Cheesey Pick Up Lines and to Much Fire Whiskey (Lucia)

It was the weekend. And for that, Landry was thankful. He hated his classes. Well, the animals he loved, the students he hated. They were all British and stuck up. They thought they new everything. And instantly he regretted his decision to teach at Hogwarts. But it was too late now. Maybe he could go back to America next semester and try and get a position at Salem. Landry pushed his glasses up his nose as they kept sliding down and that annoyed him more than the Brits. He had dreams of being a huge success at Hogwarts. Now he didn't know what he wanted more. To get out of England, or the success part. He walked down to the Hogs Head late Friday night. He was wearing a striped polo shirt, and a plain pair of jeans.

When he got to the bar, he ordered a fire whiskey. He gulped it down and instantly ordered another. He normally didn't drink on Friday nights, but tonight, he couldn't get this one kids annoying voice out of his head, so he felt this was the only way to do it. He looked over to his left, and instantly saw a teacher. He didn't know what subject she taught, but recognized her from one of his walks around the school. Besides the views of the great lake, she probably compared to that. And that's when Landry knew he had to have her. When he was about to make his move, a man walked in. He couldn't help but stare. He was gorgeous.

Landry mentally slapped himself and paid attention to the teacher. He scooted down the bar and said, "Hey. Pretty lady. Of all your beautiful curves, your smile is my favorite!" Landry looked her up and down to prove a point. But then he couldn't stop looking at the guy who had walked in previously. He looked into her eyes and said, "Do you have a map, because I'm getting lost in your eyes!" Landry smiled his full proof smile that worked every time. He had this in the bag. And he knew it.

Having restarted a new year at Hogwarts, Lucia was curious about the new students. They all seemed so small and young. She was definitely getting older. Having passed the 30-mark of her life, Lucia could honestly say it was all overdramatic people who thought 30 was bad. Sure, Lucia hadn't settled down, she hadn't found the right man for her, and the last one had been the worst, but the best. It had taken her a while to get past her feelings for Kellin, but the attacks around Britain had helped her well on her way. He was a part of that. He was. And that hadn't been okay.

Now, Lucia actually mostly got through her days fine. She didn't struggle getting out of bed, she didn't find it hard to eat, she didn't eat too much. Heartbroken was a word that had seemed to describe her, but she had been heartbroken when she learned who Kellin was, and even though it had hurt just as much when she decided to leave, it had also elevated her. A weight of her shoulder had vanished, and that made it easier to get past. Not to mention her students. Her students made her day bright. Even the annoying ones who simply asked to get put in detention. They all made her smile at the end of the day.

But today was not that day. Today was a harsh day, and after classes Lucia had only been exhausted. Nothing more, nothing less. So she decided it was time to go to Hogsmeade for a nice, relaxing drink and change of scenery. She had seated herself at the bar, ordering a glass of firewhiskey. Nothing was better in her mind. Firewhiskey was the best drink ever invented in the wizarding world, and thereby, the whole world. She was completely lost in thought for most of the evening, and didn't notice it when someone sat down at the bar not too far from her. She should've been more attentive, but she did notice it when he slid down the bar and started talking to her.

At first, Lucia was completely caught off guard. Wasn't this one of the professors that she had yet to talk to? She was pretty sure he was. And if so, he was making a complete fool of himself. He was definitely intoxicated (by the drink, not her, he couldn't even keep his attention on her), and his pickup line made her raise her eyebrows. "My smile, huh?" Lucia asked curiously, giving him a smile. Why not play along for a second? And then he said another one, and Lucia shook her head. "If you wanna win girls over, that is not the way to do it," she chuckled. She then tilted her head to the side. "You're a professor, aren't you? I'm Lucia," she added with a grin, extending her hand. She wouldn't have done that with a random person who came up talking pickup lines, but this was, after all, her colleague.

Landry secretly wondered if his art of pick up lines to get girls was broken. Usually they worked. Usually they would be in the bedroom by now, but this chick. This one... This one he couldn't get. And it was frustrating him to no end. He asked for another shot of Fire whiskey, and was getting a little drunk. He said, "M-my pickup lines must b-be broken." He slouched. He had never lost this game before, and instantly knew how the other losers at the bar felt when it came to getting shot down. But she still started talking to him. She didn't slap him or walk away like any other woman would. Which was weird. Maybe she would be cool. Maybe they could be friends.

Lucia... The name slipped off her tongue like butter. He repeated, "Luciaaaa. I'm Landry." Why couldn't he give her a fake name? Landry was so stupid. But then again, they were colleagues. If he had given her a fake name, she would've figured it out eventually. He laughed and pulled at his collar when she had said that that wasn't the way to win girls. He asked, "Oh yeah? How would you do it then?" It was a serious question that he would've asked sober. He said, "Yeah, I teach Care of Magical Creatures, or something. You?" Landry hadn't been very social with the other teachers. They had a weird bunch. He had heard that one was obsessed with wood or something, and that was just weird to Landry.

