The gang's all here - Night at the pub

[tt_lily]

Date: 18 April, 2002
Characters: Lily, Remus, James, Harry(?), Lisa (?), others
Setting: The World's End Pub
Content: Gen
Status: Open: Public

Lily checked her watch after James' last message and grabbed a quick shower before she headed over to the pub. As she got dressed in jeans and top, she thought about how this would be the first time all of them got together - her, James, Sirius, and Remus - since they all arrived. Not to mention throwing in Harry. What a time this would be.

Hurriedly, although she was still a few minutes early for the time she wanted to leave, she finished getting ready (deciding to leave her hair down) and left. Knowing it would take a bit longer than normal to get there, she arrived a full fifteen minutes early. Better to be fashionably early. At least that's what she told herself.

Remus arrived at the pub a few minutes before Lily had so he took the honors of finding them a large enough table (he ended up moving some together). He'd went ahead and ordered a couple pitchers of the local brew to start the night off with a bang.

Upon seeing his friend, he stood and gave her a hug. "You'll have to forgive me if I get rowdy tonight."

Lily rolled her eyes. "You're tame compared to James and Sirius. If Sirius makes it."

Comments

[tt_lily]

Remus could have killed James right then and there. Hands down. In front of witnesses. It would only get worse and Remus knew it. He knew James would have a field day when it was learned where. He looked to Lily to lend him a hand.

Lily honestly had no idea where to go from there. She silently shrugged. "James... do you think you could get me a drink... maybe something... fruity?" Of course, she still had more than a glassful of her second drink. Not to mention her water. It was a lame attempt but she tried.

[tt_ginny]

"Mr Potter," Ginny teased mercilessly, feeling both at home with Harry's parents and just a touch on the odd side for it. She glanced up at Remus briefly, and back at James. "Oh, Remus was one of my professors at Hogwarts. He taught Defense Against the Dark Arts, and was rather brilliant at it."

She lifted a hand when James started to rise. "You might want to ask Lisa for the entire bottle of whiskey," Ginny laughed, taking a drink from her pint as she pushed her bowl of chips to the middle. "Help yourselves."

[tt_james]

James nodded, "Remus. She's a keeper." He stated bluntly, leaving the comment as to where they met alone. He liked her. And he loved Remus. So he could care less what weirdness their relationship might involve.

He hollered over to Lisa who came to them with a grateful smile sayign they were the best rowdy table she'd ever had. "And I tip well, too," he joked, getting a tired laugh from the barmaid.

He ordered a bottle of whiskey, another pitcher of beer, and a strawberry daiquiri (or whatever the local was, he didn't ask) for Lily.

"So, Remus, your student, back in the day of course as she's now the same age as your best friend," he pointedly made eyes at Remus when he said best friend.

[tt_lily]

"You're right James, she is Lily's age." Remus said flatly. Remus was trying to kill James with his eyes. Honestly though, he wouldn't trade this moment with them for the world. He had gone too long without his friends. He wouldn't overlook these moments again.

Lily giggled, "because no one here is as young as James... poor baby..." she said, covering her mouth to stifle the smile and laugh that wanted to come forth.

[tt_alicia]

Memory loss could be very convenient. According to her mum, it was the reason women kept having children, since they tended to forget the horrors of pregnancy and child birth and voluntarily did it again. Or maybe it was denial. Whatever it was, Alicia was certain she had been living under the same sort of delusion the past couple of years, as she didn’t recall ever having felt hindered by not being allowed to use magic on her holidays at home from Hogwarts. It had been annoying, yes, especially when a professor had saddled you with a ton of homework and you could only do the theoretic parts, but a hindrance? No, not really.

Then her magic had disappeared here, right in the middle of levitating a jar of pickled beets from the uppermost shelf. If it hadn’t been for Sasha, the stains would still have been shining bright on the kitchen floor and bottom cabinets, but the house elf had simply ushered her out and started snapping her fingers and in a few minutes flat, the kitchen was clean again… almost sparkling. At work she had next to useless, and had dreaded the scars her patients would be left with due to her suturing being nowhere near as neat as her Healing Charms. She had improved, though, but there would still be some massive scarring that she would be looking into reducing when her magic returned. If it returned. No, when. She kept forcing herself to look at it that way.

