CHAPTER 10: BRIT CHICKS AND ALCOHOL
"He won't mind, will he?"
"How do you care?"
"He's my best friend"
"You've been fighting like kids for almost two weeks…ever since that thing"
"So?"
"My point is that when you accepted the invitation, if it never struck what would he think, I don't find a reason it should now"
"Maybe you're right" Rose said. "It shouldn't"
"And come on, it's your life, it is not like you and Scorpius was exes and now if you go out with Vladimir it would reignite shitty old feelings" Alexis said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Oh hell no" Rose laughed. "Is my hair okay?"
"Fine, nice dress"
"Thanks, Uncle Harry gave it to me for Christmas". Rose was wearing her favorite black dress with a white satin sash and a red jacket with matching boots. Color contrast, Daily Prophet current fashion thing.
"I'll be late so don't wait for me. I'm taking my set of keys and no dinner for me" Rose reminded Alex.
"Whatever like, fine. Oh, I forgot to tell you that Daniel came up with this thing; he told me it was based on the C12 style so we're talking it over tomorrow morning."
"Scorpius is pretty sure about it too" Alex added softly. She looked at Rose with a tell-me-now-it-is-bugging expression.
"Forget it. Scorpius has been sure of many things in the past, not all of them gave lovely results" Rose said firmly.
"Like?"
"Like…umm…the big brother responsibility he tries to impose on me for his over-protective nature. Period". Alexis smiled wryly.
"Have a nice date"
"Thanks. Hold the fort down till I come". Alex grinned. Rose closed the door and went into Daniel's room which was the next one. He was lying on the bed and smoking when Rose walked in. He scrambled up and put the cigarette out in a hurry.
"Jeez, knock before entering" he said irritably.
"You were smoking"
"You never saw that" he said sternly.
"Five pounds, that's my price" Rose said stylishly.
"What? No way"
"I'm on very good terms with your mother. Just reminding you. Five pounds only. If I had caught Albus, it would not less than fifty" she persisted. "Deal?"
"Deal, anything to shut you up. I won't fight. But when we'll get back" he said despairingly.
"Date with Vladimir? Alex told me"
"Yeah. I'm leaving"
"Enjoy yourselves" he said cheerfully.
"Thanks, remember my five pounds" Rose said. She snatched the pack of cigarettes from the bedside table. Daniel tried to grab it but Rose held it over near her cleavage.
"You don't want to touch this part with Scorpius in the house" Rose said forebodingly, "I'll make better use of this". Daniel looked at the pack greedily.
Rose put the cigarettes in her bag, for future use. Scorpius was not downstairs so Rose assumed he was on his famous "let's get lost" walks. Ten past eight, good timing. Too late and you're a bitch and too early you're a desperate ass. She was slightly jittery; it had been quite some time she had been on a date. Vladimir's house was slightly bigger and it had a garage. She rang the bell and waited. It was getting colder ever minute, Christmas would be hell in this place. It felt so dark even though the streetlamps were in perfect order.
And then Rose saw him, Scorpius. He was walking down the road. He definitely noticed her. Scar was wearing a black jacket with a blue rucksack. He was giving her that "why-the-fucking-hell-don't you-listen-to-me" looks. Rose gulped down the lump in her throat, almost ready to say "hi", when the door opened flooding the front steps with more light.
"Hey, come on in" Vladimir said grinning ear to ear, standing aside to let her enter. He was looking handsome; wearing a white shirt and a brown cardigan. Rose smiled at him but her mind was on Scorpius. He was looking at her, strangely almost accusingly.
"What's wrong?" Vladimir asked curiously. He noticed Scorpius looking at them.
"Hi, Scorpius, how you've been. I don't see you around much?" he asked said cordially.
"I've been better than this" Scorpius smirked.
"The cold's getting to you really fast, isn't it?"
"No, the cold's still okay. It is you are fucking really getting to me fast"
Rose gasped. "Shut up, Scorpius" she said heatedly. Scorpius made a to-hell-with-you face and sneered. Vladimir laughed uncomfortably.
"Just kidding, Vladimir. Got you" Scorpius said mockingly.
"Yeah, good one" he said awkwardly.
"Enjoy your date"
"Please come in" Vladimir said quickly. Scar was still staring at them freakishly.
"With pleasure" and they scrambled in together, slamming the door shut behind them.
Shit, that's my date bobbing in the water.
"Sorry about Scorpius"
"Hey, we're cool. No problem, the hall's this way" he said calmly and leading her inside. Vladimir's house was almost like their one- a narrow hall way leading to the living room and an adjoining kitchen and the stairs leading to the bedrooms. Rose presumed there would be four of them; wonder why he needs so many.
The living room was much more spacious and well furnished. It was painted pearl white with flaming red furniture; some of it even matched her hair. She sat on one of the love seats.
