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Katie Bell (bellsy) wrote in strugglewithin,
@ 2008-11-30 22:52:00

Entry tags:

angelina johnson, august 1997, katie bell

RP: in which Katie Bell shows up unannounced
Date: 30 August 1997
Characters: Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson
Location: The Leaky Cauldron
Summary: Following a tip from Alicia, Katie plans to completely catch Angelina off guard with her glorious comeback
Status: As private as Leaky can be.
Completion: Incomplete

Katie had a brilliant idea. Or, at least it seemed brilliant in her often-ridiculous mind. Whizz-Hard, being a Sunday, had closed hours ago, and she was bored out of said mind. Which is probably how the idea came to be. She was tired of unpacking her belongings into her closet of a living space, Alicia hadn't sent a report on her dreaded blind date yet, and she also hadn't...stopped into the twins' shop left. There was really only one other thing to do.

Alicia had told Katie where Angelina was working during their impromptu lunch a few days prior, and Katie couldn't think of a better time to drop in on her old friend than a Sunday night, when Leaky would have very few patrons and even less of an excitement rate. She could almost sense Angelina's pulse slowing at the drag of the evening shift, and Katie was more than ready to spring some excitement back into her life.

So she went. And Katie Bell, in all of her petite glory, knew exactly what she was going to do. After peeking in clandestinely to make sure Angelina was working, she would make her presence known. So far, so good. Angelina was definitely in the building, Katie observed, grinning in spite of herself. A whole year of being apart was catching up to Katie, and she was getting just as excited to make her presence known. And so she did.

"Angelina Johnson." It was a simple greeting as she stood in the middle of the barroom floor, grinning brightly, said more as a statement than a question. It was just to get the other girl's attention after all, and after that she was sure their greetings would be much more rambunctious. Especially in the quiet lull of Sunday night at the Leaky Cauldron.

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sockless
2008-11-30 10:27 pm UTC (link)

Angelina certainly didn’t find delivering pea soup exciting but it helped keep her from living on the streets until she finished with her Auror Training. Business had been slow but steady for most of the morning and into the lunch hour. There hadn’t been anything dreadfully out of the ordinary. Most people seemed to order and mind themselves. Most of the day had been spent with idle talk with Tom between customers.

She was off delivering another bowl of pea soup when she heard her name and the words startled her. The hot soup fell the ground with a resounding crack and slashed up on her jeans. “Holy fucking hell,” she muttered first trying to prevent herself from getting burnt and second turning to the voice because after a second she knew who it belonged to. That person wasn’t supposed to be there!

"You sneaking rat!” she started with a brilliant grin! How could she possibly be mad over spilled pea soup when one of her oldest and dearest pals was back. She pounced the other girl for a hug feeling excited at the prospect of catching up. She wanted to know everything there was to know! There had to be lots to tell. “Katie Bell! What in the name of Rowena’s left tit are you doing here?”

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bellsy
2008-11-30 10:40 pm UTC (link)

Somehow Katie knew that Angelina was going to drop the bowl of soup she was carrying. She knew it even before she had said anything, and in theory, maybe there was a less surprising way to get her friend's attention, but then again, she'd get over it.

And she did, as soon as she turned to see Katie there. Grinning widely, she received Angelina's hug eagerly, nearly losing her balance but managing to keep them both upright nonetheless. There needn't be any witnesses to an infamous moment of grace by two girls who were much more agile and graceful in the air than on the ground. "It's nice to see you, too!" She laughed out in response to Angelina's initial question, before pulling away to check herself for remnants of pea soup and to look over the other girl quickly.

"I've moved out here now! I got a job over at Whizz-Hard a few weeks ago, and just moved in...Thursday night?" Nodding in spite of herself, she added quickly, "You look amazing! How are you?" She was aware that they were probably very loud in the quiet of the room, and that she was speaking a mile a minute, but she didn't really care! They had loads of things to tell each other, after all.

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sockless
2008-11-30 11:16 pm UTC (link)

Angelina pulled out her wand and summoned a broom and dustpan to take care of the clean up. She might not be graceful on her feet but she was decent with a wand. That was what she heard anyways! She apologized to an oversized man in a bright orange jacket for the wait. It would just be another few before another bowl could make it out. She gave Tom a hand signal that meant she was taking five after that and pulled out a chair. “Have a seat! He can handle it for a few. I always have time for a little catch up.”

"I’m awesome!” she admitted to the question. Okay so it was an exaggeration. She was exhausted from Auror Training and working shifts in her free time to help make ends meet but it wasn’t that bad. She could have had it a lot worse and she knew it. Nothing was better to perk up the mood than to see someone she hadn’t seen in a long while. She absently pulled the rag out of her apron and took to dusting off the table as they talked.

“Sounds like you aren’t doing so bad yourself. I expect to be seeing more of you now that you’ve moved back. Is it just you or have you brought a lovely lad for me and ‘Lic to try to steal from you?” They were girls. It was nearly always about men. When it wasn’t it was usually about Quidditch or food.

