despondency - George Weasley

{two}

Chapter Two

"How's my favorite waitress doing?" Astrid rolled her eyes at the drunk man, picking up a glass and cleaning it as he made his way to the bar, having a seat in front of it.

"Bar hopping again, Jon?" Astrid said, looking at the drunk man before her, who seemed to mistake her chest for her eyes.

"Well I was at the Leaky Cauldron, but they were missin' somethin' so I left," he said, slurring each word.

"And what was that, Jon?" Astrid asked to humor him.

"You," Jon said, smirking at her.

"Well aren't you sweet," Astrid said, refraining herself from rolling her eyes, "now can I get you a drink?"

"You know, the usual," Jon said, looking her up and down.

Astrid wanted nothing more than to tell him off after the months of catcalling and discomfort, but she knew better, she needed this job. So she did what she always did, she sighed and began making a red currant rum, Jon's favorite.

"You're the best, gorgeous," Jon said with a wide smile that revealed a set of rather crooked teeth.

"Let me know if I can get you anything else later," Astrid said, moving towards the end of the bar, where a man and a woman had just taken a seat.

"Welcome to the Stumbling Snorckback Pub, what can I get you two?" she said, trying to seem as cheery as possible.

"Just two whiskey's please," said the man in a thick Northern accent.

"Coming right up," Astrid said, moments later she handed the couple their drinks.

"Thank you miss," said the woman in a cherry voice. Unlike Astrid, her cheeriness was genuine.

Astrid gave a small nod in response and walked to the other end of the bar. A pile of dirty dishes sat waiting to be cleaned; Astrid began muttering a spell and one by one the dishes made their way to the sink, where a sponge met them midair. Astrid couldn't help but smile, she had gotten so good at cleaning spells that she didn't need her wand to cast them anymore; while it may seem like a minor feat, she was proud of herself.

It was near closing time, so Astrid made her way from behind the bar to make sure the pub was as tidy as it could be (no matter how much she cleaned or how strong of a spell she used the pub always smelled slightly of mold and the dust seemed permanently affixed to every surface.

As Astrid walked by Jon, his hand suddenly sprang forward and grabbed her wrist, "I need another drink."

"Please don't touch me," Astrid said uncomfortably as she tried to pull away, but his grip tightened. Astrid looked desperately at the couple at the other side of the bar, but they were too engrossed in their own conversation to notice what was happening a few feet away.

"Then get me a drink," Jon said, his breath smelling so strongly of alcohol it made Astrid's head hurt.

"Okay," Astrid obliged, turning to go behind the bar once again because she would rather avoid any commotion if she could.

She couldn't.

As she turned around, Jon grabbed her ass with no shame. Astrid's face flushed, she felt first felt embarrassed, then disgusted, but as soon as her feelings shifted to anger she couldn't help what happened next. The trouble with doing spells without a is wand they are harder to control. Her anger made its way into the spell and the sponge, followed by a steam of dirty dishwater flew towards Jon.

"You bitch!" Jon said, knocking the stool he was sitting on to the floor as he flew to his feet.

"Leave her alone mate," said the man who was sitting at the bar, Astrid didn't notice he had made his way over to them.

"She's the one attacking me," Jon said angrily, sneering at the man before him.

"You touched her first buddy, you deserved it," said the woman who had come in with the man, walking up to join the confrontation.

Astrid stood there like a deer in headlights. Jon was unpleasant sure, but he never took it this far. She just watched as Jon said every nasty thing he could about her while the strangers defended her.

"What the hell is going on in here?" Bill shouted, coming downstairs and entering the bar area. Bill was the short, hairy, and mean middle-aged man who owned the pub. All his clothes seemed to be stained from mysterious substances, and nearly every word out of his mouth was an insult.

"That little whore you have workin' for you assaulted me," Jon said, sneering at Astrid.

"That's it, Avery!" Bill shouted, his face turning scarlet, "this is the last straw! You're fired! Get out!"

"Bill, you have to-" Astrid began, but Bill cut her off.

"Get out before I have you arrested!" he shouted, and not wanting to see if he were serious, Astrid hurried out of the pub.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"Hey, wait!" someone called, Astrid turned around to see the couple from the bar hurrying up to her.

"Are you okay?" said the man as they caught up to her.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that," Astrid said embarrassed.

"Don't be sorry. Those guys are real tools," the girl said, giving her a sympathetic smile, "I'm never going back there again."

"Jon's not too bad when he's sober, but yeah, Bill is a real piece of work," Astrid said, tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear.

"How could you stand working there?" asked the man, "I don't think I could stand it for more than a day."

"I mean it sucked, but a job's a job," Astrid answered with a sigh, "and now I don't have one."

"Hey," said the guy, his eyes brightened as an idea popped in his head, "I think I know just the place for you."

A/N
Another update wooo

So the purpose of this chapter, if you couldn't tell, was to introduce our other main character, Astrid. Let me just say, I really fucking love Astrid. She's one of my favorite characters I've ever made and she's just great.

In the next few chapters, things really start to get rolling, and things start to really begin happening so I hope you guys are excited for that, I know I am.

-Carter