FIC: Cocktail Hour (PG-13, Gen)
Title: Cocktail Hour
Author/Artist: ???
Prompt: 69: He's a damn fine bartender. She wants to open her own pub. It couldn't be simpler
Pairing, or gen: Gen, Dudley Dursley, Hannah Abbott
Rating: PG-13
Warning(s): none
Word count/medium: 2278
Summary/Excerpt: No one wants to work in a bar or restaurant when the Ministry is crying out for fresh minds and faces, or when people can start up their own businesses in the ruins of Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley. This is problematic, to say the least, for Hannah Abbot who was quite able to start up her own business in taking over the Leaky Cauldron but now finds herself struggling to actually staff it.
Author's or Artist's notes: Thanks to Steph, my beta :3
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all associated characters and settings remain the intellectual property of JK Rowling and her associates. We are very grateful for permission to play with them.
The problem with the war devastating things is that it instantly leads to a revival and a boom in the British wizarding economy. For most this is a good thing but for some, it is far from it. Jobs are available everywhere a young witch or wizard turns as long as they had not been associated with the losing side at the end of the war. No one wants to work in a bar or restaurant when the Ministry is crying out for fresh minds and faces, or when people can start up their own businesses in the ruins of Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley. This is problematic to say the least for Hannah Abbot, who was quite able to start up her own business in taking over the Leaky Cauldron but now finds herself struggling to actually staff it.
Of course, if she leaves the pub as it is there is a chance she that she will be able to run it herself, but it will take over her life and really, she wants more for the portal between the Muggle and wizarding world. Some children come to the tiny little corner of London having only seen a quick demonstration from a teacher with a long list of other students to see. Their impressions of the wizarding world will be built in Hannah’s little pub and that means something.
It means something to Hannah at least.
The pub feels old though. She sits in the corner, with a firewhiskey and coke smoking lightly on the table, and watches on a Friday night just a week after she takes over from Tom. Susan and Ernie have been roped into doing a few shifts but Hannah knows that it is the novelty factor and she cannot rely on them full time. Ernie wants more than this and Susan is starting an apprenticeship with a wand-maker in France in November.
The glasses need to be replaced because even if they are clean, magic can only make them look so good after fifty years. Lights need to go up and curtains need to be replaced and as she looks around at the familiar faces that are nowhere near her own age, the task seems so much bigger than she anticipated. Other bars and pubs are the meeting points for after work drinks and pre-club booze sessions and Hannah wants her pub to be part of that too. She wants it to be alive, and not just a relic that happened to survive the war.
Something needs to change.
*
So, that is how Hannah finds herself in a Muggle establishment called Weatherspoons, drowning her worries in a vodka and coke, fully confident that no can possibly know her name and come to bother her. She wants to see what makes this place so vibrant and full of life, to the point where her Muggleborn friends like Justin would rather help Susan blend in to the Muggle world for a night out than hang out in the Leaky Cauldron. It was meant to be easy to work out and then it just isn’t. There is nothing that stands out screaming ‘this is why I work’. All the little things that might be the answer like fresh new chairs and brightly coloured place settings add up sickle by sickle and Hannah has spent so much already.
Then she hears it. "You’re one of them, aren’t you?"
"I beg your pardon?"
Then, a man is at her elbow. He doesn’t look any older than her, is clearly Muggle, has blond hair, blue eyes and carries a little more weight than he should. Instantly, Hannah feels on edge and reaches for her bag at her feet where her wand lies.
"One of them magic folk. I see your stick. In your bag there."
Hannah freezes halfway up, stares at the man’s knee and, in blind panic, wonders if she can get away with obliterating his memory without anyone noticing and asking questions.
"I don’t know what you’re talking about, Sir. I think you have had one too many, no?"
"No," the man frowns, taking the empty glass from Hannah’s previous drink and skirting around the bar, as Hannah now notices the name of the pub on his shirt and a name tag stating ‘Dudley’ on his breast pocket, "I work here and haven’t had a drop. My cousin is one of you. He has a magic stick. His name is Harry Potter."
Anything Hannah was going to say to get rid of the young man flies right out of the window at the speed of a golden stitch at that comment. It seems impossible to think that she is sitting in front of the Muggle relative of Harry freaking Potter, and yet a cousin had been mentioned in the articles she had been guilty of reading at Hogwarts.
