covered plates on the counter of the bakery. In her excitement to scramble inside, she hadn't even noticed them. "I left a note for myself last year. Don't know why I listened to it, but I made strudel and…"

"It smells lovely, hon," Queenie said. "But can I go first?"

"Sure," Jacob smiled. His eyes looked like he was drinking her in and Queenie loved it. She loved it as much as her news.

"You can keep your memory for Christmas Day this year," Queenie said. "And Boxing Day. And New Year's Eve and all the days after that."

Jacob's jaw dropped. "Queenie…"

The bell at the front chimed.

"Is it safe to come in?" Newt said nervously. "He- you've told him?"

"Newt," Jacob said, stunned. He didn't let go of Queenie. Newt shimmied in, case under his arm, a new critter in his pocket, and Tina followed suit. "Tina!" He still didn't let go of Queenie.

"We'll have to multiply your food, I'm afraid," Tina said.

Jacob beamed at Queenie. "You're serious? This is for real, this time?"

"I wouldn't take your memory again under the imperius curse," Queenie said.

Jacob frowned. "The imperius..?"

"I'm allowed to explain that to you now too," Queenie said. She felt herself smile even more, and rested her head against his chest. "But later."

"You can kiss her in front of us," Tina said. "We know."

"We should- I mean, we could perhaps, we could leave too…" Newt stuttered.

Jacob didn't care. Jacob kissed Queenie and Queenie kissed him back. Because in twenty-four hours, their Christmas truce would still stand.