Nostalgia

Felix simply nodded when she said she would pay. Great, so he'd get a free drink out of this too. Not too bad to start a day off, maybe she'd get him dinner and he'd finally get food in him that wasn't stolen, or half eaten already. He gestured towards the road as a slightly chilly breeze rolled over them, bringing with it the fresh scent of a dozen different shops. From the foul odor of the pet shop, to the wonderful smell of baking bread down the road.

Felix felt his stomach churn with the smell of such different things. He was used to wet trees and grass, damp cave and a chicken coop. That had been the smells he'd gotten used to, and now in Diagon Alley he felt he might even be sick by the turn around of things to witness. He glanced over to her and smiled just slightly as he held out his arm for her to take. Even better to be seen with a woman on his arm, a pretty woman who had no connection to himself.

The perfect disguise. "Well it is Easter." He said, suddenly turning an extremely charming smile onto the lady, his beard hid part of it, but it was obvious that below the facial hair, there was an extremely handsome young man, smiling down at the pretty lady.

Rachel smiled as she walked alongside Alex. She was starting to get hungry and she hated eating alone. She always felt so awkward by herself. She smiled even wider when he offered her his arm. She gratefully took it and they made their way to the Three Broomsticks. “So, Alex, what do you do for a living?” She asked trying to make conversation. She didn’t want there to be an awkward silence between them as they ate, so she decided to start a conversation now. She finally got her first good look at him when he mentioned it was easter. He had a scruffy beard, dark eyes, and an extremely attractive face. Rachel didn’t usually go for guys with facial hair, but she started to think Alex could be an exception.

Felix carefully led her down the road, taking the moment to revel in the fact that no one was looking at him. For no one cared, he was normal and completely invisible while he had this woman on his arm. He might keep her around simply for that fact, she was basically an invisibility cloak to society. He let his eyes dart around, taking in the sight of a place he hadn't set foot in in years. It had probably been since he graduated Hogwarts since he had been able to walk down this street without having to look over his shoulder.

After that he had belonged to Knockturn Alley, only occasionally catching glimpses of the place that belonged to the good side. His eyes continued to dart around to look at all the shops, almost hungrily taking in the sights once so used to him.

"Err... I er.. hire myself out mostly, odd jobs. Cleaning, err... restorations, a lot of people don't know how to do basic cleaning spells... I help with Manors and dungeons..." he said, coming up with the job on the top of his head. He hadn't really ever done cleaning spells, but he figured it'd be harder to trace him if he didn't really have a place to work at all.

"What about you..?" He asked as they came to the Leaky Cauldron's door and he stepped forward, holding it open for her so she could walk in in front of him.

Rachel and Alex soon found themselves in Knockturn Alley, she listened intently as he told her what he did for a living, "who doesn't know how t.do a simple cleaning spell?" She scoffed like it was the most simple spell in the world. But she didn't know how to do tyhem herself. She cleared her throat nervously and moved her hair out of her face, "I'm actually not working at the moment. I've been trying to find a job, but nothing has really worked out yet." She said as they reached their destination. She stepped inside the Three Broomsticks and sat at her usual booth. When the waiter came over, she ordered two butterbeers and paid for them with a couple of golden galleons.

(I'm on my ipad so I can't do word count. Not sure if its 100 words or not)

"You'd be surprised who doesn't know simple spells, and most of the time they don't bother with it anyway. Construction spells and cleaning spells are often below people who think that magic is above that.." He said lightly, thinking hard about having to learn some of that stuff in the future, in case he ever needed something like that again. He knew some pretty decent construction spells. He had created a few places over the years that would have taken months to put together with the simple wave of his wand.

He smiled lightly as they entered the bar and sat down with her, watching her pay for the drinks, before carefully tugging at his hood to hide his face a bit better, and looking around the bar. Now they were here, he had to look normal, blend in, and still eavesdrop on what the world was like these days.

A daily prophet was laying on the table next to them, and he quickly reached over, grabbing it off the table and glancing at the cover. Reading it over quickly, he flipped a page and scanned the articles, not taking time to read them, just scanning through them for any mention of himself.

After not seeing anything, he glanced up at the girl and smiled. "Sorry, don't get the chance to see one of these very often... been curious as to what's going on in the world, hey.. you seemed pretty learned, what's the world up to these days? I actually just got back into the country you see. Worked with a Manor for a while, they hired me on as a construction specialist for their vacation home. Been there for nearly a year actually. Finally got it done though, so what's the world up to?"

