The Other Potter

Charlie

He had a headache by the time he left 12 Grimmauld Place, and the London air now had a slight chill in the breeze. The sun was setting on the city, the sky a deep orange making it look dystopian.

He rounded the corner, walking towards Charlie's pub, The Red Lion. Unintentionally ironic.

It was a classic British pub with a small bit of greenery out front that held about six wooden tables which were filled by people taking in the English summer with their pints of beers and vodka cranberry's.

He pushed his way through the red front door, looking around, there was a pool table I. The back with a a large group of men and women in their early twenties, all of them smoking away. Towards the front there was a crowd surrounding a big tv, watching the highlights of a football match that had been played earlier in the day, each of them bickering about who should of won and what each player had done wrong. Other tables were occupied by adults in deep conversations.

He moved his way to the bar, which was quiet in comparison to the rest of the place. Charlie was there cleaning some glasses.

"So, do I get to pick what drink I get, or is it dealers choice?" Elijah hummed as he took his seat at the end of the bar, tucked away incase anyone else wanted to order.

Charlie glanced up, his face breaking out into a grin. "You came?"

"I said I would."

"Yeah, but people say shit all the time."

Elijah shrugged, "Well, I'm here."

"And to answer your question, no you don't get to choose. I get to pick."

Elijah put his hands up to surrender, "Ok, I guess I trust you then... But it's not a Guinness, right?" He'd tried one once with the Weasley twins. It was disgusting.

Charlie laughed, "No, it's not a Guinness."

The other boy started making the drink, looking over to Elijah as he did so. "How was the family visit?"

Elijah frowned, giving another shrug. "Yeah, it went as well as I thought it would."

Charlie furrowed his brows, sliding across a spiced rum and coke. "Does that mean you won't be seeing them again?"

Elijah shook his head, "No, I'll be seeing them again." Taking the drink and studying it through the glass. "So what is this?"

Charlie beamed as the other asked what the drink was, "It's spiced rum... Old J spiced rum to be exact."

Elijah rose a brow, "Should I know what that means?"

"It's just a high percentage rum."

The younger boy nodded, pretending to understand what any of that meant before taking a sip. It was sweet, sweeter than he'd expected with a faint burn that he expected from alcohol. It tasted like the drink should have been creamy, slight hints of the spice lingered on the tip of his tongue, he wasn't sure which was the coke or the rum flavour-wise. Coke wasn't something that was often at Wizarding events.

"So?"

"It doesn't taste like it should be alcohol."

"Exactly!" Charlie beamed, "But it will take the edge off from the family meeting. Trust me."

Charlie went back to cleaning the glasses, looking over to the other boy every now to check on him.

"So what do you do? You study at college or something?"

Elijah shrugged, "Something like that. It's a boarding school, kind of thing." He sighed, shaking his head.

"Oh, so you're like a posh boy?"