An Engaging Dinner
An Engaging Dinner
I had forgotten to mention our dinner plans to Barnaby when I'd found him earlier. But he said he didn't mind prolonging our trip to London, especially if we could see some of our friends. He told me he'd meant to drop in on Andre and Jae earlier that day but his trip to Gringots and our meeting with his uncle had eaten up the majority of our time.
While we waited for our friends to arrive we moved to a larger table towards the back of the pub and I filled him in on all that had happened during my visit with Chiara at St. Mungo's that morning. "Oh, and I told her we're engaged." I threw in last, hoping he wouldn't mind that I'd told her our news on my own.
"Chiara's a Werewolf. Hmm." Was his reply. I laughed. "Yes, the whole time we've known her. That's what I couldn't tell you last night. She's registered now, with the Ministry, but I'm not sure if she's told every one of our friends, so it's probably best to not mention it" I advised.
"And she knows we're engaged" Barnaby pondered out loud to himself. "Yes" I confirmed again, only a little exasperated. "She's not going to bring that up either, but I was thinking, what if we did?" I asked him.
"You're ready to tell people?" Barnaby asked in surprise. I nodded, smiling at him. "Tonight would be a good opportunity. I don't know how long it'll be before we'll be able to see this lot all together again once we start working" I reasoned.
"Technically this dinner is supposed to be in celebration of Andre's success as a big, up and coming fashion designer, so maybe we can sort of mention it towards the end, you know, so we don't steal his spotlight and all?" I suggested.
Barnaby put his large hand on top of mine and said that sounded like a good idea.
As if on cue, Andre suddenly appeared in the pub, with Penny at his side. I waved them over to us.
"Penny! I wasn't sure if you'd come. I tried to see you at St. Mungo's today, but you were locked away doing what I was told was 'brilliant potioneering stuff' and couldn't be disturbed" I teased her playfully.
"Awe Samhain, I'm sorry I missed you. I always wait for Chiara when our shifts finish at the same time and she mentioned you'd been down for a visit. I was really bummed! But I'm so glad I get to see you two while you're here" she beamed at us.
"So am I a genius for suggesting dinner tonight or am I a genius?" Andre gloated cheekily. We all agreed he was a genius and ordered a pre dinner round of drinks to toast to his success.
A few moments later Jae Kim skidded through the pub doors and catching sight of us instantly strode over to our table. When he reached us he dragged an empty chair away from another table occupied by a pair of wizards, who were so deep in conversation they didn't even notice.
"Heyyy Jae!" we all chorused as if it had been rehearsed ahead of time. "You need a drink mate" Andre insisted, hopping up and dashing over to the bar and returning just as quickly holding a large pitcher of mead in each hand.
Jae took one from him and instead of setting it down on the table to pour himself a pint, he proceeded to drink straight out of it, the animal.
He set the half empty pitcher down with a loud belch and said, "Wow thanks mate, that sure hit the spot." Disgusted as I was, I still had tears streaming from my eyes, laughing at the sheer audacity of him. So this was life after Hogwarts? I thought to myself in amusement. Being of age was pretty interesting so far.
Andre kept the pitchers of mead flowing as we waited for more of our friends to arrive. Chiara came next, followed almost immediately by Tonks and Tulip. Talbot came on his own, which wasn't a surprise. But the fact that he came at all kind of was, Talbot had never been a joiner and generally preferred one on one hangouts or just doing his own thing.
The last to arrive was Ben. He skulked into the pub and glanced around quickly. Once he spotted our table he came over, but slowly and looking like he didn't really want to be there at all. He also sat as far away from Chiara as possible which didn't go unnoticed by her, I saw her small frown.
I thought maybe this was Ben being his old self again. The wishy-washy young wizard who was afraid of his own shadow. I wondered if perhaps Chiara had told Ben about her condition and it hadn't gone over well. That would have made sense with the Ben of years ago. Not that I'd ever known him to be intolerant or unkind but because he'd have been genuinely terrified to learn his friend was a Werewolf.
But Ben had changed. After what happened to us in the Forbidden Forest in our sixth year, after Rowan jumped in front of him to take a curse aimed by Rakepick, Ben had done a complete one-eighty and become extremely brave. He had also worked very hard to improve his skills in dueling and defensive spells. I really didn't understand where that new version of Ben had gone, but it occurred to me that he looked like he was suffering.
I resolved to get him alone at some point to find out what was going on, but during a celebration dinner wasn't going to be easy. Apart from Ben, everyone else was having a grand time that night. The volume inside the Leaky Cauldron was reaching higher than I'd ever heard it before.
Our group was so exuberant I worried Tom might soon kick us out, but it was all happy sounds. Laughter, teasing, people shouting over it all so they could hear each other. I ended up a bit lost in the thick of it all, after a few too many rounds of drinks.
Andre and Jae kept making toasts trying to one up each other and they grew more and more ludicrous as the night wore on. "To mead" and "To fashion" eventually were replaced by "To the kind folks in Knockturn Alley" and "To Tom's pants!"
We'd all been obliged to join in or risk ruining the fun, but I had only been taking tiny sips after the first dozen toasts and I noticed Ben did the same.
By the time we'd eaten dinner several at our table were starting to slur their words.
Barnaby had surprised me by stopping after only a few drinks, and switching back to the old staple of butterbeer. I thought that was very responsible of him and admired him all the more. I finally cut myself off for good when I stumbled over the word "hippopotamus" and couldn't even remember why I'd said it. I asked Tom instead for some water on the next round in order to sober myself up a little.
