Of Friends and Butterbeer (Blake and Ariel)

Sometimes life really sucked. Like when you got stuck in a staircase, or worse, in a devil's snare. Or when you asked out a girl and she hated the idea so much that she threw a chair at you. Or when an annoying git of a second year locked you in a closet with that same girl and then ran off to fetch your girlfriend to get you into trouble. But then, at the same time, there were times that life didn't suck at all. Like when winter had finally ended and you just won a quidditch match against Slytherin and you were on your way to Hogsmeade to get a butterbeer with the two most awesome people ever.

Hunter had been surprised by how well the year had turned out, and nothing really summed it up better than strolling down the road from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade with Blake and Ariel, a cool breeze brushing against his face. " - completely crushed them!" Hunter was saying animatedly to Blake, a huge grin across his face. "And you should have seen their keepers face when you made that shot! He couldn't have saved it if he tried. It was brilliant!" The match had just ended, and they'd beaten Slytherin so badly that it deserved celebration - so the three of them had taken off immediately afterwards to have a celebratory butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks. Hunter was still wearing his quidditch sweater, but he'd ditched his Gryffindor cloak back in the locker rooms. Four years later, and he still found robes and cloaks to be obnoxiously annoying.

Hunter wasn't sure he could remember being in such a good mood. Something about the day was just right, maybe. He turned around to walk backwards so that he could face them while he talked. "You know, you should really change your hair to our house colors for quidditch matches," Hunter said to Ariel, reaching out to tug jokingly on her hair and ducking sideways immediately after in case she decided to retaliate. "Or better yet, you should just make your whole head into a lion's head. You could be our mascot and go dance around on the field." Hunter couldn't help but burst into laughter as he spoke, because the whole idea was so ridiculous. And he knew she couldn't keep her head that way for that long.

So, Easter was closing to finished, and that meant Ariel's last chance to improve her marks. But she wasn't stressing about that. After all, as her life had taken a turn for sorrow, she didn't care half as much about grades as she once had. She was often located in the library, but only for things that interested her. Like pranks and pranksters. She loved the tales of the marauders, and she loved the Weasley twins equally as much. And all this kept her mind off the sad truth; when she returned home, there was one and a half less person to return to. Her mother had changed. Her eyes had turned dull and lifeless, and she was barely able to take care of herself, let alone her two daughters.

But this sadness was not in Ariel today. Today, she was feeling happier than usual. Strolling next to Hunter and Blake, her hair almost back to her normal blonde, she was having the time of her life. They were talking about the Quidditch game which had been excruciatingly exciting. Ariel had been clawing at her neck more than once. But yes, Gryffindor had defeated Slytherin. And Hunter was more than happy to lay out the details. Which made Ariel grin widely.

At Hunter's suggestion, Ariel blinked. WHY ON EARTH HADN'T SHE THOUGHT OF THAT?! And then Hunter tugged her hair. Ariel's eyes narrowed, but he got out of her way before she swung a fist at him. Not that she would. She then raised an eyebrow. "What am I to you, Hunter? Some weirdo chick with no sense of originality?" she asked laughingly. Lion head...! "You can walk around being a lionhead, just change the lion to a dirty word, and you wouldn't even have to be a metamorphmagus to do so!" she said wickedly, with a snigger. "I will admit I like the hair-color thing," she said thoughtfully and then tried to imagine it. "Watch now," she said grinningly, and -scrunching her face up a bit- she turned her hair into a fiery red with golden stripes. "Like this?" she asked, and did a spin, just to show off. Wonderful to be a metamorphmagus!

She then nudged Blake's shoulder. "So, seeing as I haven't seen you much lately, I can only assume you've been avoiding me - no hard feelings, you returned as I knew you would, because hello!-" (here, Ariel pointed obviously at herself) "-But what have you been up to? Hiding in a corner in the library?" she asked with a pointed eyebrow. She was joking, of course, but she had missed hanging out with Blake. She hadn't told him about her father yet, and she was feeling rather guilty about that now, because Blake should know. What if he stepped on her toes, saying something like 'what would your father say to that' and she'd just be like 'he's dead'. That would be stupid and it was completely stupid of her not having told him, so now she had to find a way to break it to him as well.

But for now, she was content, as her eyes landed on the Three Broomsticks and the thought of awesome, brewing butterbeer entered her mind.

Blake stayed quiet as he strolled along beside his two best friends as he listened to Hunter talking animatedly about the match. In truth he was just glad to be with his friends. It was a weird year, one full of drama which meant he didn't get to spend as much time as he would have liked with them and now he was facing into a summer of boredom without them so he was trying to enjoy every moment in their company.

Blake was still on a high from beating Slytherin and had been grinning ever since. The look on the Slytherin's faces was what made it all worth it. Now if only they could win the House Cup too that would make his year. "My shot?" Blake laughed, recalling it. "What about yours when you looped it around the keeper and sent him completely the wrong way and he nearly crashed into the goalposts he was so confused!" Blake was in stitches at the time and did well staying on his broomstick he had found it so funny.

