"You might feel weird but you [i]look[/i] like a million galleons, I promise," Katie squeezed Ryan's arm encouragingly as they left her room. It had been so long--too long--since they had gone out and had a girl's night, and Katie felt a twinge of guilt at the thought. Ryan had a bad habit of not taking time for herself, and Katie had been remiss in her best friend duties of dragging her out anyways. Resolving to correct this oversight, Katie stuck out her tongue at Charlie's complaints.

"You can't rush [i]art[/i], Charlie!"

Still, he made a good point. It was already a quarter past seven, and she wasn't sure how long the Falcons would be content with the Cauldron before the pub crawl began in earnest. With a twist of a heel, Katie apparated to the pub.


The Cauldron was practically full to bursting when the three of them popped into existence. It was usually busy on Friday nights, before the Falcons decided to show up and take over. Now, between celebrating Quidditch players and the press, the Cauldron was standing room only. Katie cleared a path for her and her companions to the bar with judicious use of elbows. 

"Hannahhhhh!" Katie gushed to her fellow blonde, who was handling the crowd at the bar quite well. She offered Katie a smile and a quizzical look. "Have I told you lately how cute you are?"

"It's been a minute," Hannah laughed, clearly used to Katie's general Katieness. "What can I get started for you?"

"Firewhisky, neat!"

"Will you promise not to break anything?"

"Nope!"

Hannah shot her a dry look. Katie gave her most charming smile, batting her eyelashes for good measure. After a long moment, Hannah relented, and Katie was soon rewarded with her drink. As Hannah took Ryan and Charlie's orders, Katie scanned the pub, cataloging the chaos. Fenrir was speaking with Gutaale and a reporter from [i]Quidditch Weekly[/i], but even their straight laced captain seemed much more relaxed. The rest of the Falcons were decidedly [i]less[/i] well behaved. Tabtiang and Meza were currently egging on Llewellyn to shotgun dragons mead (which was a hilariously terrible idea), to the cheers of friends and fans. Someone had tacked up a massive Falmouth Banner across the wall. Pucey's doing, maybe?

"Kitty cat!" 

Speak of the doxie. She'd met eyes with Pucey from across the room, and Katie waved him over. After several moments, the towheaded chaser had made his way through the crowd, rather impressively managing not to spill his pint. 

"Aw, did you dress up just for me?" Pucey offered a shit-eating grin, and Katie couldn't help but laugh.

"Of course I did, Pucey-poo, you know my heart beats just for you. Ryan, this is Adrian. He's only kind of sort of terrible."

"Hey, I'm definitely at least mostly terrible," Pucey shot Katie a look of mock outrage, but flashed his teeth in a grin to Ryan. "Nice to meet you. You're Ayden's mum yeah? Good kid. And holy shit, Charlie! Last time I saw you, you were thoroughly kicking our asses at Hogwarts. How've you been?"

Katie had to admit--she was really glad Pucey had made the team. He may have been a Slytherin, but Pucey had made his opinions on 'blood elitist bullshit' quite clear in the war, and, more than that, he was just genuinely friendly. At least she could get along with [i]one[/i] of her fellow chasers. Katie wrinkled her nose, searching the crowd for Flint. As much as she hated the idea, she was going to have to figure out how to work with her arch-nemesis eventually. She seriously doubted they'd ever be mates, but they'd at least have to learn how to fake that for the press.