Hogswatch night (Helen)

Despite it only being a few weeks back Idella was happily spending her night off patrol duty to stroll around Hogsmead. Everything looked smaller than she remembered, then again she'd been a squit of a seventh year the last time she was here. after some indulgent shopping in Honeydukes and nibbling on a chocolate liquor pastry she headed towards the Hog's head for a drink. She'd heard it was under new management and wanted to check the place out.

It was certainly cleaner inside but it looked like the clientele was the same as ever. She skirted around a few tables intent on getting to the bar when two burly looking wizards in a small both both stood up wands drawn and firing off hexes at each other. She lifted her bag of goods out of the way of a slicing hex and glared at the two before pulling out her own wand. The one facing her paused and got a stunner to the face, the other didn't see the body binding curse coming and fell on top of his opponent. "Twits." She huffed, placing her bag down on the bar and levitating the two wizards outside, dumping both in the rain barrel near the door.

She shot a sharp look at the onlookers before heading back to the bar and picked out another pastry, while looking at the list of drinks.

It's been weeks since the Ministry guy was there to see her and Helen was walking around in a state of perpetual nervousness. She had even taken up smoking, a habit many Muggles had, and she found it helped her relax a bit. There haven't been any letters from the Clement bloke and she was worried. What if he had lied and he'd just show up one day and sent her packing to Azkaban? What if one of the Widows showed up and made sure she wouldn't tell the Ministry anything again, ever?

She was standing outside the pub one night, dragging on her cigarette and mulling over everything that has happened. It wasn't a particularly busy night, just the usual crowd getting piss drunk and whining about their lives. The witch had gotten used to being back in England and working in the shady pub, but she wondered every day, what else she'll have to get used to anytime now. It was nerve wrecking, really, to be questioned by an Auror and then just left in the dark.

Suddenly, the door of her pub opened and two of the regulars were dumped in a rain barrel she kept near the door. Helen snickered as they tried to get out and were slurring drunkenly. "Go home, lads." said the witch and flicked her cigarette on the floor, stumping it with her shoe. She did nothing to help them out, though and just went back inside to make herself a drink behind the bar.

"I suppose I have you to thank for that." Helen said to the young woman sitting at the bar and motioned at the door. "Whatcha having?"

Swallowing the mouthful of pastry Idella looked over at the woman who came in and assumed she was new owner of the pub and smiled. "Well can't have a couple of rowdy wizards ruining other people's night now can we?" She looked back up at the list then to the host. "A slug of firewhisky would be a treat I think. Ogden's if you got it."She asked, fishing for a few sickles in her pocket to pay for it.

She placed the coins on the desk and took another look at the woman, noticing she looked quite stressed. "Having a rough night of it?" She asked politely, wondering what could be worrying the woman. The patrons of the bar weren't too rowdy, perhaps she'd asked something a bit too personal, so she asked nothing else while waiting for her drink. "Name's Idella by the way, Idella Birral."

"Ogden's it is. And," Helen waved off the witch as she looked for money. "It's on me, as a thank you." She grinned and turned around, holding a shot glass against the bottle of Firewhiskey. When it was filled, she put it on the counter before the woman.

"Having a rough night of it?"

Helen shook her head, smiling. "Nah, it's mostly just these old drunks tonight." She left the coins on the counter, ignoring them and deciding she'll just collect them at the witch's second drink. Helen looked at the witch carefully. Could be she was just being polite and genuinely interested in her well-being, but she could be one of the Widows. The whole thing with that Cari woman was making her paranoid and it was getting ridiculous.

"A friend was supposed to get in touch with me a while ago and he still hasn't." It wasn't exactly the truth, but it was the closest to truth she could get right now. "Well, nice to meet you Idella. I'm Helen Masters." She saw with the Ministry guy that it was pointless going by a different name. If the Widows were coming after her, they'd know it was her even though she had an alias.

"What brings you to Hogsmeade?"

Leaving the coins on the bar anyway Idella smiled and took her drink, making a silent 'cheers' before downing it in one. "Perhaps something's come up that needed seeing to, I wouldn't give up yet, if they are a friend." She put the glass back on the counter.

"Likewise Helen. Just came into town for a night off. I work up at Hogwarts and thought I needed to get out a bit, not that I don't love the kids but I'd rather not be hauling the little buggers back to bed every night." She joked, and looked at her bag wondering if she should have another pastry or wait till she got her stash of goodies back to her quarters.

"Just some shopping really to satisfy my sweet tooth and a good drink. Not much more an excuse needed really."

Helen shrugged at the woman's words and poured herself a shot of Firewhiskey as well. She held the glass up as the other witch had done before and then shot it down her throat.

"More of an acquaintance than a friend, really." she explained, but waved it off. "Doesn't matter anyway, when I've got such lovely company." she smiled.

