[Hogs Head] Fruit & Barley

[Trisha Baldwin]

Trisha Biggerstall had just arrived in Hogsmead village for the first time since she graduated from Hogwarts. She knew that it hadn't been such a long time but as she strolled down the street, an icy wind blowing from her back blowing her dark curly hair into her face. Trish stopped where she was in the middle of the street and dug in the pockets of her big blue jacket. She watched the people walking by, a smile on her face to each person who walked by and made eye contact with her.

Finally, Trish found what she was looking for. "Ah!" she sounded victoriously as she pulled a small black elastic band out. As she began to tie up her hair in a pony tail, Trish looked around at all the new stores that had popped up everywhere. She made a mental note to go to each of them in turn after she had visited Jac of course. Hair tied out of her face, Trish picked up her dark green suit case and began to walk again down the street.

The new stores interested Trish some but not enough to tempt her in just yet so she continued to amble to the street, seemingly aimlessly. Unbeknownst to any, Trisha knew exactly where she was going. She had not been there since her graduation party with her old house mates. A broad smile came to the pale skinned woman as she began to leave the beaten track moving towards the Hog's Head.

It was about four in the afternoon on a Thursday so Trish expected the inn to be rather empty. Laying a pale hand on the old wood of the door, Trish pushed it open and walked in, heading straight for the bar as though she knew what she was doing there. In all honestly, Trish had little idea why she had chosen the dingy smoke filled inn to come to but she was there now and she would have to live with it.

Taking a seat at the bar, Trish put her bag on the floor below the chair and leaned on the bar. Looking over her shoulder Trish was surprised to see people: three old witches playing some sort of card game in one corner, two men huddled very close over the table between them, gnarled hands on the table top, and still more people. The though of this place over throwing her expectations amused the book collector greatly and as she turned back to the bar she was grinning inanely.

[Warren Hubbles]

Groaning loudly Warren threw the hand of cards down on the table as yet again Bertha had got a full house. Naturally the accusations of cheating flew between Doris and Edith but Warren did not mind nor did he mind that if a Ministry official walked in through that door at that very moment all four of the would have been arrested. For some reason they were clamping down on illegal gambling in public places but if you did not come to the Hogshead for a little bit of illegal cards then why did you come?

“Come on Hubbles give us our winnings.” Croaked Bertha, “You said that if you did not win you would buy us all drinks.”
“I did indeed…now what do you three beautiful ladies want?”

After the giggling had died down and they finally gave him his order Warren wandered over towards the bar and started to pour out the drinks only to discover one of the many spirit bottle were empty. Mystified by they fact Warren simply shrugged his shoulders and wondered out into the backroom to go and find a replacement.
With the new bottle in his hand, top all ready off Warren took the first swig of the bottle as had become his own tradition. (He used the excuse that it was to test if the drink tasted alright.) But the bottle was still pressed to his lips when he saw someone knew in the pub, by herself and smiling. The bottle dropt to his side and wiping his mouth on the sleeve of his jumper Warren wondered over to the young witch.

“You alright there love?” Warren leaned on the counter and grinned over at Trish. “Is there anything in particular that takes your fancy…just because it ain’t on the shelves don’t mean we ain’t got it.”

[Professor William Vaid]

It had been a strange day for William when he arrived back to Hogwarts. Firstly, he dropped off his belongings off at the castle before taking a stroll down memory lane in Hogsmeade. The amount of time he spent here was un-real, even skipping classes the odd time, but that was years back.

He wasn't sure why he came down to Hogsmeade again. Earlier in the day he had attempted to visit but had witnessed a fight between a pair of unruly ravenclaw students punching each other up, and a quick exit from Hogsmeade accompanied with one of the students who had a bruised jaw, and a visit to see Archibald at the Hospital wing was needed.

Sighing as he walked past the spot where the incident happened, he shook his head and smirked a little as he relived the incident. His presence wasn't needed nor wanted, but he couldn't just let them punch the hell out of each other could he?
Stopping to look around, a door opening creating a bright light to come swarming out of it an a woman entering the pub caught his attention. The quick moment before the door swung closed again, he saw the pub seemed warm and friendly, so he looked around before making his way to it incase any other places caught his attention.

Catching the door just as it swung closed he pushed it open once more, and quickly entered the pub before the door swung closed again. Looking around to see who was in there, he made his way to the bar, and sat next to the woman who had just entered who was now talking to the barman. Waiting before he asked for a drink, he pulled out his wallet readying himself to pay for it.

[Trisha Baldwin]

Trisha heard loud voices from the direction of the three witches playing their card game. Trish quickly turned and saw a man leaving their midst after having taken their orders. Trish smiled at one of the witches who happened to look at her and then the witch grinned back at her. The young woman was sure that she had confused the woman some, having no particular reason to be smiling.

