Taking Back Her Night

Jack sat at the bar of the Leaky Cauldron, enjoying a night off from Quidditch, the prank shop, pets, children, and everything else that was going on in her crazy, jumbled life. The twenty year old was busy, and that was an understatement. Her mornings began with a workout, before she made breakfast for her roommate, her niece, her young werewolf cousin, and the young werewolf boy who had been hiding out at her home. Then she had to make sure the teen werewolves were going to be safe and productive for the day, before she had to hurry Sunny off to daycare. Then it was a quick trip to the shop to open and make sure her manager was coming in for the day before she whisked off to a grueling four hour Quidditch practice, followed by an hour and a half long planning session as they went over old plays and strategized their public relations. Then Jack had to check in with Order business, before hurrying home. She had a few hours at home to herself, but half of the time, she barely had time to fix dinner for the family before she had to return to practice.

It was a wonder Jack had time to eat, let alone get a chance for a break.

It was a Sunday, though, so rather than heading to practice, Jack had returned to her shop in Diagon to help cover the shift of her worker Andy. Six year old Sunny opted to stay home with Charlie and Toby, who seemed like they had an idea for pranking the unsuspecting Maximus Morrison, her deeply unfortunate roommate. Jack heartily approved of the plan before setting off. Fortunately, Andy showed up to cover the shift he said he might not make, giving Jack back the night she had been sure she had lost. 

Old habits led her to the Leaky Cauldron bar. She had been banned from the bar, but since Nemo had left the country, the bartender had allowed her to return. She was glad too - she was deeply enjoying the Scotch.

Keiran hadn't really intended to go to The Leaky, but it was recently becoming a favorite place of his. He would be leaving for the school year soon, and he figured he may as well spend what time he could in London. Leaving his flat, he made his way through the streets of England and soon came upon the pub.

Pushing the front door open, he made his way towards the bar, figuring he could get a bite and a drink. Keiran could appreciate a good drink, though getting drunk wasn't something he did. He was about to seat himself at one end when he glanced down the seats and saw someone he was fairly sure he knew.

He passed the chairs between them and stood behind the chair to the right of hers. Keiran cleared his throat lightly so ensure he wouldn't surprise her when he spoke. "Excuse me. You're Jack Dyllan, right?" He was sure it was - he watched enough Quidditch, and was fairly certain she had been at Hogwarts in the same time frame as his. She didn't seem much younger than he.

Jack was used to being recognized, but she was not used to being approached, and there was a very vast, important difference between the two. Sure, lots of people knew her and knew of her, but it took one loose canon among a crowd of sane people to break the pattern and actually attempt to speak to her. Most people knew of her, but very people thought well enough of her to actually speak to her. Few people thought she was a good sort of person to believe to be desirable company.

People either knew she had a good Beating arm, and stayed away, because fame and a good right hook in an irritable person often meant danger. Or they knew her connections to Vito, or Nemo, or werewolves, and decided she was too close to too many dangers to be worth the risk. Or they knew she was in the Order of the Phoenix, and others suspected she was the leader, so they avoided her as though it would help them avoid the war. Or, they just knew more than the basic facts of her, and knew it was best to stay out of her path. Bad things happened to people near her.

Still, she was curious to see who was brave enough to approach her. He was a guy she didn't recognize that was a bit older than her. She turned in her chair a bit, to look up at him. "Yeah. Why?"

Keiran suddenly felt like he'd stepped on her toes by walking right up and greeting her. She probably had been in thought or something. He sometimes was a bit too open for his own good. Not exactly the most Slytherin trait he had, that.

"Sorry, I just recognized you from going to Quidditch matches. It's been ages since I've played, myself, but I still go to plenty of them." He explained, trying to avoid coming off as one of the overzealous fans Jack could likely be annoyed of. Keiran couldn't say how he would be taken, so he figured he may as well stop there and see what happened.

With Keiran, it was more that he was curious. Something told him that he had either seen her at Hogwarts, or perhaps she knew one of his mates. He just hadn't talked with the girl before. Quidditch was practically a second language to the man, and he was always open to speaking about it. If nothing else, he could fall back on that topic.

Oh. Right. A fan. Coach had told her to expect them and he had expressly told her, repeatedly, to be nice to them. Too many times Jack had forced someone against a wall only to find they had been following her with a notepad and pen, asking for an autograph. Witch Weekly seemed to have a weekly column on Jack Dyllan's newest assault - though, a few of the victims had informed her that being attacked was much better than an autograph from her.

Still, the idea of having fans was still a really foreign concept to her - Jack was used to hostile opposition rather than acceptance. Of course, the amount of fans wasn't much, and it was much fewer than most. Jack did not have sex appeal or charm. She was just a damn good Beater, and it seemed there were few people who actually followed Quidditch for the actual sport.

"Oh." Jack said. Coach's words thrummed in her ears. "Thanks. Um, do you want to sit down?" Jack wasn't very certain as to how this was done.

It wasn't often - never, actually - that the professor found himself feeling awkward around someone younger than him. This, of course, was one of those times. He could stand in front of rooms of students without worry, but he somehow felt awkward greeting new people his own age. Especially in situations like this where he really didn't have too many reasons to do so.

"Oh, thank you." He answered as he sat in the chair next to hers. "I don't know if we ever met at Hogwarts, but my name's Keiran Hayes. I was in Slytherin. I teach at Hogwarts, now." It was best, he decided, to introduce himself rather than being that unnamed person sitting nearby. If he was honest, it had been a rather long day and he would be glad of the conversation.

Jack took another drink, thus finishing her scotch off. Naturally, she rapped her knuckles on the bar to call for another, a call the bartender dutifully responded to. She had become an expert at apparating under the influence, so she was not worried in the least. The plan was to enjoy her night out and then apparate straight home and crawl into bed so she could wake up early for Quidditch practice in the morning.

She turned to her new companion for the evening, deciding she should at least pretend to listen to him if she was going to attempt to follow Coach's advice. She squinted her eyes in thought, trying to see if she recalled him. She was fairly well known in her school years because the professor's were always trying to make a disciplinary example out of her. But she had never gotten to know many people - she had been ostracized for most of her Hogwarts years, and Jack had honestly preferred it that way.

"How many years ago did you graduate?" she asked.

When the girl ordered another drink he requested one of his own, and toyed with the glass once it was brought to him. Taking a drink, he looked up at Jack's question.

"Let's see.. Nine years ago." He said after a moment of thought. It had been a good while since he was asked that question. At his age, it was more often that he was asked what his job was, or how old he was.

"I'd wager it's not been so long for you." He said, mostly joking. He was a rather good judge of others, whether than involved personalities or names or guessing ages.

The man ordered a drink with her, an they were delivered at the same time. Jack immediately pulled the drink to herself and began to nurse it.

He informed her of his graduation date and Jack did some quick math of her own. "Well, then, there was barely any overlap. I graduated, what, three years ago? So, I was in my first few years. And I was Gryffindor, so you probably would have avoided me like the plague?" She smirked, glad she managed to get a joke out there at the least.

She took another drink and then turned to look at the older man, squinting up at him with one eye. "Sorry, I didn't catch your name."