Hogwarts in Ruins

Kevin sat quietly drinking from a tankard in the corner of a bustling room. His eyes watched everything with a bleary kind of indeifference. The whites were reddened from alcohol and a sleepless night filled with painful memories and tears. He didn't want to sleep, he wanted to forget for a while. Kendall hadn't expected to have to save his son from a crazy witch. Nor had he been prepared for his reaction. The man chewed at the skin on his thumb and flicked a finger at one of the many bottles scattered across his round wooden table.

The bottle shuddered before weaving it's way drunkenly to hover over the tankard and pouring its contents into the cup. Kevin scrubbed a hand across his face. He was tired, his eyes felt scratchy. The man shook his head and ate a cauldren pasty from a tray of goodies on the table before him.

Alex pushed the door open, his fierce eyes scanned the bar for a couple of seconds before move forward slowly. It had not been a good day for him, that was obvious just seen his aspect. He was drunk already and for the look of things probably had a fight or two already also.

However it was not problems what he was looking now, not now at least, he just walked into the known place toward the bar, and dropped down on a bench lazily, not looking with any interest at anything.

"Oi! mmm..." he gestured to the barman whose name he had forgotten because of his condition. There was no need, it seems, to tell the man what he wanted as he moved closer and poured fire whiskey on a glass for him. The exchanged glances for a second, the barman giving him a hard look as if hoping Alex had not come to make problems. for the look of his face he had been into some already... and Gustav with a not too friendly look, as if expecting not to be bothered by any means. He had never caused any trouble in that bar anyway, the man did not worried as much then and left the man be, walking away after the drink had been served.

Gustav stared at the drink without touch it at first, then as if suddenly remembered something, his hands with trace of dust and little scratches and stains of blood started patting his pockets. Finally a cigar emerged from one of them and he lit it up and smoked silently. A cigar and a drink after a fight was... relaxing. Then he took the glass and emptied it in one shot, blowing off the smoke after the drink had its way down his throat. Feel totally sick was... comforting.

Having only succeeded in making his thumb bleed, Kevin began chewing his mustache thoughtfully as he watched the tall man enter the room. He was a little shocked to see someone apparently in worse condition than him and felt a great empathy towards the man.

"ouch." he mumbled, spying the blood on his thumb. Absently he pressed his mouth to it and wrinkled his nose. "hmm...." Kendall muttered to himself, grabbing the tankard and drinking the last of it's contents. Frowning at it deeply, the man grunted and shuffled to his feet. He peered into all of his bottles, collected them and thunked them onto the bar.

Narrowing his eyes at the two twin barmen, he snorted and shook his head. "One fire whiskey please my good fellows." He said with a wide smile and sat down on the bench - after a few attempts - slightly further down from the slightly battered looking man. Kevin peered at him side long and waggled his tongue around his mouth. A cigar. It had been a fair long time since he'd even smelt one. The man breathed in deeply and apreciatively, sliding some money to the barman in return for his fire whiskey.

Before he drank, his attention was drawn to a shiney spot on the ceiling, which happened to be the reflection from a silver platter. Kevin stared at it in quiet perplexion for a while before grunting something unintelligable to the man beside him and waving a hand in the shiney spot's direction, wanting to share the peice of beuty with those around him. The motion of him own hand drew his focus back to the bottle, and Kevin Kendall took a swig from it with a murmer of apreciation. "Good stuff." he said to the bottle in his hand.

Gustav's eyes looked up at the man waving a hand at him. He raised an eyebrow, then followed the hand till his eyes also met the reflection on the ceiling. He frowned for a second wondering what was that... it wasn't a star for sure! This time he was sure of it! but then what it was?

"mmmm..." he growled slightly as seconds later he found the answer deep in his head. It was a reflection of something... and it was... annoying!

His dizzy eyes started the task of trace the origin of that white spot on the ceiling as if it was of great importance. And they scanned de trajectory down and around analyzing the objects that could possibly do that reflection at the ceiling in a dark place like that...

"Mmmmm..." he mumbled again till after many seconds, perhaps minutes thinking, he decided it was a platter... or suspected of it at least... and there was only one way to proof his suspicious. And taking his wand clumsily he shoot a spell which hit the object sonorously making it flied away and off sight and crash over a table sending the empty bottles on it to the floors. It was a luck nobody was sitting there.

