I can't even recall when my last update was but I reckon now's a good time as any to get back into it. For the few of you who actually happened to glance at this work, I thank you. So its really for you that I at least attempt to finish this. Oh and things are getting a little hot and heavy...Just as a warning.
"Merlin, I hate the rain." Liam groggily said to himself while watching the glass of his car splatter with muck as he went through a deep puddle. "All it does is get everything wet and dirty and just depresses people. I can burn my leg and get the same satisfaction from it."
Did he happen to mention how much he hated losing daylight as well?
"Its not even noon and I've already mucked up my car more than a blond strumpet after seven fucking glasses of tequila." The trashiest drink known to human and wizard-alike, and the reason behind forty percent of all accidental pregnancies.
Not having a method of time keeping turns minutes into hours and hours into days, especially when lacking in proper entertainment. Particularly, his telly.
"I would say that it can't get any worse but if I do, I may pop a tire somewhere or end up breaking my leg." He glanced around, finding the only real living 'thing' listening in to be that same raven that was staring back at him in the same blank stare he was giving it.
"...I'm talking to a fucking bird." He mumbled under his breath, locking his eyes back onto the same mundane scenery he'd been stuck with for the last forty-eight hours. "Bloody fucking-tastic, not only am I homeless, I'm also going crazy."
Liam breathed out a small hint of relief as he felt his wheels slightly shake under what felt like solid ground, and confirmed his finding of a town with the sight of cobblestone roads. "Finally."
His beloved London. At last he had reached her.
He would see about getting a room at the Leaky Cauldron, his favorite spot for a drink besides the Three Broomsticks since he could legally buy himself his drink of choice, hard liquor. Firewhiskey in particular.
It had stopped raining, for now, but the roads were still flooded, some areas so bad, they were closed and he had to make due with finding other means of getting here, which meant taking the what should have been 5 hour trip and turning it into a two day excursion. Scenery was nice, he reckoned but really, how many trees can you pass before the smell of pine needles make you want to vomit your brains out and all you can think about is how green the bloody grass is.
Again came the factor of using his 'talents' to make mother nature do his bidding but with so many muggles popping up sporadically, hiking up in the middle of nowhere surprisingly, he didn't dare risk exposure.
Not that he was one to complain but driving in what was now the pouring rain with a bipolar, excuse his French, Bitch, in his coat who at any moment decide she didn't like being inside the warm pocket of his jacket and peck at the delicate flesh surrounding his stomach did make him a bit nervous. Agitated to put it lightly.
Davina was sleeping for now, but after their past few 'encounters' with her, which all ended in slight bloodshed, expected the Raven to lash out at him at any given moment and show no mercy.
Not that he minded her company.
There wasn't a worse feeling on this Earth than being alone, only second to having your heart broken, so despite all better judgement, he kept her, plus, she was hurt and in need of being taken care of after all.
Still, it had been two days since Blade had flown off and there was still no sign of him. He wouldn't put it past Benjamin, intercepting the owl and capturing him out of nothing but pure spite. Being large for an owl, and sometimes what he liked to call, 'a loveable brute' the concern of another creature having him as a snack, didn't really concern him much anymore though his father shooting him without Kitty being home to protect him, slowly ate away in the depths of his subconscious.
When Liam finally spotted The Leaky Cauldron, his car pulled into the secluded alleyway and parked his car a block or so outside the establishment, concealing it with charms in case someone decided to come snooping. "Well." He sighed, stuffing the keys into his pocket. "Home Sweet Home, I suppose."
Davina rested in the safety of his jacket, snippy as always since he had the audacity to disturb her sleep, already gnawing on the inside material of his pockets with her beak.
"Now, I know you're grouchy but that's no reason to snap at people." He warned, gathering his suitcase and shutting the door to the vehicle. "This is where we're going to stay for a bit until I can find a more permanent spot. And I better not see you hiss at the barkeep. He's an old friend of mine."
There was a slight chill in the air that swept through his bones and he sighed, zipping up his jacket and hugging it closer to his body, gazing up at the clouds lazily going by in this winter weather, taking no means as to shift themselves to bless the people below with just a sliver of sunlight.
