The Hog's Head

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Continued from here.

Lily rolls her eyes. "Yes, I'm sure about the Hog's Head. Would I have said it if I wasn't? Come on," she urges again, using their linked arms to tug him along the path to Hogsmeade. She doesn't hesitate when they reach the dingy pub, simply squares her shoulders and marches in as if she's done it a million times. Of course, people who have been to the Hog's Head a million times are generally more aware that it's not the type of place you march into, but rather an establishment where people slip in quiet and unnoticed, but Lily's mood is more akin to reckless disregard for who sees her than discretion right now. She pulls Ted into a rickety looking booth in the back of the pub. It's only then that she really looks around, taking in the dust and the cobwebs gathering all over, and the layer of grime on the windows she had originally mistaken for shutters. Lily chews her lip as her eyes stray to the bar. The lone bartender hasn't acknowledged their presence, simply continued building a clay model of what Lily thinks looks a bit like a goat.
"Erm, I'm guessing table service is a pipe dream in this joint?"

Ted followed her in and sat down where she chose, looking around warily. When she mentioned table service he let out a snort of laughter, "I would think so. What do you want I'll go order?" When she had chosen he went up to the bar and eyed the glasses carefully as the bartender poured. Bringing them back to the table he wiped the edges with his sleeve before handing hers to her. Holding up his glass he offered "to idiots" and took a swig of his own mead.

Lily, who has been flirting with the idea of tossing caution to the wind and diving straight into the murky depths of firewhiskey, is ever so slightly unnerved by the hint of weariness in Ted's eyes as he glances around. She bites down on the 'F' already forming and hastily grins to cover it. "Erm, I don't know. Butterb- No. Mead, I suppose?" She waits patiently for Ted to return, trying not to stare too obviously at the few people dotting the shadowy corners. "Thanks," she says, gingerly accepting the glass. She wonders if she can get seriously ill from these conditions. Ted's toast has her chuckling, she tosses her head back and a wicked gleam flashes through her eyes. "To hell with idiots," she counters, and takes a too-long swallow of the alcohol.

Ted waited to see whether or not she would choke on the mead, as he swallowed his own mouthful. Considering the state of their surroundings and the filthiness of the bar the alcohol was actually quite good. He wasn't really partial to mead but in this place he didn't want to ask for anything but mead or hard liquor. "What do you think?" He wasn't quite sure why they were here still but he guessed there had to be something more than just Potter being a prat.

Lily pulls a little face. The mead is heavier than she thought it would be, and it feels thick and strange settling in her stomach. She puts her glass down on the table and shrugs. "It's fine," she says, as if she drinks mead all the time and can pick the good from the bad. She opens her mouth to speak again but nothing comes out, after a moment Lily just shakes her head and takes another mouthful of mead. This time, she figures out not to gulp it, though. "Any interesting assignments you're working on?" she wonders, keeping her hands wrapped around the glass in front of her.

Ted shook his head, "Nothing too interesting. Just lots of busy work. Though I might be doing some work with McGonagall soon, some research she's doing. I think she just needs an extra set of hands but it'll be interesting. And before you ask," he grinned at her, knowing just what she was opening her mouth to say, "I don't know exactly what the research is."

"Oh shut up." Lily pulls a cheeky face because Ted knows her too well, anticipating the question on her mind before she even opens her mouth. She takes another sip of mead, longer than the last, and the glass makes a little thudding noise as she puts it back down on the table. There's a little series of condensation rings forming where she's rested her drink so far and her finger trails absently through the moisture, spreading it and coating her fingertip in a light layer of grime that she doesn't yet notice. Her attention is drawn to the corner, though she's trying not to make herself too obvious. "What d'you think - drag queen, or prostitute?" she asks out of the corner of her mouth, then giggles.

Once there, Violet reached behind her and latched her hand onto Walden's, dragging him along behind her quickly as she made for the Hog's Head. That's where most of the Slytherins were headed tonight since The Three Broomsticks was generally overrun with Gryffindors. She shoved the door open and stepped inside, tugging her hood a bit lower and letting go of Walden's hand as she did so. She glanced back over her shoulder at him, and slunk around groups of people, weaving her way through the crowd to get up to the bar. Things were more lax here, and the barmaid working tonight didn't mind sneaking a little extra 'fun' into the butterbeer and drinks she served, at least to the sixth and seventh years. Violet asked for a fun butterbeer to start, but quickly changed her order to "Actually, something with a little more fun in a smaller glass, if you please."

He followed her down the lane in Hogsmeade and was glad to see her leading him towards the Hogshead, not that he would have gone into the three broomsticks with her anyway. As they walked in he kept an eye on her, following her through the crowd. Halfway to the bar he felt a hand on his arm. Looking around he saw Rookwood at the other end of the hand and reached up, pushing back his hood. Rookwood had recognized him by his height and the fact he had been shoving aside younger years to get though. Glancing back at the bar Macnair saw Emily ordering a drink and assumed she was fine by herself for a minute and turned back to see his friend giving him a strange look. Rolling his eyes he noticed that he was there with a larger group of Slytherins from their year who were fighting their way through the crowd and he quickly excused himself, walking up to the bar just as Violet asked for her "fun in a smaller glass". He raised his voice from behind her and told the barmaid to make that two. Not-so-gently nudging the fifth year next to him he made himself a space next to her, leaning his scythe against the bar.

