A beautiful sight (James and Mia)

[James Brunel]

James loved visiting Hogsmeade, not least because it was just so much fun to see all the kids from Hogwarts having fun out of lessons. Of course today wasn't a Hogsmeade weekend so it was reasonably quiet. He took a seat in a booth, the only remaining one, with the best view of the large and beautiful Hogwarts Castle. Though he himself had been educated in France, the sight of Hogwarts was something he'd always wanted to see and it was not disappointing.

He smiled a little bit as he ordered a drink from the nice bar maid and settled down to merely watch the clowds roll behind the beautiful castle. It could only be better if it was a sight shared.

[Aurelia 'Shadow' Vance]

Mia wandered into the bar and she looked around, immediately trying to see if her mark had already arrived, apparently he had not, so she was early, which was good in some cases, it meant that she got to have a nice beer before they had to go and kill someone, it was going to be a lot easier when she was drunk, but then again, she might make stupid mistakes.

Deciding to screw off her more sensible side she ordered a pint of beer and was more than a little disgusted when they gave her butterbeer, she always hated the drink it was far too sweet for her, but she had one now and didn't know where to get rid of it. Spotting a man over on one side of the pub, she walked over to him and placed the butterbeer in front of him;

"Here, have that. They messed my order up." she scowled and sat down, ever conscious of the weight of her knife against her upper thigh.

[James Brunel]

When a woman came over to his table and gave him a butterbeer, James blinked a few times before smiling brightly at the woman. Such a thoughtful gesture even if, as he guessed by the sour expression on her face, it was more to get rid of the drink than anything else. He smiled a little bit,

"Why thank you very much madam!" he thanked her, bowing his head slightly, "I have a glass of brandy coming, perhaps you would like it more than I would."

He paused and smacked his forehead lightly and said something in French. Shaking his head, he smiled and held a hand out,

"My name is James Brunel." he introduced himself, "And who might you be madam?"

[Aurelia 'Shadow' Vance]

Mia raised an eyebrow and couldn't help but chuckle darkly at the reaction that the man gave her, after all it was rather cute and she didn't think that it was something that she would have recieved from a patron in this club, smiling wolfishly at him with her sharpened canines, Mia shrugged her shoulders;

"I can't drink that swill, it tastes like melted sugar, I wanted some proper muggle beer but I don't suppose that they do it here, being a purely wizard pub." she sighed with a roll of her eyes.

Seeing that the man was now holding his hand out, Mia abandoned her usual no touching rule and lightly gripped it, shaking the hand before she let it go, making herself comfortable at the table now; "I'm Mia, Mia Bristow. I would gladly take that brandy by the way, you've got good taste."

[James Brunel]

The way that the woman chuckled made him smile a little bit, even though others might have found it quite off putting. No James found that if someone chuckled like that they were going to be quite fun to be around. He couldn't help but notice her sharpened teeth and his curiosity was begging to ask the story behind them,

"Ah you want muggle beverages then?" he paused for a second before smiling, "There's a german beer... muggle one. Begins with a G I believe... either way, I have some at home. My house elf Monty could bring you a bottle if you'd like."

He smiled as they shook hands, happy to have met a new person. Chuckling a little bit, he shrugged,

"Well I am French, we know our brandy." he smiled, "It is a pleasure to meet you Mia! May I call you Mia or do you prefer to be called Miss Bristow?"

[Aurelia 'Shadow' Vance]

Mia nodded her head, if there was one thing that she could appreciate about muggles it was the fact that they knew how to brew some good alcohol, she really hoped that they didn't stop any time soon, her favourite drink was actually amaretto, however beer was just as good, cheaper and more readily avaialble when she wanted some.

Raising her eyebrow, Mia shook her head;

"No thanks, no offense but we've only just met, I don't think it's the right time for me to be accepting drinks from a stranger, what mommy always taught me an all that. Besides, I prefer Heineken or Budweiser." she smirked darkly "You're a bit fancy aren't you, I thought all men liked to drink beer and watch football, then again...I've not spent very long around men..."

With a small chuckle Mia leant on her elbow, propping her head up on her hand;

"I prefer Mia, James." she answered, hearing the door go and she snapped her head up to see who it was, not her mark, so she began to look at James once more.

