Cobblestones and Coffee

[Brittany Garland]

Brittany had been running back and forth between London and Hogwarts for the past two months of the summer break. With school out, she had been bouncing back and forth between the library of Hogwarts and various places throughout the country. No school, meant no students and she found the empty library very discomforting. Today she ate lunch at the school and then decided to find something to amuse her self for the rest of the day. Flooing to London was her best option.

Now she was walking down a cobblestone street, not too far off from the heart of the city. It had been a lovely day to be outside and she could not resist the warm sun shining down. The only real thing that she had done was window shop, not finding anything that really peaked her interests enough to enter any one store. The woman was clearing her head and thinking of the events within the past few months. Working for the Daily Prophet, quitting, moving out of Wendelring and away from Shay, and settling back at Hogwarts. It was as if she had gone full circle and ended up back where she started.

It was a bit disheartening to Brittany because the day after graduation she had been so eager to leave. The past year's graduation had her stirring up thoughts that really should have been left where they were. Shaking her head, she made her way to the edge of the street and came to lean against a wall push the thoughts away.

A gust of cool air brought a refreshing sense of calm, and as Brittany turned her face in the direction of the wind she saw a familiar face just a block or so down the street.

(Drew/Open)

[Drew Thornton]

Having found no work in a Wizarding establishment for the summer, Drew had applied to a few Muggle places, but to no avail. He spent most of his days now helping his aunt out around her house and finding excuses to leave and roam the city. He had spent a rather productive morning picking up some odds and ends and was having a cup of coffee at a sidewalk cafe when he caught a glimpse of what he thought was a familiar face on the other side of the street. Leaving a few pounds on the table to cover his bill, he jumped up and ran after the dark haired girl. He wasn't sure why, considering he and Brittany hadn't always gotten along, but on the other hand it was good to see a familiar face.

He was just about to call her name when the breeze picked up and she turned away from the gust and towards him. He raised his hand in greeting, smiling crookedly as he took the final strides towards her. "Hey, Brittany! I thought that was you! What are you doing here?" he asked, making a mental note to let Allegra know he had run into her old classmate.

[Brittany Garland]

As the familiar face moved closer she recognized Drew Thornton approaching her. Brittany couldn't help but smile widely at him as he greeted her rather enthusiastically. She had always liked Drew even when they didn't get along because he always stuck firmly by what he believed in. Even when his opinions clashed with her own, she couldn't help but admire his never-back-down attitude. It was, however, odd to see him just randomly out on the streets of London. She couldn't recall ever talking to him outside of school. Of course, she had lived with his sister for a small amount of time but he had still been in Hogwarts.

"Drew!" Brittany exclaimed. She pondered his question for a moment and decided to answer with the lame truth. "I was desperatly bored in that empty school so I decided to spend my day out. Yet I haven't found much to do, obviously."

She motioned to the wall that she had been leaning against. The woman felt quite pathetic being found walking alone with abosolutely no purpose of being about. Nevertheless, she was at least out of that dreary castle.

Brittany shook her thoughts away and asked, "How about you? Been up to anything since graduation?"

[Drew Thornton]

Drew laughed appreciatively at her excuse. "You sound like my sister," he told her. Allegra had stayed at Hogwarts for work, but wasn't really enjoying it much. "She's not to fond of staying in the castle either. I thought you were living with Shay for the summer?"

"Me? Kind of the same," he answered. "Looking for a job after leaving school, but not having much luck. No one wants to hire a guy for just a couple of months, y'know?"

[Brittany Garland]

"I was, but living with Shay was even worse than being in the castle because she was never home either. They've got her working like a race horse down at the prophet. I don't even know when she has time to sleep." Brittany explained.

It had been fun while Shay had been working regular hours and was reminiscent of the old girl's dormitory days. Not too much longer after Brittany had moved in though, Shay's job began to require her away more and more often. Of coure, she had been fine by her self since she had work to do as well. It was only when Shay started working overnight and being gone for long periods of time did Brittany not feel like she belonged there anymore. After all, it was Shay's apartment but the only one that slept and spent time there was Brittany. Halfway through the summer she made the executive decision to migrate back to Hogwarts early. It was boring there, but at least she wasn't completely alone. She was beginning to think she had a problem with not having someone around.

As Drew elaborated on his summer so far, she couldn't help but feel her curiosity peak. He had said that he would only need a job for a few months, right? She was sure he had, which meant that he must have something lined up for after the summer ends. Just to clarify though, "A couple of months? What then? Big plans for Mr. Andrew Thornton?" She couldn't stop the slight teasing tone in her voice and grinned widely at him.

[Drew Thornton]

Drew shrugged, trying not to look too proud of himself. "I got accepted into the Auror Academy," he answered. He wasn't sure if Brittany knew it, but it was something he had been working for since his first year at Hogwarts. He had had his doubts about actually doing it, and there had been a few moments when he thought his discipline record would get in the way of things, but in the end he had done it.