The door opened and Trish inclined her head a little further to see a tall man coming towards the bar. She would have watched him walk all the way until he sat down beside her but she heard a voice and turned to see the man who had been playing cards standing behind the bar. A little shocked but mostly bemused, Trish smiled and thought about his offer.

The last time Trish was in this pub she remembered that she, Mac, Rose and Freeya had ordered a bright red and orange drink that the barman at that time had been more then happy to prepare for them. It had been one of Mac’s own concoctions so the barman had put his own twist on it and made it his own, with a bit of creative help from the “impish quartet” as he had called them. Free had come up with the name and Trish asked now for that drink, wondering if he would know it. “I don’t suppose you know how to make a Flaming Cannery Bludger, do you?”

Trish’s blue eyes were fixed on the barman for a hint of a moment longer then was comfortable perhaps, but she was made of stronger stuff then that. She had, after all, grown up with four siblings. After that long moment, Trish’s gaze travelled to the man next to her. Her inquiring eyes looked over him before landing on the wallet. Making a note of the amount she could see in it, Trish looked up at him and smiled. She didn’t mean to pry, honest, it was simply and annoying habit she picked up while she was reporting for the Daily Prophet.

[Warren Hubbles]

“Flaming Cannery Bludger?” Warren repeated back to the witch as he thought about it a bit more, he had made many drinks in his time, many were the same ingredients but with a different name it all depended on what part of the country you came from. “Is that the one with the Cranberry, firewhisky…”

Warren never did get to finish off his sentence as his gaze had passed to the man that was sitting on the bar stool next to the witch. His eyes grew wide and his mouth dropt open slightly as the recognition slowly began to seep in. For one of the first times in his life Warren Hubbles was lost for words and he was pretty sure he would have carried on staring at the new arrival had it not been the shouts from the party of old witches he had just left.

Shaking himself awake Warren looked over at Trish and muttered something that sounded like ‘I will be right with you’ before quickly pulling out a selection of clean glasses filling them with ice and pouring the green liquid over the top from the bottle that he still had in his hand. Slamming the bottle down onto the counter Warren picked up the glasses and carried them over to the ladies.

Accepting there thanks and a slap on the behind by Bertha Warren made his way back to the bar and forgetting all about the order that Trish had put in he reached across the table taking hold of the man by the scruff of his neck and pulled him over towards him over the counter. His face may have been showing a frown but the mans eyes held no sign of anger or remorse only joy.

“I told you that if I ever saw you again you would be in for it you bloody mudblood.” Although at first his voice actually held some potency it soon faded and the insult was almost uncompressible with the laughter that was escaping the bar man. Letting go of the guys collar Warren automatically reached over for the nearest pint glass and pulled Will the perfect pint before sliding it across the counter towards him. “It is on the house mate so put away your money you never have to pay in this pub understand?”

[Professor William Vaid]

Will could feel more than one set of eyes on him as he walked into the pub. Getting a little anxious, he looked around to see where the stares were coming from and spotted a few directions. Taking a seat next to a set of the friendliest one at the bar, that belonged to a dark haired woman, he flashed her a smile before looking down.

As Will pulled out some money readied for his order at the bar, he was suddenly jolted forwards which caused him to drop his wallet the few inches to the bar top. Looking down at the hand that had grabbed him, he looked back up to see a pair of the ‘Hubbles’ family eyes staring back at him. Staring for a moment, he burst out into laughter.

“Well if it isn’t the little troublemaker Warren, who’s not so little anymore. How’s it going mate?” He said, rather pleased to see him, even if he did get himself and Dan in all sorts of ‘adventures’ as Warren used to say, in which Will would reply ‘More like Misfortunes’. Staring at Warren for a minute, he wondered why Dan hadn’t mentioned that he was here, and then he remembered Girty would still be young enough to be at the school, and wondered why he hadn’t come across her yet, he’d come across everyone else!

“Warren, nonsense, just take the damn money will you?” He laughed, more or less throwing the paper money over the counter so Warren would have no choice but to accept it. Watching as the money floated next to the till, he looked back at the woman and flashed her another small smile before continuing his conversation with Warren.

“Hey, who you calling mudblood anyway you little bugger!” he laughed as a pint came flying his way. He nodded at Warren in thanks and observed the great head on the pint. It seems Warren still had his thirst for drink even now. You’d think he would of been sick of it by now, but obviously not. Taking a big sip of the beer, and getting a foam moustache on his top lip, he set the glass back down and licked his top lip before giving a cheesy grin to Warren.
“How’s life been treatin’ you then buddy?”

