Here we go again. Strapped in, kids? I hope you're ready for the ride!

“Hey, Ari...you know, you spend way too much time at the Ministry.”

Grumbling and cursing his friend under his breath, Ariel lifted his head from the work he was doing at his desk and turned his darkened gaze onto his wayward, drunk of a friend: the Full Moon was coming. Ollie didn’t even seemed to register the irritation in his Lycanthrope friend, or rather, if he did, chose not to take any notice of him. Ariel sighed and put his quill down, tipping himself back into his chair and kicking his legs up onto his desk in order to hear what Ollie had to say. Pleased to find that the blonde was listening, Ollie puffed his chest out a little and proceeded to explain that he was going to take his new little squeeze, Yvonne, to the Leaky Cauldron for their first date. Ariel didn’t bother to tell Ollie how poor the idea was, that there was nothing wrong with taking her to some nice restaurant in the city. No, he knew Ollie had no money and it was for that reason that they were going to the Cauldron. Not only did Ollie expect Ariel to buy most of the booze but he wanted someone to save the conversation if Yvonne got horrifically bored. Ariel knew she would do and though he would have loved to see his friend bomb out with yet another woman, he couldn’t bring himself to do so and accepted the invitation to go with them.

Needless to say, Yvonne wasn’t pleased.

Four hours later Ariel found himself sat in a booth opposite an irritated redhead that clearly wanted to be anywhere but the Leaky Cauldron - her state of dress told Ariel that much. The werewolf was wearing a suit much like his friend had been before he’d ditched the tie and the jacket, forgetting the ketchup stain he still had yet to get out from the white. He was a state and Yvonne had gone all out. Ariel usually looked quite prim and proper and with the addition of his cane, looked even more aristocratic than usual. Yvonne didn’t have to voice her displeasure, Ariel had already stated why he was there. He was the benefactor for the evening and that only enraged Yvonne further. So once Ollie had returned from the men’s, Ariel offered to get the drinks, deciding he wanted to be nowhere near the redhead when she finally went off on one - and Ollie, the idiot, didn’t seem to read any of her body language.

With a heavy sigh, Ariel walked in a slightly laboured fashion up to the bar where he tossed some galleons onto the mahogany, ordering a glass of wine and two beer; encouraging the barman to take his time. He seemed to agree with Ariel that Oliver was in for a world of pain when Yvonne got to him. Ariel was even sure that Ollie had dated a Yvonne before. Must’ve been a different one, he figured. Who knew though, with Ollie?

Jack had been having one hell of a week. With the week coming to a close, however, she found that she had a little time on her hands. She had to close down the department, though, and there were a few unruly interns who wanted to stay to use the equipment. The in-house Healers were settled down for the night, and all the specialists had all but hurried out. Jack turned off the lights, grabbed her coat, and headed out for the night.

Her first visit was to Satan’s, just to make sure things were going well. Then to Weasley’s to help her trusted team close up. Andy was begging Jack to join them for a drink. Kirsty and Gary were changing out of their work robes while Andy hopped around Jack, obviously hyped for getting to be seen in public with his workmates. “C’mon, Jack, it’s been ages since you’ve been out with the crew. Please? Oh come on, I’ll work inventory for free- okay, well, not for free but- please, Jack?”

Kirsty shook her head. “Jack, he’s going to wet himself.” Gary burst into laughter and Jack sighed. “Alright. Let’s go.”

They apparated over to the Leaky Cauldron and deposited their coats off at the coat rack. Jack was actually beginning to feel a little better. Andy might have been a bit of a prat, but she got along with her little comedy team quite well. They all had matching senses of humor and the three were always subbing as comedians. Gary was new and had a drier sense of humor, but Kirsty and Andy were actually acquiring some fame.

They headed for a booth and Jack offered to buy drinks. Andy began singing “For she’s a jolly good fellow!” as Jack headed for the bar. She rapped her knuckles on the bar and asked for four Firewhiskeys. Andy must have seen something shiny because he suddenly bellowed her name across the eatery. “OI! JACK!” She turned and as she did, she caught sight of a familiar face. She stopped and found herself standing right next to Ariel Greyback. She blinked and looked back at Andy, “Got it. Be there soon.” She leaned over the bar. “Oi. Where’s my drinks?”

Perfect.

