Mayhaps...

[Carmen]

Ah, a break from classes. How Carmen loved Saturdays. Back when she had lived in Australia the girl absolutely adored the Saturdays. Sitting around, watching TV shows like 'Hey Hey it's Saturday!' and wandering into the parks around her home with two dogs on leeshes in one hand, and her cockatoo in the other. Good times and great classic seasons.

This Saturday was to be spent a different way, however. Of course, there were the obvious differences; she was in a wizarding world and she could cast spells. But for today she would spend in a pub, happily drinking Butterbeers and other warm liquids. Merely relaxing and taking things the easy way. The girl weaved her hand through her mid-back length blue hair to pass it over her shoulders and out of the way as she moved through the heavy door.

[Laura (away)]

Good Lord. Another Saturday slipping through her fingers, and she was wasting it alone in a local pub.

A smile tugged at the corner of the Prefect's mouth as she brought a goblet of steaming Spice-cider to her parted lips, allowing some of the peppery liquid to run down her throat, stinging ever so slightly. Suppressing a cough, she turned to the bar, raising her glass to a young barman.
"Prosit," she called, giving the blushing youth a cheeky wink before turning back to her solitude.

Her green eyes travelled the length of the room, then once more back to the door. Trying to avoid letting a scowl paint her olive-features, her eyes narrowed in annoyance. Not a single acquaintance in the entire vicinity, now that was bad luck. Casting a second glance back at the good-looking young man (now scrubbing tankards with all the affected concentration of a surgeon hard at work) she let out a sigh of irritation, and took another large swig from her goblet.

Choking slightly, she covered her mouth with her hand as she coughed, feeling a slight pink tinge rise across her cheekbones. Cursing softly, she instantly regretted her actions. A school representative, wasn't she a fine modal of school pride? Sitting there alone, with her sleaves rolled up to her elbows with her nose buried in an alcoholic beverage, her prefect's badge glinting in the dying sunlight.

"Come on, give me some sort of distraction," she muttered to no-one in particular. Great. First sign of insanity: talking to yourself. Laura dropped her chin until it rested on the palm of her arm, propped up on the table top, the index finger of her other hand tracing circles around the rim of her goblet. Anything to break the monotony.

[Carmen]

Though the day was entirely cloudy, Carmen almost breathed a sigh. Why spend such a lovely cool day inside? Because the drinks were better! All the times she had been inside the Three Broomsticks it had been an eventful time. Especially with that boy. Speaking of which, the man behind the bar looked just a little like the said friend Carmen had met not too long ago. Or was it long ago? Time had passed, and the blue-haired girl's memory wasn't always the best for recalling things.

Letting the door close behind her, she quickly tugged her black and yellow cloak from between it, ripping the cloth a little at the hem in her attempt. But she was immediately distracted when her eyes swept from the boy behind the bar to the girl who also was going slightly pink. A girl from the school, and a prefect? She held the badge, but it didn't look too proud in the dim light.

She looked almost entirely bored with her plaited brown hair hanging over her shoulder (OOc: I had permission), and deciding to brighten up her day, Carmen strode over to the bar confidently with a smile on her dile, both hands in her cloak pockets. It had been a long while since she had met a total stranger, going outside her little band of Hufflepuffian friends like Faerlain, Forgoil, Lottie, Kasey and Wyl, but she was sure it wasn't too hard to do from memory.

But then again, that still failed her a lot of the time. "Hi there," Carmen greeted with an extended hand, her Australian accent sticking out like a... stick in the mud.

[Laura (away)]

Laura glanced up sharply, eyeing the newcomer with blatant surprise. She surreptitiously eyes the mass of violent blue locks that her fellow student boasted. Had she seen her before? Laura wondered, noting that the girl was in Hufflepuff. Probably not. Laura rarely left the confines of the commonroom, unless she intended to pay a visit to the Pitch, or classrooms.

Ah well, here's the company I was after. Always knew I had psychic powers her mental-voice commented as she took her new-found companion's hand in her own, and shaking it with one, short downward tug.
"G'day to you too," the Gryffindor replied, offering the other girl a grin as she gestured for Carmen to take a seat opposite her. "I have to admit, I haven't met many Australians, so care to join me?"

The Prefect produced a wand from some inner pocket of her cloak, and with a flick of it, the offered chair sprang backwards to accept the other girl. It rocked from leg to leg with a sort of eagre anticipation as it waited. Laura noticed this at once, and stern glare brought it's excited dance to a halt.

"So, just out of curiosity, are all Aussies this forward," she enquired, her eyes dancing in a smile, "or are you just being kind to a poor old Prefect, without company?" Realising they were yet to be formally introduced, she continued quickly, "I'm Laura, by the way. A Gryffindor kid," she added, indicating the badge that shone dimly against the black of her school robes. "Who might I have the pleasure of meeting?"

