Halie frowned as she looked over her reflection in the mirror. She was wearing a red tube top and a pair of dark jeans. Her strawberry scented hair was let down over either shoulder and her icy blue eyes were brought out by a bit of eye liner. She had recently broken up with her boyfriend. As in, three hours ago. For some reason she wasn't even bothered by it this time. Halie went from boy to boy a lot now days. None of them ever seemed to stick anymore. She had pretty much grown used to it. With one last sigh Halie walked out the door and swiftly made her way to hogsmeade. She was in need of a drink right now, even if it was as light as a butterbeer.

Ten minutes later Halie walked in the the fairly empty bar and smiled her normal toothy smile. "Ello Halie. Butterbeer?" The bartender asked. It was sad that he knew her by name, but she nodded and sat down. When her drink arrived she paid for it and made small talk with the man for a moment before he had another person to attend to. Halie boredly twisted her dark brown hair around her finger before she took a drink of the warm liquid, slightly flinching at the rich taste.

James entered the bar a few moments later, shivering slightly. The weather was getting cold, he could feel it- and he hated it. As if there weren't enough troubles already the cold did not make anything better. As he entered the bar his eyes swept the room quickly, it was a safety precaution for him. He could never possibly ever tell who was watching him, though there was nothing wrong with trying. His eyes lingered at the young lady in front of him before sitting down in the seat beside him.

As he sat down he turned his head to get a better view of the women next to him, she seemed familiar..

Halie's attention was lost as her thoughts drifted a bit. She mainly thought about her friends at a time like this. Alas - lately she didn't seem to be making too many of those. She made more enemies than friends. Possibly because she was always somehow getting into more trouble. Oh well. Halie's thoughts were stopped when she felt someone sit next to her. After another quick drink she turned to face him. It was always nice to try and be friendly to people. "Hey." She greeted simply, hoping he didn't just ignore her. That happened every once in awhile. It always made Halie second guess herself. Actually, she did that no matter what.

OOC: Arg, gtg. Tomorrow :D

"Hey," He returned the greeting, looking to the bartender. He didn't like the strong stuff, just plain old Fire Whiskey would do, best to watch himself. Ugh, if he had a Sickle for every single person he met or met again in a bar that made a major impact on his life he would be rich. Though this luck was mostly contributed by the fact that he went to a bar more than he should a week. He took a sip of the drink in front of him and let out a sigh, he should've slept last night. He reached up with one hand and felt his chin, unshaven and messy like the rest of him.

Leaning over to one side he nudged the women sitting next to him softly with his elbow.

Halie had her fair share of bad habits, some of them as simple as biting her lip when she was nervous. Lately she had taken up zoning out. Often she'd be in the middle of a conversation and she'd begin to think about something else and lose whatever it was she or the other person had been saying. It usually annoyed her company but it wasn't like Halie could help it. She just had so much on her mind lately. In fact, it was what she was doing until she felt the man next to her nudge her lightly. Halie wasn't entirely sure if it was on purpose or only an accident so she didn't react in any way. Instead, she spoke. "I'm Halie." She stated, allowing a small half smile to cross her lips in her attempt to be friendly with the stranger.

James said nothing but instead his eyes fell to his half empty glass when she said her name. Again, after all this time, they had to meet yet again in a bar. Oh how clearly he remembers the times with Halie, clearer than what he did a few hours ago. It was odd how he just remained silent, when the girl who had been one the largest parts of his life be sitting right beside him and not know it.

Taking a deep breath in and taking another sip of the whiskey he replied in a croaked, "Sanders," he mumbled.

Halie couldn't lie, it was odd that she had given her name and the man had given none back to her. Maybe he just wasn't social. Either that or he didn't hear her at all. Either way, she felt slightly silly for being so friendly in the first place. Until he spoke a moment later she had been worrying herself. She always had a tendency to think things over too much when she shouldn't. When he spoke, his voice made Halie only slightly uncomfortable. It probably wasn't even his voice that mad her so uncomfortable, just the name he gave. Halie was a smart girl and she knew it was dumb to assume that this man was the same 'Sanders' she had fallen in love with so long ago. There were plenty of people with that last name, and Halie decided that until she at least got a good look at him she wouldn't get worked up over it. "Pleasure to meet you." Halie said politely, trying her best to keep the awkwardness out of her voice even though it was still clearly there.

She was clearly somewhere else, even before he realised she was Halie the first few seconds of seeing her he could tell she was somewhere else. He eyed her from the corner of his eye, he felt like jumping up and just shouting 'IT'S ME, HALIE!!', but that's probally just the lack of sleep talking. Picking up his drink he swished it around a bit, trying to think of what to say. "So," he said, taking another sip and setting the cup on the table. "How've you been Miss Thompson?"

Halie slowly took a drink of her butterbeer, letting the liquid slowly warm up her body. It put her in a more pleasant mood than she had been in a moment before. The drink somehow always managed to make you feel better. Halie had been setting her drink down when the man spoke, catching her off guard. She blinked slowly, quickly letting her previous words run in her head. She definitely had no given her last name out. Halie let her drink rest on the bar as her blue eyes peered up to look at him, a bit of uneasiness in them. It only took her a second to realize who it was. "Oh my-" Halie couldn't even find the words to let herself finish. After a moment of just staring, Halie regained her composure and softly smiled, not sure how she always managed to smile no matter what situation. "James! I can't believe it's you." Halie exclaimed, not bothering to mask how excited she was to see him. It was every day that you got to see an old friend. Or in this case - an old more than a friend.

