Chapter 1: Flirtatious Smiles and a Glass Full of Ale

The pub smelled an awful mix between cigarettes and liquor, which was actually quite predictable if one thought about it. Honestly, what did you expect to inhale when you walked into the doors of a place where people came to get drunk? Oh, springtime flowers and cinnamon? Sorry to break it to you, but that'd be wrong. Of course the small, wooden shack, which looked as though with the next harsh breeze it would topple over, smelled of the contents it sold. It was not one of those unsolvable riddles; it was common sense. So, why did I find myself in a conversation about it with my best mate? She needed to get out more.

"Couldn't they hang air fresheners up? Maybe, at least then the B.O would be covered up."

I rolled my eyes, as I shoved her farther into the mass of people inside.

She stuck out like an alpaca in a group of cats. Her strawberry blond hair was naturally straight, yet full of volume and she dressed in the latest fashion, as though a model herself. It seemed as though she belonged to a high-class country club, which she did, and would never go near the shack in the backwoods of town. However, she had an awesome friend, which was me by the way, who gladly showed her the right paths to take and had since we were five.

"We are underage and still allowed to drink here. Really, leave them alone on the scent issue," I ordered, as I pushed us farther in the direction of the bar.

"Urgh, I know. It's just that they could class it up some, you know?"

She glimpsed back at me and flashed me the looked that meant she won the conversation. Even if I did compete against it and actually beat her, she'd still be the winner in her eyes. She was actually irritating when it came to that, but I learned to deal with it.

She shrugged my hand off her shoulder, and in the process flipping her hair behind her back, which I swore made three hormone-ridden boys gaze upon her as though she was prey, and added, "Yeah, you do, because I'm right."

"Okay, Janey. Whatever you say," I mumbled under my breath as we finally reached our destination.

Pushing my way to the front, I quickly demanded:

"A light for my friend, and a strong one for me, and if you don't have that, hit me with the strongest drink you own."

I glanced over to see where Janey had wondered off to, and wasn't surprised to see she surrounded by a group of three men— none who were rather attractive. When I caught a glimpse of her face, it was obvious she had her flirtatious smile on, which meant tonight would end the same way our girl nights always did. She'd find a boy, have a go with him for a bit, then return to me on the verge of puking from the alcohol. She probably would, and I'd have to take her back to my house and tend to her for the rest of the night. And to top it all off, we'd probably never actually get around to talking about the reason I was pissed off and wanted to head here anyway. Not that we never would, because we would, but just not till we were caring for the hangovers we got in the morning.

"Here y' go."

I laid some money on the counter top, before grabbing the two drinks and heading in the direction of Janey. This was always the point of the night I dreaded. I hated having to break through a group of boys to talk to her, mainly because boys and I didn't mix.

A short, rounder boy in the group was the first t notice me. His hair was a light shade of blond and entirely too long to be even considered in style. His cheeks were rosy and in my opinion, if someone dabbed some make-up on his blue eyes, he'd be the perfect baby-doll. Not saying that he didn't have potential, the lighting just didn't agree with me.

"Oho, how's it going hot stuff?"

I internally vomited, while I strongly stated, "Not going to you. I'm here to see her."

"C'mon, don't be so uptight, lollipop."

He attempted to do a head nod and wink as he spoke that made him look even more of a fool than he was, but aided to my amusement.

"Don't tell me what to do, doughnut."

Perhaps, I had raised my voice too loud, for within the next second the other two boys began howling with laughter and Janey shot me a disapproving look, which let me know that I was going to get toasted for this later if I didn't apologize. So, I shrugged and added:

"Sorry, I thought we were calling each other by sweets."

In my defense, from the smell of the liquor on the bloke's breath, he was probably too wasted to remember my insult in the morning anyway.

Ignoring the lot around her, I reached the hand that was holding her drink out to her and nodded, "I got you the same as usual."

She narrowed her eyes at me to say she wasn't done with me yet, then took her drink and took a sip, as I took a gulp of my own. Then, she returned to the boys and introduced me to my displeasure.

"Guys, this is my mate Bae. Bae, this is Curtis, Benny, and Max."

