The Hog's Head

Vanity watched the man scurry about the bar, face flushed and movements frantic. Are you okay? The words echoed in his mind, but didn't reach his lips. It wasn't his place to ask-- he obviously didn't want to talk about it and Vanity wasn't going to push it. Maybe if they were closer, they'd known each other longer, he'd push-- but they were just acquaintances, peers, this wasn't his business.

"Hn? Oh--yeah-- it was the department of magical sexual injuries." His smile turned into a broad grin as he remembered those fun few weeks spent. "But then we lost funding and it got shut down."

Gale let out a laugh; slightly nervous, yet more genuine than anything in the past couple of years. Then he saw Andy watching him from across the room, a wicked grin plastered across his face, and coughed awkwardly, settling his gaze on Vanity.

"It's a shame, really. You'd think people would be more aware of such things."

Excitement grew in his eyes as the topic settled on something he was most comfortable with-- awkward topics~ "Yeah, I mean, I bugged the boss for months about it! Finally she got so fed up, she was like-- 'fine, whatever' and gave me the okay." He took another drink, lips still formed into a smile as he did so. "Mostly I started it, so I could see the freaky shit people end up doing to themselves."

"You said it," Gale wore a bitter smile of his own. "I've a friend working over at St Mungo's and she's shared quite a lot of stories- not all of which I wanted to hear. The worst is not knowing how the bloody hell they did something, to themselves, or had someone do it to them. Some attempt to fix it on their own and come in more fucked up than they would have been."

Sipping his drink, Gale continued. "A department to raise awareness and keep an eye out, to fix things properly- but I can see it not lasting in this close-minded society."
He was probably taking it a bit too personally, seeing problem where others saw pleasure. Maybe if Law took care of it he could sleep soundly without fear of being asked to roll over by a damned sadist wizard who liked to try out new 'pleasure' spells.

Gale caught Andy's eye again and looked away swiftly, alarmed.
"Listen- you mind going somewhere else?"

"Yep, I saw clawmarks in places claws should not have been near." He joked, finishing off the drink and setting it on the table with a small clink. The question made him raise his eyebrow, before he gave a small nod. It was a gesture of why the hell not?

"Yeah, I suppose, was there someplace you had in mind?" He fished his wallet out of his back pocket and tossed some money on the table.

"Just- anywhere, away from here. Outside is fine, take a walk around the village-" Gale stood, pulling his backpack up on his shoulder. "Unless you've somewhere to be, of course. I'd like to chat a bit more with you."

As Gale spoke, Andy appeared by their table, collecting coins and empty glasses. "Leaving so soon, sweethearts?" Gale, who failed to notice his swift approach, suppressed the urge to curse him. But Andy wasn't done talking. "See you tomorrow, Gale. Bring yer friend sometime again, hmm? I've evenin' shift this Friday, but the night can be all our-"

"Gods, lay off Andy- fuck. He's not into your shit-" Gale blurted out, turning red. Last thing he needed was Andy trying to get into his superior's pants.
"Mhm, well, lemme know if you change your mind-"

Gale wasn't listening any more; he'd turned and hurried out, only pausing to ask whether Vanity was coming or not.

It was difficult to make Vanity awkward and the fact that Andy had accomplished this was more impressive on his part than anything. He stood next to the table, eyebrows furrowed and lips thinned out. Finally, after a few minutes of uncomfortable shifting, he turned and followed after Gale.

"Hey-- Wait up!"

(continued in the streets topic, that all right?)

Quiet murmuring filled the bar as per usual while Alexandra sipped at her butterbeer from beneath her hood. Gone were the days she could down shots of fire whiskey with ease, and in a way, she was thankful for not having to put up with the horrible hang-over in the morning. But back to business.
All her contacts had vanished without a trace, not leaving even the smallest track in the dust coating their hide-outs. No magic had been used in those areas for at least six months, making it too difficult for her to even attempt to find out what the last spells used in the area were.

So it was time to make some new 'friends' for want of a better word. The Hog's Head was as good a place to start as any. Her eyes cursored over the numerous cloaked figures scattered about the bar, knowing that they in turn were most likely looking for future associates.

