First Date

Bri met Andy outside the Hospital Wing after the Coopers had finally said that he was allowed to leave. In a way, they were celebrating his good health by going on their date. They walked down together in relative silence; conversation was made difficult by the hoards of other particularly loud students walking down by them. Once in the village, the other students broke away to go to their own destinations while Bri looked around in wonder. Despite the fact that she'd been to Diagon Alley a few times, Wizarding communities still fascinated her. "Where do we even start?" she asked Andy as she looked around at all the different shops that lined the street.

Andy was relieved that he was finally able to leave the Hospital Wing. He had persuaded Bri that their visit to Hogsmeade should still take place, despite her worry that he wouldn't be well enough.

They made it to the Village, and Andy's eye's immediately lit up when he saw a store entirely dedicated to Quidditch. He frowned slightly, knowing that he probably wouldn't get around to visiting the store this time around, but he made a mental note to find James and tell him about the store so that they could go next time. Hearing Bri's question, Andy's eyes flicked back to the store, but shook his head to clear the thoughts of Quidditch from his mind.

"Not sure. We can just wander, if you want?" He didn't have a particular place that he was dying to visit with Bri, but prayed that she didn't see Puddifoots as a place of interest. It might just kill him.

Bri nodded. Wandering around for a while was fine with her. She stuck close to Andy's side while they walked, just in case something happened to him; she still wasn't 100% convinced that he was perfectly fine. After walking for a while, they started to approach a little pub called The Three Broomsticks that seemed to have attracted many of the students. "Do you want to go in?" she asked, looking at it with curiosity, wondering why so many students wanted to go there.

Andy enjoyed going to Hogsmeade. This wasn't his first visit, but as it was probably Bri's, he pointed out things to her as they wandered.

"That there's the Shrieking Shack. Folk say it's haunted, but I reckon it's just an old house with a couple of ghouls or something in there. Nothing scary, really."

They walked and talked until they reached the Three Broomsticks, one of Andy's favourite places, asides from Zonko's and the new Quidditch store.

"Yeah. Sounds good. I could go for a Butterbeer." He held the door open and let Bri walk in first, being the gentleman his parents raised him to be.

"Thanks," Bri said while she smiled at Andy as he held the door open for her. That was one of the things that she liked most about him- that he was a gentleman.

There were quite a few students there, but it was still relatively early in the day so it wasn't anywhere near packed yet. Bri picked a table that was somewhat close to the entrance and took off her jacket. "I've never had a Butterbeer before," she commented as they waited for someone to come around and take their order.

Andy glanced around the pub. It hadn't changed much in the way of decor, or at least, nothing that stood out to Andy. He took a seat at the table that Bri chose, and smiled.

"You'll love it. One of the best drinks around," he said, smiling as Rosie, the barkeep and owner came over to them. She and his mother were good friends and she no doubt recognised him.

"Anthony, dear. Lovely seeing you again. And you've brought a friend. How lovely," Rosie greeted, her voice going up in pitch slightly at the word friend, causing Andy to awkwardly smile at the woman.

"Erm, yes. Hello Rosie. Umm.. could we please have two butterbeers, please?" he asked, knowing he sounded as literate as a bag of potatoes.

Bri blushed lightly when the bartender came over and talked to Andy. She smiled at the woman while Andy gave their order, then breathed a sigh of relief as she left. If Andy's tone of voice had been anything to go by, she had to be a family friend. "So I take it someone's parents are going to know we were here," she laughed lightly. "I'm just glad it isn't mine. Not that I'm embarrassed or anything, because I'm not..." she blushed deeper as she started to dig herself a nice little hole.

Andy raised an eyebrow at what she was saying. He had the feeling that Rosie would be contacting his mother as soon as she was able to tell her that she saw him here with a girl and it didn't worry him all that much. Bri however, seemed concerned about her parents knowing that this was going on, not that anything was going on.

"Sure seems that way," he said, smiling. He wasn't annoyed, more curious, as to why Bri would be embarrassed by her parents knowing about him and her.

Bri was sure that she'd dug a nice little hole for herself but she was somewhat surprised by Andy's nonchalance about the whole thing. "You don't care that they'll know?" she asked and was met by him shaking his head. "I guess I just assumed that all boys don't like to tell their parents about that kind of thing." If Rosie had been friends with her parents instead, it wouldn't have really mattered though, since she'd already written to her mother and told her everything.

Rosie soon returned with their drinks. "Thank you," Bri said politely before taking a small sip. "You were right, it is really good," she smiled at him.

Andy shrugged. He had a pretty open relationship with his parents. His dad was pretty cool to talk to about stuff like this, so it didn't really worry him.

"I don't know about other boys," Andy said. "I think I'd be nervous actually telling them myself, but seeing as Rosie will do the telling for me, I'm not too concerned that they'll know."

Andy smiled at Rosie, as she handed them the drinks and took a drink from his own. He smiled at the positive review from Bri about the Butterbeer. "Yeah! It's pretty good. I like it."

He glanced at her. "What do you think of Hogsmeade so far? We haven't been down the Honeydukes yet. Merlin, that place is amazing."

Bri smiled at him; she was glad that he wasn't as apprehensive about people knowing as she thought that most boys would be, especially since they were only third years. "It's lovely," she grinned. The village, to her, looked like a village in a painting; it was absolutely beautiful. "Honeydukes, that's the candy store, yes?" she asked, not sure if she was remembering things properly.

Andy nodded, but laughed at her terminology. "Candy? Being American now, are we?" he teased. "But yes, It is the candy store. It's fantastic. Everything you could think of and then more. You'll see once we get inside."

