Brides and Blacks

The Common Room

The Common Room pub is a revolving door of characters, each one a chapter in the ongoing novel of the night. It's a melting pot of emotions, where joy and sorrow mix like bitters and bourbon. It's hundreds of conversations told in loud voices, all of them competing with the 1970's glam-rock Sirius insisted must to be played at all times.

But, no matter how loud, rowdy, or shabby the establishment became, it was theirs. And James would always be grateful for that.

Though he'd never expected it for himself, there was something about bartending that he truely loved. Coming to work everyday and witnessing celebration, reunion, laughter and dance. He loves all the patrons he meets, their stories and their jokes. But more than that, he loves the ones he doesnt meet. Watching from behind the counter as lovers reunite and strangers become friends. There's something magical about it all. Something joyful in a place an outsider would describe as anything but.

Maybe it was a little run down and located in a particularly seedy part of Sussex, but it was not short on love. The red and gold wallpaper was starting to peel where it's edges met splintering wooden beams and grey stone walls, but, at certain hours, during particularly lovely summers, when beams of pink and orange sunset peaked through the large glass windows, it was like the whole building could glow. Tapestries of lions, flags of premiership teams, framed photos of loved ones, and anything else the boys deemed 'wicked' dorned the walls and gave the space a cramped busy kind of personality. The jukebox only played Sirius' favourite albums and speciality cocktails were only added to menu if James could think of a funny name for them. If you tried to order Butterscotch Schnapps without calling it a "Butterbeer Bliss" you simply wouldn't be served.

It was a comfortable place where a handful of regulars would come to chat with their neighbours about cricket or gardening or the previous nights episode of bake-off, but it wasn't overly busy, and therefore, not overly profitable. That's why, no matter how much Jame's disliked it, nights like this one were essential for business.

"You see that great big table round the back?" Sirius asked, sliding up besides James at the bar.

James hummed in agreement "Hard to miss 'em" he commented, not looking up from the pint glass he was attempting to dry with a much too wet tea towel. "We rarely get groups like that anymore."

"Well maybe it's time we did," Sirius added, nudging his friends shoulder gently, urging him to drop the glass he was clearly getting nowhere with. "And maybe if they had an incredibly handsome server, they'd be tempted to keep coming back. And, to keep leaving a lovely tip."

James smiled knowingly to himself and shook his head, "Go on and serve them then. You know I don't like to work out on the floor." Flattery would get him nowhere.

The table was occupied by a large group of seven friends, seeming a similar age to James and Sirius themselves. A girl with rich dark skin and long black braids sat at the head of the table in a white satin dress. To her left was an equally attractive girl with platinum blonde hair, a fair haired man who looked suspiciously similar to the previous, and a man with scruffy brown locks laughing animatedly in his ear. To her right was an empty chair. Beside it sat a man with messy brown curls, sharp defined features, and a long white scar that trailed across his nose from the top of his right eyebrow to the bottom of his left cheek. James actually took a moment to reflect on the fact that he was fairly handsome. It seemed cruel that next to one attractive man, sat another even more attractive woman. She had long red hair, a light dusting of freckles dotting her cheeks, and eye's of such a glowing emerald James could see them shine from across the bar. Of course, cuddled up to her side was a lovely looking girl with dark skin and bouncy curls who giggled when she spoke and swayed into her side to the tune of Space Oddity. James let that glimmer of a crush go in under a minute. Figures.