The tiny bell hooked to the large wooden door jingled as Axel stepped inside The Hog's Head dressed in his school attire consisting of a white dress shirt with his robes that had the Gryffindor crest on it, black pants, and black running shoes. A gray fedora hat rested on his head and a navy blue messenger bag hung over his shoulder.
He made his way to a back booth, his red bangs hiding his sky blue eyes. The dark leather on the seats was well worn, some holes revealed a white cotton like fabric.
Axel set his bag down beside him and watched the people around him. There wasn't a whole lot of people here, but the smell of alcohol was strong. He tapped his fingers on the table, debating with himself about whether to order a something strong or stick to water or tea.
Lavy heard the door open but didn't bother to look to see it was. If it was someone after her there would already be a battle ensuing so she wasn't worry. Besides the mind waves seemed to be familiar anyways. Just as she was about to ask the bartender a question she heard the thoughts of the person who had just walked in.
They were debating with themselves weather or not to get a strong drink or not. She looked over her shoulder and in the dim lighting she saw Axel sit down. She smiled inwardly. What a silly boy. His thoughts were amusing enough. She stood and walked nearly silently over to him.
"Well since your not legal yet I would stick with the water or tea. Unless it's a really bad day in which case I would go with a screwdriver or just straight vodka," Lavy said walking up to the booth. She realized right then that Axel didn't know that she could read minds. She hoped she didn't scare him away.
"Umm..."she said after a moment of silence, "Axel, right? I'm Lavy in case your forgot."
Axel nearly jumped when he heard a voice so near. He hadn't noticed Lavy approach him. He moved his hair from his eyes and adjusted his hat. So she read minds too. It seemed that a lot of people could do that. Not him though. He could only handle controlling fire.
"Its not really a bad bad day. Its just...dragging, ya know what I mean?" He said when she suggested a beverage for him.
"I'm seventeen, but I probably will get the tea. Alcohol will just make me feel bad anyway." He smiled. "And I remember."
Lavy smiled, glad that although her entrance was a bit of a suprise for him, her abilities were not as much, "Sorry," she said, "I usually ignore others thoughts, it's an invasion of privacy I know. I might take me same time to get use to your voice and once I do I can block it."
She looked around the room. Most of the costumers were men who looked either completely depressed for entirely drunk out of their minds. One of the guys at the bar was looking back at her. She didn't need to read his thoughts to know what he was thinking about. She looked away feeling really uncomfortable
.
"Good choice though. It' far to early for anything with the hint of alcohol. May I join you," She asked.
"Its not a big deal, I don't mind." Axel yawned. "You're right. It is too early. Stupid school hours." He nodded when she asked to join him and smiled. "Go ahead."
A woman had arrived to their table, mid forties with tired green eyes and blonde hair pulled into a loose ponytail.
"What can I get you two?" She asked with a friendly expression.
Axel looked to Lavy.
"Ladies first, my treat."
Lavy smiled, "Thank you, twice over I guess. I think I will have..." She went over a mental image of the regular menu, "I suppose I will have a blue berry tea and if your our of that a green tea."
She waited for Axel to order, thinking. Of all the days to be ignored by her ex she wished today was one of them. Unfortunately he really wanted to see her. So she decided to hide out in Hogsmead until he left. She sighed. At least she had company for the next few hours.
She read the mind of the man behind her again to see of he was still looking at her. He was. He was going over the best way to talk to her. She laughed out loud without thinking. His thought process was hard to read because he was so drunk but the parts she was getting was really humorous
"I'll have the raspberry tea please." Axel handed her a two galleons, enough to cover the tea and tip.
"Okay, it'll be ready in just a couple minutes." The woman said and turned to greet some new customers.
Axel looked at some of the men, lost in such inebriation that they were falling asleep where they were sitting or falling as they swung a punch at someone who made them mad. It was pretty funny. Then he heard Lavy laughing.
"What's so funny?" Axel asked curiously.
Lavy leaned forward and lowered her voice to a whisper, "Do you see that man behind me at the bar," She asked, not looking at him but gesturing towards him.
"He is really drunk and he keeps having all of these unfinished thoughts and if you could hear the way he is forming them you would probably be laughing them too. It's pretty ridicules. Inappropriate, yes, but funny all the same."
She rolled her eyes as another thought crossed his mind and she heard it.
Axel chuckled, a grin upon his face as he looked at the man. He sure was a sight. And not necessarily a good one.
Axel lifted his cup and brought it to his lips, taking a sip of the hot liquid.
"So you don't go to school very much eh?"
She nodded, "Hardly ever, when I do go it's to turn in the homework of that week. Other then that I usually am off taking care of business at the Ministry or around the school. Kicking kids out of the halls...stuff like that. It's fairly boring. The real adventure is being sent on missions."