He took another drink, using his sleeve to wipe away the foam that caught on his upper lip. "Have to say, I'm mighty happy we're not sitting at Puddifoots right now. That place is far to pink for my liking."

Bri blushed slightly again. She wasn't sure what had made her use the American term for it, but Andy seemed to get a chuckle out of it. She couldn't wait to see the shop, just so she could see if it really did have everything you could think of and then more, as Andy had said. "What is Puddifoots?" she asked. She remembered him mentioning it before but she wasn't exactly sure what it was and what made him not want to go there so badly.

Andy shuddered, not even wanted to try and explain the dreaded pink shop of horrors.

"It's a, umm.. tea shop, I guess. But it's decked out head to toe in pink, seriously. It's an eyesore if there ever was one! Nasty place. Older girls seem hellbent in dragging their boyfriends to endure tea and other girly things there. It's pretty awful."

Andy had never been in there, but Tahlia's boyfriend had complained about the place often enough to him for him to be very worried about it. Andy was just thankful that Bri was nothing like Tahlia in that respect... He hoped.

Bri smiled slightly. She liked girly things but this place sounded like it was a bit too much, even for her. "Perhaps we'll have to go and have a look. From the outside, of course. I won't make you go in there or anything," she laughed, since Andy had made it sound like going in there was the worst sort of legal torture imaginable. "Is there anywhere else that you want to go?"

"Oh! Thank Merlin! I was scared for a minute that you'd drag me in there!" He clutched his heart, in mock need for support.

At her question, Andy's thought fluttered back to the Quidditch store, but he had a feeling that him dragging her to that store, would be the equivalent of stepping foot inside Puddifoots. He wouldn't do that to her.

"Zonko's is pretty neat," he suggested. "If you're into pranking.. Which you're probably not. I'm not really all that into it either, but the stuff is fun to look at."

"I'm not, but we can still go have a look," Bri said, thinking it would be interesting to at least go see what sort of things they had there. She tried to think of what other shops they'd passed to get to The Three Broomsticks and remembered a shop that Andy had definitely been checking out. "You don't want to go to that Quidditch shop?" she asked with a smile.

Andy laughed. "Caught me staring, did you?" he asked. He had spent a good five minutes just privately window shopping, but now that Bri had acknowledged his want for the shop, he didn't feel so bad.

"Would you mind terribly if we had a quick look around?" he asked. If she did, he'd understand.

"Speaking of that, I have to get you flying one of these days!"

"It's not like you tried very hard to hide it," Bri laughed along with him. "I don't mind at all."

She didn't particularly understand Quidditch or its appeal and she was absolutely terrified to fly. She was petrified as Andy mentioned getting her flying. She shook her head slightly. "Do you not remember our flying lesson during first year?" she asked. When it came time to actually get on a broom, she'd been so terrified that she feigned illness and then spent the rest of the day hiding in the Hospital Wing.

Andy nodded a couple of times. He really wasn't very sneaky with his pure adoration for the store. It was rather sad.

"Awesome," he said, grinning. He liked the fact that Bri wasn't overly opposed to Quidditch, even though her fear of flying meant that she probably wouldn't be joining him in midnight joy rides all that often, as James had put it the other day.

"I remember. You weren't that bad," he said, his mouth curling upwards into a smile. She was pretty terrible, but he wouldn't tell her that. He wanted her to try again, after all.

"Come on. You should just try it again, but this time, just the two of us. There won't be any pressure from Hunter and the rest of the class."

Bri frowned slightly. She knew that Andy was just being kind with his comment, she'd been absolutely dreadful. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" she asked skeptically. "We could just stay on the ground, the ground is a lovely place to be. It has grass and dirt and no possibility of falling to your death..."

Andy chuckled, picking up his drink from the table. "It's a great idea. We'll take it slow. It'll be fine, promise." Her first experience flying hadn't been particularly good, but Andy planned to change that. She'd be an air junkie, like him and James, before the end of the year. That thought spurred on another.

"Can you believe we're nearly fourth years? Nearly halfway through already! Time sure flies." He hadn't though much about it before, but in four short years they'd be graduating. There was a lot of work ahead of them, but he was looking forward to what the future held.

"If you say so..." Bri was uneasy about the whole thing but she supposed she could give it another try for Andy's sake, as long as he promised not to let her fall.

When she finally shook the terrifying thoughts of falling to her death, Andy had changed the topic to graduation. "Very true," she said, managing a smile. "Only 4 years left. So short but so long at the same time." She couldn't wait to turn 17, mostly because she'd be able to do magic whenever she wanted and she'd be able to get her Apparation license. "Have you thought at all about what you want to do when you graduate?" she asked before taking another drink of her Butterbeer.

Andy titled his head, thinking about it. He really hadn't given it much thought before, but he supposed now was the time to think about things like this. It seemed such a foreign concept, for him to be of age, but in reality, both him and Bri would be, along with their other friends. That time wasn't very far off at all.

"I dunno," he replied. "I kinda like Potions, but not enough to want to do that forever. Umm, I love DADA. Maybe an Auror?" The thought appealed to Andy. He really did love defense magic and he could uphold the law, he reckoned.

"What about you? I can see you as a Healer, personally. Kind and caring and all that."

"I think you'd make a wonderful Auror," Bri grinned, thinking of how Andy would look chasing down a bad guy, though she soon realized that Aurors probably didn't do things like they were in a muggle cop show.

She blushed at the compliment. "I've thought about it a little bit but I haven't decided on anything yet, although I have to admit that being a Healer has crossed my mind more than once," she said. "I don't know if I'd be able to do it though. I'm not very good at Potions."