He heard a tiny screech of discontent coming from his jacket and a little black head peeked out from the open zipper, squirming to get a better look.
"Remember, pleasant." He chuckled, shaking his head and walking up to the door, opening it's doors as they both sought shelter.
As he entered the inn, the room went dead silent. Witches and Wizards shifting their heads like owls and turning around, old men setting their drinks down, everyone and he meant, everyone stopping what they were doing to see who had just walked in.
It wasn't the first time he had been the center of attention and it certainly wouldn't be the last. Judging by their pursed eyebrows, dropped mouths and wide-eyes randomly scattered in union, he knew they were all probably thinking the same thing:
What in the hell was the only son of Wealthy Business Wizard Tycoon: Benjamin Kingsley, doing in a place like this?
He ignored the eyes brooding into his skull and moved past everybody watching him. He would pay for a room, and head upstairs to wait this whole thing out. The last thing he needed was his father getting wind of this too.
He found the barkeep quickly, clearing his throat to grasp his attention to the individual who had his back to him, strictly keeping his eyes on him and no one else.
"What can I do for you?" He heard the barkeep ask, and answered with a smirk.
"How about the decency of a proper greeting, you bloody ginger?"
The barkeeper stopped and quickly turned around, soon smiling at him, in disbelief. He was in his late twenties, with fiery red slightly spiked hair and green eyes which gave way for a docile demeanor despite his roguish appearance. A long pink scar across his right forearm, and a warm welcoming smile that didn't seem to go away.
"Son of a bitch." He breathed, "Where the hell have you been?" jumping the table and clapping him on the back in one smooth motion, yanking himself off at the sound of screeching bursting from his jacket.
Their reunion was short-lived thanks to the disapproval of a tiny female, who didn't fancy being suffocated so harshly.
"What the bloody hell you got in there? A banshee or something?!" The horrified barkeep asked.
"Or something." Liam hitched a laugh in his throat and unzipped his jacket halfway, the terrorizing creature warily hissing at the redhead.
"The fuck is that?" He asked horrified.
"What do you fucking think it is, Sean? A dragon?"
"Yeah, it bloody sounded like one." Sean straightened out his shirt and apron while shaking his head in disbelief. "Next time warn me before you go throwing animals into your pocket."
"Sean, this is Davina." He explained, "Found her in the woods after a bad storm, battling with a badger."
"Davina, eh?" Sean mused, laughing as he swore the bird threw him the nastiest glare he had ever received. "Poetic much, mate?"
Liam scoffed with a roll of his eyes. "Shut up, it's better than being cursed a ginger for the rest of my pathetic life."
"Ouch." His hand went to his chest, feigning a broken heart as he walked behind the counter once more. "And I thought the matching tattoos on our asses were a sign that you loved me."
Sean threw his rag on the table, leaning over the counter with his arms crossed. "Nice beard by the way."
"I know I look like an escaped convict." He drawled, pulling up a seat at the bar and setting his suitcase on the floor, resting his arms on the table and taking a quick glance around at the faces behind him.
Escaped convict was about right.
"Didn't expect to see you here anytime soon." Sean was cleaning out glasses with a small rag, arranging them one by one under the table for the afternoon rush. "What you looking to drink today, mate?" He asked, taking a glass and setting it down on in front of Liam.
"Maybe later." He moved the glass away, clearing his throat and scratching his 4 day old beard. One of his many nervous traits he developed during his fifth year at Hogwarts and never grew out of. "I've got some things to sort out first but listen, have you got any room's available?" Liam asked coolly.
"I may have a few." Sean replied with hesitation in his voice. He noticed the crowd of people were still staring, rousing their judgey little eyes their way, and rose up. "Oi! Haven't you lot got more important things to do?"
Some shook their heads, others whispered to themselves, while a few merely pretended like they weren't eavesdropping to the conversation between the two after Sean gave them fair warning to mind their own business.
"Everything alright mate?" He asked a bit more quietly, keeping his voice low.
Liam knew now, more than ever that he would need to keep out of sight, and right now, discussing his future with a friend in an open area wasn't a way to go about such things. "It's a long story but I need a place to stay. Just until I get things sorted."