James tried hard to hold in his excitement, oh how he longed to just hug her so tightly. "I can't believe it's you too," He said, gripping his empty glass tightly. He looked up at Halie, she changed so much in the last few months- and there was no doubt that he had also changed too. It's amazing how many things can happened to one man when left apart from civilization for two or so months. His stomach tingled as his eyes moved from her face to her hair; oh how much he missed her.

"Where're you been?"" He asked, trying to hide his excitements from his voice.

Halie's butterbeer was easily forgotten as she turned slightly in her seat so she could face James without much of a struggle. She smiled as he spoke, glad he didn't sound disappointed in her or anything. Halie knew she wasn't exactly the same girl he had known at Hogwarts anymore. At least not really in the looks department anyway. As James spoke again, Halie's smile faltered for a slight second before she caught it. "Oh you know. Just around really. What about you? I haven't seen you in forever." Halie said, deciding to avoid why she had really been gone. It was a bit of a downer and a definite conversation killer. She'd had a bit of a family emergency and the less she had to think about it the better.

He turned away from her to glare at his empty glass, is it too much to ask for a little service? It was obvious that Halie didn't want to tell him where she've been, not that James wanted to tell her where he's been himself. Does she know he's an Auror? Probably not, ether way he can't tell her anything about where he's been. "Working," he replied simply, it wasn't a lie- nor was it really the truth. James kept his eyes on his glass, it was hard not to look at Halie directly, he knew if he did than he would lose himself. It had been so long since he's been so close to someone who meant so much to him, besides Rogue of course.

Oh.. He forgot about Rogue- that isn't good.

Halie's lips turned down in a small frown as she lifted her empty glass. She glanced into it as a second check, then sat it back down on the bar top. As she was about to request another one, it was sat down in front of her. "Thank you." Halie said, her mood brightening. The man nodded and accepted the money Halie held out to him. Obviously she came here a lot. It wasn't that hard to figure out seeing as the bar tender knew when to get her another drink so easily. Halie quickly turned back to James as he spoke. Halie wished he'd given a little more detail about what he'd been doing, but to be fair - she hadn't either. It was hard just to instantly tell someone everything. It took a little more time. "That's cool. How have you been? Anything interesting going on?" Halie asked curiously, trying to keep the conversation basic and not uncomfortably personal.

"No," He replied shortly, there was no reason why he had to know about Rogue. Halie probably doesn't have any feelings for James anymore, telling her about Rogue is irrelevant and unnecessary. James tapped his empty glass lightly to let the bartender know he needed a refill. He glance at Halie once again, careful not to linger in her eyes too long his lips. He wondered what things Halie could've done these past months, it annoyed him to think she might've done some bad things since he's last seen her. James forced a random cough to try to break the silence.

Halie felt the air between the two of them grow a little awkward after his short answer. Either there was things he didn't want to tell her or he really didn't want to talk to her. Both options made her feel a little uncomfortable. Halie lifted her hand and grabbed her butterbeer quickly before forcing a slow drink of it. Eventually she thought it'd be best to ask another question. She just felt weird about it though. Obviously James wasn't really in the mood to talk. With a small inaudible sigh Halie sat the glass back down on the bar and bit her lip, her gaze returning to James. "Well this got awkward fast." Halie muttered after another moment mainly to herself, not sure if James heard it or not. She brushed a strand of hair out of her blue eyes and behind her ear before glancing around the room quickly.

James bit his lower lip, he did not want to say anything that he shouldn't be saying but yet he also didn't want to push her away after all these months.. He glanced up and finally took a real look at Halie when brushed her hair out of the way. She was still pretty, there was no doubt about that- hopefully she's still the same inside, he would love that. He didn't want her to leave, not now. "Let's take a walk," James said bluntly, reaching into his coat and pulling out a random amount of Gallons and Sickles, without count he placed the handful on the table beside his drink.

Halie was extremely grateful when James spoke. She had felt his gaze on her, and wasn't sure what she would say. Halie wasn't certain if he had any expectations of how she should be now. She was partly the same girl he used to know, but a lot of things had changed. She was more mature on a lot of levels, but she still also loved a good time. Halie honestly hoped James wouldn't be disappointed in the person she had become. "Yeah, that sounds nice." Halie said standing up. She had already covered what she owed the bar tender earlier so she didn't have to dig in her purse to pay for her drinks. As Halie waited for James to lead the walk they were about to go on, she let a few memories flood back to her. They really had used to have something special when they were younger. Hopefully their meeting wasn't going to be very awkward.

James tucked his cold hands in his pockets as he exited the building, his eyes lowered slightly. Oh what was he suppose to say to her, 'Oh golly jee Halie, I sure did miss you especially after we haven't talked in about seven or so months!' He glanced at Halie on the thought, not knowing what to think of her anymore- but was quite sure he's going to find out in the next few hours. "So where do you live now?" He asked cautiously.

OOC: Arggg >.< Tired.

OOC: Bumped? Just once.