So Much for Studying ((cue Matt and Andrian))

Amelia hadn’t known when she set out from the castle that her trip to the Firebird bar would not be what she anticipated. She knew she had to get off campus for a while to escape the chaos of students who consistently interrupted her studying, and this is what prompted her to stash her pile of books into her bag (with the help of a compaction charm) and make her way down from Ravenclaw tower, out through the entrance hall, and through the gates of the grounds down to find a different locale in which to study.

Not usually one to go exploring on her own, Amelia knew very few places where she might be able to sit down with her books and get some work done. Of course, she knew the most popular hideouts for students would not be ideal, mostly because her peers often felt inclined to come and sit with her, which is not the situation she was looking for tonight. She just wanted to be anonymous, the way she used to be before the sudden onslaught of people who had finally decided to notice her.

As she walked, she pulled her peacoat tighter around her, blocking out the harsh November wind. The streets were mostly empty because it was around 7:00, too late for most people to be eating dinner, but too early for the real partiers to be out and about. Only a few people passed her as she walked, and most of them seemed to be of an age too old to be Hogwarts students, which granted her the anonymity she wanted as she strode down the cobblestone way.

She looked into the shops as she passed them, some filled with students and others nearly ready to close for the evening. Just as she was preparing to turn around and go back to the castle, she passed a place she hadn’t seen on previous trips outside the Hogwarts grounds.

Firebird Bar… Amelia read, looking inside the slightly fogged windows to see the place relatively empty. There were several available tables and the atmosphere looked relatively calm compared to what she would have imagined for a bar. Satisfied that she could likely blend in with the wallpaper here, Amelia slipped inside the door and relished in the warmth of the room. Removing her coat and hanging it on one of the hooks by the door designed for this purpose, Amelia took her bag and went to sit at the table furthest from the bar.

Just as she was taking her books from her bag, one of the barmaids came to take her order. She was a short woman with spiky black hair and shockingly pale skin. Her words were short and to the point, exactly the way Amelia preferred to be served, and she was quick to return with the cranberry juice Amelia ordered. Tipping well – it was her parents’ money, so it would cause her no arm to be generous – Amelia paid the woman for the drink and turned to her work, blocking out the background noise caused by the chatter of the bar’s few other occupants.

Amelia had cracked open her transfiguration book immediately upon sitting down and was in the middle of reading their assignment for Monday when she heard an unexpected thump from the direction of the bar. Although she didn’t want to be distracted from her work, her curiosity got the better of her and she raised her eyes from her book to see if she could spot the source of the noise, careful not to lift her head and draw attention to herself.

Her attempt to remain discreet, however, seemed to have been in vain because the noise had been caused by someone she knew. He seemed to have made a dramatic leap from behind the counter of the bar and as she saw him coming toward her she immediately knew she had picked the wrong place to be anonymous. The look on his face practically screamed that he was headed right for her, and a few seconds later her fears were confirmed as he loudly questioned her motivations for studying and took the seat next to hers.

I knew I should have moved the extra chairs away from the table… Amelia thought, trying not to sigh audibly as he hefted himself into one of said chairs. She just wanted to sit alone and read, but it seemed that even outside the Hogwarts grounds her plans to blend in and get some space were going to be thwarted.

“Hello, Matt,” she said, not bothering to whisper to avoid notice. Matt had already done enough damage in drawing attention to her corner of the room, and judging from the stares of two men at the bar and a couple eating across the room, she was no longer invisible to anyone.

“She’s trying to get away from distractions so she can get some actual work done,” Amelia replied to his question, trying not to seem disrespectful although she really would have preferred to be anywhere but here if ‘here’ meant becoming the center of attention with Matt.

“What is a ministry worker doing behind the bar of a place like this?” she countered, gesturing limitedly toward their surroundings.

Andrian was bored, there was nothing to do and there weren't a lot of patient coming in and out of the Hospital Wing like it usually did beside he was on his break. He looked at the counter where the bartender stood and didn't see Matt anywhere, he frowned because the only person he ever spoke to was Matt and he wasn't anywhere to be seen; Andrian continued to walk toward the bartender but on his way he spotted Matt sitting with a girl who seem to be studying, he smiled and started creeping up behind him then as he got close to him he shook his shoulder and yelled out but not too loudly. "Boo!"

“Touche,” Amelia responded to Matt’s answer, feeling a bit ashamed now that she had asked in the first place. She barely knew him and didn’t much like him interrogating her about why she was here; she should have known better than to place the same pressure on him. He didn’t seem bothered by it, though, because his laughter came easily and the smile that she now thought of as characteristic of him never left his face.