"Liam. Mate, if you need a place to stay-"
"I know what you're going to say, but I couldn't possibly ask you to do that. Thanks for the offer Sean but that won't be necessary. I just need to sort a few things out."
Sean sighed, turning around and went to the small box compartments behind his wall, all lined with a set of keys to each numbered section.
"Here." He handed Liam a set, "But my offer still stands, plus, I've got a great view of this witches apartment. And she doesn't like to wear suffocating clothes, if you know what I mean." Raising his eyebrows playfully. Just thinking about that witch tightened the material around his pants to the point where it was damn near uncomfortable.
Thank Merlin he never wore slim trousers and he stood behind a counter all day.
"I'll be sure to keep that in mind." Liam chuckled, suddenly looking over at his jacket as his passenger was pecking at the gleaming reflective metal of his room keys.
"Did you trade her for your owl?" Sean's cheeky banter meant no harm by any means but to Liam, this pained at his heart.
He hoped his friend didn't think that he had been abandoned off in the wilderness. Blade had to know that he cared about the safety of his well being as he then frowned, avoiding eye contact at the thought of Blade suddenly disappearing. The owl had been a present from his mother for his 10th birthday, a few months before she passed. Needless to say, Blade had a special place in his heart and he missed the winged beast terribly.
"Blade's missing. I let him stretch his wings the morning after the storm and I haven't seen him since. And since I had taken the car up to the hills, I couldn't stay with another one on the way and risk getting caught in the bloody muck."
"Maybe he went back to your house." Sean suggested and was about to list off other options when Liam cut him off for a second time.
"No." He snapped with a locked jaw, raising his head slightly much like a caged animal would glare down his oppressor out of a desire to murder and chance a reveling revenge. "There's nothing for him back there. He wouldn't be in that place."
"Sorry. It was just a guess." Sean muttered under his breath and reaching out to stroke the Raven's head, just as quickly retracting his hand when Liam's jacket began hissing at him.
"Mind her. She likes to bite." He brought his fingers up to the light, extending his arm, fresh and healed cuts surrounding his light skin. "And not the gentle love nips either."
"You always liked them feisty, didn't you?"
Liam could only roll his eyes at the snide comment, brushing his index finger along the animal's beak as only a tender child would tend to.
"Hey." Sean broke him out of his revere. "My shifts almost over. Come on. You look like you could use a meal."
"No, I don't think so." He declined as politely as he could.
Sean rolled his eyes with a displeased look over his face, shaking his head lightly and folding his arms over his chest. "Oh come on. I'm not taking no for an answer. Just wait here, and we'll go."
"Sean," Liam sighed deeply, "I don't want you to get involved, it's-" He was interrupted mid-sentence as the booming voice of his friend cut him off at the knees.
"Oi! Will!" He called, throwing his dish towel over towards an older man with muttonchops and a bowl cut for his hair, just as he happened to turn and the alcohol ridden rag landed on the man's shoulder. "I'm gone for the day. Take over would you?"
"Not gonna go o't flying again are ye?" Will pointed up towards the ceiling and smiled, yanking the towel off and throwing it into a small sink basin behind him. "Is' about to rain 'gain." His thick Scottish accent bellowed from the pits of his gut, and seemed to get trapped in his beard.
"No. No. Will." Sean searched for his own set of keys behind the counter, scoffing at his friends all-too keen knowledge of himself. The man knew him better than a book, read so continually that it's ears were dogged and it's pages coffee stained from sleepless nights of reading. "I'm just going to go home, maybe have some fish and chips, call it a night."
"Well that's a lie if I Eva' 'eard one."
Liam cleared his throat, pulling the hood of his jumper over his head to conceal himself from the most disheartening looks that were being shot his way: there was disgust, disbelief, and his favorite of all, curiosity. He was waiting for someone to walk up to him and 'causally' bring up a conversation and ask what he was doing here.
Davina was either bored or cranky because she decided that she had had enough of being stuffed in a coat and clawed and nipped her way out of his warm enclave, leaping onto the slick table, wobbly getting to her feet and screeching, rushing to Liam's defense. Hollering with haste and now pecking at base of Sean's shirt: the only tangible object she was able to get her hands on, and ripping a tiny hole as some threads came undone.