[Trisha Baldwin]

Trish had never felt as out of the ordinary as she did while sitting on that barstool in the Hog’s Head on that particular day. For one, her bright blue coat made her hair look darker, her eyes shine brighter and her skin look paler and in complete contrast to the dull pub. For another thing she was clean. As she gazed around at the rest of the clientele she felt like royalty in the Victorian age when it was only they that had baths.

All her feelings of discomfort and unfamiliarity turn to much more energetic feelings as the man who had joined her at the bar was hauled across it by the scruff of his neck. Trisha laughed loudly, a from the pit of her stomach Biggerstall laugh that turned her pale cheeks pink. She always found conflict funny and the way the two men spoke it was clear that none of it was real. Well, the hauling was but it was in jest and Trish found that most amusing. The man on the bar stool next to her smiled at her again, once he was sitting again and Trish was still laughing.

She calmed down some, though the smile and the colour in her cheeks remained bright on her face. The two men began to speak and Trish felt distinctly left out. Where was her drink? She Pouted a little, though it disappeared quickly as Trish jumped off her stool and hurried behind the bar. She worked around the man behind the bar, smiling all the while. She took different bottles, a glass and a fruit, an orange, that she found in one of the cupboards.

She cut a slither of the fruit quickly, with surgeon steady hands and with chef-speed, and threw in the slither. Next can the ice, and then the alcohol. She had all she needed to make the drink at her disposal but for one ingredient. As she search for it she could hear Mac’s voice in her head, shouting for this last ingredient as she had done the day they had come up with this drink. They had all done exactly what Trish had done several years later, take over the bar and make it themselves.

After much searching, Trish stood up and laughed, looking from the barman to the man on the stool. “Things never change, do that?” she chirped merrily. She looked to the barman, smile plastered to her face. “Where’s the tabasco?”

[Warren Hubbles]

It is when you lose touch with your old school friends that you know you are getting old, when you have no time to even have time to write a small letter to someone you used to class as your closed of friends. Naturally Warren would never get all this mushy on and instead Warren just laughed along with Will and when the money was thrown at him Warren simply shrugged and stuffed it into his pocket saving it for later.

“Mate I own my own pub…how do you think life is treating me.” Warren gave a bark of a laugh and poured himself a drink. “No life is good, do you remember Heather Mason, she was a Gryffindor, long blond hair…well anyway me and her hooked up one New Year eve and as a result we now got two kids down in Plymouth.”

Warren was still chuckling to himself and was about to ask Will what he was doing at this end of the country when the witch who was also sitting at the bar stood up and came around to his side of the bar. He was going to protest but he was actually rather interested in seeing what the witch was going to do. She started to raid the cupboards and collected many a different item and bottles and started to just throw things into the glass, but she stopped and started to search for something again. Really Warren should have offered his services to help the poor witch but he was having to much fun watching her while sipping on his own drink.

When she finally asked him for the missing ingredient for her drink Warren had to make sure he did not spit his own out. Raising his hand to his mouth he hurriedly swallowed so he could laugh.

“Tabasco?” He questioned just to make sure he was not hearing things. “As in the sauce…well you would not ask for the state in Mexico, it would never fit in that glass…not with all that other stuff you have in there…”

Warren broke off from his thinking allowed and wondered into the backroom towards the area that would be classed as the kitchen and started to rummage around the cupboards. He could have sworn there was a bottle in here somewhere, it was then he saw the small bottle hiding behind a jar of pickled onions. Walking back into the pub he handed the sauce over to the young witch and gave a her a small smile.

“You must let me have a sip of this drink miss, it seems a very interesting concoction.”

[Trisha Baldwin]

He was making fun of her. It was a good thing Trish was in such a good mood, otherwise she could have and more then likely would have protested loudly, shrieking well thought-out curses at the man who had the cheek to mock her. The fact was she was in a very good mood and so laughed at his words. She was not sure what was funny but she laughed mirthfully anyway.

She rolled her eyes, as if to say she knew but she wanted it all the same. A thought or something similar seemed to grab the tall man and he disappeared from sight for a moment. Left alone with the man who she was now facing, her ice blue eyes moving to him slowly. She was not sure how to interact with the man, or the other. They clearly knew each other from way back and she felt distinctly out. She had never mastered the skill of infiltration.

Lucky for the dark haired woman she did not have to think of something to say because the barman came back with a bottle of Tabasco. Trisha's eyes lit up and her smile spread across her face as she took the bottle from him. "Thank you," she said and immediately began unscrewing the lid. With a loud pop it came off and she threw three dashes of the red liquid onto the top of the drink. Her masterpiece was complete.