Gustav looked up stupidly as if the little commotion he had created were nothing important but make sure the white annoying spot had gone.

"Alex!" the bartener looked threateningly at the man as approached to him "Do not put a show on my bar you hear me!"

"uh?" Gustav's lazily eyes looked down at the man then around at the people nearby staring not too friendly and the little mess around "Oh! oh...!" he said blinking stupidly surprised at the view of broken glasses on the floor and some of the bar people cleaning up. "Rrrght" he nodded his head at the man as if understanding his concern and apologizing, though the words never formed on his lips "I can fix id! I'll fvix id!" he offered gesturing his hand at the bartener to calm down and frowing seriously as trying to let the man know he had everything under control.

"No no! Thank you! I will do it myself!" The man replied at once fearing that drunk wizard would make the mess worse "Put your wand away, you are scaring out my clients!" the bartender said in a low voice but enough for Alex to hear.

Gustav looked down at the wand for a second, then gasped slightly as if the meaning of what the man had asked him to do just downed on him. "Oh! rrigth... yourright... shh shhh..." he said as his finger moved over his lips and made the silence gesture as a kind of a promise he would be quiet from now on, then put his wand back on his pocket.

Kevin's eyes slowly wandered back to the shiney patch on the ceiling and he smiled at it dreamily. A sudden loud crash, followed by tinkling smashes and a clatter made Kevin leap into the air. He only managed to stay seated by mere chance and a firm grip on the bar. His head swung to and fro until he could focus on the damage. The man's mouth hng open for a while, looking at the damage. His eyebrows pulled down into a frown as he tutted at the mess and turned to the man beside him who was sat like a scolded school boy. Kendall's eyebrows raised in surprise and he fought a giggle that wanted to escape his mouth.

"You...made it break." he said quietly, glancing at the ceiling where the pretty spot had been. He fished around in a nearby glass and popped a peice of ice into his mouth thoughtfully. He rolled it around his mouth with an expression of contentment and then scrunched it up with a smile. He reached out a hand towards the man. "I am Kevin." he declared with a squint, as if making sure that was indeed his name..

"No kiddin" Gustav mumbled as suddenly a strange man spoke all cheerfuly to state the obvious; throwing a dizzy glance at that Kevin guy and taking on his dress code and state... he was drunk that was for sure.

"Mmm... Alex... Imm... Alex" he replied, looked at the guy's hand for a second, then shook it a couple of times before retrieve his hand back. Then gave another try at his cigar and tapped it on the ash try distractedly. There weren't much he felt like talking with that guy, nothing to say indeed. It wasn't that he felt really interested in keep a conversation, it wasn't to meet 'pals' that he frequented the bar after all.

"Hey mmm... S.. mmm!" he doubted as pointed at the bartender again and gestured him to fill his glass again. Was his name 'Stan'? or that was the guy from the other bar? he could not quite decide.

Kevin smiled and shook Alex's hand and then seemingly lost all interest in him. His thoughts turned inwards and he waggled a finger at the man behind the bar. "Some Ice?" he asked, having found the coldness on his tongue a nice sensation. "And alcohol." he nodded to himself and pointed out what he wanted before regarding the bar intently. Kevin felt a bit lost. Not because of the alcohol, he was well used to it by now and was mostly behaving this way to be left to his own devices. His son looked a lot like Kevin's wife, and the resembelance had broken a dam he'd formed within himself to blockade off his emotion when he didn't need it.

Tristan had grown up well, he had a friend he was willing to protect fiercly, and Kevin felt a huge welling of pride fill his chest to bursting pint. "You'd have been proud Sarah." he muttered into his mustache. The lad had reacted to Kevin without as much anger as he'd expected, but with a great sense of sadness and resentment. Kendall regretted not being able to give the boy a better explaination, but perhaps they could get to know eachother soon.

"Sarah! I aint sarah! Do I loooklike a Sssarah!" he asked all in a sudden raising his eyebrow at the man while slowly and with the support of the bartable he raised up from his seat. DEFINITELY THIS KEVIN... CALVIN... WHOEVER MAN WAS DRUNK!

