[thd] but you can't deny • • s o p h i e

Dennis sometimes went to London.

He was pretty sure it wasn't allowed, but he didn't have too much respect for rules and authority anyway. Plus, he was eighteen now and his weekends were his own. While other students wandered around Hogsmeade, Dennis was flooing to Diagon Alley to wander around the city or visit his friends. Well... friend. Singular. Dean was his only real adult friend, and technically they hadn't hung out yet. The plan was to visit him sometime, but Dennis was trying to wait a little longer before he went knocking on his friend's door. he'd only seen Dean a couple of weeks ago after all.

Honestly, when he went to London all he did was sit in cafes and bars anyway. He could do that here. Dennis was desperately in need of his apparition license but for now he was mostly restricted to the floo network. Today, he'd paid someone to make him a quick, illegal portkey so he could get back to Hogsmeade before the students had to return to Hogwarts. It was his little secret.

The Gryffindor dusted himself off as he dropped the large feather - previously a portkey - on the ground. Moments ago he'd been in London, but now he was back in the outskirts of Hogsmeade. The sky was cloudy today, but in the fluffy, pretty sort of way rather than the dreary, rainy way. Dennis didn't really pay much attention to the weather, but the sun broke through the clouds for one little moment and he relished the feeling on his skin before it disappeared again. A rustling sound caught his attention and the teenager's gaze snapped to the direction he'd heard the sound from. "Sophie?" he said, spotting the younger girl not too far away. "What are you doing on the outskirts of Hogsmeade?

"I'll be back soon. Buy whatever you think is best, I trust you." Not giving her friend a chance to protest, Sophie waved and walked away, disappearing behind the next corner. Éilís' birthday was in a few days and she still needed a present for her Ravenclaw friend. Right now there was something else she needed to do, though. It was stupid, she knew it, but she definitely didn't want to try her first cigarette in front of the others. The Gryffindor had seen enough people embarrassing themselves while coughing their lungs out and she wouldn't be one of them.

Her aunt, who was basically the coolest aunt in the world, had given her some cigarettes when they'd met earlier, and now they were in the pocket of her jeans, together with a lighter. Sophie knew that her mother would be furious if she knew about it but to be honest it made the thought of smoking one of them even more appealing. She loved her mother, of course she did, it was her mother, after all, but most of the time Marie was just so damn boring.

Momentarily ignoring the fact that she should be more responsible now that she was a prefect, Sophie crossed another street and looked around, not spotting another witch or wizard. Good. She was just about to light up one of the cigarettes when she heard a pop and suddenly she could see a familiar face appearing near her. "Dennis?" She asked, just as he said her name. "Better question. Where did you just come from?"

Dennis blinked at her, then shot a sheepish gaze over his shoulder at the feather that was blending casually into the ground behind him. No one would spot it, he thought, if they were just casually walking past. Those were the best kind of portkeys, he'd heard. The teenager returned his attention to the girl in front of him as he walked slowly over to her, his sneakers scuffing against the mossy ground. He gave a bit of a shrug, knowing that there wasn't any point in lying. He only considered it for a moment anyway. "I was in London," he admitted, giving her a sheepish version of his crooked half-smile as he scratched the back of his head with one hand. "I mean... I'm assuming it's against the rules, but it's not like they've actually told me not to leave, so..." Dennis shrugged again, not really sure what to add to that. He'd become a legal adult two birthdays ago.

He felt like heading back toward town, but leaned casually against the worn out trunk of a tree instead. It had been a long time since he'd talked to her. And they'd never really talked. "At least illegal portkeys wont give me cancer," he said, nodding at her cigarette. It didn't even occur to him that cancer might be entirely different in the magical world. "Is that a new habit?" he asked. Dennis hadn't spent much time with Sophie last year, but there had been a couple of incidents - one in particular - that endeared him to her. He gave her a well-natured smile to make sure she knew he didn't really care what she was smoking or how new her habit was. Dennis was big on autonomy and letting people make their own choices.

"Nice!" she replied, envying him a little. "I wish I could just go to London sometimes. I guess it has its advantages to be of age, huh?" The thought that she should probably say anything about it now that she was prefect didn't even occur to her. Maybe it was because Dennis Creevey seemed so mature, maybe it was because he was a Gryffindor. Sophie knew that she shouldn't be biased and that she probably would have to deduct points from her own house at some point but she wouldn't start with it today.

