The Death Eater [HARRY POTTER] (ON HOLD)

21

"Are you even old enough to drink, Girlie?" The dingy barkeep growled as Calla sat down on a bar stool and ordered herself a strong drink. Calla didn't really have a lot of experience with drinking, but the day she'd just had, she thought that she deserved a drink. And besides, holding one's alcohol was a good skill to have and Calla was better learning that skill in some no name pub in Hogsmead rather than during a dinner with the dark Lord. She did not imagine that the dark Lord would be quite so entertained by her if she were to vomit in his presence.

"Just take the damn money, won't you, and give me something that might erase the pounding in my head," Calla massaged her temple with slender fingers as she tossed a couple of coins at the silver haired man. The barkeeper looked at her for a moment before he took her money and walked off, shaking his head. Only a second later he was returning with a dusty mug full of something that smelled like rubbing alcohol. Calla plugged her nose and downed the entire thing, making a face when she got to the end.

"I think I swallowed a dust bunny," she growled, slamming the mug down on the counter. The bartender was good enough to fill it up again for her, a look of respect on his wrinkled face. At least someone respected her, Calla thought to herself. Though perhaps the barkeeper at some hole in the wall pub was not the type of man that Calla wanted to be respecting her.

As soon as her mug was full she downed the entire thing once more, and this time it tasted slightly less horrid than it had before. Thankfully, the first glass had also appeared to have rinsed out the mug, so Calla wasn't in danger of swallowing any cobwebs the second time around. 

"What seems to be troubling you?" The barkeeper asked, raising one of his bushy white eyebrows. Calla raised one of her inky black eyebrows in turn, and the man raised his hands as if to defend himself from whatever verbal attack Calla might have felt like giving him. "I'm just being nosy. It's not often some young little witch waltzes into my pub and demands two full mugs of the strongest thing I have. And it's even less often that a little witch slams both mugs without even batting an eye. I've seen grown men vomit after having half a cup of what you just chugged. I thought I'd ask what inspired such bravery."

In any other circumstance, Calla wouldn't have allowed herself to laugh at that. She wasn't brave. She was a Slytherin. She was cunning, and intelligent, and willing to do whatever it was she needed to to satisfy her own means. She wasn't brave. But then again, perhaps war brought out the bravery- or in some cases cowardice- in everyone. Calla tilted her head back and allowed her long black hair to fall down her back. She laughed out loud.

"Nothing inspired my bravery, nosy barkeeper. Someone did inspire my wrath though." The man behind the bar looked almost impressed as Calla dug into her pocket and pulled out enough money for him to fill up her glass once more. Whatever it was she was drinking was loosening her tongue, but it was also serving to relax her a bit. And she certainly needed help relaxing, especially now.

"And who inspired that wrath, if I may be so bold?" The man walked down the counter a little ways and began to wipe out some abandoned beer mugs, setting them under the counter after he'd done so. Calla looked down at her own mug with a bit of disgust, if he hadn't properly washed out those mugs what made her think that he'd washed out hers, but after a moment she decided that she didn't want to care and she tossed back another full glass of whatever the man had been serving her. She was definitely beginning to feel the effects, and she was almost tempted to stand up and begin to pace. After watching her father drink for so many years she knew that the liqueur would hit her less hard if she were to move around. Otherwise she'd stand up in a little while and fall flat on her face. That definitely wasn't the impression that she wanted to me making, even in front of some no name barkeeper in Hogsmead.