[Carmen]

At first, the blank look that the prefect had shot straight at Carmen was interpreted to be an accusational 'What do you want?', but it was almost immediately changed into a very friendly, oddly familiar grin. Where had she seen it before? It was on someone else, because she hadn't met this girl before, so who was it? It wasn't anyone from Hufflepuff. Nor the other houses.

It was Kiki. But why was it similar to the Ministress?

And there it was. Quickly whilst Carmen was trying to understand the smile, it was thrown at her like a sticker on the prefect's forehead. She was an Australian too! This forced her welcoming smile wider with the stereotypical 'G'day' from the prefect. She offered the seat next to her, which Carmen was almost too happy to accept, and commented on her nationality. No. Their nationality.

"Of course! I'd love to join you. I've only met one person other than you and me, and she doesn't even go to the school!" she commented easily, referring to her boss as she pulled the chair under her. This girl was talented, of course. Duh! She is a prefect! Carmen thought to herself stupidly. Prefects had to do many a thing to recieve such an authoritive status, of course. Letting that slip her mind was a silly thing to do.

"Well you should know the answer to that question," Carmen grinned matter-of-factly, "because you are one too!" Upon blushing just a minor bit, she continued "But I'm a little Auzzie that just happens to be outgoing, rather than like all the others." Whilst brushing her hands gruffly out of her pockets to ask for a Butterbeer.

The girl handed over a few knuts and grinned a thankyou to the bar boy. Gods, she was so happy to meet another Australian. After all, she was so different in comparison to the English and the American students, which just happened to dominate the population. "I'm Carmen, obviously from Hufflepuff. It's great to meet you, Laura!" she exclaimed, entirely happy.

[Laura (away)]

Laura leaned back in her chair as the other girl took the seat opposite her. Meeting a fellow Australian, now that was a rarity. It had been long years since Laura had visited her hometown, Adelaide, but her senses would never forget each vista, smell and taste of what her life had been like, living there. And now, sitting here with this girl who could very easily have been one of her mates back when she lived there...it was a good feeling.

On spotting the girl's embarrassment as a consequence of her accusation, Laura laughed. "Don't worry about it, I was on the point of finding someone to talk to, so you're not alone," the prefect assured her, her grin widening.

Swinging around on her chair so that she was turned side-on to the bar, Laura eyed the progress of the bar-guy, an impish note in her smile. "He isn't bad, is he?" she commented, not bothering to keep her voice to a whisper. Turning back to her companion, she let out a laugh, shaking her head at her own silliness.

"So anyway," she began again, "It's a pleasure to meet you too, Carmen. Always a pleasure to meet another Aussie...and out of interest, which state are you from?" Most people didn't know much more about Australia past that it had strange animals called kangaroos and the like, let alone knowing about the different states. It was refreshing, to talk to someone who had such an understanding of something so close to her heart. "I'm an Adelaide girl, myself!"

[Carmen]

It had been only about ten or eleven months since Carmen had arrived in England, but it still felt like an eternity to live away from the bush. Where she used to live it was only five minutes drive and she was in the middle of a thicket not too far from a dam filled with yabbies that she would catch and eat with her dad. The good old days, but now those were gone.

Who knew, though. Maybe Kiki and herself would go to pay a visit to their home land and old friends. Heck, Carmen would invite Laura too, if she wasn't too busy. The girl quickly formulated a plan and time of year they would go which would work for the Ministress's timetable, and the school timetable for Laura and Carmen. No doubt she brightened her smile on her tanned face because of such homeing thoughts.

But a giggle broke through her fortress of smiles as she lowered her head a little in listening to the fellow Aussie and student. She was right, he was a catch. And though Carmen had little to no experience in the male scheme of things, she was almost confident enough to call him over. "That's true. You have a good eye," Carmen whispered, tapping the side of her eyelid toward Laura.

Quickly after she had spoken, the said boy had come over to hand her the Butterbeer, casting a side flicker of a glance at Laura. Carmen could have gasped and giggled more, but didn't want to spoil his, no, their fun. Instead of letting the silence droan on awkwardly, with the brightest smile, Carmen replied "Oh! I'm next door, in Victoria. But no where near Melbourne. More toward the middle in Bendigo, where the heat is right."

Once the boy had toddled off to the next customer, Carmen leaned in and whispered under her laughter that "He's got an eye on you!"

[Laura (away)]

Laura felt herself instantly warming to her new companion. Carmen was so like herself in many ways; they apparently shared similar upbringings, had similar mannerisms, so common in Australians...and even seemed to have the same taste in guys! The Prefect covered her mouth with a hand as her green eyes narrowed in mirth as she noticed the young man stumble slightly, his eyes still fixed on their corner of the room.

Gathering herself, Laura gave a small affected cough as she folded her hands neatly in front of her on the bench. "Well, I might be needing another goblet-full of this stuff soon," she remarked, deprecatingly, her expression that of mock-seriousness. "After all, it is such nice drink."