[James Brunel]

James decided that from what little he knew of Mia that she was going to be fun to be around. Rather informal and lacking in any real consideration for people she wasn't talking to. For some reason those kinds of people had always been his best friends. Perhaps it was because they contrasted his rather meek persona,

"Oh alright then, more for me. You should always listen to mommy after all." he joked lightly before nodding, "I guess I am. A little character flaw I admit to, but it's expected of me so I kind of play along. Gotten so into it now I guess I really am fancy. Oh well!"

James found it a bit strange that Mia's head had turned so quickly to the door,

"Waiting for someone then Mia?" he asked her with a smile as he rested his chin on his bridged hands, "If it's a boyfriend or husband or something you don't have to answer if you don't want to."

[Aurelia 'Shadow' Vance]

Mia nodded her head with a sarcastic raise of the eyebrows, gripping the drink of brandy when it came from the waiter, it was smelling wonderful and she couldn't help but wonder what vintage this was, although she was only techincally 19, it was something that she had always been able to appreciate, she had started drinking young after all, it had always been cool to drink.

"Did I say that it was a bad thing?" she asked, a smirk on her lips "I didn't, so why do you assume that it's a flaw?" Mia always wondered why people thought these things about themselves, it often meant that they had some sort of issue in the past.

When James picked up that she had looked towards the door, Mia grinned and bared her teeth a little, nodding her head, she didn't think that the truth would be a very good idea to tell him, but then again being cryptic was not something that would stop all talk on the subject either.

"Yes. I am. I don't have a boyfriend no, or a husband...what about you?" she smirked.

[James Brunel]

He chuckled a little bit at the obvious sarcasm in the movement of her eyebrows. But when the waiter came and handed her the brandy he smiled more. He always liked making people happy and gifts such as brandy seemed to make people happy. Although he had a niggling thought about her age,

"Well sometimes I find it to be a bit uncomfortable." he told her with a small smile, "People expect me to be flashy, spending lots of money on unimportant things. When all I want to do is be a more down to earth kind of guy. Not spend lots of money and have friends who like me for me, not my money."

The way that she bared her teeth to him was, in his opinion, reminicant of a wolf looking at it's dinner. He raised an eyebrow with a smile. Her answer was rather cryptic but intriging,

"Well now that's rather vague but oh well." he thought about it for a moment before shrugging, "I... I'm not sure. There's a woman I've been seeing but I'm not sure if she likes me the same way. I mean we haven't seen each other in quite awhile after all... ah! This topic might get slightly depressing, let's talk about something else!"

He smiled brightly and gestured up at the castle,

"Did you go here when you were younger?"

[Aurelia 'Shadow' Vance]

Mia raised her eyebrow again and waved her hand in front of her face, taking the brandy and downing it in one, over the years she had become very experienced in drinking, after all she'd been doing it since she was underage, there was really nothing too it once you had learnt how to take it and not to throw up after about the seventh glass of a strong liquor.

"Tell them to sod off then." she said quite simply "People who want you for money are not friends, they're just vultures." she said, drawing her hands up to her face and flicking them out in a little vulture impression "Cut your losses and ditch them."

With a swift movement over her neck in response to cutting them out, Mia couldn't help but chuckle when the guy said that he liked a woman who didn't like him back, that was the story of many guys lives when it came to women, although this man seemed to be taking it hard.

"Ah she'll come back, if she likes you. Incidentally, what do you do for a job? You don't seem to be the whole...magical rugged auror type, so I'm guessing cushy desk job."

Nodding her head Mia said; "Aye, almost got expelled a few times though. What about you? Beauxbatons?"

[James Brunel]

He chuckled a little bit when she waved her hand in front of her face. When she downed the brandy in one his eyebrows rose and he blinked a few times. She hadn't even visibly reacted. It told him that she was rather used to drinking hard liquor in such a manner. He chuckled a little bit at her solution,

"That works very well for the fake friends I admit but not my board of directors." he laughed a little bit at her funny impression of a vulture, "Well I think I'll give it a shot on the directors too. They can always be replaced after all."