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bellsy
2008-11-30 11:26 pm UTC (link)

"Are you sure? I don't want to keep you from work." Even to Katie the words sounded untrue. She and Angelina probably both knew that she definitely needed catch-up time and catch-up time now, so she let out a soft snort of laughter before sitting down as well.

Katie was also glad to hear that Angelina was doing well. Her lunch with Alicia during the weekend had turned pretty somber for a while, what with the former having to break to Katie the news of George's freak injury and the story of Alicia's own encounter with someone dislikable from the Ministry. She was glad that this conversation would be a breeze, and a fun one at that!

Or maybe not so much a breeze. Rolling her eyes playfully at Angelina's latter question, she ran her fingers through her hair habitually before speaking, matter-of-factly, "No, it's just me..." It was always about men with them, especially with Angelina, whom she was sure could read Katie's post-Yule-Ball-distress like a book during their school years.

And, Katie realized after the fact, would probably read her playfully dejected answer just as well. "Trust me. My dating life is pathetic nowadays. And what about you? If I had someone for you to steal, do you have someone who wouldn't be very pleased with your theft?"

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sockless
2008-11-30 11:43 pm UTC (link)

At this place, Angelina pretty much did whatever she wanted. Sure it got on Tom’s nerves most of the time. He put up with it though because she was the most reliable staff he had. Plus, she was pretty sure she was the closest thing to family he had these days. His family was mostly dead and she liked to think of him as a near Grandfather. It wasn’t such a bad trade. She smiled and offered a, “Nah, Tom won’t care – he understands that I’m too young to have a fully evolved work ethic,” with a hand gesture toward the bar.

There really wasn’t that fascinating much of a story to be told about anything. She got up early. She had to do runs and sparring. Sometimes she got to do paperwork and occasionally she actually go out to the scene of an incident. Then when she finished there she got to come back here and serve pints and pea soup to every traveling family member with a sniveling child or horny businessman looking for a night cap. It wasn’t so bad but it wasn’t interesting. That was for damn sure.

“I regret to inform you that there really isn’t anything that captivating to tell on my end either,” she admitted after a moment. “I am strongly considering writing to the centerfold of Quidditch Hunk Monthly. He looks like the variety one wouldn’t be disappointed to take home to mum and dad.” If all else failed indulge in meaningless and pointless things like that. She still did have a things for Beaters and gingers. Though she liked the occasional brunette too! “Now that you’re home I don’t need some silly bloke anyways. Obviously this is a sign. Me, you and Alicia are meant to reunite against the forces of evil and do something fun soon.”

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bellsy
2008-11-30 11:57 pm UTC (link)

Katie nodded in complete understanding. The elderly witch who ran the bookstore seemed to be a lot like Tom; since it wasn't too busy at this time of year - after the school rush and all - Katie pretty much just sat around all day, making small talk with her, at least when she was around.

She also understood Angelina's routine. Katie's was very much in the same, except she still had no idea what her actual career path was. Her life seemed terribly tedious in the last few months, at least; it seemed like the same thing every day ever since she was released from St. Mungo's and she finished off her schooling.

"Speaking of boys," Katie began after a moment, grinning slyly at her good friend. "I just got into town a few days ago and I haven't been by to see our boys yet." She didn't add that she hadn't ever dropped in; she was sure Angelina would be able to pick up on that fact, alone. There were many things they had in common, Katie and Angelina, and some things were more... near identical than others. So to speak. It was also implied that she was obviously digging for more news with that statement; Alicia had told her what she knew, but Katie was sure that Angelina dropped by the shop much more often.

"And I agree!" She added as an afterthought, diverting the conversation back only for a moment. "We'll definitely need a girls night out soon enough." But then she grinned again, as if to wordlessly divert the conversation back yet again. The thing with Katie and Angelina was, they rarely seemed to have to use the actual English language in their conversations.

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sockless
2008-12-03 09:50 pm UTC (link)

Angelina looked momentarily uncomfortable because she wasn’t she what was hers to tell and what wasn’t. She didn’t know how much Alicia had said. She tried hard to not let the fact she was holding something back show across her features. It still bothered her a bit to think about what had happened to George. The loss itself she could deal with. An ear didn’t make a person. The story behind it was what always bothered her. She preferred to not spend every moment of her lives worrying about the safety of the Weasley twins and their family. Bringing them up, brought back those worries though.

"The last I checked they were okay,” she offered with a shoulder shrug. The other details Katie would have to get out of them. It was as simple as that! She half-smiled moments later. “You really should go and drop in on them one day. I’m sure they’ll be tickled to see you’re back in town. We haven’t had a proper pub crawl without the whole gang about. It’ll have to happen some day. People are a little more than cautious about getting out and about these days though.”

Things weren’t safe like they used to be. She couldn’t go on walks at night or get into the same sort of trouble that she used to. There was an increasing sense of danger at every corner. She could defend herself but having to look over one’s shoulder wasn’t her idea of a good time. There was safety in numbers though. “We’ll schedule a whole slew of things soon,” she let Katie know. “This is a permanent move? I’m not imagining you’re really here?”

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