Who: Susan, Hannah, Ernie and Justin What: Drinks & More When: July 17th Where: Susan's home Justin had been the first to arrive with two cases of bottles, half a dozen from each vintage, and had greeted Susan with a long, emotion-filled hug. He'd focused on his friend's presence and the feel of her in his arms rather than all of the things in his life that had been causing him worry: the murder, the interrogations, the lack of sleep, the temptation to slide a dozen pills down his gullet with a wine chaser, and the fact that McCoy had been harranging him about it since he left home. Of course, the comfort was gone the moment the hug ended, but he made certain he had his 'happy face' on, not wanting to worry his friend before the night had begun.
After all, the four of them probably needed quite a few glasses before anything started to make any sort of sense.
He'd cracked open the wine right away, not having any qualms about starting before Ernie and Hannah arrived, and had already finished off half a bottle of Fletch Flame by the time the foursome was complete. Now, Justin was nearly at the end of his first bottle and McCoy's voice was finally dulled enough that he could ignore it, and Justin was feeling quite relaxed as a result. He didn't often drink to excess, and only did so when with Susan, Ernie, and Hannah because alcohol - wine in particular - acted on him like veritaserum, and those were the only three he trusted with any of his secrets - and even then he fought it, wanting to protect them from what they didn't know.
"I wish they'd just put Pucey back in Azkaban and get this shite over with," he muttered as he emptied the last of the wine in his bottle into his glass.