Maybe her reaction to having lost her magic had been stronger since her mum’s arrival through the portal had already left her feeling unsteady about a lot of things. Sure, they had talked and her mum had assured Alicia that her fears of her reasons for coming through were unfounded, and that this was the first time she was even hearing about the unscheduled arrivals, but Alicia was still getting used to it all.

With her mum back in her life, though, and having no magic, Alicia was feeling a bit like a teenager home for the holiday, except, of course, for the fact that she was head over heels in love with Viktor – something she had sworn would never happen when her friends had gushed about him at school – and being only months away from getting married. Their upcoming marriage was a whole different can of worms, which at first had made her mum question Viktor about his intentions and his reasons for marrying Alicia at such a young age, and then switch tack – after she had seen just what a wonderful specimen of man he really was – and almost demand grandchildren within the following week.

Tonight, though, Viktor had a meeting, probably about the Quidditch League, but Alicia wasn’t sure, and her mum was spending the evening with Sam. So Alicia had headed down to the pub for some company, and if she was lucky, she figured, somebody else would be feeling like a teenager and Lisa would have put out the karaoke machine.

Making her way through the crowd, looking for a place to sit, she spotted an empty chair, and at the same table Ginny, with… was that Professor Lupin? Chuckling to herself, and pushing down the urge to giggle and jump excitedly at meeting people she knew in a pub – not to mention the fact that she suddenly felt too young to even be in a pub – she maneuvered her way to the table and put her hand on the back of the chair. “Is this seat taken?” she asked hopefully.

[tt_lily]

Both Remus and Lily turned their heads to the new person at the table, but Remus answered first. "Go ahead and sit down," he said to her, "how are you Miss Spinnet? I don't suppose you've met my friends. This is Lily Evans and James Potter."

Lily smiled at Alicia. "Nice to meet you," a question played on her lips but she was hesitant to ask. "Were you in Harry's year at school?" She was trying to figure out how Remus knew the woman, but figured it was from teaching ultimately. Since Alicia didn't look much older than herself, she figured her to be in Harry's year.

[tt_alicia]

“Thank you,” Alicia smiled at Professor Lupin, though her smile brightened into a grin when he remembered her name. This was so odd. So very, very odd, but at least she remembered the way he looked now, and far preferred it to how he had looked the last time she had seen him, in the Great Hall after the Battle. “I’m doing well, Professor Lupin. How about yourself?” Then she shook her head and sent a smile along with a nod towards the two people she could only guess who was.

“Alicia,” she introduced herself, when Lily addressed her. “It’s nice to meet you too.” Taking a seat, she shook her head. “No, I was two years ahead of Harry, but we were both on the Quidditch team. Played with him… five years, except from when it was off, of course.”

[tt_ginny]

"Hi Ali!" Ginny greeted her friend cheerfully, as soon as she wasn't going to be rude to James in doing so. She'd been confused at the 'keeper' thing, judging it to be some in-joke between Remus and James. Harry's dad was a right devil with teasing and jokes, it seemed, which made her think of the twins instantly. "Is Viktor coming? I wanted to ask him about the league."

Sitting between Ali and Remus was certainly an interesting prospect that was confused further by the looks James and Lily were giving her. She leaned forward, asking Lily. "Is Harry coming? I can send him a note if you haven't."

[tt_lily]

Lily shrugged, "I sent him a message and he said he would, but ..." she made a slight frown. "He'll be here shortly, though. I'm sure." She wasn't entirely sure, but tried to remain positive about it all. "I suppose he could have misjudged distance not having magic too." Lily turned her head when she heard Alicia said her name. "Hello."

Remus looked to the newcomer to the table, "Hello there. Nice to meet you." He tried to recall if he knew the man. No. Nothing was clicking in his mind.