Carly was sitting at a table in the back of The Three Broomsticks. It was dinner time but she decided to come here instead. She had a pretty stressful, but more annoying, day. Things with Trey were calming down a bit. It seemed as though he was beginning not to care. It was all still really getting to her though. Carly had flirted with waiter and convinced him that she was old enough to drink. She looked it, so it wasn't very hard.

She was now sitting in the dimly lit corner, a bit drunk. She wasn't too bad, but she was sure that she'd have to stop soon. This was calming her down a little and now she wished that she hadn't gone there alone. She wanted someone to come and keep her company for a while. She continued to sit there and sip on her drink.

AJ went from the Hog's Head to Three Broomsticks in hoping to find some mates. He had become more secluded since his sixth year. More secretive. He had slowly started to transform into the looks of a Dark Wizard, but this was only because he was hunting them undercover. Sneaking off Hogwarts whenever he could, careful not to be caught.

He flew as his eagle animagus past Hogsmeade, past the security of Hogwarts. Then apparated to London, making his home in Kennington a miniture headquarters of his duties. Wanted posters hung everywhere.

While he was drinking he noticed a Slytherin he thought he knew, she looked lonely and drunk. He didnt sit at her table, but close enough, hoping she would say something first.

OOC: Oops, forgot to switch accounts.


Carly had just set her drink down, that now being the third that she's finished. She hadn't looked around at her surroundings very much while she was in there. Usually when she was drinking by herself she paid much more attention to her drink than anyhing. After setting the empty glass on the table, she finally looked around. She tried to look slowly because if she moved her head too fast then everything took so long to come into place.

As she turned her head a little, she noticed a boy sitting at a table close to her. She stared at him for a moment, thinking that he had looked familiar. She blinked a few times, trying to get her vision a bit more straight. His appearance then fully came into focus. "AJ?"

She was pretty sure that was him, or she'd feel dumb thinking it was. She's only talked to him once, but after that he seemed to disappear. She kept her stare on him, waiting for his reply.

"Oi, Carly." he said, acting surprised. He turned to face her, still staying at his own table. He had a brief conversation with her before, but that was it. Though AJ was secluding himself he needed to seem unchanged and still strike random conversations to avoid suspiscion.

"How've you been? Have a nice holiday?"

He smiled for the first time in what seem like ages.

He seemed surprise when she called his name. Atleast she knew she had the right person then. She let his questions sink in for a moment before she spoke up. Something about him seemed different. She wasn't sure what, but it was strange.

She smiled back at him. "You know, i've been..awesome." She was being overly happy. That was quite a lie, though. Her life has been pretty strange and stressful lately. She shrugged. "My holiday was just plain, nothing interesting." She was talking slower than normally to make sure she got all of her words out correctly.

She tilted her head at him a little. "What about you? You seemed to disappear for a while there."

"Well..." he took a drink, "After the tournament I went to my new home in London, just near the Kennington tube station. My parents gave my my grandparents old row house. I've been there making it livable. I'm of age now, so that's nice."

He left out the most important things of his life: being an animagus and hunting Dark Wizards.

"Exctied to almost be finished."

She watched as he took a drink, hoping that she wasn't the only one a bit drunk. She hated that. She listened to him very tentively. She always seemed to listen much better when she was drinking. She nodded. "Ah, yeah. Well that's really cool."

She smiled at him, now fully remembering the nice time they had the last time they saw each other. "You're pretty lucky to have not had to stay here too much." She shook her head, thinking about some of the things that have been happening. "It's really not been a good place." She looked around, hoping that the waiter would soon come back.

"Not a good place?" he wondered what she meant. He knew nothing too terrible would have happened, he would have received an owl. Or would he? He had lostr contact with everybody, even April.

"How so?"

Thoughts were racing through his mind. He was sure everything was okay. He was almost finished with his drink, he tapped his glass and it refilled. One thing about Transfiguring food, is that you can't make it out of thin air, but can add to what is already there.

