‧ ‧ ‧ ‧ ‧
coffee shops and confidantes
act i , this is war
chapter four , game on
‧ ‧ ‧ ‧ ‧
➖CAROLINE LOCKABY ➖
september 1977
"OH BIRDIE!"
Caroline found herself wincing at the sing song tone that startled her away from the pages of her book. The strong Scottish lilt filling her with dread as she turned around and met the gaze of Mr Zonko, who was striding into the shop looking as smug as ever.
The end of her shift was fast approaching, with the large clock on the wall reading 5:55pm, and Caroline — albeit, completely in love with her job — was anxiously counting down the seconds until she could make her getaway to Evie's party.
But that of course had nothing to do with the conversation she'd had that same afternoon with a certain troublemaking Gryffindor.
"Where is she then, eh?" Zonko shot Caroline a look as he shut the door behind him, shutting out the cold autumn dusk. "Where's my darling neighbour?"
"She's not here, Mr Zonko." The blonde at least found the strength to reply, mustering as much of a smile as she could.
"She's not the only one." He replied, looking around the spread of empty tables that sat in the cafe.
Caroline desperately fought the urge to argue and instead stomached an inhale, keeping her smile firmly on her face — Birdie had strictly instructed both the blonde and Preston to not rise to any taunts thrown in the face by the man, it only fuelled his ego.
"What can I do for you exactly?" She asked, her tone hardly mirroring the polite expression on her face. "You're wanting a drink or—?"
"I wouldn't want to do that, would I, now?" He grinned, rolling up the sleeves on his pinstriped jacket as he threw around judgemental glances. "The sooner this place is in the ground, the sooner it's mine."
Caroline quickly opted the neglect Birdie's advised approach to conflict resolution and dropped the smile on her features, and she squared her jaw.
"You don't have to be so horrid, you know?" She told him causing his expression to falter in slight surprise. "I appreciate you want to expand but at the expense of another business, this business?"
"Caroline, you're a smart girl." He replied after a moment of thought, his smile reappearing on his face. "It's just that; business."
"Well, we're not selling—" The blonde countered, folding her arms across her front, but comment seemed to fall on deaf ears as the businessman continued on.
"How much is she even paying you?" He raised an eyebrow, "You could always come and work for me. I'll bet my lot get double your rate."
"Good for them." She chuckled — money had never been her motivator when it came to the shop.
"Maybe it's worth me sending some of my boys over and charming you?" He grinned a wicked grin, at which her expression hardened even more. "Maybe get you to see my side of things?"
"We're. Not. Selling." She cemented, her eyes narrowing.
"You will be."
"If you don't mind, I need to lock up." Caroline at last decided to end the discussion, holding up the small set of keys and nodding towards the door.
The man held his hands up and followed the direction of her nod, his smug smile never wavering as he pulled it open.
"Tell Birdie I dropped by."
***
"HEY, YOU!"
It has taken Caroline a good five minutes to adjust to the volume of the Gryffindor Common Room, and she was still wincing by she had managed to find her friends in the throes of the festivities.
"You took your time!" Jane told her, as she wrapped her arms around her greeting.
"I took a detour." Care chuckled in response as she returned the hug. "Had to freshen up, turns out I've had a coffee smear on my forehead since Merlin-knows-when."
"You seem down." Priya raised an eyebrow of concern, reaching out an arm and placing it on Care's shoulder.
"I'm fine." She shut down her friend's worries, shaking off her hands and wriggling out of Jane's embrace. "Where's Evie? This is mad."
"Care." AJ shot her a knowing glance.
The blonde gave a gentle huff at the instance of her friends, before conceding.
"Zonko stopped by and gave the whole spiel about buying us out again." She took a sharp inhale, taking a hand through her hair.
"Was Birdie there?" Jane asked, a concerned look across her face.
"Nope, just me."
"That's not fair." Priya reached out her arm once more.
"Well, he's hardly a gentleman." The blonde let out a deflated chuckle as she accepted her friend's gesture, her gaze meeting AJ's whose expression of worry had quickly morphed into one of mischief.
"Drink?" She quirked an eyebrow, as Caroline chuckled in response.
"Please."
With a small salute, AJ quickly disappeared into the throes of the celebration and not long after her did Care make out the figure of Evie hastily approaching her.
"You're here!" She cried, wrapping her arms around the blonde.
