Main Bar and Sitting Area

[JadieLou]

The Three Broomsticks Pub is a popular haunt
for the Hogsmeade locals and Hogwarts staff
and students alike.

Come in for a nice foaming mug of warm Butterbeer,
or if you're overage, maybe something a little stronger.

Above the pub are rooms available if you
need a place to crash.

[Emmaline Murphy]

Dusting herself off as she entered the small pub, Emmaline looked around. It was warm, cosy and full with people. Some looked too young to not be at school, so she gathered she must have come on the right weekend then. She had heard the shopkeeper at the joke shop say something about all the Hogwarts students in the village today. Taking a seat at an empty table by the window, she ordered a Butterbeer and looked out to the street, hoping she'd see her step-brother. He wass, after all, the reason she was there.

[Caeleb Dracus]

Caeleb sat in the darkness at the back of the noisy pub and puffed out a cloud of billowing smoke. The long pipe from which the smoke emitted a faint orange glow as he drew once more on the rich tasting tobacco.
His eyes were little more than dark slits peering out from the hood he had taken to wearing, hiding his usually hansom features. His face was too human. He liked to hide it.

He watched each new patron as the entered and exited the pub, waiting for that one who would be the key to it all. The one that would let him in. The one that would let him see, speak and touch all.
He would know them the moment he sensed them. The right mind. The right darkness of soul. The right naiivity.

A boy maybe only months younger than himself entered and he felt a disturbing level of affection coming from the boy that turned his stomach. He watched as the boy walked towards a girl who had been seated by the window. She too gave off the same sickly emotion and he tore his attention away, unable to stomach it.

His eyes went back to the door. Patiently he waited.

[Kelly Black]

Kelly dragged her feet as she walked towards the Three Broomsticks. Her everyday ritual to come here exactly at 7, have a couple of drinks and then return to the shop. Since she visited Danika, over a year ago, that place had been her only consolation. She had fallen into a slow quiet routine, nothing like the life she used to live before. Then again, as she thought about it, she had no reason anymore.

As she got closer to the pub, she stopped. She had come here every day, but today felt different. There was something, that she couldn't explain. But because she had been keeping away from everything, her senses and powers had been fading by the day. "You're just being silly" she muttered to herself. She stepped through the doors and breathed in the warm smell of the pub. "There is that feeling again", she thought. But she disregarded it as being paranoid. She walked straight up to the bar. "Same as usual, Kel?" asked Madam Rosmerta. Kelly nodded and smiled as she watched her pour out a strong triple shot. "Just what I needed" she sighed and drowned it in one go. She closed her eyes as she was waiting for the next shot, enjoying the warmth that spread inside her.

[Caeleb Dracus]

He sensed her before she even entered the pub. His eyes narrowed with hatred and then softened as intrigue took over. As she entered and he saw her for the first time in more than half a year the flash of hatred sent a shiver of pleasure through him. Her hair, her eyes, the curve of her lips, so disgustingly familiar. He loved to hate her.

He watched her cross to the bar with such relaxed freedom that riled him. And as the bartender addressed her with familiarity he realised that this was obviously not an anomaly to her routine. She came here often. Which meant that she must have settled here. This angered him. That the "Black" girl could live freely so close to the school that had been his wife's undoing touched an unfamiliar nerve. A human nerve.

He watched her swallow her drink and sneered. Her common, relaxed and casual manner angered him and intrigued him. How could this murderous woman be living here freely, when his beloved Dara lay dead?

[Kelly Black]

She opened her eyes as the second shot was placed in front of her. She picked it up, but then a strange feeling hit her again. It felt as if someone was watching her. She slid her free hand under her robe and took a deep breath as her fingers locked around her wand. She could feel her forgotten senses rising to the surface. "It's probably no-one" the voice in her head said in a quiet voice. She shook her head. There was something or someone there and she had to find out why it was staring at her. She slowly turned around on her chair, skanning every part of the pub. Suddenly her eyes locked on something, she let out a sharp cry and her eyes narrowed. She was staring straight at Caeleb.

