The wizard looked up into the starry sky as he apparated into the cobbled streets of Diagon. There was only one haunt that could satisfy his craving tonight; that place where many muggleborns find their first true taste of wizarding culture: The Leaky Cauldron. He savored the feel of the bitter wind on his face, but drew his cloak around his slim shoulders just the same. It would not do well for him to catch a chill before his first official day at work.

He stepped into the dimly lit pub, squinting his eyes through the hazy cloud of smoke that always permeated the air. It was an unusually subdued night for the Cauldron, perhaps its customers had already leaked out. There was a cloaked figure in the corner, as well as a pair of chatty witches obviously well into their bottle of wine smack in the middle of the room. Charlie took the only obvious choice and grabbed a seat at the empty bar, pushing the ashtray away as he did so. 

He was usually a superstitious person and took omens very seriously, and would have normally walked right out of the bar when he noticed how empty it was, but tonight he just had to have a bit of devil’s juice. He wasn’t a heavy drinker, and he knew that after about two drinks, his jaunty bounce would turn into a stagger and his carefully controlled words would be slurs of incoherence, but tonight Charlie didn’t care. Tonight he just wanted to be blissfully, inexcusably wasted. He wanted to be so drunk that when he apparated home for the evening, he landed halfway down the street in some random muggle’s dying flower bed. 

When the barkeep crept over to where he was sitting Charlie was seriously at a loss for words. What did one order when you sat at a bar? The only time he had ever really been drinking was at schoolmate parties, and when he was at a restaurant he ordered a glass of wine or butterbeer. Heck, this was the first time Charlie had ever sat at the bar. His face was probably hilarious, mouth agape like a fish out of water. Finally, he simply said “Bring me the good stuff,” and hopefully the man didn’t bring him a glass of milk or something equally embarrassing.

Ruby had spent the last three days babysitting. Colin had been extra fussy and Tilly seemed like she needed a break, Ruby felt bad even letting the Squib pay her - but even if Kale was being very gracious about their living arrangement she liked to contribute however she could, whether it was doing laundry, keeping the spartan flat clean, or cooking. It was getting weird, that space between not-really-a-couple-but-more-intimate-than-just-friends-without-being-physical. No matter how much she fought it, she felt a certain emotional dependency on the Healer-in-training. It had been nagging her more and more lately so she'd left dinner in the oven for him and headed out on her own.

She didn't splurge on drinks often - first of all because she saw how much it upset Sophie dealing with the fact their Da was nose deep in the bottle still, but also because what fun was it to get drunk if Kale wasn't there to nag at her and for her to playfully banter back until he put her to bed and she snuck snuggles from him? It wasn't a single bit of fun, so there wasn't much point to it - because the hangovers were never worth the trouble. She was just a little lonely and tired of being stuck in her head, that was all really - the L.C. seemed to be as good a place as any to haunt for a few hours until Kale would be home to distract her.

She'd been hoping a few of her old might Ministry Trainee friends be around, of course one step in the pub told her there wasn't much of anyone around tonight. It made sense, really, it was a Tuesday night after all and most people didn't have the luxury of sleeping in past ten and go get paid to play with a baby or make music recommendations to total strangers. Working at Reducto was a good job, well it was a fair job - for someone who had no real set of working skills and had no desire to join the ministry. There was just something about the fact that her mother had lived and literally died there that made it all seem hopelessly futile. So, until she figured out what impact she wanted to make on the world... she would try to make their taste in music suck less.

She had just sat herself down at the bar when she heard a familiar voice next to her make an adorably lame attempt at sounding like he knew what he was ordering from the bartender. Her lips twitched with a sly smile as she turned her dark head toward the blonde boy (well man, really) "The good stuff would kill the Charlie I remember," her voice was teasing as she shifted her eyes toward the amused looking bartender, "Make it two red current rums, I know all about you and your tricky ways," she waggled her finger in a circular motion at the man behind the bad before turning back to Charlie and resting her chin in her hand, "What in Helga's Bloomers are you doing in this part of the Alley? Don't tell me you've given up and gone to work for our supreme Overlords at the MoM too"?