We'd all just toasted to Andre's extremely fashionable haircut, and on his acquiring Penny as his long-term girlfriend, when we all agreed that he was punching way above his weight.
Laughing like he'd been the victim of an extra strength Cheering Charm, Jae started to get up for a rebuttal toast, but Barnaby pushed him down, taking his place instead.
Seeing that sobered me up more than a gallon of water could have done. I knew what was coming and tried to stop acting the fool long enough to hear it.
"I would like to make an announcement and a toast in one go, if you'll all kindly shut up for ten seconds" Barnaby laughed and extended his hand to help me up.
The table quieted down to a respectable level while our friends grinned at us expectantly. "Now that we've all congratulated Andre to death, the next announcement is that Samhain has agreed to marry me, and the toast is to all of us, and to the future!" Barnaby cheered raising his glass to the ceiling.
"Here here!" Everyone screamed at us, throwing their glasses skyward with such force the mead splashed nearly everyone in the pub. "And to Barnaby's pants!" Jae cackled, attempting to take a drink from his now empty glass.
My cheeks burned from the attention and the noise was deafening as I tried to sit back down. Our friends weren't having it though, Jae and Andre had hoisted Barnaby up on their shoulders as if he'd just singlehandedly won the Quidditch cup, and I was being assaulted by hugs and screeches from every direction. The party raged on, gaining in momentum, but from the corner of my eye I saw Ben pick up his jacket and without a word, head for the exit.
I knew if I didn't go now he'd Disapparate and be gone so I excused myself and followed him out into the much quieter street. "Ben!" I called out to him. "Ben, wait up!"
He turned to face me, hesitated for a moment like he was debating making a run for it, then shuffled back towards me slowly. "Sorry Samhain, I wanted to say goodbye but everyone was.." he trailed off. "Congratulations though, you and Barnaby, that's.. brilliant that is. I'm really happy for you both."
He sounded anything but happy, but I was sure whatever was going on wasn't about me. Instead of feeling slighted I asked him, "What's wrong Ben? We've been friends since our first year at Hogwarts, I know when something's bothering you. Please tell me?"
"It's nothing" he lied. I countered him. "It's not nothing, what's going on?"
He sighed and sat down heavily on the curb. I joined him and put my arm around his shoulders.
"We didn't used to keep secrets from each other Ben, and I've always believed you, and believed in you, you can talk to me" I coaxed him.
He looked at me, his sad brown eyes illuminated by the waning moon above us. "I broke up with Chiara. And I'm miserable." he finally admitted.
That was news to me, I hadn't known they'd even been seeing each other. I was about to ask why but he continued without me prompting him.
"I was miserable, so I broke up with her. To spare her having to share my misery. I haven't been right since.. Rowan, and leaving Hogwarts and everything. I thought I'd be okay because I had her but when she told me about her condition, I was the first one she told, something in me just fell apart I guess. And it's not even about that. But she thinks it is. She thinks that's why I don't want to be with her, because I don't want to make a life and have kids with someone who could pass on a condition like that. She thinks my parents talked me out of being with her. She yelled all that at me, when I broke up with her. I let her think it was the truth and then I let her walk away because I just don't know what to do anymore. She came 'round the next day and tried talking to me, saying we could slow things down and just be friends, whatever I needed." he stopped talking there and I was shocked to see a single tear run down his cheek, glistening in the moonlight.
"Ben I'm so sorry" I told him, pulling him in for a proper hug. "I know I've been wrapped up in my own stuff too so I get why you didn't tell me anything" I confessed. "But we're gonna be okay. We all are. I promise."
We sat in the silent moonlight for a few minutes before I started telling him about visiting the Khanna's with Barnaby and how it had helped me get through some of the pain of losing Rowan.
"Maybe you should go see them too." I suggested. "I bet it'd make them happy to meet you Ben. You knew Rowan better than almost anyone too, I bet you could tell them things they'd like to hear and they could tell you things about her." He nodded. "Yeah, maybe."
"And whatever reasons you have for not wanting to be with Chiara, you need to be honest with her. I know she'd understand if you gave her the chance. But don't just push her away letting her think the worst. There's going to be enough people in her life who think that about her for real, you owe her more than that. If nothing else she's been a very good friend to you." He nodded again. "Thanks Samhain. Really. I'm gonna head home but I'll think about what you said. "
"Okay Ben, thanks for talking to me. Don't be afraid to reach out if you need me, I'm only ever an owl away." I gave him one last hug and let him go. He stood up and gave me a small smile before stepping into nothingness and and Disapparating.
I returned to the Leaky Cauldron to find the party still going strong without me. The only one who'd seemed to notice I'd gone was Barnaby, but he had waited patiently for me. I sat down next to him and taking his hand I said, "I'm pretty tired, I think I'm gonna go home and go to bed, but you don't have to come with me if you want to stay."
"How about we do both?" He suggested. I raised an eyebrow in confusion. "How?" He smiled. "I booked a room. We can just go up to bed here if you want. I didn't want to risk Apparating under the influence, so it just seemed like a good idea. And there's one more thing I need to do in London before we go home so it's easier if we stay the night" he shrugged. I marveled again at how anyone could have ever thought Barnaby was dumb. He was not only smart but he was wise and thoughtful too.
"Let's go" I agreed. We said our goodbyes once more to our friends and climbed the staircase to our room. I hoped wistfully that this would become more of a regular thing, if we were to be spending time in London with the WCU maybe we could even start up meetings of the Circle of Khanna again. That would be good for Ben, I thought to myself sleepily. We all needed friends around us.