Cheers (Vanessa)

Hunter wasn't entirely sure why he always ended up in Hogsmeade. He had a flat in London, which was only minutes away from just about any pub and shopping that he could want - both wizard and muggle. Diagon Alley was a short walk from his apartment. The Queen's Head was even closer. So, why was it that anytime he needed to buy something - whether it was a theory book for work, or a glass of firewhiskey - he ended up in Hogsmeade instead? Truth be told, Hunter hated apparating. Being slightly claustrophobic, it was no surprise that the feeling of sucking himself through a tiny hole of time and space to come out on the other side left him with a sickening feeling in his stomach. Yet, here he was again, touching down on the cobblestone streets of Hogsmeade. And in the end, he knew it was because he missed Hogwarts.

He had to pick up a few ingredients for the veritaserum he was brewing. He wasn't sure how he was finding time to tend to it, with how busy he was with work, but so far he'd managed. It just needed a few things, and his stores were starting to run low anyway. He headed straight there to get what he needed, but as soon as he'd finished he couldn't resist taking a trip to Zonkos to see if Ariel was working. But he was disappointed to find that she wasn't. It was pretty stupid, actually, that wizards couldn't use cell phones. Because really, Ariel was at the furthest a short walk away. And yet, the distance between himself and Ariel had never been greater. Because, although he could see the castle, there was no way for him to get to her. She wouldn't even know he was there. And that was more frustrating than anything.

With one last hope that maybe, she'd have gone to the three broomsticks with some friends, Hunter decided to stop in before he headed back home. But as soon as he walked through the door, he knew he'd struck out. No Ariel. But since he was there, he figured he may as well grab a drink before leaving. Just to fuel his nostalgia a little bit more, so that he'd feel extra disappointed when he got back to London and had to continue real life. The bar was packed, so instead of fighting with it, he found an empty booth in a slightly quieter corner. "Just a firewhiskey," he said when the waitress came by, and took his drink when she came back. He leaned back in his seat and took a sip, watching the hoards of people pass by. There were all kinds of people there for the evening - random adults, who lived in the town, meeting up for a drink; a group of younger boys in quidditch robes that made Hunter wish once more he'd never left school; some older girls that he recognized from the years below him, dressed scantily and probably out to try and hook up with guys twice their age. Hunter had probably hooked up with at least one of them, at one point or another. But right now he ignored them all, because none of them were Ariel.

Vanessa walked around Hogsmeade her head in the clouds. She wasnt thinking about where she was going. Just let her feet guide her and trusted herself to know where she wanted to go. She was thinking about exams and how her social life was more than innadequate. She wasnt even to start thinking about her love life. That would just be depressing. Especially since Vaughn. She shook her head and just kept walking. She ended up at the Three Broomsticks and smiled softly. She sat down and ordered a firewhiskey and a plate of french fries. She waited for her order to arrive and looked around.

As her eyes wandered the inn, they landed on someone who seemed very much familiar. She stared at him for a moment before getting up and walking over to him, "Ok I know I know you. I know I do. i just cant put a name to your face. Did you go to Hogwarts?" She asked. That was a silly question. Most people around here had gone to Hogwarts at some point. But her question remained the same and her eyes just stared at him as she waited for him to answer her question.

Hunter spun the stirrer around in his drink for a moment, and looked down at it wondering why it was even there. So that he could stir his straight firewhiskey around with more straight firewhiskey for no fucking reason? Yeah, that was literally the point. He sighed and glanced up to do some more people watching, wondering why he was even still there. But he knew it was because he was waiting, just in case. Which was stupid, because Hunter knew she wasn't going to turn up. He knew Ariel, and she was probably in the castle scheming up a new prank, or studying for her NEWTS. Or, more than likely, trying to study for her NEWTS but getting distracted by ideas for her pranks. In the end, he decided to stay for just a few more minutes, and turned his attention to some guy nearly falling off his barstool to keep himself entertained. Which was actually pretty funny, and Hunter hardly noticed when someone approached him.

