The Real World

Amelia hadn't seen the outside of St. Mungo's in months. Although the room they had given her at the hospital had plenty of windows that faced the outside, her eyes had still stung as she stepped out into the sunlight for the first time in so long. The healing staff had finally given her permission to leave the hospital every so often, so long as her fever was under control and her skin responding well to the salve that de-green-ified it.

It was a brisk day and Amelia pulled her camel-colored coat tigheter around her against the chill, wrapping her scarf up over her face to avoid being recognized as she walked down the steps of the hospital. It was probably an unneccessary precaution at this point, because she had only been famous (if you could call it that) for a few months as headmistress before she disappeared into St. Mungo's, and it was likely she would have been all but forgotten now.

Once she passed the gates of the hospital grounds, Amelia pulled out her wand. It felt stronger in her hand now that she had been practicing more. That had been the hardest thing to lose - her magic. It was what eventually forced her out of Hogwarts, and had been the most frustrating while she was bedridden. But after she had gotten more and more of her strength back, the magic had been coming back enough for Amelia to trust that she could apparate herself into Hogsmeade, which she did by turning sharply on the spot.

A pop later, Amelia was relieved to find herself in one piece standing in front of the Three Broomsticks. She wasted no time pushing through the door and letting the warmth of the pub wrap around her. She moved to a table near the front windows where she would be able to feel the sunshine on her face and shrugged out of her coat, revealing the grey sweater dress and black tights she had pulled on before leaving St. Mungo's. Her mother had had a currier bring over Amelia's clothing once she heard that her daughter might be seen in public in the near future. Apparently, being deathly ill for several months wasn't enough to excuse one from fashion obligations.

So after taking her seat, Amelia rubbed her hands together to warm them while scanning the faces in the room, taking in her surroundings as she waited to be served.

[OOC: I'll bring Jake into this in a little bit. Right now I'm just going to have Hitame be your waitress.]

The Three Broomsticks was as busy as ever, as Hitame had barely been able to find any time to take a break that the fourth year was supposed to have had at least a couple hours ago. She didn't mind it, but the amount of people that were always in there was just ridiculous.

Hearing the bell above the door ring, Hitame looked toward it and saw someone come in. She quickly moved from the table she had just been at and made her way to where the woman had sat, quickly straightening her apron as she did so. "Welcome to the Three Broomsticks. I'm Hitame, I'll be your waitress." she smiled at her. "What can I get you?" she asked her with the small smile still on her face.

Jake had to admit that he was glad and slightly surprised that so many students and recent graduates wanted to be interns in his department. It gave some specialists, like himself, a lot more work than normal but he was glad to do it. He was always glad to be able to help students be comfortable in the place that would hopefully be their work enviroment when they graduated.

He had been putting in a lot of extra hours to prepare things for the boy who was interning under him to do and for his own work too. There were a lot more sightings of injured and dead unicorns lately and since those creatures fell under the category of a Beast, he had to figure out what was going on. Of course this wouldn't be his case alone, he would need the help of being specialist as well, since it seems that wolf, probably a Werewolf, tracks had been found near the unicorns.

Werewolves only fell into the category of Beings when they were in their human forms, but if they figured out who the wolf was, and it was a Werewolf, the being specialist would have to 'chat' with it, if it could be called a chat that is. Things would be made much easier if there were clear clues as to what was going on with the attacks. But since there weren't there was a lot more work to be done to help the creatures being affected.

Since it was his lunch break, Jake got to keep his mind away from that a bit, but it was always right there in his head, even if he pushed it back. Normally he would eat at the Ministry, but today things were just too hectic around there so he wasn't going to risk being dragged into something that he had no business being in and he really just needed to get out and take a few moments away from the work, even if he didn't exactly eat anything out there.

Once he was out of the Ministry, Jake apparated to Hogsmeade, just a few inches from the entrance of the Three Broomsticks. After walking the short distance, he entered the pub and looked around. Crowded as usual, but that was fine. He scanned the area to find a seat and his gaze fell on a girl who he believed to be Amelia Lyons. She had been Headmistress of Hogwarts while he worked there, but she'd apparently gotten sick and was interned in St. Mungo's for the past several months. He hadn't know that she was out.

He had never been close with the girl but they had graduated together, and as mentioned before worked together in Hogwarts for a short period of time before she got sick and he went back to the Ministry as a Beast Specialist. Jake smiled and walked toward the table where she sat, "Amelia?" he asked. "Do you remember me? Jake Collins, we gradauted together and I worked with you at Hogwarts for a short period of time." he said.

Amelia should have anticipated this, but when her waitress approached, the former headmistress found that she recognized her. Eidetic memories never lied, so Amelia’s mind simply flipped through the rolodex of names until she landed on the one she recognized from the school roster she had memorized when she had first been granted leadership of the school: Hitame Higurashi.

She didn’t seem to recognize Amelia, or if she did, she made no mention of it, which was just fine by the redhead. “I’ll have the turkey sandwhich,” Amelia said, taking her lead by making this conversation business-only, “And a pot of Earl Grey, if you don’t mind. Thank you.”

When the waitress had excused herself, Amelia resumed her people-watching, her eyes darting over various faces. There were some she recognized, some completely foreign. Hogsmeade was always a fantastic place for this since it drew such a varied crowd, and it was usually so busy that one could remain anonymous if that was their intent.

However, Amelia didn’t seem to be quite so lucky in the anonymity department today, because it took less than five minutes of uninterrupted solitude before she heard her name from nearby. She turned in the direction of the sound and found herself looking at… rolodex… Jake Collins. The young man was going through the trouble to introduce himself – unnecessarily – but Amelia had been trained in the art of manners as long as she had been able to speak, so she smiled politely and nodded in response to his words.

“Yes, of course I remember you, Jake,” she said, adopting a friendly tone although she and Jake both knew they weren’t friends. They had been classmates for a time, and co-workers as well, but no one could have said they were close.

Invite him to join you, Amelia could hear her mother directing in the back of her mind, coaxing the politeness out of her in spite of her solitary tendencies.

Do I have to?

You already know the answer to that.

“Would you like to join me?” Amelia offered, gesturing to the empty chair opposite her as she lost the internal battle with her mother-like conscience.

“If you’ve got time, I mean,” she added, giving him an escape if he wanted it. Or if wanted to appease her inner thoughts.