Old Friends

Keith felt his feet hit the ground and immediately threw up his lunch.

"I." he muttered to himself, taking deep breaths in between vomits, "Hate. Portkey travel."

He struggled to his feet, noting with pride that not only had he managed to vomit into a patch of grass where (hopefully) nobody would notice, he had avoided getting anything on his clothing (which he had spent almost 10 minutes on - he decided to look sharp for this party. Take everyone by surprise)

"Excellent," he said to himself, carefully adjusting his sleeves and running a hand through his hair. "Keith one, uncooperative means of travel, zero."

The night was cool, calm, pleasant. The perfect night for a party, something Keith would've realized if he had had any sense about parties (as he was convinced a party without copious amounts of drugs and alcohol was no party at all) However, he was old enough to realize that this type of party, what with the adults everywhere, was not his kind of show and he needed to find some kids and hopefully some kind of entertainment.

Unfortunately, even the kids weren't exactly to his liking. He saw some faces he recognized - the older kids, dressed in wildly disagreeing styles. One girl seemed to think they were at a rave, the other at a fairy tale ball. Keith declined comment, though every fiber of his being was screaming at him to see how fast that floor length dress caught fire.

Remember what the judge said, he thought to himself, making his way over to the bar area. If I get caught setting things on fire again I'm going to azkaban.

He reached the bar without setting anything alight and motioned to the bartender. "Do you have any russian sweetwater?" He asked. "The type with distilled unicorn hair?"

He got an unamused stare in response.

"Had to try," he said with a shrug and a grin. "I'll have a butterbeer." The bartender chuckled once and waved his hand, and a butterbeer leaped from the shelf behind him, landing next to Keith as it popped itself open. "Cheers, buddy," Keith said, taking a drink.

Now if only he could find the entertainment...

Jack did not like to subject herself to being around people. She still really did not like them, it was something she could not change about herself. But she was noticing that she had a social obligation, for her business, her job at the Ministry, and her need to listen in on people that the Order might have some sort of use for. So this new year's party was unavoidable.

However, the party was a good place for advertising, she could admit to that. She had a stack of Weasleys Wizard's Wheezes flyers, and she had already done the intelligent thing of throwing a stack of them down the spiraling staircase. With the flyers floating everywhere, she was free to go grab a Firewhiskey or something.

When she approached the bar she found a familiar figure was already there. She was not sure how to feel about seeing Keith again. Their last meeting had not been pleasant, but the main reason for it had already waltzed out of her life. Well not waltzed, so much as... disapparated. She was not even sure where the big puppy had gone.

Jack decided that he would be better company than being left alone with a Firewhiskey. She sat next to him and slapped a flyer in front of him. "You look like a boy in need of some planned mischief," she said in a salesman type of voice. She waved the bartender down and said, "Firewhiskey?" She glanced at Keith and muttered, "You drink that Butterbeer quick and I'll get you something better."

"Oh hell yes," Keith said, taking a long sip of butterbeer. "Now you're speaking my language."

He worked to keep his voice casual, his tone light, and his body language non-threatening. He hadn't seen Jack in a long time - they didn't go to the same school any more, and he wasn't exactly able to just pop by the ministry any day of the week to have a chat with her.

Of course, there were other issues too. Their last discussion hadn't seen them part on the friendliest of terms, and while Keith was still solidly convinced he was in the right with that whole debacle, he had decided to be gracious enough to let it slide. Jack was a big girl - she could handle herself. She didn't need a thirteen year old kid (albeit an incredibly intelligent, stunningly attractive thirteen year old kid) telling her what to do.

Plus, she was offering to buy him alcohol. Always a plus.

"Soooo..." he said, taking another large swig of butterbeer. "Hows the ministry? Didn't really think of you as the whole government official type back in Hogwarts."

She grinned, knowing that the promise of a drink was enough to break any ice present that the two were usually so good at crashing through. Jack would have never done a thing just two years ago- but she also knew Keith had probably done worse, would do worse, and this one drink was not totally damaging. Besides, Keith was smarter than most people who did drink.

She was glad she had brought her bag with her. She had never found the right way to give the Map over to Amelia to give to Keith- Jack knew Amelia was too smart to not worry about the old piece of paper one prankster wanted handed along to one of her most devious students. But perhaps Jack could finally deliver it to its new owner.

However, before she could bring it up, he asked about the Ministry. She said, "And trust me, I'm still not. I get in trouble for riding my head's male secretary piggy back into her office. And I'm pretty sure an intern moved to Finland because I scared him. It's fine, but I'm more worried about Wheezes. Start telling kids in your classes to get their arses over to my store! I'll even send you some free stuff if you demo them." She grinned.

Keith chuckled at Jack's description of her job - it was comforting to know that his old friend hadn't completely changed. She was still someone who would rather be setting off firecrackers than doing paperwork...but she was also someone who had accepted that setting off firecrackers was not a realistic means of getting through life. Keith could respect that, even if he was determined to somehow make a career out of jut being awesome.

