I'm terrible, I'm sorry. I only have one excuse, nanowrimo has taken over my life.

Chapter fourteen.

The town of Hogsmeade had changed very little since Oliver's last visit; the day he had found out he had been accepted as a member of the Hogwarts teaching staff. He hadn't really expected it to, not in those few short months anyway. The place still brimmed with opportunity for him. He was aware that his son would not be visiting the town for another two years, yet he eagerly anticipated his son's first visit to Honeyduke's and the Weasley's joke shop that he had known as Zonko's.

This particular weekend however was devoted to a kind of informal meeting for the staff. One of the other new teachers had organised a meeting in the Three Broomsticks, as a way of getting to know each other as colleagues and, the note had said, more importantly, as people. Whatever that meant. Oliver couldn't help the horrible feeling that he was about to join one of those stupid touchy feely seminars Kate always rattled on about. He was in no way prepared to share his feelings with any of his colleagues, some had taught him and those that hadn't would possibly know him from his Quidditch days. The last thing he wanted was half truthful rumours to be slowly broadcast about his feelings or his state of mind, throughout the wizarding world.

He had resolved to stay for one or two extremely swift drinks before making an excuse of having a ton of marking to do. He had set his first years an assignment for this specific reason. He knew that the marking would no doubt be a dull exercise in repetition, as his own school work often was. He was willing to bet that it would be far more interesting than listening to the new teachers jabbering on about how much they enjoyed moulding young minds, and what a wonderful challenge it was. He gritted his teeth in what he hoped was a steely determination, he'd announce his plans for the afternoon straight off the bat, he knew this was the best way to get out of something you really didn't want to do. Let them know you couldn't stay long and then leave when you said you would. It was the best plan of action he had. That being said he walked grimly towards the Three Broomsticks.

Why they couldn't meet in the Hog's Head was beyond him. At least there they'd be away from the kids. Wasn't it enough that the taught them all day, but to surround themselves with their charges on their day off - surely that was foolish? It wasn't that Oliver didn't like the students of Hogwarts, as kids went they were fairly easy to deal with. There seemed to be very little indication of another Dark Lord rising among the current lot, and on the whole they were quite well behaved. The boys all asked him about professional Quidditch, which was just fine. But the girls. Well the younger ones weren't so bad, mostly shy and quiet. There was of course the odd mouthy little witch who thought she knew it all, there was one in every class it seemed. The older girls, well they were a different species altogether. For one thing they giggled an awful lot, which tended to get quite annoying quite quickly. And there were the ones who gave him funny looks. One particular seventh year Hufflepuff girl for example, well Oliver wouldn't let himself end up alone in a classroom with her again. When Hufflepuff's had gotten quite so brazen he didn't know, or intend to find out. That afternoon had been unnerving to say the least. He now looked over his shoulder when entering an empty classroom, to make sure he really was alone.

He was glad to see the pub quite empty of students. There were a few, naturally, mostly third years experiencing the first thrill of being let loose beyond the school gates. He scanned the room for the Hufflepuff girl and was relieved to see her absent. Well that would make the afternoon go smoother.

He approached the bar to order his first drink. It would have to be a Butterbeer, his marking story probably wouldn't hold up if he started on the Fire whiskey straight away. September was drawing to an end and there was a chill in the air. Oliver felt a need for a nice warming drink, he was thinking about buying a bottle of whiskey for his office, which was extremely draughty when a voice interrupted his train of thought.

"Hey there, I'm Karen Tunstall, Transfiguration, what're you drinking? It's my round seeing as I organised this little get together. I guess I should be buying the drinks really, get the ball rolling and all. What did you say you were having?"

Oliver looked at the petite red head. She was like a ball of energy. He had only just deciphered what she said when she started ordering for him.

"Hi can I have two bottles of Fire whiskey for the table, oh and some Gilly water too?" she said smiling at Rosemerta's niece, Ofelia, who had since taken over the pub.

Karen smiled at Oliver again, waiting for him to speak.

"Might as well get on to the strong stuff now, us hard working teachers need to let our hair down every now and then. You drink Fire Whiskey yeah?" she whispered conspiratorially to Oliver. A wide grin stretched her face.

"Uh, well I'm just on the Butterbeer today, got a load of marking to do so-" he started.

"Do it tomorrow! Oh come on, no offence but you're the flying instructor right?"

