Make New Friends, Keep the Old (CLOSED)

The TV show that Danny put on was about some Egyptians building pyramids, and something about these aliens. It didn't interest Julia as much as Danny did. Though the commercial for some backscratchers was funny to watch. The woman was wearing too much makeup and was exceedingly enthusiastic. Backscratchers are backscratchers, what makes them any different from one another? They were just a waste of money anyways, scratch your own back or have someone do it for you for free. Julia rolled her eyes at the television.

Turning her body toward Danny, Julia rested her arm on his shoulder. "Well, I want to know more about the guy I'd find on the street- the stranger on my sofa" She mused. Julia wanted to know about what he's like, his childhood, his family, anything, really; he drew her in. There was a strange sense about him, he was mysterious to her. He reminded her of her brother; a gentleman, quiet, and unknowing. And Julia wanted to know more about him- not that she knew much about him in the first place.

Julia had a habit of getting "too close" to people she didn't know too well, and she didn't want that to happen with Danny. Because she could tell that he was a good guy, and she didn't want to ruin anything. "Tell me about your childhood?" She asked, it was more of a statement, really. Lightly, Julia ran her finger along his shoulder, perhaps to provoke him into telling her about him. She was being a bit selfish, admittedly, but if it got her what she wanted, she wouldn't deny him what he wanted.

Danny chuckled for a moment and smiled. "Yeah, I guess you have a point," he said calmly "well, I was born and raised in America and led a pretty simple life from here on then." It was a lie, but he didn't want to fully reveal who he was. If she knew the truth about him, she'd probably mistake him for being some insane creature that had just roamed out of the earth. That or just a psychopath. Maybe just a bit of both. "I was a Gryffindor in Hogwarts and ended up becoming a good student there, although the teachers and other administrators saw me as a nuisance. Then again, I think most of the teachers thought all the Gryffindors were a nuisance."

He could go on and on about his life and all the things he had experienced, but that was for a later time. Surely not now. He used his free hand to grab the glass he had already and drank a swig from the contents as he thought about what to ask her. He set the drink back down and said "Well what about you? What sort of mysteries do you hold in your life?"

Julia knew that there must have been more to Danny, but that was probably all he would reveal to her. Sighing in defeat, Julia thought about her life. It wasn't that interesting, really, nothing out of the ordinary happened. "Well, was the same thing for me. I was born in Ireland, and raised in England by my parents. I have an older brother, Edward, who I don't talk to anymore," Ed and Julia didn't keep in touch, as Ed found a girl and rode off with her to Australia, "my parents live in Ireland with the rest of my family, and I live here on my own. I wanted to stay in the place where I grew up with my friends. I would imagine it would be quite difficult for a grown woman to make new friends and start a new life. Plus, I didn't want to live with my parents like a child anymore. I needed to grow up, and I still do for that matter.

"Anyways, my parents offered to buy me a place to live. And, like I said, I asked for an apartment, and they gave me this. I can't say that I don't like it, because I do. It's just the part that I'm always on my own that gets me. And if I lived in an apartment, at least I'd be living closer to people than I am here. My neighbors are all so stuck up, not to mention that they're a lot older than i am." Julia could go on all day, but she felt like that was enough for now. She didn't want to overwhelm Danny with her life.

"Like I said, my life isn't too interesting. I'm just an ordinary girl living an ordinary life" Julia shrugged. She was still inclined to know more about Danny, but she knew that would be all she could get out of him. So she turned back to the TV. The show about the Egyptians was still on, and it wasn't particularly intriguing Julia. It was a little while before she realized that she still had her elbow on Danny's shoulder. "Oops" She said quietly and moved her arm, and leaned into Danny instead.

Danny listened to her life story intently, processing every detail in her mind. Just judging by how she had originally brought up a somewhat importance about blood race and now with the knowledge that her family was well off in terms of money, he concluded that his family must've been one of the bigots in the world. It was only an assumption, but Danny would have to watch his back around the family. He hadn't a clue if they would turn out to be Death Eaters or something, and that was something he didn't want to happen...having dinner with Death Eaters while he was in the Order. They needed to make a sitcom for something like that. 'I Married a Order Memeber!' Could totally see something like that happening.

