amor fati | jade

“They might be,” Jade agreed. However, her father and her brother were rarely really exaggerating in such cases. They did enjoy his company for sure. Maybe it was because he was a more worldly companion than the selected few witches and wizards from Skye that occasionally came to the distillery. Other than that there were usually just tourists that came once, maybe twice but hardly regularly.

As Harlan said that a bag was fine, Jade smiled and held it open for him to put his purchases in before handing him the bag. She held it an instant longer than she had to, their hands touching for a moment.

“You've said quite a few times now that you don't want to keep me any longer,” Jade said, laughing softly. “I can only repeat that I do not mind but if you like to feel guilty – then by all means...” She shook her head, grinning at Harlan.

She was quite surprised that he offered his company for a drink and her face lit up with a wide smile. “I'd like that very much,” she said. “Any particular place you'd like to go to?”

Harlan pulled a face. It wasn’t often he was actively trying to place guilt on himself, but he usually was feeling it to some degree either way. Something about holding himself to too high a standard. That was, in part, why he’d assumed Jade would be put off by him keeping her even a minute past closing time. He certainly would have been.

“On the contrary…” He trailed off as he collected the bag. It dawned on him only after he’d suggested that he join her that it meant he would have to carry the stupid thing around with him. Harlan let out half of a sigh to himself.

“Hm,” He hummed a thought aloud, blue eyes flicking to the storefront as if that might help him get his bearings. He hated that he still knew the village well enough. “Three Broomsticks is just up the road, yeah?” He offered. “I’m not particular,” He was, but he'd imposed enough by inviting himself along on her night.

“Well, then I'm glad to tell you that you do not have to feel guilty at all and I can only hope that, this time, you'll believe me.” She smiled at him and then looked around if there was anything she needed to do before leaving the place. However, she had already done more than enough before Harlan had entered the shop. There was nothing left to do except for locking the shop.

“Yeah,” Jade nodded, “that's just a few steps away.” She didn't mind where they'd go. She was fine going to whichever place in Hogsmeade Harlan would prefer. Since he had no preferences but had mentioned the Three Broomsticks, she felt was a good enough choice.

She walked through the door and she remained on the threshold to lock it both magically and with her key. Then she turned to face Harlan again and offered a slight smile. “Let's go,” she said brightly, eager to grab a drink now.

Harlan's gaze lingered on her from the side of the doorframe as she locked up but quickly realized and turned on his heels to canvas the mostly-empty cobblestoned pathways. There were a few people milling about, drenched in the familiar orange light from the street lamps— they looked like locals. He figured he could include himself in that group given he was with Jade. Though, the bright, multi-colored bag in his hand wasn't doing him any favors as far as Hogsmeade street credit was concerned.

Running a hand through his hair, he nodded to her to agree. The Three Broomsticks was only a few paces away, really, down a hill and around a corner. For the most part, they walked in a comfortable quiet, Harlan was not the type to fill silences with small talk about the weather.

"Very decorative packaging, I must say..." He held up the bag with a sarcastic smile as they approached the storefront, though he truly didn't mean it in a malicious way. More than anything, the idea of him, walking into the Three Broomsticks with it in tow was more comical than anything. "Think they've got somewhere to store it?" He teased as he pulled the door open to let her in, free hand out of habit leading her from her back. He nodded to the woman behind the bar who gestured vaguely in return.

"Here," Harlan motioned to a booth and slid in after placing his gift as carefully as he could manage in the corner. "Not sure about the whiskey here..." He commented quietly with a grin over the top of the menu. He handed one over to Jade in the process.

"Well," Jade said, offering a little smile in return, "you weren't exactly the customer we imagined carrying it when we designed the bags." She shrugged. "We could make a special edition for you, though, if you wanted to become a regular customer," she teased. Of course Jade could see how the packaging wasn't exactly what Harlan wanted to carry around but then again he could probably use a spell to make it look more neutral if he chose to. It was not like they had protected the design fully and only the logo would still be faintly visible in such a case - of course Jade had tried that before and decided to only protect their logo in a way that a simple spell couldn't override it.

As they reached the Three Broomsticks Jade had to remind herself that Harlan was just teasing because, frankly, she didn't see how he could find their bags quite so terrible. They were bags of a toy shop, after all. "Well, you could have left the bag at our shop and we could have returned there after we had the drink," she said, her tone not quite so teasing anymore. As she stepped inside the pub she muttered a "hello" to Madame Rosmerta. 

They slid into the booth that Harlan had chosen for them and she noticed how he placed the gift bag in the corner. It was almost comical that a grown man, a well known Quidditch player, could feel so awkward about his purchase from the Toy Shop. She decided not to comment anymore, though, thinking that it would not do them any good if she did.

"Well, I guess the whisky will be okay," Jade said diplomatically. It would not match her family's whisky but she had had whisky at the Three Broomsticks before and it had been decent and enjoyable enough. She took the menu Harlan handed her and skimmed it for probably the hundredth time in her life. "Do you want to eat something?" she asked her companion, suddenly unsure if she wanted food or just a drink herself.

The change in tone wasn't lost on Harlan. He was aware that his particular brand of humor— dark, and often deprecating— wasn't for everyone, but he usually needed that kind of reminder before he went too far down the path. It wasn't for everyone. Especially those who didn't know him well enough to ascertain the real from the teasing. Harlan nodded to the woman behind the bar as he bit the inside of his mouth in thought.

He cleared his throat but opted to not comment, instead focusing on making their way to the booth. Anything said would have just dug the hole even deeper, he imagined.

