Saturday ~8pm

Nora almost skipped up to the bar, a definite spring in her step that made her movements look like they belonged to a women forty years younger. Her eyes were alight with excitement and she hummed jovially, tapping her fingers on the wooden bar as she waited to order another drink.

Another meeting with her fellow mature adventurer's, planning their next exciting trip, had left her in extremely high spirits. She was almost radiating energy. 

Two tall older wizards and a much smaller and rather squat looking witch filed past her, called out their goodbye's and waved as they made their way out of the door.

" See you tomorrow! " She called back with a smile and a wave.

"And don't forget that map Jim. Oh, sorry....I'll have a butterbeer....no actually, what the hell, make that a small mead." She added quickly with a small giggle, realising that the barman was waiting for her order.
 
She had never been able to consume much alcohol before it took a hold. Already her cheeks were warm and a shade up from her normal rosiness, though she hadn't quite made that transition into proper tipsiness.
 

Ordinarily, Tilly might have made a beeline for one of the little two-person tables alongside the window; she loved watching people wander through the streets, and it was rare that the tables weren’t full. But their strange emptiness tonight actually made the young woman pass up the opportunity. Instead, she headed for the bar.

“Make that two small meads,” she interjected politely, raising her fingers at the bartender, who was about to carry out the order. She held up a coin in the other hand, and offered him an apologetic but encouraging smile right before planting herself on a spinning wooden stool beside an older woman who had a charming energy about her.

Turning her attention to the woman, who seemed to have already settled into her bar niche for the evening, Tilly tilted her head a fraction and continued to smile. “Butterbeer’s always a comfort, but there’s nothing quite like the mead here, is there?” Indeed, it was half the reason Matilda had ventured away from London for the evening. That Floo powder didn’t pay for itself. “It’s not as good in Diagon Alley… don’t tell those blokes at The Leaky I said that, though.”

Their drinks arrived, and Matilda used both hands to take a longing sip. She set down the thick, frothy glass and turned more properly toward the woman. Despite being a stranger, see seemed kind and worth engaging in conversation. Besides, what was the fun in drinking alone? Bar stools swiveled for a reason. “It’s really nice here in the summer…” She mused allowed, tossing a glance toward the window as she took another sip. “I don’t get around to Hogsmeade enough. Are you from here?”

“Make that two small meads,”

Nora turned as a younger woman put in an order, caught her eye and gave her a friendly smile. She seemed to want to talk and Nora was more than happy to oblige. Talking was one of her very favourite pastimes.

"Oh yes." She replied feverently.

"I completely agree."

She held up her glass of mead as if to inspect it, the amber liquid glowing in the light.

"Its all brewed locally of course - no taste like it."

Her voice was tinged with a hint of pride.

Nora had lived in the village for so many years now that it felt ingrained in her very soul. She had discovered, quite recently, that she loved to travel but she always came back, ready to share her tales and stories of her adventures to any neighbour or friend that wanted to listen  - and sometimes those that didnt. She beamed when the young lady complimented the village.

" Oh yes, I've lived here for years, not a more pleasant place anywhere I've always thought. I'm so very glad you think so too. So many of the younger one's don't seem to notice more than Zonko's or that terrible, rowdy club. " She told her, seeming genuinely pleased. She spoke quickly, her sentences overflowing into each other in their haste to rush and trip to their end. When she finally paused it was only to take a quick intake of breath before continuing on.

"Course, the winter's just as pretty in its own way, 'specially when the snow's fallen or round christmas when all the village decorations are up. And autumn, when the colours are changing...and spring's a good time to visit as well, now I think of it. I always miss the place if I'm away too long. Don't like to miss out of any of the seasons if I can help it, though sometimes you can't help it of course - its very easy to get caught up in something that interests you and then whoosh the time's gone and gone somewhere so quick you don't even realise it. Do you ever find that? Probably not I s'pect - I think you think more about time when you're my age. Don't remember it ever occuring to me when I was young."

"I'm Nora, by the way."

The older witch told her with a smile and then glanced at her, currently untouched, mead in her hand and took a break long enough to take a small sip.
  