James smiled a little bit when she chuckled at the story of his love life. He didn't much like the fact that his love life was worth a chuckle but he couldn't blame Mia for laughing a little because it was quite funny in some ways. He nodded a little bit,

"Yeah I'm sure she will... if she likes me." he trailed off at the end before perking up a little bit, "Ah no I'm not an auror or anything like that. I'm... well I'm the founder and CEO of the world's largest wizarding toy company, along with various muggle toy companies too."

He chuckled a little bit,

"What did you almost get expelled over?" he nodded, "Yes Beauxbatons for me. Almost got expelled too actually. I made all of the silverware dance and sing a song from Beauty and the Beast. Be our guest."

[Aurelia 'Shadow' Vance]

When James mentioned the fact that he had a board of directors, Mia's flags went up, so he was rich and he had a board of directors, this could be very risky for her depending on what type of business he was in, if she gave too much away she could be recognised and her cover would be blown, if he was very well known, he would be spotted, the mark would know she was here then too.

"You should well hire me, I'd do a great job of doing whatever it is that the board of directors do...I'm sure if there was any alcohol involved I'd be able to help out no problem." she smirked, gesturing to the empty glass of brandy

Mia blinked a little what James said that he worked with toys, she would have thought it was something to do with food or drinks enterprise but no, she was surprised, in a good way though, it was always nice to meet a new variety of person, and he was certainly not going to be regognised;

"Toy company huh? What are you the masterminds behind? The glow in the dark treasure hunt game? I always liked those when I was a kid..." she smirked, remembering what it was like as a kid, she's only ever seen one of those games from afar, never played one.

"I almost got expelled for ripping some kids owl's wings off because she insulted my sister."

[James Brunel]

James could see that Mia was reacting in some way to the news that he had a board of directors and he had to hold back a sigh. He really hoped that she didn't turn out to be one of those fangirl types who only hung around him for his money. He laughed lightly at her little joke,

"Oh that's not actually a bad idea." he agreed before snorting, "Half of them are drunk most of the time. It's really bad for our company image. Get drunk away from cameras god damn it..."

He chuckled a little bit at her reaction to the nature of his business. Lots of people expected different types of companies from him. Most expected banking and things like that but other than that every type of business had been mentioned at least once. Someone had even asked if he was an arms dealer once. He'd had a great laugh at that one,

"Yes many toy companies in fact." he shrugged a little bit, smiling faintly, "I don't know but the answer is probably, yes. I own most of the toy industry in both china and Japan after all."

He blinked a few times,

"Wow..." he chuckled a little bit, "I can see you're the protective type. But you got out of it right?"

[Aurelia 'Shadow' Vance]

Mia couldn't help but roll her eyes slightly and she hailed the waiter for another glass of brandy, she wanted to get slightly drunk, but she had to remember to keep an eye out for her mark, which, when she looked at her watch, he should be here any moment, ordering the brandy for when she came back Mia tensed slightly, not very visibly, and waited for the door to go.

"Thats just unprofessional, I was having a joke, turn up with a hangover maybe, but get drunk while at work, nah, when you're drunk you get sloppy, and in my line of work you can't afford to get sloppy." she said, pointing at James with a black painted fingernail.

Making an impressed noise in the back of her throat Mia smirked at James; "I have to say for a fancy brandy drinking boy from France you didn't turn out half bad did you?" she asked, waggling her eyebrows a little bit as she did so, her eyes darting up to the door as it opened.

The mark was here.

Nodding her head swiftly Mai kept her eye on the man very subtly;

"Of course I did, otherwise I would't be allowed to do magic would I?"

[James Brunel]

James smiled a little bit when his new friend signalled the waitor for another glass of brandy. He knew that because the brandy had technically been his drink that the bill would be given to him but he didn't mind. He could afford it after all. It was hard not to notice the significant glance she gave her watch but he merely sipped his drink,

"Yes it is very unprofessional but at the moment I have to keep them. Oh well." he chuckled a little bit before raising an eyebrow, "What kind of work do you do anyway?"

He blushed faintly at the impressed noise she made and scratched the back of his head sheepishly,

"Yeah I guess I do alright." he shrugged a little bit, smiling, "Ah but money means nothing to me. You can't measure happiness is dollars, pounds or sickles."

He raised an eyebrow when she seemed to zoon out of the conversation entirely. James sipped a bit of his drink and looked around the bar to see a new entry. He blinked a little bit,

"Seen a friend of yours or something?"