Alexandra raised an eyebrow at the... touching display then mentally slapped herself. Since when did she even think such things and become such a bitch? Life really was a bundle of suprises, she noted drily.
It would be irrational to step in and tell the man off for having a laugh, especially at a place such as this. Besides, she imagined Luke could handle himself. At least if he'd kept up with his training and practice since Hogwarts, even so, she knew that she would step in if things took a turn for the worse. Now that her 'plan' was complete with the newly discovered anomaly of her old classmate, she returned to sipping her butterbeer as she watched the scene silently.

Lips twitching against her will, Alexandra was glad to see that Luke had not lost his ways whatsoever when it came to potions. It was doubtful that it was something too deadly since that would draw unwanted attention, so she would put her money on something silly that would lighten the mood at the bar even if it was only for a few moments.
Getting out of her chair and leaving her half-empty glass of butterbeer on her lone table, Alexandra was sure to leave a few knuts before sliding into a seat besides Luke. Business could wait for now.

The best view would be from his table anyways, "And of course whatever happens next will be completely coincidental." she teased quietly, making sure her voice could only just reach him with his ridiculous eagle hearing.

"Let's just say that I've learnt I don't need to follow the dress code to fit the bill over the past year." she grinned crookedly. It was good to be closer to where they used to be in their friendship. Her eyes flashed green for a moment as she recalled how she'd been very bluntly told by a drunkard in Rome that if she was worth anything, she wouldn't need to advertise. Something she had begun to take to heart.

Alexandra snorted her laughter as she watched the man struggle out of his seat and awkwardly half-lurch, half-run upstairs to let his bowels run free. If it were one of the Hog's Head's busy days, the humiliation on the man's part would force him to evade the bar for at least a year or two.

"And I guess I'm just lucky enough to never let you touch my drinks?"

Barely moving her wrist, Alexandra still managed to catch the very tip of her wand with her fingers and seemed to vaguely wave her hand as if in conversation as she cast a non-verbal muffliato. It would do them no good if she blatantly conversed about finding informants.
"Trouble," she admitted. "All my contacts have disappeared over the year I was out of the country, the last one to 'leave' was gone over six months ago." It was uncomfortable not knowing or even being able to guess the goings-on of her friends, enemies and acquaintances.
"So I ventured here tonight in hopes of making new friends." the steel in her smile added an edge to her last sentence. He would know what sort of friends she meant.

"Fortunately for me of course," she had no doubts that her lack of a reputation in the darker parts of Knockturn and London would cause her troubles if she began to make enquiries. It would be much easier to start with someone with a solid network.
"It'd be truthful enough to say that I'd be in your debt if you'd help me." she leaned back against her old chair as she relaxed on the worn back. "And if I manage to pick up some of my own connections, it would be needless to say I'd help you in turn, wouldn't it?"

This was very different from the last time they had spoken, but then again, quite a bit had changed since Misery had bit her. Some of those things made her more uncomfortable than others since Alexandra had yet to really tell her vampiric friend of her own romantic feelings - or in this case, a bit of a lack thereof. But enough had happened that she was more willing to settle old scores before raising more of a ruckus.

Feeling the tension mount in their conversation, Alexandra wondered at what was setting his hackles up. Surely he knew that she had no intention of disbanding the network he'd worked so hard to build.
"To be honest, I doubt I'll even need names. I trust you enough to give me information without knowledge of the source." Well. Up to a point anyways. If it was something threatening the Order or those she loved, then that may change a bit. But all in due time, Alexandra cocked her head to the side as she regarded him, pondering on what sort of job he'd decided to take up.

She grimaced, why couldn't the amatures stick to their dungeons until they had enough skill to test on things other than toads and small rodents? But irritating as it may be, it was good that the issue had been solved and as Alexandra pondered further on the situation, she came to realize that this manner of 'help' probably did a lot of his networking for him. Especially since he was a highly capable potions master. Speaking of which...

"You don't happen to be the potions master at Hogwarts now could you?" that would be too rich, the image of him brewing illegal potions while teaching a class lit up her eyes.

"Let me guess... The fact that you still haven't left your high school and are teaching your friends?" she could imagine that would be really awkward. The switch from 'Luke' to 'Professor Brown' would not be the easiest of transitions to make. A 'Professor' into 'Michelle' was weird enough as it was and that was when she still was lower ranked than her former teacher.
She wondered if her old school had changed much, whether there was still a curfew, a ban that disallowed students from exiting the castle and the neatly kept fire places that she had been sad to find did not allow flu transport. Shaking herself from the nostalgia before not-so-nice memories consumed her, Alexandra's grey eyes flicked back to her friend's face.