The Three Broomsticks

Subject: The Three Broomsticks Thu Apr 26, 2007 3:48 pm

First Hogsmeade trip, October 1975
Open to all students

Number of posts : 189 Registration date : 2007-08-13

Location:Hogsmeade
Date: November 12th, 1975
Summary: Braving the cold for a simple butterbeer
Characters: 3rd years and above
Open:

Amelia forced herself into the Three Broomsticks, having to fight hard for her entrance due to the severity of the wind that was howling outside. For November, the weather had turned fierce early-a somewhat bitter reminder that the temperature was about to drop significantly. When she had at last made it inside, and the door was closed securely behind her, she gasped in relief. The next time she felt like she had to get a butterbeer, she was going to save her body heat and go down and visit the house elves in the kitchens. She brushed the leaves out of her hair and walked into the bathroom. Groaning as she looked inthe mirror, she saw that her hair was a mess of tangles with leaves woven intermittently in between the strands. That is definitely going to be a joy to deal with. Her cheeks were bright pink from the cold, while the rest of her normally tanned face seem pale. Wonderful. I look like hell. she thought wryly to herself as she began flexing her fingers and willing the feeling back into them and trying to get rid of their persistent stiffness. When that had been accomplished-and it did take a while-she began the arduous task of getting all the leaves out of her hair. Several times Amelia nearly lost her temper and used her wand, but then she remembered that, strictly speaking, students weren't allowed to use magic in Hogsmeade. Even though she was 18 and considered of age, she didn't want to bend the rules to suit her trivial need of having leaves out of her hair. No matter how annoying they were.

Amelia still wasn't sure that she had gotten every single leaf when she sat down on a stool at the bar. She was grateful, however, that most of the people who had braved their way down to the bar didn't look much better than she did. Just as she was picking the last golden leaf out of her hair-proving to herself that there were, indeed, more of the little suckers to be picked out- the bar lady walked up to her with a kind smile,

"And what can I get for you, my dear?" Amelia smiled back as she answered,

"One butterbeer, please." As the woman dashed off, Amelia ran a hand through her hair experimentally, one last time. Please let there be no more leaves, please let there be no more leaves... she silently prayed. Much to her relief, her hand came out leaf free. She sighed happily. "That took much longer than necessary. Next time, I'm wearing a hat, and not even caring if I get hat head..." she mused, swinging her legs back and forth as she waited for her drink. Being short, about 5'1", her legs didn't reach all the way to the floor. Instead, they barely skimmed the stool's last rung.

"Here you go, Miss. The bar lady had returned, and handed her a bottle of the warm, creamy drink. Amelia paid her and took a sip, smiling as she began to feel her body warm up.

Number of posts : 5 Registration date : 2007-08-14

Alice shivered involuntarily as she slowly made her way through the frigid November air. "Jeez." she muttered to herself, trudging through the leaves, "For November, it's certainly much colder than it ought to be." Alice looked up at the sky and glared at it, as if her wrath could change the weather. However, her ferocious glare suddenly turned to a look of disgust as she saw the grey clouds overhead- a sure sign that snow was on its way. “Ick. Snow.” Alice shuddered as she reached the door to the Three Broomsticks and pulled it open with a flourish, feeling another pang of annoyance at the fact that she couldn’t apparate because she was still technically ‘at school’.

After the tough journey, the warm and friendly atmosphere came as a blessed relief to a thoroughly chilled Alice. She briefly debated going into the bathroom to clean herself up a bit, but the thought of a warm butterbeer was just too tempting to pass up. So, Alice made her way up to the bar stand, and climbed into a stool next to a girl with dark brown hair in her year, where the kindly lady behind the bar gave her a warm smile, “What can I get you dear?”

“Butterbeer please”. Alice replied, giving the woman a smile of her own. When the woman hurried off to retrieve it, Alice sighed and ran a hand through her hair, pulling through an assortment of leaves and twigs that had somehow managed to get wedged within her dark brown locks, glad that it’s short length and silky nature had made the damage (hopefully) minimal. She still had yet to go look in the mirror.

“Here you go; this’ll warm you right up.” Alice smiled again and put some coins on the table as the bar lady placed the warm drink in front of her, and then hurried off to go take care of some other customers that’d just arrived. Alice shivered when the door opened again, and wrapped both hands around the cup to take a swig of nice hot butterbeer. Then she turned to the girl next to her, feeling as though she should make some sort of conversation.
“Frightful out, isn’t it?” she commented, gesturing towards the door, through which they could still hear the wind howling.