The disgruntled barman looked a little taken aback by Charlie’s bubbly attitude. His usual crowd was, no doubt, a bit more boring than the flamboyant man sitting before him today. He allowed his comical grin to spread even wider, showing off his pearly whites. He could imagine the groups of people the man usually served: unwashed, pessimistic, boring. Charlie would be sure to make sure this was a night the man could look back on and smile for the rest of his life. When the voice beside him spoke up, Charlie’s grin turned into a perfect ‘O’ of surprise, and as he turned to look, he beamed up at the attractive young lady sitting beside him.

“Ruby Flitwick,” He said with a wink, “How are you?” he asked, bouncing a little in his seat from the excitement. He laughed a hearty laugh when she ordered for him, he didn’t mind, she was probably right, the good stuff would have killed him, or knocked him out for days at least. In response to her questioning he simply said, “Well, honey, wandering around town doesn’t pay the bills, and I really need to get outta mum’s house soon. She’s driving me completely nutters. It’s a desk job; nothing fancy, just got hired today.” He puffed out his chest in pride. The ministry might not be the best place to work, but it paid decent and that was really all Charlie cared about at this point.

“But tell me about you, what have you been up to lately?” He asked with a twinkle in his eye. It was exceptionally hard to stay in touch with old friends when you’re not in the country. Charlie had been spending his time since graduation studying abroad, trying to ‘find himself’, and the only thing he found was a nasty rash in Aruba and a gaggle of giggling girls in Guam. He couldn’t even understand most of the languages in the countries he visited. Plus, the trip had extremely wore down his savings and the goblins at Gringotts weren’t too keen on giving loans.

Ruby rested her chin in her palm and tried not to grin too broadly at her luck. Charlie had always been a doll, it was strange to see him (them really) out of the context she had grown so used to, sitting in the common room or at dinner. This was one of those rare extremely strange moments it hit her upside the head she was actually an adult now. She didn't feel any different, well that wasn't totally true. She had had more direction when she was in Hogwarts. She had had it all figured out, there was a path and she was on it and it lead right to working along side her mother as a Werewolf Liaison. She'd spent her whole life at Hogwarts preparing to step into those shoes... and then the March attacks happened and now little Miss Secure Future didn't exist anymore. What was that saying, life is what happens while you're busy making plans?

As the bartender set their drinks down she gave him a small smile before turning back to Charlie, "I went to America for a few months, New York actually. Lived like a muggle, was completely weird but also not? Then I came back, right before Soph headed back to school. Da's off touring with the band and Johnny, and Emily is in Greece so I'm staying with Kale Ferris until I figure something else out. I've been working at Reducto Records and picking up a few odd jobs here and there, I just started working at The Inkwell as a receptionist," she gave a bashful shrug feeling like she had shared too much - and also that what she was sharing was boring. Taking a sip of her drink (in the vain hopes of shutting herself up), she tried to picture Charlie sitting behind a desk and not going absolutely nuts; time really changed things, apparently.

Tucking a wayward lock of hair behind her ear she sized him up a bit, "What part of the Ministry? Nothing Auror related if it's desk duty. I almost never hear from Fauna or anyone else who's in training right now. They run them right ragged," she was genuinely interested in where it was he'd decided to put his efforts. As people kept telling her, there was much more to the Ministry than the Magical Creature and Law Enforcement divisions. Most people didn't understand her feeling that the whole system was corrupt and it was pointless to even try to work within it. She couldn't say things like that to Kale because of Kia and her position on the Capture Unit... it was all still just so gummed up inside her - not doing anything serious felt better than doing the wrong serious thing.

When the barkeep brought out their drinks, Charlie gave him a reassuring nod. At least the man was quick, but then again, with the crowd in the bar, he shouldn’t have much else to do. Charlie was genuinely interested in Ruby’s life. They had both felt the loss of a parent; Ruby’s affecting her a bit more recently than Charlie’s. Darkness crossed over his vision and the smile slid slowly off his face while he remembered when they told him the news of his dad’s death. Like always, he took the memories and shoved them in a box and put it in the back of his mind, to haunt him at a later time.