“Yvonne’s going to hurt him soon.” The barman said. Ariel blinked from where he was staring into the bar and brought his eyes up to meet the barman’s. He was a tall, well-built man with broad, thick shoulders and an olive tan that made Ariel look as white as a sheet by comparison. The werewolf frowned a little and turned to see his friend trying, and failing, to deal with the Yvonne situation. Ariel was beyond caring now. In fact, more than anything he just wanted to see Ollie dumped so they could go home. There was leftover lasagne in the oven with his name on it but instead he was in The Leaky Cauldron - the last place on earth he truly wanted to be that evening. Still, there was little he could do about it now. Ollie wasn’t thinking, as per usual. It wasn’t as if Ariel had things to do and he was bound to get it in the neck from Liza when they came home -- because he was the one responsible for Ollie, you know. It wasn’t as if the crippled, scarred and more-than-a-little-bit-bruised werewolf needed looking after. No!

Ariel merely nodded in response, bringing his spare hand up to rub his cheek. It ached, far worse than it had done when he’d first realised he’d been marked with it. His father had been impatient with him. It wasn’t a fight, it wasn’t anything to be proud of. It wasn’t a battle wound; it was a mark of weakness. The first of the beers came to him and Ariel tipped the mouth of it to the barman in thanks before bringing it to his lips. There was little that could be said in defence of Ollie now. Ariel had the same amount of patience as he would have for a disobedient child. As much as he didn’t want to deal with the repercussions, as far as Liza was concerned he was responsible for Ollie and so Ariel foresaw a quick visit to St. Mungos’ A&E before they headed home, to at least patch him up. Ariel knew Yvonne quite well. She worked in the Human Resources department of the larger Department of Furry Things; and one thing Ariel remembered about Yvonne was that she packed one heck of a punch.

Rubbing his forehead, Ariel took a glance at the bottle of beer and had a feeling he’d need something a little bit stronger. He was getting old prematurely, this he realised. It was a worrying thing when he just wanted to be sat in his favourite armchair by the window with a bottle of Firewhisky in one hand, a cigarette in the other and Quidditch on the television that Ollie had hooked up to blast the games out into their living room - the cheap bastard. Ariel hated pubs, now. He didn’t want to go clubbing or any of that nonsense. He just wanted to sit, have a couple of drinks and fall asleep in the chair before getting up in the morning with a crick in his back and a fry-up courtesy of Liza waiting for him on the kitchen table. No, he’d get it in the neck long before he could sit down and drink himself into momentary oblivion. He’d have to wait, he knew that, but his patience was wearing thin.

It was at the sound of a familiar voice that Ariel stiffened. He recovered quicker than he would have done but his hand tightened its grip on the cane and he brought the mouth of the bottle to his lips, taking a large gulp before setting it down on the bar and gesturing for another, a few short hand gestures communicating that some stronger wouldn’t go amiss either. After some faffing about on the bartender’s part, he brought over four Firewhiskies and looked a little bit queerly at Ariel before relenting and giving the blonde a large glass and the bottle. Ariel smiled gratefully and sat himself down, in quite a laboured fashion might I add, on one of the bar stools.

“I’ll pay,” Ariel told the barman, gesturing to the drinks. His tone was quite firm though he had a feeling Jack would want to interject and refuse - whatever she liked, Ariel supposed.

Jack’s eyes stayed trained to Ariel’s countenance, even after he looked back to the bartender. She was not want to break eye contact, sure, but typically she would have looked away as quickly as possibly and run for the hills. Ariel had that effect on her. He made her do things she would normally refuse to be caught seen doing. And yet, here she stood, staring. She realized it and tore her eyes away, reaching for the Firewhiskies and setting them down, rifling through her pockets.

“Jack!” She ignored Andy.

“Hang on,” she told the bartender, her fingers brushing first a sickle, then a knut, another sickle- damn, where were those galleons?! Suddenly, Ariel’s voice cut into her eardrums like a bullet to the brain, even causing some sort of dizziness, however that was possible. She swallowed and looked at him. Offering to pay for her drinks…? Well, that was certainly out of the question. She was his boss, she was… she did not know what she was to him or what he was to her, but she knew she could not allow him to purchase her drinks.

“N-no,” she told the bartender. “I have money, I-”

Andy appeared next to Jack, somehow already buzzed. The flask he was shoving into his pocket might account for that. “Jack, I- whoa!” He had spotted Ariel and put his hands up in the air. He muttered to Jack, “Remember my cousin, the werewolf that went nuts-o? This was the guy that showed up at my mom’s house when Connor went nuts. Look, mate!” Andy said, directing his words towards Ariel, despite the fact that it was obvious there was no fray. “I don’t want any trouble. We didn’t know he was unbalanced, see, we just-”

“ANDY! SHUT UP WILLYA?”

“STUFF IT, KIRSTY!”

Oh God. Jack wanted to sink through the floor. She looked at Andy and said, “Look, there’s not going to be a problem. Ari is- Ariel is an old friend so-”

“Old friend?!” Andy recited. “Jack got herself a friend?! This I gotta see!” He patted Jack’s shoulder and looked up at Ariel. “This man needs a drink! Hear that bartender? Get this man a drink, on me! Why don’t you come sit with us? Shoot the breeze!” Jack glared murder at Andy. If he wasn’t careful, she would shoot something else.