In truth the they won the match well and himself and Hunter were scoring for fun by the end of it. Hunter and himself had spent long hours training along with the rest of the quidditch team and it had finally paid off. He was delighted and showed it as he was decked out in the complete Gryffindor ensemble as he was proud to show his colours.

Blake burst out laughing once he pictured Ariel's head as a lion. "I think it'd suit you!" Blake chimed in sniggering once Ariel had shown her disgust at the idea. "You could be our new mascot!" Blake nudged Ariel's shoulder playfully showing that he was joking. Blake looked on in awe as her hair colour then changed before his eyes. He still couldn't get over how well Ariel had learnt to control her super cool magic and the fact that she could change at will just made it even cooler. "Wicked." Was all Blake said in approval of the hair.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Blake said mysteriously raising his eyebrows at Ariel. "Why didn't you just come to the library to find out?" Blake suggested as it seemed like a lot of his friends had a dislike for the place.

Truth be told Blake had gotten over books, not completely, but a lot since he made more friends. He had found companionship and comfort in his books, but that was soon replaced by the people he had met in Hogwarts. His continued trips to the library were out of habit and to read up on more about wizarding life, especially quidditch. But now he even preferred playing to reading about it. He had actually been practicing alone more to try and improve and he guessed that Hunter probably had an inkling as to where he was sneaking off to with his broom, but he didn't bother admitting to it at the time.

Blake swaggered up to the Three Broomsticks Inn, the win over Slytherin giving him even more confidence. "My Lady." Blake said as he ushered Ariel in with a bow as he pretended to treat her like royalty. Blake followed in behind the pair surprised at how crowded the place was. It seemed that going for a butterbeer after the game was on everybody's mind. Blake even thought he spotted some of their professor's in the corner enjoying a drink.

Hunter couldn't help his grin broadening when Blake pointed out the awesome play that Hunter had made as well. Though in truth, there were plenty of awesome plays to be appreciated throughout the game. "Wish he had," Hunter laughed, picturing the Slytherin keeper slamming into the goalposts. "You know, was it just me, or was Aoife starting to hit bludgers at me toward the end of the game?" Hunter had a feeling Aoife would hit bludgers at him all the time if she could, actually. She would follow him around with a beaters bat every single day and perpetually bounce a bludger off the back of his head. But she usually refrained from it during matches - Hunter had a suspicion that once they were winning so badly she'd decided to just play for fun.

Apparently his suggestion wasn't exactly appreciated. The lionhead one, at least. "Some weirdo chick isn't exactly the wrong way to describe you, you know," Hunter informed her, feigning seriousness. Though he ignored the rest, because Ariel had more originality than anyone else he knew. "See, Blake agrees! You're outnumbered." Hunter just stared at Ariel for a moment when she turned the lionhead comment around on him, and then burst into laughter. "Yeah, well, guess you wouldn't be the first one to call me something along those lines - though that's definitely the most creative way I've heard it." Hunter was pretty sure his reputation as a git was becoming pretty widespread, but he owned it pretty well, so it was fine. "Lionhead is my new insult now. People won't even understand what I'm actually calling them! It will be great!"

Hunter grinned when Ariel went on to change her hair, which he'd seen her do enough times now that it didn't surprise him. "Yeah, okay, I guess it might be better than the other idea," he admitted. But that was fine, because it was still Hunter's idea either way. Though he couldn't help thinking that it would look better without the gold. Then it would just be red - which defeated the purpose. Ariel did look good with mostly red hair. Hunter was really starting to wonder if he just had a thing for redheads - in which case, it was probably a good thing that Aoife had dyed her hair blue. He tried to picture Seren with red hair, but it looked all wrong and he started laughing to himself.

Hunter rolled his eyes at Ariel when she pointed at herself like she was the coolest person ever - though, admittedly, she might be. "Ariel's too cool for the library," Hunter replied. "Maybe she's just finally realized it." Unfortunately, Hunter had stepped foot in the library more than once that term, mostly for his potion. In reality, though, Hunter hadn't seen Blake all that much either. More than Ariel did, because they were roommates, but not as much as previous years. It was a busy year, and having a girlfriend - especially one like Seren - took up a lot of Hunter's time.

Before long, they reached the Three Broomsticks, and Hunter snorted as Blake opened the door for Ariel. His eyes flicked between them for a moment, wondering momentarily what it might be like if they got together. It didn't seem likely, but it would definitely be awesome. Maybe it would be worth it to mess with Blake about it later, just for fun. He followed Ariel into the pub, digging Blake in the ribs as he passed. "Git," he grinned, shaking his head. It was crowded, but that was hardly an issue. Hunter stepped around Ariel and started pushing through people, shouting "Make way, stars and mascot of the Gryffindor Team coming through!" Finally, he managed to find an empty table in the back of the room. "Who wants to go get butterbeers?" Hunter asked, knowing it would be quicker to go over to the bar to get them. He slumped down into a seat and stared up at the other two, not offering to be the one to go in the slightest. Still, he knew somehow it would probably end up being him. But maybe one of them was feeling nice.