"Oh, are you now? I am sure plenty of people have tried that one before." Hannah remarks carefully, taking a sip of her drink and observing the young man who looks more puzzled than as if he has been caught out.
"Why? Oh, right, Harry is a big deal with you guys right? He never was at home. So, you are one of them then? A witchy person? I’m Dudley by the way, Dudley Dursley." He smiles, pulling out a dish cloth and wiping the bar around Hannah while waiting on her reaction. She isn’t sure what she is meant to say.
"Why are you talking to me?"
Dudley shrugs and peers at her carefully before answering, "I’m not sure. I guess I have been waiting to bump into one of you so I’m taking my chance. Do you know my cousin? We…I mean…we had to leave and I don’t know what happened to him. I don’t know if he is even alive and…well the bad ones would not be in a place like this would they? They would not like it."
"You mean Death Eaters? No." Hannah laughs, before abruptly halting, as Dudley’s words really sink in. "They would never be seen here. The war is over, Dudley. Harry survived. He saved us all."
Dudley grins, and nods his head happily, "I’m glad. We didn’t part on the best of terms but…he’s still my cousin. Just a second."
He shuffles down the bar and serves a group of girls that have just come in, soaked from the sudden downpour outside, exchanging cheerful banter with them while throwing cocktails together with practiced ease.
"I went to school with him, you know." Hannah begins carefully, when he drifts back down to her end and starts to pull clean glasses out of a crate and put them away. "I could pass on a message for him to get into contact with you, if you would like me to?"
"That would be cool. I…kind of hoped you might know him. I mean, you can all fit in one school so I thought there might be a chance. Why are you here though? I mean, if you’re a witchy person?" Dudley asks curiously, gesturing around the bar and Hannah’s lack of company.
"I own a pub. A magical one. It is a bit old fashioned and no one really wants to work there. I need staff though, so I thought maybe I could get some inspiration for making it a bit hipper but, instead I just seem to be reminding myself of the cash I don’t have to spend." Hannah grumbles, draining her drink and promptly slamming her glass on the table in frustration. "Make me one of those cocktail things those girls had. Something bright and bitter, I don’t know."
Dudley raises an eyebrow at her but goes about making her a cocktail anyway. They don’t talk as he works because Hannah finds herself fascinated by the way he goes about things. Dudley is not just making a drink. It is like he is performing. He glances at her with smiles every now and then to make sure that she is paying attention and then presents her with a glass of blue liquid that manages to look fun, despite having no magical properties at all. It won’t smoke or set her on fire or do anything remotely cool and yet Hannah finds herself smiling as she lifts the glass to her lips all the same.
"Good?"
"Brilliant! I’ve never tasted anything like it! Which one is it?" Hannah babbles enthusiastically, gesturing to the cocktail menu, only for Dudley to beam at her and shake his head.
"I made that one up! You didn’t name one specifically so I tried something different. I’m glad that you liked it. Anyway, why would no one want to work in a pub? There is nothing wrong with it." Dudley says, almost defensively and Hannah worries that she might have offended him with her earlier words.
"Nothing is wrong with it! It is just…things are difficult right now, with all sorts of amazing opportunities available that might otherwise be closed off to people. They want to chase lifelong dreams at the time they really do have a chance of making them and well…"
"No one dreams of being a fantastic waiter. Fair enough." Dudley concedes.
*
Another week passes, and Hannah doesn’t forget the cracking headache she had the morning after her self-pity session in Muggle London or Dudley Dursley and the conversations they had had until the end of his shift about all sorts of different things. She has one witch signed up to work at the bar but needs another pair of hands at least and when Harry Potter’s eyes widen in horror at the idea of searching Muggle London for his cousin’s bar, Hannah offers to deliver his letter for him. It feels slightly like she is taking advantage of another family’s attempt to get back in touch, but she has decided that she needs Dudley Dursley to come and work at the Leaky Cauldron. A Muggle is the perfect way to put new Muggleborn students at ease, and even if Harry actually laughs at her when she suggests it, Hannah is confident in her idea.
It takes her three attempts to catch Dudley on shift but when she does, he gives her a cheerful smile when he notices her and she gets her hopes up as she takes a seat at the quiet end of the bar. It is a Tuesday afternoon and the place is rather quiet, giving her plenty of time to talk to Dudley as he goes about his work.