“I never made it to America,” He said, smiling again, “I would have loved to. I visited France, Paris is beautiful. And I visited Kenya, such interesting culture.” Charlie would have been content travelling all his life, but his money would have run out eventually, and he’d be left stranded. He couldn’t make a living from being a tourist. His eyes lit up as she spoke about her employment, and the ever handsome Kale Ferris. Surely her life was more fun and interesting than his.

He picked up his drink and took a gulp, feeling the burn of the alcohol sting his throat. He coughed, unaccustomed with the burning sensation sliding down his gullet. “I was just hired today.” He began, proud of his accomplishments, “I am the new Clerk for the Werewolf Registry, in the Creatures department. I’m sure I’ll lose my mind in a week or two. It doesn’t pay well, but it’s a job. I guess there was still some lingering respect for my da’.” He said with a shrug. “I’d MUCH rather be doing what you’re doing. Working in a shop lets you watch people, I love meeting new people!” He said with a bounce, taking another sip from his drink, making a grim, screwed-up face.

Ruby watched the ghost of a scowl pass over the usually bubbly male's face and she felt a pang of her own. It was so awkward when the notions of parents were brought up. It seemed in her life the lot was split 50/50 between people who had horrible memories or had lived picturesque lives with whole families and doting parents. She knew that until her mother's death she had fallen into the category of the latter and that she was lucky to have had sixteen years to be aodred by her mother... but in a way that made how things were now more tragic. Gone were the happy family memories and in it's place live Sophie trying to keep everyone together and no one really trying because they were all caught up in their own grief. Ruby was even guilty of that, guilty of running away rather than face trying to live in that house.

"It was amazing, but New York has a lot of the same fast paced energy of London so it wasn't a total adjustment," her eyes went wide at the mention of Kenya, "Really, you just went as the wind blew you or was there something else that pulled you to that part of the globe"? Admittedly it was hard to picture pale-still-too-skinny Charlie on African safari but maybe that was the point. Maybe everyone had to do that one thing that seemed completely out of character for them. After all, it wasn't as though people thought Ruby Flickwick would be wiling away her days working in two shops and stealing her nights away in Kale Ferris' bed with no funny business going on at all (but no one knew that because nothing had happened). She took another sip of her rum and tried to picture Charlie working in the registry. The paperwork would bore him, but the stories would probably break his heart.

She couldn't talk about it though, it was too close to what her mother had done, when she had started all those years ago when she was fresh off a Dragon Dirigible and started off at the bottom rung of the Werewolf Registry, then got married, furthered her career, had babies... his comment about people watching snapped her back to the moment and she gave a small nod. She did like that part, "It's been interesting, Reducto has slowed considerably since Hogwarts is back in session, but there's some hype about a newer band coming. The Inkwell is really interesting, I mean I just do the scheduling but so many different kinds of people show up there. Kale's not happy about it, of course, because it's right where Diagion turns into Knockturn but my boss, Dietrich, is a massive man who seems to be built out of stone. I feel as safe there as I do anywhere," she trailed off and rolled her eyes at herself, "I talk too much, I'm turning into Sophie".

“Oh, Kenya was amazing!” Charlie said with enthusiasm. “They have such a unique culture and way of life, and the magical creatures that live there are truly spectacular!” he was bouncing around in his seat, throwing his hands in the air for gestures. “I went because I had heard of a wandmaker, someone who had made a wand out of stone, not wood, and I wanted to meet the man and see how it was even possible. The stories turned out to be untrue, or at least I couldn’t find any proof of any truth… then again, I couldn’t understand what the indigenous people were saying either…”

Charlie took another large gulp of his drink, and looked up at his bar mate. “Yeah, it’s hard to believe someone like me would go off gallivanting across the globe, isn’t it?” He asked with a laugh and a hiccup. His drink was pretty much empty at this point, and Charlie was starting to feel the beginning effects of the alcohol. “I just had to, you know when you’re in school, you’re filled with all these crazy dreams, and I thought that I would actually be able to go off and study wandlore on my own, boy was I wrong.” He said with another laugh.

“No!” He said in response to her comparison of her sister, “I like it when you talk, that means that I’m not completely dictating the conversation. You and I both know that I can talk way too much, I like to ramble.” He grinned sheepishly at Ruby, realizing that he was, indeed, rambling. “But tell me more; you’re not scared of Knockturn? I’m always terrified; I stay as far away as I can.”