From the movement of her hands, the closest one to her— the tallest— was Curtis, the one in the middle was Benny, and doughnut was Max. Curtis and Benny had similar facial structures, as well as the same brown hair and grey eyes. I felt like it was safe to assume that they were brothers, or cousins, at least.

"Hey," I said, as I gave a small wave with my drink.

"Curtis was just telling me how he is a star football player, along with Benny," grinned Janey, as she glanced over at me.

"Yeah, we are. Pretty cool, huh?"

Benny seemed to take a step closer to me as he spoke, and I took a step back.

"Almost as fascinating as turtles. Interesting reptiles, those are," I stated, before drinking more of my drink and avoiding eye contact with Janey knowing she'd be unsatisfied with my remark.

It also seemed to give the boys a loss for words, so it wasn't long till I felt Janey grab a hold of my arm and pull me back into the direction of the bar, while mumbling:

"We'll be back. I need another round."

When we were far enough away so the boys couldn't hear, she stopped and glared at me.

"What the bloody hell is wrong with you? I set you up with boys are the time and you always do this. Newsflash hunny, when you screw up, it doesn't just make you look bad but me as well, and I sort of want a guy tonight. So, how about you just stay here and I'll go back over there, and we'll talk in the morning, okay?"

I should've probably been offended by her comment, but the nice thing about our friendship was that we said what we thought when we thought it and then got over it. Plus, I knew she was probably right. I did have a habit of sticking my foot in my mouth when I spoke. I just didn't like people.

I went to open my mouth to reply, but she was already back into the center of the group, so I found an empty bar stool and took a seat. In my opinion, she wanted it that bad tonight, she could've found a better bloke. She was aiming lower than usual.

Chugging down the rest of my glass, I shook it in front of me to catch the bartenders attention and ordered:

"Hit me with another one, strong."

Then, I set it in front of me and waited for my next one.

In the meanwhile, I listened into the conversation of the couple beside me, which was nothing too spectacular, and was pleased to see a new drink in front of me in less than a minute. Only I could be lonely in a pub full of people. I had a talent for that.

"Now, why would someone as pretty as you be alone at this place?"

I froze mid-gulp at the sound of a light-hearted, male's voice, as I placed a face to it from school. And it wasn't just any face; it was the face of James Potter, who was in fact the sole reason why my previous semester sucked. It had to be my luck. I could imagine him standing a foot away with what my peers often called the Potter-smirk, which was apparently could not be resist, but trust me, it could. Knowing him from those awful months, I would bet ten galleons that he was running a hand— probably his right— through his messy, black hair. I didn't even want to think about the egotistical, amusement that flickered in his "chocolate" eyes— it was his description of them not mine. What made it even worse was that his flock of friends was probably not too far off either. They seemed to travel together more places than thirteen-year-old girls, even the bathroom.

Turning around to look at him, I swallowed my drink and rolled my eyes. Sure enough, just like I predicted, I saw him running his right hand through his hair, and his red-headed cousin, Fred, along with his other three mates not far off flirting with their own prey. Joy.

"Maybe, because I don't want a stupid boy, much like yourself, around me." I commented, with an ever-so-present frown upon my lips.

He placed a hand over his chest and solemnly spoke as he took a step closer:

"Now, that hurts the heart. You should be more cautious of what you say; words are knives if used loosely."

It was almost as though he didn't remember me, which as I thought about it could actually be true. Throughout the entire semester, it wasn't as though he noted I existed except when I was doing our project. And now, here he was standing in front of me in my town and sanctuary hitting on me. Life was peculiar.

"Don't worry, I am cautious with words," I piped in, taking another sip of my drink.

He took another step towards me, slugged an arm around my shoulders, and said in a voice I supposed was supposed to be suggestive or do something to make my heart flutter:

"Oho, a feisty one," he winked, then continued, "Now, how about you let me make your night a hell of a lot better and as I buy you another drink, you tell me your name?"

He flashed me a smile and turned around to catch the bartender. He seemed to ignore the fact that I still had a drink in my hands or was just planning on getting me drunk enough to hook up with him.

"My name? Oh, the one that you seemed to never call me last year in Potions? You know, when we were paired together for second term in Potions?" I questioned.

It was my turn to have an amused light glisten in my own eyes, as he turned dumbfound towards me with his powerful smile now weak with panic.

