young gun

He should have known it would be Alice who he would bump into, of all people. He’d have laughed at James, were his best friend in the same position, but as things stood it was just boring.

Sirius could have done the gentlemanly thing in that moment and brushed her off gently, but he was tired and harbouring a little more self-loathing than he was entirely comfortable with, so he turned to her, all sparks and fire and flashed her the least sincere smile he was capable of.

“You’re the one who approached me, Fortescue, so I think my self-assessment’s just about right, don’t you?”

“Defensive tactics disguised as arrogance, as per your usual schtick,” Alice said, shaking her head. “Long day? Did Kingsley tell you what he honestly thought of you?” Alice said, sickly sweet. 

She was, however, just as tired as he was. “Unfortunately, we have the same watering spot. We can snipe about it or sit here in silence, as we’d planned to do in the first place.” She lifted her hand to call the bartender, nodding to indicate she’d be getting her usual. 

When it arrived, she cradled the mug in her hands, enjoying the smell of well-made firewhisky. 

“To the Aurorhood we thought we’d enjoy,” she said bitterly.

  A laugh escaped Frank’s lips the second Alice tugged at the balloons - his gaze had land on her the second he walked on the alley, eyebrows narrowed in amusement &. another laugh escaped his lips ; he just couldn’t help it. “ What about I…buy all of the balloons you have there and you hang out with me the rest of the day?” he asked, his hands lazily making place into his pockets as he spoke. Still with a stupid, amused grin onto his face.“ I mean, I’m done for the day- if you are too…”

Leave it to Longbottom to get her to laugh at herself, as silly as it was. That stupid smile of his was always so infectious, against all of Alice’s better instincts.

“S’unfortunate, Frankieboy, that I’m stuck here until my cockroach of a temporary mentor finds the person he’s after.” She shrugged. “Care to stay with me, instead? If you pop into Uncle Florean’s shop and say my name, you can get us two ice cream cones, free of charge.” 

      There couldn’t be a more degrading job than selling balloons, honestly. Some people really let themselves go. “Never thought you’d be on the street like some sort of a hawker.”

“Sod off, Bellatrix,” Alice said, rolling her eyes. There was little venom in her voice as she said it, though, as she’d always had a soft spot for the cruelest and wildest of the Black sisters. Alice made a dismissive motion with one hand. “I’m not after you nor any of your wretched bloodline today, so you can just shoo.” 

Before all this, there had never been a time, even in the dead of night, when James felt uneasy walking along Diagon Alley. But now, with the sun setting in the distance and the hushed whispers up and down the street, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being watched. Then again, with the chip, that probably wasn’t too far from the truth. Still, if he let that hold him down, he wouldn’t get anywhere, so he defiantly strode down the street, a skip in his step, his head held high.

Unfortunately, given that most of his focus was on casting smiles at anyone he happened to pass by, he wasn’t looking directly in front of him as he rounded the corner, running straight into something. A very person shaped something. Cursing under his breath, he staggered back and then offered an apologetic grin. “Sorry about that, you alright?”

She had stepped out to smoke after a long day filling out paperwork. That’s all Alice seemed good for at the moment, and she fucking despised paperwork, a thing she’d keenly been able to avoid as a hitwitch. Now, it seemed to consume her life, and she wanted to set everything on fire. 

Alice lit her cigarette with undisguised joy; this would have to do. She had the menthol up near her mouth when she hesitated, empty hand rubbing at her chapped lips. Just as well, because James Potter rammed into her with the delicacy of a rhinoceros in the very next moment. 

Lily was in her own little world the whole day. She couldn’t seem to focus on the tasks at hand. All she could do was think about her stories. She sat at several cafés, in stores, even on street corners just watching people. She wanted to know how this was affecting everyone, wanted to document every single moment of it. She knew, one day, this would all be over. There was no way that this could last forever. It couldn’t. So, for now, she would document it. Even if she was supposed to be running errands for herself. She had just stopped and picked up a few books for herself in an attempt to make herself feel better. As she left the store, she was so focused on reading the back of one book that she hadn’t noticed someone in front of her; someone that she completely ran into. 

“Oh! I’m so sorry,” she said, picking up her book from the ground before she saw the person’s face. “That was totally my fault, I apologize.”

It seemed to Alice like she was always on shift. These were the trials of a barely accepted Auror-in-training, she supposed; many times, she’d wished to go back to the simpler life, when it had been blasting the spirit out of criminals and keeping the peace. Now, all she seemed to do was watch for idiots trying to peddle their cursed wares to the idiots stupid enough to buy them.

“No worries, Evans,” she said gruffly. Alice eyed the stack of books Lily had in her hands and shuddered. “Planning to read all of those yourself?”

There was a static energy crackling in the air around Diagon Alley, the sense that one wrong move would set the whole sky ablaze, that there was something coming, something dark and unimaginably cruel. They’d all felt like this before, once. And Sirius had thought, had been stupid enough to hope, that he was done feeling that way.

The firewhiskey in his glass scorched the inside of his throat every time he took a sip, but it was a burn that he was all but numb to now. A feeling of responsibility, of guilt, coursed through his veins like Fiendfyre. What was the use of being an Auror if he couldn’t even stop this, couldn’t help the Wizarding World keep the freedom it deserved?

He felt a presence at his side, but stubbornly refused to look up from his glass. “I happen to like drinking alone.”

Of course he would be here. Just her luck, of course, that the one man guaranteed to take away the little numbness Ogden’s Old afforded her—the one who always, always got under her skin—sought refuge in the same little watering hole.

Fate, Alice mused, had been too kind to her as of late. Time for it to start collecting its dues.

“Who would want to drink with you? You think far too highly of yourself.”