The Three Broomsticks

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So after their sojourn at Honeydukes, Louis brought Emily into the Three Broomsticks. He steered her towards a table near the windows and pulled her chair out for her, being a total gentleman. He went up to Rosmerta and ordered two Butterbeers before sitting down at the table with Emily. "So are you having fun?" He smiled at her, nervous on the inside, really hoping the answer was yes.

"Yes, definitely," Emily smiled and said with complete sincerity. The more time she spent with Louis, the more she liked him. She generally shied away from getting attached, but she wanted to spend more and more time with Louis. "I think we can officially put Date the First down in the books as a success."

Louis grinned "Phew. Pressure's off now." He laughed, joking, and took a sip of his butterbeer when it came. "So tell me more about yourself, what's you're family like?" He looked right into her beautiful eyes. He wanted to know everything about this girl.

Emily's smile didn't lag at all. She didn't want to talk about her family, but she didn't want Louis to know that. "Oh no no no, mister. I am very serious about my air of mystery, and no silly boy is going to change that." She winked roguishly and took a sip of her butterbeer.

Louis pouted a little "Aw come onnnn. I want to get to know you better. You fascinate me," he said almost a little too bluntly. "Won't you give me a little something?" He turned on the puppy dog eyes big time.

"Okay," Emily sighed. He really wanted to know? Fine. "Let's just say they're not exactly... pleased with me." She took a furtive sip of her butterbeer, more in some kind of vain attempt to stop the conversation in its tracks and get it back on something happy than because she was thirsty. She passed it off with a quick grin and almost but not quite met his eyes.

Louis cocked his head to the side, a concerned look on his face. "Not...pleased...? How could they not be? They have an amazing daughter!" He couldn't understand how any parents could be displeased with the girl that sat in front of him. She was beautiful, smart, and witty. He came from a family that was full of love and couldn't comprehend any parental disappointment.

Okay, obviously he was going to push the matter further. Emily didn't let the slightest dark cloud pass across her face. All's well in the court of happy queen Emily. "Pureblood girls don't belong in Hufflepuff," she said quietly. "Pureblood girls probably don't go on nice dates with nice Ravenclaw boys, because Pureblood girls are always studying and getting straight As and saving the world or something." She turned up one corner of her mouth just slightly and returned to her butterbeer. Well, this was certainly putting a damper on things.

Louis furrowed his brow, almost angry with Emily's parents for putting her down for who she was. "Em, that's not true at all. There are plenty of Purebloods in Hufflepuff, I'm sure you are excellent in school, and...I rather enjoy being out with the Hufflepuff you." He reached across the table to give Emily's hand a comforting squeeze. "Your parents shouldn't dictate what you can and cannot do. You are an extraordinary person and your parents would be crazy not to see that." He gave her a reassuring smile.

Emily did NOT sniff because she is NOT sappy and mushy and gross. She just gave Louis' hand a squeeze back. "Pureblood girls also don't run away to France with their best friend and a silly boy they've only known for a month, either," she cheered up a bit and gave a small smile. Hey, French boys are cute. And at the time, transferring to Beauxbatons sounded like a good idea. "Anyway, thanks," she said. "Really. Thanks."

Louis cocked an eyebrow, "running of to France? Now that sounds interesting...do tell!" He smirked, though slightly nervous about how close Emily had been with this boy, wondering how long ago it was, if they were still friends, and if he was going to have some sort of competition.

Emily raised an eyebrow of her own. "Hey I already told you my big secret. I shall tell you no more about myself until you tell me... uhmm... something. Something interesting, mind you. Like your first kiss, or a near death experience, or something cool like that." She folded her arms and leaned back expectantly.

Louis scowled in defeat. "Alright fine. But then you're spilling about your French adventures." He sat in thought for a few moments, "well I'd like to say I invented some fancy Quidditch move or something that would impress you, but I'm afraid my life really isn't all that interesting" he chuckled. "Alright. In all seriousness now, when I was about 12 years old, over the summer holidays, I had the brilliant idea to jump off the cliff by our house. Luckily it wasn't too much of a fall, and there was water right below me, but boy were my parents royally peeved off with me. They almost didn't let me come back to school they were so mad." He grinned sheepishly.

Emily giggled and leaned back on the table. "Alright, fine, you win." She begrudgingly told him about this French boy she was like 90% sure she was in love with in fourth year. She ran away with him and her best friend to France, but her mother and father had her home within the week. She was grounded for the rest of the summer and very nearly got a Howler at school. They sat at the Three Broomsticks for a while, sharing stories and general hilarity and things and stuff and words, and then it was time to pack up and go home. Night was falling and it was time to get back to the castle. Emily and Louis walked down the street, holding hands and going as slow as possible to spend as much time together before they had to go to their respective dorms. "I had a really great time today," Emily told him truthfully, when they were almost all the way up to the castle. She gave his hand a squeeze and laid her head on his shoulder.

