Lexi took another sip from her butterbeer and placed the bottle back on the table and rolled her eyes. "You don't mean to be a git, it just comes naturally sometimes, right. I know you have been through some things lately too and I am sorry for that." she said as she held the bottle between her hands.

"Lorcan, come off it! I am not going to stop being your friend because I am in a foul mood. I am in a foul mood most of the time nowadays, Nems... But I am not cutting myself completely off from the world. Yet anyway." she said before giving him a wink.

This kid was exasperating! Samuel wished she would get on with what she wanted, he did have other patrons to serve ya know.

Oh finally.

He was just reaching down for a butterbeer when he stopped in mid motion. She wanted what? Oh see now this was why he was not keen on having kids in his bar. They were all so demanding.

Samuel grabbed a glass, spat in it and then wiped it out with the same dirty rag that he had been using before. He slammed it onto the counter along with the bottle of butterbeer and looked at the little girl with a smirk. "That will be a galleon."

What was wrong with this kid?

Samuel snorted at the theatrics and raised his wand towards the bar and 'accioed' a bottle of butterbeer. He caught the bottle in his hand put it down onto the table. "Reckon ya can pull a galleon outta that hat? Cos I don't accept rabbits."

They did make good stew though.

Chocolate cake?

Was the kid insane? He did realize where he was right?

Samuel didn't even bother answering that instead he reached over and took the vouchers out of the kid's hand and studied it carefully. He ran his wand over the coupons to make sure they were authentic. Satisfied that they were indeed real he stamped them and handed them back to the kid.

"Ya can keep them as a souvenir" he stated matter-of-factly as he reached down and grabbed two bottles of butterbeer from underneath the counter and placed them in front of the kid. "No it doesn't, safer to drink outta the bottles."

AH! Here was Tibi, which meant that Jake could go get a drink. It was a little awkward anyway, since the boy had saved him from doing something he may have regretted out in the street.

Soooooo cloooooose.

"Buhh-back in a ssssec," Jake said with a small smile directed at both of the other two, and stood up, heading towards the bar. He approached it, looking downright exhausted and still very pale, but with that nasty dangerous look still on his face.

"Thuhh-three buhh-butterbbbbeers puhh-please," he asked tiredly, the one coupon and some coins in his hand. "One of thuhh-them I g-g-got a ccccoupon fuhh-for..."

Stupid, evil stutter.

"Nice to meet you Jake," she said, smiling back at him. Then she shrugged and said, "I was bored and had nothing better to do. So I ended up here," she gave a sigh and looked to see a younger kid join them. He introduced himself as Tiberius. "I'm Thalia," she grinned, shaking his sort of extended hand. "So are you two friends then?" she asked them with a questioningly look. She was rarely friends with anyone younger than her.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samuel Huxley

Samuel watched the young kid head back to his table and then to his utter amazement he watched the girl lean over and kiss him.

"OI" he yelled out across the room so that everyone would hear. "THERE IS TO BE NONE OF THAT MUSHY STUFF IN HERE. THIS IS NOT PUDDIFOOT'S YA KNOW."

Kids!

Who's stupid idea was it to let kids into the Hogs Head?



This girl was not going to go away was she? Samuel wanted to beat his head repeatedly against the counter top.

How did he get rid of her?

"Look. Little girl you have your butterbeer, just give me the money and be on your way. If you want clean glasses and friendly atmosphere then you are in the wrong place."

That was being nice.

Right?

W.O.W. Hello, Mr. Cranky.

It was so SWEET that there were people doing MUSHY STUFF in this creepy place. He should be happy! Hmph. However, since it did not concern the redhead, she ignored it.

What happened net DID concern her, however.

LITTLE girl?

Madiison looked down at herself and pouted, clearly displeased with said bartender. Sure, she was on the short side, but she was no little girl! She was thiirteeeeeeen! She was a teeeeen! Closer to being of age than she had ever been before. Only four years to go.

...

Wow. ONLY four years to go?

O___o

Madiison frowned. It wasn't that she was ignoring him, but the redhead was faaaar to busy with assessing her life so far to pay much attention to the man in front of her. Hmm. Four years. And then she could TOTALLY get back at her brother in more creative ways.

Teehehehee.

And then she remembered the OTHER thing that had been bothering her.