He smiled pleasantly and kept his eyes on her, giving her his full attention.

"Um... the worlds been pretty boring actually. Well, actually something rather interesting happened the other day. There was a mass break out from azkaban. About 20 or so.inmates escaped. I don't recall.all.the names, just a few. There was Rocko Benson, Tamriel Saxon, Atticus Mason, Felix Barker, and Orion Ramellion. Other than that I don't really remember." She smiled at the waiter when he returned with their drinks, "thank you." She said before sipping her butter beer. She smiled as the warm liquid overcame her with joy and deliciousness. She met alex's eyes and smiled warmly at him. Something about him fascinated her. She wanted to break thriu his shell that he thout he hid so well.

Felix couldn't help but raise his eyebrows at her, a look of shock on his face. There had been what at Azkaban? He hadn't been there in years.. but were they really saying he had gotten out? Maybe they had spread some story about him being thrown back in there to help calm the public about his disappearance, but after all this time they were lying and saying he was out again?

Damn... no double damn. That meant people were looking. People were on the alert again. People were watching for strangers they hadn't seen before, he needed to leave. He needed to leave soon, but he couldn't look to panicked, he couldn't look like this news had shaken him. Instead after a moment of shocked silence, he leaned forward slightly. "You don't say? They say how they got out? I always thought those Dementors were a bit lax on those inmates.. people like that don't deserve to live in comfort." he said lightly, a mean glint to his eyes.

He picked up his drink and took a sip, almost groaning with pleasure as warmth spread down through his stomach to his limbs, making him shiver with delight. How long had it been that he had taken a drink of something so simple, yet so pure? "Ah... it's been far too long." He said lightly, looking at the drink. "Been on the job so long, didn't have much time for partying.. it was a difficult construction work, and the owners kept changing their mind, I couldn't afford to be drunk while I was there... it's been.. a while since I've had something so delicious." he said with a grin, taking another sip of his drink.

"I've heard a bunch of stories. Some involving muggle uses off f explosions. Some involving people inside of azkaban, like the guards helping them out. But if you ask me, its all rubbish." She smiled as she watched him revel in the glory that was butter beer, "I have got to get you out more often." She nudged his shoulder with hers and smiled. She moved her knee slightly, causing it to brush up against his. But she did not move it away. She liked the warmth of his skin against hers. "So did you graduate from hogwarts?" She wondered if he had graduated before or after herself. "I graduated not to long ago. Just about 2 or so years ago." She didn't remember the exact amount of time. "Slytherin house."

Felix nodded as she spoke of rumors of how they had gotten out. He wondered if the others had escaped as well, or if they were in the same boat as him, never gone back in and only finding out now that they were supposedly in Azkaban this whole time. Had to hand it to the Ministry, they knew how to control people with fear. If they were acting out of line, or bringing awareness to something they didn't want them to be aware of, all they had to do was throw a fake Azkaban break-out into the midst and everyone was willing to sacrifice freedom for safety.

Felix felt the soft nudge of her shoulder and the brush of her knee and his body froze for a second. Confused and shocked at the sudden feeling of skin against his. How long had it been since someone had willingly touched him? Or touched him in a way that wasn't.. anger. He couldn't recall, possibly since Naomi. And this woman was flirting with him, she thought he was some good guy just back into the country from a construction job.

And of course he had to play it up, so he kept his knee against hers, and sipped his drink again, smiling slightly. "I uh... yeah, was a Ravenclaw, a bit of a loner if I'm honest." He said lightly. It was possibly the first true thing he had spoken to her all day. He had in fact been in Ravenclaw house, and had in fact been a bit of a loner. "It was a couple years ago.. er... I'm 23 now, but it seems like forever ago that I stopped with that work there and started this business of my own." he said and glanced around the bar again.

Rachel smiled openly when Alex did not move his knee from her own. His skin felt good against her own. She wondered if she could get more skin contact later on. She giggled at the thought and sipped her drink. “Ravenclaw is a respectable house. My best friend Jason was a Ravenclaw. He’s dead now. Died about 2 years ago. Death Eaters got him when we were on vacation.” He then told her his age, and she fake pouted. She stuck her lip out and made her bottom lip tremble, “Awwwww, you’re older than me. I’m only 21.”