Who: James Bradfield + Katherine Goldstein What: James is in London, staying at the Leaky Cauldron where he randomly runs into none other than that bitchy mad Ravenclaw from school, Katherine Goldstein. When: March, 2029 Where: The Leaky Cauldron Rating: PG/PG-13, since we all know James has a mouth. Status: In Progress — Continued!
James put his quill down, looking over the sheet of music he'd just finished. He was really itching to play and make sure it sounded right... but it was getting late. It wasn't that he particularly cared about disturbing any of the other patrons - that at least had not changed in the five years since he'd graduated - but he knew if one thing sounded wrong, he'd be up half the night trying to fix it. It would almost certainly be better if he simply left it for the morning. At the very least, he'd be listening with a fresh ear.
The problem right now, was that although it was getting late, it wasn't so late that he felt tired enough to sleep. Not even close, really. He glanced at his watch and sat back thoughtfully. There was a stack of books sitting near the bed that he still needed to read... but in the back of mind he knew he wouldn't enjoy that at the moment. He'd just about had enough of working for the day. What he really wanted was a drink, and maybe a walk. And well, this was the Leaky Cauldron after all. He could get the first part out of the way relatively quickly.
With the image of a firewhiskey in the forefront of his mind, James toed his trainers on. In appearance at least, he hadn't changed much. He was a little more careworn and he had to shave more often, but that was about it. He was still in relatively good shape, his hair was still short and he still didn't tan very well.
James checked his pockets to make sure he had his wand and his money, and then headed downstairs. He spotted two or three people at the bar, a few more at tables. It was relatively quiet, which he was grateful for. He liked having some elbow room. He took an empty stool, leaving one between himself and the witch to his left. The barkeeper was with him a second later, firewhiskey already in hand. James felt a smile creep onto his face. "Cheers, Dex. You're too kind."
There were times where Katherine regretted her decision to work with the Prophet. After working her way through an internship and getting past doing only soft and, in her opinion, useless pieces, she found herself loving her job for the most part. But there were days when she found herself with an assignment she disliked and absolutely no inspiration. Today was one of those days.
She was aware that this was normal for any career; no one could be happy all the time, after all. Besides, she was only 24 and it was unreasonable to believe that she could possibly high-ranking enough to actually write what she wanted. But that really didn't make her feel any better. At any rate, she had finished her article earlier that evening and had reluctantly passed it over to her editor before returning to her flat to brood. No, she really wasn't looking forward to seeing tomorrow's paper, thanks for asking.
The few hours she spent at home were entirely unproductive, filled with annoyed sighs, pacing, and failed attempts to read a novel that Liz had sent her a week earlier. What she needed was a drink. One would think that she would have learned her lesson about drinking too much years ago, but she had no intention of getting smashed; just a drink or two to calm her nerves. Besides, getting drunk while you were alone was horribly pathetic and she wasn’t that desperate.
Not that she really had the option of being alone because apparently there was no alcohol in her flat. Bugger. Her only option was a pub, but luckily for her, the Leaky Cauldron was only a short walk away. With a determined grimace, she set out, arriving a few moments later. She was surprised to find that it was fairly deserted, an uncommon occurrence indeed.
With a sigh, she stepped inside only to stop again a moment later, gaping at a figure at the bar. While she hadn’t seen him in six years, she recognized him instantly. She gained her composure a moment later and walked hesitantly towards him, still not completely believing her eyes. “James?” she called, fixing the man with a confused stare.
James was one to ignore people's comings and goings. Especially in a pub setting, he mainly focused on what he was drinking and occasionally, some of the conversations that were going on around him. His attention was almost never on the door, and tonight was no exception. Sure, he heard it open and close, but he hadn't bothered to look over. This time, he was engaged in a short chat with the barkeeper. It wasn't anything particularly interesting, just random Ministry banter really. He hadn't even had time to put his glass to his lips when he heard his name come from somewhere behind him.
Of course James was a fairly common name, so he was sort of reluctant to look. But there was something about the voice... He turned his head to look for the source. Somewhere in the back of his head, he already knew. Even so, when his eyes found Katherine's, they widened slightly and the slightest look of surprise flickered across his face before it broke into a smile. "Katherine? Merlin, it's been ages!"
James slid off his stool and closed the remaining distance between them. He was sort of at a loss of what to do. It had indeed been six years since he'd seen her. And if he remembered correctly, that last time had ended in her snogging him, leaving him both frustrated and confused for reasons he didn't really understand. With that in mind, it took him all of two seconds to decide exactly what he was going to do. Gently, he tilted her face toward him and with absolutely no warning whatsoever, he kissed her full on the lips. James only lingered for a moment before breaking away, looking fairly satisfied with himself. "We can call it square now."
"It's been far too long," she agreed, nodding. Katherine couldn't help herself from beaming at him, foul mood instantly disappearing. While this did seem like the sort of place he'd frequent, she couldn't believe that he was actually here.
