The Invisible Girl ((Jez))

[Olivia Dawson S6]

Olivia left the house at around twelve thirty. She had woken up around twelve and it never did take her long to get ready to leave. All she had to do was brush through her hair a few times and tap her wand a few times over to make her look decent enough to leave the house. She slipped on a pair of jeans and a small t-shirt over a leather jacket that wasn’t exactly new. Her make-up was simple today, eyeliner and mascara, maybe a bit of green eye shadow. She didn’t over do it. It’s not like she usually did anyway. She slipped a pack of cigarettes and a lighter in her pocket and slipped out of her room. She barely took notice to her mother, who was working out in the room across the hall. She had to stay fit for her sweetheart, even if he was out at that very moment snogging some twenty-year-old tramp in a club across the country. She absolutely despised her family, save for her younger sister who actually acted like Olivia existed. She noticed Elle in the kitchen, making herself some lunch. She glanced at Olivia and smiled.

“Morning, Liv!” She said fondly. Olivia smiled warmly at her little sister.

“Morning Elle. I’m going out. See you later.” Elle smiled, but she could tell she was disappointed. Olivia hardly ever spent time at home; she mostly only went there to sleep. The only reason Olivia even kept coming back to the dreadful place was because of her. Also, if Olivia forgot to call her mother every day, she wouldn’t have any more money. She shrugged to herself and walked outside. She removed a cigarette and her lighter and took a long drag. Those little sticks had brought her so much peace over the years. Enough to make her ignore the constant comments from her ‘concerned friends’ that they were slowly eating her lungs away. Olivia wished they would just mind their own business for once and leave her and her cigarettes alone. If she wanted to smoke, she would smoke. It was simply the only way to keep her from going insane. If she died three years earlier than she originally would, then that was fine with her. Three years wasn’t much of a big difference when it came to living life. It didn’t matter much to her. She took a long drag from her cigarette as she turned the corner into the Leaky Cauldron. She took another drag and let out a puff of smoke.

She took her usual table next to the window and sat down. In about a moment’s time, her cell phone rang. She picked it up and ignored the looks of amazement and awe from an old wizard who had obviously never seen such muggle technology before. It was her friend Lucy. Lucy was a muggle that had been friends with her ever since third year. Lucy smoked also, even more than she did. Her parents were never home, sometimes they went on holiday for months at a time. There was a house party at her place almost every night. Olivia wasn’t exactly surprised to see her number come up on the caller I.D. to tell her that some rich and famous kid by the name of Jacobs was having a party that night. She wasn’t going to go. Tea and caviar wasn’t exactly her style. She was in the middle of declining Lucy’s invitation to the party when a waitress came and interrupted her call.

“I’m sorry lady, but I didn’t order that.” The waitress was carrying a butterbeer in her hand and she set it down on the table.

“I know you didn’t, but that guy over there did.” She pointed over to the far corner of the pub where a boy about her age was sitting. He was smiling confidently at her. Olivia rolled her eyes but accepted the drink with a smile in the boy’s direction. She took a sip of the free drink, and was thankful of the boy even though she could have just as easily bought the drink herself. She placed the mug down and put out her cigarette. It was almost done anyway.

[Jez Cuthbert]

Jez lounged at a table by himself in a corner of the Leaky Cauldron. He would not have liked to admit it, but he was bored. The summer had trickled past, leaving only a thin, sticky, silver snail's trail of Jez's misdeeds. He was languishing this summer. Within a week he'd tired of adding different volatile potion components together to create noisy explosions or run away from the pungent and dangerous gases they gave off. All in the back garden, of course. For once, his father hadn't seemed to mind too much. He'd practically encouraged it, spending time telling Jez which ones would make the loudest explosion, and which ones only exploded when exposed to air. He had said that some creatures could be knocked out by loud sounds, but that that unfortunately included humans and so firstly they couldn't sell any noise-creating substance without a pair of earplugs, and secondly that it meant they weren't safe for use in densely populated areas. Jez was thankful to his father for his attention, even for his friendly advice, but it was rather offputting to think that he was pleasing his father with his affinity for destructive potions, and that was why he had stopped experimenting. Only his mother had obliged, complaining that she couldn't think to do the accounts if her son was going to turn the garden into a war zone.

So that had only lasted him a week. He'd been on a few fact-finding outings, poked his nose in other people's businesses (literally), and got himself barred from several establishments. He hadn't felt it was bad going at the time, but now there were only a couple of good pubs he was able to go in. The Leaky Cauldron's owner was one of the people he was still on good terms with, thankfully. He wasn't stupid enough to deny himself one of the main routes into the wizarding street. Having run out of places that he could safely cause trouble at without the consequences bothering him particularly, Jez had tried answering the phone at home and persuading people that he was his father (since he did apparently sound quite a lot like his father). Unfortunately, his father had put a stop to that as he had been bound to do sooner or later. So, his impersonations cruelly cut short there, Jez had renewed the delightful art he considered the fourth year Ravenclaw Anastasia Castlerock to have first introduced to him - pretending to be a hapless nobody in need of the help of the kinder half of the population. It was quite an interesting way to study people's characters, actually, and quite encouraging towards belief in the goodness of human nature: many bemused people did do their best to help. Jez had taken some of them out for a drink afterwards, actually - obviously in the pubs that he wasn't barred from. But after a while, that got a bit old too if over-used.

