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Post by Andromeda Tonks on Oct 18, 2008 23:21:19 GMT -5
No one ever went to Stu's Bar. It was dirty and dark and generally unsavory. And they had something called "karaoke", which meant that people with no actual talent for singing often wound up on the stage musically massacring all sorts of songs.
But tonight, Andi didn't want to be seen, so the little bar was just the place for her. Since her breakup with Ted, she'd been drinking a lot more than usual. And often in secret. She feared going into the Three Broomsticks, or even The Hog's Head, on the chance that she might run into Ted. And it was just too much trouble to apparate over to the Leaky Cauldron. Besides, there was also the chance he'd start going there after leaving the Ministry for the day. So she had to hope that the forgotten little bar with the terrible singing was just one place where Ted would not go.
She slipped into the bar and ordered a bottle of firewhiskey, which she took over to a far corner of the bar. Maybe tonight the drink would help her to forget her pain for a little while.
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Post by Nathalia Webb on Oct 18, 2008 23:41:37 GMT -5
Nathalia was in the back, taking off the little apron she wore while working and fished all of her tips out of the pockets. She had a smile on her face... for being such a forgotten little bar, the regulars treated her pretty well, and they barely knew her yet. She kind of liked it that way, though... it was just easier leaving as often as she did when no one knew her really well. Of course, Nat always said she was coming to someone else when she was asked why she was leaving.
Pushing the swinging door from that back into the bar open, she was ready to leave, but someone in the back corner caught her eye.
She squinted. No Black would ever be caught in this place, except maybe Sirius. That was half of it's appeal.
"Andi?" She asked, changing her course and walking towards the table.
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Post by Andromeda Tonks on Oct 18, 2008 23:51:32 GMT -5
Andi glanced up at the familiar voice. Merlin, was there nowhere she could go where she wouldn't run into a relative? But she supposed when your family was already linked to just about every prominent pureblood family, there really was no place to escape. At any rate, Nathalia was someone she didn't mind running into just then. It had been a while since they'd seen each other.
She smiled weakly. "Hey Nat," she greeted her. "What are you doing in a place like this? I didn't think anyone ever came here."
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Post by Nathalia Webb on Oct 18, 2008 23:54:56 GMT -5
Nathalie smiled. "I bet my excuse is easier to swallow than yours," she said, raising her eyebrows and sliding into the seat across from Andi. If the girl didn't want her there, she could say so. Nat never really believed in suffering for politeness sake.
"I work here," she laughed and added, "Don't judge me. What's got you knee deep in firewhiskey?"
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Post by Andromeda Tonks on Oct 19, 2008 0:06:40 GMT -5
Andi sighed. "I'm hardly in a position to judge anyone," she said simply. "It's actually sort of nice to know that you're not above working in a place like this. Most of the members of our collective families wouldn't be caught dead in here."
Taking a sip from her glass, she looked up at her cousin. "Well, if you have to ask, I suppose you haven't been reading the Daily Prophet lately, and for that, I can't argue with your taste."
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Post by Nathalia Webb on Oct 19, 2008 0:14:14 GMT -5
Nat just winked at the first comment. "Why do you think I applied to this bar?" She leaned forward as if she was sharing some great secret. "Besides, have you met Stu? He's this tiny little old guy that will sit and talk to you for hours about anything. He's adorable. And there's no uniform. You know how I feel about uniforms." She always found ways of modifying hers in Hogwarts while she was a student. She usually got in trouble, too... she went through a lot of robes and a lot of Slytherin ties.
At her cousin's obvious misery, she leaned back again. "Goodness no. That paper is nothing but rubbish and I stopped reading it two years ago. But let's have it... what happened?"
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Post by Andromeda Tonks on Oct 19, 2008 0:35:20 GMT -5
Andi grinned slightly. One of the things she had always admired about Nathalia was her rebellious nature, similar to her own. Nat had always followed her own path, even when she wasn't quite sure where it was taking her. Andi tried to do the same, but she didn't think she always had the confidence that her cousin had. She always second-guessed herself.
"You always were the rebel," she said. "Just another thing we always had in common. I came here for the same reason--I was hoping not to see anyone I know. But out of all my relatives right now, I'm glad to see you. You'll have to introduce me to Stu sometime... he sounds like a nice guy."
