Missing You.

Elijah had donned one of the Prada shirts that Khaat had bought him for Christmas, shrugged on a coat and had headed into Hogsmeade with his bag slung over his shoulder. He wandered down the snow-laden road, slipping hear and sliding there. He still wasn’t very stable on his feet and although he’d been given a cane, he’d been too prideful to use it. He wasn’t regretting his decision not to use it per se but he wasn’t exactly crediting himself for it. He slid down under the porch of the pub and fell against the door. He cursed when his head collided with the wood and pushed the door open. He stepped inside, still rubbing his forehead, and wiped his feet on the mat by the door.

Elijah walked further inside and dumped his bag underneath his usual table. He unbuttoned his coat and dropped it over the back of the chair. He took his wallet out of his back pocket and made his way over to the bar. The pub was surprisingly empty. Only a few men were huddled in the corner, drinking the lager and playing cards. Elijah leaned against the bar and waited for one of the barmaids to make their way over to him. Sure enough one of the girls did and smiled brightly at him. He returned it and looked up at the bottles which were on the optic. “What can I get you?” The barmaid asked, leaning against the leavers that would pull the pints of alcohol that were on tap. Elijah looked at the brands, nibbling on his bottom lip as he did so – it was a habit he couldn’t quite let go of yet.

“A pint of Coca Cola please,” he was going to go Muggle and non-alcoholic today. It was too earlier. The barmaid nodded and filled a glass with ice before pouring the drink. She handed it to Elijah and he murmured for her to put it on his tab before wandering over to the table once more. He slipped into the seat, putting the pint on a coaster, and reached down. He pulled his sketch book out of his bag and threw his wallet inside it. He took one of his pencils out of his pencil case and leaned back up in the chair. He flipped to a clean page and rubbed his hand across the smooth paper. Then, Elijah began to draw, taking a sip of his drink every so often.

Julia wasn't planning on going out, but when Edward had mentioned going to Hogsmeade to do some shopping, she had decided to tag along. It wasn't until the fourth store, the one where all the girls flocked to Edward, that Julia decided to go off on her own. Mumbling a goodbye to her now busy brother, Julia slipped into the icy streets. It was inconsiderably quiet at Hogsmeade that day, with only a few other individuals who walked the street with shopping bags, and a few carolers set up outside of Hog's Head. Julia missed the days where she and her friends would have a good time just sitting at the owlery, gossiping about other girls and prattling about boys. But now, she was very distant from her friends, they barely ever spoke a word to her. It made her wonder what she did wrong. Perhaps it was because she had spent the whole summer away from them and with Arthur or Scorpius. But even Arthur wasn't spending much time with her, she assumed that they weren't together anymore, though they had never exactly made it official. Julia lifted her head as two first years she recognized walked by, giggling loudly as one of them fell into a bank of snow.

Julia hugged her black peacoat closer to her as a drift of icy wind hit her body. It was colder than she thought, but she was too caught up in her thoughts to notice the weather. Julia looked up as she came across a familiar building. She walked into The Three Broomsticks and was immediately thankful for heat. Her cheeks flushed red from the transformation of cold to hot air. She took off her black suede gloves and Burberry scarf and stashed them in her bag, walking over to the bar. She ordered a butterbeer rather than refreshing alcohol. Lately, she hadn't been in the drinking mood, since she usually did so with her friends. She took her drink and passed the bartender a tip. Julia turned around and searched for a table; they were all empty for the most part, except for one with a bunch of drunkards playing cards and one with a lone man. Wait a minute, Julia thought, that's Elijah! Julia was so happy to see him, it seemed like they haven't talked in ages, well, since the Valentine's Dance would be more accurate.

Julia grinned and walked toward his table. "Hey, you! Hope you don't mind if I join you" she giggled and leaned over to hug him. "Long time, no see, eh?" she said, taking the vacant seat opposite of Eli. Wasn't he a sight for sore eyes?

Peace was what Elijah needed. Christmas had been hectic, nothing like he’d ever experienced before, and he was still reeling from it all. He’d enjoyed it immensely but it was all a bit disorientating. Fauve and Thierry had enjoyed it the most he decided. The amount of gifts they’d received would keep them going for months on end. He was getting used to the idea of buying people presents now. It used to be just a case of sending something worthless to his parents, something not even worth sending. He could remember putting so much effort into some of the Christmas presents he made them when he was really young. As he grew up and realised that all he was getting was brooms and dates and girlfriends. His mother’s desire to marry him off would never wane he feared, neither would her desire to see him get a ‘decent’, ‘respectable’ job and gain ties with people that don’t sell drugs or wine or cigarettes on top of what they do during the day.

He drew the tip of the pencil across the page, a faint grey line spreading out behind the path of the pencil. The picture quickly became visible and Elijah began to trace back over the lines. He dropped the pad down on the table and put his pencil behind his ear, suddenly feeling a lack of inspiration. Chase was doing some sort of pregnancy thing today with the girls as far as he knew. Elijah really didn’t want to know what that entailed. He leaned forward and picked his drink up. It wasn’t wine by any means but he didn’t want anything alcoholic today. He just couldn’t bring himself to drink it today. The cola was going to be about as good as it got. He brought the rim to his lips and drank down some of the drink, wincing at the aftertaste was neither sweet nor sour but foul all the same. He hastily put the drink back down and picked his pencil up.

Elijah tapped the end of the pencil idly against the sheet of paper and looked about himself. He tapped his temple thoughtfully and doodled in the corner of the page before reaching down to take his camera out of his bag. He played around with settings for a few moments before a voice met his ears, a familiar one at that. Elijah looked up, not quite believing his ears, and grinned widely when his eyes fell on Julia. Elijah wrapped his arms around her to hug her back and continued to smile as she sat down.

“Quite,” he said, amused, “So long that I seem to have forgotten your name.” He chuckled. “You okay Jules?”