He titled his butterbeer back, draining the dregs, and placed it down on the counter behind him. "Swing batta batta," he said with a grin. "I'll have that real drink now. Don't keep me waiting."

Jack said something about waning buisness at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, and he nodded knowingly. "It's Grindlewald," he said with a shrug. "He set up all those new rules about not leaving the castle and such, and you can't exactly order WWW products through mail, not unless you want to get a detention. Some six year Hufflepuff kids started running a small buisness, and honestly I should've stopped it when it was young but I needed stuff too..." he shrugged. "I'll break their knees or something, and they'll stop. I'm getting a lot more respect than I used to Jack. I think some of your fame rubbed off on me."

Or they're just scared of messing with the drug dealer, his subconscious mentioned, but Keith batted those concerns aside.

Jack grinned as Keith finished off the Butterbeer, so clearly intent on getting something stronger. Jack did not intend on getting Keith puke on her shoes, however, so she flagged down the bartender and asked for a random mixed drink, adding a "Surpise me" to make it look less suspicious. Jack really stuck with a few drinks. She couldn't name off what she wanted for Keith.

She fished out her money for the drink and dropped a knut into the tip jar for good measure. Keith began to explain and she turned to listen, understanding the parts about Grindelwald and mentally recording them. It was all viable information that the Order (and the allied Death Eaters, of course) could make some sort of use out of.

"Huffers," Jack scoffed. "I'm being run out of business by Puffers? And why haven't you put them in their place by now?" He continued on and she nodded, "Good. I'm not letting any Puffers think they can do anything. They can go back to their cross words and leave the pranks to the big girls. But if there's any real talent there, let me know. I'm going to be needing more help at the shop soon, I hope. You're welcome to work there anytime of course."

The bartender handed her the drink and she slid it to Keith. "Enjoy, delinquent." She smiled.

Keith happily grabbed the glass and took a swallow, immediately wishing he had settled for a sip. The stuff was strong, not like the week watered down stuff he got from the older kids at Hogwarts. Though maybe that was just as well - he didn't really want to be an alcoholic by fourth year.

This though, stung his throat and made his eyes water. Determined not to let Jack see he was struggling, he shook his head and grinned, forcing another, smaller sip down his throat. "Not bad," he said, nodding appreciatively. "Though I don't think I could stomach too many of them."

He shrugged as she offered him work at Wizarding Wheezes. "Nah. Don't take it the wrong way, but that kind of stuff isn't really up my alley. I'm more the potions kind of kid - I have a batch of Felix Felicis that's been brewing for maybe three months. Let me tell you, that stuff is a B**** to make. I've already had to throw out a batch because I got one of the ingredients wrong. Four months of waiting down the drain. If I didn't have Wally watching my back I'd probably have ruined this batch by now too."

Jack smirked as Keith tried the drink; she was glad to see he could not fully stomach it. Honestly, she would have been a little disappointed if he could already hold his liquor. She was sort of hoping that if he tried it now, he would be less inclined to abuse it later. Jack had levelled out in her own use. At first, she had gotten really bad.

"That's good," she commented, "keep your head on straight." She nodded at her own words, as though she wanted him to remember that. Keith was smart- snarky little twerp at times, but in the way that Jack found to be much better than most people her own age.

At his words she nodded. "Of course, but you ever want to do freelance work, I can pay. We have potions products that sell well, and I'm open to others." She had the patented day dream which had some potions, then love potions and some of the pimple erasers and whatnot. It'd be nice to extend her stock. He said something about someone and she raised her eyebrow. "Wally? Your partner in crime? You been busy with your potion projects, then?"

"Freelance work I could probably handle," Keith said, nodding in agreement as he placed his drink on the table for a moment. "I have a batch of experimental love potions in the works actually. Either they'll be twice as effective or they'll liquefy your kidneys. After I test them we can exchange some owls, maybe work out a deal." He shrugged. "And I can get you some more exotic potions...for the right price of course." He grinned in a lighthearted way and shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe I'll even give you a discount."

"Yeah, Wally," he said, answering her question about his new partner in crime. "She's been helping me a lot recently. Smart girl...bit on the weird side, but I'm trying to help her through that. She's got a head for books and stuff. Makes things a lot easier when I don't have to slog through the preliminary research. And she keeps me..." he waved a hand to show he didn't quite know a good word "grounded. I'm glad I met her."

Jack had thought some freelance potion making would appeal to her young friend. Keith was like her, didn't like to be held to commitment. Of course, Jack had budged a bit on that, as most adults found they had to when they left the nest. She wanted to give Keith a good opportunity though, because lately she liked the feeling of giving someone a chance. It was a good distraction from hating everyone. She nodded, saying, "Love potions are always great sellers. Other things would be great too. I could give you upfront pay and then a percent of the profits."

He continued on and Jack nodded, trying not to feel a little jealous. It would have been nice to have a steady partner in crime during her years at Hogwarts. Then again, most people sort of liked Keith, so he probably did not have trouble getting someone to help him out. "That seems fun. It's always good having someone that can drive the getaway car." She laughed.