She remembered that kiss vividly, despite it being years ago. She wasn't entirely sure of the reasoning behind it; she still wasn't sure if she was just giving him what he had been asking for for years or if it was one last opportunity to tease him. Part of her suspected that maybe she had just wanted to for her own sake, and since she had assumed that that would be the last time she'd see him, she hadn't really had anything to lose.
But it wasn't something she had really dwelled on, so the fact that James had some need to retaliate, so to speak, struck her by surprise. She wasn't really sure what she had expected him to do, but she certainly hadn't thought that he'd kiss her. She barely had time to react before he pulled away, looking pleased with himself.
She blinked, pausing to allow the initial shock to wear off. She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly as he spoke, suddenly feeling a tinge of embarrassment at her past actions. She didn't regret it, but it had been rather strange of her; ending three years of adamantly turning him down with a kiss must have confused the hell out of him.
"No, that wasn't very nice of me, was it?" she mused, smirking slightly. "But I wouldn't take it back, even if I could." But at least they were sort of even now- not that she really saw it that way but whatever worked for him. “But how have you been?” She was fairly certain that she hadn’t talked to him since the summer after she graduated. She wasn’t entirely sure why they hadn’t really kept in contact but there was no use contemplating that now; at least they had this chance to talk.
James remembered that kiss quite well, too. Even amid the many he'd had during his years at school, that particular one stuck out in his mind. Part of it was the irritating confusion it had left him with all summer and into his seventh year. Not that he'd actually admitted that to himself at the time. After all, girls were not supposed to confuse James Bradfield.
But then Katherine had never been a typical girl in school either. James had never quite made friends easily, and even more rare was his making just friends with girls. Katherine had managed to maintain that sort of relationship with him, despite all his arsehole tendencies. He'd even stopped pursuing her early into his sixth year. And then she'd said goodbye with a kiss? No wonder she confused him. What he couldn't explain was why it had stuck out so stubbornly in his memory after six years. He couldn't help but wonder if retaliation was all he'd been looking for with that last kiss.
He smiled, something he did quite a bit easier these days, and motioned toward the bar. "I'm all right. Living in Cardiff. Sort of close to home..." he trailed off, breaking eye contact. He looked troubled for a second, and then went on, taking his seat again. "I just signed a record contract, so I'm here on business I guess you could say." He paused to take a swallow of his firewhiskey. When he put it back down he glanced at the barkeeper and then back at Katherine. "So what do the Prophet's writers drink? It's on me."
Well, this was James after all, the closet socio-political study. He'd always kept close tabs on the newspapers on both sides of the magical line. He supposed it might have been more polite for him to ask her what she was doing these days, but it seemed stupid and frankly, probably insulting considering she was working for the biggest newspaper in Magical England. He remembered the first time he'd seen her name under a Prophet article and not being particularly surprised. Katherine had always been outspoken, so it made a bit of sense.
Katherine was well aware of the fact that he hadn't really known what to make of her back in school; she wasn't oblivious to how bizarre and atypical their relationship was, but she never would have thought that it or the kiss had left some sort of lasting impression on him. If it had, she could have only assumed that he would have done something about it rather than barely making an effort to stay in contact. She hadn't been too good about that either but still.
But she had never really known how to characterize their friendship. She had always considered them to be friends, even though she knew that James didn’t really do friendships with girls, let alone with ones that he wasn’t shagging. Nevertheless, it had been upsetting to discover that they weren’t quite as close as she had thought as she stopped hearing from him and vice versa, but such was life.
Her smile faltered and was replaced with an almost worried look as she followed his train of thought, but he recovered quickly. "Oh?" She looked surprised, though on second thought, James being signed was to be expected; he had sounded amazing in the few times she had heard him. "That's fantastic! Congratulations."
“Oh, just a firewhiskey. I’m not in the mood for anything frilly or fancy. I think I need proper alcohol, thanks.” She wasn’t really sure she could have come up with a less feminine drink, but that was Katherine for you. She followed him to sit beside him, turning slightly away from the bar to face him. “So have you been performing this whole time? Doing the whole indie scene?” she asked curiously.
James had never been good at keeping in touch with people. Katherine hadn't been the only one he'd lost contact with. In fact, most of his mates from the year above him had heard very little from him over the years. Part of it was that he could never seem to sit down and write a letter. Time constraints in his seventh year had contributed more than he'd thought they would. He'd been swamped with his NEWTs and he'd actually had to do most of his work himself. That, and whatever normal things it was that he thought about and did had kept him bogged down. It wasn't that she had not made any lasting impression on him, and that they weren't a bit closer than he would have openly admitted. It was just that he sort of failed at time management and tended to forget to do things. The few owls he had managed to get to her were more than he'd found time to do with most of the his other friends.
And anyway, they were there now and he had plenty of time. He wasn't due in the studio to record until the middle of the next afternoon. And he could make time if he needed to. They hadn't seen each other in six years, after all.
"Cheers. About bloody time actually," he rolled his eyes and took another drink of his firewhiskey. His sarcastic expression turned into an amused, knowing smile as Katherine named her drink of choice for the night. Some how, he was not particularly surprised that she had not asked for something on the lighter side. Flagging down Dexter for another drink took all of half a second. James had already been staying at the inn for two days; they were well acquainted by now.