Although Amelia appreciated Matt’s ability to laugh at himself – a trait she had never quite mastered – she did not much appreciate him yelling to the rest of the bar to mind their own business. Although it did make the other patrons stop blatantly staring in their direction, it did not prevent them from shooting what they thought to be sneaky glances at her from behind their glasses or forks of food. People were naturally nosy when you got right down to it, mostly because everyone believed their own lives would pale in comparison to the interesting things happening to those around them. If they only knew how dull Amelia’s everyday life was they wouldn’t have been so keen to listen in on her conversation or watch her every movement.

Amelia sighed at being chided by Matt for being in the bar. She knew it wasn’t strictly somewhere she ought to be, but that was part of the reason she had chosen it. Because most students wouldn’t be allowed in the bar at night she had assumed she would escape notice here. She hadn’t quite counted on seeing Matt and being harassed from that angle.

He’s not actually harassing you… Amelia’s subconscious reminded her, allowing Amelia to relax the muscles in her neck which had been previously pulled taught by her stress about the situation she found herself in.

She followed the older man with her eyes as he moved, her face still fairly plaintive as he suggested that she might want to try to have a little fun. As he took the chair across from her and turned it around to sit in backward, Amelia couldn’t help but think of him as a 13-year-old boy. Although he was much older than she and had surely outgrown puberty long ago, he still had a bit of the gangly awkwardness about him that young boys have. He also behaved as though fun were the only thing on one’s mind when at his place of employment.

“I’m not a very fun person,” Amelia replied to his suggestion that he might be the one who could help her to have some fun. It wasn’t meant to be mean, rather just a statement of fact. Her whole life had been dedicated to studying, learning proper etiquette, playing music until her fingers ached, training her voice to be pitch perfect; in short, becoming her parents’ savant. These things didn’t necessarily translate well to personal enjoyment, not to mention Amelia couldn’t even begin to imagine what she would do for fun if she had the time for it.

While waiting for Matt’s response to her answer, Amelia had noticed another older gentlemen approaching their table. He looked to be a professional of some sort and clearly had his attention on Matt, though the Firebird Bar employee had failed to notice the man approaching. The other person had a gleam of mischief in his eyes that worried Amelia, but there was little she could do to stop it. Instead, she watched as he approached and was not shocked when the man shouted “Boo!” from behind Matt, clearly intending to startle her current conversation partner, if you could call what they were having a conversation.

"Damn, I didn't seem to scare you," frowned Andrian walking around him and sitting in a vacant seat in between them. He grinned and looked at Amelia who seem to be studying at the moment it felt so rude to be sitting here while she wanted to study for school; to his dismay he heard Matt voice speaking again and he automatically tore his gaze from her to look at him. "I don't the harm of studying on a Satuday night," he smiled warmly at Matt then looked at Amelia. "Yea, sure. I'm up for some firewhiskey," he smirked as he looked back at him again.

Matt didn’t seem phased in the slightest when the man he referred to as Andrian attempted to startle him. Apparently ministry training paid off. The two seemed to have a camaraderie between them because both smiled upon meeting. Although Andrian seemed disappointed at his failed scare-tactics, he took a seat without hesitation, seeming far more comfortable in the situation than Amelia felt.

Her discomfort only increased as she felt colour rise to her cheeks, blushing profusely when Matt mentioned the fact that she currently sat in the company of two older men. It wasn’t her usual company – though that was relatively limited anyway – but she had always felt comfortable talking to adults. Growing up, she had spent far more time in the company of her parents friends than with people her own age, which is likely part of the reason all of her conversational skills were of the rehearsed variety.

Although Matt seemed to find it inconceivable that she would choose to study on a Saturday night, his companion did not seem to find this news quite as shocking. Instead, he defended Amelia’s actions – quietly, she might add – which made him immediately more appealing to Amelia. Not that she wasn’t still wishing for a table of her own, but she thought Matt might be distinctly more easy to stomach with someone else around to curb his enthusiasm.

When Matt whisked a few drinks to their table Amelia knew any attempts at homework would be lost, at least for the time being. Placing her quill in the book to mark her page, Amelia snapped the leather-bound volume closed and pushed it to the side. Although Matt and Andrian partook in the drinks Matt had procured, Amelia reached for her glass of cranberry juice instead, raising it before taking a sip in what she supposed would be considered a social "cheers" manner.

Amelia had never been allowed alcohol at home, so when she came to Hogwarts it was mostly foreign taste to her. Although she had learned to like butterbeer after some time, she had never really found reason to partake in the harder liquors. Her parents had really only ever had wine or champagne at their parties, and her relative unfamiliarity with alcohol at a whole had made her hesitant to start even after many of her peers did.

“So how did the two of you become acquainted?” Amelia asked, lowering the glass from her lips. She knew nothing about the man who had just recently arrived and precious little about Matt, so if they were going to enforce their presence upon her she may as well learn something from the situation.