Until she was right in his face, at least, at which point Hunter turned his attention to the girl that had walked up to his table. Not the girl he was looking for, though. Hunter was about to make the decision to not be a complete git and just say hello to Vanessa when she suddenly asked him who he was. Who he was? What? Couldn't put a face to the name? Hunter just stared at her for a minute, trying to figure out if she was joking. I'm Hunter fucking VanDerberg, he wanted to say, because holy shit, who honestly didn't know who he was?! In the end, he decided that the absolute nicest thing he could do was decide she was joking, so hopefully she wouldn't take it the wrong way when he flipped her off. He raised a middle finger in her direction, before speaking. "Very funny, Di'Angelo," he said, taking another drink of his firewhiskey. "Hey, you haven't seen Ariel Wilde around in Hogsmeade, have you?" If Vanessa didn't know who Ariel was, she was a dumbass, since they were in the same year and all. "You can sit down, if you want," he added, mostly because it gave him an excuse to wait around a little longer.

Vanessa was about to grab his finger and break it as he spoke but then decided to keep her cool. When she learned his name a bunch of memories came flooding back to her head. "OH right, hey Hunter." SHe smiled softly and ordered another firewhiskey and began sipping it. When he asked about Ariel she shook her head, "Not really. I usually try to avoid the lions like the black plague, no offense of course." She sipped her firewhiskey with an innocent look on her face.

She remembered the fact that she used to have a tiny little crush on Hunter back in school and blushed lightly. However, she quickly shook the thought away. Now was not the right time nor place for thoughts such as that. 'youre mean. Youre vicious. Youre rotten to the core. Snap out of it Vanessa!' she thought before shaking her head softly. She kept drinking her drink trying to think of something to say. "Why are you here? Didnt you graduate already?" She asked innocently, trying to not sound to rude but still coming off a tiny bit snarky. She finished her drink and set it aside as the bus boy came and took it away

Hunter resisted the urge to roll his eyes when she all of a sudden remembered him. "Fucking right. It wasn't like he expected everyone to remember him. But the people he'd gone to school with? And especially someone so close to his year, that he'd actually spoken to? Absolute bullshit. Though, Hunter wasn't exactly sure how he'd recognized her - but that was because Vanessa Di Angelo looked entirely different than she used to. Wasn't she blonde when she'd started school? Hunter let himself stare at her for the briefest of moments, before deciding that she'd looked better before. Not that she looked bad now - Hunter just wasn't quite into the unnatural thing - particularly when people dyed their hair. And even more particularly when they dyed their hair blue. Although Vanessa had at least dyed her's a natural color - black - she had been more attractive when it was blonde. He watched as she finished her drink and ordered another one. "I'll take another, too," he said to the waitress, although his wasn't gone yet. But it would be by the time she returned.

He wasn't sure what he'd expected - he himself knew Ariel wasn't down here. Still he was sure the disappointment might have shown in his face for just a second. Hunter raised an eyebrow when she said she tried not to associate with lions. It was so stupid, really, the house shit. "Why?" he asked simply, his voice even. "I was friends with people from all of the houses," he pointed out, accepting his next drink from the waitress. "You can put hers on my tab," Hunter said before she walked away. Because he had a job now and had loads of extra money, so why not? He almost missed having friends to buy drinks and food and shit for, so maybe it would fill the small void a little bit. He looked up with a slight glare at the tone she used though, when she asked why he was there. "Yeah, I graduated," he said evenly. "I just needed to pick up a few potions ingredients, and figured I'd hang around and see if I ran into anyone I knew."

Vanessa looked at Hunter as she waited for him to say something. What was he doing? Reciting a freaking monologue in his head. Either way, he was starting to grow bored and sighed drinking her drink. She tugged at her hair wondering why she ever dyed it, "You know, Im thinking about going back to blonde." She looked at the tips of her hair and pictured it blonde again before deciding, "Yeah Im gonna go back to blonde."

He ordered another drink as she sipped the final sips of the one she had. When the waitress came back, she began working on the one she brought almost immediately. "Because, Lions are usually annoying. Except for you. And that Blake kid. You guys were alright." She said sipping her drink and looking at him. She had always found Hunter attractive, but he had gotten very attractive over the last few years.

She blushed and looked down as he said to put her drink on his tab, "You dont have to do that." She wondered why he glared at her but decided not to question it. When he explained why he was there she giggled, "And look at that. You ran into little old me."

Hunter's eyes had already wandered from Vanessa, glancing toward the door every few minutes just to be sure he wouldn't miss Ariel if did turn up. Not that he could miss her if he tried. But his attention was drawn back to Vanessa when she mentioned dying her hair blonde, which wouldn't have interested him much except that he'd just been thinking it - which was weird. But still, weirder shit had happened, so he just nodded his head in response. "It looked good blonde," he said simply, because it was the truth and what else was he supposed to say when he didn't really care. Why did girls always think that men cared about their hair? Though, he was one to talk, because he'd been entirely turned off when Aoife had dyed her hair blue, and insisted that she never do it again when they dated.