"There are alot of things wrong with the Ministry, but it's worth it.....look at me going on about all of this boring stuff. I'm surprised your not sleeping yet."
"No, no. It's interesting." Axel said, intrigued. "What department do you work in?"
He took off his robes, the heat from the fireplace finally reaching them.
"They let a student go on missions?" Axel asked.
"Officially I work for of the Department of Magical Transportation. The Minister of Magic figured it would be a good cover. Unofficially I'm the head of the Auror Department. Not to blow my own horn but I'm probably one of if not the best assest the entire Ministry has."
"They wouldn't let me go over a little thing like school. Please. Or even the fact that I hate them and they know that full well."
"Impressive." Axel said. "You must be really talented to hold a job like that."
He took another drink of his tea and set it down with a light [i[clank[/]
"I don't blame you for hating them. I think any sane person would feel the same."
"I think they give me more credit then I deserve sometimes. I had to learn to be street smart as well as book smart. Half the time my choices are based off common sense instead of bureaucracy. If they could just learn that everything would be much better...whatever it's all just water under the bridge as this point."
"But enough about me, I'm sure I've told you too much already I'm probably get some form of repremand if they find out I told you but of well. Tell me about yourself."
"Well...my parents and sister died in a car accident when I was eight, so I live with my cousin Seth, who I don't like for some reason. I can control fire and I'm a wolf animagus and I like to run." Axel looked at her and shrugged. "Nothin' special."
Lavy smiled and tilted her head to the side, "Oh come on there has to be more then that. Girlfriends, ultimate enemies, your dog that you love? There has to be more then three sentences. I refuse to believe that your boring or normal in any way. So spill."
Just as she said that, the man who had been starting her spilt his drink. She almost laughed outloud, covering her mouth so nothing came out. She got control of herself before she said anythign else, "Give me something."
Axel sighed. "No girlfriend since I was fourteen. No enemies yet, and I've never had a dog." He smiled. So he was normal.
"I run." He said, looking down at the table.
"Why do you look down at the table when you say that. It's nothing to be emberssed about. Ok well then tell me. Why do you run? To something, from something, just for the hell of it?"
"I'm not really embarrassed about that. I'm more embarrassed that I have almost nothing to tell." He smiled as she asked why he ran.
"Well, I'm not exactly sure why. I t just feels really good. Sometimed I just feel really down or mad and running is kinda my way to relax. The wind in my face and the sights of nature soothe me." Axel drained the rest of his tea and set the cup aside.
"Hmmm...intresting," She sat back in her chair and began to think. Everytime she stated coming to a conclusion the man at the bar would distracted her, "Dear, God man." She said out loud, "Please excuse me for a moment, "She didn't wait for a response from Axel. She stood up from the table and walked right up the the man, "Can I help you with something? You seem to have a staring problem."
The man seemed slightly taken aback but somehow victorious, "Yeah girly. You busy right now," He asked with a slight Southern accent.
"I most certainly am. You know that. You've been watching me for the past half-hour, talking to a friend."
"Oh so he is only a friend," He said, happily, "Well that just made my job so much easier. Don't have to beat up a boyfriend."
Lavy laughed, "If I were you I would be more worried about what I'm going to do to you then any boyfriend of mine."
"Oh come on. You know your kinda of curious. Ask me my name," He, reached out and pulled Lavy closer to him.
Axel's eyes followed Lavy from her seat to the man. He watched as she confronted him, asking if he needed something. He could hear the conversation quite well and the things the man were saying were starting to make his blood boil.
Should he say something? If Lavy was an auror, she could surely defend herself. Axel narrowed his eyes.
Suddenly the man had pulled Lavy closer, laying his filthy, disgusting hands on her. Without even thinking, Axel had risen from his seat and appeared next to them, grabbing the man by the collar of his shirt.
"Touch her again and you're a dead man." He said quietly so as not to make a scene.
"Whoa, buddy," He said turning to "She said she wasn't taken. Why don't you just back off. Give a fellow man a chance. No need to make a big deal about it."
The bar had fallen silent by now. Lavy noticed that the bartender had his wand in his hand and he was staring at the three of them. He seemed very nervous about how the events would unfold.
"If you wanted her you should have planted that flag."
"I'm standing right here," Lavy said, annoyed. She tried to remove his arm from around her but his arm wouldn't move, "Seriously let go it's not cute anymore."
"Look dude," He said, ignoring Lavy, "Just go back to you table, and let me and the lady talk."
Axel tightened his grip on the collar, glancing down to see that the man's arm was still wrapped around Lavy.