"Oi! What d'I do?!" Sean exclaimed, yanking his clothes and backing away while the horrid bird chased him. "Call it off, mate!"
An ever so subtle smile frocked along a once straight and sullen line, curved with glee, both arms coming to cross themselves against his chest. It was amusing to say the least, watching a bird, with one wing wrapped in a sling, and hobbling about, picking a fight with a creature 20 times her own size. He wouldn't deny that he was becoming fond of her Gryffindor aptitude. She tested his patience far more than any other female had, and her drive to continuously push him, only fueled his fervor. "Seems to me, you're getting what you deserve."
"This isn't funny anymore, Liam!" Sean groaned, beyond frustrated and his patience wearing thin. "That thing is ruining my clothes!"
"That 'thing' has a name you know." He soon corrected.
"For fucks sake, Just call the damn thing away bruv!"
"Davina." Liam sighed, coming up behind her. "I know he's a right down prat," He began while Sean quickly glared, "Oi!" Inserting himself in conversation and then backing off as Davina hissed at him, aiming her 'jaws of death' right for his fingers, barely missing.
"But leave him alone. Being an insufferable ginger with grungy hair should be punishment enough without a few missing fingers."
"Come here." He cooed, reaching into his pocket for a few biscuit crumbs and breaking them up in his hands, clicking his tongue. "Davina, come on."
She turned around to look at Liam briefly, hopping forward with an open beak directed at the ginger and after one final warning hiss, hobbled over to Liam, pecking at the crumbs in his hands.
"Couldn't you have found a more amiable animal in need of saving?"
"If she bites you again, don't get bloody pissed. Davina doesn't find you to her liking, and you insulting her won't help."
"Insulting her? She's a fucking bird. Not some girl you're trying to bang."
He scoffed, lifting his head slowly to glare at him. "Have you always been this asinine or did I just never notice?"
"It's a gift mate."
"So...You mean to say that he just kicked you out of the house?"
Liam nodded, a mug filled with coffee held snugly in his hands, warming his frozen appendages from the cold. "I'm surprised he didn't do it sooner to be honest. It's not like he actually gave a crap about what happened to me anyway."
They spent most of the day just catching up, talking about nonsense for the most part. An untold chapter of some forgotten book found at the library, intrigued indulged and captivated and how its savior now filled with worry when discovering the last twenty pages of the ending were ripped clean off, missing, as if forcefully stolen and the author devastated to hear his work had been defiled.
Sean was the brother he never had and a friend thankful to be blessed with.
"Mate, I'm sure that's not-"
"It is." He interrupted, a cold glazing stare now running down Sean's spine. "And you know it. So stop trying to sound sympathizing. Besides-" Liam went back to his drink, taking a sip. "I'm better off without him. And the second I get my feet off the ground, I'm going back for Kitty. Whatever it costs."
"How's she taking it?"
"Kitty?"
Sean nodded his head in acknowledgement.
Liam's nostrils bellowed out a hushed scoff, as he turned away briefly. His undivided attention drawn to the bit of still awkwardness drawing out silence. Surprisingly, the Raven took well to the makeshift nest Sean had made out of an old basket and blankets, cooing quietly in her sleep with her head tucked away behind her back downy feathers. "She doesn't even know."
"Don't you still have your inheritance your mum left you before she passed?"
"Well yes, but now that I don't have any sort of housing besides my car, I'm trying to save what I have before Benjamin freezes all my accounts."
"He wouldn't-"
"Sean, let's not humor ourselves." With the last few droplets of his coffee and his belly comfortably swimming full of fish and chips, thanks to last nights leftovers, Liam eased his cup to the side and raised his hand to run it along the eaves of his sweat induced greased hair. "You know this is exactly the type of thing he would do."
He sensed the uneasiness in his mate's sudden change in attitude with regards to the mention of his father and what would become of his life. And threw a soft but playful smirk as he smacked the bearded wizard's face from depressed to just plain pissed off.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?! Why did you slap me?!"
"C'mon mate. I have just the thing to help take your mind of things."
"By slapping me across the face?"