[Aurelia 'Shadow' Vance]

Mia smirked gently and she nodded her head to the question whether the man was her friend or not, she would pretend that he was, so that she would have a reason to go up and talk to him for a moment and get him to come to the place where it was supposed to be carried out, without too much hassle, and there was only one way to do that if you were a woman.

"Why yes! I'll just be one moment, a bit of a history you know, feel as if I should say hello to the man, I'll be right back, don't go anywhere." she smirked, showing her sharpened teeth and she waltzed over to the man, muttering the imperio curse and getting him to hug her once they had met.

Appearing to go out to the back for a smoke, both the people in fact were around the corner and one of them was soon dead on the floor from leathal injection that had been the preferred method, it made him look as if he had simply had a heart attack and she signalled someone to help the man once she had administered it.

Slipping into the bar again and attempting to look shocked, Mia gave a sly smirk to James, as she sat back down.

"Ah well I remember why I dont speak to him any more."

[James Brunel]

James smiled a little bit at the response. It was always a pleasant surprise to meet friends in unlikely places he found. He himself had met a lot of friends in places and manners such as this. Chance encounters made life all that more special,

"Ah good to see a friend in a place like this yes?" he smiled a little bit wider, "By all means! Do not let me keep you from a happy reunion with a friend!"

He had been drinking his drink peacefully when Mia left, not really doing much of anything. It was as if he realised how dull this place was without Mia to talk to. Glancing up at the castle again, he smiled when Mia appeared again. He chuckled a little bit,

"Ah one of those friends." he raised an eyebrow, "He wasn't, by any chance, one of those friends that no one actually likes?"

[Aurelia 'Shadow' Vance]

Mia shook her head when she came back and was very glad for the brandy, now that the hunt was done she could get drunk to her hearts content, blinking a little bit as she took the brandy she looked up and saw that the bartender was back over at the bar but was looking at her as he was serving another customer, it was quite strange and she wondered why.

Lifting the brandy back to neck it, Mia stopped and sniffed it again, now she knew why she wasn't going to be drinking the brandy, she lifted her hand up into the air and called the bartender back over to her, a smirk on her lips, mouthing to James;

"Get out of here."

When the bartender reached her, she gave him the brandy back and told him to drink it, he refused saying he was on duty and that was enough for her;

"Poison me will you you tw*t!" she roared and out came the gun that she kept in the invisible holdster on her leg, quickly shooting the man in the head, watching him roll backwards onto the floor, all of a sudden about 5 other men from around the bar stood up and made themselves ready.

"Oh great, the whole motley crew is here, this was not in the job description." she growled and quickly managed to down another man before she pulled James under the bar on the other side of the pub for a shield.

[James Brunel]

James was just finishing the last of his bottle of butterbeer when Mia received her new brandy. It was strange to him that she didn't seem to want to drink it right away. He shrugged a little bit. It was up to her how to drink it, it was her drink after all. The looks that she seemed to be getting from the bar tender were obvious to him but he was rather clueless about why the looks were being sent her way. When she beckoned the bar tender over, he blinked a few times at what she mouthed to him.

Why would he want to get out of there?

When she screamed at the bar tender for trying to posion her, James' eyes widened. Who would poison someone as lovely as Mia? It didn't make sense! When she pulled out a gun his eyes widened almost comically and he was dragged across the room to hide behind the bar rather easily. He gripped his butterbeer bottle tightly as the remaining men started throwing glass bottles in their general direction,

"What kind of job do you do that gets you this kind of a reaction?"

[Aurelia 'Shadow' Vance]

Mia looked at James and she shook her head, she could tell that he didn't get into this type of situation often, after all the first question out of his mouth was 'what kind of job do you do?' really? That's what you would ask? Not, 'How do we get out of here?' 'Do you have any more guns for me?'.

"You're really asking that question now?" she asked, with an incredulous look on her face.

Swiftly however it was blown from her mind as she heard a loud explosion coming from the people in the other side of the club, bashing a small hole in the side of the bar they were in, Mia angled her gun through it and managed to clip one of the other guys legs.

She was also able to see that they were using exploding potions to try and get them, something she would have found out a second later when one came flying behind the bar.

