It had been just before seven when the Capture Unit had finally been let go to get some sleep.  But the rush of the past 72 hours -- and particularly the ominous events earlier in the day -- hadn't left any of them feeling like they just wanted to go home.

They'd all headed down to the Atrium together, catching a lift down to the ninth floor.  Bellingham had given them all a wave as he'd departed to take the Floo back home; his wife hated the long hours that he worked along the full moon, they all knew, and he was really just counting down the years until retirement.

"What about Calaveras?" Shafiq had suggested. 

The dark corners and skull motif of the pub-turned-restaurant seemed to fit everyone's mood, and so off they'd gone.

They'd all run home first to shower and change, shedding the silver of their full moon gear.  Even so, the wait staff hadn't seemed particularly happy to see their large group when they'd finally arrived.  It had taken quite some time to arrange for a table, a bit longer to get everyone situated and seated with drinks ordered. 

The overall mood of Tessa's coworkers was quieter than normal, a bit more restrained after the day's events.  None of them wanted to be alone, but it was also as if none of them knew quite what to say.

And their staying power wasn't quite as strong as it was usually, even after a full moon.  First Stacey Li had shielded a yawn and begged off, even though her drink wasn't quite finished.  Then, once dinner was done, Thad Smith had had to run home because his girlfriend was getting off at St. Mungo's and he had to get back to meet her. Then Janssen and Shafiq, who'd spent the past four months making eyes at each other whenever they thought no one else was looking, had disappeared within three minutes of each other.  There had been a few more disappearances, one by one and in small groups, until only she, Sasaki, and Harris were left, spread around the long table.

Tessa sighed, slumping down a little in her seat as she swirled the last of her third martini.  It wasn't that she minded any of her teammates, but the two boys had a way of getting engulfed in conversations about things that she cared nothing about.  Both Sasaki and Harris were Muggleborn, and they tended to obsess over small details of Muggle pop culture that made her want to claw her eyes out.  Tessa usually understood some of their chatter -- her mother still occasionally watched the old Muggle television shows like Star Trek that she'd learned about from Tessa's father -- but when they really got going, she doubted that even normal Muggles could comprehend what they were arguing about.

Her two teammates were in the middle of debating whether or not Polyjuice potion was in any way similar to a black and white house and some men who didn't have faces when Tessa finally got sick of their nonsense and stood up.

"I'm getting another drink," she informed the two of them, gathering up her glass.  The waiter hadn't been by to see them in at least twenty minutes, and she was tired of waiting.

"Stay away from anything with amethyst crystals!" Harris called out to her, and both he and Sasaki dissolved into helpless laughter.

Rolling her eyes heavily at them, Tessa started for the bar.

The restaurant was fairly busy for a Tuesday night.  Tessa saw their waiter go by, bringing food to another table.  Sighing, she stepped up to the bar, up next to another young man about her age who looked like he was drinking alone.

"Can I have another?" she asked the bartender, setting the empty martini glass down on the counter.  She flashed him a smile of apology; a little flirting usually helped move things along.  "If you wanted to add a little flavor to it, I wouldn't mind."

Finally! A chance to drink!

Now Lochlainn was a simple man, give him alcohol, he'd drink it. And he had followed Fauna's warnings about the full moon, he had stayed out of it. He had stayed at home and worked on brewing some potions, some damn fine potions if he may say so himself. Infact he had spent the last few nights doing so. Since meeting Fauna he had spent the days collecting items from multiple shops that would allow him to make Wolfsbane, along with some other potions he figured people could find useful. If you were a werewolf and didn't want people to know, what would you want? Potions to keep you awake, wolfsbane and polyjuice. It was the perfect plan and he knew it.

Now as his potions simmered away he had the chance to drink. In his relatively slow pub crawl of the magical world Calaveras was next, he had heard it catered to certain patrons, those who might be in the same trade or hook him up. Potential customers were always useful. And so he had gone for a wonderful night out, and was delighted to finally see a restaurant that didn't have 50 different flavours of cheese on the menu.

He had been silently observing the large group that had entered and was pleased that they slowly trickled off over time. He didn't think they were auror's, but after the nerdy silent girl from Hufflepuff managed to become one, who knew really who could be an auror. Although maybe that was exactly why she was one, because you would never expect it. However even if they weren't aurors, they seemed organized, so it was not good for him. He figured something was up with two of them though, leaving so soon together but at an obviously timed distance apart.