"Just need a drink, or have you had a rough day?" Normally it would be a question for conversation, but there was a flicker of concern and sincerity behind his eyes that hadn't often appeared. Did he actually care? Yes, a little. Over the years, James had finally let himself get a bit closer to people. At least he wasn't actively distancing himself any more. That was an achievement all by itself.
"Sort of, yeah. That and pulling the odd job, because you know, I'm hardly getting paid well yet," he smirked. Money really wasn't what he had in mind when it came to music, but it was no secret that starting musicians were all but living out of cardboard boxes. He was actually doing fairly well in that respect. He just couldn't wait until that was all he had to do to get by.
That wasn't entirely surprising. She wasn't sure why she had expected him to dutifully write or anything, when that clearly wasn't the sort of thing he was strong with. Perhaps she had just selfishly and self-centeredly hoped that she had made enough of an impact on him and a difference in his life that his usual habits would have been forgotten, and they would have stayed in better contact. But that would have been a stupid thought; they hadn't really become close until her last year, so it was stupid to think that she someone could have changed him, even in such a tiny, insignificant way.
But he was willing to make time now. That said something, didn't it?
No, it really wasn’t surprising in the least that she hadn’t asked for some sort of light drink. That never had been her sort of thing, no matter the situation. The way she saw it, if you were going to drink, you actually drank with none of that ‘light’ stuff or flavored drinks to hide the taste of alcohol. Perhaps it wasn’t the best way to go about it, but there was Katherine for you.
"The latter, mostly," she answered, sighing. The look of concern didn't slip by her, and it caught her by surprise. It wasn't completely shocking that he did care, even slightly, but he just normally didn't show it, especially over something so petty. But she quickly wrote it off, seeing no point in trying to make something out of what was clearly nothing. "I just had the world's most idiotic article to write- it's horribly embarrassing. Do me a favor and don't read the paper tomorrow, yeah? You won't miss anything, I promise." It wasn’t like there was anything important in it. So far, her plan of changing the world through journalism wasn’t really going out as planned.
“Mmm, yeah. But at least you’re doing something you love.” It was evidence of how much she had changed that she didn’t remind him that it would have been crazy to think that one could succeed in music right away or even at all, for that matter. That could be said for most careers, really, but dreams like being in a band or an becoming an actor or writing fiction always struck her and unnecessarily idealistic; it had always seemed like the people who sought those sort of things only wanted the glamour and fame so, of course, she had always been scornful. Not that she had ever seen James as that way, but she stuck to her belief, however irrational, that music wasn’t the most realistic field.
“But it sounds like you’re on your way. You’ll have to tell me when your record is released.”
"Oh come now, it can't be that bad," James smirked, tracing circles on the condensation that was collecting on the bar. "And that's not fair, telling me not to read the paper. Where were you all through school? Owl post flew in and the first thing I'd do was open up a paper." He offered her a smile and then took a sip of his drink. "Anyway, what's it on then? I don't believe you could write anything embarrassing." The compliment had sort of slipped from between his lips. But it wasn't as though he were lying or anything. He actually did rather enjoy reading her articles, even years ago when they hadn't been on anything particularly interesting to him. And anyway, it was out there now, for her to ignore if she so choose. James sort of thought she would, this being Katherine and all.
No, music really wasn't the most realistic field to go into. It was difficult to get noticed, harder to negotiate with the recording contracts and on top of everything you had to be making some sort of statement. Or at least he wanted to be making a statement. That was really the problem with entertainment, and especially the music industry. Messages were just getting bigger and more stupid with every new single, every new person that fancied themselves an "artist". It was all very obvious, practically lit up in neon lights. James was playing for a different audience. His problem with people really stemmed from the idea that no one really thought about things any more. He had always been sort of an intellectual, under all that gruff and grumble and that he'd put on over it. He missed the days when music actually said something and made a listener want to find out more. And that's what he wanted to do.
Up until he'd finally gotten a manager a year ago, he'd spent the better part of his time between gigs and working just writing long ranting essays to just about anyone that would take the time to listen. And they'd said just that; that music shouldn't just be entertainment and carry big stupid messages that anyone could figure out because it was written right there. He'd hoped that if he seemed like an antidote to that sort of stupid thinking, someone would pick up on it. That was the reason behind his sarcasm of about time. Someone finally had and he was finally signed. James wasn't particularly keen on changing the world. But he thought if he could get people to think a bit, then he was doing all right.
"Yeah, I enjoy it, don't get me wrong. But yeah, definitely. Actually, I've got to go in tomorrow afternoon and start recording."
Was it tomorrow already? He was quite sure the nerves of the situation were apparent on his face. He took a deep breath and then a long drink of firewhiskey to calm himself.
"But I'll ah, send you a copy before it hits the shelves yeah? I'll even autograph it for you. Might be worth a bit some day." He was just teasing now, and the playful smile that made it's way onto his face made it fairly obvious.