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Post by scobee on Jan 4, 2007 15:19:15 GMT -5
Ryan had been out and about in Diagon Alley and had met a couple of other incoming first years to Hogwarts. One certain first year he had hit it off with quite well and he had planned to meet up with him in the Leaky Cauldron later that day. That is if Ryan could convince his father to get a room and stay the night there. He knew that it would be a difficult sale, seeing as to how his father only liked to stay in places he was familiar with, like pricey hotels and rented out summer houses. The Leaky Cauldron was far from a place where Ryan could imagine his father staying at. It was just a little run down bar that would never meet the standards of his father, but maybe he could talk him into staying just for him, since it certainly wasn’t going to be the decor that got him to stay.
Bringing it up over lunch, his father looked a little taken aback and his reaction at first wasn’t promising. His first response being, ‘We have nothing that would let us stay overnight, no spare clothing, no toiletry items, no nothing. Plus I’m supposed to have you back to your mum’s house tonight.’ But seeing the smile on his son’s face fall he started to rethink the idea of just spending one night. He could probably coop that long or at least put on a good front for his son, not matter what the accommodations were like. Pausing for a few minutes to decide whether he really could cope or not he decided he would give it his best shot and said, “Err....I guess we could spend one night if it means that much to you, but first will have to call and let your mum know since I was supposed to have you home by nine. If she says it’s alright then will do it.” Ryan just beamed. He knew that his mom would let him, she usually let him do anything that he wanted and how important spending time with his dad was to him. There was a slim to none chance that she would say no.
So it wasn’t a real shock that when they got her on the phone that she agreed to let him spend the next couple of days with his dad doing whatever they could come up with. She knew that his dad had been just asking to keep him for one more night, but found it rather amusing to extend the time. Though it was a bit alarming to Ryan’s father considering he had just asked for the one extra day and he had gotten several and the suggestion that they spend them at Diagon Alley. He knew though that she was finding the situation very funny and decided to play along rather then protest. The last thing he would be caught doing would be to let his ex-wife get the last word. No, he would have to think of something to get her back, but for the time being he was glad to get to spend a couple more days with his son even if it meant at the expense of comfortable staying quarters. He only had to spend one night in the run down shack right? Surely they could move to a nicer hotel in London the next day.
After it was all settled, they were spending, at least, one more day at the wizarding niche in the center of London. They found plenty of things to do before night fell. They went in and out of all the shops and brought whatever they wanted in each, even stopping for an icecream and drinks here and there. At about seven in the evening they gathered the bags of all the things that they had bought and headed back to the Leaky Cauldron to get some dinner. After that they could either go back out or just hang in the little pub and visit with the others staying at the bar/hotel. Acquiring a room they set all of the bags in it and headed down to the pubs eating area, hoping to see Braxton whom he had met in the candy shop earlier that day.
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Post by spicer on Jan 4, 2007 16:41:20 GMT -5
Braxton had finally met back up with his family around lunch time and they had enjoyed a great lunch together before heading back out to get the rest of their shopping done. Getting every thing from his books to his wand they finally headed back to the Leaky Cauldron for supper. Braxton was so excited to have all of his new schools supplies that he took no time in unwrapping some of the packages back in the room just so that he could look at them again. Ever since they had set foot inside the wand shop and found the wand the was right for him he hadn’t let it out of his sight, preferring to keep it with him just like his dad did with his. But still he wanted to get a good look at all of the rest of the things that were now his. After several minutes he wrapped back up the rest of his things and finally bounded back down the stair to where the pub was located. His wand still in hand he showed it again to his mum and dad before thoughtfully stowing it away in one of his pockets. They both smiled back at him as he showed it to them and thought that the time had come to let him in on a surprise that they had for him.
“Hey Brax,” his dad said with a smile as the young boy looked inside his pocket once more, hey he had to make sure his wand hadn’t somehow disappeared within the seconds of him putting it there, and then back up at the pair of them. Well the three of them considering his little bro was sitting off to his mothers side. “Me and your mum have been saving up for this little occasion for awhile now and tomorrow we have decided that with the extra savings you can get yourself an animal.” his dad said with a smile over in his direction.
Beaming Braxton said, “Really?” He couldn’t believe it, an actual animal, but which kind could he have. On second thought he didn’t care what he got, anything was better then nothing, right?
