After All These Years, (ISO: Alicia)

[Haddock Vibe]

Ethan had had to leave the school for the weekend. He needed, more than anything, to get back to his home. A home where he had no memories of the curly haired witch who apparantly only existed to torture him. His first night back in his place, though, hadn't brought nearly the relaxation he had sought as he'd lounged on his couch flipping half-heartedly through the stations watching nothing. He had been assaulted with images of Rhyssen even with his eyes open and he knew, even as much as he tried to deny it, that he was still as much in love with her as ever. Regardless of the harsh words he'd flung at her.

His restless night had resulted in red eyes and a pounding headache, but the thought of staying cooped up for even another hour had been too much for him to take. And so he'd tugged on a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and a light jacket before heading out into Muggle London. A stop at the Leaky Cauldron led him into Diagon, however and that was how he'd found his way into the stationary store. Of all the things he'd bought himself in preparation for working at Hogwarts, the one thing he'd forgotten was parchement for writing to Anake and the rest of his friends.

It took him only moments to choose parchement - he had never been much of one to be picky over the type of parchement he used anyhow - but he found himself lost when it came to the myriad of quills and inks. Picking up various quills, he examined them before putting them back and looking onto another.

[Serendipity]

Returning back home was supposed to be easy. What was that famous quote she had heard before traveling back? Home is where your heart is or something like that? Well that was indeed rubbish. She was pretty sure no one would even care that she was back in London. Then again she hadn’t bothered to tell anyone where she disappeared to after Hogwarts so she couldn’t blame them. Still it had been her choice to leave for awhile, and even after all the trouble that had gone down in New York she didn’t regret a single moment of it. Besides it had really helped her to heal up all those emotional wounds.

“Excuse me?” Which was why she had taken a trip over to the stationary. Her first night back and already some of those wounds had been ripped open. The only remedy she could think of involved her trusty quill and journal. All she needed was a bit of ink and her day was set. “ I was hoping you’d have a bottle of Earl Fine ink.” She smiled at the man behind the counter. “ Oh and let me get the largest bottle of that.” She figured she’d be doing a lot of writing.

Tapping her fingers on the top of the counter she hummed quietly to herself while she waited. Earl Fine ink wasn’t the best choice, but it was the cheapest on the shelf in this joint. Which totaled to be fine price on her lowly budget. A job. She really needed to start looking for a job. “And maybe this time I wont get canned cause my boss is a wanker…”

[Haddock Vibe]

In the end, he got the same type of quill he always got. A good, solid, dependable QuillShaft. He'd tried a load of other quills, but this particular brand seemed to hold up best - of course, even as he picked up a supply of them, he wondered just why it was that he still insisted on using them even though pens and pencils were so much easier.

Shrugging off the thought, he headed towards the counter with his loot and prepared to wait his turn in line. His eyes gave a brief glance at the back of the girl ordering ink, not really taking in much more than the fact that she seemed like the type that might take a good twenty minutes to get her ink, when he heard her voice. A voice so familiar and yet so distant that he almost shrugged it off as his mind simply being overly tired.

Still, there was something that made him step to the side and give the girl a sideways glance. His eyes widened then. Of all the people in the entire world for him to run into, Alicia was the last on his list. From what he'd heard, the girl had dropped off the face of the earth after graduation.

“And maybe this time I wont get canned cause my boss is a wanker…”

He grinned as the comment slid from Alicia's lips. "You always did like to blame everyone else for your problems, Spinnet," he teased, tongue in cheek of course. Setting down his quills, he jammed his hands into the pockets of his jeans and grinned at her.

[Serendipity]

The man behind the counter returned and handed her the bottle of Earl Fine. Yes, this large bottle would definitely keep her cooped up for hours.

"You always did like to blame everyone else for your problems, Spinnet,"

For a split second she felt her stomach drop. It wasn’t that she didn’t think she’d bump into people eventually, but she had at least hoped to lay low for more then a day. Course fate had that funny way of playing with her.