"Ariel isn't annoying," Hunter retorted. "Though, my sister is, so I guess we aren't all that great," he added with an amused grin, raising his glass to take a sip. "You mean Blakey?" Hunter asked with a laugh, remembering the nickname that Vanessa had bestowed upon his best friend in her very first year. Hunter had found her pretty obnoxious back then. In later years, he's still found her a bit obnoxious, but not nearly as badly as in the beginning. He didn't know exactly what he thought of her now - they hadn't interacted much in his later years at Hogwarts. And considering that he'd changed plenty in recent years due to the death of his brother, he figured he probably shouldn't assume she was the same girl he'd known in school either. Though, that didn't mean he wasn't slightly biased toward thinking she was annoying anyway - but at least he acknowledged it, right?

Hunter shook his head and waved off her words after putting her drink on his tab. "Don't worry about it, I don't mind. It's always better to drink with someone than to drink alone," he said, shrugging. Or at least, normally. When he was drinking to enjoy the drink, and not drinking to forget all of the miserable things in the world. There was a difference. Tonight was sort of neither - Hunter was mostly drinking just to pass the time. Hunter raised an eyebrow when she giggled, because he generally hated when people giggled, but didn't say anything. "I guess I did," he said, although Vanessa was most definitely not the person he'd been wanting to run into. But so far, she hadn't been bad company, so he continued. "How's your last year of school going, anyway?" he asked. "Any idea what you're going to do once you're out?"

Vanessa blushed a bit as Hunter said she had looked good as a blonde. She nodded and put a little reminder in the back of her brain to find out a new hair dying spell. She wanted to make her hair blonde and shiny so it always looked nice and smooth. She looked at Hunter and noticed he seemed to be very distracted and not very focused on their conversation. 'How rude', she thought to herself.

She rolled her eyes as he dove to the resuce of his fellow Lions from her words, as if they would hurt them. She blushed at the childhood nickname she had given Blake back in first year, "I was nothing but a child then, Hunter. Trust me, ive come up with better nicknames since then for Blake, but I cant quite say them in public." She said winking at him

She smiled when he insisted on paying for her drinks, "Well if youre paying I should have gotten the good stuff." She said smiling softly at him. "School is good. I was prefect last year." She said blushing a bit. She had never expected to be named Prefect. "As for what I want to do after, well.... thats a surprise."

Hunter smirked a bit in amusement at the way Vanessa blushed at his words. But truthfully, sometimes, he really didn't understand women. They fished for compliments, and then acted all innocent whenever they got them, like they hadn't been looking for it in the first place. And although Hunter had spent his fair share of time with girls who played that way - and that's what it was, a game - he had very little respect for them in the end. Hell, when he'd dated Seren years ago and he'd tell her she was pretty, he was surprised if she didn't respond with a bold I know and go back to her business. That was the kind of attitude that demanded respect. It was also the kind of attitude that made a lot of people think she was a bitch, he supposed, but Hunter found it refreshing.

His smirk faded a bit though, at what Vanessa said next. I was nothing but a child then. And he found himself nodding in understanding, although she clearly hadn't meant it in any serious way. It struck home nonetheless. Hunter could hardly remember being only a child. Couldn't believe the things he'd considered serious problems - or the naive way that he used to look at the world. "We all were," he said, shrugging and staring at his glass, which was now only a few inches full of amber liquid. Nearly all the ice had melted. But when Vanessa continued, Hunter snorted and grinned back at her, glad for a lighter subject that couldn't be twisted into something serious. "I dunno, I think Blakey is a pretty mature nickname, don't you?" he joked, knowing that Blake would not be happy for instigating any such thing.

"You still can, if you want," he told her, shrugging. "If you can even put down what you have left, that is," he added with a grin, a challenging tone to his voice, before finishing what was left of his drink and setting the glass on the table with a clink. "Prefect wasn't exactly my thing," Hunter said nonchalantly. "As in I don't think any of the professors trusted me as far as they could throw me - which had nothing to do with the fact that I stole firewhiskey and distributed it to the student body for years, I'm sure," he added, laughing. "And fine, be secretive then," he said, shrugging - he didn't really care much to know the answer, it was just something you asked someone in their seventh year to be nice. Hunter was asked that dozens of times last year and hated every second of it.