“Yep, we’ll go and look tomorrow.” his dad replied and then added, “You can get anything you want as long as it’s with in reason.” It was nice to see Braxton this excited about something. It wasn’t very often that he could see that look in his son’s eyes.
Anything you want rang throughout his ears. He wasn’t sure what he wanted exactly. Did he want a cat? An owl? Were owls cheap enough to be within reason? Pushing these thoughts out of his mind he beamed and knew that he would just get whatever looked best to him when they went to the shop tomorrow morning. Wait, tomorrow morning, why not tonight? Getting up from his seat he said, “Can’t we just go tonight? Tomorrow is so far away. Yes, tonight would definitely be better then tomorrow.”
It was his mum this time that answered. Smiling she said with a small chuckle, “I am sure you can wait until tomorrow. For the time being lets have a nice dinner and then first thing tomorrow we can go and get you your animal.”
Not really wanting to press his luck he reluctantly sat down, but still his smile did not vanish from his face. He noted that she had said first thing in the morning, and first thing in the morning it was going to be. He would make sure that he was up at the crack of dawn dressed and ready to go out and about. “Alright then,” he said smiling and picking up the menu so that he could see what there was to order.
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Post by scobee on Jan 4, 2007 17:39:46 GMT -5
Walking down the stairs Ryan immediately noticed that Braxton was in the room. For the simple fact that he could hear his voice carrying over the others. Even though he had only heard it the voice once he still recognized it. From the sounds of it he could tell that Braxton was excited over something and that he wanted to get whatever it was right that second, but his mom had shot him down. Jumping the final step he waited for his father to descend the stairs. His father had headed back to the room, really quick, to take off his jacket. Now he was only in a shirt and tie, well that and of course a pair of pants. No matter how oddly everyone else was dressed he would be the oddest if he had forgotten that particular article of clothing. In a more relaxing state then he had been previously in the day he decided that it was time for him to get himself something to drink from the bar. Hopefully, wizards drank the same things as ‘normal’ people. If not, he was going to be in a world of trouble, since the only thing that he currently wanted at the moment was a brandy. Once he had one he would be alright.
Appearing at his son’s side a few minutes later he said, smiling, “What do you say to a drink? I think I need one.” Then clasping his son on the shoulder he made for the bar. Boy was he going to be in for a big surprise when he figured out that they didn’t serve what he was used to.
“Sure,” Ryan said pulling his attention away from the variety of people already in the pub and looking up at his father. He would say hi to Brax in a little while. He didn’t really know if he wanted to bug him with his family. They probably wouldn’t have cared but it just wasn’t Ryan to throw himself into those types of situations.
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Post by spicer on Jan 4, 2007 17:54:37 GMT -5
Looking over the menu he noticed that Ryan had managed to talk his dad into coming here. He wondered if he had actually managed to talk him in to spending the night too, but he knew that he would find out soon enough. Smile splitting across his face he set his menu down and got up walking over to where Ryan and his dad were at. “Hey Ryan,” Brax said with a smile. He couldn’t wait to tell him what had just happened. Sure they had only met hours ago, but he was so excited that he just wanted to tell someone, anyone for that matter.
Just as Braxton got those words off his father appeared at his side. It was nice to see that he had already met someone around his same age. Noticing that it looked like it was only the two of them he decided to invite them to join them at their table for dinner. “Made a friend already huh?” he said with a smile looking down at Ryan. He could tell that they must be part muggle because of their attire but didn’t care in the least.
“Hey I’m Braxton’s dad.” he said with a smile extending his hand out to Ryan’s dad in greeting. “Is it just the two of you here tonight?” He wanted to make sure that they weren’t waiting for anyone, because he didn’t want to intrude if they were. “If so your more then welcome to come and join us for dinner,” he added as he motioned over to where they had been sitting moments earlier and to where his wife and youngest son were still sitting reading over the menu’s.
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Post by scobee on Jan 4, 2007 18:23:17 GMT -5
Ryan’s dad had been on the verge of going to the bar for a drink, until, another young boy, about the same age as Ryan, turned up and greeted his son. He recognized the boy from the candy shop and figured that they must have hit it off. Well, this explained a lot. Like why Ryan had been so persistent on staying at the Leaky Cauldron and why he had insisted that they eat there, instead, of a nicer restaurant in London. He should have seen it coming, but at the time, for the life of him, he had no idea why it had meant so much to Ryan to remain in Diagon Alley where they hardly fit in and where he felt so out of place, but now everything was crystal clear. Ryan had made a little friend and wanted to get to know him better. Well why didn’t he just say so. he thought to himself, I would have agreed in an instant, ...well maybe not an instant but eventually.