"You teach at Hogwarts? How can you stand it, aren't children even more insufferable than we were?" Helen asked, jokingly. "Well, I certainly see your need to get out every once in a while." She didn't even know there was a pastry shop in Hogsmeade, as she didn't go out very often, but she supposed she'll have to take the witch's word for it.

"Another one?" The barkeep asked, motioning to the empty glasses.

"It's not so bad, they behave themselves most of the time. but being in the same room as a large group of teenagers can be a bit trying, and teaching muggle studies to pure bloods who seem a bit biased about muggles. Just a little difficult to keep their attention and get them to understand." She smiled tiredly and nodded at the offer for a second whiskey.

"It's been a while since I've been out, I went to a few conferences last summer but it was all related to work, getting new information to teach the kids this year. I imagine that it's worse looking after drunkards mind, don't think I'd have the patience for it. As you've seen." She gestured to the door.

"Ooh, I loved Muggle Studies. Mostly because it annoyed Mum and Dad, but it was quite interesting, too." Helen grinned. Not that she got good grades in the subject, but she didn't exactly slack off either. Of course, if the Professor had been as hot as the woman sitting before her, things would be different and Helen would be very interested in the subject. Instead of a cute lady, the former Slytherin got an old man with grey hair. It just wasn't fair.

She chuckled at Idella's comment and shook her head. "At least this lot isn't as self aware as teenagers. If I throw them out, it's likely they won't remember anything the next morning and so won't hold a grudge. It's mostly the doing-nothing and getting drunk that draws me to this job, really." she half joked. The getting drunk was an important aspect of her job, especially since she didn't know whether she was going to die or go to Azkaban.

"It's easier to deal with the old drunks if you're drunk as well. Or at least tipsy." the witch nodded with a grin.

A smile widened as Idella heard such enthusiasm for her specialty subject. She finished her second glass and placed it down and to the side, happy to listen to Helen with open ears. "Yes I do notice they tend to hold onto grudges even long after graduation. It's the same with muggle students. It baffles me really that wizards and witches seem to think they're so different from muggles."

Pondering another shot of whiskey but deciding against it Idella merely asked for a bottle of butterbeer instead. "So long as you can keep your wits about you why not eh? I dare not have too much, teaching is a headache as is, a hangover would probably be a bad idea." She looked out over the bar at the drunks, they seemed content enough to be quiet. "So you get many days off or is it an all day every day thing?" She asked conversationally, licking the foam off her upper lip from her drink.

Helen smirked. "That's because teenagers are stupid. I remember I held a grudge at my Transfig Professor for two years for giving me detention. Of course, it was my fault... I woke him up by crashing into one of those knight thingies." Helen chuckled. It didn't help that she was out after hours at the time, drunk and making out with some guy. The yelling and detention put quite a damper on the whole thing and the guy went back to his own common room and that was mostly what she was mad about.

"You taught at a Muggle school as well? They've got Maths and stuff, right?" She didn't really know much about Muggles, even though she took Muggle Studies at Hogwarts. At the time, she really only memorized things for the exams and so she could annoy her parents with her knowledge.

The witch gave Idella a bottle of butterbeer and poured another shot of firewhiskey for herself. She laughed at the woman's comment about hangovers. "You could just make them watch a movie and tell them to be quiet." That was one thing she knew about Muggles, movies. Theo had dragged her to see lots of those romantic comedies back in Spain, and Rhea wanted to see 'movies with the bad guys because they're hot'.

Helen was momentarily distracted by Idella licking her lips and it took her a moment to realize the woman was asking her a question. "Well, I can throw them out at any time and close up, if I feel like it. Or just let them sleep down here and go upstairs, I've got anti-stealing charms and jinxes all over the place."

The look wasn't missed but it wasn't commented on, no sense rushing things if they were heading there naturally. Shaking that thought out of her head for the time being she replied. "No not at muggle schools but where I grew up I teach the muggle kids during the summer, I never really had the heart to move out of the orphanage, and that way I can keep an eye out for witches and wizards that sprout out of the groups. I do know when they hold grudges against each other though, they always think they're so sneaky about it. Plus I teach the ones who show signs of magic, just to give them a leg up into the wizarding world, it can be scary to be suddenly surrounded by magic."

"Well at least security isn't a problem for you then, can't have thieves ruining your day. I wouldn't say no to coming by though to break up a fight, it's been a while since I've used any combative spells." She grinned, half teasing. "I should probably head back, I'll stop by next weekend, how's that sound?" She asked, hoping she wasn't pushing her luck.

Orphanage. Of course the woman couldn't just be hot, she had to be nice and polite and teach at an orphanage as well. Helen wasn't really used to this, where she came from, people did things for themselves or, if they happened to help somebody, there were selfish reasons. But this woman was kind and helped Muggleborns before they even came to Hogwarts. Well, all of this was certainly new. "That's... that's nice of you."

"And I wouldn't say no to you breaking up fights. I'm sure I could find a way to repay you." Helen grinned. "It's a date." It was a shame the other witch had to leave, but Helen was fine with going slow, if this was going anywhere at all.