Harlan pushed the bag to the corner and tried to make himself comfortable in the booth opposite Jade as he eyed the menu, glancing up at her whenever he could feel her look away. "I think I'll go for a beer, either way, play it safe..." He thought aloud. It wasn't often that he did that, play it safe. "Some chips, maybe?" He sat up a little to prepare to get up and go to the bar with their order. It was a quiet night and he figured table service would be a luxury.

"And two shots of whisky," He quirked an eyebrow, halfway out of the booth. That was certainly one way to lighten to the mood. "Watch my bag?" He teased with a grin before slipping out.

“Play it safe? Honestly?” Jade smirked. She liked good whiskey a lot more than average or bad one, of course. However, she knew that the Three Broomsticks had more than one brand anyway and there'd be surely something that was good enough for them both.

“Yeah, chips would be nice,” she agreed with Harlan, choosing not to comment on the suggestion of beer as she wasn't much into beer at all.

She smiled as he said he'd get them two shots of whiskey as he was already moving out of their booth. “Sure, sounds like a plan,” she offered and nodded as he teasingly asked her to watch his bag.

“Will do,” she responded, “might charm it to sparkle a little. What do you think? It would look nice, wouldn't it?” She felt that this was so not the right way to go but she also thought that it did not make any sense to blame him for not liking the toy shop's bags and it certainly wasn't anything personal anyway.

"What, no sparkle?"

Harlan didn't even attempt to sound disappointed as he returned to the table with a whiskey for Jade, a beer for himself already broken into as he slid back into the booth. "That's a local distiller," He nodded to her glass. She came from a family of them, so he knew her taste was refined but he figured it couldn't hurt to try something new. "Allegedly the best in the house..." He quirked an eyebrow over the lip of his pint glass before taking a mouthful.

"Didn't mention they've got whiskey royalty judging, of course," He waited for her to take a sip to be the true judge of it.

"Surprised you haven't got a wild night planned tonight, then," He settled back into the booth. The night was still young, he assumed, for someone of her age. How old was she, anyway? Harlan panicked briefly. If the memory of conversations with her brother served him right, she was mid-twenties and entirely too young for him.

“Yeah, I didn’t now if you preferred rainbow sparkle or if you’d rather go for golden sparkle,” Jade said with a shrug.

“Thank you. Well, if it’s the best in the house it should be good enough,” she said, smiling slightly. She was not a whisky snob and could appreciate a good drink from any distillery. Sometimes it was funny to listen to her brother who talked really badly about a rival distillery when their whisky was actually quite similar to their own. She had been on some dates with the son of that other brewery and it had resulted in quite some conflict with her brother who had not approved and called her a traitor.

Jade lifted the glass to her lips as Harlan said he hadn’t mentioned that they had whisky royalty judging the liquor and she raised her eyebrows in amusement. She took a first sip and nodded. “Well,” she began, “I don’t think it can compare to our whisky but it is absolutely drinkable. In fact,” she smiled slightly, “it is rather good.”

Jade assumed that Harlan was merely teasing when he said he was surprised that she didn’t have a wild night planned. While working at the shop was hardly very exhausting it had still been a long day and it did not end after she had closed the door of the toy shop. After all, she still had animals on her little farm to tend to.

“Who says I don’t have a wild night planned?” she asked in mock surprise. “It can get very wild at my farm anyway.” Jade took another sip of whisky before putting the glass down onto the table. “What about yourself? How does a Quidditch star spend his Friday night?” She felt a little like a journalist, asking a question like this and chuckled softly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to…” she shrugged, unsure what she really wanted to say.

Harlan watched with interest as Jade took her first sip. She was far from as judgemental as what he imagined her father and brother were like if their critiques of their own product were of any indication. He figured that was how they'd become so successful. They didn't stop until something was exactly how they wanted it to be. And he admired that. "Phew," He breathed a dramatic sigh of relief knowing fully that woman would have likely been polite either way.

"Oh, really?" A wild night at the farm. He let out a good-natured laugh. "Sounds like it," He spun his pint glass around the worn bar mat, looking up to catch her eye just as she asked about his night.

Quiddtich Star. His reputation proceeded him. He knew that Jade was just teasing, of course, they'd spoken about that a lot the night they first met. He shook his head through another mouthful of beer before settling back into the booth. "That's alright," He tilted his head slightly, questioning. There was no reason she should feel bad about asking the very same that he'd just asked of her.

"A bit like this," Harlan gestured vaguely around them. "This is about as wild as it gets for me tonight..." He smiled, the corners of his eyes wrinkling just as the barkeep brought over their food.

fin

“Yeah, people always underestimate how wild it really gets,” Jade joked and smiled. She loved her farm and how all her animals had a different personality. Sometimes she thought they were much better company than human beings but then again it was nice to have a proper chat as well and while it was definitely pleasant to cuddle a furry animal it was still different to receive physical affection from a person.

“Well, I’d have thought it would get wilder for you,” she said, smirking as she took another sip of her drink.

“Anyway,” she then said, smiling apologetically, “I guess I should get going. My animals are waiting. I didn’t arrange for anyone to feed them tonight so… I hope you don’t mind me leaving already. Thanks a lot for the drink and I hope you’ll recommend our toy shop to…” her voice trailed off, unsure who he should really recommend the toy shop too and feeling a little foolish to have started that sentence in the first place.

“I guess, I’ll see you around?” she asked. “Have a good night,” she smiled and got out of the booth. Had she not had her animals to tend to she’d have stayed longer but as it was she felt obliged to leave. “Bye,” she said as she turned to leave the Three Broomsticks.

[end]