It felt as if time had stopped. All the feelings, she had surpressed since Danika had been locked up, rose back up to the surface. Hatred was pumping in her veins as she kept staring at that so familiar and resented figure. She drew her wand and pointed it straight at him. Her grip was so strong, her fingers had gone white. But she didn't notice that. She didn't notice the other people in the bar, staring at them both. She didn't notice the sudden start of a storm outside. She didn't notice a tear in her eye. All she could think of was that she wanted him dead. But she didn't have it in her, to kill him, no matter how much she wanted to. She had gone soft.

[Caeleb Dracus]

He watched her turn on her stool, knowing that at any second her gaze would fall on him. And so it did. The look of her expression changing from quiet curiosity to shock, then to pure hatred brought a small smirk to his face. The demon chuckled internally as the wand was pointed at him. Such an obvious reaction.
He made no move in retaliation, just gazed back into her fiery, fury-filled eyes. The human face smiled cruelly.
He looked casually at the tip of her wand, fighting the urge to laugh. He'd almost forgotten what it was like to hold a wand. His own had been cast aside the day his wife had died. The day the demon clawed its way free.

A smooth, calm voice escaped his lips and he hated how human he sounded.

"Hello, Kelly."

[Kelly Black]

A shudder went through her body as he spoke to her. "How dare he" she thought. His voice sounded calm and collected. It cut straight through her. She stared straight into his eyes, her eyes filled with anger. Out of all people to run into, why did it have to be Caeleb? The closest person to Kildara? She stood up and walked towards him. She stopped just close enough, for her wand to be only an inch away from his throat.

"What are you doin here?!" Her voice came out as a high pitched shriek, rather then a sound. "You don't belong here! Leave, before I change my mind and kill you!"

She could feel her heart racing, as she said that, for she had not killed anyone in a while.

[Caeleb Dracus]

As she moved closer he didn't even flicker. Just watched as she closed the distance between then. Even with her wand this close to his throat he merely narrowed his eyes slightly. Fear of physical harm was something left far behind him.
When she spoke it did take some control not to rip out her throat. She was questioning his right to be here?

"Me? I'm having a drink, of course. What else would I be doing in a public house." he replied with false innocence. "I could ask the same of you. What is a cold-blooded killer such as yourself doing drinking so casually in a nice place like this?" he asked, just loudly enough for the people at the nearest table to hear. The people looked warily at Kelly and then Caeleb and then moved to a farther table.

[Kelly Black]

Kelly's hand shook for a split second, when Caeleb spoke again. He didn't look fazed about the fact that he could be killed any minute. He didn't have anything to lose anymore. For a moment she felt compassion towards him, for she also knew what it meant to lose a loved one. That moment passed quick, because she knew that have the tables turned and Caeleb would never think that. If it was the other way round, Kelly knew she'd already be dead. So she just stared at him, hoping her eyes hadn't betrayed her again, like so many times before.

"I don't have to justify anything to you so shut up!" she hissed as she watched the other people move tables. "You've never done ANYTHING without havin a motive, let alone showing up somewhere you probably never knew excisted." A grin appreared on her face "Although I guess you've had some time on your hands, since ur adorably sweet Kildara was killed" she said in a sarcastic tone.

[Caeleb Dracus]

He chuckled at her pathetic words. Being told to shut up was nothing short of hilarious to him. Was this the best she could do? Of course he was also aware that had they met in a not-so-public place she would have instantly tried to kill him.
He looked around the pub amused.
"My dear I have been a student of Hogwarts have I not? The Three Broomsticks is not exactly a secret." he said mockingly.

But when she uttered his wife's name the demon rose up and the barrier between them shattered. His glass smashed on the table and his hood fell back revealing his face fully. His face, although still hansom was pallid and his eyes dark, black pools where they had once been rich brown. His once well groomed and styled hair was now long and unkempt.