Ruby smiled as he became visibly excited, gesturing and picking up the pace of his speech. Running off to Kenya made going off to the states seem silly and tame. She was glad he'd enjoyed himself though, life was too short not to have as many adventures as possible (even if her current living situation would lead people to believe she felt otherwise). "I don't think it's that strange, the running off and wanting to see the world part I mean. We spend the biggest chunk of our lives in school learning about all the adventures other people have had - and there is so much to see and learn beyond what we're taught and the way we're taught it. I was always so sure of what I wanted to do," she paused and shook her head with a little shrug as she took another sip from her glass, "then I woke up one day and wondered who's life I was really living".

Resting her chin against her knuckles she gave a small sigh, brown eyes turned toward the pub's ceiling, "Did I really want to work for the Ministry? Did I want to fight the same battle over and over again and all of a sudden I just remember feeling like I couldn't breathe thinking about it. I felt like I could see my life, from the last Hogwarts' Express ride to the end of days laid out in perfect order with no mystery or adventure and I just couldn't do it. I couldn't deal with the pressure of being the person everyone expected me to be. I doubt Sophie will ever forgive me but I'd have thrown myself off a tower by now if I'd gone on the way I was," the confession came out easily, much more so than she would have expected given her hesitation to talk about it with even Kale. It was probably the rum loosening her lips, she wasn't much of a drinker so it didn't take a lot.

When he asked about Knockturn she gave a little shrug, "I originally went in to get a tattoo done. The Inkwell is about the best place in the Wizarding world to have work done, and Dietrich is always working on some new artistic element," she paused, realizing she was off topic and waved her hand dismissively to what she had just said, "Anyway in the course of getting my tattoo it came up that he needed a receptionist, and it probably sounds ridiculous but it's very hard not to feel safe around him. I was always the tallest girl in the family, and he towers over me - and it's not like it's really in-in the Alley. It's where Diagon curves into Knockturn. And I sort of figure..." she trailed off trying to find the right words, "the worst thing that can ever happen to me is dying... and people do that every day". It was morbid maybe but it was how Ruby was choosing to cope with life at the moment.

Charlie listened to his friend’s explanation and totally agreed. Before Gawain had been murdered, he was quite sure of his future. He knew that he would be working at the Ministry because it was what was expected; he would be scrutinized every day as ‘Robard’s kid’ and not known at all for who he was. Maybe that’s why he acted so flamboyantly, to show the world that he was his own person and not just someone’s son. He was a many faceted being and one identifier wasn’t anywhere near enough to do him justice.

“Maybe you should take me there one day. I think I’d like a tattoo… I mean, needles are… creepy… but I think I’d manage. I’ll only go if you take me though, I’ll be damned if I go near Knockturn alone. I cross the street to walk on the other side when I get near…” Charlie suppressed a shiver and drained his drink. He sat it down on the counter and screwed up his face from the burn of the alcohol.

“Are you planning on going to the Diagon party?” He asked nonchalantly. He wouldn’t be attending. There were too many people he was sure to dislike there, plus… he wanted to save his costume for the party at Fauna’s on the night of Halloween.

Ruby tilted her head to one side, trying to picture Charlie with a tattoo, it'd be fun to take him even if he couldn't go through with it in the end, "Wanna see mine? It's probably really stupid, and I keep hearing my mother tell me I'll hate it by the time I'm fifty, but it feel really necessary at the time," she was already slipping off her heel, extending her leg out away from the bar, foot tilted so the light could catch the world Balance. "Mine isn't anything special, you should see the work Dietrich does, he's amazing". She had a lot of respect for her most recent employer, he was a talented man.

"Of course if needles really freak you out you could always just get something pierced, it's quicker and I won't tell anyone if you close your eyes," she grinned at Charlie and gave a little wink, before giving a one shouldered shrug to his question. "I was thinking about it. Kale can't go, or he says he can't go but I think it's that he doesn't want to go, which logically should have no bearing on whether or not I go, but it does. Between working two jobs and then babysitting when Tilly needs someone to look after Colin when I'm not working - not that she has me do it all the time or anything, and I love taking care of him, but I just don't go out anymore".

