Who: Arcturus Black and Rawdon Crawley What: Cards and chat Where: Their usual gaming room When: Wednesday evening
In his short time on the station, Arcturus Black had visited most of the social venues there that he didn't deem utterly and unsuitably futuristic. Some were adequate enough, but he found that nothing quite compared to this place, the abandoned pub he had found as a boy. He remembered the self-consciousness he had felt, the dread he had of the disgrace of being turned away from some more populated drinking spots. He had worried far too much over the opinions of inconsequential people, but that was what boys did, wasn't it? Everything was heightened when it was happening to you for the first time, and being dropped into a place like this as a lad of fourteen wasn't something that anyone could prepare for.
This place was comfortingly familiar, especially as his little touches to make it more homely – vanishing the station clutter, painstakingly creating a little magical fireplace that burned bright and warm – had remained. It shouldn't have been surprising, perhaps, but to Arcturus nearly eighteen years had passed since he had put that effort in.
Being there alone was fine. A little nostalgic. Being there with an old friend was better, and tonight he sat across the table from Rawdon Crawley. The pair had been there a while; long enough for Arcturus to relax and to break out the firewhisky. He'd only ever had beer as a boy, his brother's excesses having warned him off anything stronger, but when he'd been old enough to join the London clubs, that had changed. There were two decks of cards between them, the ordinary set and Arcturus' magical tarot deck, which they took turns in using. He'd been impressed by how quickly Rawdon picked up the more complicated wizarding games.
'You won't believe this,' he said conversationally, leaning across the table, 'but I'm to give a talk on Sunday. I somehow thought, back in my youthful arrogance, that I could lecture everyone on magic. Imagine it! I haven't the first idea what I was thinking.'