Thus, here he was in the Leaky Cauldron, at a loss as to what to do next and rather glad that the holidays didn't last longer. He was just taking another sip of his Gillywater when someone's mobile phone rang. Jez wasn't particularly acquainted with Muggle technology, but he was able to recognise something as fundamental as that. He hadn't known that they would work in Diagon Alley - after all, it was well known that they never did at Hogwarts - but he supposed that the Leaky Cauldron was enough on the edges of both worlds that it wasn't that surprising. Jez regarded the girl thoughtfully, pretty sure that she was currently totally oblivious to his presence. After all, he was sitting in the corner, observing rather than contributing to the goings on. Jez signalled a waitress over and smiled at her when she asked what she could do for him.
"A Butterbeer for the pretty girl over there, please," he said. She raised her eyebrows slightly but acquiesced, which was acceptable enough. At least, it would have to be considering that he had to stay on good terms with the owner Tom.

Jez continued drinking his Gillywater until he saw the waitress serving the girl, at which point he put the drink down on his table and managed to get a smile in place just in time for when she looked at him, pointed there by the waitress. He was really quite pleased by her reaction. It could have been far worse, and was a very long way from her storming over and throwing the favour in his face - literally. That could have been a possibility. As it was, Jez would say that he'd got a fairly positive reaction from her, and he picked up his drink and walked over to the table that she was sitting at. He drew up a chair for himself and sat down.
"Hey." he greeted her, holding out his hand for her to shake. "Jez Cuthbert. I would've asked what drink you wanted first, but I didn't want to run the risk of being refused. It's a while since I've been able to buy a drink for someone as pretty as you. I haven't seen anyone as hot since school broke up." He smiled, shifting a little in his seat. Sure, they weren't the compliments of a practised flatterer, but she'd get the idea at any rate. "What drink would you have said if I had asked, anyway?"

[Olivia Dawson S6]

Olivia wasn't surprised to see the boy get up and walk over to her table. The boy had a certain arrogance to him, almost like he felt he owned the place. Olivia didn't know, he could have owned it. She was pretty sure he didn't however. His walk was the same. Confident; like the boy was a little too comfortable in his own skin. Sometimes, that kind of confidence was an excellent personality when dealing with a man, other times it was quite annoying. Olivia figured she'd see for herself. She wasn't exactly sure if she liked this boy yet. He was considerably good looking, and he had a twinkle in his brown eyes that definitely captivated her attention. However, there was something there. It was something Olivia didn't like about this boy, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Maybe it was the way he walked, or the way he pulled a chair over and sat himself down. He was pretty slim, definitely not one to indulge in one too many pumpkin pasties. Olivia knew she liked that. She wasn't going to be seen with anyone who had too much weight to pull. He didn't look weak either. This boy was somewhere in the middle of it all. She smiled as he introduced himself. Jez Cuthbert. It sounded like an okay name. She was sure she had heard it before, but couldn't remember where. Could he possibly be the Jez Cuthbert that got into some trouble in his fifth year? Yes, he looked like the type that would arouse some chaos. She couldn't remember exactly what he did, but didn't take much time to care. She was too bust talking with her new friend.

She laughed as he said something about asking what drink she wanted first. She wouldn't have minded. She liked that Jez was spontaneous, and he didn't play it safe. Olivia probably would have declined if he had asked first. It just wasn't done that way. Not in Olivia's opinion anyway. She didn't understand how some people thought it was polite to ask first before buying the drink. It takes the risk out of everything. It was simply far too boring. She liked that Jez took the risk of coming over here on top of it all. She would have been seriously upset if he had bought her a drink and then just watched as she drank it. That was just so third year. Olivia figured she'd better introduce herself as well.

"Olivia Dawson. Pay no attention to my surname, I like to ignore it completely, and would appreciate if you did the same." She absolutely despised the last name of Dawson. It was a very well known name among those in the Ministry,but it wasn't exactly a popular one. Laura Dawson practically ran the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and often went out of her way to make the lives of her employees ten times more difficult than usual. It was the same thing she did at home, only it was worse because she did it to her own children. Jez asked her what drink she would have asked for if he had asked. The answer was obvious. In fact, the answer was in her hands at that very moment.

"Butterbeer, no doubt. It is and will always be my favorite drink. The Leaky Cauldron makes the best, next to the Three Broomsticks of course." Olivia took a sip of the butterbeer she had just been given. She chuckled at Jez's words of flattery. She wasn't shallow enough to fall for a guy all because of his compliments, but Olivia supposed it was appreciated. Words didn't affect her much. It was a man's actions that stood out in her head. She had always believed in the phrase 'actions speak louder than words'. It was something Olivia had come to live by.

"You say it's been a while. I take it you have experience in the field of women?" Olivia chuckled. The boy had experience, but his comment had sparked a thought in Olivia's head that he might not be very loyal and trustworthy. She'd give it a week or two after they split for him to be after some other girl. Maybe she would give this one a chance. He seemed to have earned it.