At the mention of a terribly, rowdy club, Matilda broke into a somewhat guilty grin. She knew the place in question: Signature was one of the most sought after locations for entertainment in Wizarding Britain, and the young woman had partied there with friends more than once. A music aficionado couldn't not know of the place, after all! "I haven't been to Zonko's in ages," she admitted. "They've got the Weasley place over in Diagon Alley. But Signature isn't so bad. Have you been yet?" Even she could imagine the problem it posed to locals who had staked their claim long ago... classic things were often the best... but Tilly thought there always room for a bit of change. "Something tells me you'd be quite the dancer," she mused aloud, despite the fact that the woman was still quite a stranger. Something in her voice confirmed to Matilda that this woman was quite the trip. Tilly took another sip of mead, tranquilly reflecting the woman's smile over the edge of her glass.

It was nice to hear someone with a sense of pride, but one who wasn't preaching about why Matilda didn't belong in their world. The woman's love for the village was endearing. "Ahh, I remember coming here at Christmas with my dad when I was... oh, four... and thinking the houses were actually made of gingerbread," she confessed humorously. "He said nothing to negate the belief."

"I always miss the place if I'm away too long."

"Do you travel a lot, then?" She wondered aloud. Tilly loved to travel, but Reducto Records was her home away from home, and she rarely left for very long. She hoped one day, though, to be able to travel for longer periods of time and really explore the world. Not being a witch, she had forgone the traditional globe-trotting post-graduation.

The woman's next point was curious and poignant and somewhat enigmatic. Whether she had meant for it to be or not. Tilly lowered her glass again, her smile becoming a settled expression of reverie. For as often as she championed the youth and cautioned people (in her own way) not to underestimate them, she was well aware that some things came with age. She said nothing, but continued to ponder it. Would she look back one day and wonder where her life had gone? Matilda was definitely a live-for-the-moment sort of girl.

"I'm Matilda," she offered, resuming her smile, and lifting her glass as a sort of acknowledgement to the newly-dubbed Nora."Tilly to most people. It's lovely to meet you, Nora."

"Ooh, yes. " Nora replied with enthusiam, her eyes lighting up.

"I travel as much as I can, nowadays at least. " She told her with a small smile.

"I spent a lot of time working when I was a younger lass and not enought time living - but then I s'pose I had me reasons. What's past is past and there ain't no changing it.- and I'm more than makin' up for it now. " She told her with a grin, placing her mead on the bar so she could reach into her robe pocket. She pulled out a rather tattered picture and smoothed in onto the wooden surface in front of Matilda.

It looked many years old, faded by sunlight, the edges ragged but you could still make out a rugged mountain with the remains of some ancient civilisation on top.

"Peru. " She stated with more than a little excitement in her voice.

"We go next week - the group that is. I'm part of the Mature Adventurers Distinguished society and this is our big trip of the year. Been planning it for months - well, longer than that really. " She told her, looking a little quieter for a moment, as if considering something more sombre from her past. Whatever it was, it didnt have hold of her for long. One glance back down at the photo and she smiled once again. 

"Have you ever been to South America Tilly? " She asked her eagerly.

"I never have and I've always wanted to - didn't quite make it that far when I last went out. "

 

“That’s really excellent. My boss recently retired and he and his wife are staying in a boat off the coast of Spain. I think they’re planning to sail the globe soon, though,” she explained admirably. “Where’s the last place you traveled?” She asked, with sincere interest.

Tilly wondered whether the woman was inferring she’d made too many mistakes or hadn’t taken enough chances, or some combination of both. It was both curious and thrilling to see someone take the helm of her life at such a considerable age. It was these sorts of people exactly that Matilda found fascinating. “What did you do before now? When you were working?” The barrage of questions kept coming to the young shop keeper’s mind, and pleasantly leaving her mouth. She assumed by now that her new drinking buddy wouldn’t mind.

Leaning closer, the young woman studied the photograph that the woman was holding and grinned. She took another sip of her mead and shook her head in nostalgia for someplace she’d never been. “Say hello to the people in Peru for me, then.”

The society the woman spoke of sounded like something her own father would love, although in general, Mr. Quinn and Tilly’s mother enjoyed their quaint, beachy atmosphere and the mild business of the small post office they’d operated for the past quarter century.

“I’ve never been, no,” she confessed. “I have been to any of the Americas,” she admitted. “There’s lots of great music from over there, though. I run a music shop,” she explained.