Firewhiskey Break (Archer and Shaun)

Archer swung her legs off of her high stool and landed gracefully in her black heeled boots. She had been working for...what? 13 hours straight? Her new wizard weaponry was going to be a hit in the black market, but hell, did it take a lot out of her. Forget a coffee break, she was in dire need of a firewhiskey break. Not that she really wanted to go out in these clothes- a simple white tank top, black leather trousers and boots. And the white tank top was practically black at the bottom with oil stains and singed from her spells. Shaking her head slightly at herself, she tied her wild, black hair into a sleek ponytail and snatched her black jacket (with a blood red trim) from wherever she tossed it.

Enjoying the cold winds of the late evening, she strolled into the Leaky Cauldron, more eager than ever to unwind with a good drink, and perhaps some good company- the latter she found to be becoming more and more scarce. Archer ordered a firewhiskey, only for it to be immediately downed. Smiling mockingly sweetly to the man serving her, she took another one without paying and made her way to an empty table, planning to savour this one. She sat sideways in the chair, long legs dangling over the side and sipped her firewhiskey, planning improvements on her newly designed weapon.

Shaun was having a good day so far, the Bellflower petals were reacting as he expected. He walked into Leaky Cauldron, nodded at the barkeep in greeting.
He ordered a firewhiskey and looked around. Most of the tables were full. There were a few empty ones scattered around here and there. On one of the tables sat a lady, her long legs dangling over one side of the armrest.
Shaun took his drink, paid for it and headed to the table, expecting a decent conversation after the long silence of hiis flat.
'Hello, mind if I join?' He asked with a polite smile.

Archer looked up ready to let the word "No" roll off her tongue, but she stopped herself. 3 very valid reasons as to why she should converse with him ran through her head.

1- She was rather dry of a few intelligent conversations.
2- She had only spoken to her black cat, Nox, for 13 hours.
3- He seemed polite, and he didn't have a half bad face.

She smirked at the last thought and nodded once at him.
"Take a seat." she said, swerving herself so she sat properly in the chair.

"I suppose you have a name, sir?" she asked, downing her fire whiskey and setting the empty glass on the table.

One corner of his mouth turned up as Shaun sat across from her, 'Fortunately, yes. It's Shaun Moody.' He sipped on his drink.
'So you have one as well, I take it? And...' He noticed her dress 'it looks like you construct something, that doesn't seem very tame. I am a potions master. I've joined Hogwarts recently.'

Archer smirked at Shaun. He was making a rather good impression. So far.

"Bree Archer." she said, leaning over to shake his hand. "But I go by Archer, in both my weaponry business and personal life." There really was no need to tell him said business was illegal. She looked down at her shoulder, spotting an oil splat.

"Sorry about the mess..." she murmured wryly, cleaning it off. "But I'm into my work." Archer said, looking back up at him.

"Ah, potions. Twas my weak point when I studied, but I admired it. My tutor, such a passionate man. The world's finest, I dare say."

She arched an elegant eyebrow at him.
"You enjoy teaching the darlings?" she asked, sarcasm laced into the last word.

Shaun shrugged nonchalantly,'As long as they don't set on exploding my class, I'm okay with them.'
Weapons, the only approved weaponery is run by Unspeakables, and she didn't mention that. Shaun brushed the thought aside for now. 'Designing weapons? That's interesting. Do you design only magical weapons or combine them with muggle ones?'

"Magical weapons. Sometimes I study muggle weapons to ensure ours are stronger." she smirked. "Unsurprisingly, we beat them every time."

Archer shook her head once. "Please, let us change the topic. I came here to take a break from work." she said, waving her hand across the burns and stains on her top.

"Tell me about yourself, Shaun." she said, ordering two more drinks.

"Well I too like researching things." Shaun leaned back and took a sip. "I've liked potion since I was nine. I always knew I wanted to be a potions master. But I'm also interested in ancient and obscure branches of magic. like I said before I teach potions at Hogwarts. And I own a small flat when I'm not staying at Hogwarts."
"That pretty much covers it. Now your turn." He smirked at Archer.