"But that is not the poiiiint!" The girl claimed, fixing her big, blue-gray eyes on him. "And I am NOT paying until I get a clean glass." HMPH. Take thaaaaat, bartender. "Please?"

Of course the girl COMPLETELY forgot about the vouchers.

Besides, if there was no clean glass, she'd have to drink right out of the bottle.

And that sounded liiiiiike fun was unladylike. And Madiison was a little girl lady.

The tiny smirk fixed on Oliver's face grew and he raised an eyebrow. He'd take that as a no to the chocolate cake then. Suppose he'd just have to take Miranda somewhere else... somewhere nicer – the promise of chocolate cake was the thing that sealed this deal after all.

He smiled mischievously at the moody man. “A souvenir for what? That I had a drink and survived the Hogshead's low standards in health? Could I not have a t-shirt instead?” He mock pouted like a small child and took the vouchers back, shoving them deep in his jeans pocket. He picked up the dusty bottles. “Thanks. Nice to see service with a smile.” He smirked and turned to join Miranda.

He placed the bottle in front of her and sat opposite her. “Well.. this is cosy.” He said loudly and sarcastically with a smile. He raised his bottle as if in a toast. “To free butterbeer with complimentary dust.” And clinked it against Miranda's and took a gulp... then added flatly. “They don't have chocolate cake... sorry. I'll take you somewhere else after this.”

Butterbeer again. Don't these kids drinks anything else?

Glaring at the kid in front of him, Samuel placed the three bottles of butterbeer down onto the counter with a thud. "Two galleons" he grunted, "And I need to see the coupon" he said placing his hands onto the counter and leaning forward with a menacing look on his face.

Maybe the kid would be so scared that he would just forget about the coupon and just pay him instead.

Again Samuel didn't bother to respond. He didn't ask them to come in here. So if they didn't like the way he ran his pub then they knew where the door was and he wished they would hurry up and find it.

Lorcan rubbed his hand over his face. He knew that it was his fault for being a bit off when Lexi had been talking to the older guy in the corridor. In a quiet voice he said, "I'm sorry if I've been a git, I don't mean to be. Sometimes I just want to disappear too. I just feel..." He couldn't finish that sentence, he had no idea how he felt.

"I'm sorry if I made you feel bad. I didn't mean to." Lorcan thought that he had a knack for making Lexi feel bad. He took a swig of his butterbeer. "Would it be better if we weren't friends?" He asked quietly.

Lorcan frowned when she told him being a git came naturally to him. He almost told her that being a pampered pouting princess came naturally to her, but he thought that this might prove her point. "I don't want to talk about that here, if it's ok wi' you." Anger bubbled up inside him. He took another sip of butterbeer, forcing it down, trying to stay calm.

He sighed. "Well it's usually me that puts you in a bad mood. I just thought you might be better off without me." He picked at the label on his bottle.

Miranda walked off towards the empty seating place and took a minute to see how...undirty it was. Meh. Shrugging, she plopped down on one of the chairs and looked around the place. She hadn't been here before and was having an idea as to why students weren't allowed to either. Heh.

Glancing towards the bar to see how Oliver was doing, she noticed the slightly agitated look of the barman and wondered if he always looked like that or if...Oliver was wearing his trademark smirk again. Merlin help him if he got them thrown out from here.

BUT, here he was walking back. Miranda smiled softly as she saw him carrying the bottles and sat down. "Thankyou." And then she raised and clinked it as he toasted. "Cosy...mmm, yes." She took a sip and thought with a frown. "Maybe they're going with this whole Wild West thingy..."

Hm? Chocolate? Miranda tilted her head to the side and watched the boy for a second. He was going to get her chocolate? Aw. She shook her head. "It's okay, I'm happy...sitting here with this." And she raised the bottle with a wide smile. But then she cleaned her hand off on her pants. Ew. But... "Though... We could go to Honeydukes after? I am a chaser but even my arms get tired from having to carry all that chocolate. I could use some help." She smirked to indicate that she was kidding...or not. Hehe.

"So, um," Miranda wasn't sure what to say...she didn't want to talk about what had happened, so she chose a safe subject. "When do you have the Slytherin tryouts?"

"Well duhhh," Jake muttered, dropping two gold coins onto the counter and giving the bloke a good old stare. Meh, whenever he was wound up, Jake was just so BLAH that he didn't really get scared of... scary blokes.