Then, throwing a few coins on the table to pay the bartender for the drinks, he took a bottle, his glass and, stumbling around he moved to an empty table, mumbling about stupid drunk people and men with strange hobbies! The farest he could sit from that man, the better! Really he was not in the mood to deal with another 'Sam', and more if it was a 'drunk Sam'. He would not deal with a gay guy calling him 'Sarah'. What the hell was going on with people nowadays!

"FFFffreakosss..." he groaned while dropped himself on the chair, almost knocked the bottle on the table (luckily the content did not spill) and emptied his glass just to pour some more alcohol in.

Kevin had just taken a slurp of his drink when the Alex man exploded. Kevin turned bemused eyes to the man and watched with an amused expression as he nearly fell over in an attempt to get as far away form Kevin as possible. Kevin turned red in the attempt to swallow his drink before bursting into laughter.

After a short struggle, he managed to not dribble like an old man and clear his mouth. He tried to modulate his roaring laughter and snorted and hiccuped to himself for a few minutes. He grinned at the barman sheepishly. "Sorry, didn't realise I was talking aloud." he said, glancing over at the man and then to his old table, lest he start laughing again. Kevin surveyed the tray of food he'd left behind and crooked a finger at it. The tray lifted ponderously into the air and landed on the bar table. After a moment's thought, Kevin picked up a box of every flavoured beans and opened it. He looked at it's contents suspiciously before choosing a pink sweet and biting it in half. He chewed cautiously and a triumphant expression crossed his face before he popped the remaining half into his mouth.

"Strawberry shortcake." he informed the barman, offering the box to him. He quickly pulledc it back to himself, poured a small pile onto the bar table and sent them bobbing across the room to bounce off of Alex's nose. He grinned like a child as he did so, enjoying himself a great deal.

Although he still had this thoughts on his mind of freak people messing with decent people like him... (ahem)... Gustav seemed no longer paying any attention on the man he had just walked away from but mumbling and growling underbreath his complains to his glass as it was getting refilled.

"Ffffck'em!" he mumbled looking at the liquid inside the glass for a few seconds, then emptied it once again "Fu**'em!" he mumbled again...

And then something hit his nose softly, bouncing out on the table. But the man was so drunk that just guessing it was some impertinent fly in that bar or any thing of that sort, he just waved his hand near his face as if scaring off the bugs.

The second time went the same way... the third time he at last noticed the candy bouncing over his table as soon as it hit him again. Gustav frowned as looked at the tiny colored spot, then poked it slightly... took it up with his thumb and his index finger, at the level of his eyes and looked into itfor several minutes... till finally decided it was a candy and throw it into his mouth.

"Mmmm...mmmm...." he tasted it and tasted it and twisted it into his mouth but... nah... he had not idea what it taste like... The alcohol flavor was way stronger for him to feel this candy thing. And he looked down on the table for another one and pushed it into his mouth too... nothing...

No one needed to know he was a muggle.

No one needed to see the infamous Human Race Squad logo flashing ominously across his bicep or the tell-tale sign of the Special Forces armor, guns flashing at his hips. Today, no wizard or witch need be aware that he was anything other than a simple man visiting a bar. Nothing more and nothing less.

Sam found himself standing in front of a tavern, if one would call it that, smack in the middle of the single place he had assured himself he wouldn't visit; a wizard village.

There were signs everywhere. Kids playing in the streets with brooms and magical balls, women in strange robes and hats that he thought existed only in fairytale books and movies. The magic could practically be felt in the air, humming all around. It made Sam's stomach churn a bit thinking about it. The last time he delt with a wizard, well, things had turned out least for the best.

Since then he had found himself requesting missions out of town on non-magical streets, even avoiding his normal partner without word or note.

But now it all felt like too much and Sam had the singular urge to go some place different. Some place that they didn't know his name and he could sit in peace. Sit and think, figure out what his priorities were and get them straight. The door to the tavern flew open almost noiselessly save for a soft creak in the hinges, going back nearly as quick as the burly man stepped through the threshold and set eyes around the occupants.

It was quiet in there, only a few people here and there, more like a family setting.