"Well, I wasn't going to miss it." Care answered with a slightly alarmed expression, at the sudden gesture. "I mean I knew it was going to be a party, but what happened to it being low-key?"
"Black invited half the school." She chuckled in response, taking in her surroundings.
"I can see."
Caroline made the mental estimate that there were over fifty people crammed into the space at least. An enchanted stereo was blasting from one corner, and drinks were flowing like nothing she'd ever seen — she gathered the first party of the year had been long awaited by some.
"You're okay with it?" The blonde quirked an eyebrow at her friends
"Babe, I've had five jelly shots." Evie placed a hand upon Care's face. "I'm okay with everything right now."
"I bet Sam's delighted." Caroline chuckled, as her friend shot her wink.
"Oh, he will be."
"Jesus."
And with that delightful encounter, Evie Lau made her exit and was once more lost beyond the crowd, conveniently just as AJ remade her own appearance.
"Here." She held out a plastic cup towards the blonde who took it without a second thought — suddenly realising she had a list of catching up to do, and after the day she'd had, she desperately wanted to relax his inhibitions.
"Thank you."
Taking a large gulp of her drink, Caroline allowed her gaze to wander the room. A loud song with a heavy bass line (she would later learn to be called The Chain) was blasting from the speakers and was doing an excellent job of maintaining an atmosphere as several people had gathered in the centre of the room to dance along to it.
It wasn't long before something caught her eye; or rather, someone.
A smirk spread across Sirius' lips as he caught sight of the blonde girl, who boldly returned to his smirk as he shot her a wink.
"What was that?"
Care found her attention being pulled away from the boy by the disbelieving tone of AJ, who met her gaze with wide eyes and smirk on her lips.
"What was what?"
"That." She casually nodded in the direction of the Gryffindor troublemaker. "Black winking at you?"
"He came into the shop earlier and bought me a drink." Care told her three friends, who all wore the same expression.
"What?"
"He bought you a drink?"
"Look, it's no big deal." The blonde get a light sigh, a small smile on her lips. "He flirts with anything that moves."
"Not a big deal for him, for you it is." AJ countered, her smile now a grin, as Care only responded with a confused expression.
"Well, you're entertaining it, aren't you?" The Slytherin girl replied, "I thought you'd be stuck with your head in those letters forever."
A defeated sigh left the girl's lips at the thought of Padfoot.
"I mean—"
However, before she begin trying to explain the difference in the situations, her words were cut short by the sight of a strange little contraptions — or rather several.
"What on earth are all of these?" She queried, picking it up only for it to burst into a cloud of smoke, scalding her fingertips, seconds later.
"They're from Zonko's." Priya said gently, as which the blonde grimaced, shaking her hand, wincing as the pain subsided.
"Great, even in my off time, I can't escape him." She scoffed, before looking around to them scattered around on various surfaces like confetti. "Why exactly—?"
"James!" AJ cried out to Gryffindor Chaser who was walking past them, a dumb smile on his lips and his glasses slightly askew as he unsteadily made his way over to the girls. "What the hell are all these?"
"No idea!" He hiccuped, "Sirius managed to get a whole box of stuff off Zonko."
"How did he manage that?" Care furrowed her eyebrows in slight disbelief — it was certainly a lot of stick to be just given away.
"Well, he works there."
"What?"
Caroline furrowed her eyebrows, her gaze wandering to her friends who also seemed to have not been privy to this information. Then something struck her; something Zonko had said:
Maybe it's worth me sending some of my boys over and charming you.
A quiet scoff left Caroline's lips as her gaze hit the floor. Perhaps it was a throwaway comment, but if it wasn't Sirius Black was certainly the man for the job, and he'd proven just that. Care felt herself absentmindedly clench her jaw as her attention went back to James.
"Yeah, it's perks of the job, I guess." He prattled on in his drunken state. "Thirty percent discount as well. I am making full use of it!"
Care couldn't tell if she was more angry at Sirius for using her or herself for falling for it.
She looked up and found his gaze in the crowd once more, his smirk still there as he surveyed. However, this time, he was instead met with a hard stare and clenched jaw.
Care looked away and raised her cup to her mouth, quickly knocking back the rest of her drink while her friends looked on worriedly. The bitter taste of the alcohol caused her to take a sharp inhale as she felt the liquid courage already running through her veins.
"Excuse me." She muttered, her anger still hobbling away. "I suddenly need another drink."
