There was a loud thump as Jordan slammed her door shut. In the length of time since the Secrets Board fiasco, she'd kept herself sequestered in her room with a stack of spellbooks and scared house elves brought her food. Whenever she wasn't studying, she was sleeping, eating, or bitching. Only so much time could be spent in seclusion, and she
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But he had been feeling a bit better lately and, not being on dog-sitting duty at the moment, was actually rather bored, so he decided to head over to the bar for some company.
And that's where he saw Jordan, about whom he had had a rather interesting conversation with Lily on the Secrets Board. He had no intention of breaking his unspoken man code with Cox, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to get to know her better, right?
After grabbing a glass of Coke, he sat down next to her and said in an obviously exaggerated pick-up-y sort of way (and in a fake American accent to boot!), "Howdy! So, what's a pretty girl like you doin' in a place like this?"
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"What about you?"
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Toying with his glass, he continued, "I've not been up to much of anything, really. Dog sitting. Playing around with some Muggle things to see what sorts of ways I can charm them to be more interesting. Definitely not studying."
He observed her for a moment. People go into seclusion for reasons. It's what Lily had done when Voldemort had come back. It's what he himself had done just recently in Lily's room after the heartbreaking discovery he and Remus had made.
Still, he didn't want to pry; if she wanted to talk about it, she would. Instead, he said, grinning, "Why the fierce round of studying? Preparing for a duel, perhaps? If that's the case, I think you'd be better off shopping for some leather trousers than studying potions or whatever it is Maturin's got you learning."
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When he asked about why she'd been studying so much, she blinked, the glass in her hand freezing for just a second on its way back to the bartop. When she answered, her voice was quieter. "Trying to figure out if I should stay..if I can't learn anything, not much point, is there?"
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Yeah, his mention of Jim was mostly gratuitous. But Jim's name seemed to pique the interest of most people, and from her answer to his question about studying, Sirius got the sense Jordan wasn't in the best of spirits, so he thought he might try to spread a little cheer. He hadn't been feeling so fantastic himself these days, but thoughts of Jim always made him perk up at least a little bit (in various sorts of ways).
"I can't imagine you're rubbish at magic. I mean, there are some real morons at this school, walking arses, and if they can learn magic, I'm sure you can." He took a sip of his Coke and tilted his head, regarding Jordan. "I could teach you a drinking spell, if you like. That's where the real uses of magic lie, right?" He grinned.
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When he mentioned a drinking spell, she raised a brow, her smile growing. "A drinking spell? What kind of drinking spell? I must admit the idea is intriguing."
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Pleased that Jordan was smiling, Sirius put down his glass and drew his wand. "I know all sorts of drinking spells, as well as sobriety spells - good in a pinch, you know? - but this one's my favourite because of its sheer convenience." He leant over the bar to fetch a glass. "Fermentummenti!" he said firmly, his wand poised over the glass. Almost instantly, a light red liquid poured out of his wand and into the glass. Sirius fixed his gaze on his handiwork, focusing and concentrating until the liquid slowed to a trickle towards the top of the glass.
"Firewhisky," he said, pushing the glass towards Jordan. "Don't get too excited; I didn't make it myself, although I have experimented with making moonshine in the past. But you've got to do most of that the old-fashioned way - you know, distillation, fermentation, that sort of thing. This trick just takes alcohol from somewhere else and conjures it into the wand."
He grinned. "Still thinking about leaving when you can learn useful stuff like this here?"
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She pulled her wand out of her pocket, holding it stiffly in her hand. "Now what was the phrase for that?"
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Dumbledore had done it a lot, but of course he was an exceptionally powerful wizard...although one would think that such an able wizard would be able to transfigure himself out of a popcorn kernel and back into the realm of the unpopped. Ah well, Sirius had a bit of a bone to pick, so to speak, with him anyway. Maybe it was better he was currently taking up residence in the Popcorn Room.
"Right, so let's have you have a go." Sirius leant over the bar again and pulled out a bottle of Firewhisky. Putting it in front of them, he continued, "Okay, so you can see where you'll be taking the alcohol from, which will make it easier on your first try." He slid another glass over to her.
"So just hold your wand over this glass and - ...wait a moment, your grip's going to cause you some trouble. Here, just relax your hand." He slid off his stool so he was standing next to her. Placing his hand over hers, he adjusted her grip on the wand. "The wrong hold and you could end up mixing a shower of sparks with the Firewhisky...which would be interesting, but probably not a good thing for the Ravenclaw Common Room." He turned his head and grinned at her.
"All right, so have a go at it. Fermentummenti. Nice and confidently, like you know you're going to pour yourself a drink."
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Glancing at the procured bottle of Firewhisky, then at the empty glass, she took one last drink of her own glass, and cleared her throat.
"Fermentummenti." As she spoke, she visualized the liquid flowing from the bottle through her wand, into the glass. The tip of her wand spat forth only a few drops, however, and she glared at it.
"It didn't work."
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He settled back into his stool. "And you did get a few drops out. I'd say that's pretty damn good for a first try. Anyway, it proves you're a witch, in case you were worried about that." He smiled reassuringly at her.
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"You should be a professor. You're pretty good at teaching, especially to someone who's never done it before."She smiled back appreciatively. "Though somehow I don't think you'd be too interested in all the paperwork that goes along with teaching."
Lifting the glass, she tipped it upward, allowingthe drops to run into her mouth. Sure enough, they tasted like Firewhisky, which made her feel better about the whole thing.
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"But I thank you for the compliment anyway," he added, grinning widely and possibly, possibly blushing the slightest bit. "I am looking for, you know, something to do with my life. I think the castle would launch me straight up and out into the Highlands if I were to make even the smallest attempt to submit my CV - which, incidentally, consists of one line, namely, 'Pumped petrol, Reno, Nevada' - for a position, but...thank you."
Sirius took a large swallow of his Coke. "What did you do before you came here? Were you a Muggle Healer, too?"
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As Sirius continued, she quirked her brow just a bit, frowning at him. "Well, that can't be all you did. I did a little bit of research into the history and found out that you and Lily and Lupin have led much more interesting lives than that. But, I understand, you probably don't want to talk about it.." Instead, she took the opportunity to answer his final question. "I was not a Muggle Healer, no.." I was on the Board of Directors. Basically," she sighed, "I didn't know much about healing, but I got to help make all the important decisions about how things worked at the hospital."
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Jordan's mention of her research made Sirius laugh more, although there was a bitter edge to it. "Please tell me I'm not in the history books yet." He drained his Coke glass and set it down on the bar. "See, the thing is, 'Highest Security Prisoner, Azkaban, 1981 to 1993' isn't the most beneficial thing to put on a CV. And my work for the Order of the Phoenix isn't exactly a step on the career ladder either. And yeah, that's pretty much all of it."
He shrugged. He had always been fiercely proud of being in the Order and what it stood for, but considering it was a secret society, hidden even - especially - from the Ministry of Magic, it simply wasn't something he could cite as job experience.
Refocusing on Jordan, Sirius continued, "I hope your board of directors was less corrupt than the one for this school. Wankers and arseholes, the lot of them." He rolled his eyes. "So did you like it? And if you did, why'd you decide to come here?"
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At his question, she smiled a little. "They were a bunch of assholes, that's for sure. I didn't really like or dislike it, it was just what i was supposed to do, being who I was." She didn't really elaborate, assuming Perry had undoubtedly told everyone who'd listen what a spoiled rich bitch she was.
Her smile grew, and she leaned over closer to Sirius. "I came here, because I heard Perry talk about it, and I thought he'd gone mad. Magic...it sounded like complete rubbish to me."
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