Louis smiled when she leaned her head on his shoulder. "I did too. I'm really glad you said yes to coming out with me." He turned to look at her, not wanting to let go of her soft hands. "I hope we can do something again soon." He still really wanted to kiss her, and was debating back and forth in his head whether or not to go for it.

"Yeah," Emily said softly. "I'd love to." They had reached the parting of the ways. Emily kind of really wanted to kiss him too, but she didn't want the memory of the kiss to be mixed in with telling Louis about her family. She tried pretty hard to forget about her family most of the time. Instead she turned and gave him a huge hug. She nestled her head in the crook where his shoulder met his neck and let out a breath. She wanted so much to kiss him, to feel his arms around her closing any remaining space. But she knew there would be time later, tomorrow, three days from now, and that Louis wasn't going anywhere. So she quickly lifted her head, pressed her lips against his cheek, and turned away. Her footsteps rang out against the stone floor as she headed back to her common room, that kiss on the cheek her only goodbye.

Louis wrapped his arms tightly around the girl as she embraced him, burying his face in her hair. It smelled wonderful. Not that he's a creeper or anything, he just couldn't help but notice that okay? He was so caught up in the embrace that he almost missed when Emily pulled away, gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and retreated to her common room. He raised a hand to his cheek, touching the place where she had kissed him, and watched as she disappeared from view. A rather large grin spread across his face as he reviewed the events of the day in his mind. He couldn't wait to see Emily again, and he hoped it would be very soon.

"Yeah, I guess some people would say it's kind of tiring but it's my passion, you know?" She smiled and stepped inside of the Three Broomsticks. "It's just like you wouldn't get tired of Quidditch, you know?" When he mentioned needing to try harder she laughed lightly nodded. "You'll definitely have to try a little bit harder, Teddy. Sorry to break it to you."

"I could never get tired of Quidditch." Teddy agreed. When Parv put it like that he really understood why she loved cheering so much. He looked around the Three Broomsticks and saw that his favourite seat by the window was free. He hurried over to claim it and sat down, smiling at Parvati. "I love this place," He told her, "There's always so many interesting people here."

"Exactly! That's how I feel about cheering." She really did love cheering and it was the only thing that she wanted to do these days. She had her moments when she wanted to go out and hang out with her friends but for the most part she just wanted to cheer all of the time. When he hurried over to the seat by the window she looked at him, amused, and followed him over and sat down across from him. "Is this your favorite seat or something?" She asked with a small grin. "I love it too."

"Yeah," Teddy confirmed, "It's my favourite seat. I like it because I get a good view of who's coming in and out." He told her, pointing out the window to where the pub's walkway was visible. "You also have the option of people watching." He turned to point at the excellent view down the main street. "Don't tell anybody," He said, leaning forward conspiratorially, "But sometimes I like to come here looking differently and just pretend to be someone else. Just a random stranger wandering into a pub with tons of stories to tell. Have you ever wanted to have someone else's life?" He asked her, a small smile on his face.

Parvati turned towards the window with a small smile as he said he got a good view of who was going in and out. "That's true," She said before turning back to Teddy. She didn't normally care who came in and out of the pub and chose to focus on who she was with but she knew that some people liked watching for other people. She raised her eyebrows at him when he told her what he liked to do and leaned forward a bit. "You like to do what!? Why the hell do you do that? That's creepy as hell."

Teddy shrugged, slightly surprised by her reaction. "I guess you wouldn't." He said, "You're pretty, you're the captain of the cheer squad, you're one of the most popular girls at Hogwarts." He didn't know what the real conditions were in Parv's life, but she sure made it seem like she had it all. "How many girls in the school do you think wish they were you? I could name tons off the top of my head." He shrugged again and looked back out the window, "All I'm saying is that sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have someone else's life. And since I have the ability to do it, why not?"

Parvati raised an eyebrow at him as he talked about all the things she was and all the things that she had. It was true, she was pretty, captain, and she was pretty popular. It seemed like almost everyone knew her name, even if she didn't know theirs. When he mentioned girls wishing they were her she gave him an almost confused look. Why would girls wish that they were her? She really was no reason for anyone to wish they were her. Sure she had a nice life but they didn't know everything about her or how hard she worked for the things she had. "People who wish they were me are crazy," She told him quietly. "They have no idea what it's like to be me." She shrugged lightly. "I guess people can dream about whatever they want though."