First Firewhisky (Chassy)

Sterling, poring over a Breeze Charm in his Finnish spellbook, was sipping comfortably at some sour raspberry tea. He had found a corner of the leaky cauldron without trouble, it was strangely empty today. A lamp, suspended magically, was a little outwards from him--making him as inconspicuous as was possible in a public place.

"The Breeze Charm does not effect the weather as a whole; it merely summons a bit of the surrounding air towards and passed the tip of the casters' wand."

Perfect, it would help in sailing races against muggles. Not that Sterling was all for cheating, merely that his run down, three decade old boat didn't stand a chance against the sleek, new age sailing material used in recent years.

He practiced it with a flick of his wand. He waved far too vigorously, however, and copious amounts of air rushed from the table beside him, where a witch had been sitting in a rather melancholic manner. The gale force wind knocked over her mug (the contents unkown to Sterling), raised her hair, and almost upturned her skirt.

Sterling, blushing furiously with his hand cupped over his mouth quickly exclaimed "S-sorry! Sorry! My god, I'm so sorry..." to the irritated looking witch.

Humming softly to herself, Chase stirred her tea with her spoon, not really paying attention to anyone around her. It was a quiet day in the Leaky Cauldron, not many people passing, and Chase had let her mind wander. It was raining that day, so she wasn't outside, where she normally was on days like this, at the ice cream parlour or just sitting and walking with Dragon. Who at the moment was upstairs in her room. Taking a long deep breath she smiled and pushed a strand of hair out of her face.

Today Chase was dressed in a simple knee length, bright yellow skirt, with a hufflepuff insignia stitched into a corner of it, and a simple yellow tank top, covered with a jean jacket. Her long red hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail with a yellow ribbon, but odd chain mail earrings hung from her ears and brushed against her bare shoulders. She enjoyed her status at Hogwarts, what she would wear when she graduated she had no idea! Maybe she'd just continue with her wardrobe, it DID look cute on her anyway!

Suddenly a huge gale burst forth from another table and knocked over her tea, her hair went flying, and her skirt would have lifted up had she not quickly pushed it down. Turning to look at the person who had dared tried to take a sneak peek at her underwear, she was startled with seeing a familiar face. Who at the moment was busily apologizing. She frowned for a second, and then grinned happily. "It's ok! I was just thinking! I guess that was my wake up call eh? Need to get my head out of the clouds and back to the present!" She said giggling and then she stood up and, grabbing her now empty mug, she moved over to his table. "But you did spill over my tea." She said sitting down across from him.

"Oh sorry, how rude, I'm Chase Moor! 7th year Hufflepuff at Hogwarts School Of WitchCraft and Wizardry!" She said laughing, her whole head thrown back like it was the funniest thing in the world. "You look familiar, but I can't place your name! Do you go to Hogwarts too?" She said grinning at him, pushing a strand of hair out of her face that kept falling loose of her ponytail. "I go to Hogwarts! But half the time I don't know what I just learned! I was hit with a memory erasing spell about a year back, and it set me back a whole year! And people keep coming up to me like they know me! But I have no idea who they are!" She said giggling. "It's so confusing sometimes! People know me, but I don't know them! Sometimes they look familiar but I feel so bad saying that I don't remember them, so I just decided that I'd tell them right off the bat that I don't have memory of a whole year of my life! So if I knew them I'm sorry!" She said her eyes wide after her long, one breath sentence.

"oh! I'm so sorry! I just kept talking! I do that a lot!" She said a deep blush forming across her freckled cheeks. "I don't even know your name!" She said grinning at him and then she thrust her hand across the table to shake his. "I hope I don't scare you off by my talking, some people think it's rude of me to continue to talk! I'll shut up now!" She said laughing again, her hand still outstretched to shake his.

Sterling gaped as the witch approached--Chase Moor, his first girlfriend. It had ended disastrously, as did most situations that involved other people when Sterling became involved with them. The babble to proceeded floated right over Sterling's head. Chase, happy as ever was talking animatedly. Even as his expression remained passive, he had to stifle a joyous laugh that was forming without his consent in the back of his throat. He had forgotten how much he liked Chase, and forgotten why. She didn't know who he was... of course he'd have to tell her eventually, but now didn't seem to be the time.

The scenario that would ensue played over in his mind. "Oh, I'm Sterling... Sterling Silver." he would say. Chase would have a shocked look, back away, and spring out the door, probably in a fit of tears.