“Uh excuse me but-” And when she turned to her side she felt the weight of the world lift from her shoulders. “ Ethan! Oh for Merlins sake!” She didn’t bother to wait for the go ahead sign. In fact she moved so swiftly that the bottle of ink in her hands fell to the floor with a crash. “Oh I’ll pay for that sir, I’m sorry. Could you get me another though?” She shrugged and then with all her might she jumped and swung her arms around his neck. “Oh my god out off all the people I was to run into when I came back it had to be you. You have no idea how glad I am its you and not someone I didn’t want to run into. I had this funny feeling in my stomach that it was- oh never mind. Im just glad that you recognized me after all this time though I’m sure if I had turned around I would have recognized you cause you havent changed at all well except for looking more manly and stuff and oh how has everything been Ethan I feel like I havent seen you in ages!” So she rambled a bit. It was in her nature.

[Haddock Vibe]

Ethan grinned all the more as the short witch assaulted him, his arms wrapping tightly around her waist as he gave her a spin and pressed a kiss to her forehead, her words a whirlwind around him. There was nothing, nothing that gave him nearly as much pleasure as seeing this particular witch and her popping back into his life couldn't have come at a better moment.

Setting her down, he found her hands and held her back, his eyes sweeping over her. "You've not turned out bad yourself, love. Oh, but it is so damn good to see you! Gods, Alicia! You couldn't have shown up at a better time. Just..." He shook his head and tugged her right back into his arms for a tight hug. "Damn, Alicia. Damn."

He could have stood there with the short witch wrapped in his embrace for hours. Days. Years. As much hell as the two of them had been through together, they had both come through the fire as the closest of friends. Friends who were able to bare themselves to the other in all the ways that mattered: in a way that he wasn't able to do with any other friend in his life - not even Koa.

Forcing a smile onto his face, he released her and took care of his quills, adding Alicia's own purchases to his ignoring the protests from the dark haired witch. "Call it making up for a lack of four years of birthday gifts."

[Serendipity]

“ Oh you’re such a saint… She picked up her things and smiled. “ What would I have done without you? ” Shrugging slightly she tucked her bag of purchases under her arm. “Well I wouldn’t have knocked over that ink bottle for one.”

It had really taken an effort to convince herself that she needed to come home. This was where her life had been before she left and despite it all it was where she belonged. Now standing beside Ethan she was positive that this was the right place to be. After years of walking with regret in her heart it all seemed to just drift away when she looked up at him. They both had survived the things that had nearly driven them crazy, and if it weren’t for Ethan she was positive that her broken heart would have remained broken.

A deep breath escaped her as her eyes twinkled with excitement. “ Eth you really really really have no idea how good it is to see you. I mean after being away for so long it’s nice to run into someone I actually enjoy seeing.”

[Haddock Vibe]

Merlin, if he didn't stop grinning, his face was going to split into two. As it were his jaw was already beginning to ache a touch, but he really didn't care. For the first time in days his heart actually felt light. "Eh, the ink bottle is a small price to pay for having the god that is me back in your life, yes?"

Oh the ego was a marvelous thing.

Gathering up his own stuff, they made their way towards the door. "Hell, I don't think I've ever been so incredibly happy to run into one person. Where have you been? I tried looking you up a few months after graduation, but damn, you disappeared off the face of the earth."

Holding the door open for her, he motioned towards a bench set up against the building they'd just exited taking a seat and crossing one ankle over the other, his arms crossing over his chest. Turning his head he studied the witch beside him.

"Bryan still in your picture at all?"

[Serendipity]

“Oh well, ya know…” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she slipped out of the building. “ I kinda felt the urge to spread my wings and get as far away from here as I could. There really wasn’t much for me to stick around for.” Sitting down beside him on the bench she curled her legs up beneath her and shrugged. “ So I went and did the whole States thing. Found a place in New York and started working for one of the local papers…”

Which had been fun for the first couple of months. It was the place where she met Dave who conveniently happened to be her boss. They had hit it off rather well and pretty soon he was giving her all the good assignments. Well, all the good assignments in the music section that is. Since most of the positions at the paper were filled he had offered her a position that had opened in their music section. She’d go off and interview up and coming bands and in return get a lot of free tickets to concerts she’d pretty much avoid. Still despite the shitty assignment factor he was good to her.

Maybe too good.