“Hey Braxton,” Ryan said with a smile.
Smiling down at the boy he noticed that someone appeared at Braxton’s side. Looking back up he saw that it appeared to be Braxton’s dad and smiled taking his hand in greeting. “Nice to meet you I’m Jason, Ryan’s father.” he said with a grin. He knew that the man that was standing before him had to be a wizard because of his attire and felt a little out of place, yet again, but continued, “Yep. It’s just the two of us tonight and that would be great.” He thought that it would be a great chance to meet new people and hopefully he would come away with a better understanding of the wizarding world.
Ryan just beamed. He would get to spend dinner with Braxton and tell him about all the new things that he had found out. Though, they would be trivial to Braxton they were pretty cool to him. He hadn’t seen any type of magic preformed before entering Diagon Alley and couldn’t wait to tell him what he had seen.
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Post by spicer on Jan 4, 2007 18:41:01 GMT -5
As they made their way back over to the table Braxton told Ryan all about the surprise that his parents had just told him and listed off all of the possibilities that he might be able to get in the morning. After telling him all of the animals that they were bound to have he said beaming, “ I think I might want an owl if we have enough money for one. If not I will settle for a cat I guess.”
Reaching the table Braxton’s dad resumed his seat next to his wife and watched as Braxton took a seat opposite to them so that there would be enough room for Ryan and his dad to sit down next to him. After everyone set down he introduced his wife and youngest son to the two.
Once they had seated themselves comfortably at the bar the bar man came over and asked if there was anything they wanted to drink. “Of course,” Brax’s dad said smiling, “We’ll have three butterbeers for the little ones and for my wife and I two pumpkin juices. Jason what would you like?” He didn’t know what Ryan’s dad would want so he left it open. He thought that Ryan would enjoy a butterbeer so he didn’t really mind ordering for him, but thought that Jason was a little different matter. Lots of wizards liked a nice drink at night, hell he wouldn’t have minded one, but their lack of money stopped him from ordering one for himself.
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Post by scobee on Jan 4, 2007 19:18:32 GMT -5
Ryan smiled and listened to Braxton as he explained to him about the different animals that he was thinking about getting. He didn’t quite know why anyone would want an owl, unless, they did something that he wasn’t aware of. Not really wanting to sound stupid he let it go, but he didn’t have to wait long to find out. Listening in on the conversation, his dad decided to chime in and be the one who looked stupid. “Err...so why would you want an owl?” he asked, wondering the exact same thing as his son. An owl just wasn’t a normal pet in his world. A dog or a cat, ya. But an owl? Maybe they were like parrots to these people. Who knew.
Ryan sat down next to Braxton and his dad took the chair opposite Braxton, on the other side of his son, and across from Braxton’s father. He introduced himself to the rest of Braxton’s family then introduced Ryan, smiling the whole time.
It was about the time that the bar man came over to the table that Jason got really confused. He had no idea what butterbeer was or pumpkin juice and wondered why Braxton’s dad would be ordering beer for the kids. Shouldn’t he be ordering the beer for the adults and the juice for the kids? With a rather alarmed look coming over his face, he tried to recover and managed to a second or so later. “Err....Do you have any brandy?” he asked quietly. He knew the answer before the man even told him, just by the look on the man’s face. The look was somewhere between amusement and understanding. “Ok. So then what do you have?” he asked, a bit embarrassed but not much, thinking that he would rather not start naming off other drinks and be wrong again. This way he could just pick out of the selection. After hearing the man’s list, he selected red current rum thinking that that would probably be the closest thing to any of the muggle alcoholic drinks. And he needed the alcohol.
“Butterbeer sounds good.” Ryan said as the bar man left to fill the order. He hadn’t ever tried it before, so he was looking forward to having his first one. Plus the label of beer on the end of it and the look on his dad’s face just made him want to try it more. He knew that his dad wouldn’t disapprove of him having one, especially when he didn’t really understand the wizarding world and wouldn’t want to make a complete ass of himself.