Mia took out her wand and muttered; "Protego!" and then drew another gun out of the holdster on the other leg "Here have this, I presume you know how to use it."

[James Brunel]

As the spells and pieces of glass were raining down on top of them it seemed like a good idea at the time to ask how this possibly could have happened to them. The only thing that had made sense at the time was whatever Mia's elusive job was. It had all seemed quite reasonable as the entire pub was decending into a bar fight,

"Well I'd like to know why we're suddenly being attacked." he argued, "And seeing as it was your drink that was poisoned I have to ask why the hell people would be willing to attack you like this?"

James gritted his teeth a little bit as he held his wand in his left hand. He was not a fighter by any stretch of the imagination but he was a charms prodigy for a reason. Without the slightest bit of effort he threw up a shield that blocked a potion and repelled it back to the sender,

"I've fired one a few times at a firing range..." he muttered before firing rather blindly over counter. He was rewarded with a sickening crunch and a scream. He'd managed to kneecap someone. He stuck his tongue out, "Ew... not a nice sound."

[Aurelia 'Shadow' Vance]

Mia growled a little bit, of all the times to keep perstering her about this, now was not the most ideal time to have to tell him something like this, she didn't want to tell anybody, because not only would she have to keep an eye on them unless they told someone, but she would also have to make sure that she wasn't putting them at risk, not like that last one was that big a deal.

"That guy, at the bar, I killed him. These guys are his mates and don't like that fact. There end of story now stop talking and f*cking concentrate!" she demanded as another shockwarve of attacks hit the bar.

Blinking a little bit when he managed to deflect the potion, Mia looked at James and a plan began to form in her head, thinking it would probably work, she pulled his head close to her ear so that the other men wouldn't be able to hear what they were planning to do.

"When I stand up, you use your sheild, I'll step out to attack and then when they're all gone we apparate out of here, you got it?" she asked "Oh, and you missed his head, silly, he can still shoot us with no knee cap."

[James Brunel]

James blinked a few times when she growled at him. He understood that now perhaps didn't seem like the best of times but James had to decide whether or not he could trust Mia. The fact that she'd killed someone made him swear, something very rare for him, and he shook his head,

"Why do I hang out with the dangerous ones?" he muttered before concentrating forming his shield to rebound more of the potions, "I got the potions!"

He almost moved when she grabbed his head but he leant in to hear her plan after a second's hesitation. James nodded, concentrating to make his shield stronger,

"Got it." he grimanced a little bit and fired again. The man stopped moving, "I am going to need a drink after this."

[Aurelia 'Shadow' Vance]

Mia looked at James like she would like nothing more than to shoot him through the head for what he had said to her at that present time, more like to someone invisible rather than to her directly though she thought, which was even more annoying;

"Don't like it, bugger off, and see to yourself in this situation." she said harshly, it was the truth though, if people didn't like it Mia wasn't going to force them to be friends with her, if that is indeed what they wanted to become, acquaintances more likely.

Now that he knew what she was going to do Mia stood up and quickly fired a shot into one of the attackers neck, making a horrible craking sound as it managed to clip their bone on the way out again. Now this was going to be the tricky part, she was a target now, and she dodged behind the sheild, checking the gun to see if it was loaded.

There were two men left, and Mia knew how to get rid of them, roughly yanking James' gun from his hand she stepped out from behind the sheild and shot both of the men, getting clipped by one of their own minor cutting spells as they fell, cursing a little she held her hand out for James;

"Now."

[James Brunel]

James shrugged a little bit. He wasn't sure why she was getting hostile. It was just a question after all. Sure it might have been inappropriate at the time but it wasn't anything worth stressing over. Although, upon reflection he did recognise that she was probably more annoyed that he was asking her, distracting her, when they were being attacked,

"It was rhetorical Mia, no offense intended." he told her with a small smile as he returned the potions to their senders, "Wow those things really burn."

James did his best to cover Mia with his shield but when even that wasn't enough he formed another shield of the same type right beside the other one to increase it's reach. He flinched as she sytematically dominated all of their opponents, killing them all without hesitation and without mercy. He took her hand, standing up as he kept the two shields up,

"Come on then! Let's get the hell out of here before the aurors show up."

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