All good things must come to an end (but good things can start)

Jack waved her hand in an offhand way, saying, “That’s the way all politics are. Everything comes down to politics, which is all about having a tier system. Someone in charge making orders and then not doing them. As good people, we strive to be the exception.” She shrugged, sticking her straw into her own soda and slushed the ice around with it before leaning her head in and sipping from the drink.

She gave him a knowing nod and said, “And besides, the crowd would have been significantly thinner. An hour before now and Diagon Alley is just about dead.” She knew very well, having spent as much time as she had up and down this particular stretch of road. “And I am just about the most hungry person around. I might go cannibal.” She gave him a joking, warning look.

However, it never came to that. (Good thing too- she had no idea where Jess had been.) The waitress walked over, balancing a tray on her palm and she distributed their food. Jack wasted no time but bit into the burger. “Mmm.” She chewed the food, swallowed, and raised a fry towards Jess. “Bon appetite.”

Jess chuckled lightly. "The screaming chain," he muttered, a glint in his eye as he recalled his own share of screaming matches, many of which he had with the students themselves. Oh the joy he'd had, yelling himself hoarse, back in the final years of his own tuition, then joining them next period in their own classes. How that had happened, he would never know.

His train of thought however, was interrupted with the arrival of their food. "Oh thank christ," he exclaimed, his eyes going wide and his hands immediately shooting out to one of the wings. "Hope you don't mind," he said, taking a bite of the chicken swallowing it, his eyes closing for a second in bliss. "Me using my hands" he finished, groaning as the food found its place in his stomach.

"Thank god for that, I'd hate to become your meal," he said, laughing as he spoke

Jess was just as enthusiastic about the arrival of their food as Jack was, though he was far less restrained than she was. Jack did not like to display more amounts of emotion than she liked for people to think that she actually possessed. She merely grinned as she reached out and grabbed the burger, weighing it in her hands and pulling it to her lips to eat.

God, that was good.

He began to speak and she arched her eyebrow as he was interrupted by himself- apparently, filling his stomach with the wings was of far more importance, and she agreed. Whatever he had to excuse himself for, she was sure she would not mind. At his words, she nodded- yep, she was right. She raised her arms, indicating that she was holding her burger with her hands. "I'm not exactly the etiquette police. Don't worry there."

Jess grinned as Jack replied in a simple manner - it was nice to see that she had her priorities in the right order. Of course proper table manners were important when in the proper situation, but in a lunch between two friends, it was pointless and only stood in the way of each person's enjoyment, he found.

Finishing off his first wing, he then grabbed the first fried shrimp with his fork and shoved it in his mouth, only barely restraining himself from audibly moaning - the food quality had certainly not diminished with the change of ownership.

"So," he said, interrupting their feeding frenzy for a moment. "How's business for you on the alley? Times are tough, like you said... did I detect a hint of personal experience in that?" He asked, pleased he could focus on questions again now that his stomach wasn't irritating him so much.

Jess did not seem at all pertrubed by her quick, clipped response. Jack, though a jokester, was not one to waste words. She used them efficiently. She used them effectively. Jack lived a life fairly free of waste, and the same went with her relationships and social interactions and conversations. Very rarely did Jack speak for the sake of not having silence.

So for a moment, that was what they experienced. They lapsed into silence as Jess and Jack both turned their attentions onto their food. Jack regarded her burger with a trained eye and took another bite into it, reaching up to wipe her mouth with her finger. Swallowing, she reached for a few fries and poked them into her mouth before washing it all down with her soda.

Perfection.

At Jack's words, she glanced up and smirked. "Well, no one really likes spending money anymore, so that's a pain." She smirked again. "But I manage. You know- slave labor." She took a bite of her burger and swallowed. "But on a serious note, tell all of your friends to come shop at Weasley's. Even those two will help business," she smirked at him, pleased with her joke.

Jess grinned before rolling his eyes back into his head and sending his hand flying to his chest, slumping back in his chair dramatically with his tongue lolling out for a few seconds before he laughed. "Your lightning fast wit is deadly Jack, I hope you keep it under check," he winked, before nomming on another of his fried shrimps.

He was quite pleased that the two of them seemed to share similar eating patterns, there was nothing worse ,in his opinion, than sitting around and trying to eat your food, whilst people simply spoke for the sake of it. Sure, if they were talking or asking about things that actually mattered to them, it was fine, but merely filling space and delaying the food's journey from plate to belly was just short of criminality, as far as he was concerned.

Jack smirked at him as he play acted his own death and she returned back to her food. Of course, she was used to playacting. Her workers at Weasley's also moonlighted as comedians, so there was a lot of acting in the staff room. She continued eating, letting her mind travel where ever it might go. Her thoughts turned to the events of the day and her face darkened at the thought of Ne'Os. Her food dried in her mouth and she slowly put down the burger.

"What's going to be done about Ne'Os?" she asked, almost demanded. "That man is a known murderer- just because he's died doesn't mean justice has been served. How is it that he is still free?"

Jess paused with his fork halfway up to his mouth, letting it hang there for several seconds before nodding and popping it in his mouth. "Well... I don't know, if I'm being honest," he replied, his face carefully neutral. "The Ministry, from what I've seen, has not set very high store on finding him, because he was the one who defeated Grindelwald... Whilst I understand their point of view in this, I don't share it, personally." He explained to her. "The Order is at war with the Death Eaters now, we will hunt him with what we have, regardless of the Ministerial opinions on this. I rather hoped you might know a little more, though. What is the Ministry's stand on all this?" He asked, glad that she'd opened the topic, rather than him. He knew her opinion on the matter, but he didn't want to seem like he was using her for information (Which he wasn't) by asking her questions about the Ministry

Jack listened to him and felt her anger buck inside her. "So, he is excused for more murder?" She paused, remembering that Grindelwald's body had not been recovered and there was no definitive proof of his death, really. "Besides, how does one good deed justify a million other bad ones?" Jack did not hate- so she tried. But Ne'Os needed punishment.

He asked about the Ministry and Jack sighed. "Not my department. I think Ne'Os is a vampire, so that's my only jurisdiction. His names doesn't come up among the dragons and the nifflers."

"You're a part of the executive arm Jack, you'd certainly hear more than I do on the benches... surely you've caught whiff of something going on? The Heads of department are meant to work together on this stuff, I thought," He pointed out, his own anger growing again.

"But you're right, he's not excused, and he never will be, that's why, like I said, the Order will not relent to try and capture him, Ministry or no Ministry." He lowered his voice, becoming all too aware that they were still in a public place.

He relaxed a little and shook his head, trying to hide is contempt for current ministry policy from coming up in his face. "We'll catch him, don't you worry about that," he assured her, making not of her obvious attachment to the matter.