"You don't have a chance with her buddy. She wants nothing to do with scum like you." Axel stood there for a moment, staring the man in the eyes.
"Look dude, just go back to you table, and let me and the lady talk."
Axel sighed then nodded, slowly releasing his grip on the man's shirt. He turned around, taking a step away and then spun around swiftly, his fist making contact with the man's face.
The man let go of Lavy and staggered backwards, "Do you know who your dealing with, boy?"
Lavy stepped between them without even thinking, "Come on there is no need for all of this. Just sit down and finish your drinks then get out. You don't need to fight over this."
The man was in a rage. He pushed Lavy into the bar to get her out of the way and swung. The first swing missed completely, since the guy was so drunk, but the second, got Axel in the side. The guy didn't wait at all, he pushed Axel to the floor and jumped on him bringing punch after punch.
Axel moaned in pain when he was struck in the side. That was probably a bruised rib that he would definitely feel in the morning. The next thing he knew, he was on the floor with the man on top of him, punching him repeatedly in the face.
Axel winced as he managed to pull his wand from his pocket. He pointed it at the man.
"Dammit! Stupefy!" A red beam shot out from the tip of his wand, but he wasn't sure if it hit. He blacked out.
***5 hours later***
Lavy couldn't sit still. She kept wanting to pace back and forth down the long hospital wing. Everytime the door opened she would stand hoping it would be a nurse telling her the Axel was OK. Finally she came out.
"You can see him if you would like. He's still out but he should be coming to pretty soon."
Lavy ran pass the nurse into the hospital wing. She could see blinders put up all around Axel's bed and she walked right up and pass them. He was laying there sleeping soundly. His face and arms were badly bruised and he had a black eye. Lavy felt horrible. He could very well be dead right now if it hadn't been for the bartender.
She sat down on the edge of his bed and waited for him to wake.
"Wow. Who would have thought a drunken man would make me feel like this?" Axel was grinning, one eye swollen and squinted. He looked at Lavy and then around the room. So he was in The Hospital Wing.
Axel had no idea how he had gotten here, nor the extent of his injuries. He felt like he had been run over by the Hogwart's Express. He groaned as he tried to sit up, finally doing it on the third try.
He could see out the window that it was getting dark. "Have you been here the entire time?"
Lavy nodded, "Yeah. Well no. I made sure that jerk was taken to jail and booked. But after that I came right here. I feel like this is completely my fault. If I had just left him alone with his dirty thoughts none of this would have happened. But it was starting to go to far and...well there isn't really and excuse for what I did. I can only say I'm sorry. I'll understand if you want me to leave."
She stood, getting ready to leave if he asked her to.
Axel nodded slowly, carefully. "I understand. I can tell that they weren't very nice things he said. Glad he's jailed though. Ol' perv deserved it." He smiled, but wen she had apologized and stood up, he frowned.
"This isn't your fault." He said. "I don't want you to go. I mean...unless you want to." Axel looked down at his arms and saw a nice bruise.
"No, not really. I would prefer to stay. Make sure your going to be OK. He differently did a number on you," Lavy said looking him over, "But I'm really thankful that you stood up for me. It's really nice to...well I guess to have a man stand up for me. Hasn't happened in a really long time," Lavy pulled her long hair up into a ponytail.
She laughed nervously, "I hope it's not weird that I said that." She grabbed a chair and sat down next to his bed.
"Thank you. I should be fine and out of here by the end of tonight or by morning tomorrow." Axel watched as she pulled her hair up in a ponytail.
"I hope it's not weird that I said that."
"No. Not at all." He replied.
Lavy looked at Axel for a very long time, "Excuse me for a moment," she said standing up and racing out of the room. She closed the door behind her so Axel couldn't hear her.
"Oh, my God Lavy," She said to herself, "Stop yourself right now. What are you doing, right now. You need to slow down. You don't want to drag some poor unsuspecting boy into this mess. If Neo ever found out about him, all his progress would go out the window," Lavy took a deep breath to calm herself, "OK, go back in and act normal."
Lavy went back into the room and walked back to her chair, "Sorry about that."
((Sorry, this thing I'm typing on is so slow.))
Axel didn't even get a chance to say anything. She was already out of the room with a loud boom that echoed across the room because of the door.
"Is everything alright?" He asked when she returned.
She nodded, "Yeah, everything is fine. Just needed a minute is all. It been a while since anyone been kind to me and I needed to think though some things...you know."
"So...what were your plans before this day went so wrong?" She asked, trying to avoid anymore questions from him, "It couldn't have possibly been to end up in here with a girl you hardly know."
"Uh...yeah." Axel said slowly. He felt bad for the girl. She must not have been treated nicely very often.
