nice to meet you [michael]

[Ava Strang.]

Back in her days at Hogwarts, The Three Broomsticks was a place visited frequently by Ava. She wasn't one for shopping on her trips to Hosmeade, she knew that she would end up spending way too much money. So instead of hanging out at the school when she got the chance to get out, she would come down to The Three Broomsticks with her friends. They would get some snacks and some butterbeer and spend the whole day just hanging out. They weren't an obnoxious group of kids, so the owner never cared that they stayed long after their food and drinks were gone.

Ava hadn't been back to The Three Broomsticks since her seventh year and she was feeling like taking a little trip down memory lane. Unfortunately, she didn't have any of her old friends from the past with her. She hadn't stayed in very good contact with them, she was more of a family kind of girl anyways. That's what she told herself at least.

As she entered the pub, Ava was happy to find out that nothing with at had really changed. The look was the same, the smell was the same, and some of the people there even looked a little bit familiar. Of course she had only been out for five years, so not much should have really changed in that small amount of time. It was good to know though, that when other things in her life seemed to get a little bit crazy, little things like this stayed the same.

Instead of getting a table for herself and looking like a bit of a loner, Ava decided to go up and sit at the bar. She had never sat up there before, it made her feel pretty grown up. And then she felt like she had never grown up at all for even thinking like that. The waiter came up to her and she ordered a pumpkin juice, he gave her a weird look but went off to get it anyways. Ava wasn't in the mood to drink, she hardly ever was.

As she waited for her drink, she took in her surroundings. There had only been two empty seats at the bar when she came in. On her left, there was an odd looking old man. She felt a little weird sitting next to him and scooted her seat a few inches away. The other empty seat was on her right side, she wondered who would end up sitting there. A small part of her hoped that it was somebody she knew, or at least somebody who would strike up a conversation with her. Maybe she'd get lucky and something like this would happen to her, she just hoped that she would know what to say.

[Michael Armstrong.]

[ I'M WIDE AWAKE AFTER THE RIOT , THIS DEMONSTRATION OF OUR ANGUISH ]
this empty laughter has no - - reason like a bottle of your
( favorite poison )

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Working as a relocator for the wizard housing authority managed to put Michael into a sour mood, no matter how the day went. Even if he had managed to find a family that truly needed to not go away and they were sent to his office, it was never a good one. There were probably four or five families that he had to send away - more than likely to become slaves to a little community guarded by dementors. Anyone trying to leave the town would be killed without a second thought. Michael knew how it worked and the families with small children were the worst, they pleaded with him sometimes but what choice did he have? He had a quota to meet every week and if he didn’t, he’d be fired and not be able to help another family again. Not to mention anything suspicious could lead to a full investigation of his life and the possible discovery of where his allegiance truly lay. It seemed like his life revolved on whether or not he could continue the lie of his allegiance, that he was a Dark Lord supporter just long enough for it to matter. Just long enough for the resistance to be able to take a stand that had no chance of being destroyed, no matter what Voldemort tried to do.

Hastily leaving his office, Michael locked the door before dropping the key into the side pocket of the pants he wore as he headed downstairs, eventually finding himself outside. He glanced to each side of the street, contemplating whether the Hog’s Head or the Three Broomsticks would be a better choice for this evening. The Hog’s Head would put up with more of his drunken antics probably but he turned on his heel and headed toward the building he’s known to frequent after work. The bar keep knew exactly who he was, remembered him from his school days even, and to a select few, a prominent member within the resistance. As Michael entered the building, shivering as he stepped inside. The cold wasn’t as bitter as it would have been if it had been the dead of winter but without a jacket of any kind, it had been enough to chill him.

Making his way over to the bar, he took the first empty seat he’d come across. Slapping a galleon onto the counter, his eyes drifted to the man that was looking at him now. He’d shaken his head in disapproval - Michael was on the fast lane of being an alcoholic. It was a wonder he didn’t have a beer belly already, “Firewhiskey and keep them coming...and don’t give me any of that lecture bullshit,” he grumbled as he ran a hand down the side of his face. Moving himself onto the seat fully, he took a deep breathe and forced the events that had brought him here out of his mind for the time being.

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5 0 2| words |
21 guns - green day | music |
murder city - green day | lyrics |
holly @ caution 2.o
spaceship @ caution 2.0 for the banner | credit |

[Ava Strang.]

When Ava was given her pumpkin juice, she thanked the man at the counter and placed some money into his hand. Enough to pay for her drink and to give him a little bit of a tip. At her first sip, she was glad to find that again, something hadn't changed. The pumpkin juice here tasted just like it had before. Sure, pumpkin juice was pumpkin juice, but there had always been something different about The Three Broomsticks pumpkin juice. It was probably just the atmosphere, she decided.

The empty seat next to her filled up when she was about halfway done with her drink. Since she really had nothing else to do, Ava decided to listen in to his conversation. He was definitely the favored one out of the two men she was sitting between. When he ordered Firewhisky and said to keep it coming, he became a little less favored. But by saying the lecture thing, it seemed like he sort of knew it was wrong. Ava just wished he would do something about it. She couldn't judge though, of course. It wasn't like she knew the man personally, she didn't even know his name. She just hated seeing people waste their lives away with alcohol. It wasn't a solution to any problems, when you were sober again, the problems were still there. They could even end up being worse, depending on how drunk a person got.

