No Place like Home for the Holidays

[Trystan Pumphrey]

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Thomas Grey

Trystan stepped out of the car, breathing in the good Welsh air. It was good to be home. Well, not ‘home’ home. That was Barmouth. But Cardiff was just as good, considering it was where his grandparents lived. Grabbing his trunk from the back of the car, he started dragging it towards his grandparents’ house, followed by Rho and, sulking behind them, Winni. Trys wasn’t surprised about the latter. But what he was surprised about was to see his father’s parents waiting for them just inside. It wasn’t often that his pureblood grandparents met with his muggle grandparents. Of course, his mother’s parents had no knowledge of the magical world. A quick series of hugs and a trip to his bedroom for the holidays later, Trystan politely excused himself from the family get-together.

He made his way to an old coffee shop he always visited when he was in Cardiff. Once there, he ordered a black coffee and sat in a corner, reading the newspaper. Trystan hoped that Tom had gotten his owl. He was worried about his childhood friend, knowing that the older man was upset about what had happened last year at the Triwizard Tournement. Cedric Diggory had been an inspiration for Hufflepuffs at Hogwarts, and to lose him had been devastating.

And so, sitting in the coffee shop with his coffee, Trystan waited. Hopefully, Tom would come.

[Thomas Grey]

It was just about six months to the day that everything had gone to Hades in a breadbasket, yet only now did Tom seem to be receiving any owls about what happened at Hogwarts last summer. He wasn't entirely sure what to make of that.

On the one hand, maybe certain people were just as scared of their wits, devastated, insert descriptive word here about what had gone on that they'd needed six months to recover. On the other hand, maybe they'd all been just fine while he went just a fraction of crazy, wandering here and there and ordering himself stiff drinks whenever he could. Either way, he'd decided to come to this coffee shop out of mere curiosity, wondering if he could make it on a caffeine-filled drink for once and seeing how Trystan had been taking care of himself after the fact. So thinking, he Apparated right in front of the shop and then went inside, taking a slow look around until he thought he saw that familiar Ravie sitting nearby.

"That you, Trys?"

[Trystan Pumphrey]

Trys had finished his first cup of coffee and was just swiveling in his chair to get another one when the bell over the door of the coffee shop rang and a familiar figure walked in. Trystan stayed where he was and watched as Tom looked around before settling his gaze on him.

“You know it. How’ve you been, Tom?” he asked, getting up quickly and crossing the café floor as briskly as his feet would allow him to. Once he was standing next to his friend, he gestured for a hug. He hadn’t seen Tom in quite some time, so he wanted to be sure that everything was okay and that he had been taking care of himself and not allowing himself to wallow in the sorrow.

“Can I get you anything?” Trys continued, overjoyed that Tom had shown up, “Don’t you even think I’m letting you buy your own drink today,”

[Thomas Grey]

"Fine, not counting the migraines," Tom answered quietly, a little hesitant about the hugging part, but giving in after debating it for a few seconds. He might have hinted at too much about his current condition, of course, but on the other hand, maybe Trys had already found out about it from someone else...or something else. "Yourself?"

He listened to Trystan insist on buying him a drink, which for once he was glad to get considering most of his drinks had been spiked with something other than sugar.

"Oh, really? What's this place got that's strong and gratifying?"

[Trystan Pumphrey]

“Oh, fun. Migraines. You should get those checked out,” Trys said, concern edging into his tone once he registered the quiet voice and hesitation over contact, “I’m doing well. School’s pretty crazy, and Winni went bonkers over the summer, but other than that, I’m getting by.”

Glancing over at the menu over the counter, Trys made a quick gesture towards it.

“This place can mix up any coffee based hot drink you can imagine. If you want something strong, I’d go with something with espresso, though,” he said, chuckling to hide his concern, “It’s pretty much coffee, coffee, tea, coffee, hot chocolate, and more coffee here,”

[Thomas Grey]

They'd be a bit more fun if they didn't happen after I got spaced out on firewhisky, Tom wanted to say, but he didn't want Trys worrying any more about him than what would be considered normal. With the way things might (or might not) be turning out badly in the wizarding world, worrying was the last thing he wanted anybody else to do, let alone himself.

"Bonkers? So she finally went off the rails, eh? What drove her to it?"

He then heard mentions of an espresso, and somewhat remembering his trip to Italy that summer, nodded his approval.

"Espresso it is. Long time since I had anything sweet."

[Trystan Pumphrey]

“Tell you in a second,” Trys said quickly, grinning and going up to the counter. He ordered two lattés and brought them back, setting them on a free table closer to where they were standing.