AJ sounded concerned about it, which slightly confused Carly. It wasn't really a big deal. She then realized that she sort of made it seem like it was something terrible. She shook her head. "Well it's nothing really. Not something that's affecting the whole school at least."

She looked down at her empty glass, picking it up and tilting it a bit. She was beginning to think of Trey again and she needed another drink. "We have a new Professor. Well, a support Professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts." She paused. She hated thinking about him. "Turns out his a Death Eater. Obviously hates all muggleborns, which is what half the school is anymore."

She set her glass back down, sort of obnoxiously. It was obvious that she was getting angry just thinking about him. "I'm a pureblood, but him and i hadn't gotten off on the right foot. Let's just say a few unforgivable curses were thrown and he's basically out to kill me." She took a deep breath. "He's out for most muggleborns here, too." She shook her head. That only made sense, but she figured she had to put that out there.

AJ felt his whole body tighten. He hated Death Eaters, Dark Wizards and Witches, anything. He hated them all. He was on the hunch that his favourite professor was NDE and now that there is this new Defence professor as well, he was sure Hogwarts was in trouble.

"What?!" he bellowed, standing up, knocking his drink over. The partons of the pub stared at him.

When Carly was telling her story, she noticed that AJ's body seem to tighten and he looked a bit angry. She could almost sense the vibes from him completely change. It worried her a little. When she finished, he jumped up. He knocked his drink over in the process and shouted out. This made her jump a little and it seemed like the whole pub had eyes on him.

She slowly stood up and walked around her table to him. She grabbed his arm and pulled him back down into his seat, then took the opposite seat at his table. Something was obviously wrong and she didn't think the whole pub needed to know. "What's wrong?"

He realized he was doing the opposite of what he said he would do: he was drawing attention to himself.

"Erm...nothing. Over reacted of course." he didn't know where to go from here. He had lost control. He hated, absolutely hated the thought of NDE teaching at Hogwarts.

"Has he outright said he hated muggleborns and was a Death Eater? Or is it just a rumour?!"

He seemed very hasty with asking these questions.

Carly didn't believe him at all when he said it was nothing. It was obviously something, and she would find out. She nodded though, acting like she believed him. His next question proved her thoughts right somewhat. He was too interested in it to just be nothing.

She shook her head. "I'm pretty sure he hasn't come right out and said it. I mean, if he did..he'd lose his job. It's obvious that he tries to act sincere to all the muggleborns." She paused. It sounded like it was all just a rumor now. "But believe me, you'd want to take my word for it. I met him before he applied for the job. We got along for a little, then things turned bad. He admitted to me to being a Death Eater and hating them."

She hoped that AJ believed her. She felt like the more she talked, the less believeable it sounded. "I may be a bit drunk, but i'm one hundred percent positive that he's a DE."

He was shocked that the Headmaster wouldn't do a background check into new professors. Or maybe he had. Maybe the Headmaster is a death eater as well!

"Well then...I'll just have to be careful around him then."

He meant about hunting dark wizards but didn't want to give that away. "I'm muggleborn of course."

Carly stared across the table at him. Something in his voice sounded suspicious. She always seemed to pick up on the smallest things when she was drunk. This was a good thing, and was certainly coming in handy now. "Ah, yeah..of course."

She continued to eye him suspiciously. She made it very obvious, too. She wanted him to know that she could tell something wasn't right. Maybe then he'd tell her something. "Even if you ran into him, i'm sure you could take him. I mean, even i put up a good fight against him."

"I would just hope I didn't accidentally kill him," AJ sneered. His dark tendencies were showing through. He had been spending too much time in the company of those in Knockturn Alley.

"Dark Wizards...argh." he was angry just thinking about them.

"Want another drink?" he asked, noticing hers was low.

Carly was a bit shocked to hear him speak like that. He was certainly different than the first time they had met, and she wasn't exactly sure if it was a good thing or not. When she heard him mention Dark Wizards, her mind wandered in many different directions. She quickly brushed all of her thoughts away when he spoke again.

She nodded slowly. "Please." She wasn't sure where to go with this conversation. She decided to just keep it where it was. "So really, what's going on with you? You're different, and i know something's up." She figured she probably shouldn't have said it so bluntly, but she couldn't take it back now.