He decided a white lie for Chase's sake would be safer for both of them.

"Er... I'm Aaron." he said quickly. He was a horrendous liar, but then again: Chase was even worse at reading people.

"Well it's very nice to meet you Aaron!" She said giggling. "I love meeting new people! It's so much fun don't you think?" She laughed again and looked at him. "But now seriously, you DID blow over my tea!" She said grinning at him happily. "I think you owe me one at least!" She said smiling at him again and flicking her head to the side as the hair fell into her face again.

"It's to bad it's raining! I love to go outside." She said suddenly distracted as thunder blasted over their heads. "I love rain though! Have you ever danced in it? It's so much fun! Though sometimes it's weird when people you don't know are watching you dance.. but if you dance with someone else it isn't so bad!" She said giggling.

"I love dancing." She said suddenly. "But I'm not very good at it I think! I'm kinda.. lanky." She said laughing happily again and leaning back in her chair to fix her skirt. "You never told me if you go to Hogwarts! I'm sure I've seen you around SOMEWHERE! I know it.." She said a look of deep concentration on her face. "Hmm.. you look.. like.. A guy I saw on TV once!" She said suddenly said loudly.

"Are you famous?! I'm sure you are! I can't remember your name though.. but I know Aaron isn't it!" She said leaning forward to stare him in the eyes as though by doing so she could discover his true identity. "Hm... or maybe a magazine.. my mom likes to put them all over the house, and sometimes I get so bored I look at them!" She said giggling as she leaned back again.

Sterling smiled, relaxing significantly. She didn't suspect him, which was good. As she asked if he was famous, he laughed quietly. "No, I'm fairly sure the attention would kill me," he said, while shuddering at the thought.

"Dancing in the rain?! I can't say I ever have..." he said. If he were ever to so something of the sort, it would only be in the flamboyant presence of Chase. Otherwise, he wasn't particularly fond of dancing... or being in the rain... or being watched by people. It didn't seem his individual forte.

"You're right about the tea, sorry. I was practicing and Breeze Charm, I guess I was a bit overzealous." He said, ordering a cup of tea from the waitress. A few awkward moments later, she returned with a smoking cup, handing it to Sterling. Before giving it to Chase, however, he peered at the contents inside. It was amber liquid that he recognized, despite having no experience with it. It was firewhisky.

"Oops... looks as if the waitress made a bit of a mistake." he said, setting the glass down.

"Aww, do you not like attention? I think attention is great! I mean, I don't go LOOKING for attention! No way! But attention every now and then is always fun! People looking at you because you did something good! Or you're funny or something I don't know! But attention is fun if you ask me!" She said giggling at him happily. "Though unwanted attention is bad.. like if you did something bad, or someone tripped you or something, no I don't like that attention, though these days I seem to get a LOT of that kind of attention, people think it's funny to tease a Hufflepuff, like it's a bad house to be in or something! Well I like Hufflepuff VERY MUCH!" She said giggling.

"Never danced in the rain!" Chase exclaimed looking awestruck at him, momentarily shocked into silence. "It's the best feeling ever! You simply HAVE to try it! Maybe we could dance today! I think that's one thing on EVERYONE'S list of things to do before they die! Just because it's so much fun! Even if it's just a weird dance, like a slow dance or something, it's terribly romantic if you want it to be! Sometimes it's just silly!" She laughed happily again and then grinned at him glancing at the tea set before them.

"What's THAT?" She said leaning forward to sniff it. "Ohhh.. they.. gave us firewhiskey.." She said making a face. "I think Drinking is a horrible pasttime, there are so many better things you could do with your time! I guess one or two sips wouldn't hurt you! Maybe.." She thought for a second staring at the cup. "But I won't ever drink! I like being me! Half the time people think I've been drinking anyway! I"m so giggly all the time! And when I'm tired.. like after a long day, or something, I get silly! And then it's almost like I'm DRUNK!" she said laughing again, her head thrown back, a small whiff of perfume coming from her hair, lilac scented, it drifted across the table to Aaron.

Sterling merely nodded. No attention was good attention, in his opinion. Dancing in the rain sounded more horrifying than facing an army of mountain trolls, to him. At least they couldn't point and laugh.

Sterling, or rather Aaron, didn't want to seem as though he was afraid of a drink (as that very thing had immediately discarded him from the social spectrum in Finland... vodka was just too common there), so he gulped down the entire glass quickly, smiling afterward. The feeling was almost instantaneous, it spread like venom through his veins and immediately made his mind cloud. When he gazed upon Chase again, she seemed to have an angelic aura (that was, in reality, the magic lamp hovering behind her head). At that very moment, her perfume reached him, hitting him with the force of good Flipendo!