He scratched his head for a moment and a superior feeling, which I enjoyed immensely, flooded over me as I watched his face, which resembled a deer in the headlights, grow pallid. This game was entirely too much fun.

"Er, you were that girl? But how? I mean, look at you!"

"And that's supposed to mean?" I arched an eyebrow waiting to hear this response; it was going to be a good one.

"It's just— well, you're— wow, but at school—"

"I'm not a whore, so I was an invisible girl to you. It's okay. It's really not your fault; your stupidity just takes control of you."

I sent a wink in his direction, as I took a final gulp of my drink and slammed it down on the counter in front of me before turning to him.

I reached up and patted his cheek with my hand gently, while saying:

"Nice chatting with you, Jamie. We mustn't do it again."

Then, simply turned on my heel and headed away from him, only looking back when he stated:

"B-But you never told me your name!"

I scoffed at his foolishness. How could so many girls flock to him as though he was actual sex on legs? It was past my expertise.

"You didn't remember it before, so why would you remember it now?"

I gave him one last smile, before barging my way in the direction of Janey again. Hopefully, she would understand if I wanted to leave, but I doubted it, because she wasn't a witch so she didn't go to school with the insufferable prat.

"C'mon. Haven't you ever heard of second chances?" pleaded James, and it was obvious by the sound approaching me that he was frantically stalking me through the crowd.

"If you count the three times I had to remind you it last year, then technically this is your fourth chance?" I shouted, not bothering to glance behind me, and then added, "And to be clear, you screwed this one up too."

"Damn, why are you so difficult?" He exclaimed and I pictured him throwing his hands in the air in an overly exaggerated way that only he could do.

"Maybe, because I'm a secret psychopath who enjoys watching people struggle?"

I rolled my eyes as I spoke and was relieved to spot Janey staring off in my direction, so I could send a message through eye contact begging her to come to my rescue. And fortunately, it was received.

"That's creepy."

He seemed a little put off by the thought, which didn't bother me, but if Janey had been available to listen to the entire conversation I could imagine her having a few things to say about it like how I always shove people away and what not. She had this insane idea that it was my fault that no one was interested in me and I didn't really disagree with it, but I didn't let her know that.

"Hey, hey!"

She stumbled over to us with her drink in the air and her free hand patting down her hair, which has sticking up in every possible position, and from the look in her eye I could tell that she probably made out with all three of the male companions she had been with. Yeah, she was a real role-model.

"Howdy," I mumbled, as she gave me a hug and in the process whispered in my ear:

"You better be playing nicely with him, Bae. He's actually really attractive. Who knew such blokes came to this ran-down place."

I groaned and opened my mouth to whisper something back in reply back, but was cut off when she turned towards James and flicked on that dazzling smile of her's, which made her resemble a cat in heat.

"So, whose your ever-so-handsome friend, Bae?"

"Ah-ha! Bae! Now, I remember," stated James, as his back straightened in pride so he was now standing his full height.

"Yes, you are so incredibly intelligent," I spoke sarcastically, which he seemed to disregard and just take as a compliment.

"Now, Bae, I believe you should introduce your lovely friend and I, shouldn't you? Or would you rather be impolite?"

I wanted nothing more than to punch him, especially at how he dragged out my name to emphasize in some unknown competition that he won.

I cocked my head to the side and painted on my friendliest smile, and shrugged:

"Why? You'd probably forget her name in an hour anyway."

This reply rewarded me a slap on the arm from Janey, who seemed to be shooting millions of tiny, hot embers in the direction of my face.

"Forget about her, she seems to have some sort of stick up her butt," she said, before reaching her hand out and saying, "I'm Janet Turner, but most just call me Janey."

Instead being normal, James swiftly grasped her hand and pulled it up to his mouth and kissed the top of it, before speaking in his most charismatic voice:

"How do you do, Miss Turner? I am James Potter."

From the heat of her blush, it was obvious that he had successfully charmed his way into her pants and had taken my best mate captive. I had to get her out of here before he actually perused the opportunity.

Taking a hold of her hand and dragging her to the entrance of the shack, I called back:

"She's not available for your evil schemes, find another victim."

From the strength she fought back, I was lucky that I happened to outweigh and out lift her, so she couldn't break free and return to him. When we finally reached the door, I burst through it and thanked the world for the escape. He was not doing this here or anywhere with Janey or me— he just wasn't.

