For a Saturday night the room felt empty, faces one by one becoming lost in the background while voices faded into the past. Gale hadn't felt especially social this evening, but he'd wanted out of the castle. So much was happening, faster and faster his days filled with the every day, but this term felt different--somehow less exciting as his first, and painfully familiar. He loved his job, he loved his students, but his otherwise nomadic life had the nightlife calling to him like drums as they sounded out war.


Tonight he wore no masks, open and exposed as any other mundane soul that passed through those doors, but felt like a stranger in his own skin. He supposed this was what heartache did to a man, plagued them until they felt as though their very own skin had been exchanged for a weaker lesser fool and stole the very air from their lungs. He had not cried, he could not get angry, nor could he find fault in anything that transpired, but all he could think about was how good it felt to be free from responsibility and utterly alone.


Dressed down, at least by his way of standards he wasn't in much mood for falsehood, and had simply gone through the motions of getting dressed. It wasn't until he caught a sight of himself in the mirror that he was thankful he'd at least put on two matching shoes, and buttoned his shirt correctly. He couldn't remember doing either, and was amazed.

'You seem down, Rabbit.' The keep had mentioned when handing Gale over the darts, and he paid the man without offering much of an answer.

"Just been a long week," Gale thanked him for the refill in his mug, the beer oaky and dark, and turned towards the board with the idea of shooting a few rounds of darts before heading home. Wherever that would be tonight. He would ask the cards in his back pocket later.

Since it was Saturday, Rosier left the Ministry a bit earlier than usual. He didn't want to go home and socialize with his nephew while having dinner, so he decided to stop by the Leaky Cauldron. It used to be one of Rosier's favorite spots in London, but somehow he preferred it for lunch instead of dinner. He liked the atmosphere - the old, wooden furniture, the bar's eccentric regulars and the general old wizarding world feel of the place. However, the Hog's Head was still his favorite such inn, mostly because it was much quieter and people over there generally left him alone.

After a quick dinner, Rosier stayed at the bar and as per usual, stared at the pages of the Prophet as if they were the most interesting thing in the world. A cup of tea and an (already full) ashtray kept him company this time instead of the standard bottle of gin. He looked tired and grumpy, but better than he used to prior to his Moroccan adventure. One would assume that such a trip would be a life-draining experience for someone like Rosier, but it apparently had a positive effect on him. He frowned, squinting through his reading glasses as he read the article in which someone called him 'the politician who doesn't know what he wants'. Still frowning, he turned the page aggressively, wondering why he even reads this nonsense.

Distracted by the brief exchange that happened next to him, Rosier looked up and spotted a familiar face. He wasn't personally acquainted with the Hogwarts Charms professor, but he met him briefly on a couple occasions and he certainly knew him from what he read in the Prophet. Truth be told, Rosier knew most things about the witches and wizards of Britain just from religiously reading the famous newspaper.

"I heard cheating at darts is incredibly easy," he said as he closed the Prophet and folded it neatly. It was bizarre to see someone who looked even grumpier than him. "What brings you down to London, Professor Kesali?"

Oh, Cameron Rosier, the dark and handsome stranger at nearly every party. It amused Gale to no end to hear the little rumblings of whispers that breathed in this man's name like a pleasured sigh, and how eyes followed him at every event like prized game. Gale can only remember one time when they had been close enough to speak, and though they had worked together once before he couldn't recall a time when he had the courage to even speak. Cameron was captivating, to nearly everyone around him, and standing this close again Gale could easily see why. He was so very handsome, tall--a good strong jaw and a quizzical brow; the perfect figure from any of his silver screen classics and the object of many faint hearts. Thankfully, Gale had already been drinking.

"Really now...I hadn't heard that," Gale gave a smirk over the brim of his mug and placed the darts out before him. His family cheated at everything so it wouldn't be a big surprise if this wasn't one more way.

"What brings you down to London, Professor Kesali?"

"I work with children all week, Rosier. To keep me sane, I drink on the weekends and find random people to fuck, isn't that a law somewhere for those who do? For every one little person in my life, I'm to have two of these?" He motioned for the mug with a grin on his face, playful and rare. Gale was suffering from very serious heartache, but wasn't ready to even admit that himself. However, seeing Rosier now reminded him of the night of the Halloween party when he met Dolly the first time, and fell into Chester's lap. His chest tightened around his heart, and Gale propped against the counter to continue drinking.

"Funny I should run into you," He said with a coy grin lifting the corner of his frown, "Are you still seeing Dolly?"

Rosier's eyebrows flew up as the younger man offered an unexpected answer to his question. This was just his luck though - every time he tried to be polite, he got hit in the face with nonsense he really did not want to hear. It was curious how someone of such benign appearance (and who also worked with children, no less) wasted no time to use such crude language in company of strangers. Yes, Rosier was stuck up and maybe a bit too formal sometimes, but he strongly felt he was right about this. And yet he said nothing, there was only a slight, disapproving frown on his face.

And what could he say - he was not this man's close friend to discuss his life problems with him. Truth be told, he hated discussing those things with his actual friends too. However, he refrained from any, typical sarcastic comments for now, even though he had at least five up his sleeve by now. He didn't want to play Kesali's game - he didn't want to be as inappropriate as him. It was just typical Rosier, everything was a battle of wits for him.

Rosier took a couple of seconds to put some sugar into his tea when the man asked about Dolly. It was curious how he remembered, but then again their relationship was hardly a secret (also Kesali probably enjoyed reading the Witch Weekly - he seemed the sort). "Yes, even though I don't deserve her," he said with a smile, but he meant it. She was too young and beautiful for him and he admitted it. Also, he wasn't too nice to her either and yet she was still sort of willing to forgive him.

"So, darts..." he said, not wanting this to turn into a conversation worthy of the Witch Weekly front page. He took a sip of his tea and smiled complacently. "I haven't played in a while, but I'm sure I still know how to cheat. Shall we have a couple of rounds?"

And that slight disapproving frown was enough to have Gale want to just leave the man be. He didn't have any reason to want to be judged right now, and if Rosier thought Gale was going to edit himself around him--this man had another thing coming. His short answer about Dolly was enough to make Gale want to agree with him, but he did accept the offer for darts.

"I have a date with her, is why I ask. Any tips you can offer me would be well appreciated." Gale turned towards the boards and handed the man his three darts.

"It's been a really long while since I've been on the dating scene." Was he trying to get a rise out of Cameron? Of course. The man seemed far too stuck up and should be shaken loose. It's a shame he wasn't drinking anymore.

And for the record...Gale does not read the Witches Weekly.