"Indeed I have much time." he growled. "Human weakness is the flesh and bones that bind them." His lips curled as he sneered at Kelly's wand. "A weakness that still binds you, little girl." he hissed warningly. Then a dark smile crossed his face.
"But flesh and bone can be rebuilt."

[Kelly Black]

Kelly jumped when Caeleb's glass hit the table. She could see tiny pieces of glass flying everywhere, but she didn't follow them. Her eyes were fixed on Caeleb's once so charming face. He had changed. The outline of his face was still the same, but he had gone pale, his hair had developed a mind of their own and his eyes looked like pieces of coal. "Atleast now his eyes really reflect his soul" she thought to herself.
Suddenly she trembled. Caeleb had started talking again. His voice resembled nothing that of a human. It was more like an animal behind those words. She had to compose herself quickly, she had to stand her ground and seem confident if she wanted to live to see the next day.

"I am not weak" she snarled in a more Kelly like voice "why don't we take a step outside and I'll give you a chance to join your wife in the dark underworld, where you both belong!" She was not going to turn her back on Caeleb, she hadn't completely lost her mind yet, so she started slowly backing towards the exit. When she saw a smile on Caeleb's face, she came to a halt once more.

"Flesh and bones mean nothing without the soul. And once the soul is gone, there's no bringing it back."
You, out of all people, should know that" she added quietly.

[Caeleb Dracus]

He watched her begin to back towards the door. Her talk of the underworld amused him.
"Been there. Done that. Got the season ticket, honey." He didn't get up to follow her. "Fancy a road trip? I could take you there. Show you the sights." he suggested, only half joking.
He studied her for a few moments, contemplating the turn of events with thoughtfulness. Always the opportunist he began to wonder whether she may actually be of some kind of asset if he could only manipulate her in the right way. He would need help, that he already knew. And he still needed an insider at Hogwarts.

"So tell me, what brings you to Hogsmeade?" he asked, ignoring her request to 'take it outside'. "Business or pleasure?"

[Kelly Black]

Kelly didn't reply to Caeleb's joking comment. She just kept staring at him, for she knew there was something more to it. There was a reason why he was, out of all places to be, in Hogsmeade. She tried to read something from his face, but obviously he would be smarter then that. "Caeleb hasn't gone soft, since Dara's death" she thought to herself "he isn't that stupid". She continued cursing herself in her head, for letting everything get to her so much, that she'd forgotten who she was. She analysed her body language in her mind and realized, she'd been crouching down in front of him. Her eyes clearly reflected her fear of him and her hands were shaking. She took a deep breath and stood up straight. She lowered her wand and took a step back closer towards Caeleb. She had to be smart, if she wanted to find out what the hell he was doing.

"It's always business with me" she replied sarcasticly. "Don't try and make small talk. You and I both know, that you're here for a reason." She turned her head both ways. "Maybe you're waiting for someone? Or something? But what?" she let out a sigh "You know that I'll find out eventually. One way or another. You're not the only one with friends on high positions" she said with a slight softness in her voice. She raised her wand again and repaired Caeleb's glass, filling it with the same substance that had been there before he slightly lost his temper.

[Caeleb Dracus]

He watched her as she composed herself, respecting the way she held herself.She's lowered her wand but he knew her guard wouldn't have been lowered. She was quick, that he remembered. And she wasn't stupid. Maybe it was time to stop playing games. It was a waste of their time.
He watched his glass repair and refill and hi picked it up. He smiled and raised his glass to her before downing the amber liquid in one.
"Much obliged." he thanked her and placed the glass back on the table. "Why don't you join me?" he asked gesturing towards the bar. "I'm buying." he added as he kicked a stool towards her from under the table. "No tricks. Promise. And I'll tell you all about it."
His signature smile was back.