Vanessa noticed Hunter go a bit sentimental in his eyes when she mentioned their childhood. Had she said something that struck a nerve on him? She didnt know. She decided to just ignore it when he started to speak again. "That is true. And we have all matured since then. I mean, we were only first and second years. Now Im a seventh year and you have graduated! We changed." She said trying to not get all sentimental mushy mushy bull crap on him.

She laughed at what he said next, "Blakey will always be the most mature nickname ever. Well, besides Hunty." She said sticking her tongue out at him like a child. She laughed softly and then a bit louder. She coudlnt remember the last time she actually genuinely laughed that wasnt because of someone elses pain.

Her eyes shined as he challenged her to a drinking competition. She picked up her drink and slammed it back before setting the glass on the table, "Check and mate." She said giggling a bit more, the alcohol finally getting to her head. She listened to him and smirked, "I never bought Firewhiskey off you. But good for you making an inhonest living for yourself."

Hunter looked up at Vanessa as she responded, realizing that even though they'd gone to school together for years, this was possibly the first real conversation he'd had with her. Or at least, the first one that didn't involve her annoying him, and him insulting her back. He wasn't sure if she'd actually changed that much, or if he'd just never given her the chance to prove him otherwise back then. Not that she'd entirely proved him otherwise - after all, she'd still forgotten his name. But so far, it hadn't been an entirely unpleasant conversation. "Yeah, well, enjoy your last year while you can," Hunter told her. "Mine flew by. I didn't realize I'd miss Hogwarts this much, but I do." Was it really Hogwarts he missed? Or was it just Ariel? In the end, he was pretty sure it was a bit of both. He supposed he should miss his sisters, but they really weren't all that exciting.

It was actually kind of funny when it was Blake. But when Vanessa turned it around on him, his laughter ceased instantly. "Never say that again," he deadpanned, staring at her evenly, entirely unphased by her laughter. But after a few moments, when she started laughing harder, Hunter felt the corners of his lips tug up in amusement. Her laughter was surprisingly contagious, and he gave in shortly after, laughing too - though not as hard as her. It was probably just the alcohol starting to get to him a bit. "Alright, it's a little funny - but I really wasn't kidding. Don't ever call me that again." he said again. He didn't retort with some awkward nickname for her, because that would be pretty fucking weird.

For some reason, Hunter wasn't actually surprised that Vanessa was able to put down her drink in one swig. She did seem the type, after all, trying to always act all edgy and dangerous and shit. "We'll see," he replied with a grin when she seemed to think she'd won some sort of game. "Two shots, when you get a chance?" Hunter said, beckoning the waitress over. It didn't take her long to serve them, and soon two shot glasses were sitting on the table between them. "Trust me," he said, picking up one of the glasses and handing it to Vanessa. "Any alcohol you drank at Hogwarts - it was because of me. Whether you knew it or not." Apparently, nothing had changed. Raising his shot glass toward her, Hunter waited for Vanessa to do the same before tipping it back, letting the fire burn down his throat. "Cheers," he said, setting the tiny glass down without so much as a grimace at the strong taste.

Vanessa smiled softly, playing with the stirring stick, bending it in all different shapes and smiling softly. "I plan to enjoy it. Unfortunately, my sister is now a professor at the school, so I cant be pulling my pranks and shenanigans as she says. She teaches muggle studies now. Pathetic subject if you ask me. She should have gone for Defense Against the Dark Arts, being an ex auror and all that. But nooooo, pathetic fucking muggle studies."

She was laughing softly when he turned on her and she froze. His anger slightly frightened her as she had never seen him mad before and she was not sure if he would get violent or not. She got ready to defend herself just in case he did but kept laughing. Soon, he was laughing along side her and she was smiling wider than she had in a very long long time. "Alright, I will not call you HUNTY again." She said putting emphasis on the nick name and smiling innocently, and pushing her hair back. She smiled as two shots were served to them. She did the cheers thing and took the shot, the warm liquid slipping down her throat, "Yummy." She said giggling.

Hunter listened while Vanessa talked about her older sister. "It just means you have to be more discreet about your pranks and shenanigans, then," Hunter replied, grinning. "And muggle studies isn't that bad - I mean, I never needed it, I'm muggle-born. I did take it though, just for the easy grade." And for the pizza rolls, but that memory was bittersweet considering that Professor Wilcox was dead now. "But you know, muggles have a lot of awesome inventions that wizards don't have. Like a fucking cell phone, for instance? Music players? I mean, really, I don't understand how people live without that shit." Even now, since he was no longer in school, his phone rested in his pocket. That had been the worst part about being in Hogwarts at first - having to give up technology.