"Thanks for coming"
"Why do you keep saying that?"
"It is quite some time I've dated, so just wishing it goes well"
"Same here, my last date was with this biker dude months ago"
"Did it go well?"
"Well in the sense that we got drunk and ended up very violent sex and even breaking my study table in the sacred process"
"Are you mental?" Vladimir said in bewilderment. For a split second, she felt she was back with Albus and Scorpius, roaming the grounds in Hogwarts, sneaking in to Hagrid's hut or planting dung bombs in the Astronomy tower. For a second all of this never happened.
"In my defense, Tom was very handsome"
"What about me?"
"Well, you're cool…and handsome" Rose said timidly.
"You're pretty and your hair matches my furniture"
"Shut up"
"Its quarter to nine, you're hungry or something so you wanna want to eat?"
"Not so early, show me around the house" she said shrugging her shoulders.
"Charlotte, I don't think that's a very good idea" he said with intent.
"Why so?" Rose asked curiously.
"I can't tell you that" he said nervously.
"I'm good at keeping secrets, you know that"
"Well…my room's in a mess. I came back late so couldn't tidy my room. The place bloody shit hole"
"Okay…well let's clean it then" Rose said resolutely.
"What? You wanna clean my room?" he asked skeptically.
"That's what I said" Rose said, already halfway to the stairs.
"Hey, no, you don't have to" he said trying to block her way.
"Really, how bad can it be?" she said slipping under his outstretched arms. She ran up the stairs with Vladimir at her heels. She barged into the first bedroom she saw on the landing. The sight was worse than Scorpius's, Daniel's and Albus's room put together.
"What the fuck happened here?" she said.
"I told you" he said sheepishly.
"We can fix this mess. I need some Harpy's Cleaner, spare boxes and a peg" she said authoritatively, covering her nose to cut off the putrid smell.
"Gotcha" he said running off to get every thing. The moment he out of view, Rose took out her wand and performed a simple altering spell to get rid of the odor; the room now smelt of pine roses. Who would imagine that behind every hot guy there was a fucking dirty hygiene-lacking room he owned. Vladimir came running in with a few broken boxes and a cleaner perched on the top. He kept it at her feet.
"Okay…we start. Every thing in the room will be organized into two boxes- things you need and thing's you don't. I will I do that, start making your bed properly and clean the windows and cupboard doors"
"I need every thing in the room, you can't get rid of them" he said defiantly.
"Everything? So what use do you have of this empty packet of condoms here?" she said austerely picking up an empty blue box from the floor. Vladimir turned a deep shade of scarlet. Rose tossed them into one of the boxes.
"Oh by the way, I never asked you. But your friend is her name Alexis or Janet. I mean referred to her as Alexis the first time we met but the neighbors call her Janet so I started calling her Janet. What's her name? "
"It is goes either way. We call her Alexis sometimes but her grand mom preferred Janet when she was born so she is christened Janet. She doesn't like her though name so at her fifteenth birthday she told everyone at school to call her Alexis because it was sexier. But we are so accustomed to Janet it we don't call her Alexis that often. And her grandma found out soon after out so she was grounded and all that. Conservative family" Rose said stupidly, trying to cook up a regular story. She almost forgot that the first time she had said Alexis even though the boys insisted on changing their names for safety. But it took her some time to get used to their new names so she referred Alexis during the first round with Vladimir then started on Janet for the rest. It was Alexis/ Janet for grandma's sake now. Total blow up, stupid her. The boys were stupider though, wanting to keep their own identities because their ever–so-masculine egos.
"So, what do I call her?" he asked, looking thoroughly confused.
"Janet, stick to that. Anyway we all are well passed our fifteenth birthdays. And keep the grandma story to yourself" she said feeling even stupider than Victoire when she cries if her makeup gets smudged.
"Get going, old boy"
Vladimir huffed and snatched the cleaner and started spraying it on the window corners. He looked exceptionally cute when he was flustered. Rose opened his cupboard and an entire lot of clothes fell on her. She started sorting them out one by one.
"These ones need to be laundered" she said pointing to the pile on her left.
"Okay. Its been quite some time I have visited a laundry."
A couple of hours, the shit hole was already on its way to become a room. The windows sparkled, the cupboard neat and most of the floor clean and clear. Vladimir had brought a special box to keep their empty beer bottles which they had consumed while cleaning.
"Up for more beer?" Vladimir asked.
"Yeah, that's a lot of hard work for some time"
He went downstairs to get the beer and she continued to dump things in the boxes. It was poking out from underneath a bean bag, a yellow piece of cloth. Curious, Rose pulled it out with some difficulty. It was unmistakably a pair of bright yellow Spongebob Squarepants boxers. Rose held it up with surprise, it was so damn adorable.