Holding the voucher up, Jake waved it in the guy's face so it, at the very least, fanned his face and skimmed his nose.



Adults these days. Tsk.

"Ok," Tibi smiled at Jake as he watche dthe boy go up to order. He'd.. pay him back later.

Turning to the girl, he smiled. "Nice to met you, Thalia." But then he noticed her look, and one of confusion crossed his own face. "Friends? Of course. Jake's my best friend." He tilted his head to the side and considered the girl.

"Why do you ask?"

"No reason in particular. He looks older than you. Not that it matters," she replied looking at the kid. She seriously did not want to offend him in any way. Luckily she knew how to take people out. Then she decided to ask, "Is he sick? He looks pale," she remarked. Thalia didn't exactly want to ask Jake herself what his problem was.

Snatching the coupon out of the kid's hand, Samuel checked it thoroughly just as he done with the other one. Again he ran his wand over it to make sure it was authentic and then stamped it when he was satisfied. He thrust it back into the kids hand and took the two galleons.

"Have a nice day" he said, sarcasm dripping in his voice.

Lexi wasn't sure what had happened to them, but they just didn't click the way they did before... she knew it in the way he spoke to her. "Well, excuse me, Lorcan." she said in a bit of a haughty tone.

"Here lately you have put me in a bad mood with all of your negativity, yes, but I am just angry with the world right now Lorcan. But maybe you are on to something... maybe we should just chill for a bit, like... erm... just be friends until we both get back to our old selves. Because I feel like I am putting you through some uneeded stress here with all of my stuff... I do want to be friends though, Nems. I don't want to lose you. I just can't be as great a friend as I need to be right now." she said in a low tone and reached across the table and gave one of his hands a little squeeze.

Oliver got settled in his seat and drank a little more of his butterbeer. He smiled at Miranda's comment about the Wild West. Maybe these two very bottles of butterbeer dated back to those days.

“No.. no. I promised.” He insisted. “You wouldn't have come with me if there hadn't been chocolate involved, would you?” He imitated her and cocked his head to the side and smirked a little at her. “Honeydukes? What's that?” He would get used to this cute little village soon enough.. but he wasn't taking any notice of anything or anyone before... well before he bumped into Miranda. “It's cool that they let us out like this. Durmstrang is in the middle of nowhere so we have to stay around the castle all year round. Don't think they would have let us out if there had been a village close by mind you.” he muttered as an afterthought as he glanced nonchalantly around the pub.

It was kind of weird sitting here making small talk after the explosion, but it was nice and Oliver was happy again now that Miranda was talking to him. He looked back at her. “Oh.. they've been postponed twice now. Dunno why.” He shrugged. “The first one is tomorrow. How did yours go?” He knew they had gone well... because he had watched - silently supporting Miranda despite their set two the other day. For a bunch of rodents, the Huffies seemed to be a very strong team. He would have voiced just that to get a dig in about the Hufflepuffs being rodents before the arguement, but he remained silent...

This thinking before speaking malarky was going to prove very difficult.

Lorcan listened to her, his face hardening against her words. He had been waiting for this moment ever since he had received her Howler during the summer. When she squeezed his hand he pulled it away from her. He stood up sharply and said "Fine, whatever you want." in a bitter voice. He walked away from her, scared that the anger which was bubbling inside him would spill over and he would do or say something which he might later regret. He walked out of the pub, making sure that the door banged loudly behind him.

Lexi was almost unaffected by his angry display. THe only sign she showed that it bothered her was when the door slammed behind him she grimaced a bit. She wouldn't go after him, she knew it was what needed to happen right then.

Standing up she approached the barman. "Hey thanks for the table and all. Here's a tip for that." she said as she threw 3 galleons down on the bar and turned on her heel to leave. Pulling her scarf tighter and buttoning her peacoat before walking out the door.

"Likewise," Jake muttered, holding his butterbeer in one hand and two in the other hand and picked up the coupon in his teeth.

Jerk.

Moving back to the table, Jake handed the drinks over to the other two, throwing himself into his own seat and sipping the drink quietly.

Tibi knit his brows together in concentration. What was she implying...

"Yeah, he's older. Still my best friend, though." His voice almost dared her to contest it. But then at her next question, his expression fell.