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Post by spicer on Jan 4, 2007 19:41:19 GMT -5
“Owls are the best,” Brax said enthusiastically in reply to Ryan’s dad. “They are super useful when it comes to sending letters and parcels and things. Everyone has one, so it would be awesome to have one of my own.” Then realizing that his dad was still near them said in the same excited tone, “But a cat would be just as good as an owl to, and less expensive at that.”
Braxton’s dad couldn’t help but flush a little in embarrassment. It was obvious that Ryan and his father had money, and he didn’t need Brax announcing that they didn’t. Oh well, it was true enough and already out there so no use in dwelling on it. “I’m sure we can manage a owl,” he said with a smile over in Braxton’s direction. He wasn’t sure if this was completely possible, but a small owl couldn’t cost that much. Right?
As Jason ordered Brax’s dad said with a smile and a nod, “You’ll like red current rum. It’s one of the best things on the menu.” Then as Ryan spoke he smiled a little more knowing that it must be a new experience for him as well. “All the kids love it,” he added over in their direction.
A couple of minutes later the bar man came back to the table handing everyone their drinks in turn before asking them if they were ready to order. “I think we will need a couple more minutes,” Brax’s mom said with a smile.
As the barman hurried away and to another table Braxton said looking up from the table, “Can I have the roast beef sandwich?” He wasn’t sure if it was to much of an expense for just him alone, because usually when they went out they just got something the whole family could share like a pizza or something. His dad sighed a little, they had enough money for it, but now that Brax wanted an owl he wasn’t so sure.
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Post by scobee on Jan 4, 2007 21:10:02 GMT -5
Jason listened to Braxton explain what was so cool about an owl and gathered that they were used much like the postman. He found it humorous that an owl could replace a post man and would be willing to bet that they were way more efficient.
“Cool. I want one.” Ryan said in his dad’s direction. He would have to try and persuade his dad to get him one. The only thing that he had going for him was that he didn’t live with him most of the time, because he knew that his father didn’t really care for animals that made a mess in the house all that much and he could just imagine his wife’s reaction to him telling her that he bought Ryan an owl and it would be living with them. Needless to say, it wouldn’t go over well.
“I don’t think...” Ryan’s dad started to say, but then a perfect way to get back at his ex-wife popped into his head. She hated animals in the house more than him and he knew that if he sent Ryan home with one she would be less than thrilled. “On second thought, will see how much they are and what we can do.” he continued. He had caught the slight embarrassment that Braxton’s dad had when his son mentioned that they might be too expensive and wasn’t about to flaunt his money in front of them.
Looking over the menu Ryan tried to decide what he wanted out of a couple of things. He didn’t know if he would just go for a sandwich or something more substantial. As the barman made his way back to the table and handed them their drinks took a sip of his butterbeer and knew immediately that it was going to be one of his favorite drinks. He didn’t know if it would top Coke but it certainly came close. Ryan’s dad also took a drink of his and seemed to like it, but at this point he probably would have liked anything with alcohol in it. It had been a fun day, but a stressful one. He just wasn’t used to not knowing about most things and making a fool of himself.
After taking a couple of more sips of his drink he started to peruse the menu and see if he recognized anything on it. Luckily, he had less trouble with this than he did with the drinks. It looked like wizarding food was close to, if not the same, as muggle food. Hearing Braxton he said with a smile, hoping that he didn’t step on anyone’s toes, “You guys can have anything you want. Anything on the menu. It’s on me.”
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Post by spicer on Jan 4, 2007 21:24:22 GMT -5
Braxton beamed when Ryan’s dad said that they could get anything on the menu that they would like. He had never really ever had someone say that he could order whatever he wanted and wondered if that meant he had to still stick with the roast beef sandwich or if he could get something a little more expensive that he hadn’t tried before. He wasn’t about to go after the most expensive thing on the menu even though he said anything, but wondered if Jason would mind if he had something just a little more expensive then the sandwich. Just as he was about to ask his dad cut in.
“Jason you really don’t have to do that if you don’t want to,” Brax’s dad said with a small smile over in his direction. He didn’t want Jason to feel like he had to buy them dinner just because they invited him to join them. If anything they should be the ones offering to buy, but do to the circumstances that wasn’t really a possibility at the moment. “If anything we should be buying yours, but I am afraid we just can’t afford it at the moment.” he continued his voice getting a little smaller as he did.