He asked, "How long have you been teaching here?" WHAT THE HELL was happening. He wasn't trying anything else even in his drunken state. She was a beautiful woman, and maybe the thought that they were colleagues and nothing could happen between them was too etched into his mind to do anything with her. No matter how much his internal self wanted to. He thought that he had had enough to drink and said, "I think... more alcohol." He waved his hand at the bar tender and looked to Lucia, "I usually don't drink this much. I swearrrr it." Lies. His drunk self felt a little bad for lying, but at the same time, he didn't. She didn't need to know his real self, but at the same time, he needed somebody to know his real self. And that scared him. Could she be the one that did that?

Lucia watched him order another shot, and though she figured he might be close to having enough, it wasn't really Lucia's problem, so she just watched him, slightly amused. "Broken, huh?" she asked curiously, her voice light, and no judgemental undertone to it. She shook her head softly. "Maybe I'm just immune," she said with a shrug. Though she didn't really buy that. Something about his posture just made her think of a man with a secret. She'd seen it before, and she was damned if she got herself out into deep shit like that again. Maybe she'd just learned a lot about men in general. Maybe she knew more about them than they'd think she did. However, she did normally walk away when men were being too drunk and a bit of an asshole. But she hadn't walked away from him yet. So maybe he did have an effect on her, or perhaps it was only because he was a professor, and she felt a sort of obligation to stay behind and talk to him. Get to know him, even.

When he repeated her name, Lucia chuckled. "Well, it's nice to finally meet you, Landry." She took a mouthful of her firewhiskey and when she sat it down, she looked back at him, once again catching his eyes wandering over the pub. She cleared her throat and when he looked back at her she smirked. "Well, for one, always keep your attention on the woman you're trying to flirt with. Don't let your eyes drift. And stay with the same girl the entire night. If you look and drift between women in the bar, they're not going to believe you like them, just that you didn't find anyone better. And feel free to break the ice with a pickup line, though maybe something a bit lighter and more humourous than the ones you said to me," she said, giving him some pointers, because what harm could it do? Lucia was not exactly interested, as far as she could tell herself, and neither was he. Not really. It wasn't hard to tell.

"Oh right! How do you like the classes? I teach Potions, way down in the dungeons," she said with a sigh. She absolutely adored the beautiful art that was potions, but sometimes she longed back to the days when her classroom was the exotic plants of the herbology greenhouses, and the fresh air surrounding her there. Lucia thought about it for a little while. "Well, I've taught at Hogwarts for 10 years now, actually. Though I taught Herbology for the first 2 of them," she said. Aside from the headmaster, Lucia was actually the teacher that had stayed the longest at Hogwarts, which she was actually rather proud of. She just shrugged when he said that he didn't normally drink so much. Lucia didn't normally drink much either, but some days, shit was real and alcohol was necessary. She downed the rest of her firewhiskey and ordered a new one. "No worries. This hasn't been my best day, and I have a feeling that drinking a bit right now is the only cure for me," she said, giving him a friendly wink. "Anything in particular that brings you down?"

Immune? IMMUNE!? She called herself immune to his sleazy tricks. But she was right, as obviously they weren't elsewhere at that moment. He shrugged in agreement, and deemed her special. It could've been that he was completely drunk at that moment, but at the same time, he felt suddenly protective of her. Like if a dude came over and started hitting on her, he would probably knock them out. He would loose of course, but he hoped she would admire the act and thought that somebody would do that kind of thing for her. He seemed to be lagging in the woman department lately, and that kind of seemed to have him depressed, and he didn't know why. He listened to her talk on and on about how she would get a girl if she were in his place. He was kind of amused now and chuckled a little bit, but stopped when she noticed he had looked around else where.

Landry wasn't sure what he was. Of course, he was a man, he had all the right parts to prove that to her right then and there, but he didn't understand his lack of usage. He was confused as ever, and he didn't have a friend to confront his problems with, so he downed his sorrows in fire whiskey hoping that his problems would simply disappear and hopefully they would be fixed over night. But unfortunately, when he drowned his sorrows, his problems were never fixed, but seemed to be getting worse. Like the girl he had hooked up with a couple months ago. He hadn't heard from her again as he was rather worried. Their hook up was quiet spontaneous, and they hadn't used protection. But he supposed that no news was good news. And why all of the sudden was he looking over at the guy who had his arm around the gorgeous blonde, when he should be paying attention to the beautiful brunette in his presence?

She started going on about her class. She taught potions. Landry hated potions at Salem, but that was mainly because the teacher was a bore. He was sure that if he had somebody like Lucia to teach him, he would've paid attention so much he would've aced the subject. But, alas, his teacher was a fat old geazer named Professor MonGoose. Yes. that was legit. Professor MonGoose. What a sad name for the fellow. Though Landry wasn't any better. He said, "Why don't you go back to teaching th-the plant subject then?" He really was drunk. She asked what had got him down in the dumps and he just shrugged. He stuttered, " I-I thought I would get so much out of life in a foreign country. Turns out, it's just sh-shit." He laughed and hoped he hadn't offended her. The country really was a beautiful place, but he felt that he messed up the canvas. That he was the black smudge in the middle of a masterpiece, and he needed somebody like her to make him a part of it.