Violet spun around at the sound of Walden's voice behind her, grinning up at him. "You copied me," she teased with a grin. "No more hood? Afraid your friends would try to grab your face like I did?" She laughed softly, leaning back comfortably against the bar while she waited on their drinks to be ready. "You can go talk to them if you want to, it's not like you're stuck with me on a date or something stupid like that." Shrugging lightly at him, she turned around as the sound of two little glasses hitting the wood bartop caught her attention behind her. She picked them both up and passed one to Walden. "Happy Halloween!" Raising her glass to him, she tipped it back and drained the little shot sized glass quickly, blinking once or twice but otherwise unfazed. She sat the glass back on the bar and made some kind of complicated hand and finger gesture to the barmaid who had caught her eye from across the way, going about making more drinks with a nod that showed she understood whatever the hell it was that Violet had just told her in hand symbols and signs.

Macnair shrugged when she told him he could go be with his friends and rolled his eyes, about to say that they weren't all that interesting right now with all of them there being stupid together but then the shots were put down in front of them. Picking up his glass he raised it to her when she did and downed it in one, savoring the burn of the firewhiskey. He smirked when she fiddled her fingers at the barmaid and waited until the woman got close enough before shouting out his own drink order. As she busied herself getting drinks for all the shouting patrons he leaned into talk to Emily, "I'd rather not see my friends making fools of themselves right now, I'm afraid not many of them can hold their liquor and those that can have particularly annoying girlfriends who only get worse when lubricated." And yes Wally and I are both aware of exactly how dirty that sounds.

"Well they sound like lots of fun," Violet laughed. She nearly choked when he said 'lubricated'. "That sounds so horribly wrong. You realize I'm on my way to getting, er, lubricated, shortly, right? Who knows if I'm intolerable while in that state. I think you barely tolerate me sober sometimes," she told him with a grin, turning around as the barmaid headed back over with the drinks they had ordered. Wally had something along the same lines as their previous drink, but Violet had several little glasses, five of them all lined up, each with something different in them. "Drink up, wussy," she giggled, pulling her glasses toward her and giving him a glance before downing her glasses, each one at a time at a steady pace. "Mermaid Tears, Witch's Brew, Ghost Blood, Goblin Piss, and Dragon Snot,"  she explained, naming off the five drinks that it was. "Dunno what's in them, but... let's see what you think?" She laughed, signaling for another of the five to be brought over for Walden. She also asked for a tall glass of something 'fun' for herself.

Perhaps lubricated hadn't been the best choice of words but he had to chuckle at her response, "Well if you get too bad then I'll have to find some other way to deal with you." He raised his eyebrow at her line of drinks but took his own at a equally rapid pace when they arrived. After those five he could feel a slight buzz but was sure that she had to be in much worse shape than him. As she drank her new glass of 'fun' he kept a steady eye on it, asking for a strong butterbeer for himself for the time being. "So what sort of drunk are you going to be Miss Lockwood?" He leaned on the bar and smirked at her, rather impressed, Given her size, that she was still relatively normal.

"Some other way?" She quirked an eyebrow at him with a sideways grin. "Hopefully we won't have to resort to that." Laughing, she sipped a little more from her new glass. "I don't know. Not that I haven't drank before. I've had my fair share of drinks and drunken nights, but you'd have to ask those companions how it really was. I'm no one to try and describe myself like that. Guess you'll find out soon enough though, won't you? It's probably not long after those five, to be perfectly honest." She shrugged, and looked around the Hog's Head absentmindedly. "Miss Lockwood." She said it with a little chuckle. "It sounds so formal for you to say, Mr. Macnair. What about you though? What kind of drunk are you, Walden Macnair? Er, Wally?" She giggled at the newly found nickname, pleased with her creativity. lolz.

He snorted into his drink when she called him Wally. Obviously the alcohol had taken effect. Then again it did sound like something she would say sober, she was brash enough. "I highly doubt you'll see me drunk. I only got drunk once and I seem to recall waking up in a strange inn with blackened fire marks on the walls so since then I've kept myself under that particular limit." He was surprised at himself for sharing that with her, but hopefully it would distract her from that horrible nickname. He would almost rather have he calling him Alford than Wally.