Setting the bottle of Tabasco down next to the glass, Trish took a step back and looked back up at the man. "And please don't call me Miss," she insisted. "I have a name and it's a perfectly good one. It's Trish." She nodded her head in confirmation of what she said and smiled, eyes moving back to the polychrom drink. The colour changing layers went from blue to orange to green to red and finally to yellow before starting all over again, while no two layers ever have the same colour.

Picking up the glass, Trish offered it to the barman with an angelic smile. "Try it," she insisted, "small sip though, it's very slow to take effect but it hits you like a truck an hour after." Trish hoped she had done it correctly, the last time she had mixed this drink had been when she and her friends had first created it eleven years before after all.

[Warren Hubbles]

Warrens eyebrows raised as the witch put three dashes of Tabasco into the drink, that was going to be powerful and the amount of alcohol that had been thrown in there he bet it would leave you with a stinker of a hangover in the morning. When she stepped backwards to admire her work Warren stood next to her and folded his arms as he too admired the multiple coloured layered drink, it was very pretty, typical concoction kids would make up but the biggest test was how the thing did actually taste.

The witch, Trish she called herself, seemed very willing to let Warren have a sip, the first one in fact and that always made him slightly weary. Looking at her with a slight hint of concern Warren reached out and carefully took the glass out of her hand not wishing for any of its precious liquid to be spilt on the floor.

“Small sips…” he muttered back as he glanced over at Will, the bar tenders smile growing wider with every second. “…you best not have put poison in this Trish.”

With one last chuckle Warren raised the glass to his mouth and took more then a small sip but as he always saw it that if you could not throw a drink back then there was no point in having it. At first he tasted nothing but the flavours seemed to kick in before he was finally hit by the Tabasco sauce. His eyes began to water and he quickly put the glass down on the counter simply so he could clasp his hands over his mouth to stop any expletives from coming out. Slowly dropping his hands from his mouth, his tongue feeling as though it was on fire Warren looked over at Trish and just burst out laughing.

“Merlin knows how you guys came up with that drink but it is bloody brilliant.”

He gave Trish a small pat on the shoulder as he walked past her towards a bucket of ice, picking up a few lumps and just resting them on his tongue, letting the coolness sooth his burning tongue.

[Trisha Baldwin]

Trisha had always had a strong stomach and her taste buds could take a lot. She blamed Mac for that as the tough, thin, little girl was constantly introducing the other three friends to new and spicy dishes, the last always more spicy then the previous ones. Trish had gained her love for exotic and foreign food from Mac and they always went to a new foreign restaurant when they went out for lunch or supper.

As fond memories swirled around her head, the barman named Warren took a large gulp of the drink the frightful foursome had concocted. Trish knew that was a bad idea and she had warned him of it too so all she did was stand back and watch. The effects took a moment to set in but as soon as they did, Trish's cheeks turned pink from trying to contain her laughter. It was a futile act and as soon as the glass made contact with the counter the laughter tumbled out of her like water breaking free from a dam.

As Warren looked at her Trish saw his eyes had turned red and watery and Trisha laughed harder still. He patted her on the shoulder and Trish watched him walk around her, put ice in his mouth. "You shouldn't do that," Trish advised, her cheeks full of colour against her pale skin, "the water will just make it worse."

She took a whiskey glass and pured some whiskey into it, added a dash of vodka and a dash of lime cordial (which she had to do some searching for). "Here," she said, pushing the short glass into the barman's hand. "This'll help." She smiled at him and took up her own glass. She took a small sip and sighed, "lovely."

[Warren Hubbles]

Warren hated women who always had a habit of being right at yet again Trish was proving him wrong with the whole hot spicy food and water is not really the best cure. At first it helped but it reached a point where the stinging would not go away, Warren thought that maybe if he just left the ice on for long enough his tongue would go numb and he would not feel anything although the downside of that plan would mean that he would not be able to talk.

Luckily though Trish had a better plan and had mixed him another drink which gladly he accepted as he crushed the lump of ice with his teeth before sipping (he had a small bit of doubt after the last drink the witch had made) the drink. It was very refreshing and once again very tasty. After a few moments of silence and them all sipping there drinks and Warren still recovering from his own self inflicted pain he turned to Trish, a small smile dancing across his features.

“If you ever fancy a job working behind the bar Trish you are more then welcome, you do make a dam good drink.”

He raised his glass almost in a toast to the witch before draining the rest of the concoction out feeling it sooth his throat as it travelled down. With a small chuckle Warren gave a quick glance around the almost empty pub before jumping up and sitting on top of the counter.

“So is that the only marvellous creation you are your friends created? Cause I am always one to steal ideas and pawn them off as my own.”