𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗸, harry potter

˗ˋ 138

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED
AND THIRTY EIGHT
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-: fifth year :-

── IN WHICH THEY DRINK AT
THE THREE BROOMSTICKS

. . .

It was busy within the Three Broomsticks. It seemed majority of students had decided to make it the first stop of the day in Hogsmeade - most likely due to Umbridge, as High Inquisitor, putting out several educational decrees that all but openly stated the prohibition of parties, which had resulted into the older years now lacked the outlet they once had and thus, would take any chance they could get for a moment of relief. 

Despite the business, and the crowding around the bar, the Three Broomstick's regulars pushed out in favour for the seventh years, Harry and Aviana managed to get a booth to themselves in the corner. The groups around the bar also proved to be useful, as Aviana returned not with two butterbeers, as Harry expected, but one and another of those drinks she had ordered in the Hog's Head, sliding onto the faded leather seat and settling in the corner, gaze darting over the pub as she placed the honey-coloured beer glass before Harry.

"Didn't even recognise me." Aviana grinned as she took a sip of her drink. 

"You might confuse a few people." Harry jerked his head slightly to the right, and Aviana glanced briefly over his shoulder. Draco, Pansy, Blaise, Theo, Crabbe and Goyle had taken up a table by the window, Theo trying to concentrate on rolling a cigarette but finding himself often distracted. Draco said something and Theo looked up again, but met Aviana's eye for a brief second and looked away first. "Take advantage of it whilst you can."

"Oh trust me, I intend to." Her fingers brushed through the ends of her hair. "How many times do you think I can confuse Umbridge about it before getting a detention."

"You get a detention every time you speak to her." Harry replied. "...And she's yet to figure out it's you whose sending her all those letters." 

"She knows it's me, it's just after she accused me of being a Death Eater and deciding that I helped William and everyone escape from Azkaban she doesn't particularly have the most credible leg to stand on." Aviana shrugged, her pointed, painted the same pink as her cardigan, nails itching at the skin of her left arm. "I'm not even of age." She tutted, and glanced at her watch. 

Harry nodded, tipping his head back briefly to drink some of his butterbeer, and slowly the two of them settled into the atmosphere, with all it's hubbub and chatter and snippets of music managing to break through it all. Despite this fact, despite him watching as she visibly relaxed before him, elbows on the table, her knee brushing against his, she still looked nervous.

Her eyes were dancing around, fingers tapping on the table, sipping her drink. And he just couldn't ignore it any longer; it had been happening ever since they had left the confines of the castle, and it was all just too noticeable now. 

"What are you looking for?" Harry asked. Aviana gaze flickered over to him.

She didn't answer straight away, before she seemed to come to some kind of conclusion and replied. "My dad... William, that is." She said softly, as though he would be around the corner and listening to them.

"Surely he wouldn't be here." Harry frowned. "He's an escaped convict, and a Death Eater who just had a very public trial for mass-murdering Muggles - if he was here, someone would have seen him by now."

"Well, Mundungus was that witch in the Hogs Head, the dickhead, and none of us noticed him, did we?" Aviana shrugged, leaning back in her seat and her arms wrapping around her middle. Harry made a face at the memory. "He saw everything."

"I don't think your dad is going to dress up as a witch and sit in the Three Broomsticks." Harry replied, trying not to sound too full of himself because, truly, Aviana did have a reason to worry. 

"Well, yes, I assume that he's currently hold up somewhere with the Dark Lord, Lucius, the Lestranges and most likely Theo's dad as well planning to invade-" Aviana purposefully lowered her voice, just in case  "-the Department of Mysteries, but whose to say that he isn't?" She shifted in her seat and glanced at her watch again. "When Snuffles was living in the Shrieking Shack he used his Animagus form to try and talk to me... it failed, but he still tried."

"We won't go by the Shrieking Shack then - which was obviously ruins my plan seeing as it's such a romantic  place to go." Harry said, a grin spreading over his face. "My next question, why do you keep checking the time?" 

"Because we're supposed to be going to meet Granger in a moment." Aviana replied vaguely. 

"You know about that too?" Harry's eyebrows raised above the rims of his glasses. 

"Who do you think organised it." Aviana frowned. "Well, initially. Granger came to me with the idea because she knew I could help and eventually took over the organisation because, according to her, my methods were apparently too aggressive." She frowned, before taking a sip. "Here - you should finish this." She pushed the glass into his hand. "Go on - drink up. We have to go." 

"What?" Harry stared down at the cocktail before looking back up at her as she urged him to follow her orders. He drank it and made a face. "It's fruity." He managed to get out.

"Oh, suck it up, it's better than Firewhiskey." Aviana said, and got up, pulling the bag over her shoulder. "Come on." She waved him forward and he followed, pulling his coat over his shoulders. 

"Where are we going?" He asked. 

"Madam Puddifoot's." Aviana replied, nose wrinkled. "I didn't make that decision, you'll see in a moment who did, and also why you should never bring it up as a viable location to anyone ever again. Might make you want to punch Fred." 

"Merlin." Harry shook his head, and almost tripped over as she came to a stop by the door. "What-" He began, but he got his answer before he could finish his question.

Aviana leant over the shoulder of a witch sat alone at the table near the entrance, nursing a dark ale. "Nice wig, Dung." She said, and when the witch looked up Harry was met by the startled face of Mundungus, and he followed Aviana out of the Three Broomsticks, chuckling.

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