By the time I let go of her, she was on full attack.

"What the bloody hell was that? Are you delusional?"

"Janey—"

"He was a bloody God and was interested in us!"

"J—"

"I mean, I don't give a rat's arse that you don't like men, but I do and I wanted it and BOOM! In two seconds, you ruined everything! Bloody good mate—"

"Janey, shut the fuck up for a second and let me explain myself, will ya?" I hollered over her increasingly loud voice; in a screaming constant, she'd definitely bet me to the ground.

She didn't say anything else but looked unbelievably frustrated with me, so I took the response as an okay to explain.

"Listen, you know I would've let you if I didn't have a good cause, and I do. James Potter is a git from school and I was paired with him in Po— Chemistry and he didn't even remember my name. He remembers no one's name. All he bloody cares for is getting you into bed, having a good ride, and then finding another one. That's all. And no matter how charming he is, he's a prat, who probably has ever STD known to man."

I could see by the end of my speech, she had calmed, so I figured there was no need for a bomb shelter.

"I thank you for trying to protect you, but you just describe a one night stand, which is what I was looking for. But whatever, you don't feel comfortable about him, so let's just go home," said Janey, as she locked her arm around mine, as we started stumbling in the direction of my house. Luckily, my parents were gone for the weekend doing God knows what.

"Just know that next time we get a change, we better be getting drunk and I will be hooking up with a bloke, even if you stay as uptight as normal. Unlike you, I need my guys."

I shook my head and sighed. Sometimes, I swore she was as bad as the gits that occupy the world, but at least she knew when to draw the line.

"Hey, you had a few good tongue wrestling matches tonight at least," I laughed, recalling the three boys.

"Shut up and don't ever bring that up again," she warned, as she rested her head against mine.

"They weren't even attractive," I pointed out, leaning my against her's as well.

"Or good kissers."

With that, we probably guffawed the rest of the way home, even though it was a three mile walk. It was just too hilarious to think about.

We came to our destination—my house— and I took the spare key from a fake rock and unlocked my fortress. I switched on the lights, shut the door behind me, and shouted out to the emptiness:

"Annie, you home?"

When I was greeted with no reply, I concluded the only other family member, my older sister, had found something to do with her Friday night as well, and I fully expected to be introduced to a man stumbling out of her bedroom in the morning. Janey and Annie were more alike than me and either one of them, but in a way we leveled each other out.

"Who do you think the lucky guy will be?"

I looked over at Janey, as she grabbed the railing of the stairs and started wobbling up them at a pace a snail could compete with. Apparently, she had more drinks than I had, which didn't necessarily surprise me.

"Dunno nor do I care," I mumbled, as I made sure the door was locked and headed towards the kitchen to get two glasses of water for the sake of both of us, as I advised:

"Take each step slowly and carefully. I'm not fancying the idea of rushing to the E.R. tonight. I'd much rather sleep."

She must've taken my words to heart because when I returned with two glasses she was only four steps up and not even close to the first landing. Laughing to myself, I cautiously made my way to her and allowed her to take a hold of me for support and balance. It was nearly five minutes till we were safely on the second level in my bedroom.

She immediately plopped down on my bed and sprawled out so there was no room for me, I could sense her watching me from the corner of her eye as I came over and shoved the glass of water in her hand and took sips of my own in the process of falling on top of her. I wanted to lie down as well.

Automatically taking a sip of her own, she glanced over at me and yawned, "I probably shouldn't have accepted three more drinks from Curtis. I think he was trying to get me to blackout, at least I'm not slurring my words yet."

"Yeah, I think all the alcohol is finally getting to you," I laughed, before adding, "Unfortunately for me, because of the gits—namely James— there, I didn't get hardly tipsy, but I guess that's a good thing, cause you can barely walk up the stairs."

"You could've been on the verge of alcohol poisoning and would've still helped me up the stairs before passing out or dying, which is why I love you and you're my best mate."

"All right, well I say we should go to sleep, because you're talking nonsense and I'm ready for today to be over with," I quickly stated, before she had any more time to come up with something utterly ridiculous again.

