A much needed drink (Daniel)

Securely locking up her home, Sydney Elizabeth Hale walked down the street to a dark spot and turned around in order to apparate. She appeared from thin air just a few minute's walk from the Leaky Cauldron and made her way to the inn.

She enjoyed the walk, but was also glad to see that the place was bustling with activity. She ordered a butterbeer and downed the drink in one fluid motion before ordering another.

She looked around the bar and saw a rather attractive man walk in. She smiled at him before sipping her drink again. She licked her lip free of the foam from her Butterbeer and blushed.

She wiped the offending foam from her lip and looked over at the man. He was really really handsome. She didnt know what to do. She just stood there, well, rather sat there, staring at him and his handsomeness

Daniel arrived at the Leaky Cauldron all dressed up in his expensive blue work suit. His hair was slicked back and his face was cleanly shaven. He even wore his best cologne for the evening. All signs of a successful man. "One Firewhiskey please," he said, placing the correct amount of coins on the table. "One Firewhiskey coming up!" said the bartender and left to get his drink.

Whilst waiting patiently for his drink, he scanned the room, searching for a place to sit and frowned when he found that his favourite spot had been occupied by a young girl eying him. He chuckled and shook his head. It wasn't the first time he caught some beautiful young lady gawking at him, but hey, he wasn't complaining. The bartender returned with the drink. "Thank you," he nodded, accepting his drink and took a small sip of his fire whiskey before finally looking back at the girl again.

"Excuse me," He said, fixing his jacket before walking towards her. "Are you waiting for someone?" he asked, pointing towards the empty chair beside her. He flashed one of his famous devilish grin. She looked a little bit young to be hanging out with him. It would seem wrong, he was old enough to be her father for christ sake. Yet he stood there, hopeful that she would offer him a seat. He wasn't hurting anyone and it wasn't like anything suspicious was going to happen. He was just going to have a chat. After all, hanging out in the office can be a bit dull sometime.

Sydney looked up as the guy approached her. She blushed a bright shade of Gryffindor red when he asked if she was waiting for anyone. She shook her head and offered him a seat, “Why don’t you join me?” She kicked the chair out for him to sit and smiled.

She sipped her drink again and noticed what she was drinking was a rather childish drink. She called her waiter over and ordered a firewhiskey. The waiter gave her a look that pretty much doubted her age and ability to order such a drink. Sydney raised an eyebrow and slid a few galleons over to him which shut him up rather quickly.

She rolled her eyes when he walked away, “Bloody hell.” She then turned back to the man and smiled and held out her hand, “Im Sydney. Sydney Hale.” She smiled and waited for him to sya his name.

Feeling pleased with himself, he took his seat beside the beautiful girl and smiled at her. From here, he could finally have a closer look at her. He couldn't help, but notice how beautiful she was. She seemed the picture of perfection like a goddess. The way her hair fell graciously down her shoulders. Her eyes sparkled in the light were a bright, emerald green. A cute button nose and full lips. She was breathtaking. He was surprised she was here sitting on her own. Surely someone as beautiful as her would have a partner by now, however, he didn't ignore the fact that she did look a lot younger than he was and it would seem suspicious if someone like him to be hanging out with her....romantically not that he was thinking of anything like that. He would have to be careful.

Daniel watched her carefully, slowly taking a mouthful of his drink at a time. He looked up at the waiter she had called over and nearly choked on thin air when he noticed the strange look the waiter gave her when she ordered a firewhiskey. He even managed to spill some drink onto his clean work pants. "Oh man! That was a new pants too," he groaned to himself, reaching into his pockets and pulled out his handkerchief to wipe himself down it. "Excuse me," he snorted. "I'm sorry about the mess," he said.

"I'm Daniel, Daniel Grayson. Nice to meet you, Sydney. What a lovely name you have," He looked up and smiled at her, holding his hand out to shake her hand. "So tell me," he paused as he bore his eyes into hers. Hazel brown eyes into green eyes. He smirked. "What a beautiful girl like you doing alone out here?"

Sydney smiled a charming little grin at him and giggled softly when he spilled his drink. “Here let me help.” She grabbed a napkin and began rubbing his pant leg. He didn’t think about the sexual level of this action, just that he had made a mess. She grabbed her wand and used a drying spell on the mess and smiled at him, “There. All cleaned up. Good as new, if I may say so myself.”

She smiled and twirled a lock of her light blonde hair around her tiny finger. “Pleasure to meet you, Daniel.” She grabbed his hand and felt little sparks around her and run up and down her spine. Something about that single touch made all the bad things in her life disappear for a moment.

She sighed when he asked what she was doing her all alone, “Im used to being alone. Sure guys find me attractive, but that’s about it. Nothing more comes of it usually.” She hated that nothing more came from her looks other than cat calls and one night stands.

Daniel didn't know why he was nervous, he was usually charming and quick witted around a lady - even if he did intended to wow them or not. What was the different with her. His eyes went wide as she touched him on his pant leg in an attempt to dry up his now drenched suit pants. He wasn't sure if she meant anything by it, not that he was hoping that she would, but, because it would seem weird, considering the age gap. Perhaps she was just giving him a helping hand (No, not that kind of help! What's wrong with you). "Thanks," he blinked at his pants as it started to dry up. It was as good as new, almost as if he never spilled a drink before.