At the mention of cancer she glanced down at the cigarette that was still between her fingers. "Smoking one of them won't give me cancer either," she returned, twirling it between her fingers. At his next question she looked up at him again, wondering whether she should tell him the truth. They weren't overly close but they'd bonded a little during the raids last term and somehow she trusted him. "No really, I mean.. I don't know?" It was almost as embarrassing as her conversation with Freya about boys last term but oh well. Seeing the look on his face she knew that he wouldn't judge her. "Never tried one before, actually." She shrugged, putting it away again. She'd find another quiet minute soon.

"So, what are you up to now? Wanna go to that goblin place around the corner? Get something to drink?" The place she meant was kind of shady but she'd visited it every now and then with Clem and it had always been fun. Plus, the goblin behind the bar usually didn't care about his customer's age. It seemed like it was a rule breaking day.

Turning seventeen had changed a lot of things for Dennis. As shabby as his wandwork had been at the time, he'd finally been able to gain some semblance of independence. He'd moved out of home and scrapped for money doing various jobs. He nodded in response to her comment; yes, there were advantages to being of age.

"Don't let me stop you," Dennis said with a well-natured half smile. Cigarettes had never been Dennis' vice of choice. When he was sad, he reached for oblivion at the bottom of a bottle. He'd tried other things when he'd been sad too, mostly to no avail, or worse - to terrible consequences. Dennis didn't want to think about it. Cigarette smoke had never been a particularly appealing smell to the teenager, and when he'd tried smoking one a couple of years back he'd coughed and hadn't enjoyed it. Nowadays, he only ever accepted one when drunk enough to do silly things like that and even then, he couldn't say that he enjoyed it.

"Sure," he said, pushing himself up from the tree he'd been leaning on and putting his hands in his pockets. This year he'd already interacted with more people than he had for basically the past two years. He didn't know what it was. Maybe there was something to this sorting thing - upfront Gryffindor girls seemed to want to spend time with him sometimes. He couldn't say he didn't like it. If Foxglove had been a witch - a fantasy he'd crafted many times - he was sure she'd be a Gryffindor too. Dennis fell into step alongside his younger friend. "I'm not really up to anything," he said. There were only a couple of hours before everyone had to be back in the castle; if he hadn't run into Sophie, Dennis probably would have headed back to Hogwarts.

They walked for a little while, and Dennis let his friend lead him into a dingy looking pub. He hadn't really imagined a place like this when she'd wanted to go somewhere. "I feel like your badge doesn't fit in here," He teased softly, letting her lead the way.

"Nah, it's fine. It's not that I really have to try it out today." The Gryffindor shrugged, and put her hands in the pockets of her jeans. It wasn't that she wanted to impress Dennis or anything but at the same time she also didn't really want to let him see her failing at smoking a cigarette and looking like a child. She was fifteen now, for Merlin's sake.

A smile lit up her face as he agreed to hang out some more and they made their way to the pub. The Great Goblin it was called, even though she wouldn't actually call the owner great. He was a bit full of himself but maybe that was a goblin thing. His words made her look down her jacket before she looked back up at him, grinning. "You're probably right." She quickly removed it and put it into her pocket, right next to the lighter.

They entered and all of a sudden it was a lot darker than it had been just minutes ago. A bell began to rang and as the few customers that were in there started laughing and clapping, a confused look appeared on her face. Before she could turn around to ask Dennis if he knew what was going on, the owner already appeared around the corner, greeting them with a rather sleazy grin. "So you two are the lucky ones today!" he exclaimed, patting her on the back. "Drinks are on the house if you start dancing on the bar." His grin grew wider and it was clear that he wasn't expecting her to do just that.

Well, she wouldn't be a Gryffindor if she wasn't brave, would she? With a straight expression, Sophie took a few steps towards the bar, climbed on a stool at first and then on the actual bar. Waving a little at the customers, she did a little dance before she bowed and jumped back down. Clem would be proufd of her right now. "You didn't say how long I'll have to be up there. Can we get our drinks now?" It was only now that she allowed herself to grin back at the goblin.