He stopped paying attention to the television at the point, not really caring for what the people on TV were saying. He could only really pay attention to his own steady heartbeat and the constant rhythm of events that just took place. He felt more relaxed than he had been in the longest time, actually able to just sit back and not care for the world. Perhaps it was the house...or maybe the woman that sat next to him. Yeah, it had to be the house. He smiled though and looked towards Julia. "I guess we're not that very interesting people you always hear about on the news," he teased, a thick grin forming on his face.

Julia chucked at Danny, "Yeah, I guess not. And this TV show isn't very interesting, either. I wonder what else there is to do" Julia looked out the window, it was still raining, so going outside was out of the question. Just as she turned back, her stomach growled. Embarrassed, Julia stood up and stretched. "How about some lunch?" She asked, walking back to the kitchen, assuming Danny would follow her. Julia scrambled through her kitchen, looking for something she could cook. "Let's see... What do you like?" She asked, looking through her fridge. While there was a wide range of food to choose from, Julia wasn't sure what Danny liked. "How about grilled cheese and soup?" She asked. You couldn't go wrong with grilled cheese, and men loved sandwiches... when they didn't have to make it themselves.

Julia took out the butter, cheese, and bread, and heated up a frying pan. Taking some butter and spreading it on slices of bread, she continued, "Well, since you won't tell me much about your childhood, tell me about your life now. What do you do for work?" Julia put slices of cheese on the bread and put the sandwiches in the frying pan. She walked over to her cupboard and took out a can of tomato soup an put it in a pot on the stove to let it cook.

Julia slid herself on the counter and watched Danny with a smile, this turned out to be a lovely afternoon.

[Hehehehe....sandwiches.]

Danny chuckled lightly when he heard Julia's stomach growl, a smile still etched on his face. He was a tad hungry himself, having not bought anything back at the cafe which he had entered the place for anyway. Sometimes he could get reeeal sidetracked, and this entire afternoon should how much of an attention span he really had....when it didn't come to women. He could recall what he smelled on his first date with a girl after all, he had the memory of an elephant. He stood up as well and his face lit up for a moment. "That actually sounds pretty good," he said, grabbing the remote and pressing the power button. Nothing good was ever on anyway.

He walked into the kitchen with Julia and began to look around the room again. Very nice looking kitchen, and almost surprisingly clean. Whenever he lived by himself, the place had often been a wreck...that was, until he turned 17 and was able to use magic freely. Now, his place was always clean...if not a little dusty. No good dusting spells, what was up with that? He shook that random thought off and followed Julia to the kitchen. He could immediately tell that she started to make some grilled cheese, a smile forming on his face again. Did a lot of that today apparently.

He froze when she asked her question again. He did have a job actually, if it wasn't just a little bit ironic. "I work for the ministry...as an auror," he said, almost feeling a sense of failure as he spat out the word Auror. Aurors had tried to kill him once and so he just returned back to the ministry? Didn't make much sense, but Danny was a perfect individual to be an auror. He knew how to fight and track down dangerous criminals, even if he didn't want to admit it. "It's honest work." Sure it was, just keep telling yourself that.

Julia flipped the sandwiches on the pan and let them simmer, and cleaned out their glasses and put them away. Some wine sounded good, so she took out a bottle of her favorite sangria and two glasses. "You have to have a little bit of this sangria, it's so great. It's very fruity." She smiled and filled the two glasses, setting them on the little table by the windows. She set up the table with their plates, bowls and silverware. "An Auror? That's interesting, how do you like that job?" Julia asked, wanting to keep a decent conversation afloat. Julia stood over the stove and stirred the soup. She looked at Danny again as he spoke to her, studying his face.

She hadn't really looked at all the details in his face clearly until just then. His chin was covered with stubble, and his hazel eyes seemed cold, though he probably didn't mean it. When she took a good look at him, he was intimidating, a bit frightening, even. But she wasn't afraid of him, from what she could tell he was very sweet and genuine. She found his intimidating features to be very attractive; Julia was beginning to really like him. But something deep inside of her was telling her not to, as much as she hated the feeling. She knew she had to get to know him better.