Number of posts : 189 Registration date : 2007-08-13

When the new girl had entered, Amelia had spared her a passing glance, interested that someone other than herself had braved the cold to get a butterbeer. She knew that her name was Alice, and that she was a Gryffindor in her year. That was pretty much all that she knew. So, not wanting to appear rude with her staring, she had looked away. Of course, this was after she registered that Alice's hair appeared to be in the same state that her own had been when she had walked into the Three Broomsticks. Luckily for Alice, her hair was much shorter and easier to manage. Amelia made another mental note to experiment with a haircut.

Alice, typically, bought a butterbeer, like she had. The similarities are starting to add up immensely. she thought wryly, taking another sip of her butterbeer. It was the best thing to warm you up when you were cold, since most students-unlike Amelia, who was 18-were underage and couldn't buy firewhiskey. Technically, Amelia could; but she, again, was too much of a stickler for the rules to do that. She was about halfway done with it, she'd need another soon. Her brow furrowed a little as she realized that she would only be able to buy the one more drink, if she wanted to have any money for later Hogsmeade trips until Christmas. Christmas...I need to buy presents. Ugh... Amelia loved her family dearly, but shopping simply wasn't her thing at all.

The brunette's grumpy thoughts about buying her family's Yuletide gifts were interrupted when Alice spoke to her about the weather. A bit of a bland topic under normal occasions, today however...Her eyes darted to the door, and, yes, the wind was still making its presence known. It's going to be like heaven walking back to Hogwarts her thoughts rang with bitter sarcasm, although her face didn't show it. She looked back at Alice, and nodded with a wry smile, "Oh, yes it is. I'm surprised someone other than myself trudged all the way out here for a butterbeer." she smiled, and held out her hand, decided to introduce herself in case Alice wasn't aware of her name. "I'm Amelia Bones, by the way. Your name is...Alice right? Forgive me if I'm wrong, of course. Wouldn't that be embarassing." she chuckled, hoping to Merlin above that she hadn't gotten the name wrong.

Number of posts : 5 Registration date : 2007-08-14

Alice grinned and reached her own pale hand out, grasping Amelia's hand firmly. "How do you do, Amelia?" she asked, politely. "You've gotten my name right; you seem to be quite a bit better with names than I am." She smiled wryly. "I'm awful...I've been known to forget my own name half the time. Of course, I HAD just flown into a tree on my broomstick, but still..." Alice was babbling again, something that she had a tendancy to do when meeting strangers. It was like some sort of snowball effect- as soon as a small amount of babbling had started, it escalated until she couldn't stop talking, frightning the other half of her conversation to death. She could talk for hours if she didn't stop herself.

Therefore, she took a deep breath and asked Amelia, curiously, "What brings you all the way out here? Was it just the promise of a nice, hot butterbeer? Or were you intending to get some Christmas shopping done as well?" Then she bit down on her tongue to keep herself from babbling again.

Number of posts : 189 Registration date : 2007-08-13

Amelia kept up with Alice's babbling-seven years of living in a dorm with Alexis Locke tended to help you keep up with ramblings. There were a few times when she was grateful for that acquired ability-and now was most certainly one of them."Oh, well, the butterbeer certainly was a motivator. But, yes, I do have some shopping to do. Unfortunately, it seems as though I won't be able to get to it today, what with the weather being so bright and cheerful."she chuckled. "If it keeps up, I may have to resort to Owl Order, which I would actually rather not. Rather expensive isn't it, because you have to pay for shipping and all?" When Amelia spoke, it didn't tend to sound like babbling, you could sense that there was a purpose behind her words, and that if you paid attention, she would get to it and all would be clear. It was one of the things that she hoped would help her in her quest to become a lawyer and eventually a judge on the Wizengamot.

The storm seemd to have quieted for a moment, and she turned to look out the window excitedly. Maybe the weather's gotten better! she thought. Unfortunately, the weather had not gotten 'better'. Well, it just really depending on your definition of the word. It wasn't bitingly windy anymore-instead, large flakes of snow had started to make their way down to the earth. She could see some young boys already starting a snow ball fight and bombing whomever walked out of the nearby shops. ...Perfect.