“Shall we?” he asked, sitting down. When he was comfortable, he took a deep breath and sighed out. Winni was bearing on his thoughts more often than not these days.

“Rho was talking about her first year at Hogwarts, I was talking about going into my NEWT year, and Winni just blew it. Started screaming at the two of us, at Mum and Dad, even at Dad’s parents. She’s always been miffed that she didn’t get the magical gene, and I guess having both Rho and I away for the year learning magic was enough for her,” he explained, rolling his eyes. He thought, just as he had always done, that Winni was overreacting.

[Thomas Grey]

"Ouch," Tom said quietly, taking a moment to down a few sips of the espresso. "Sounds a bit like she might either be jealous or lonely. Maybe even both."

He'd never really met the girl, of course, but he had a slight feeling there could be more to this than just a temper tantrum.

"I'm guessing she goes to some Muggle school, eh? Does she have any friends there?"

[Trystan Pumphrey]

“Jealous is an understatement. She practically froths at the mouth any time one of us mentions something from Hogwarts,” Trystan replied, frowning. He didn’t want to think about the possibility of Winni’s anger being justified. It had been far too hectic, and quite frankly, he didn’t think she needed to be so nasty about everything. But lonely… he hadn’t thought of that before. “Maybe she is lonely. I can’t see why, she does have a couple of friends at school, yes-“

Trys stopped talking suddenly. A thought had just brewed in his mind. Winni’s best friend was obsessed with magic. Winni knew that magic existed, but couldn’t tell her friend. It made perfect sense, but he would never admit it.

“Enough about Winni; I get a headache just thinking about her. Anything new with you?”

[Thomas Grey]

Thomas thought about taking another sip of the espresso before talking, but then found himself deciding against it as it suddenly reminded him of what else he'd been drinking recently. Should he bring it up...or shouldn't he?

"Difficult to say, really. It hasn't been the same since Cedric."

[Trystan Pumphrey]

Here it came. The dreaded C word. Trystan would have to tread carefully around this subject. He knew it had affected a lot of Hufflepuffs, current and alumni, to know that one of their own had been murdered. It bothered him just thinking about it.

“Right…” he started, shifting uncomfortably in his chair. Thank goodness for first the coffee, and then the latté. Surprisingly, they were almost calming him, due to the familiarity, “I’m really sorry about that. It really affected everyone at Hogwarts,” it was true, of course. Although the Slytherins were trying to act as if it wasn’t a problem, he knew most of the students were cautious after the Chamber of Secrets mess, the Sirius Black mess, and now the Triwizard Tournament mess.

“Have you tried talking to anyone about it?” he added, hoping he didn’t sound insensitive. That would be bad. Very bad. He didn’t want to hurt his friend anymore than the man already was.

[Thomas Grey]

"Everyone who thought the Tournament would be nothin' but fun and games must be sorry by now," Tom said, a little glad to get the chance to be blunt for once, but not without the usual stab of queasiness that came right behind such talk. "If they're not, then they haven't been questioned hard enough."

He ought to know all about that, because it was what had driven him to the pubs in the first place, never mind the stiff drinks they carried inside their walls. Unfortunately, the strongest of these knocked him out for no more than a few hours at a time, and once he was fully conscious and coherent again, the pain was, too.

"That's been just a little bit difficult," he went on, mentally preparing himself for what he knew would be quite the bombshell to his friend. "I tried drowning it in all sorts of drinks first...but I really don't think it's working so well any more."

[Trystan Pumphrey]

Trys sputtered a little around a sip of his drink. He hadn’t expected something quite like that. His friend had used alcohol to try and ease his pain (that was the only way he could word it in his head without cringing much). The revelation almost made him forget about his own troubles with Winni and focus exclusively on the man in front of him.

“I-“ he started, but found he couldn’t finish the thought. Clearing his throat, he tried again, “I… I can’t believe it. Bu-but you’re not drinking as much now, right?” Trys couldn’t help but sound a little hopeful.

[Thomas Grey]

Tom could only grin bitterly and shrug before talking again, as it would take more than one or two sentences to answer this sort of question.

"Not sure, Trys. I had my moments before where I'd go take myself to some corner over by there, and then down a few until I conked myself out. That would give me the luck of waking up the next afternoon and not have to think about what happened last night, because a part of me already would know it was nothing.

These days, well...I guess I am drinking a bit less, but on the other hand, I haven't exactly dropped it. Once I go seeing some kid come in with their family or their friends all excited about starting a new job, all I can think of is, 'Good for you dearie, but unfortunately not everybody gets to grow up like you do'. That's where the hexxed wine comes in, for good or ill."