AJ returned with drinks. "Well..." he obviously wasnt going to tell her the truth. He barely knew her. She said she hated Dark Wizards, but what did he know.

"Over the holiday I have been hanging out a lot in Diagon and Knockturn Alleys. Exploring. Shopping. The usual."

He drank most of his firewhiskey. "Glad to be starting my final year. How about you?"

He was treading the truth. He had really been in Knockturn immersing himself with Dark Wizards.

Carly listened to him and nodded slowly. "Oh, so mixing yourself with certain people there i'm guessing?" She already knew the answer, it was only obvious. She knew she barely knew him, but she wanted to know. She was a bit drunk, so everyone was like a best friend to her. She took a few sips from her drink.

"So tell me, are they all exactly what they seem?" She casually took a few more sips, then set it down on the table. She figured he'd know who she was talking about.

She was drunk, or getting there. He couldn't trust her. There were a few choices: either she wouldn't remember this in the morning, or she would go blabbing tonight. Or she was really a Dark Witch.

"Just trying to meet a few new friends. You know how it is."

He was being ambiguous.

Carly shook her head. She obviously wasn't going to get through him. She wondered why he really didn't want to tell her. She just shrugged it off. "Hm, okay. Looks as though this conversation isn't going anywhere." She picked up her drink and finished half of it.

She took a deep breath and then smiled at him. "Well, i'm glad we ran into each other again." She was contemplating leaving. She really didn't want to, and it would probably be dumb to go stumbling around Hogsmeade, but she felt like she had to for some reason. She continued to think about it while she waited for his response.

He noticed her stumbling about. "Perhaps we can take this to another location...less crowded perhaps?"

He wanted to continue talking to her. But didn't want to in the open. Maybe he could trust her. She seemed to hate Dark Wizards as well. Maybe not hate, but dislike what they stand for.

Carly nodded and smiled. She was glad he wanted to continue talking. Maybe after a while he'd want to tell her more. "That sounds like a good idea." Her words were still spoken slowly so that she said everything right. She gestured her hand to the door. "Please..lead the way." She didn't know where he wanted to go. Plus, she wouldn't be able to lead the way even if she wanted to. She laughed a bit to herself.

AJ had no clue where they could go. He took her hand, not wanting her to tumble over. They walked around Hogsmeade. She laughing at just about everything. Him staring at others, wanting to know if they were good or evil. She was annoying him, but he knew it wasnt her fault. He had grown short fused, and she couldnt control her laugh.

He found a bench to sit on and decided this was a place to talk. Well away from others, but not too far away.

"This okay?" he asked sitting, watching her twirl around.

They had walked around Hogsmeade for a bit, and Carly was surely more drunk than before. She was having a great time even though they weren't doing anything. She found everything funny and didn't care that some people were staring at her. She noticed that AJ seemed quiet, but she didn't really aknowledge it.

When they stopped at a bench, AJ sat down and asked if it was alright. She smiled and twirled around a bit, then let herself fall onto the bench next to him. She took a deep breath and pushed her hair out of her face. "This is fine." She knew she had to calm down now. Maybe he was ready to actually talk to her about things. She decided to stare off and concentrate on something, hoping it would calm her down a bit.

He watched he sit. She stared a bit. He was too busy to talk at the moment, for he was checking to see if there were any odd people in the village today.

"So...you don't like pureblood fanatics then?" he asked, taking a risk.

He watched her continure to stare; maybe she hadn't hear him.

While sitting there staring, Carly heard AJ say something but ignored it for a few more moments. She was dazing off now, but finally made herself snap out of it. She shook her head and looked at him. "Sorry." She thought about it, it was a strange question for her. "Well, no. Which is strange i guess. I'm a pureblood and i'm proud of it, but i don't love it so much to the point where i hate muggleborns. Some i don't like, but most..they're alright."

She sighed. She felt like it took her ages to explain that. She calmed herself down very quickly and was now prepared to have a serious conversation if that's what he wanted. She noticed he kept looking around though, as if he was looking for someone.

