“And that’s when the goblin next to me looks over and says: ‘they’re galleons, not knuts’!” The Hogwarts Arithmancy professor sat at the bar in the Broomsticks, frothy droplets of ale clinging to his beard. A long and hearty guffaw followed his last statement, and a spattering of giggles could be heard throughout the pub… well… heard through those that were near him anyway.

His legs dangled high above the ground, and though he had to whizz, he wasn’t about to show everyone the undignified way he got up and down from the barstool. It had been a difficult month, settling into the castle, and now that he’d been given a slight reprieve (by not assigning homework the night before), he had a chance to forget all about intelligence and act like a belligerent drunkard in the most popular pub in town.

Henry lifted the mug to his lips and drained the glass. He’d already had four, and though he was of slight stature he was barely even feeling the effects of the alcohol. He placed the glass back upon the bar top and pushed it away, then placed a sickle upon the table for another. The other good thing about Hogwarts is that the old bat McGonagall paid quite a bit better than the greedy goblins of Gringotts. Then, on pure impulse, he pulled the sickle back and offered a golden galleon instead. "A round for all my buds too," He said gruffly, then waved at the people sitting nearest him.

By all appearances, a relatively quiet Saturday combined with a rare stroke of luck had aligned themselves in quite a remarkable way that afternoon.  Perfectly enough to allow the older Healer to both sneak away from her cabin and to arrive at the The Three Broomsticks just in time to hear the butt-end of one of the newest professor's jokes. 

And, to partake in the house round.  Quite advantageous, indeed.

"You should be careful how loudly you announce such offers," Tulojow remarked with a grin as she approached the bar, her ever present limp accentuating her step.  As nice as the brief respite was from the bitter cold of a typical Scotland winter, the cold rain was having its way with her damaged knee.  "You never know what sort of riff raff you'll attract.  Since he's offering, I'll have my usual."  The last bit was directed to the barkeep as she offered another grin to the boisterous goblin. 

Once settled, Tulojow tugged a small leather pouch from her pocket and withdrew a carved, wooden pipe.  "You don't mind?" she inquired, gesturing with the pipe.  "Need something to combat the cold out there.  How are you settling in at the castle?"

Maiko had spent the majority of her evening here at the Broomsticks. Her brother had some sort of hot date tonight, and urged her to spend her Saturday elsewhere. While the request stung at first (why wouldn’t he want her to meet his date?!), she understood that she could be a bit embarrassing, and saw where he was coming from.  So the weekend was going to be spent at work. She didn’t mind—she had lived at Hogwarts for the entire first semester, and spent many weekdays sleeping there as well. As long as she knew the family dog was being fed, watered, walked, and given love, then she was fine.

She was one drink in, and working on a second  by the time that she noticed Henry and Tulojow. Henry was adorable with his cute beard and his tiny stature—and Tulo—well, she had always loved the healer. She got out of her seat and tried to play it cool—her tolerance for alcohol wasn’t very high, and she was already feeling the effects. With fruity drink in hand, she finally reached the fellow staff and wrapped an arm affectionately around Tulojow’s shoulder.

“I missed you.” She said sweetly, “We, we need to have a cooking party again.” She released Tulojow from her grip of love and sat down next to Henry. “Has anyone told you how precious you are? With the beard, yes. It's the beard." Mai was absolutely beaming, glad to have found people she was comfortable drinking with. Tulojow was a safe person, not just for her, but for many other denizens of Hogwarts. And Henry-- well, Maiko liked to think that Henry was the fun, friendly sort. Judging by the round he bought the people around him, he was.

“Nadge!” He called, as the healer came up beside him. She was one of the ones Henry enjoyed at the castle, she wasn’t a young ‘un and by damn, she was good at her job. Actually, Henry had been meaning to speak with her about getting a poultice or a potion or a salve or whathaveyou for the ache in Henry’s knees, brought on by the chill – but tonight wasn’t the time for that. He’d get around to that eventually, but for now, he was happy to watch as the barkeep brought her usual forward and brought the pint-sized man another pint.

When she asked about smoking, Henry remembered another reason he liked the lass so much. In one swift movement, Henry had pulled his own long-stemmed pipe from within his coat and held it up toward Tulojow in a salute. Cardiff weed was some of the best smoke around, and the flavor went nicely with the stout ale the Broomsticks kept in stock.

When the younger counselor came around, Henry quickly patted at his unkempt beard. She had said she thought he was precious, even with the alcohol dripping down his chin. “Madam Biladeau-Yukawa, feel free ta join us!” When Henry had tried to say the woman’s name, it came out incomprehensible, but with his thick Scottish accent and her enormously long and difficult name, it was the best she would get. “Have a drink, on meh!” He called out, overly loud for the proximity of the two, but it was a pub after all, one couldn’t sit quietly when there were drinks to be had and stories to be shared!

"Please, please!  Stick with Tulojow.  Or Tulo.  I never got used to the love affair with last names over here."  Tulojow smiled at the fellow, waving off the formality.  Her colleague produced a pipe of his own and, with a broad grin, Tulojow filled the bowl of her pipe and lit it with her wand before offering to light Henry's for him. 

A tall glass of blackberry wine was set in front of the older witch just about the time a familiar shock of curly dark hair came into view and a warm arm wrapped around her shoulder.  The Healer flashed the woman a warm smile and gave the arm a fond, affectionate squeeze before taking a sip of wine.  "I missed you, too, my dear.  Did you have a pleasant and suitably restful break?"  Maiko, like many of the staff, had left the school for the Christmas Holidays.  There'd been a small group of staff members who'd stayed behind, and quite a number of students. 

"I agree."  Tulojow flashed the bubbly Maiko a grin.  "And, you should join us," she added, nodding towards Henry.  She didn't know enough about the fellow, yet, to know if he had any culinary skills but, by the looks of him, he would be perfectly happy to help them polish off whatever the cooking party produced.  "My brother sent over nice roast from his ranch, along with a bottle of canadian single malt.  I'm sure we could come up with something." 

Gesturing for the counselor to take a seat, Tulojow took a long draw off her pipe and held the earthy, smokey mixture in her lungs before exhaling.  "How are you settling in in the castle?" Tulojow asked, glancing towards the staff's newest addition.  "Are the densizens of the castle being kind?"

“Has anyone told you how precious you are? With the beard, yes. It's the beard."

"It's not the beard, it's the eyes. The little round beady things that make him seem like a stuffed animal," Gale said in a rather droll voice, as he slipped in beside Maiko, and handed her drink to her. He put his legs over her lap, used his little slippered feet to push on Henry a tad bit teasingly,  as he was clearly too close to his Koko.

"Keep your hands to yourself, MacLeod, this one is spoken for," Gale placed a kiss on Maiko's cheek before purring the entire way back to her ear to nip gently. His arms still around his friend, Gale glanced over the table to Madame Nadge, and normally would have stiffened at the way he was acting in front of his elders. However, he was far too blitzed tonight to care.

"Good evening, Tulajow. It's nice to see you," Gale put his head on Maiko's shoulder still squeezing hugging her midsection as if she were the only sane thing left in the entire world.