Archer nodded slowly when he spoke, making sure she remembered every part of his information he fed her. She would need to do a background check when she got back home.

She shrugged nonchalantly.
"Woke up on the streets when I was six, no parents, no money, and no idea about magic. Muggles took me in." She flinched inwardly, instantly hoping that he hadn't spotted it. She coughed lightly. "Erm..." she muttered, closing her eyes in frustration.

"Some...guy adopted me. Mistreated me. I ended up killing him when he tried to err..." She coughed. "...burn off my hair." She still felt uncomfortable talking about this, and had no idea why the hell she was spilling it out to some guy she just met. The rational side of her knew it was because she needed to let this out sometime, and she would probably never see him again. Maybe.

"Found out I had magic then. So, eleven, homeless. Made my way around the streets. Another guy, nice guy, took me in when I was 16. Old fella, but he was a wizard millionaire. Raised me as his own, then died a few years back." she nodded. "Great man. Gave me the best tutors in the world, so I was able to finish my OWLS and NEWTS."

She frowned. How could her life be compressed into those short paragraphs? The abuse, the murder, secrecy, crime, loneliness...

Archer coughed again.

"....and that's pretty much it." she said, quickly downing her drink. Man, she needed another one after that.

Shaun nodded when when she talked, it was very obvious, that she was uncomfortable talking about it. He waited for a few minutes for her to pull herself together.
Then offered her another drink and said, "Thank you for trusting me enough to share this. It has been hard on you. But talking about it helps sometimes... I think." He wasn't very good with emotions. He hoped it was alright with her.

Archer bit her tongue, thinking. Why had she just trusted him enough to tell him all of that? Absolute mystery to even herself.

"Yes, I suppose it does help." she mused.

She smirked slightly at his "...I think."

"I see you're not good with emotions. Much like myself." she said, a small smile playing at her lips.

Shaun shrugged a little at that, "Side-effects of raising myself, I suppose. You see,my parents died when I was ten, the rest of my family got themselves killed in the last wizarding war. I had money and a loyal house-elf so I didn't want to go to anywhere else. And after the chilhood treatment of Harry Potter came out, they weren't keen to send a child somewhere against his will. But I had a smooth childhood, I'd say."
He was starting to enjoy her company, she seemed a bit snappy at first. But she seemed like one you could always expect to have an intelligent conversation with. Though that didn't explain why both of them were pouring their past out, when they just met today.

She shook her head at him.
"A smooth childhood? Doesn't sound like it." She paused for a moment, and frowned. "Though I would've envied your independence as a child." Her light green eyes looked down at her drink. "Wasn't easy in his home." she murmured, referring to the man who took her in and she was forced to serve. She finally looked up, green eyes glowing with an out of place vulnerability.

"Do you remember them? Your parents, I mean." she asked. She would do next to anything to have a single memory of her parents, or even where she came from.

"Well, it wasn't a sheltered childhood, but like you said, I value that independence. It got lonely sometimes, but I had known to fill up my days with books and potions and stuff. And I enjoyed it." Shaun nodded at her comment of it not being easy. "It can't be. When you have to stay there when it's the last thing you want."
Shaun smiled a little at the memories, "I do, I spent my first ten years with them. They were curse-breakers, And they were good people as far as my understanding goes. we're a happy family. They were in Egypt when they died. They were breaking the wards of a tomb. We had a two way mirror for communicating when they had to leave me at home. I's talking to them when it happened. Perhaps I's the one distracted them, there was this big explosion, and my mirror cracked in half, burning my hands. The next day when people from the ministry came, I's ready to recieve the news." He took a long sip then leaned back, sighing.
"People say its terrible to remember your parents death. But I like to remember their last moments. My mother smiling at me... My father laughing aloud when mum teased him of doing it all wrong. They're happy till their last breath."

Archer shook her head slowly at herself.
"I was seven when he first started to mistreat me. For a year I was fine, relatively happy. I think I loved him." She narrowed her eyes, confusion breaking through her features. "...and then he..." she waved her hands. "I remember the first time all too well. I kept telling myself it was because he was drunk." She was almost certain that the fire whiskey was talking now. Almost certain.