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Post by scobee on Jan 4, 2007 22:02:04 GMT -5
“I want to.” Ryan’s dad responded, with a smile, “I know I don’t have to, but I can so just let me.” He refused to accept that they wouldn’t let him pay for it and would never have even thought to let them buy his dinner when he knew that they really couldn’t. He really didn’t mind paying for dinner or anything that much. He had the money and he liked to be generous whenever possible. “Really, it isn’t a problem.” Jason said when Braxton’s dad tried to interject again, “So everyone get whatever they want off the menu and I’ll buy.”
Ryan decided to let the adults battle it out and instead turned his attention to Braxton and what he was planning on eating. “So anything on the menu catch your attention?” he asked wondering if Braxton really was planning on the roast beef, but he didn’t get a chance respond back because just then the waiter bustled up to their table and asked it they were ready to order.
“Ya I think we are and everyone will be on my bill please.” Ryan’s dad said trying to end the question of who would pay and who wouldn’t, “I’ll have the steak with a salad, and another round of drinks for everyone, except this time make the pumpkin juices red current rum.”
Taking down the order the waiter quickly moved to the next person, which happened to be Ryan. “I’ll have the steak too, with a side salad.” Ryan said with a smile. Jotting down the order the waiter moved on to Braxton.
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Post by spicer on Jan 4, 2007 22:20:06 GMT -5
Beaming Braxton scanned over the menu until the waiter got to his position on the table. Not daring to order the steak he went with the fish and chips. Fish and chips weren’t a steak, but all the same he was excited considering he had never even tried them before. His dad glanced over at him briefly wondering what had happened to the roast beef sandwich. Although he was just grateful that Brax had the sense not to order the steak. The waiter then moved on to his mum, dad, and little bro. Once they had all ordered the waiter hurried away to the kitchen to put the orders in for them.
“So,” Braxton said with a smile to the table, but mostly to Ryan and his dad, “How long are you guys here for.” He wondered if they were just staying the night like he was or if they were staying longer then that. He hadn’t even thought that they might just be stopping in for dinner. Oh well if that was the case he would learn soon enough.“We’re only here until tomorrow.” he added still smiling.
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Post by scobee on Jan 4, 2007 22:46:06 GMT -5
“We’re staying the night for sure and then I don’t know what we’re doing.” Ryan said looking over at his dad wondering if he could enlighten them. He knew that they would probably be staying in London for a couple more days, but probably not in Diagon Alley.
“I don’t know how long we’re staying. I thought it might be nice to see some more of the city before I have to go back to Australia.” Jason said, thinking that there was so many other things to see in the city. Even though he had lived there at one time he still loved to visit the tourist place and try the new restaurants that had come in since his last visit. Plus he felt way more comfortable out in muggle London then he did in Diagon Alley.
“Are you spending the day in Diagon Alley again?” Ryan asked wondering if they might run into each other again. He still had to pick up a couple of things that they had put off until then, including his wand. His dad had also just promised him that they could look into how much owls cost and see about getting him one.
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Post by spicer on Jan 5, 2007 1:28:34 GMT -5
Braxton was a little shocked to hear that they were from Australia. He could have sworn that they had British accents. Making a mental note to ask Ryan about it some time he said with a smile, “Probably, since we are going to go and get my animal from their tomorrow.”
Braxton’s mum just smiled as she heard her son and then added, “We were going to leave after we picked up his animal, but we might stay a little while longer so that the boys can get their the full experience before we leave. After all we still haven’t visited the joke shop yet.” She hoped that this information would be a little more helpful then Brax’s ‘probably.’
Just as she finished her sentence the waiter arrived with a tray of food and started placing a plate in front of each of them. He had already brought the drinks while they were talking so he only had to make two trips before the entire table had their dinner in front of them. Seeing his fish and chips Braxton smiled and took no time into tasting one. It was great, he especially liked it with a little lemon squeezed over top.
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Post by scobee on Jan 5, 2007 18:51:35 GMT -5
“Cool. We’re going to be hanging out there tomorrow, well at least, long enough to get the rest of my things and check out the animal place.” Ryan said with a grin, “Still need to get my wand.” He didn’t really know why he was excited about getting it, since he knew nothing that he could do with it. But he was still pretty excited. With the food arriving he cut into his steak and tried it before he went back to talking to Braxton. “Do you know how to do any kind of magic yet?” he questioned Braxton wondering, if he did, if he would show him a few things that he could possibly do. If not, Ryan could always break the seals on his new books and start looking at them and seeing if he could do anything.
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