As all of these thoughts went through her head, Ava hadn't noticed the weird old man on the other side of her getting even weirder. He was starting to sway back and forth and then, he fell of the stool right into her shoulder. From the impact her own body slid to the side, hitting her shoulder against the guy on the other side of her. Part of her wanted to call for help and the other part of her just wanted to laugh, she couldn't believe an old, drunk at a pub had just passed out on top of her. This would only ever happen to her.

Ava turned her head, giving the man who she had bumped into an apologetic look. "He just... he passed out on top of me!" She told him, the shock clear in her voice. Maybe she had stated the obvious, but she didn't really know what else to say. Not really knowing what to do with him either, she tried to shift him back up into a sitting position, but he only started to tip again, so she held him up awkwardly. She turned back to the guy next to her. "Uh... you wouldn't have experience in situations like this, would you?" If Ava had ever thought that she had been embarrassed before, it had never been this bad.

[Michael Armstrong.]

[ I'M WIDE AWAKE AFTER THE RIOT , THIS DEMONSTRATION OF OUR ANGUISH ]
this empty laughter has no - - reason like a bottle of your
( favorite poison )

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

If nothing was to go wrong, Michael could have ended up drinking only three or four of his favorite drink nowadays, firewhiskey, but when he caught sight of the older man on the other side of the girl he was now next to, Michael knew something had to go wrong. His name was Horace or Ben or Frank, something like that. He was sure of it but he’d never bothered to even learn the man’s name. he knew enough to know that he was fairly annoying when he was drunk however. He closed his eyes as he took a sip of the firewhiskey now in front of him, his eyes closed as he fought the urge to groan. Idly wondering if there’d be a day when the man ever cleaned his act up, he quickly came to the realization that even the idea of that was ridiculous...a man so far gone at his age would never recover from such a thing. He was an alcoholic with his own set of problems, most likely. Whether it was he was widowed or his childhood had taught him nothing more than to drink his feelings away. That thought alone caused a slight pain in his chest for the unnamed man, it wasn’t a far shot to say he could be in his position in years.

Being brought out of his thoughts at Ava’s words, he turned to her and offered her a slight smile. Even if it wasn’t genuine, he didn’t want her to be embarrassed for speaking up when the man had fallen over on her. “Yeah, unfortunately, I do. This guy always seems to do it when he’s drunk and I’m around,” Michael spoke as he stood and moved around her, lifting the man off of him. Struggling slightly under his weight, he huffed as he set him and stepped back, lifting his wand before he mumbled an incantation and the man was lifted inches off the table he’d been briefly placed on. The man ended in the small fireplace and picking up a small bit of floo powder, he shook his head as he forced the man’s address to the front of his memory. He’d only learned the address after asking around one night when the man had pulled a similar passing out stunt. He threw the powder into the fireplace and spoke the address loudly, watching as the drunken man disappeared before his eyes.

Returning to his stool, Michael mumbled under his breathe as he downed the rest of his firewhiskey, looking over to her with a sheepish grin. “It’s a shame it’s not the first time that’s happened...but that’s irrelevant. I haven’t seen you here before, what’s the occasion?” Michael questioned as a new drink was slid into his awaiting hand, his eyes focusing on her as he wondered what her story was. It seemed to be something he always thought about, what someone’s history was, what brought them to the moment they were in, and what the future brought to them though it wasn’t often he ever found out the answer to any of the questions. This conversation would probably lead to nothing different but there was always the off chance that it would. And if it did, there wasn’t an objection that would be heard from his lips.

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5 7 6| words |
welcome to the family - avenged sevenfold | music |
murder city - green day | lyrics |
holly @ caution 2.o
spaceship @ caution 2.0 for the banner | credit |

[Ava Strang.]

The surprise was clear in her eyes when the man next to her said that he actually did have experience with this passed out old man. So apparently, the old guy did this kind of thing often. Ava would think that after it happened once, he would have been embarrassed by his behavior and made sure not to do it again. But that wasn't the case. From what the man said, it sounded like the guy did it all the time. Maybe it was a hobby of his, pass out on the person next to him and see where he ends up. Okay, she doubted that was true, but the old guy had to have some kind of story. She felt kind of bad for him but it was his choice to drink so much. "Oh, sounds like a great guy," she muttered under her breath as she gave the man helping her out a thankful smile.

Ava watched as the old guy was picked up, from the little bit of struggle by the younger man, the old guy must have been hiding some of his weight in his loose clothes. She was glad when the young guy put the old man back on the ground, deciding to get him to the fireplace with magic instead. Carrying that weight wouldn't have done any good for his body, he probably would have hurt quite a bit in the morning. The old guy was dealt with pretty quickly, which gave her more proof that this sort of thing happened a lot. Soon he disappeared in the fireplace and Ava felt the sudden urge to laugh. This was so unreal, she couldn't believe it happened to her.

As the young guy approached again, Ava wasn't sure whether to talk to him or to mind her own business. She felt really awkward about it, so she decided to wait and see if he would talk to her first. He did and she was relieved, she figured that actually talking to somebody would be a lot more fun than sitting in silence. "Thank you so much, I've never had a drunk guy pass out on me before. I definitely wouldn't have been able to handle it with as much style as you." She teased, not exactly teasing him, more like teasing the whole situation. At his question, Ava glanced away from him for a second as she thought about the right way to answer it. She felt a little bit shy, which was nothing new, so coming up with things to say was a little bit difficult. "I'm... taking a trip down memory lane, I guess. How about you? Any special occasion?" Ava was pretty curious, she was always curious.