Before any of her friend could object or questions any of her actions, the blonde quickly disappeared into the crowd and made her way towards the drinks table, even more eager to lose the edge of sobriety than she was before.
"Hey Cathy."
Care exhaled through her nose, not even bringing her gaze up to meet his as she arrived at the drinks table. Her eyes surveying the various bottles out on display.
"Uh-oh." Sirius gave a chuckle upon realising she was ignoring him, and instead opted to lightly judge her shoulder. "Why so cold, huh?"
She was once again offered no response.
"I'm glad you came." He tried a different angle at which she let out a scoff.
"Uh-huh."
"Come on, I buy you a coffee and this is how you act?" He asked, all in good humour, his smirk never leaving his face as he watched her fix herself a drink. "You were right about it, you know."
"I know, it's bloody delicious." She retorted, her gaze still firmly in front of her.
"I gotta say Cathy, I kind of like you when you're angry."
She could practically hear his smirk through her words, as she felt him edge a little closer to her.
"Oh my god, stop it!" The blonde cried, sparing him an incredulous smile as she finally turned to face him.
"What?" He chuckled, folding his arms across his front, his flirtatious manner never wavering.
"This whole thing." Care gestured between herself and him, as she picked up her drink and turned to leave. "Stop it."
"Come on, Cathy." His manner dropped a little, his eyebrows furrowing in slight confusion.
"It's Caroline!"
And before the boy could utter another word, the girl promptly turned on her heel and walked away.
"Okay, woah woah!"
Care could hear his voice following her and was rather surprised to see that he had — not that it eased her anger at all. Caroline stopped in her tracks and offered him a challenging look, but he only took her arm and guided her away from centre of the room to a more quiet corner.
"I'm confused." He stated, the ghost of a smile on his lips as he attempted to figure of her behaviour.
"You work for Zonko." She confronted him, at which he hesitated a look before clearing his throat and crossing his arms across his chest once more.
"Yeah? And?"
"Don't play dumb. You came in and flirted with me because he told you to!" The blonde shook her head in annoyance. "What were you going to do? Keep buying drinks and subtly slip into a conversation about business viability?"
Sirius gave light laugh before his façade melted away and he met her gaze with more gumption.
"So you admit it's not viable?"
"Oh my god." The blonde exclaimed in disbelief. "I can't believe I fell for that."
"Look, that little shop is crumbling and Zonko wants it." The Gryffindor said matter of factly, taking Caroline a little aback with his eloquence. "At the end of the day, I just get a few extra galleons in my back pocket if I help the cause."
Care squared her jaw once more, still stomaching his confession before replying.
"Well, I'm really sorry that you won't be getting that because we won't be selling."
"We'll see." Sirius chuckled in response.
"We'll see? Oh really?"
"You're fighting a losing battle. It's just a stupid little shop, Cathy—" She shot him a hard look before he corrected himself, "Caroline."
Her nostrils flared as she tried to think of a worry response, but found herself becoming a little distracted as she watched his eyes gain their mischievous glint once more.
"You know I really didn't bag you for the feisty sort." He mused, his smirk back on his lips.
"You're a dick." She retorted at which he only smirked more. "Why are you smirking?"
"I get under your skin, don't I?"
Care gave a large scoff as he lowered his voice and took a step closer to her, the proximity unnerving her a little as she inhaled and picked up on the slight hint of cigarette smoke.
"Perhaps this will be fun after all." He chuckled, at which she met his gaze once more, her eyes narrowed fiercely.
"What will?" She let out a derisive chuckle. "You're not going to convince me about shop — so you can run along back to Zonko now, and leave me alone."
"Why would I do that?" He smirked, his stormy grey eyes boring into hers. "I think we both know you like me a little more than you'll want to admit."
Her gaze hardened.
"And it's not exactly like I'm not attracted to you. I don't just buy coffee for anyone, you know." He mused, "Like I said, it'll be fun."
"Not going to happen." The blonde crossed her arms, only making Sirius' smile widen.
"I'm not a quitter." He replied, cockily.
"Neither am I."
"Well then." He smiled, taking another step towards her, she could feel his breath fanning her face. "Game on, Cathy."
And before she knew it, he had disappeared back into the crowd, leaving Caroline alone at the edge of the party; flustered and furious.
𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖆 𝖘𝖕𝖊𝖆𝖐𝖘!
i rewatched you got mail
and i just couldn't resist
coming back to these two !