As the conversation wound its way back to the Daily Prophet, she took another long gulp from her drink. "Well, if you haven't read it, then you probably don't know that I'm pretty much the laughingstock of the wizarding world, not to mention the family pariah. Not that I care so much about the last part." She sighed. "I was dating a muggleborn... and we had a very ugly, very public breakup."
When she put it like that, it didn't sound so bad. Except for how much it had hurt.
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Post by Nathalia Webb on Oct 19, 2008 1:10:37 GMT -5
Nat let her end of the conversation go, realizing that Andi needed a friend, someone to listen to her.
"All right, let's sort through this, then. Who broke up with who, how long were you going out, all of that. And I'm kind of proud of you for dating a muggleborn, by the way. You deserve a medal or plaque or something."
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Post by Andromeda Tonks on Oct 19, 2008 1:38:34 GMT -5
Andi took a sip from her drink and smiled wryly. "Well, I didn't do it just to piss off my family. I knew it would probably have that effect if we lasted any length of time, but to tell you the truth, when he asked me out, I was so mesmerized by his eyes that I didn't even think about saying no. I fell for him, pretty much at first sight."
Staring down into her drink, she sighed. "His name... was Ted. Ted Tonks. He was a few years ahead of us in school, if you remember. We went out for about three months. Although he was away one business for six weeks in the middle of that time. And... I loved him. I mean, really loved him. I was sure he was the one."
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Post by Nathalia Webb on Oct 19, 2008 1:44:40 GMT -5
Nat nodded, reaching and taking the bottle from Andi so that she could have a sip as well. She didn't even wince as it went down.
"Okay. He was the one. Eyes you can get lost in. Check. Why'd you break up?" That was the next logical question, right? You didn't find yourself in mesmerizing eyes just 3 months later.
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Post by Andromeda Tonks on Oct 19, 2008 2:09:02 GMT -5
"I honestly don't know," Andi admitted. "He broke up with me... it didn't really make sense. And no matter how many times I go over it in my head, I still can't make sense of it."
She took another sip and tried to stay focused. It was all too easy to get lost in the memory and forget herself. "Things were going great, as far as I could see. He was so sweet and charming and caring... And then one night, we ran into my sisters at Le Repas Cher. They argued with me about dating a muggleborn, and I told them that I chose him over them. Then I went home with him, and he held me while I cried. He stayed with me all night, and the next morning he was making me breakfast in bed... I swear, he was the perfect boyfriend. But when I started my first day teaching at Hogwarts..." She sighed and took another drink, her hand shaking slightly. "I came into the entrance hall and saw him there with this woman kissing him. I... I was freaked out, of course... it was so like what happened with Rabastan. But I think he was trying to push her away. I... I would have believed that she jumped him or something, but he told me that it was what it looked like. And then he said he 'got what he wanted' from me and we shouldn't see each other anymore. And then he... gave me flowers." This last part puzzled her the most. The flowers--which she'd barely looked at then--now haunted her. What were they for? They weren't for Rita... he gave them to her.
"It all just happened so fast, and it just made no sense. And I just can't believe he was lying to me all that time. Wouldn't you say I'm a pretty good judge of character?
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Post by Nathalia Webb on Oct 19, 2008 3:00:49 GMT -5
Nat frowned, giving Andi a strange look.
It was the way she phrased it... she was kissing him... that made nathalia realize that Andi so desperately wanted to believe this Ted character. And he brought her flowers on her first day teaching...
She shook her head. "Was the girl kissing him a pureblood fanatic, Andi? Because if she was, i think it's pretty clear what happened.'
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Post by Andromeda Tonks on Oct 19, 2008 11:07:46 GMT -5
"I don't really know anything about her, except--" Andi trailed off suddenly, as another piece of the puzzle suddenly slipped into place for her. How convenient was it that the girl Ted just happened to be kissing also happened to be the girl who wrote that dreadful article? The girl had painted herself as a victim of the "roguish" Ted, but the more Andi thought about it, the more unlikely it all seemed. That Ted would just happen upon a girl in the entrance hall and randomly decide to kiss her... and for what? What would have have gained from that? And what were the chances that the girl he kissed would just happen to be a junior reporter for the Daily Prophet, who would go on to write a scathing article about him?