She made a face as she drained her glass, trying to decide if she wanted another, "It's weird you know, in Hogwarts we have all these ideas about what it will be like when we're in the real world and how we'll be friends with the same people forever... but we're not. I mean not realistically. People change and that means relationships have to change - and I haven't known how to be with people who knew me before. It's not that I'm a totally different person, but in some ways I am and, I don't know," she sighed and gave another shrug. I don't know seemed to be her go to answer for most things these days.

I don’t know… It seemed to be the mantra of their lives as of late. The terrible part of schooling was that it let you grow complacent. You learned and grew in a safe and structured environment, and when it ended, you were thrown unceremoniously into the world with nothing but your memories. Memories that sometimes haunted you for the rest of your lives, or until something even more memorable came along to push the first memory to the archives of your mind.

Charlie theorized that it was a flight response. When you graduate, you want to run, to learn and do on your own. Like a caged animal finally released from its imprisonment, and when you’re done running, you realize that there’s no one there to feed you or take care of you. That’s when the weight of the world falls on your shoulders, and the heaviness threatens to crush you. It took an extremely strong will to not fall prey to the fate of the world, and as Charlie looked at his friend, he realized that she was made of ‘the stuff’.

His father had always said that some people just had ‘the stuff’. They had the innate ability to be. They could do whatever they wanted, make things happen for themselves. Charlie had realized long ago that he wasn’t made of the same stuff that his father had been talking about, and he was okay with that. He would take life the way life gave it to him and he’d learn to adapt. Ruby, on the other hand, was handed a pretty poopfilled life lately, but she chose to make things better for herself, she chose to deal with her problems instead of running away from them. Charlie admired her.

Snapping back to reality, Charlie grinned at his friend. “That’s really pretty,” He said, referring to the girl’s tattoo… and her heels. “I’d probably die in the chair,” He said in mock horror.
 
“Yeah, maybe I’ll get my bellybutton pierced. Isn’t that the trend nowadays?” He said with a giggle. Actually, a naval piercing probably wouldn’t look bad at all on him, since he was in pretty good shape. Oh well if it was a primarily female piercing, that’d never stopped Charlie before.

“I don’t think anyone actually stays the same. Life happens and people change, and then you gravitate toward the people that can help you along through each phase of your existence,” Said the boy in an extremely rare case of seriousness.

After slipping her shoe back on she gave a small nod in Charlie's direction, "It just got weird after Mum died. I mean it's still weird, but I just didn't know how to be with people anymore. It still gets that way sometimes," she looked pensive, the rum making her lips looser than usual, more honest, "it's like part of me needed to talk about it but I also wanted to act like nothing had happened. People never know what to say - I mean what do you say to an eighteen year old kid who loses their mother in such an awful way, or any way really"? It was something she knew Sophie still struggled with, the having to explain. Ruby just didn't talk about it for the most part, it was easier that way. She didn't have to worry about making anyone sad or that strange look of pity that lingered in so many eyes.

"In a way, being in the States, sleeping in her old room, spending time with her family made me feel closer to her. It made me wish I had taken the time to get to know her as the person she was when she wasn't being a mother. I think Soph is still too angry at the world to see it like that; but then she's younger. She needed more, still needs more and Merlin knows our Da isn't around to give it to her. He's still off in Spain with the band," there was a slight scowl to her normally smiling features as she spoke. She had her own guilt about running off and leaving Sophie over the summer, but she also understood the reality that just because she had done it for years didn't mean taking care of her little sister was actually her job.

It was frustrating that Duncan was so consumed by his own grief he forgot he still had at least one baby that needed raising, but she tried not to hold it against the man. Death did strange things to people. The mention of a navel ring brought about a cocked eyebrow and a tilted head from the former Hufflepuff, "I suppose you can't really put a bunch of holes in your face and work at the Ministry can you? You have a better body for it than some of the people who come in and want their belly button pierced". She'd thought about getting her navel done once, of course her mother had told her only pole dancers needed belly jewels, snapping her fingers as though she'd just had a brilliant idea, "we could get matching rings with little dangling Badgers! It could be our weird post-graduation bonding experience," with that notion she was officially too tipsy to be in charge of activity planning anymore. It would not end well.