"I brought you a letter from your cousin. It has his address and he says that you can keep in touch your way." Hannah begins, after demanding Dudley that makes her another random cocktail.
He takes the letter from her and slips it in his back pocket with a smile, "That is great. Thanks Hannah. I’m glad that I can get in touch with him. I…wasn’t a great cousin to him for a long time. I’m lucky that he is bothering, to be honest."
"Harry is a great guy like that."
"Yeah, I guess I am learning that," Dudley says a little sadly, "even if it is a little late."
Hannah tries to smile at him but she feels like there is a big something that she doesn’t know and she knows better than to get too involved. "That is not the only reason that I am here though, Dudley. I wanted to offer you a job at my new pub."
There is no reason beating around the bush. He will either accept or he won’t, and whether Hannah has one drink or ten before asking is not going to change that. She expects a yes, no, or a stumbling response but the stunned silence throws her slightly.
"Dudley? I understand if you don’t want to! Just, there are no rules against it and you know about our world and stuff and your cocktails are amazing and you work hard and seem to care about what you’re doing, you know? I can change your wages into Muggle money each month and that means you will earn more and really, if you don’t want to it is fine." Hannah babbles before grabbing her drink and taking a mouthful that proves too big and leaves her spluttering, blushing and humiliated.
"I…I don’t know. I mean, it is a whole different world." Dudley stammers, before taking another customer’s order and disappearing down the bar. He is then flagged down by another and another, and Hannah is left sitting there a good fifteen minutes just mulling things over in her mind.
It will seem wild and probably rather stupid when Susan finds out, but something in Hannah’s gut tells her that this is the right move, and her gut has never failed her before. No doubt people will judge her for the move if Dudley does accept her offer but there is nothing new in that and if there was ever a time to make such a move then surely it was now? It would make the pub different and with Dudley’s help, maybe Hannah could bring in more Muggle influences and renovate the place. Everyone needed money, and Hannah knew that bar work wasn’t high paying in Muggle London.
"Look, I have my break in twenty." Dudley is suddenly saying to her over the bar. "Go sit yourself down at a table and I will join you then. We can talk."
Hannah smiles widely and agrees. It wasn’t a no. It had the potential to be the yes she was looking for, and the chance that the Leaky Cauldron was looking for.
Author/Artist: ???
Prompt: 69: He's a damn fine bartender. She wants to open her own pub. It couldn't be simpler
Pairing, or gen: Gen, Dudley Dursley, Hannah Abbott
Rating: PG-13
Warning(s): none
Word count/medium: 2278
Summary/Excerpt: No one wants to work in a bar or restaurant when the Ministry is crying out for fresh minds and faces, or when people can start up their own businesses in the ruins of Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley. This is problematic, to say the least, for Hannah Abbot who was quite able to start up her own business in taking over the Leaky Cauldron but now finds herself struggling to actually staff it.
Author's or Artist's notes: Thanks to Steph, my beta :3
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all associated characters and settings remain the intellectual property of JK Rowling and her associates. We are very grateful for permission to play with them.
The problem with the war devastating things is that it instantly leads to a revival and a boom in the British wizarding economy. For most this is a good thing but for some, it is far from it. Jobs are available everywhere a young witch or wizard turns as long as they had not been associated with the losing side at the end of the war. No one wants to work in a bar or restaurant when the Ministry is crying out for fresh minds and faces, or when people can start up their own businesses in the ruins of Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley. This is problematic to say the least for Hannah Abbot, who was quite able to start up her own business in taking over the Leaky Cauldron but now finds herself struggling to actually staff it.
Of course, if she leaves the pub as it is there is a chance she that she will be able to run it herself, but it will take over her life and really, she wants more for the portal between the Muggle and wizarding world. Some children come to the tiny little corner of London having only seen a quick demonstration from a teacher with a long list of other students to see. Their impressions of the wizarding world will be built in Hannah’s little pub and that means something.
It means something to Hannah at least.
The pub feels old though. She sits in the corner, with a firewhiskey and coke smoking lightly on the table, and watches on a Friday night just a week after she takes over from Tom. Susan and Ernie have been roped into doing a few shifts but Hannah knows that it is the novelty factor and she cannot rely on them full time. Ernie wants more than this and Susan is starting an apprenticeship with a wand-maker in France in November.