"And Quidditch coach." he added.

"Right, so it's not like you've asked the kids to write about something really complicated is it? And let's face it; the little demons are just going to copy each other. So you're going to get about fifty identical essays about how to handle a broom. Just skim the lot, tell the kids well done next lesson and you're golden!"

"But-"

Ofelia put the drinks on the counter, followed by a tray of glasses.

"Thanks, can I have a tab? I can see this being an expensive afternoon." she asked Ofelia.

The barmaid nodded, and made a note of what was already owed. Karen turned back to Oliver, who was about to protest once more.

"I'm not listening Sparky, come on help me carry these, you get the glasses I'll handle the bottles." she said, walking off to a table in the corner.

"Everyone here now? Good. Don't worry I'm not going to ask you to stand up and introduce yourselves with one interesting added fact" Karen joked as she began pouring drinks. "I just thought we should get together and have a laugh. I don't know about the rest of you but it'll be a long year for me if I don't have anyone to have a chat with. I was thinking we could get together once a month and just hang out. It doesn't always have to be here, I just figured a pub was a great place to break the ice. So is it just me or is Hogwarts castle really confusing?"

Oliver's head was spinning. He'd never met anyone who talked so much the first time you met them. He was used to general stuff about the weather, the usual polite stuff and then uncomfortable silence. This woman hardly paused for breath between sentences.

"Oh it's not that bad." he heard someone pipe up.

"Ah I keep forgetting that you all went here before you worked here. I can't imagine what its like for the kids. Mind you they seem to be getting on better than me. There's this sweet first year boy who keeps directing me to where I'm supposed to be. I'm so glad I met him and his family before I came here or I'd be completely lost. Not that I'm saying the other kids wouldn't help me out. They probably would. It's just good to have someone you know you can trust, you know? Which is partly why I thought this would be such a good idea. I mean I can't keep relying on the kids, they'd end up hating me. But it's not just for me. Because we all get a bit lonely and even though the kids are awesome, it's nice to have an adult to talk to right?"

She directed this last question to Oliver. He had only just been keeping up with what she was saying, it wasn't that her accent was hard to understand, she just said so much in such a small amount of time that it was hard for him to keep up. The accent was intriguing however, he couldn't quite place it.

"Yeah, yeah completely." he agreed, guessing that it was the right thing to do.

He had a vague idea that he was agreeing that it was nice to have someone to talk to. He couldn't say that he really agreed with that. He had never been much of a chatter to begin with, there were very few things he felt qualified to talk about. But agreeing with this woman seemed the easiest option.

"Gods I'm rattling away here eh? You can tell me to shut up, I won't take it personally. My mum used to say that I could talk for Canada!"

So that's where she was from. Her mum was not mistaken. Over the course of the afternoon, which Oliver was forced to stay and join in she talked about anything and everything. It was completely overwhelming, at times he found himself taking breaths for her. In the end he lost count of how many drinks he had, none of them were swift, every time he attempted to pour himself a Gilly water Karen would take the glass and hand it to someone who wasn't drinking. They seemed to be the only ones drinking the whiskey.

Some of the older teachers decided to call time on the afternoon when a few of the third years began shooting them covert looks. The motley band of, sober, tipsy and near intoxicated teachers tackled the walk back to the castle together. Karen pulled Oliver towards the back of the group, linking her arm through his.

"Sorry for turning you into my fellow fish drinker this afternoon Sparky." she said smiling.

"You're what?"

"You know drinks like a fish? You never heard that saying? Anyway I am sorry. I just don't like being the only one drinking, and looking at our colleagues I figured you'd probably be the only one who could keep up with me."

At that moment Lavender Brown tripped and began giggling hysterically.

"I mean imagine if I gave her all those drinks! You'd be carrying her back right now."

"So what you're saying is, you were doing me a favour?" Oliver asked laughing.

"Exactly! Sparky, I knew you'd come round to my way of thinking. Imagine wanting to mark essays instead of having a drink with me. What were you thinking?"

"I honestly don't know." Oliver said, shaking his head.

Ok so like I said Nanowrimo has taken over my life and its a poor excuse really because all the signs are pointing to the fact that I won't win as I'm nowhere near 50,000 words. Anyway, sincere apologies for neglecting this and all you gorgeous people. I'll try not to let it happen again.

ps I stole the name Ofelia from Pan's Labyrinth if anyone was wondering.