Perhaps the right kind of beverage would do him some good. As Damien approached the entry way to the Leaky Cauldron, he wondered if getting a room for the rest of the holiday would be a good idea. He'd already spent time with his aunt in Ireland. There were no friends to see back home, and he'd already felt as if he'd worn out his welcome the moment he'd arrived there.

So the Leaky Cauldron it was.

After saying the enchantment to gain access to the entry way, the Hufflepuff took in his surroundings. He'd spent a lot of time here since his first year at Wizarding School and wondered if the room he stayed in every holiday was available.

But first -- a drink.

Arianna peered through the entrance of the leaky cauldron and stepped forward shyly. She might as well get a drink before she got too scared to run out. Hopefully someone would make conversation with her.

A gentleman should never keep a woman waiting. Well Oliver, didn't really consider himself much of a gentleman but he was here early. And that was because his appointment at St Mungos hadn't taken as long as he thought it would. Bloody William and his dragon.

Oliver flexed his left hand and felt the skin tighten. At least it wasn't swollen anymore and the throbbing was now just a dull ache. But that was the last time that he helped his friend out in procuring his damn animals. He was lucky to still have a hand at all.

He leaned up against the wall while he waited for Thea to arrive. He couldn't believe that she wasn't going to be at Hogwarts anymore.

Althea wasn't ever one to be late so really it was a good thing and a point in his favour that Oliver had already arrived. Or else she would be less than pleased.

And we all know what happens when Althea Schirmer is less than pleased.

She did a scan of Oliver as she approached, head to feet.

"Oliver." He earned a smile. "How is the summer treating you?"

Better now, obviously.

And Oliver did a scan of his own as Thea approached him. The woman always looked impeccable and totally hot! He gave her a lazy smile as he leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Not too bad." No point in boring her with the details of his trip with W and W and the bloody dragon. "And yours?"

Merlin, he hoped she was having a good one. He didn't want to end up like Eddie.

Aww. He was sweet. Althea smiled at him and then shrugged one shoulder at the question. It was best if she did not give too many details about her summer. But she could talk about her interview at least, if not the company she'd otherwise been keeping that would probably alarm almost everyone in the Wizarding World.

And she WAS having a good summer. Thea tucked her hair behind her ear and then took his arm, clearly waiting to be led.

"It has been good so far. Better now." Yes she meant that. As in, now that she was catching up with Oliver, who thankfully didn't seem to be running scared after witnessing the events of the end-of-term feast.

... then again, he'd never seemed to be bothered by Althea in dragon mode, even when they were children.

A small voice recited the pass phrase to enter the Leaky Cauldron, the last words trailing off as the door opened bringing a gust of wind inside the pub. Miss Trinity Onasi stepped into the Cauldron and took a deep breath, peering shyly at the other patrons seated around the tables.

Trin shoved her slightly shaking hands into her pockets and trudged over to a table, took a seat and pulled out her school list.

Why did that not surprise her? Of course Destiny tried to take the animals home with her. It would have been the very first thing she attempted on her very first day. "Good thinking. Don't want to be..." Mia paused for a moment. "What does Carter have to do with it?" A couple of seconds passed by and the light bulb went off. Whoa! WHOA! "You and Carter? When? How? Why am I the last to know these things?" she asked with a whine in her tone. Okay just because she was usually wrapped up with her husband and hardly ever saw anyone, didn't mean her friend couldn't send her a letter. Hmph. She was so busy being disgruntled that she missed what Destiny said about liking her job.

Really! Mia gave her friend a slightly disbelieving look. "You do remember that you're a witch, right?" If she didn't have an umbrella then she could just conjure one or used some other forms of defence. Even Mia knew that! Oh hehe. The look on Destiny's face was priceless. She wished that she had a camera with her. "Mmhmm, you keep telling yourself that. I personally would rather have awesome sword fighting skills over pirate talk any day."

With a small giggle, she poked her tongue out at her friend as she pushed open the door to the Leaky Cauldron. "Okay we have to behave ourselves now." Yeah right, like that was ever going to happen.

Oh.. oh.. OHH!

That was not the way Destiny had wanted Mia to find out about her and Carter, but in all honesty, she thought everyone knew already. At least, the few people that had talked to her about it, told her that they knew it was coming. It was all very confusing and she found herself staring at her friend once again. "I.. I.. You know, you ask alot of questions!" And sweet Merlin, it was difficult to remember what she had asked. "Yes, since June." Those first two were the easy questions. The 'how', however.. that was another long story. And if Mia wanted to hear it, she was going to have to buy her dessert, too! "You act like you didn't have secrets." Not that her dating Carter was a secret or anything, she was more than happy to tell people about it. But still..