The glasses need to be replaced because even if they are clean, magic can only make them look so good after fifty years. Lights need to go up and curtains need to be replaced and as she looks around at the familiar faces that are nowhere near her own age, the task seems so much bigger than she anticipated. Other bars and pubs are the meeting points for after work drinks and pre-club booze sessions and Hannah wants her pub to be part of that too. She wants it to be alive, and not just a relic that happened to survive the war.
Something needs to change.
*
So, that is how Hannah finds herself in a Muggle establishment called Weatherspoons, drowning her worries in a vodka and coke, fully confident that no can possibly know her name and come to bother her. She wants to see what makes this place so vibrant and full of life, to the point where her Muggleborn friends like Justin would rather help Susan blend in to the Muggle world for a night out than hang out in the Leaky Cauldron. It was meant to be easy to work out and then it just isn’t. There is nothing that stands out screaming ‘this is why I work’. All the little things that might be the answer like fresh new chairs and brightly coloured place settings add up sickle by sickle and Hannah has spent so much already.
Then she hears it. "You’re one of them, aren’t you?"
"I beg your pardon?"
Then, a man is at her elbow. He doesn’t look any older than her, is clearly Muggle, has blond hair, blue eyes and carries a little more weight than he should. Instantly, Hannah feels on edge and reaches for her bag at her feet where her wand lies.
"One of them magic folk. I see your stick. In your bag there."
Hannah freezes halfway up, stares at the man’s knee and, in blind panic, wonders if she can get away with obliterating his memory without anyone noticing and asking questions.
"I don’t know what you’re talking about, Sir. I think you have had one too many, no?"
"No," the man frowns, taking the empty glass from Hannah’s previous drink and skirting around the bar, as Hannah now notices the name of the pub on his shirt and a name tag stating ‘Dudley’ on his breast pocket, "I work here and haven’t had a drop. My cousin is one of you. He has a magic stick. His name is Harry Potter."
Anything Hannah was going to say to get rid of the young man flies right out of the window at the speed of a golden stitch at that comment. It seems impossible to think that she is sitting in front of the Muggle relative of Harry freaking Potter, and yet a cousin had been mentioned in the articles she had been guilty of reading at Hogwarts.
"Oh, are you now? I am sure plenty of people have tried that one before." Hannah remarks carefully, taking a sip of her drink and observing the young man who looks more puzzled than as if he has been caught out.
"Why? Oh, right, Harry is a big deal with you guys right? He never was at home. So, you are one of them then? A witchy person? I’m Dudley by the way, Dudley Dursley." He smiles, pulling out a dish cloth and wiping the bar around Hannah while waiting on her reaction. She isn’t sure what she is meant to say.
"Why are you talking to me?"
Dudley shrugs and peers at her carefully before answering, "I’m not sure. I guess I have been waiting to bump into one of you so I’m taking my chance. Do you know my cousin? We…I mean…we had to leave and I don’t know what happened to him. I don’t know if he is even alive and…well the bad ones would not be in a place like this would they? They would not like it."
"You mean Death Eaters? No." Hannah laughs, before abruptly halting, as Dudley’s words really sink in. "They would never be seen here. The war is over, Dudley. Harry survived. He saved us all."
Dudley grins, and nods his head happily, "I’m glad. We didn’t part on the best of terms but…he’s still my cousin. Just a second."
He shuffles down the bar and serves a group of girls that have just come in, soaked from the sudden downpour outside, exchanging cheerful banter with them while throwing cocktails together with practiced ease.
"I went to school with him, you know." Hannah begins carefully, when he drifts back down to her end and starts to pull clean glasses out of a crate and put them away. "I could pass on a message for him to get into contact with you, if you would like me to?"
"That would be cool. I…kind of hoped you might know him. I mean, you can all fit in one school so I thought there might be a chance. Why are you here though? I mean, if you’re a witchy person?" Dudley asks curiously, gesturing around the bar and Hannah’s lack of company.
"I own a pub. A magical one. It is a bit old fashioned and no one really wants to work there. I need staff though, so I thought maybe I could get some inspiration for making it a bit hipper but, instead I just seem to be reminding myself of the cash I don’t have to spend." Hannah grumbles, draining her drink and promptly slamming her glass on the table in frustration. "Make me one of those cocktail things those girls had. Something bright and bitter, I don’t know."