After sitting there for a few second, looking at Sydney. He suddenly realized why he was so nervous. Beside Aisha, whom he considered to be his best friend and consultant. He hadn't been around a girl since his divorce with his wife four years ago when he caught her cheating with her co-worker. But, what was there to be nervous about, he had everything a girl could wish for. Striking good looks, wealth, heck he even lived in a freaking mansion and his dream job which he would never give up the world for. He relaxed into his chair, constantly telling himself that there was nothing to worry about.

Dan took another mouthful of his firewhiskey, letting the alcohol do it work. "Aw, what a shame," he shook his head, giving her a warm smile. "A girl as beautiful as you DESERVED to be treated like a princess," he said. That's more like it! Keep up the good work Danny

Sydney smiled as his pants were fixed. She smiled down at her wand, proud of the work she had donel. She didn’t like to sue magic a lot out in public. She didn’t know why> That was just one of her many weird and odd quirks.

She noticed that he didn’t say anything for a few moments. He seemed lost in deep thought. She didn’t want to disturb him, so she just sipped her drink and waited for him to come back to reality. Back to her. Wait, what? No. Not back to her. Just back from his thoughts. Yeah, back from his thoughts.

She blushed when he said she was beautiful. People had called her that before, but they usually just wanted to get her into bed. Daniel didn’t seem that way. She smiled and blushed a bit darker. “Thanks,” Was all she could master saying without causing even more of a blush

So far so good, yet, Dan couldn't help but feel that the conversation was a little awkward. At least on the plus side, his pants were now dry. Now he didn't look like a complete utter idiot that peed his pants. He chuckled quietly to himself as he saw her blush at his compliment. It was only ever rarely he complimented someone then again he was feeling extra generous today. Maybe it was the whiskey talking. Nevertheless, he was using it to his advantage. Looking up, he saw the waiter walk past them again giving them that sour look again. "Excuse me, can I have more firewhiskey please," he stopped the waiter by grabbing his wrist. "And just give me the whole bottle next time. Come on you know this by now. I shouldn't have to say it again," he let the waiter go.

That probably explained why the waiter hated him and hanging out with girl younger than he was probably wasn't the best look either. He didn't cross her off yet, he didn't know how old she was. He wanted to ask her, but he didn't want to come off as rude as many people perceived him as. There must be some way he could find out. "Great detective you are, Sherlock," he mumbled to himself. Soon the waiter returned with a bottle of firewhiskey. "That'd be two galleon," snarled the bushy waiter. "What? I paid fifty sickles last time," a confused Dan said. "Yeah, the price changed and don't use your 'I'm a detective' line on me either. It's not going to work. Either pay full price or I'm going to ask you to leave the premises,"; "Fine," said Dan, giving the man two galleon. Which was more than the actual price. He knew because he had to, he was a detective. He solved things, he observed and put even the most challenging puzzles together. He probably deserved that anyway for treating the staff like scums.

With a sigh, he waited until the waiter was out of earshot and looked at Sydney. "Sorry about that," he chuckled, shuffling uncomfortably in his seat. "So," he paused, smiling at her. "Tell me about yourself? What do you do for a living."

She cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow as the waiter gave them a look. He scurried off after Daniel ordered another bottle of firewhiskey and released him. “He is in an unusually bad mood today.” He sighed and played with her hair. He mumbled something that she didn’t quite catch. Something about a detective? She just shook her head and decided to let it go.

When the waiter came back and said it was two galleons, Sydney was shocked. “That’s absurd. The price is fifty sickles. We should only have to pay fifty sickles.” She hated when people abused their power. And this guy clearly was. She growled softly when Daniel paid the two galleons. “Absolutely ridiculous.”

When he asked her to tell him about herself she stopped for a moment. She had to think about it a bit. “Well, I was a Ravenclaw at Hogwarts. I graduated about 2 years ago. I work at Zonkos joke shop and Im a musician.”

Unusually in a bad mood? Daniel was always in a bad mood, part of the reason why his co-workers left him alone and part of it was because he had no reason to be happy like he once did before. Prior the battle, losing his friends and the divorce with his wife. He hadn't been the same person since then. Today, however, he was in a good mood for the first time in what seem like forever ago. He was still pissed about the price of his drink, but he didn't care right now. For once in his life, he was making friends again and he was damn proud of that. He saw that she was obviously upset about the price too and decided to comfort her. "Don't worry about him. I probably deserved it anyway," he waved her off and chuckled.

Dan listened carefully when she explained herself to him and smiled a tired smile. "No way! I was in Ravenclaw too," he laughed with disbelief. "I love Zonko's Joke Shop and you'll have to play some song to me sometime."

Sydney smiled and watched as Daniel’s eyes lit up when she mentioned he was a Ravenclaw as well. “Im assuming you graduated well before me.” She brushed a strand of blonde hair out of her face and smiled. He then said how he loved Zonkos and wanted her to play him a song some time.

She blushed and smiled even more at that statement. “Well, you should come by Zonkos sometime and visit me. We are usually pretty slow when there are no kids at Hogwarts or during the week when its not a Hogsmeade weekend during the school year. As for the song…”

She reached into her bag and pulled out some song lyrics. “It’s a new song I have been working on. If you want, I could maybe sing a bit for you.” She blushed and looked up at him as she bit her lip softly, afraid of the rejection that might come.