She smiled softly. "They sound like they were wonderful people." she murmured, sipping her drink. She remembered when she imagined her parents being with her.

Once again Shaun was at a loss for words. Her words and expression spoke of a terrible experience. And he wanted her to feel better. But he had no idea what to say.

So he decided on being honest. "Like you said, I'm not good with feelings. but I hope you haven't lost trust in all things human."

She laughed humorurlessly.

"To be honest with you, Shaun, I don't know. I haven't tried to trust anyone properly since, even the kind man that who took me in."

All of a sudden she felt very cold, and her insides twisted uneasily. She wrapped her jacket more tightly around her body, praying to dear God she wasn't letting her emotions leak through her wall.

Shaun frowned when she looked uneasy, "Would you like another drink? You look like you're cold."

Damn it Shaun, you can't even comfort anyone when they need it. He watched her wrap her Jacket around her.

"You know, I had a freind back in school. She found out that I's an orphan and decided she was the only who could took care of me. I despised her mothering tendencies. And whenever I's a bit down, she'd offer me a hug. It was so comforting, and I despised her more for it." Shaun looked at Archer.

"You remind me of myself. You need a hug from a friend, But I have a feeling that if they do, they'll get stabbed." Shaun smiled, hoping to lift her mood up.

Stop drinking away your issues. A small part of herself warned her.

Dammit, I'm letting them through my wall. she cursed mentally, when Shaun frowned, probably noticing her emotions. She straightened up, cleared her throat and nodded stiffly. She was Bree Archer she did not need comforting, she reminded herself. Not that she believed that in the least. She picked up another shot and downed it, knowing she'd need alot more alcohol than usual tonight, after talking about...that. She was never bringing that back up again. She groaned, not realising she had done it out loud. Why the hell had she even...?

She flashed a small smile. "Sounds like a damn good friend to me." she smirked.

"Probably." she laughed quietly. God, she hadn't been hugged in years.

Shaun nodded, "She was. Well, I think we've done enough." He noticed the amoubt they consumed. Too late to think of it now, he told himself.
"Do you mind a walk? Might help us clear our heads of deprssive thoughts." He stood up, offering a hand to her. She looked perfectly capable of handling herself, and very independent. But it was the only friendly comfort he could offer.

Archer hadn't noticed how much she had drunk til he pointed it out. A sudden wooziness came over her, and left as quickly as it came.

She nodded, and took his hand with hers, she stood up. All of a sudden, she was annoyed at herself that she painted her nails a deep black this morning, it didn't match the blood red on her jacket. Wait...since when did she care?

She smirked. "I don't usually walk with strangers in the middle of the night." she said, referring to the late time. It surely wasn't so dark when she arrived. Archer strolled casually towards the door, and then tumbled a little, the alcohol taking a small effect.

"Nor do I, ma'am. I assure you." Shaun joked. She looks pretty when she's self-concious, Damn! I'm drunk.

He shook his head to clear it a little while they walked out to the chilly night. However, he managed to grab her arm when she wobbled. "Hey, watch out." He's shocked when his "ch" slurred, barely noticable as it was.

She laughed when he caught her arm and slurred a little.

"I think we may have drunk too much tonight."

"Considering I just tripped over..." she turned around.

...air." she finished, eyebrows raised as she laughed. She stopped abruptly. Hold the frikin phone, why the hell was she laughing so much? Archer laughed like...twice per year.

Dear God, I must be really drunk. Or it's Shaun. Maybe I'm drunk on Shaun! the drunk side of her tried to rationalize.

She watched him intently as they walked, just studying him.

"Drunk too much, yeah right." He snorted.
Shaun credited himself for walking straight, well as straight as a drunk man could walk. Sometimes later, his drunk brain processed that Bree was watching him for some time.
"Hey, whatch you lookin' at, Archie?"

Archer frowned.
"You're not attractive when you snort, y'know." she slurred, in a matter of fact tone.

Her face suddenly became sullen.
"Never. Call. Me. Archie." she said, sliding out one of her daggers from her belt. She stood in that threatening position for a while, then burst into drunken hysterics.

"And I was looking at your face." she replied rather simply.