Ariel smirked a little bit at the predicted refusal and he fingered the neck of his large bottle of Firewhisky for a moment, allowing the barman a slight smile in thanks when he produced a large tumbler for Ariel, knowing his habits with the bottle and knowing Liza just as well. The barman figured Ariel would need the Firewhisky for strength - or something like that. Ariel could already hear the raised voices in the booth across the room and he was waiting for the slap of skin against skin to resound around the room, signalling that it was time for him to swallow the last mouthful of whisky and limp over to Ollie in order to drag him home whether the idiot wizard liked it or not.

However, it never came; instead Ariel’s immediate hearing was attacked by a group of people that seemed to know Jack. Ariel could only wince at the offensive sounds of the voices. He was beginning to lose patience with humans, finding them all together unpleasant as he usually did at that time of the month. This boy though was particularly loud and seemed to recognise Ariel. The blonde werewolf frowned a little, his eyes narrowing as he tried to place the boy. Then it dawned on him. It wasn’t long ago that they’d had to deal with a particularly unruly werewolf. Nothing to tragic had happened to the guy but Ariel didn’t know how much contact they kept with him now. They’d tried their best with Connor, they really had. He wasn’t exactly jobless at the moment but he was working hard to find something to pass the days and Ariel was still working close with him. He was fine, sort of, but he could still potentially go off course and Ariel was meant to keep an eye on that - and he didn’t disappoint either.

“Connor’s...fine.” Ariel replied slowly, his fingers still tapping at his bottle of Firewhisky, impatient to open it. “There’s no such thing as a bad werewolf, just extenuating circumstances...mister...?”

Ariel blinked at Jack, startled by her quiet voice in amongst the loud one that seemed to boom around the pub. Ariel bit his lip as his eyes went back to the ‘Andy’ creature everyone was shouting at. Ariel picked the bottle of Firewhisky up off of the bar and smirked, showing he was already set for the evening and that he didn’t need the boy’s generosity, though Ariel wasn’t sure that that was going to stop this ‘Andy’ thing either. Then came the offer for him to sit with them and Ariel froze, his eyes turning back to Jack, searching her face with some form of agreement on the matter. He would sit with them, company would not go amiss, but he wanted her to want him to sit with them. He didn’t just want to join and receive nought but frost from her. He figured he’d get that anyway but he wanted her to ask him, or at least tell him it was alright.

“Jack...you don’t mind if I join you, do you?” Ariel asked sensibly, carefully.

Damn him. Damn Andy. Damn Ari. Damn them all to hell.

This bringing up of a cousin surprised Jack. She gave Andy a look of momentary surprise- he had not told her of this cousin. Surely, if she had known, she would have gotten involved in the case. Just to make sure that his cousin got a good deal. Jack found herself working personally with the werewolves that came into her department quite often, actually. Just, not the werewolves that worked in the department… Cough, cough, the blonde sitting right next to her, cough.

Must be that virus going around.

Whatever the reasons that Andy had refused to disclose that particular bit of information to her, it was now working against her. Andy had this philosophy about life- any person he met, was a friend to him, and was most definitely a drinking buddy. Jack had known this philosophy of her employee would get him in trouble some day, but she had never dreamed it would trouble her as much as it was now.

His voice was tearing her aching head to shreds. Her mind pounded- it had already been a long, noisy day and Andy was not exactly the cure for a headache. “Andy-” she began, but the damage was done. And suddenly, Ari was speaking to her. His eyes met hers and she felt all of her major body systems grind to a halt as their gazes met. Aw, hell. She blinked and tried to grasp at straws. But none were there to get a firm grip on.

Damn him.

“Yeah, that’s fine,” she said, and she was surprised to see a lack of anger. No resentment, no tension. It almost sounded as though she were in pain. She handed Andy two Firewhiskeys and said, “Try not to trip over your own feet, huh?” He took them and led the way, holding the drinks above his head. Jack grabbed her drinks and followed him, heart pounding.

“Ay, pals! We have a new friend!” Andy announced, setting a drink down in his place and then in front of Kirsty. Jack took her place and slid a mug over to Gary. Jack cleared her throat, mustering all of that cliché Gryffindor courage. “This is Ariel. We were good friends in Hogwarts and now he works for me-”

“AH! She said Hogwarts!” Andy said. Jack closed her eyes. She had forgotten how fond her employees were of drinking games. “Chug!” And they lifted their mugs to their lips and chugged half their mugs. Jack shook her head. They would be dead by the time they were thirty.