dog days are over (JAMES)

[NICHOLAS DAMIEN AVERY]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-image:url(http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/maggiesrpstuff/BACKGROUNDS/fk5qwnjpg.png); width: 457px; padding-top: 30; padding-bottom: 30; -moz-border-radius: 35 35 35 35; -webkit-border-radius: 35 35 35 35;] » FIRE IT UP. It was one of those annoyingly sunny days, when you questioned why the snow still lay in a gossamer wrap around everything you say, while reflecting the sun rays in blinding patterns. Puddles of melting snow lay around you, and the sky rumbled, threatening to further snow or rain upon you, making the harsh glow ironic as you predicted a wet, chilly atmosphere. It was the kind of day Nick usually spent in his bed, wearing knit socks (but nobody knew that) and in a soft flannel shirt, under layers of sheets, sighing in sleep. Or sneaking up to his girlfriend's dorm and warming up with her. He didn't spend it, half drunk, in a dirty, low class tavern in Hogsmeade village with a firewhiskey glass propped in front of him. It had been nearly a week since the rather dramatic breakup between the couple, and already Nick felt like he was falling to pieces. Where he once used to flirt, he would now pass by women as if they were thin air, where he would once crack jokes he now sat silently. On days of Quidditch practice, instead of joking around with Tony and doing dangerous stunts or sneaking up on Darla, he spent itmechanically grabbing the ball and doing his job. She's been right. The real Nicholas Avery was gone. Nick's attention, or lack of, was interrupted by a girl sitting next to him and he turned. She was gorgeous, really and he frowned. She seemed to be waiting for some sort of answer. "I'm sorry..who are you?" he asked, point blank and she huffed and walked off. He groaned, throwing back the glass and loving the sting of alcohol down his throat. The slight hum in his brain made more sense than his broken heart. He was Nick effing Avery. This was not normal for him at all. He should be the one chatting up women, or going around town as if he were a free bird. He felt disgusted with himself and pointed at his glass, demanding more of the drink which was messing with his head right now. His attention slid to the guy who sat beside him. Nick frowned. It wasn't normal for him and James Potter to hang out on a daily basis, but drinking was a whole other exception. Because James was a great friend when Nick was buzzed and there were very rare good, drinking buddies out there. He gestured for another glass and turned to James, his words barely slurring due to his annoyingly high tolerance. "Hello, James. Why do you look like your pet died? Did Kenzie forget to eat her dessert again?" he teased, with a slight hint of hard sarcasm in his voice. He didn't care if the insult got to James really, especially since the guy hated anybody bad mouthing his girlfriend. TAGGED FOR JAMES POTTER OOC: Ughh sucky post...but I had to xP Anyway, I don't think Nick knows that James and Kenzie broke up.

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[james]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: dddddd; border: #cccccc solid 8px; width: 420px; padding: 15 5 15 5px;] GO AHEAD AND BURN IT DOWN, I'M DRUNK AND SO IS EVERYONE ELSE IN THIS DEVIL TOWN The Words: 894 The Tag: Nick The Notes Hope it's okay A quick glance at the sky had James turning his coat collar up and weaving throughout Hogsmeade mainstreet with a new vigour. It seemed England’s finest had wafted over the small town overnight, gracing its occupants with a dreary, grey-filled day. The kind of day where holing yourself up and hogging the closest armchair by the fire was the biggest achievement to your name. But James wasn’t indoors, wrapped in a scarf and his Weasley jumper. He actually enjoyed such weather; the crisp, fresh air that cut against his cheeks and the condensation bubbles that formed with every exhalation. It gave everything a frozen in time quality, like it was pure and untouched by evil that James couldn't help smiling quietly to himself about. However, the weather was about the only positive spin on his mood. Things with Mackenzie had hit an all time low after their run in the other day and James was very near contemplating crawling into the nearest ditch he could find. Instead, he was going to the grungy hole-in-the-wall establishment he had at least a good chance of crawling out of at some point. Glancing surreptitiously over his shoulder, he pushed open the creaky door, tugging off his coat and sliding onto one of the stools by the bar. Sure, it was seedy, but where else was he gonna find hard liquor before seven? And, you know, someone willing to serve a minor? James dumped his overcoat onto the bar, waving at the owner who set a glass of firewhisky in front of the teenager without so much as batting an eyelid. He’d barely lifted the glass to his lips when the voice of his semi-regular drinking buddy stayed his hand. “Nick,”

[/b] he greeted, lifting up his glass in acknowledgement before knocking it all back in one long swig, savouring the way it burned all the way down to sit uncomfortably in his stomach and the way it clouded his mind. James wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, signalling to the bartender for another. As his glass was refilled, he nodded at the man in thanks, turning his attention again to the other boy. The seventh year Slytherin wasn’t exactly James’ best friend per se, but when it came to drinking and drowning the sorrows something shifted in their dynamic, pushing them over the edge to great friends. They complained, shared sarcastic jibes before James lost all control of his faculties – usually first since Nick had built up an even greater tolerance than James – and started spouting nonsense; mostly misguided compliments and jabs at the Slytherin quidditch team. It was perhaps not the healthiest relationship, especially for the liver, but they’d been doing this for years now. James had really started to like the bloke and the little comarderie they’d built up. Even if the foundations were a glass of illegally obtained firewhisky.