Dudley raises an eyebrow at her but goes about making her a cocktail anyway. They don’t talk as he works because Hannah finds herself fascinated by the way he goes about things. Dudley is not just making a drink. It is like he is performing. He glances at her with smiles every now and then to make sure that she is paying attention and then presents her with a glass of blue liquid that manages to look fun, despite having no magical properties at all. It won’t smoke or set her on fire or do anything remotely cool and yet Hannah finds herself smiling as she lifts the glass to her lips all the same.
"Good?"
"Brilliant! I’ve never tasted anything like it! Which one is it?" Hannah babbles enthusiastically, gesturing to the cocktail menu, only for Dudley to beam at her and shake his head.
"I made that one up! You didn’t name one specifically so I tried something different. I’m glad that you liked it. Anyway, why would no one want to work in a pub? There is nothing wrong with it." Dudley says, almost defensively and Hannah worries that she might have offended him with her earlier words.
"Nothing is wrong with it! It is just…things are difficult right now, with all sorts of amazing opportunities available that might otherwise be closed off to people. They want to chase lifelong dreams at the time they really do have a chance of making them and well…"
"No one dreams of being a fantastic waiter. Fair enough." Dudley concedes.
*
Another week passes, and Hannah doesn’t forget the cracking headache she had the morning after her self-pity session in Muggle London or Dudley Dursley and the conversations they had had until the end of his shift about all sorts of different things. She has one witch signed up to work at the bar but needs another pair of hands at least and when Harry Potter’s eyes widen in horror at the idea of searching Muggle London for his cousin’s bar, Hannah offers to deliver his letter for him. It feels slightly like she is taking advantage of another family’s attempt to get back in touch, but she has decided that she needs Dudley Dursley to come and work at the Leaky Cauldron. A Muggle is the perfect way to put new Muggleborn students at ease, and even if Harry actually laughs at her when she suggests it, Hannah is confident in her idea.
It takes her three attempts to catch Dudley on shift but when she does, he gives her a cheerful smile when he notices her and she gets her hopes up as she takes a seat at the quiet end of the bar. It is a Tuesday afternoon and the place is rather quiet, giving her plenty of time to talk to Dudley as he goes about his work.
"I brought you a letter from your cousin. It has his address and he says that you can keep in touch your way." Hannah begins, after demanding Dudley that makes her another random cocktail.
He takes the letter from her and slips it in his back pocket with a smile, "That is great. Thanks Hannah. I’m glad that I can get in touch with him. I…wasn’t a great cousin to him for a long time. I’m lucky that he is bothering, to be honest."
"Harry is a great guy like that."
"Yeah, I guess I am learning that," Dudley says a little sadly, "even if it is a little late."
Hannah tries to smile at him but she feels like there is a big something that she doesn’t know and she knows better than to get too involved. "That is not the only reason that I am here though, Dudley. I wanted to offer you a job at my new pub."
There is no reason beating around the bush. He will either accept or he won’t, and whether Hannah has one drink or ten before asking is not going to change that. She expects a yes, no, or a stumbling response but the stunned silence throws her slightly.
"Dudley? I understand if you don’t want to! Just, there are no rules against it and you know about our world and stuff and your cocktails are amazing and you work hard and seem to care about what you’re doing, you know? I can change your wages into Muggle money each month and that means you will earn more and really, if you don’t want to it is fine." Hannah babbles before grabbing her drink and taking a mouthful that proves too big and leaves her spluttering, blushing and humiliated.
"I…I don’t know. I mean, it is a whole different world." Dudley stammers, before taking another customer’s order and disappearing down the bar. He is then flagged down by another and another, and Hannah is left sitting there a good fifteen minutes just mulling things over in her mind.
It will seem wild and probably rather stupid when Susan finds out, but something in Hannah’s gut tells her that this is the right move, and her gut has never failed her before. No doubt people will judge her for the move if Dudley does accept her offer but there is nothing new in that and if there was ever a time to make such a move then surely it was now? It would make the pub different and with Dudley’s help, maybe Hannah could bring in more Muggle influences and renovate the place. Everyone needed money, and Hannah knew that bar work wasn’t high paying in Muggle London.
"Look, I have my break in twenty." Dudley is suddenly saying to her over the bar. "Go sit yourself down at a table and I will join you then. We can talk."
Hannah smiles widely and agrees. It wasn’t a no. It had the potential to be the yes she was looking for, and the chance that the Leaky Cauldron was looking for.