"...She was the one who wrote the article," Andi said, looking up at Nathalia with a sudden light in her eyes. "The article... it made me out to be some kind of naive, romantic fool, the weak link of the family ready to toss everything over for a handsome charmer... and a really crappy auror for not seeing what was right in front of me. And it made Ted sound like some scheming bastard out to take down the Black family by preying on its weakest link. But even if all that were true... Why in the world would he kiss Rita and blow everything?"
Andi realized that she had never really believed any of the article. She certainly didn't believe that Ted had been trying to take down her family. And she didn't believe that Rita was an innocent victim.
"Oh, my Godric..." Andi murmured. "We were set up!"
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Post by Nathalia Webb on Oct 19, 2008 13:19:39 GMT -5
"Bingo," Nat said, nodding. It seemed obvious to her, but maybe because she was the only one really so far removed from the situation.
"He brought you flowers because it was your first day there... the little b*tch found him first, and probably fed him some lines about how he was ruining everything for you... and the poor guy believed it. That makes sense, right? I can't imagine there were a lot of people too happy with your choice in guys."
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Post by Andromeda Tonks on Oct 19, 2008 14:21:47 GMT -5
"I should have seen it sooner," Andi said numbly. "It was all so obvious... Bella was furious with me when she saw me with Ted... she must have set me up, and she knew that after what happened with Rabastan that nothing would make me crazier than to see him kissing another girl..."
Andi gulped down the contents of her glass and grabbed the bottle to refill it. "I am such an idiot, Nat. I've been crying over him, thinking he didn't love me, when really he was just manipulated into thinking he was doing the best thing for me. That explains what Alice said about he said he just wanted what was best for me. Alastor was right, I should have gone deeper."
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Post by Nathalia Webb on Oct 19, 2008 14:32:17 GMT -5
Nathalia didn't know about what anyone else had said to her, but she was glad they had come to this conclusion so quickly.
"Have you seen him since, Andi? I bet he's absolutely miserable. Drunk, unshaven... the whole unnatractive, heartbreaken shabang."
Would that make her cousin feel better, she wondered? She should be happy, figuring out this bloke still loved her... Nat could only hope they were right about it.
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Post by Andromeda Tonks on Oct 19, 2008 14:54:25 GMT -5
"Alice said he looked like hell when she saw him," Andi realized. The realization brought her close to tears again. She could almost picture Ted, unshaven, dirty... and just as drunk as she was trying to get right now. "He must be a mess. He probably thinks I hate him and that I believed that stupid article! I said I refused to see him before... that if he wanted me back, he'd have to come to me. But if he thinks he's doing the right thing, then he probably won't come... He'll think he has to stay away."
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Post by Nathalia Webb on Oct 21, 2008 14:28:05 GMT -5
Nat nodded. Again stealing a sip of andi's drink. "He hurt you to save you, then, in his eyes. Gotta be cruel to be kind, right? Frankly andi, we could be wrong. But I wouldn't put it past bellatrix to do something like that."
What Lia wondered was why none of andi's other friends had suggested this possibility to her. Or, had her cousin simply fallen for someone that cruel?
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Post by Andromeda Tonks on Oct 21, 2008 23:29:56 GMT -5
Andi nodded slowly. Maybe the alcohol was getting to her, but this was starting to make total sense. The article was the real kicker; it had ruined both her reputation (not that she really cared about that) and Ted's. Moody had thought it was suspicious, and even though she had discounted the idea of an imperious curse or polyjuice potion, he had been right that she should have dug a little deeper.
"No... no, it totally makes sense," she said, her words slurring. "Or am I just drunk? But really... Bella was so mad... I can see her doing this... but whether she thought she was doing it for my own good, or if it was just to hurt me, I don't know."
She giggled. "I want to go find him now and talk to him... but I think I'm getting drunk already... more people should come here, the drinks are stronger than at the Broomsticks."
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Post by Nathalia Webb on Oct 22, 2008 16:30:09 GMT -5
The Blacks were pure evil, so it made perfect sense to Nat as well. Of course, Andi was in pain and didn't need to hear that her family were sprawns of the Devil, so she kept that to herself.
She laughed when Andi mentioned how strong the drinks were and winked. "You should try the ones I mix. What do you want, sweetheart... do you want to get really plastered, or do you want to sober up? I can help with either."
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