James glanced back Nick’s way, rubbing a hand absently over his forehead. At the mention of Kenzie, he couldn’t stop himself from drawing in a deep breath, lips tugging ever downwards. Within his chest, his heart clenched painfully tight and James busied himself with taking his first sip of the new drink to cover up the hurt that flashed quickly across his face. Any other time, James’d be all over Nick for so blatantly insulting his girlfriend... But that was the problem, wasn’t it? She was his ex now. And today, he was tired. Maybe sulking just a little too, angry and confused, his thoughts a whirlwind under the fog that had begun to descend on his mind. However much he wanted to protect her from such slander, James also wanted to just let it be. Especially after their last encounter. Surely, this one time, he was allowed to drop the knight in shining armour routine? “Sure she did. And everything else at dinner too. You know me, after all: the A to Z authority on all things Kenzie,”[/b] his voice was bitterly sarcastic, right to the end, despite the way he stumbled over her name. Every time he said her name he could feel the claws crushing his lungs, making it hard to breathe steady. Still, he pressed on, glaring dejectedly at his glass under the assumption Nick would miss how broken up he was about it if he did. Even well on his way to being plastered, James still found it difficult to unload on an emotional level entirely.“Never you mind she’s left my sorry arse. I’m sure I’ll still be the first one she tells when she packs up and moves to Bulgaria.”[/b]

He crossed his arms over the bar, leaning forward a bit to get more comfortable. In the process, he'd relocated his glass to the small bit of bar left between his body and his arm like a cocoon. "What's your excuse?"[/B] he countered, angling his body slightly towards the Slytherin. James'd be lying if he said he didn't have a fairly good idea. It had to be Darla. But a dark part of James wanted Nick to have to share his misery aloud the same way he'd made James. Yeah, James knew he could be a total prat underneath everything. He waved a hand at the other teenager, looking him up and down. "You've been all sunshine and rainbows all week,"[/b] he remarked sarcastically, swiping some condensation from his glass.

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created by ADE! Pb-ified by WILL

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[NICHOLAS DAMIEN AVERY]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-image:url(http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/maggiesrpstuff/BACKGROUNDS/fk5qwnjpg.png); width: 457px; padding-top: 30; padding-bottom: 30; -moz-border-radius: 35 35 35 35; -webkit-border-radius: 35 35 35 35;] » FIRE IT UP. He nodded numbly at James' greeting, not paying much heed to what he was saying. It's not like they regularly hung out together, but things were to a whole new level when they were drunk. Because with alcohol came no inhibitions, and with no inhibitions came the lack of the need to be all tough-angry-young man and talk what was really going on in his mind. He frowned absentmindedly at the sorrowful expression and the sarcastic jibe as he took a sip from his newly filled glass. He wondered what was going on between James and his girlfriend and his eyes widened at the comment. "Poor kid. What happened?" he asked, wondering what had gone wrong with them. From everything Nick remembered of drunken conversations between them, James and Kenzie seemed like the poster-children for "Cupid's Abode. Admit Two". The idea of Kenzie dumping him made him wonder if he was right in thinking all relationships were doomed and made him feel slightly better about himself. "Ouch. Did she also set your things on fire?" he asked, the image of his possessions on fire going through his mind, the smell of smoke, the tears in Darla's eyes. He shook his head. He needed to get more drunk so that he didn't remember useless things like that. It would only hurt him more. But the question from James' end had him stumped and he felt a rush of something inside him, he didn't know what but it hurt like a bitch. He took a deep breath and shrugged as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened at all. "Wow. How nice of you to notice," he deadpanned, turning to look at the slightly broken expression on James' face. "All things considered, we're back in the same place. I think relationships are useless, they make such whiners out of us men," he slurred, enjoying the blood rushing to his head. His heart still hurt, but the pain was coming in lulls, alternated by a buzzed place in his head he didn't want to come down from. "I dumped my girlfriend because my father told me to," he said, dryly before finishing off his drink and letting his lips curl in the bitter aftertaste. He pointed at the bartender, resting his head in his hand as he watched him fill up his glass again. He was about to put the bottle away when Nick reached out and grabbed it, waving the guy away. "Sounds bloody brilliant, doesn't it?" he asked, his expression hard. TAGGED FOR JAMES POTTER

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