"Ahh, Bendigo, eh?" The Prefect straightened, downing the final half of her drink in one, well-practiced skull. "I have relatives that live there, great place," she nodded, images of spending time on the farm with her second-cousins spilling across her minds eye, recovered from the depths of her subconscious. "Really is a great place," she repeated, wiping a drop of cider from her lips with the a casual flick from the back of her finger. "S'cuse me," she apologised, her smile unfaded.

After a seconds pause, Laura allowed her eyes to wander over to the boy once again. "You think he does?" she asked, somewhat doubtfully. "Not just shy?"

[Carmen]

She really missed home. The hot days and the warm nights, and when you'd sleep in during the morning untill ten and kick off your sheets and doonas because it was too warm to sleep with them on for the rest of the remaining morning. Then you'd snooze until your parents would tell you that it's lunch time, though it was past the bright noon.

Here, Carmen couldn't do that. For one, people slept with others in the room, so somehow they'd wake you before you wanted. Then there came the classes and detentions, which were sometimes on a saturday morning or noon time. And then there was the Hufflepuffians, where people would wake the whole house to find their matching rainbow sock, and set up a sherlock holms search party for it.

Taking a deep swig of her Butterbeer, Carmen kept the smile over her pinkish lips whilst nodding to Laura's 'Bendigo, eh?' comment. The girl couldn't be more than a year older than the blue haired Hufflepuff. "What part of Bendigo are they?" Carmen asked in a curious manner. She might know some of them, even if it were through her very social dad. Laura reminded her of him.

"Nah! People in pubs are never shy. They can't afford to be! They have a rep to uphold." Carmen explained, giving a smile that insisted that Laura would have known that already. Australia was well known for their very spacious pubs.

Not her dad's pub though. He really loved to immitate the English with their pubs, with their low rooves and antique-covered walls. Carmen expecially loved the lever that she would press on the floor behind the bar for the unsuspecting customer. They would be in a group of people, not paying attention to the others, and looking around the walls and shelves of old bits and bobs, and all of a sudden they'd see a human leg through the plaster roof move, as if the man had fallen through and was trying to pull their leg back up.

A bag of laughs with all the tricks and eye-catchers it was. By this time, the boy had been over at the other end of the bar, mopping up a spilled, almost acidic concouxion."You have a boyfriend?" the girl asked, as if to grab the attention of the bar boy toward Laura's answer. Because it was obvious to Carmen that she didn't, but he had no idea.

[Laura (away)]

"What part of Bendigo?" repeated Laura, her mind straining as she scowled. "I can't actually remember sorry, it's been so long since I was living down under..." her frown took on a hint of sadness, before she once more hitched up a cheerful expression, smiling at the other girl. "Pretty different, living here in a boarding school, eh?"

Laura knew all too well that the job description for any pub worker would include extroversion as a necessity – it was a simple fact of life. Possibly what had drawn her attention to the young man in the first place, such uncharacteristic behaviour for someone of his position.

Her mind wandering as she watched the boy mopping some nasty looking liquid from the bar, the sudden question caught her off guard for a mere moment. Catching on, Laura's grin widened.
"Boyfriend? Nah, I'm entirely, one-hundred percent single!" she replied, articulating the phrase with unnecessary enthusiasm, winking at Carmen as she caught the youth looking in her peripheral vision.

"And your good self?" she continued politely, satisfied that his attention had been successfully caught.

(ooc) Sorry it's so short. You know why.

[Carmen]

It felt like forever for Carmen herself since she had been in that great dusty, brown and orange land she called home. It ached and nibbled at her every time she spoke, moved, looked and sometimes even dreamt, especially when she would hear another talking. If the school was 100%, the rest of the school that weren't Auzzie would have to amount to 99.999%, considering the mere size and range of students.

And yet there were only two others she had met from her home. From their home. But a trip there would be fantastic, she thought. How could they refuse? But now was no where near the time to ask, at all. "It's okay! It doesn't matter. But I think I prefer this style of schooling; boarding school is so much more eventful, especially in such a magical world!" She had been living here almost a year and still she hadn't fully grown used to the magic side of life.

Oh, but she missed the fast life of the pub. Her father's wasn't the only one she had been in, oh no. Carmen used to work part time for an Irish pub around the corner from her home as a waitress and kitchen-hand, so she knew quite well how busy things would usually get in a public bar.

Carmen let out a wink as Laura answered the question. And yes, Carmen's suspicians were right, of course. The girl grinned widely, catching a sight of the boy in the corner of her eye as he listened to Laura's answer. That was an amazing talent one had to hold, if they wanted to work in a bar. They had to learn how to listen to at least two conversations at once, not necessarily towards themselves.

"My good self is fantasticasmally single too. Got your eye on anyone in particular, Laura?" she grinned inwardly at mentioning the girl's name.

(Ooc: Aye, I do)