A Ticket and Some Butterbeer

[Robert Knight R5]

Robert stopped typing for a moment and looked up at his window. A scratching noise had distracted him from typing a story on his laptop. There was a small gray owl tapping at his bedroom window with a letter tied to his leg. Robert got up from his desk and unlocked and opened up the window. The owl flew in and flew around the room for a couple of seconds before landing on Robert’s bed. Robert was confused; he wasn’t expecting a letter and he didn’t recognize the owl as one of his friends’. He quickly untied the letter from the owl’s leg, and just as fast as the owl had come in, he’d flown back out the window. Robert looked at the envelope for a moment, looking for a name or address of who sent it. While he was staring at the envelope, a wind was noisily blowing through his window, so he quickly latched it shut. Robert tore through the envelope and three small tickets fell out before he could get to the letter. Robert bent over to pick up the tickets, and there were three words that stood out among the rest: Quidditch World Cup. Excitedly, Robert skimmed over the letter. It said that he’d won the grand prize of three tickets for a private box at the Quidditch World Cup. And that he would receive the quaffle from the final match, signed by the winning team.

Robert ran downstairs and told his mum and his dad. They were both very excited for him and wanted to know who he’d take with him. Robert knew that he’d bring his cousin Katherine with him but he’d still have an extra ticket. He thought to himself, Who do I know that really likes Quidditch? “Lenora,” he whispered to himself. His parents asked him what he’d said, but he replied quickly, “Nothing…” He ran upstairs and went into his room. He glanced at the clock. 5:48 He remembered arranging to meet Lenora at The Three Broomsticks at 6 o’clock. This works out perfectly, he thought to himself, Lenora likes Quidditch and I’m meeting her today anyway. Could the timing have been any better? Robert quickly grabbed one of the tickets and his wallet and put them both into a tan canvas messenger bag which he slung over his shoulder. Then he went to the downstairs fireplace and grabbed a handful of Floo Powder from a dish on the fireplace mantle. “The Three Broomsticks,” he said loudly as he dropped the Floo Powder and with a flash of emerald flames, he was gone.

Robert reappeared at The Three Broomsticks. As he was dusting the soot from his clothes, he looked up at an old clock on the wall behind the bar. 5:56 With a smile he thought to himself, Perfect, four minutes early. Robert peered around The Three Broomsticks. There were many people there, but he didn’t see Lenora. After getting a butterbeer from the bar, he chose a table near the back wall. There weren’t as many people back there but it would only be slightly quieter, since the voices of others talking echoed throughout the whole place. As soon as Robert sat down, he pulled a book out of the bag that he’d brought with him. He took a sip of his butterbeer and tried to drone out the noise and chatter around him as he became enthralled in the pages of the book in front of him.

[Lenora Byers]

Lenora flicked through the television stations, to no avail, in the basement. She didn’t quite know what to do with herself today – it was her day off from the play but she had been so busy with it lately she didn’t really know what to do when she actually had free time. She had slept in late that morning, gone for a longer jog than usual, at a huge breakfast, then basically relaxed feeling bored until… right then. Finally all the shows Lenora had been half watching ended meaning it was 5 o’clock; one hour before she would meet Robert. Happily she flicked off the television set and rushed up to her room, what should she wear? Picking out a black top and blue jeans Lenora changed out of her weekend clothes. With half an hour to go Lenora brushed back her hair and pulled it into a ponytail and grabbed her small black purse – the one she kept her wizarding money in.

Downstairs Lenora grabbed a cookie and ate it while looking for some member of her family. Her mother was out in the garden so Lenora told her that she was going out and said goodbye. Using the fireplace in the living room Lenora soon found herself in Hogsmead. Seeing as Robert wouldn’t be there yet Lenora went outside to sit in the sun – perhaps over by the fountain.

As six rolled around Lenora opened her eyes and went back into The Three Broomsticks where she found Robert immersed in a book. Hoping not to startle him Lenora decided to sit down at his table before saying anything. “Robert, hey.” She said when she was sitting down – hoping he had taken notice of her already and wouldn’t jump 10 feet in the air.

[Robert Knight R5]

Robert was flipping through pages of To Kill a Mockingbird, when he thought he heard a familiar voice. He looked up from his book to see Lenora sitting across from him. “Ahh, there you are!” he said with a surprised look on his face, “I didn’t see you come in.” Robert found it very easy to get lost in the worlds of the books he reads, and often doesn’t pay any attention to the world around him.