Coughing slightly as the firewhisky's smoke made its way up Sterling's esophagus and into his trachea, he added casually "That wasn't so bad."

His usually uptight demeanor alleviated. He now sank lower into the booth and inadvertently scooted a little closer to Chase.

Chase grinned at him and then gasped slightly when he picked up the firewhiskey and downed it. She watched him closely for a second before leaning toward him. "What did it taste like?" she asked in a whisper, as though people around would be offended that she had even asked such a question, she even looked around for people, before remembering that it was a slow day, and they were in the corner anyway, with no one around. She grinned at him when he said it wasn't bad. "Hmm.. It's tempting, but I must remember what I told myself!" She said biting her lip and looking at him as he sank lower into the stall and moved a bit closer to her.

Giggling lightly she looked at him and reached out, not really thinking, to move a strand of hair out of his face. "You're funny." She said laughing but then she pulled her hand back quickly. What if Danny was around. She bit her lip and spun to look at the room again, as though he was watching at that very moment. The Vampire who called himself her boyfriend. She didn't even know him! Maybe she had once, but.. she didn't remember those feelings, she had been a different person then!

But.. he was a Vampire, what would he do if he thought she was cheating on him or something.. probably freak out, rip off Aaron's head, and then bite her! She didn't want to be a Vampire! She liked being a human to much! She felt herself shiver and she looked at Aaron again. "Come on!" She said suddenly and grabbed his hand, throwing some money down on the table, she made to stand up and leave the small pub.

Sterling closed his eyes with pleasure as she touched his forehead, but not too obviously. Sterling was jerked out of his seat too quickly. His cat, Ailia, suddenly made an appearance out of the corner of the pub and made a hissing sound toward the rain outside. Aaron didn't want to leave her, so he pointed his want and muttered "Impervius" toward the cat, who, knowing the spell well, happily trotted alongside Sterling, who still had his book in his hand. He quickly charmed it as well, as he didn't want his favorite spellbook sustaining water damage. It was a miracle he remembered to do it, too, because his mind was quickly receding, replaced by instincts.

"W-where are we going?" he asked thickly as he was whisked out the door of the Leaky Cauldron. He had made no plans to leave, and felt bad that Chase had paid for his things, even though he was the one that owed her a cup of tea. He would have resisted leaving, but he couldn't force himself to break contact with her, so he decided to go along with it for a few more moments.

Chase glanced over her shoulder at the Cat, and at his spell book as he made them resistant to water. "Erm.. a place a bit more.. private." She said glancing back into the pub just as the door shut, and left them out into the pouring rain, in the little section between the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley. "Three up.. Two Across." She muttered as she pulled out her wand and then tapped a brick on the wall. "Ah there.." She said softly as the opening grew. Pulling Aaron along after her she glanced down the rain washed streets, glancing behind her every now and then, as though afraid someone was coming up behind them. Glancing to the side she saw a small section between two buildings. Right between Flourish and Blotts, and Madam Malkin's was a small alley, with one door on either side. "Perfect." She said making her way into the alley.

"I'm sorry.." she said softly as she turned to look at Aaron. "I have a boyfriend right? But we were dating when.. well.. I was a different person.. Like seriously a different person! It makes me sick to think of all the people I hurt! I wrote in my diary a lot during that time, so I read it all... and I know what happened to me! But this guy.. he's a Vampire right?! Well he still wants to date me! But he isn't that appealing to me anymore, and I was afraid if he saw us together in a place like that.. well he might, think we were together or something and hurt you!" She said her eyes wide, her hair plastered to her face now as the rain seemed to get heavier around them. "Ohhhh Impervius!" She growled and pointed up above their heads. The water was stopped from around them, making a sort of umbrella just around them so they were no longer wet.

"I don't mean to just pull you away! But I wanted to talk to you.. but I didn't want him to come along and hurt you.. so I thought.. hey, why don't we just put our dancing in the rain, and me running from my boyfriend into one little outing?" She said and giggled softly looking at him her eyes wide. "So here.." She said giggling again and pointing up with her wand. She waved it slightly and the rain started to fall again. "Now.. there is no one around.. it's raining, and I think we should dance!" She said holding out her hand for him, and curtsying deeply.