Love is Blind (Witch Weekly's Blind Date Event)
Andromeda + Ambrose

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"It should be a pool ball and cue." Andromeda said. The very last occasion they were here together she taught Ambrose how to play. Good student. "My turn to buy drinks." She signaled to the guy behind the bar. "TriWhiskey Tournaments." She pointed at the stool beside her. "You are gonna want to sit down for these."

As they waited Andromeda looked him up and down. If she did not know he was an apprentice she would think him older. She could look whatever age she wanted. Luck of the metamorphmagus. Better the devil she knew. Pepper was harmless. He was relaxing. Nothing stressful. Yeah she had heard he was a klutz. So what.

"I got this." She said to the guy behind the bar. He gave a jokey bow as he presented the shots. "Thanks." She pointed at them in turn. "Fire whiskey first. Then the Murky Lake. You got to power through it. Makes you see funny. Drink this one quick. The Last Chance. It fixes your eyes. But it is a race. You got it? Ready?"

If it wasn’t Witch Weekly organising the pairs, Ambrose would have thought it was fate drawing him and Auror Gamp together. His heartbeat had wavered, wondering if she would be displeased to be matched with him. It wasn’t that he didn’t like her - he admired her an awful lot - but he was also a bit scared of her. He didn’t want her to have a bad night because she was babysitting him or just being nice because it had paired them up.

“My turn to buy drinks.” Ambrose’s heart lightened a little at the offer. He slid the arrow onto the bar beside the silver bow and settled on the stool to Andromeda’s left. She ordered something he didn’t recognise but he nodded at her advice.
“What are they?” Ambrose asked as the wizard behind the bar lifted two boards with glasses hanging from them over the bar towards them. The auror quickly explained, pointing at each drink in turn.
“You got it? Ready?”
“I er - yeah, ready!” Ambrose spluttered, hastily straightening himself to the bar, the drinks before him.

He lifted the first drink, hesitating in downing it the moment the whisky touched his lips. It burned like fire and he jumped a little, sloshing it onto his lip which only made it worse. A sidewards glance made him realise he was meant to knock them back at shots, so he chucked his head back and wiped his lip. His throat had taken a new life as a dragon and he was surprised he wasn’t exhaling steam or smoke.

“Phwoar!” He exclaimed, reaching for the second, which plunged the feeling of cold water over the fire burning in his throat. He screwed his eyes closed as it went down and as he opened them the whole room looked different. The bar was out of focus, and everything seemed muted in colour. He slotted the glass home in the board and fumbled for the third, feeling a little dizzy. He held onto the edge of the bar with his left as he downed it, anxious to see normally again.

“Merlin!” Ambrose exclaimed, blinking his eyes as he swallowed down the third. He slotted the glass back with his fingertips and thumped his chest. “I thought I’d breathe fire after the first.” He blinked his watery eyes and looked to his right to Auror Gamp. “That how you like to start an evening?” He asked, genuinely curious.

"Not every evening!" laughed Andromeda. The bar was still out of focus. She had not taken the third shot. On purpose. She downed it. Exhaled. Resurfaced. "There!" Andromeda blinked. "You earned a hat Pepper." That would be the only time she would let him win. She thought he would look cute in a crown. Oh yeah he did. Still tragically too young for Andromeda. Ambrose was younger than Ariadne. But he was cute. And so so gullible. How else would he have signed up to a Witch Weekly event? Did he not know he was a good looking boy? With years ahead of him? "You do not even know how you would like to start an evening I think." He was not old enough to have tried them all. "Why you here Ambrose? You make the girls at work blush?"

“You earned a hat, Pepper.”

“I did?” Ambrose was surprised, realising that the wizard behind the bar was now extending a paper crown to him. “Oh! Thank you.” The alcohol was reaching his face and only multiplied his blush. He fumbled with the crown and once on, turned to Andromeda for confirmation it was on straight.

“Thank you,” he said again, but to her alone this time. He had a sneaking suspicion she’d let him win, but he wasn’t going to complain. Here he was, sat the bar next to possibly the most badass auror, wearing a crown. Nobody at school would ever believe him. Hopefully the witch with the camera would take a photo and he’d end up in Witch Weekly. Oh Merlin - the thought. He never looked good in photographs. Could he take that thought back?

“You do not even known how you would like to start an evening, I think.” Auror Gamp said. It was true, this was all very new to Ambrose. “Why you here Ambrose? You make the girls at work blush?”

He thought it was two questions at first, and then he realised that Auror Gamp was saying Ambrose made girls at work blush. His jaw hung slack in surprise.

“I what? They, they do?” He grappled with English. “No, no they don’t, you’re just trying to be nice.” He shrugged his shoulders, as if trying to shift the suggestion from his physical form like a laden rucksack.

“I had a girlfriend. I mean. I have had more than one girlfriend, when I was at Hogwarts.” He was still fond of them both, but with no longer being at Hogwarts, he rarely saw either of them. “Cyhirae asked me out for a dance, and then me and Juni got together and I bought her an alpaca for her birthday. I’ve erm, still got the alpaca though. She didn’t have space for it where she lived. We just, well, grew apart really. She’s still at Hogwarts doing her NEWTs, and I wanted to leave and become a beast handler.” He gestured with his arms, mildly illustrating the story. “Their dads didn’t like me. Like, Cyhirae’s dad taught Astronomy, and Juni’s dad’s an obliviator. You probably know him, Mr Zamperia.”

Andromeda was right. Pepper was a little heart breaker. He did not buy teddy bears. He bought alpacas. Next level.

"Mihai." Andie said. "Yeah I know him." Tall dark handsome obliviator. Something off about him. She could not put her finger on it. "Over protective dad?" Andromeda was not in the business to know astronomers. She scanned the room. "You are the youngest here Pepper. Why are you not at Hogsmeade? Get a Hogwarts weekend. Break hearts there."

“… Get a Hogwarts weekend. Break hearts there.”

Ambrose flushed and looked down at his lap. She was so right. What was he even doing here? She was just being kind.

“I.. I didn’t realise it was going to be like that here,” he admitted and chewed his bottom lip. “I don’t fit in at Hogwarts or in that crowd now. They’re all busy with their studies and being students and I’m out here, working.” He gestured with both arms, narrowly missing a glass on the bar. “I don’t fit in here truly either.” He shrugged and gave a little huff. “Oh Merlin this isn’t meant to be a counselling session, I’m sorry Auror Gamp. Do you want me to go?”

"Go? No!" Exclaimed Andromeda. "You and I are not going to date Ambrose. But we can still be friends." He was too young. He was good looking. Yes. But not for her. Not at all. "I want you to have a good night." She took pity. "Let us have a few drinks. Play some pool?" She did not mind giving him another lesson. If someone split with their date she could check them out. An auror did not make for a good match. She knew. "Bring your crown."

-END...?-