[Trystan Pumphrey]

Trystan listened to Tom, his heart going out to his long time friend. He couldn’t imagine being struck by so much sorrow that he would allow himself to become like that, but then again, he had never had much cause to be depressed. Depressed. That was a hard word to think about.

“I see,” he murmured, sipping his latte again, “Isn’t there some kind of help you can get? Not to be pushy, but all that drinking can’t be good for you,” he said, concern showing in his tone, expression and body language. Like he had mentioned, he didn’t want to be the pushy friend, but he did want to help Tom.

[Thomas Grey]

Tom had to take a deep breath and down a few gulps of the coffee first, because he was more than sure he felt a wave of his own temper about to flare up. Condemned right it wasn't good for him. Why else would he be talking about it if he didn't recognize this could be a serious problem someday?

Lucky for him, he made sure his mouth was full of the good stuff before he began spitting out any more of the bad stuff. That way, when he'd swallowed the second mouthful down, he'd had a better idea of what to say to answer Trys than just ranting for no reason.

"Not sure about the professional stuff, but it's nice talking to you about it, at least," he said slowly, just in case that nasty temper decided to make another appearance. "It's better than some of those flashbacks and depressed episodes, believe me."

Tom counted to five to himself; then decided to steer their little chat in a different direction. If he wasn't the only one with problems, then maybe he wouldn't have to solve them by himself.

"Say, Trys...how well have you been doing since the end of that Tournament?"

[Trystan Pumphrey]

Trys sensed that he had struck a nerve, and immediately demurred, folding his hands in his lap and staring down at them. He hadn’t meant to anger Tom, but hadn’t been able to help himself. Glancing up when Tom finally spoke, he tried to keep his expression apologetic. He had to stop himself from saying something, knowing that anything he said would just cause more tension, but it was hard.

Instead, he turned his gaze back down to his folded hands again and focused on them. If he squinted just the right way… no, he couldn’t see anything interesting. The tension mounted in the silence, and Trys almost blurted out an apology. Suddenly, however, before he could say anything, Tom spoke again.

“I’ve been good. I didn’t know Cedric that well, but it’s still weighing on me. I’ve been able to keep myself occupied, though, with studying for NEWTs. They’re a way off, still, but I’ve already started reviewing,” he hoped he hadn’t said anything wrong to set Tom off, but really, he had just answered the question. Hopefully, NEWT talk would distract them both.

[Random Event]

"You bloody idiot!" a man shouted at the counter as the sound of a cup shattering on the floor was heard, "I said I wanted a latté not this...this crap! You had better learn how to do your job right." The man then stormed towards the door, bumping harshly into the table the two males were sitting at.

[Thomas Grey]

Glad to be distracted at last, Tom felt a small grin coming on as he nodded to Trys to show that he was still listening, and listening good.

“Yeah, I know what you mean. Back when I had to take them, I studied pretty much any chance I got outside of class. Do you organize your notes by subject, or do you use--”

He very nearly asked if Trys used his notes in alphabetical order, but then some nasty customer came out of nowhere and, after trashing their own cup of coffee, almost knocked their table over on the way out. He barely caught his mocha in time before it also fell to the floor, though entirely on its own rather than being thrown down like common household trash.

“What the hex d'you think his problem was?”

[Trystan Pumphrey]

Trystan was glad that Tom was finally grinning at least. He listened intently to the other man’s explanation of how he had studied, nodding. He had definitely been studying a lot lately. But his notes weren’t that organized, sadly.

In the middle of Tom’s sentence, though, Trystan was thrown off by the angry customer bumping into their table. He wasn’t as lucky as his friend, as his drink went crashing to the floor. Trystan considered standing up and yelling at the man, but decided against it. He did stand up, though, since the bottom of his jeans were soaked in coffee.

“I don’t know,” he said, sighing and staring down at his cup, shattered on the floor amidst the puddle of a perfectly good drink. “Some people can be so violent,” he continued.

A waitress came over, apologizing and sweeping up the broken mug before mopping the floor, and brought Trystan a new drink. He thanked her and sat down again, rolling his eyes.

“After that interruption… you were saying?”

[Thomas Grey]

[ Click for OOC Comment ]

Thanks for unarchiving this, I really wanted to keep things rolling. So sorry for my poster's block. D:

ic--

"Let's just hope the next person we run into doesn't have a thing against coffee mugs," Tom joked, but not without giving the waitress a thumbs-up in thanks.

"Anyways...I was about to wonder if you just put 'em into alphabetical order. Arithmancy first, Charms second, that sort of thing."