"No no. He's fine." His voice was even and unpanicked, though his stomach flopped around nervously. "Not even worth mentioning."

Right? Right.

Tiiime for a subject change. "How are your classes?"

and just in the nick of time...

Tibi looked up to see Jake returning, wondering what, if anything, he'd heard.

"Thanks," he said, taking his drink from Jake and then taking a long sip. "Mmm. I owe you."

Miranda blinked at the boy. He really wanted to buy her chocolate... Hmmm. But his question made her frown slightly. She had made up her mind to accompany him before the chocolate came up, so she wondered how he thought about this little meeting. He must've doubted that Miranda would want to stay near him again...or was Oliver teasing? But she decided to answer anyway, just so he knew. "Ofcourse I would have..." She looked at him, most serious. "I like chocolate but I'm not that weak- Okay yes I am... Hehe."

Oh, he didn't know about Honeydukes!? Oooooh, he was in for a wonderful surprise! Miranda almost squealed. "Oh, it's like the most wonderful place..." She clasped her hands infront of her, "It's a candy shop...with ALOT of candy." She grinned at Oliver. Listening to the boy, she got the idea that it was a pretty lonely place, that Durmstrang. And they didn't get to discover the surrounding area? "Oh, that's too bad... It sounds like a beautiful place." Wherever that place is... She smiled gently. "Do you miss it?" Did Oliver miss his old school and maybe what he called home?

"Oh really? Hm." Miranda looked thoughtful. "Guess Kiri must've had her reasons..." Yeah, being Captain and dealing with school could be tiresome. Tomorrow? Oh, she would definitely be there to watch. And cheer. Quietly... hehe. "Are you nervous?" This was asked with more concern for the Slytherin than curiosity. Being new in a school and trying out sounded way scary. "Ours was good..." Her head nodded but she looked like it hadn't gone well. Why? "We saw...your little frankenstein-fly...but it was good." Taking a sip like it was no big deal, she glanced at the boy, wondering what he would say.

"Again, I was not trying to be of insult in anyway," she told him with a roll of her eyes. No need to be so defensive kid. I mean, really. She could be friends with little firstie's if she wanted.

She watched his eyes as he stated that Jake was fine. They flashed into a somewhat of a panic mode. But she blinked and it was gone. "He doesn't look fine," Thalia stated. Maybe he had an illness that was related to his stuttering.

How were her classes? "Brilliant," Thalia mused with fake sarcasm.
"Classes are classes. They're just something you wake up to everyday with a sense of 'Oh great, Professor what's his/her face is going to be teaching us fill in the blank'," she mocked what she thought everyday waking up. "Of course you Ravenclaws care a better amount then us Slytherins," she added. "I over all enjoy most," she finally declared getting to the main point." Her and her tendency to run off on some stupid story applied here.

She watched as Jake returned and said, "Thanks." Really. He did not have to buy her anything. But it was the thought that counted. That's when she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. Something she had never dared tried in attempt. Thalia Munroe did it though and she was sort of scared to see what this kid's reaction was going to be.

"What?" Jake muttered distractedly, looking over at Tibi and sipping his drink. Realising what the boy had said, Jake hurriedly stopped and shook his head. What he wanted to say was that technically, Cela owed him... since she STOLEDEDED the free butterbeer chance and he had fixed it. Mhmm. "Nuhh-no... dddon't wwwworry ab-about it."

Mhmm. All was well.

"S'alright," Jake shrugged, looking at his two friends, the old one and the new one, and musing in thought. He had just attempted to look out of the window when, without him realising what was happening.

...

...

...

O.O

She kissed him.

It was on the cheek, but STILL. Jake's eyes went wide and he stared straight at the girl. Didn't say anything. He was... shocked, but... he didn't know why.

"Erm..." Jake whispered, thinking only about shieliding young Tibi's innocent eyes, and about the last girl who had decided to kiss him. The little colour that had touched his cheeks finally drained away, but still...

"Wow."

O.O

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samuel Huxley

This kid was exasperating! Samuel wished she would get on with what she wanted, he did have other patrons to serve ya know.

Oh finally.

He was just reaching down for a butterbeer when he stopped in mid motion. She wanted what? Oh see now this was why he was not keen on having kids in his bar. They were all so demanding.