All he needed to do now was get through the next three years.

"So yeah, no place really wants to hire a guy who only wants to be there for a month or so," he said. "I could have called in some favors, but figured that wouldn't be very fair. A lot of the other guys in my class are still looking for permanent jobs, so my summer pocket money really doesn't seem that important."

[Brittany Garland]

"Oh my God! Drew that's awesome!" Brittany exclaimed and threw her arms around his neck.

She squeezed him lightly and then released him, smiling all the way. The young woman had always known that Drew wanted to go on to be in the ministry and had heard once or twice before from Allegra that he had talked of becoming an auror. However, she had not known the extent of how serious he really was. Getting into the training school though was rumored to be one of the toughest things to do. She couldn't help but feel proud of him, having known him for as long as she had. Yet, she didn't want to sound condescending by saying that out loud.

Brittany, still beaming, allowed him to continue on with the rest of what he was saying. "Well, that is awfully considerate of you. Gosh, you're going to be an auror. At least you have a plan. It's more than I can say for myself." She had no idea where she was going or, even, what her ultimate goal was. It seemed like everyone around her was in drive while she was stuck in neutral.

Shaking the thoughts from her mind, she composed her face and said, "Well I don't know about you but I am dying for a little activity. Any ideas?"

[Drew Thornton]

The embrace surprised him but he accepted it happily. He never really expected the exhuberant congratulations he got from his friends and family, but it was awfully nice. The most interesting thing, Drew thought, was that while almost everyone seemed happy for him, few people were surprised he had actually pulled it off. It was especially cool to realize that people who knew him as a goofy firstie still had the confidence that he could do it.

Not that he wasn't still a bit goofy.

"Activity? My aunt is expecting me back home, but not for a couple of hours," he answered. "She knows I'm usually looking for an excuse to get out of the house. What do you have in mind?" He really hadn't ever hung out with Brittany much, so wasn't sure what she might be into. He was usually game for anything.

[Brittany Garland]

Brittany was glad to hear that Drew didn't need to be anywhere anytime soon. She had not wanted to retire to the castle so early and it would be nice to catch up a bit. Although they had never been very close friends, she could remember a few times that they had spoken about different aspects of their personal lives. More particularly when he had been with Alana, which shows just how long it had been that she had spoken with him.

Pondering what they could possibly do on a bright afternoon in London, she put a finger to the side of her cheek to give the appearence of really thinking hard. Of course, the expression on her face gave her away completely. Seriousness wasn't a factor in this decision.

"Goodness, I don't know!" Brittany gave in with a laugh, "You were the mastermind behind all brilliant to-do's at Hogwarts. I just want to do something other than walking around or sitting at the castle. You know that being in that castle with no one there is one of the creepiest things ever. So I'm up for anything that you can come up with."

[Drew Thornton]

Drew snorted a response. "But we aren't at Hogwarts," he reminded her, not sure if he agreed with the mastermind label, but deciding it didn't matter either way now that they were in London.

Of course, he could think of a ton of things to do if he were still a reckless kid, but now that he was supposed to be an adult, he couldn't really scale Big Ben, jump off London Bridge, or try to make the guards at Buckingham Palace laugh. Now that he didn't have to worry about rules and restrictions, he was too old to do anything cool.

Or maybe not... There was one thing he could think of that he had always wanted to do, but never had the time to do it.

"Ever been down in the caves of Gringotts?" he asked, thinking that they might be able to get down there and do a little exploring.

[Brittany Garland]

(OOC: Apologies for not replying for like ever. Turning in college applications and keeping up with school consumed my life for the past three weeks. lol)

"No I can't say that I have." Brittany said almost too casually.

Brittany's curiosity was raised at Drew's question. She didn't have an account there and could only recall being inside Gringotts a few times. However, she was pretty sure that the goblins that worked there wouldn't just let two random people go traipsing through the caves under the bank. Sure Drew was an auror-in-training but that didn't necessarily mean that he had the power that a full-fledged auror though. The sudden urge to put her hand to his forehead struck her, just to make sure that he was still feeling well and wasn't losing his mind or anything. She had to admit, he had caught her attention.

"Alright, you have me. How exactly do you expect us to get into the caves of Gringotts?" The young woman laughed as she questioned his motives.

[Drew Thornton]

One corner of his smile went up slightly higher than the other as he smirked back at her. "Aw, getting into the caves is the easy part," he answered, pulling his key out of his pocket. The family vault was sufficiently deep enough to make for some good exploring, as long as they could figure out how to hurdle one small obstacle.

"The tricky part is going to be slipping away from the goblin that takes us down there." The caretakers of the vaults were usually very watchful so distracting them enough to sneak off would be difficult. "Any ideas how to manage that?"