Destiny's gazed flickered to Mia's wedding ring. Yup, secrets.

Of course she remembered she was a witch! What kind of crazy question was that!? But, if they were supposed to be fending off muggle photographers, Destiny didn't think it would be fair to conjure up an umbrella. Besides, if they were just going to use magic, she would much rather hex them. Even though the umbrella thing would be funny. "That's cheating." Simple as that. "And you won't need sword fighting skills if you don't talk like a pirate. Who else sword fights these days?" Really.

Shaking her head, Destiny followed behind Mia into the Leaky Cauldron. Her comment caused a grin to grow on her face; her friend saying that only meant that she didn't want her to behave. That's how those things usually worked. "You think we can get a free meal if I place Marcus in our food?" Or maybe put him in someone else's food..

Well duh! Of course she was asking a lot of questions. This was like a major thing to happen to her friend and she hadn't known about it until now. "Well you've certainly been busy. New job annnnnd boyfriend." Mia elbowed her friend in the ribs. "You did well, Shepard. Carter is a good guy and he's just as crazy as you are." So it was a perfect match all round.

Secrets? She didn't have any secrets? Mia followed Destiny's gaze to her wedding ring and looked a little sheepish. "Oh hey! I didn't mean to keep that a secret. It all just happened so fast and I didn't want it getting around school." She especially didn't want the Professor's knowing.

Maybe using magic was cheating but they were witches. That's what they were supposed to do. It's hard to believe that she was actually thinking that considering how she was about magic only a couple of years ago.

"Plenty of people swordfight. I'm pretty sure it's an Olympic sport." It didn't occur to Mia that Destiny might not know about Olympics. "And they don't talk like pirates."

Mia looked over her shoulder at her friend as she walked forward. "Be sure to take his hat and robes off first. He'll have to look like a street rat otherwise it won't be believable." She laughed. "Make sure to order the most expensive meal on the menu."

Brodie sighed walking around, he had nothing better to do, after all, Rachel had gotten into Beauxbatons, so he was left home alone without anyone except his parents... He missed his girlfriend... But he obviously couldn't see her.

Rachel came running and she jumped onto Brodie's back, holding him close. "Brodie!" She kissed him and clung to him.

Brodie let out a small yell as someone jumped on his back sending him to the ground, "Rachel?" He looked at her in shock but kissed her back, "What're you doing here? What about Beauxbatons?"

Rachel looked into his eyes, "I couldnt be away from you any longer... I dropped out... I gave up my scholarship." She pulled him closer to him and hoped that he would be happy.

Brodie looked at her, "But... Rach, Beauxbatons would look so much better than homeschooling." He held her close for a moment before standing again, "And I'm still saving for Hogwarts... I did my budget and I can go my last two terms." He looked at her.

Rachel glanced down, "It is too late... It already was settled..." She sighed and turned.

Brodie turned her back to look at him, "I am happy your back," He smiled at her, "I've missed you so much." He held her close to him, "If anything, I'm sure you can get it back, and when I go to Hogwarts, you can go back... Or maybe you can get the scholarship to Hogwarts with me."

Rachel smiled at him and looked at him. "Maybe..." She sighed and buried her head in his chest. "I missed you so much, Brodie."

Brodie laid his head on top of hers, "I missed you so much as well." He kissed her forehead.

Rachel smiled and looked at him, "I needed my wolf." She laughed, calling him by his old nickname.

Brodie smiled at her, "And I needed my tigress," He spun her.

Rachel smiled at him then threw back her head, giggling as he spun her around. "I am glad that bratty Taylor isnt here. We dont have to hide our relationship now." She stroked his cheek.

"She's getting even more annoying... Before I get into that though, your little plan with the desserts worked perfectly, her and Damon broke up." Brodie couldn't fight the small triumphant smirk, "And she came sniveling to me last weekend actually about how hurt she is that he's actually started to see someone else and blah blah blah... Ugh, what I would've given for a silencing potion!"

"I bet so." She laughed and blushed when she said 'her little plan'. Rachel smirked, "That is good." She kissed him, "Well you dont have to worry about that right now, wolfie."

"Yes it is," He kissed her lightly back, "And thank heavens I don't," He smiled at her, "Because I have the perfect girl right here with me, which reminds me," He dug through his bag and pulled out a drawing, "Sorry if it's no good, but I tried."