Julia placed a sandwich on each plate and poured some soup into little bowls. "Lunch is served, sir" She teased and took a seat at the table with Danny and began to eat her soup. Taking a sip of her wine, she looked at Danny, "I'm glad we got this opportunity to hang out" She said honestly, with a genuine smile.

Danny shrugged his shoulders, looking down towards the ground. "It's an alright job," he said calmly "never a shortage of dangerous wizards, so that always keeps us on our toes." In reality, it was kind of a boring job. Nothing ever really happened, once or twice had he actually gone out and searched for the criminal. Seemed as if no one ever really wanted to go and rob a bank or something, so it was often peaceful at his desk. He leaned against the wall as he continued. "I only started recently, so it's no surprise I haven't gotten any interesting assignments yet. They're still weary because of...uhh..." He paused. "...some issues that had come up in the past." It was funny how he could brag about it to Mis, but he didn't want to say a word to Julia.

He snapped out of his tour with the past when she set the food onto the table, instantly getting his attention. He could feel his stomach demand for food, and he was more than willing to comply. He walked over to the table and sat down in front of the plate and the bowl, Danny immediately grabbing the grilled cheese and taking a large bite out of it. He teared up a little and laughed off the minor pain as he hadn't accounted for the fact that it was still hot. "Aw sh*t!" he laughed, as he began to swallow his food. Blow on the food next time, you moron he thought to himself. Once he recovered, he took another hesitant bite from the sandwich, this time no pain involved. He hadn't even realized how hungry he had been. "The food is really good," he said, turning his head towards Julia. She was a cook too? Impressive. "What about you? What's your job?" With that, he took another bite from his sandwich.

Danny's pause made Julia curious, but she didn't bother asking. He would tell her on his own time, and Julia did not want to be a squeaky wheel. "Yeah I haven't heard much from over there, nothing interesting, at least." She said, taking a bite of her sandwich. "I would imagine it's at least a little bit interesting working for the Ministry." Judging by the stories she'd always heard, there was never a dull day at the Ministry, something always came up. But, then again, she had never been to the Ministry, so she wouldn't know; she could be completely wrong after all.

Her job? Well her's certainly wasn't interesting at all. "I'm a secretary at a pediatrician's office- well, a doctor's office for children, basically" She explained, not sure if he knew what a pediatrician was. "It's not that fun... at all. All I do is book appointments, and make phone calls. It's not a steady job, I'm still looking for a career. I'm still not sure what I want to do yet. Maybe a professor at Hogwarts, but I don't know if that's something I'd want to do for the rest of my life" She chuckled.

Julia felt like she was talking Danny's ear off and she felt embarrassed. He didn't have much to say, but she had a boatload to say, and she felt like she was annoying him. "I'm sorry, I won't stop talking. It's kind of a habit of mine" She laughed. "So, what do you want to do after lunch?"

Danny shrugged, holding the sandwich in his hands still. "It's a steady slope we're trying to go for. The less things that happen at once, the better. Right now though, everything just seems quiet. Nothing out of the ordinary popping up and trying to take us by surprise." He wished something like that would happen, it would sure as hell beat filing papers out for another higher up Auror to look over. He needed to get through the ranks quickly, otherwise he'd be bored out of his freaking mind.

Danny smiled and said "I don't envy you. I hate filing papers and things of that sort. I'm more of a man of action really...why I joined the aurors in the first place." He smirked in a playful manner once she mentioned possibly being a Hogwarts professor. "I'm sure they have a class to teach kids the wonders of mocha and cappuccino." He set his food back on the plate and replaced his smirk with a smile "Nah, I think you'd be a great instructor, I think you have the heart for it. But don't worry, you're not boring me or anything, I enjoy talking with ya."

Danny sat back in his seat for a moment, the hazy thinking process returning to him. "I'm not sure," he said truthfully "Nothing good on TV anyway...err..." he thought again for a moment. "I have no clue. Call me boring and uninteresting."