Alright, now she was taking it a little too far, so he ignored it. Maybe if he pretended like she never said it, she would never say it again. He was actually pretty sure he'd never seen her in such a good mood though. Surprisingly, Vanessa seemed unphased by the shot as well, and Hunter raised an eyebrow. "Impressive, Di Angelo," he said with a grin. "Not every woman can shoot firewhiskey like it's nothing." Even Hunter hadn't been able to, when he'd first started drinking. Because that shit was pretty fucking strong. Way stronger than regular, muggle whiskey. "Do you want another, or are you good?" Hunter asked. He couldn't have too many more drinks, since he still had to apparate back to London and couldn't risk the chance of being splinched on the way there because that shit hurt, but he could have another drink or two and still be fine. His alcohol tolerance had skyrocketed in the past few years.

"You know," Hunter said, "For going to school together for six years, I really don't know anything about you." Which Hunter just realized was strange, because he pretty much knew everything about everybody. Because he'd always been friends with everybody. But Vanessa had always sort of flown under the radar, doing her own thing. They'd ended up at plenty of the same parties of course, when they happened, but other than that it was always an unusual spot that he ran into her. And she was one of the few girls he'd never hooked up with in any way - which, to be honest, was a bit surprising considering the fact that she didn't exactly seem like the innocent type. Regardless, Hunter had interacted with Vanessa very little compared to the other people his age at school.

Vanessa smiled an evil little grin when he talked about keeping her pranks secret, "I have a few plans already up my sleeve and an army of evil little first year minions to help me do my evil bidding." She said as she smiled at him. "Its not necessarily a bad class. Just not very useful or important in my eyes." SHe said with a small shrug and a quick roll of her eyes. Vanessa knew what she wanted out of life. and NONE of it included Muggle Studies taught by her big sister. "Yeah they can do great things. Ill give them that. But can they fly? Can they appear somewhere by use of pure thought?" She gave him a look that said 'I didnt think so'. 

She smiled as he praised her on her drinking abilities, "My family is Italian. We know our way around a bottle of whiskey." She said smiling. "As for now, i think I have had quite enough to drink. Im starting to feel it hard core now." Luckily, she was going to Aleks later on that evening and would not be returning to the castle. 

"Well what exactly would you like to know?" She asked curious as to what exactly he wanted to know about her. Vanessa would tell him anything he wanted to know. Well, almost anything

"I never realized you liked pranks," Hunter said, grinning. That was probably because Hunter hadn't talked to Vanessa all that much in school, and because he'd spent all his time with Ariel, whose love of causing mayhem greatly diminished anyone else's. Hunter had never come across someone better at pranks than Ariel. He'd done a lot of helping her of course, and even instigated a few of his own - mostly on her - but she had always been the real mastermind behind their plots. "I have a few plans for making the ministry a little more interesting," Hunter told Vanessa, smirking. "But they'll have to wait a bit until I'm sure they won't get me fired." Because Hunter didn't have a very good grasp on what kind of sense of humor his boss had yet, and it was important to understand something like that before filling her hand lotion with fake moustache cream.

And then, Vanessa was going on about the uselessness of muggles. Hunter was pretty sure he would regret even getting into this with someone like her, but his pride in his family - and his roots - wouldn't allow him to just let it go. "They can fly, yes," he retorted. "It's called an airplane, Di Angelo. And they had to be a lot smarter than wizards to figure out how." Because with wizardry, everything was just a quick word and a flick of the wrist. There was really very little difficulty to most of it, once you learned the basics. "I mean, sure, it's convenient to be able to point your wand at something and expect it to do what you say - but it takes much more intelligence to actually understand how things work than to just expect them to." Hunter took another sip of firewhiskey before continuing. "There are plenty of wizards that would be absolutely lost without their wands - you included from the way you're talking. So you'd better hope you never lose it."

Really? She was already drunk? So much for that italian alcohol tolerance. But Hunter kept his mouth shut and just shrugged. "Suit yourself," he said, ordering one last drink for himself for the night. What did he want to know? What, she couldn't just spill her life story to him? He had to come up with questions? Not in the mood to think of anything, he just asked the one he'd already been thinking. "How come we've never hooked up? It wasn't suggestive - just curious whether it was a coincidence or deliberate. And then, he realized that he probably should reconsider his morals if he considered not hooking up with a girl he went to school with a coincidence. Because really, who the fuck would think that but him?