Cause when she thought things were moving too fast and called it off he went crazy. Crazy to the point where he told her she was a terrible reporter and canned her. So much for that dream job…

"Bryan still in your picture at all?"

“Geez there’s a name I wasn’t ready to hear.” Rolling her head back she closed her eyes. “Things didn’t end too well when I told him I was leaving town. And I tried to tell him that it had nothing to do with him it was just that- well I had a lot of things go on in my life during that year and I needed to get away. I just didn’t want to be reminded of it anymore.”

Bryan. Now that had been good while it lasted. Funny thing was the more she thought about him now and the men she had been with in the past the more she realized her life was a cycle of failed relationships.

[Haddock Vibe]

He nodded as she told him about Bryan, giving her leg a squeeze before he decided to skip over that particular part of her past, simply from the undercurrent of distress he'd sensed. Instead, he turned the subject to her time in New York, being an American himself, it was a subject he could warm too.

"New York, though? That's a pretty big place. Chris, Koa and I went there to visit Chris's uncle when we were fourteen. I remember it being really dirty, but a whole load of fun." He and Chris still teased Koa for getting stuck on the subway system and ending up in someplace called Queens. It had taken the Hawaiian hours to get back to Central Park where the boys had decided to meet up in case anyone got lost.

"Which paper? Anything big? Like the New York Times or something? I bet you did a stunning job, 'Lici. You and that notebook of yours, I never saw you without it."

[Serendipity]

“Oh yeah. I definitely had some good times in New York.” She smirked, recalling her last couple of days there. Her friend Sophie had promised she’d go home with some fond memories and boy had she been right. It wasn’t everyday a girl got to drink all day and dance all night and then repeat the formula the next day.

"Which paper? Anything big? Like the New York Times or something? I bet you did a stunning job, 'Lici. You and that notebook of yours, I never saw you without it."

Slapping her knee against her thigh she let out a laugh. “Oh man that notebook. Gods I think I still have it somewhere in one of my trunks. Hell, if I went back and read it now I’d probably kick myself for all the stupid things I wrote in there. Which makes me wonder what I wrote about in there concerning you...”

Still trying to shake the giggles she shifted her legs slightly as they began to fall asleep. “ Me write for the New York Times though, psshh I wish Ethan. “ Grabbing the soles of her shoes she propped her chin up on her knees. “Nah I grabbed a spot writing for the music column in a smaller paper that ran on Long Island. The office was just centered in Manhattan.”

“But that’s way too much time spent on me…what about you?” Her eyes grew slightly wider with wonder. “What’s been going on in your life Mr. Haddock? God I’ve been gone so long you’ve probably got kids running around or something.” She threw him an elbow to the side. “Merlin knows you cant keep your pants on for more then five minutes. “ She grinned broadly as though she had just made the funniest joke in the world.

[Haddock Vibe]

He recalled that notebook as vividly as he recalled the the way that Alicia always kept her hair out of her face with her quill. It was just such a part of her. With a completely deadpan expression, he spoke. "Don't feel like you can't admit that you have Mrs. Alicia Haddock written in there a thousand times over. I always knew that you were hot for me, even if you did go for Bryan in the end. It crushed me, that did, love."

He ran a hand over the back of his neck, working out a few kinks before he was tugging at his necklace. A habit he'd never yet managed to overcome no matter how many times Anake, and then Rhyssen, had harrassed him about it. His brow cocked as she told him just what she'd been up to. "Music? Really? Like, Muggle music? Quite the job for a pureblood, isn't it? But then you've always been able to do whatever the hell you wanted, huh?"

“But that’s way too much time spent on me…what about you?” Her eyes grew slightly wider with wonder. “What’s been going on in your life Mr. Haddock? God I’ve been gone so long you’ve probably got kids running around or something.” She threw him an elbow to the side. “Merlin knows you cant keep your pants on for more then five minutes. “

He forced a grin. But before he could launch into some dribble on his life, he shook his head and dropped the charade. Alicia would kill him if he didn't. "Honestly? Life is pretty much the shits. Well, outside of my job." A genuine smile spread on his face. "I'm the new Charms prof at Hogwarts." He paused. "Don't look at me like that. You know I'm damn good at the whole charm thing."

Maybe they could manage to skip over the rest of his hell of a life.