Liam's perturbed nature grew to that of a feline, curiously exploring new grounds with lightness of foot.
He asked as Sean jumped into the closet and drew out a white jumper, fueling his desire to acquire the reasoning and behind his sudden need for warmer clothes despite the fireplace radiating its own boiler room. Street clothes at that.
"Where the devil are we going?"
That's when it hit him. The playboy like grin on his face, the clothes he was wearing, a sudden lacking in verisimilitude and heavy with cryptic messages only shown in the few familiar qualities hidden beneath the cloak and dagger that were his little quips. Down to the very last hair on his head which he now smeared with gel after sticking his hand into the jar.
"Oh no..." He mumbled, staring at the reflection of a peacock preening in the mirror. "Good god mate, we're not going out racing are we?"
Sean swaggered around the house without an answer, picking bits and pieces to add to his ensemble that now adorned a heavier sweatshirt jacket with the Ireland's own Thomas O'Malley's lucky number 24 stitched along the backing along with the same white jumper, fresh pairs of trainers and enough cologne to take down a bull elephant; while Liam was right on his tail with his own motherly rebuttal. "Last time you used my car I spent weeks trying to get the body back to its original form. You fucking slammed into a mailbox! Who the devil hits a mailbox in the fucking daylight?!"
He'd be lucky Davina didn't suffocate in this 'death fog'. Merlin knows he thought he would.
"Hey! I would have made that turn if that copper hadn't come out of nowhere! and besides its dark now..."
"Yeah, there won't be any coppers out at this hour. They're all home with a pot of tea and scones.." Liam deadpanned.
"Let's just go! The night is young and I want to meet some woman who's ovaries haven't dried up yet."
That was beside the point, he wasn't going out looking like, well...would calling himself a homeless man be insulting or would the comment appropriate the situation. "But I haven't even showered!"
"Then take a quick shower!"
"I haven't done any laundry."
For Merlin's sake, he sounded like a woman, making up excuse after excuse in her favor to avoid giving in.
The taller Ginger came at him with both hands outstretched and cradled them on his friend's shoulders with the biggest puppy-dog face he possibly could. Damn stupid redhead was always good at the art of persuasion. "Mate, do you really want to spend tonight locked up in your room with that daft bird of yours or would you rather go out with me to this new pub that just opened in Upper Mail?"
There really was no honest answer he could say on his behalf other than..."Can I at least borrow some of your clothes?"
"That's the spirit! You'll see it will be a night you won't forget!"
That's what I'm afraid of.
How many drinks does it take to get completely fucked?
Well, what else did he have planned besides crawling back to his room at the leaky cauldron and sleeping to forget his crap life for the remainder of the night? What's the worst that could happen?
"Why do I have the feeling that you're about to completely ruin my reputation in the midst of tonight?"
"Sorry." She breathed as his lips fervently searched for her own in the pitch dark, running her hands along the back of neck and holding him close to her body as their limbs continually tangled themselves with each other.
"No. My fault. Its a little crowded in here." In an effort to keep themselves on the edge of discomfort, Liam gently scooped her up in his arms, holding her up off the ground and hitched a laugh deep within his throat. "The sofa out there was filthy." He leaned in closer for another kiss, full of need and lust driven desires that shown in how tight the tent in his pants was getting.
"That was my foot!"
"Here let me..." Her back leaned against the wall and a shriek left her lips when a mop suddenly slid down and fell on the back of her neck. "Move."
"Maybe if I just adjust this here a little..."
She shook her head at the idea, taking his head in both her hands and made an effort to smile at him, despite he not being able to see. "No, we'll get stuck."
"Oh, isn't there another place besides this small broom cupboard?"
"Not one that's blind to surveillance."
They were in quite the predicament: Hiding in a cramp, damp room which no doubt was crawling with mold while his friend was beyond tipsy and her little group had formed a search party. Her name every so often audible through the loud thumping music playing overhead and plethora of conversations other people were having.
How in the hell did he end up snogging the one and only Narcissa Black, arranged to marry another man within a few months, in a cupboard?
Oh wait...
and it all came pouring back into him like the many shots of whiskey he'd happily threw down his throat.