"Hey, put that down" Vladimir shouted from behind.
"Spongebob?"
"It is very comfortable. Please keep that down" he pleaded.
"What would the girls say, Mr. Hot-shot-lawyer Vladimir Irglova?"
"If they know" he said casually.
"I know"
"You're different, you won't tell. I know that"
"This needs to be laundered too" she said putting it another pile.
"Hey, dinner's ready and it's getting late" he said
"What's the time?"
"Ten thirty, come on. Spaghetti's getting cold"
"Yeah, but you're going to finish this. And I will come to check". Vladimir rolled his eyes and took her hand, dragging her downstairs.
Rose's stomach was grumbling when he served the spaghetti and meatballs. He poured out red wine in tall goblets. Rose took a bite, it was delicious.
"You cooked this?" she asked incuriously.
"Not all of it…a friend of mine helped me. Is it good?"
"It's amazing" she said, her mouth full of it. She gulped it down with wine.
They talked, like really close friends for a long time until they had to warm the food up again. It felt good to be so care free, today she envied muggles. Vladimir was a nice guy, and Rose was beginning to like him big time. They talked about movies (most of them Rose had never even heard of), music, work and funny dates they ever went to. She found out his favorite actress was Emma Watson and his favorite movie some Russian flick called Pan de' Legality.
"More wine?"
"Definitely" Rose said holding her glass out. Vladimir poured out the sparkling red liquid in to it.
"You're unique"
"Unique?" she asked hesitantly.
"I mean I love the way you manage alcohol. Not racist, but I had two British dates and both of them got drunk after their fifth glass. We had beer during the cleaning spree- seven bottles, and wine now and this is your eighth glass if you have been counting"
"Alcohol addiction is sort of hereditary. I mean not my parents drink all the time, hell no but they are hard drinkers."
"Impressive"
"When I was sixteen, my godfather used to let me sip his beer when my mum was not watching. And back at school, my cousins and brother and I smuggled in Vodka from the village shops during field trips. Friday nights we had shots of Jagger on the terrace. I have a record of winning fifteen Jagger games. We are the most rowdy batch in my family. Give me more I will stay firm" she said boldly. Rose knew she was talking, shit which she should keep to herself. In reality, she was missing every one so much she could not blabber. The only other person with fifteen Jagger records was Albus. Lily had only five and Scorpius ten. Hogsmeade trips meant stealing Polyjuice from the potions cupboard and buying muggle drinks from a shabby shack opposite Zonko's.
"Nonsense" he said brusquely.
"Sorry?"
"You would on your way to hell if I gave you more. I appreciate your skill but a little more and you'd go insane" he said.
"And you would be, let me guess perfectly normal ready to escort me back home gallantly even after drowning down bottles. Believe me, Vladimir you would as insane as you are presuming me to be"
"I wouldn't" he said smirking.
"Yeah right…I bet you would fall flat on your nose the moment you try to move your drunken arse"
"And all this while you will be…?"
"Perfectly sane and ready to guide you home" Rose said blandly.
"Really? Is that a bet?"
"A bet?"
"You have been flaunting, Charlotte. So is that a bet?"
"You want to bet with a fifteen time Jagger champion?"
"Yeah. We'll go to Big Joe's and have exactly fifty shots of Russian Jagger Master. The one who gets home first without puking or any other causality is the proclaimed winner. What say?"
"A fifty shots, that's mental" Rose cried out.
"You're scared so I presume the Brit chick just lost?" he asked perking an eyebrow sexily.
"Game on, action boy" Rose said, pulling his soft cheek derisively.
"Ladies first"
Rose picked up her bag and pushed him aside playfully. This was to prove a point but a fifty shots deep down inside was intimidating. The night was freezing. They could feel the cold creeping up their backs.
"Lovely time for a shots battle"
"It will warm tings up a little bit" and she gave Vladimir one of those 'Rose-Weasley-exclusive-reserved-for-hot-ties-only" smile.
...He saw them leave; the girl was getting close to the neighbors; how nice. But that was more then close. Leaving together late night with the girl wearing what seemed like two of Rodolphus's black handkerchiefs. Johnny inhaled his cigar deeply and exhaled a ring which dissipated into the darkness.
Invisibility was something Johnny loved and was good at. All those years in prison made his powers stronger. He could conjure disillusionment charms which would hide him even his powers die. And right now he was under one; spying on Ms. Charlotte Harris and her allies. He was getting old and paranoid, even dung head Criss sad that. But he had seen them before, the fire of the girl's hair it reminded him of some one. The two of them left the square. Maybe Patrick's could help. Anyway Rodolphus would be meeting that arse soon enough.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Sorry for procrastinating the sex but it will be violent enough to preserve.:)
and thank you all for reading this story...
and please read, and REVIEW.:)
~Vidisha & Sreetama