But now as he was on his...something of a drink this evening, he couldn't remember if it was his third or his fifteenth, it was something around that margin. One of the members broke off and approached the bar, he should of been a bartender he figured, he'd get flashed nice smiles and he could sneak off so many drinks a night. It would of been perfect for him.It is a kind of alchemy.

Now with the girl next to her he had to think of a good conversation starter, even if a ministry official, its another contact. And besides its not like its going to be another person from Hufflepuff is it? Especially not from close to when he was there, it wasn't likely he reckoned that he would be able to know them. Now he just had to think. Hey girl, are you a noose? As I want to hang out with you. No, that seemed too dark, their group wasn't that cheery so it probably wouldn't be a good opener. He could of tried the story of when he brought a honeycomb and a jackass into a brothel, but he was too tall for that to work. Are you a dog? As I have a bone. No, not again. Never again. Hey, are you a diamond? As I want to steal you. It was passable, but he had found his one.

"Hey, was your father a hunter? Cause you're a fox."

It had been almost three years since a werewolf had killed the hostess at Calaveras,[1]and a very specific superstition had evolved among the more permanent staff which was then passed on and mythologized in the newer people. There weren't many on staff who'd both been on duty that night and agreed to take full moon shifts ever again and Nate Briggs was one of them. Back then, before his fall, he'd been a dishwasher. Now he was up a few rungs as a cook and had built up some kind of good will taking shifts others didn't want.

Sometime around 7:30 or 8 one of the servers met Nate at the pass looking like she had a secret. She was nineteen and loved having secrets.

"What?" he said, passing over a bowl of neon green soup. He'd poured in cream in the shape of a wide-eyed skull.[2]

              "Your friends are here."

That couldn't be right. Nate didn't have friends. He laughed, showing his doubt.

              "The great whole Werewolf Capture Unit is here, Nathan. Aren't you in love with one of 'em?"

That was enough to set off the whole kitchen throwing salt over their shoulders, carving eyes into the citrus and facing them towards the back doors, and someone changed the record to the haunting one-hit-wonder Walking on Sunshine. Even the new dishwasher had already been taught - he immediately went and propped open the back door even though it was cold out. It was just one of those things they all did now, even if the full moon had just begun to wane.

The evening wore on and not much more was said of it. Orders went in, food came out, disturbing rumors trickled in. As things were quieting down Nate wandered out of the kitchen to have a word with the bartender. From a ways away he regarded a couple - the witch he didn't know, but the wizard was a new face in Knockturn, who, despite his rugged good looks seemed to lack any subtly in at least two departments. You didn't just set up a potions shop in Knockturn not unless you wanted to disappear. Nate smirked.

1.	13 Feb   - And His Hair Was Perfect M for Violence. RIP Georgette Sleeper
2.	Death's Head Broth, not sorry

There were times when Tessa didn't mind a little bit of attention at the bar, but after the day that she and her coworkers had all had, she didn't have the patience for putting up with the opposite gender tonight.  The young man sitting alone had turned and started to say something to her, and she was on the verge of biting back at him in return, when the words that he'd said actually sunk in.

The blonde witch stared back at him, her eyes wide.  Did he know who she was?  Their boss had given them all a speech before they'd left about being careful, about watching their backs and not getting caught all alone, but Bagnold was also more paranoid than anyone she'd ever met.  Now, though, standing here with someone she didn't recognize who apparently knew her, keeping an extra eye out for trouble didn't sound nearly as crazy.

"Do I know you?" she asked him, edging away.  At first glance, she hadn't thought so -- she certainly hadn't recognized him when she'd walked up to the bar.  But now, looking more closely, there was almost something familiar about him.  Almost as if...

Hogwarts always simultaneously felt as if it had been a lifetime and not very long ago.  Now, staring at the bearded man, there was something about him that almost felt like it was a ghost of someone she'd once known.  A few years younger without the beard...and perhaps with more of a skinny build, and a less-clear complexion...

"Lochlainn?" Tessa said disbelievingly, staring at her former housemate.

By Merlin's secret love of stealing Morgana's hair ties!

There was always chances of meeting someone from Hogwarts. But how was it now that the one person he tried to hit on was from his class, and knew him. He was likely the unluckiest person this day. And yet it could easily get worse for both of them. Namely an awkward meeting between two Hogwarts Housemates where one was hitting on the other.