There was no argument to my suggestion and though we continued chatting for an hour or so later, which made it close to four in the morning and there was still no sign of Annie, we eventually feel asleep talking about rubbish in a state of lunacy from sleep deprivation and being drunk. We were known to make the best memories when together.

There was a stream of light trickling from the cracks in my blinds and warming my face, but that wasn't what woke me. What did was a foot that I assumed was Janey's kicking me right below the ribs which didn't start my morning off to a pleasing start. Groaning as my eyes fluttered open, I moved her legs off me and stood up slowly as the room temporarily spun around me. There was a slight popping noise in my head and I stumbled over to my dresser to look in my mirror at the damage from the night before. I was hideous.

My hair, which was normally in ringlets of curls, stuck up and frizzed out in every angle like twigs in every angle and it didn't help that my hair was the same shade as most branches and bark in this area of town. The make-up that I had spent an hour on made it seem that I had gotten in a fight the night before and my eyes were the targets of someone's fist; it was what I got for sleeping in it anyway. However, I glimpsed from the mirror to Janey, who was still knocked out on my bed, I couldn't help but wonder how she looked like she had just gotten ready. I guess beauty came to people at different levels of struggle.

Leaving her alone, I left the room and headed down the hall towards the bathroom to wash up and in the process passing my sister's room where I could hear people stirring on the other side. It was only a matter of time till I was introduced to the man of the night; I could barely wait. Hopefully, my sarcastic tone was heavy enough for the world to know that I could wait, but knowing my luck, it wasn't and in some odd fashion we'd run into each other and Annie would introduce us.

Shutting the door behind me, I was relieved to have made it into the bathroom without an awkward greeting and instantly found a cloth to wash my face off with. It seemed the harder I pressed, the farther and worse it streaked.

"Damn it."

I swore a collection of creative curse words under my breath as I gave up and glared at my reflection. I had a bloody headache, was developing a bruise from where Janey kicked me, and couldn't get myself to look half decent. But hey, when did I ever actually care about it unless I was clubbing? Always, but that didn't mean other people had to know that their judgment made me anxiety-stricken. For all they knew, I couldn't care less about their comparisons of me to my sister and best mate and I was positive to keep it that way.

To my sanity, it was only the people I was comfortable around with no make-up on and whoever the mystery guy was that I was certain I'd never see again in my house, so I picked up the cloth and tried to wipe it off some more. I'd just try to get rid of the circle around my eyes and anything else could stay, since it seemed to enjoy being glued to my skin.

Just as I almost completed the left eye, the bathroom door swung open with ease at the sound of his voice and my stomach dropped.

"The loo's in this door right?"

And before I could react, I was staring at a half naked, only wearing his boxers, James Potter, the only person who could make this situation worse than it was. However, from the shocked, yet joyful appearance on his face, I could see that he saw it as some weird, but pleasant coincident.

"Funny running into you here, Bae."

He spoke as though I was supposed to applaud him for remembering my name like a person would reward their dog for sitting on command.

The only words I could manifest were:

"Bloody hell…"

Author's Note:

Howdy everyone! Thanks to a promise I made myself when I opened this second account, I will not be starting any other multi-chapter stories on here until I finished this one. Occasionally when I get into moods, I may post some some one-shots, but this is it for chapter stories till I complete it. So, I hope you all enjoy this and review, because they make me extremely happy. However, since I promised myself I had to finish this, I will be updating either way, but reviews would really move along the process and inspiration.

Now, I would like to get the second chapter up sometime this week, because I like the idea of updating once a week on Sunday, however I am in a play which comes out in a week and a half, so I'll be busy finishing that up, so for the first bit the updates my take a while, but afterwards I hope to get a steady schedule doing if possible.

Another thing is that I am not English, so sorry in advance if any of this is Americanized. If there are any people out there who are English and found something I need to fix or would like to read over on-coming chapters to be sure they fit that would be great. If not, please bare with me. Google can only do so much for a person when they are trying to learn a new culture.

Anyway, I'm going to go before I bore you all crazy. Lots of love and hope that you enjoyed the piece (maybe even hope for a review to be thrown my way).

-xXxLasting-MemoriesxXx

P.S. I enjoy criticism, but it's a lot nicer to hear if there is a compliment attached, because it can't be all bad. (: