Eeep. What had she agreed to? Lavender was nervous. Only nervous didn’t seem to be a big enough word to encompass what she was feeling at the moment. She hated all of her clothes, her hair wouldn’t lie right, and, she was pretty sure that her hands were shaking a little. Excellent. She felt like she was fifteen, only when she was fifteen she was good at this. Lavender blamed Mark. She hadn’t been on a date since Mark. That made it –oh about four years since she’d been on a first date. Four years. She was four years out of practice. Eeep seemed an appropriate reaction at the moment. Ah, hell. It was too late to cancel –not that she really wanted to cancel anyway. She wanted to go out with Charlie. Okay Lav, deep breath. She chose a black skirt and burgundy blouse, allowing her hair to curl about her shoulders because she couldn’t get it to do anything else, took a deep breath and strapped her wand into its holster.

The Leaky wasn’t far. Lavender walked in the dimming light, silently pleased with herself for being on time for once instead of running late as usual. In fact, she was so not late, that she had managed to arrive before Charlie did. Taking a seat at the bar to wait, Lavender looked around the bar, contenting herself with people watching. A tap on her shoulder got her attention, and she spun to find a grinning Charlie standing beside her. “Charlie,” Lavender smiled widely. “No, I haven’t been waiting long at all. How are you?”