Now he had to think of a way to try recovering this. He was a smart man, he opened a potions shop in knocturne that wasn't legal and was barely hidden along with having some dumb advertising ideas to sell highly dangerous and illegal potions. It was a smart financial plan, it gives more money then selling potions normally. He could think of a way out of this situation.

With a downing of his drink and trying to order of another drink, for his...number that night. He still couldn't remember how many he was currently on, nor did it matter much. He was very resistant to alcohol and its effects, this was what he counted as a medium drinking night. Maybe, he usually can't remember how much he has on a heavy drinking night. But regardless, he was sober enough to think through this and recover the situation.

"Ah, yeah. Good to see you...uuuh...Tessa right?" He looked her up and down as if to make sure he got the person right, there was alot of people in Hogwarts and he's been out of country as they graduated. He was ninety nine percent sure he was on the right person.

"You look much better then at Hogwarts!" He said, one hundred percent sure he was not drunk still.

The man standing in front of her was certainly Lochlainn O'Keeffe, who'd been a year ahead of her in Hufflepuff.  He'd been a little surly and abrasive to students from other houses, but friendly and popular enough within their little badger circle.  Tessa hadn't really spared him much thought since he'd graduated a year ahead of her and gone venturing off into the strange world of adulthood.

But now he was here, bearded and looking far more fit than he had back in school.  She might have even forgiven him the horrible pick-up line, Tessa thought as she eyed him, until he messed it up by (1) nearly not remembering her name, and then (2) jamming his foot so far back in his mouth that he probably ought to be choking on it.

"Yeah, the lack of school robes really makes a difference, right?"  she retorted, with only an ounce of snark.

Unfortunately, she wasn't really about to make a side comment about his appearance, but at least she could possibly get a free drink out of all this.  Tessa flashed Lochlainn a winning smile as she slid onto the bar stool next to him, letting her feet dangle slightly off the ground as the bartender began to mix her martini.

"I don't think I've heard anything from you since Hogwarts," she said, turning to face him.  "What have you been up to?  Are you living in London now?"

He smiled, it was her.  He was correct! He was always correct! And to reward it, he ordered a new Firewhiskey, and then added. "Two more of my drinks. And...two more of what she is drinking." He placed down the money, probably slightly too much but that would only happen if he was drunk. And he was as drunk as Fauna was nice. Not at all, he thinks, she seemed nice, but how would he know. He is drunk.

How drunk was probably only solvable by Department of Mysteries, they've probably tested how drunk everyone can get, they do a lot of strange stuff.

"Oh sorry! I didn't mean it like that, you just look, I don't know. Fit in better maybe? Most people I see look better after Hogwarts. May be the robes yeah." He didn't seem to notice the snark, he swayed back and forwards slightly.

"Ah yeah, I sort of got stuck in France, a Veela stole my money. But on the plus I'm good at making potions now! Well better, well I got work experience. I'm always good at making potions." He boasted in a jovial tone. "I just moved back few weeks ago, but yeah I'm in London now. You're...second person from Hogwarts I've met since back now."

With a sip of his drink, he pushed some of the extra money to the bar. "Make that 3 more for her." He placed his drink down and then gestured to those who remained from her group. "Large group, just been full moon, either you're all werewolves trying to recover, or something bad has happened with werewolves?" He not so discretely attempted to turn the conversation around, incase he lets anything slip about his potions.

Lochlainn continued to vomit words back at her, swaying slightly on his perch on the bar stool.  He was clearly making his way along -- Tessa squinted at him -- making his way far along the sobriety scale tonight, several levels beyond the stage that she and the other Capture Unit members had achieved even after their three long, trying days at work.

But at least she was getting a free drink out of it.  Two free drinks, which was a bit more than she had planned to commit to, but Tessa wasn't about to say no.  She flashed a smile at the bartender, who was just finishing pouring a slightly green-tinged  liquid from his cocktail shaker into a clean martini glass, and settled back on the stool next to her old housemate.

The unfortunate thing about running into old friends from school was that it reminded her of just how stuck she felt.  Tessa lifted the martini glass and took a sip of the drink as Lochlainn began to spew out more information.  Here he was, traveling all over and getting things stolen by a...Veela in France?... and she was still stuck living at home, sharing a small house with her mother and two younger brothers.  It was discomforting to think of how little progress she'd in life made since graduating from Hogwarts.  Aside from her job at the Ministry, she might as well just still be stuck in her old bedroom in the Hufflepuff dorm.

She'd barely taken more than a sip of her new drink before Lochlainn ordered her a third one, and then gestured back at the table that she'd come from, where Harris and Sasaki were still cracking up over some punchline that probably wouldn't have made any sense even if she'd heard it.

"Um...."  Tessa tried to catch the bartender's eye, half-wondering if she should signal him not to make the third drink after all, but gave up after an instant.  At least this was the one part of her life that wasn't wholly embarrassing to talk about.

"No, we're not werewolves," she said, flashing Lochlainn a smile.  "Kind of the opposite, really.  We all work for the WCU.  That's the Werewolf Capture Unit, at the Ministry."  Memories of the day's events suddenly resurfaced, sobering her expression slightly.  "We had a rough watch this month, so we came here to grab dinner and drinks once we got off tonight."

Lochlainn nodded, it wasn't a good day, he'd heard a few whispers of things going wrong in the ministry with those being released from their cells that morning but he just figured someones wand got misplaced or something. It wasn't until the radio got interrupted by that boiled egg looking man he found out about what was going on, although that really didn't tell him much as an attack on a safehouse could mean anything. Two unaccounted for, were they the attackers, or were they taken? Were they werewolves? Attendees? Who knew...

Correction, who knew except those in the WCU? He'd already heard that there were Werewolf problems, but that doesn't mean its a good market to go into. So now was some prime research gathering opportunity, in the field research. Like those magizoologists who go into the wild to find if Unicorns leave rainbows behind, except this is field research in a real environment. A pub.

Sadly for him though, she was still too sober and still too aware to talk, but he is a generous man, infact if he ran for Minister of Magic, he'd say booze for all. And this was his genius plan tonight. He was already making good headway.

"Ah, I'm sorry to hear about that, I heard things weren't going well tonight, but I guess you're not really up for talking about it, keep that away for a good night tonight yeah?" He said in a slightly more sober manner. "Or you know, you need someone to complain to about how much of an ass your boss is, not that I'll know them, would probably make it better though."

Tessa laughed, flashing her old housemate a smile.  He was a lot more tolerable when he'd moved on from pick-up lines and commenting on her fitness. 

"My boss is an ass, but that's not anything out of the ordinary," she replied, tucking a loose strand of hair back behind her right ear.  Bagnold, at least, was predictable in his misanthropy, which made him possible to tolerate.  Most new Capture Unit members learned quickly what kinds of things set him off; Charlie Harris was one of the rare exceptions who didn't seem to have caught on even months later.

A second glass with green-tinged liquid was deposited in front of her, a twin of the martini already in her hand.  Tessa hesitated, glancing at the bartender for a moment as she tried to decide if it was worth requesting a different drink for her third.  If Lochlainn was buying, she might as well use his generosity to sample the menu.  But the wizard behind the bar didn't look like the source to be eager to change plans mid-stream, and he'd already begun to assemble the third martini in his cocktail shaker.

Sighing, she abandoned the mission and looked back to Lochlainn, completely missing his cue that she might not want to talk about it.

"It was more this morning, anyway," she said, making a face.  "The full moon itself wasn't bad at all; not like last month."  That hadn't made it into the papers in full detail,[1] but at the moment, with one martini in hand, another before her, and a third being assembled, she didn't really care about discretion.  "But this morning was when we found out about the attack on the safe house, and then when we were dealing with the clean-up of all of that, our Department Head was found dead."

1.	The London Zoo incident was reported in the Daily Prophet only very briefly, with very few details about what had happened.

A department head was killed, that was...something, how? If on a full moon, was someone able to break into his house? A department head must have a lot of wards on their houses, after all they were very likely targets for all sorts. His own home wards started feeling inadequate, the only ones who would target Heads really were criminals, and those may not like a new potions brewer on the block. So he should really get to defending his home, maybe some booby traps? Atleast for the stairs. He wasn't intending on letting anyone upstairs anyway.

And so her boss was an ass, yeah that made sense to him honestly, most usually were. Part of why self employment was such a good thing for him, it was great his last boss gave him a job, but he was happy to not have to work for them anymore, very strict. He may have to meet the head of the WCU someday, maybe get them drunk, most bosses fell for drinking. Maybe they was a nice guy if got them drunk enough.

"Jesus, what happened at the safehouse?" He asked, not wanting to go into the dead department head, he figured it would be more raw and tenser then a safehouse. She had also mentioned an attack last month, that was news to him, mostly because he wasn't around the last month but still, you would think if there was a bad werewolf attack in the country then it was big news. So something happened there. He'd have to remember it for later.

"What type of person would attack a place filled with werewolves?" The idea someone would face down a monster like that, and the thought that someone may be able to beat them, by themselves was scary, suicidal even. It had to have been several people in his mind, the WCU worked in groups for a good reason, even one Werewolf was nigh unstoppable, its madness to go by yourself.

Then again there is a reason he wasn't in Gryffindor.

"Someone broke in," Tessa said, shaking her head.  Even a few drinks into her night, with clearly at least a few still remaining ahead of her, it occurred to her that it wasn't a smart idea to mention the Polyjuice potion.  The rest of this would likely all be in the Prophet.  "Whoever it was jumped the two attendants and then went on to check in all the werewolves like everything was fine."

She took a sip of her martini, feeling the pressure to keep up with the ensuing orders, and then grimaced as she shrugged in Lochlainn's general direction.  It was all senseless.  Most of the Capture Unit was in this because they wanted to help people, but last night, the werewolves had been the ones most in need of protection.  It felt like a cruel joke, an unfair reversal of the normal state of things, as if all the world had been turned upside down just for one night.

"So the werewolves were all upstairs, the attendants were locked in a closet..."  Tessa traced a finger through the condensation on her glass, and then made a face.  "By the time we got there in the morning, whoever had broken in was gone, and two of the werewolves were missing."

No one seemed optimistic about their chances of finding them.  The blood and fur and silver that had been everywhere upstairs hadn't left much hope that they were alive.  And then there were the ominous words that whoever had broken in had left with Figaro Sellaphix after hexing him and stealing his face: Eradicate all werewolves.  Eradicate the werewolf threat.

Yeah it sounded...not good. And now Tessa was certainly unhappy, He needed to find a way to cheer her up, atleast this time it should be better then when he tried cheering up Fauna by telling her she did nothing wrong for something she already came to terms with and happened years ago. That wasn't a good way to cheer someone up when it wasn't a thing for them much anymore.

Maybe some drunken charm would help with this, couldn't hurt right?

Gently he tried to put a hand on her back and give a small rub before he returned the hand again, he knew it was something some people did, he didn't know how it worked or what they actually did but it seemed appropriate right?

"You couldn't of predicted something like this, and besides it wouldn't of been your job to do so either. Your boss should of prepared for it, but who would ever think someone would attack a safehouse?"

Yeah that was right wasn't it? She just works there, she isn't meant to be the one organizing everything, he knew that much and he would not let her forget that none of it was her fault, it was her bosses fault if anything, which would likely really annoy her boss if they weren't having a bad day already, probably a much worse one then Tessa's day that was for sure.

"Here's what we can do though, drinks on me for tonight, we will have a good night, and you will forget work. Does this place have a pool table or something?" He started to look about to check if they did, they had a dancefloor, there was that. But he wasn't brave enough for dancing, unless she really wanted him to. He turned to face the werewolf hunter and raised his glass.

She nearly jumped when Lochlainn touched her back.  But that was something that friends did, wasn’t it?  Lochlainn wasn’t exactly the nicest of friends — in fact, he’d been more than a little scummy tonight, trying to use pick-up lines on her — but at least he was trying. 

And he was right.  It had been horrible, and it wasn’t her fault.  She’d come out tonight to try and drink and dance away the awful feeling of today, but none of her teammates had wanted to go the distance.  Even if Lochlainn was a bit skeezy, at least he was company.

Plus he was offering to buy.  Tessa flashed a bright grin at him.  And, okay, without the school robes, he’d grown up to be a little cute.  If he was offering some fun to take her mind off things, the least she could do was give him a little breathing room for the bad pick-up lines.

“Deal,” she said, clinking her glass against his.  And then, because the third martini had just been set down in front of her, she did her best to drain the rest of the one in her hand.  If she’d thought drinking with the rest of the WCU took training, then that had merely been practice for keeping up with her old housemate.

Either way, she thought, as she grabbed the next two martinis and stood to follow Lochlainn to the pool table, she was happy to see what the night would bring.