"Oh, just going through Hogsmead, replenishing some school stuff, then homework, then I dunno. And no that wasn't exactly my plan, but I don't mind. That guy was a jerk and someone had to do something." Axel grinned. "Even though it meant getting injured, totally worth it."
"I have to make up for my part in this. If you don't mind, I'll take you into town tommorrow and we can attempt to get what you needed. And if we got back here in time I bet I could help you with whatever homework you have left. They probably wont make you go to class Monday anyways. You being all beat up and stuff."
Axel shook his head. "No, it's cool. I got enough stuff to get me by for the week. And my homework is pretty easy. I just have to write an essay on moonstones." He looked around the small secluded area.
"Did anyone grab my hat?" He asked, touching the top of his head.
"Yeah," She said leaning over and pulling out all his is cloths from under the bed, "We had to wash the blood out of the shirt but it looks good as new...if not better. Magic can do that," She said smiling and handing them over to him.
Axel took the clothes and set them on his lap. He carefully swung his legs off of the bed and managed to stand, feeling dizzy for a quick moment.
"Bloody hell." He groaned. He looked at her once everything quit throbbing as much.
"Could you step out for a moment? I must get out of this hospital clothing."
Lavy resisted for a moment, wondering if he was about to fall over, "Ummm...I don;t know if I should...." She stopped.
"Yeah sure, just promise me you won't fall over, or pass out or something like that. You haven't been released yet so if your going to sneak out you can add another injury."
"Chill. I promise. And I'm only going to the Gryffindor Common Room. It's not like I'm going back to Hogsmead." He closed the curtain and changed into his old clothes. Though it took a couple minutes because everytime he moved, Axel was hit with a wave of pain.
He drew back the curtain and limped out from his area that he rested in. "You're welcome to join me if you want. Though dinner will be soon in the great hall."
Lavy looked up when Axel walked out, "You look awful," She said without thinking and then realized what she said, "Sorry, it's just. Well he really did a number on you."
She took his arm and pulled him over to a mirror, "See. You look like your about to start bleeding at any second."
What Axel saw in the mirror was very shocking to him. He didn't even recognize the person standing before him. Black eye, cuts on his face and arms, bruises. How embarrassing. How could he face people like this? Especially when he blacked out and lost the fight.
"d**n. I hope the swelling goes down by morning."
"It will go down a little, probably. It will be noticeable but not horrible. Come on. The nurses are changing shifts right now so now is the prime time to sneak out. Ill go first," She said.
Lavy turned towards the door and started heading out, "Come on," She whispered.
Axel made his way out the door right behind Lavy. He looked around quickly. Not a person in sight. He started for the stairs.
"OK...so you-"
"Lavy is that you?"Lavy turned around to see a woman standing at the door they had just existed from.
"Nurse Smith..." Lavy said pushing Axel down the first few steps so that he was put of sight, "Wow it's been a while. How have you been?"
"Fine," said the old woman, "Who were you just talking?'
"No one, you know me I'm always talking to myself. You look good," Lavy said, trying to distract the nurse.
"Oomf." Axel had to bite his lip to keep from yelling after she pushed him. He crouched down so he wouldn't be seen.
"Thanks," sad the nurse, "Well I should let you go. I need to check in on a patient. Poor boy was beaten up in a bar."
"Oh wow, that sounds pretty bad."
"Yes apparently it was. I told the teachers that they need to protect the students more from people like that but no one want to listen to me."
"Yeah, sounds terrible. Got to go," Lavy said running down the steps, "Come on," she whispered, grabbing Axel hand and dragging him down the rest of the steps and out the door before anyone else could stop them.
"Do you have to pull so hard?" Axel whispered as Lavy dragged him down the steps. He adjusted his gray fedora hat as it had gone lopsided. He looked at the paintings on the wall. There were hundreds. No, thousands. All in a variety of sizes, frames, and age. A lot seemed to have their eyes on him.
"Aye, what 'appened to you?" A voice called.
"Looks like you were beaten up by a troll." Said another.
"Well, the guy smelled like one." Axel replied, referring to the man he fought. Though he only said it loud enough for Lavy to hear.
Lavy laughed out loud and the pictures all glared at her. She figured she must look really stupid laughing at something that they couldn't even hear. That made it even funnier. She finally let go of Axel's hand.
"I hope you don't think I'm some damsel in distress all the time. Distress, maybe but I can take care of myself. It's just...well that guy kinda reminded me of Neo in some weird way. I felt bad for him. I almost wanted the poor guy a break and actually talk to him but....well that probably wouldn't have worked out very well."
"But thanks all the same for stepping in. I very much appreciate it."