Until a distinctive sound broke the peaceful atmosphere, causing those striking blue eyes to locate the source. "Wot the hell?" Great, for a small place, it apparently had it's share of drunks. One man sat laughing hysterically, or trying to hide it he noted, while sending some sort of ...candy perhaps, floating at another man's head. Rees.

Sam's stomach felt like it hit rock bottom. The last place he expected to run into that particular wizard was here. He wasn't sure what he expected from a wizarding community so close to wear Rees came from, but Sam hadn't quite thought this plan out anyways. He slowly moved to the side to catch a better view, already feeling the blood boiling in his veins from the duo's interactions.

Kevin was so distracted by the expression on Alex's face as he tried to swat away the jelly beans, that he was no longer eating any himself. He was shaking with supressed mirth and decided it was rude of him to not offer his sweets around. He cast a glance at the bar man and slowly began to send jelly beans dancing around the room in a brightly coloured ballet. They bounced off of people's noses and foreheads, landed on tables - and in one case - down a witch's robe. Kevin came to the conclusion that his evening out had acomplished it's purpose. He no longer felt bitter and angry, nor did he feel depressed and lonely. He ordered two bottles of firewhiskey and wended his way across the room to the man he'd unintentionally offended.

"Hey mate." he said, thunking one bottle down infront of the man and offering him a small smile. "Sorry 'bout that, I didn't think I were talking aloud." He shook his head, feeling slightly more drunk now he'd stood up. He blinked dazedly and caught the back of a chair to stop himself from falling over. "Didn't mean no offense. Nope. Just an old man losing his marbles, talking to hisself. Bad habbit. So....sorry." Kevin took a drink from his own bottle and tried to figure out where he wanted to go next as he swayed on the spot, clinging to the chair with one hand. His eyes fell on the door and the man standing nearby. He reasoned that he may find a barrell of water or something similar to help him sober down a bit.

"Uh...See ya, I spose." he said cheerfully and stood still, finding a safe path to travel through the tables and chairs before he left the chair that was propping him up.

Gustav's eyes raised to see the man, suspiciously looking at him and his intentions. In any other ocasions, and maybe if he had had some drinks less, he would be a little more polite. But ever since he had found the truth about Sam, the man could not help but keep a da** good distance from 'friendly' men. HE WAS NOT GAY! NOT AT ALL!

Darn Sam... he thought wildly rather upset. Surely he had spread some words about him with his other gay friends and this one was just of that lot! He had made a mistake by sharing drinks with Ana's friend... now perhaps EVERYBODY THOUGHT HE WAS GAY TOO. If not, why was this new guy throwing candies at him! and now offering a drink?

ARGHHH but if he ever see Sam again he was so dead!! soooo dead!

Kevin tried to read Alex's expression and suddenly felt rather dizzy. He sank ungracefully into a nearby chair and waggled his eyebrows at Alex. "I ... it was a peace offering." he said quietly, indicating the bottle infront of the man. He looked across to the door and snorted softly. "Are there no women around? All guys. No offense." he added as an after thought, not wanting to upset the man further. He summoned a new box of every flavour beans and began to munch through them, leaving the box in arms reach of Alex.

"Where are you hididng all of the lasses mate?" he asked with a grin. "I've only met two so far, and she's a bit young for me." he grinned sheepishly. "Much too young. And the other woman ... well she seemed a bit mad."

Gustav took another drink listening at the man still half suspicious, glancing at him time to time but with indeed showing more interest on the drinks and what was going on around as the man kept talking... and he was right about the girls around. He had not noticed till now as his reason for entering the pub was not to look of 'diversion' but because it was the only bar nearby he had not caused troubles... yet. Although in his head he did not quite understand some of the man's words, like 'a little too young'... well if a girl was in a bar at that hour, for Gustav she was old enough!

"So whadt...?" he mumbled at the man with some curiosity "You dun plan ter finndd d lov ov yer life here? d'you?" Gustav chuckled amused. After all for him it was all for the love of the game.

But then his eyes spotted someone he did not expected to see there.

"Wadda f**k..." he mumbled as throw another drink into his mouth, glaring at Sam. It was way too strange to find that man there! What a coincidence... No! Coincidence twins hookers on the street! This was not coincidence for sure!