Robert asked her, “You like Quidditch, right?” He was pretty sure that she played for Gryffindor when at school, but he wasn’t positive. He waited for her reply before asking her, “Do you have any plans to go to the World Cup this summer?” He thought about how hard it is to get tickets. Everyone from all over the world wants to be there. It was being held in Canada this year, a country that Robert’s never been to, which made him all the more excited he was going. “Because I entered a contest a long time ago, and I just got a letter saying that I won the grand prize! I get to keep the quaffle from the final match and it’ll be signed by the winning team. And I get to invite two guests to stay in a private box, and I also get to sit in the commentary box for the final match,” he said hastily, slightly running out of breath.
“And I’m going, and I’m inviting my cousin, Katherine, and I was wondering… Do you want to go?”

[Lenora Byers]

Lenora simply smiled at Robert when he mentioned not having seen her come in. She knew just how that could be when you were reading, she could space out for quite some time whenever she had a book she really enjoyed. Lenora was a mite surprised when he then asked if she liked Quidditch. “Well, ya, actually, I love Quidditch. Play chaser on the Gryffindor team, been a fan my whole life.” She found it a little odd when he asked if she had plans, well she would love to go but that wasn’t really plans… “Well, I mean I think it would be really cool but… they are in Canada and so I seriously doubt my dad will be able to take us – it’s pretty far. Plus tickets are neigh on impossible to get.” Lenora was about to ask about him when he went on about a contest he entered and won. It sounded incredible, like something you hear about but it’s always ‘a friend of a friend’ only this time she was apparently the friend of the person it happened to.

Mouth gapping open Lenora just stared at Robert for a moment after he invited her. “Of course!” she practically screamed. A few people looked their way and Lenora lowered her voice when she spoke next. “Wow… I mean… yes, of course. Thank you, Robert. That’s… wow incredible. Oh my this is so cool. To Canada for Quidditch. Have you ever been to Canada? I have never even been to North America. I hear it’s cold there, you think I will need my snow jacket? ((OOC: *giggles* I couldn’t help it. No, you don’t need a warm jacket for Canadian summers so long as you don’t go too far north))”

[Robert Knight R5]

Robert grinned. Lenora seemed really excited and Robert knew that they’d have fun together. They hadn’t seen each other all summer and it felt good to be around her again. Lenora was a very energetic person and she always seemed to lighten up the mood of the room. Robert kept on smiling as Lenora went on about Canada and North America. Robert looked around and saw that people were continuing to look over to see what the commotion was about and Robert couldn’t help but laugh. Looking back, he didn’t really see why he was nervous about asking her. He was almost positive that she’d say yes, but now that she’d actually said it, it made it… official. They were for sure going to the Quidditch World Cup.

“Nope, I’ve never been to Canada before. I hear that it’s really cold there. I don’t know how it is in the summer though,” Robert said. When Robert was a little kid, He always imagined going up to Canada and living in and igloo. “But I have been to North America. I used to live in The States; Virginia, to be exact. That’s right on the East Coast. I lived there until I was 10 years old.” He thought about going to Canada. “I wonder how we’re going to get there.” Robert had never traveled far away before by magic, because usually he’d go on an airplane with his parents. He began making a mental list of transportation, muggle and wizarding. Airplane, boat, Portkey, Floo Network…

[Lenora Byers]

Lenora was surprised when Robert said he had lived in the United States; how had she not known this about her friend? Grated there were so many accents floating around Hogwarts and Lenora was only moderately learned on the origins of each one. Plus Robert moved before puberty meaning he would retain little is any of his native accent in his everyday speech. But, it was still surprising to find out that there was something so big she didn’t realise about someone she considered a friend. Lenora was preparing herself to pepper him with questions about North America when he mentioned how they were going to get there. She then figured her questions could wait for another time when she had been able to think more on what she wanted to know.

“I really don’t know. I suppose some muggle way because things like apparition, which we can’t do anyways, floo, and portkeys even I think become less dependable the farther you travel. Though I don’t really know about portkeys so maybe that. Or an airplane, I took one when I was little and went on a trip down to Italy with my dad. It was pretty cool though a lot of sitting; I watched the movie, though, so it was okay.” Lenora said before Madam Rosemerta came bustling over and asked if they wanted anything to eat or drink. Realising she was just kind of sitting there in the woman’s establishment talking without paying for anything Lenora ordered a butterbeer before looking over at Robert, “You still working on that one or are you ready for another?”