Samuel grabbed a glass, spat in it and then wiped it out with the same dirty rag that he had been using before. He slammed it onto the counter along with the bottle of butterbeer and looked at the little girl with a smirk. "That will be a galleon."

Look. LOOK. LOOK. LOOK.

Madiison was WATCHING this man suspiciously as he went about cleaning glasses. Or making them even more unclean by using that foul excuse of a rag. EW. She hoped he would wipe hers using a CLEAN piece of cloth as she had so politely asked him to do. The girl gave him another one of her cuuuuuute and pretty smiles before turning her gaze to the Hogs Head yet again.

How could he work in this place? Why would he WANT to? And those were the questions going through the girl's head as her eyes followed another bug scuttling around on the floor.

Fascinating.

Not.

But then she heard SOMETHING. Like someone SPITTING. And the red quickly turned her gaze back to the bartender and the glass in his hand. A glass which now contained some DISGUSTING LIQUID-Y STUFF WHICH WAS NOT BUTTERBEER (or any drink, really). The redhead eyeballed the glass as the bartender wiped it with his rag - EEW EW EW EW EW EW- and then ... handed it to her.

Di STARED at the glass and then at the bartender, dumbstruck.

STAAAAAAAARE. STARE. STARE. STARE. STARE.

He did WHAT? She had asked him to CLEAN the glass, not to SALIVA-COAT it!

And he had the NERVE to ask her for ONE GALLEON!

"That glass is not clean." Madiison informed the bartender, LOOKING at him in the eyes. LOOK!AT!ME, silly bartender who thought spitting into a glass was a way to clean a glass.

OBVIOUSLY his mother taught him nothing at home. AND he probably never learnt anything useful at Hogwarts.

Bet he was a Hufflepuff.

Sniff. Sniff. Saaaaaad. So sad.

Drinking some more of his butterbeer, Oliver's eyes moved back to Miranda's. He placed his bottle on the table and wiped his mouth on his hoody sleeve. He hoped she knew he was teasing then; or maybe Miranda took everything said as gospel. Merlin, no wonder their friendship had been rocky and confused so far. Oliver's inbuilt need to make light of everything and Miranda who was the most gullible person he had ever met. He did, however, stop smirking when she answered his question seriously – he didn't want to think he was laughing at her. But then he smiled when she made a joke of it herself. “So... if you were stranded on a dessert Island and could take ONE thing, and one thing only, would it be a life supply of chocolate?” He asked with a grin.

She seemed excited by the prospect of this Honeydukes. A sweet shop! And here was Oliver thinking it must have been a tearoom. “Sweets? Sounds good to me. Do they have muggle chocolate?” He asked leaning forward in his seat a little. You couldn't beat muggle confectionery. Those old fashioned boiled sweets and that Dairy Milk chocolate. He didn't know why it was so different to wizarding stuff – actually, he did - there was no risk of getting something poo flavoured.. or unexpectedly turning into a canary with the muggle stuff. “Durmstrang.” He sighed.. but not in a content way. “It was beautiful but, no I don't miss it. Not at all. I wasn't happy there. All that strict pureblood mightier than thou stuff is a little disconcerting when you're a halfy. And the kids were snotty.. arrogant. I wouldn't go back there for all the muggle chocolate in England.” He smirked once again. “Did you grow up in the wizarding world?” He asked Miranda with interest.

Oliver shrugged. He didn't care that tryouts have been postponed. He hadn't been feeling up to it anyway. His eyes snapped back to Miranda's when she asked if he was nervous. He was tempted to give a sarcastic, cocky reply about how Oliver Greenwood laughed in the face of nerves but.. meh. “I'm petrified.” He admitted, looking down at his bottle of butterbeer. “After watching you lot.” Oops.. that hadn't meant to slip out. “...er.. yeah. You Badgers are good. I'm thinking of...” Did he dare tell her? Oh man.. he was trying to be honest with her at all times now. But it was damn hard. “..not going.” He finished and took another sip of his drink.

“Franken what!? - OH.. no... really?” He asked disbelievingly. “I though Pilliwinkle had kept it as a pet.” He mumbled. “Well.. you'll be pleased to know that there's now three of those things flapping and nesting and multiplying or whatever it is butterflies do around Hogwarts.” He made a face. Major fail.