Violet only laughed more when Walden did, a smile breaking across her face upon seeing his amusement. She liked it, and wanted to make that happen more if she could. "Right then. I'm not fire proof, at least I don't think I am, so I think we'll try and keep you sober, so yes, only butterbeers for you from here on out, Wally." She grinned up at him and took another long drink from her glass, pouting as it only had about a third of its original amount left. She glanced around and spotted a friend across the room, squeaking excitedly and handing her drink to him. "Hold that? I'll be back in like thirty seconds. Maybe thirty four if I trip. Um. Yeah, I just have to go say hi!" She spun away quickly and hurried across the room, knocking into some random boy halfway there, and then tackled the blonde girl with the feathery mask on. Her squeal of 'Addie!' could likely be heard through the bar despite the general noise of everyone shouting over each other, but she didn't mind. She and her friend were tangled up in their tackle-hug for a moment. She pointed toward Walden and said something, and then pecked a friendly kiss on her friend's cheek before waving goodbye and hurrying back toward the bar. "Did you time me? You should have timed me. That was super speed, I'm sure of it. Oh and thank you good sir drink holder." She took her drink back from him and took a sip without a thought, though her mother probably would have lectured her about letting some boy watch her drink when he could easily put things in it while she was gone. Well, her mother would have if she really had one... but that didn't occur in her mind at the moment.

He chuckled when she said she wasn't fireproof but stopped abruptly, rather confused when she shoved her drink at him, muttered about only taking seconds then ran off. watching her he shook his head at her scream and took another drink from his own glass, never thinking that in the time she was gone he could have put her glass down. When she ran back and grabbed the glass back from him he leaned back against the bar with a curious look on her face, "So who was that? I don't think I know her." And Wally wouldn't put something in her drink, she was getting herself far enough gone without his added assistance.

"My friend Addie. Uh. Adelia. Whiteraven?" She shrugged, taking another sip. "She's one of the girls that lives in my dormitory. Kind of the only one I talk to because it's hard getting over last year's painful shyness, but whatever." She fell quiet and just looked up at him, her cheeks a little flushed from all the drinks and running back and forth across the room."You've got more freckles than I realized," she told him, as if it would be new information for him. "They're nice." She was quiet again as she stared at him, but only for a moment. "Isn't it strange how you can see someone most days, and you see them, but you never really look at them? And then you look at them, for like a long time, and they start to look like someone else. That doesn't make sense. Or does it? I mean, I don't know. Maybe it's because you're finally noticing the little details of them instead of their face as a whole and it's all different and new and weird. Not that your face is weird. You have a nice face not a weird face, I promise."

Macnair's brain tried to keep up with the strange directions hers were running in but instead he ended up fixated on her eyes. They were an incredibly rich dark brown that most frequently glinted with a mischievous sprit but he had also seen filled with sadness and a certain protectiveness that closed them off from him. When she finished off saying he had a nice face he blinked at her and took another drink before he did something stupid like telling her she had a nice face too. She really did have a nice face but, unlike her apparently, he had noticed that from the start.

"Now I've made you mad, haven't I? You aren't speaking to me anymore. Maybe I've asked too much for you to dress up and come out of the castle and come here to hang out with me but now I've drunk too much and you're upset with me for being stupid and annoying and saying your face was weird even though it isn't, but you're just being too nice to say so and you're just hoping I'll get distracted again maybe so you can sneak off and go home." She spoke quickly and didn't seem to realize she had said it all until afterward, when she bit down hard on her bottom lip and looked away from him, staring rather sadly at her nearly empty glass, as if she wasn't sure what to say or do anymore.

Macnair looked at her and waited until she finished and turned her face down to her drink. He hesitated as he reached out for her and settled on putting a hand on her shoulder, then moving it to lift her face up when she didn't look at him, "I'm not mad at you," he kept his voice low so not everyone in the whole bar could hear them. Now that she was looking at him again he ran out of things to say, she was still biting her lower lip and her eyes looked dark and sad. If asked he wouldn't be able to explain what possessed him to do what he did next and instead he would probably try to blame it on the drinks. Putting down his drink he reached behind her back, pulled her in close and kissed her.

Violet didn't look up at him when his big hand settled on her shoulder. It wasn't until his grip settled on her jaw and he actually turned her face upward again that she looked at him. She couldn't have continued looking down if she had wanted to though, he was too strong to fight him. She blinked once when he said he wasn't mad, but still had no idea what to say. The more he stared at her, the more she didn't know what to do with herself. She felt stupid and too drunk to stumble through her thoughts properly. Everything was cloudy in her mind and she was falling back to sadder times of her past all over again, a spiral that wouldn't likely be stopped any time soon and could only end in ruining Halloween for both of them. But what he did next took her so very by surprise that it did put a stop to her thoughts, almost entirely. His lips were far gentler than she would have expected, if she had had a moment to expect it to happen. She closed her eyes and kissed him back for only a second, for the utter surprise of his action caused her grip on her glass to slacken, and her drink shattered on the floor beside where they stood. She jumped back, looking down at it, still with an expression of shock at everything happening. "Sorry!" she exclaimed, though she wasn't sure who it was to - the barmaid for making a mess, or Walden for being so strange. She watched guiltily as the woman pulled out her wand and cleaned up the mess. Reaching out for Walden's hand, she tugged him gently and moved toward the door, finding it far too loud and crowded in here now.