OOC: Darn accounts.

This statement made AJ close up again. She was pureblood. He was okay with that. But perhaps she wasn't one to confide it. He wanted to change the subject fast.

"Are you excited for any classes in particuliar?"

She was a bit confused when he quickly changed the subject. She really wanted to talk about it, and she felt like she was so close. She wondered what she said that made him not want to talk about it anymore. "Erm, no..not really.." She trailed off, eyeing him. She decided to go back to the other subject.

"Do you like them?" She made it that simple.

"Transfiguration mostly. And of course Defence Against the Dark Arts." he had grown to love that, now that he was on the hunt.

"Education is important to me...after all I am in Ravenclaw."

He laughed a bit at his attempt at a joke. The sky was nice and bright, but the weather was cooling off. That is September for you.

"Looking forward to anything this year?"

Carly listened to him and shook her head. He obviously hadn't gotten what she was really asking him, or he was just pretending he didn't. She didn't even laugh at his bad attempt of a joke. Five minutes ago, she would've. Now, she just wants to know what he's really thinking.

She stared off again and answered his question without looking at him. "I'm looking forward to just getting through it so i can finally get to my final year." She looked back at him. Her face bared an expression that read she wanted to talk about something else. And it was obvious what.

"Ah yeah. My final year is here." he said, stretching his back on the bench.

He let the conversation die out. She obviously wanted to talk about something. He knew what, but if she was to talk about it. he would answer. AJ wasnt going to bring the conversation back up.

He started thinking about recruiting old friends to help his cause. But most of them were younger and wouldnt be out of school for a while.

Carly kept her stare on him as he streched back. She waited for him to say something, but he wasn't. He looked like he was thinking about different things now and wasn't about to speak up.

"Alright, what have you really been doing with those people in Diagon and Knockturn allies?" She wasn't going to come right off and say who they were. She very well could've been wrong with her assumptions, so she decided to let him say it.

"I've been trying to meet some friends. More interesting people than here at Hogwarts." It was sort of true. "I can't wait to be graduated and hopefully become an Auror."

He actually wished he was there now. But knew he would have to be back at Hogwarts soon and couldnt risk leaving.

Carly gave him a look. She believed that. She would probably do the same, but she felt like he was leaving something out. She leaned back against the bench, taking a deep breath. She kept staring forward. "What about me makes you not trust me? Atleast that's what seems to be the issue."

He spoke the truth for once: "Being a pureblood Slytherin." He felt bad. "Sorry. I'm big into the past..."

As soon as he was 11, and had found out Slytherins past, he hated them instantly. He had grown to like a select few..

"I dont trust anybody any more really. A handful perhaps. That's it."

He wanted to trust her, but something was holding him back.

When he said this, Carly got a bit offended. She knew a lot of people didn't like Slytherins, but she never gave him a reason to not trust her. She sat up again and turned to face him. "So just because i'm a Slytherin..?" You could hear it in her voice that she was offended. "I've done nothing wrong to you."

This was a complete buzz kill, but she didn't care anymore.

"I never said I couldnt trust you. Im just saying why I dont trust you now. I dont trust anybody when I first meet them." Which was the truth, but due to her house he didnt trust her even more.

If she was angry he didnt care. He didnt want an enemy, that was the last thing he needed. "I'm sure youre trustworthy. it just takes me a while to open up..."

Carly nodded at his explanation. She wasn't sure if he was just saying that or not, but it did make plenty of sense. She leaned back again, much calmer now. This alcohol was really taking a toll on her emotions. She didn't like it.

"I guess i could understand that." She looked at him. She was the same exact way, so how could she possibly be mad at him for it? "Well, if you ever decide that you can trust me..i would love to know some stuff." She smiled at him.

"I'd love to get some of this off of my chest. Just have to be careful with who I trust."

He was being honest. He stared off into the distance. He didnt really know what to say now. It wasnt time to tell her, but he didnt want to make her feel bad. AJ decided she should pick the subject so it didnt seem like he was just changing the subject.