flashes in my face now (seb)

[Louis Weasley]

Boredom had brought Louis to the Leaky Cauldron. None of his friends or cousins seemed to be around today, his parents had both gone out to work, and he'd been alone in Shell Cottage. He actually quite liked having the house to himself on occasion, and he had slept until midday, then got up, made himself a large fried breakfast, eaten the remaining ice cream out of the tub he found in the freezer, and then wandered round the house looking for something to do. There was his school work, of course, and he had even gone so far as to pull out one of the pieces of parchment where he'd scribbled his assignments; however, after a brief look of disgust at it, he had discarded this idea and decided to go out instead.

The weather was not as nice as it had been, so the beach was not terribly appealing, and anyway, he quite enjoyed making the most of having his Apparition license, which he had gained just before the holidays. So although he had no particular reason to go to Diagon Alley today, he made his destination the Leaky Cauldron. You never knew, there might be someone he knew hanging about. Leaving the debris of his breakfast - including the empty ice cream tub - all over the kitchen and living room, he successfully Apparated to the pub, and strolled up to the bar. Being seventeen had, he thought, improved his life in many ways - not only could he now Apparate, but he could order alcohol in bars if he wanted. Of course, it was still only early afternoon, so not the best time to be drinking, but Louis didn't care very much. He ordered a Muggle beer with an air of grown up self-importance that the bartender did not appear to notice, and then leant casually on the bar with one elbow as he waited for it. 

It took him a few seconds to realise that he had put his elbow in a puddle of unidentified liquid on the bar, and straightened up hurriedly, twisting his arm in an attempt to work out what exactly the liquid was - if it was something like firewhisky, he'd go home smelling of it, and would have to try and change his top before his mum noticed. As he stepped backwards, however, he bumped into someone behind him. "Oh - sorry!" he said automatically, throwing a glance over his shoulder, but not really taking in who the person was.

[Sebastian Nott]

Sebastian Nott was remarkably cheerful, which was not usual after a date which didn't follow with sex. The girl in question had been a co-worker at the Ministry, very pretty and pleasant and professional, and she had seemed interested (obviously) but not quite one hundred percent about him yet. He supposed in a way he could sort of understand that. It was rather intimidating when you were faced with something as astonishing as him. The two had had a very long chat indeed, and he'd been pleased to make her laugh a ridiculous amount, but she'd had to zoom off for something-or-other (he couldn't remember what, she was quite vague) and he had been left on his own. Had it been a couple of years ago, he would have sulked, but she had insisted that they meet up again soon, so he was optimistic about it on the whole. Either way, it meant that as opposed to going home immediately and soaking up the sun outside or seeking out Chloe and getting up to general mischief with her, he pushed his way towards the bar in order to get another drink.

As he approached the bar, he got mildly distracted by someone who looked slightly like Albus Potter, realised he wasn't too late, and was brought back to reality when somebody already seated at the bar bumped into him. As the person turned to apologise, Seb felt a flash of recognition, which wasn't unusual. He knew a ridiculous amount of people, but he could rarely place a name to them. With a shrug, he fell into place beside the guy, vying for the bartender's attention, ordering a Butterbeer once he had managed to. Once the bartender had wandered off to get it, Seb shot the guy a grin and said, mockingly, "So did you really accidentally bump into me, or were you just trying to hit on me?"

[Louis Weasley]

Louis's attention had left the guy as soon as he'd apologised (there had been no reply to his apology, but at least the bloke didn't seem offended) and as he had never properly turned round, he hadn't even got a proper look at whoever it was. He was relieved to find, judging from the lack of smell, that the liquid appeared to be only water. It had spoilt his attempt to be casually dignified, but at least it would dry. Pulling out his wand, he performed a brief drying spell - another great perk of being seventeen was that you could do magic out of school (the Easter holidays had been hell, since most of his friends had had their birthdays by that point and had been happily doing magic, while he had still been sixteen). Louis was good at Charms, and he was quite satisfied with the effect.

Carefully not putting his elbow back in the same spot, he resumed waiting for his drink, and only then was his attention recalled to the guy he'd bumped into, who was now apparently beside him. The voice seemed familiar, and Louis turned to face him, only to find himself face to face with Sebastian Nott. An immediate rush of conflicting emotions passed through him, in all likelihood showing on his face. His first instinct was to snap something rude, since the very appearance of Seb's face annoyed him, but he controlled this urge. The more rational part of him reminded him that there was actually no reason for him to dislike Seb as much as he did. Sure, the guy was a dick, but Louis hadn't even had anything to do with him for... well, probably about two years. A lot of the reasons he'd had to hate him seemed pretty ridiculous now, and yet somehow, he still wanted to punch the guy in the face.

It also appeared that Seb didn't recognise him, judging by his first words. Louis stared at him slightly incredulously for a second, then suddenly felt an insane urge to laugh. He couldn't think of anyone - other than the people he was related to - that he'd be less tempted to hit on. Perhaps fortunately, his beer arrived at that moment, and he transferred his attention to his drink as he replied, with a short laugh, "Yeah, don't flatter yourself, Nott. I bumped into you."

[Sebastian Nott]

For some reason Seb wasn't quite certain of, the bloke didn't seem particularly thrilled to see him. Actually, he was surveying himself in a very odd way indeed, which would have been marginally flummoxing had Seb been the sort of person who wasn't used to people surveying him oddly. However, he very much was - he got odd looks almost every single day, along with looks of hatred and disgust. He was used to it. It was a thing of the past. It all sort of rolled off of his back nowadays - in fact, he found it quite funny.

At the guy's laugh and snappy words, Seb broke into a grin, although he couldn't shake the peculiar feeling that he knew this guy. Well, he probably did, but obviously he hadn't been important enough to remember. His own drink arrived just then, and he nodded cheerily at the bartender before turning back to the boy and saying, "What, did I sleep with your sister, or something? I'd pretend to be sorry - " he paused to take a long swig of his drink, " - but I'm really not."

[Louis Weasley]

Louis wasn't really sure whether to remind Seb of who he was (would his name even mean anything to the guy?) or not. Part of him couldn't be bothered even to try and make conversation, while another part was dying to start some sort of fight. Not that he would really do that - Louis would fight if backed into a corner, but he definitely wasn't naturally aggressive, and in fact had never thrown a serious punch in his life. Continuing to have a conversation when only one of them knew who the other was was a tad awkward though.

Taking a drink and carefully not looking properly at Seb, Louis rolled his eyes. "No, I'm pretty sure that neither of my sisters would have slept with you," he replied, deliberately phrasing it this way round. He didn't really care whether Seb would have slept with either Victoire or Dominique if he had the chance (given the guy's reputation, Louis was going with yes), but he was fairly confident that both his sisters had better taste than that. Actually, come to think of it, he was sure he remembered a story...

"In fact," he added with some smugness, as the details of what he'd heard came back to him, "I'm pretty sure one of my sisters definitely rejected you. Violently."

((OOC - I'm assuming that it's okay for Louis to have heard about the groin-kneeing incident, as it happened in public and would probably have gone round the Hogwarts grapevine! Let me know if you'd rather he didn't! <3))

[Sebastian Nott]

"Pity. Poor girls don't know what they're missing," Seb said, shaking his head and tutting rather loudly, ignoring the fact that the guy had obviously deliberately phrased it to sound as though his sisters were opposed to him, or whatever. Please. He was disastrously good looking and he knew it, and he was confident that this bloke was just trying to make it sound as though his sisters were wrinkling their noses up in his general direction.

"Oh, really?" He drawled, one eyebrow cocking. He considered suggesting that the guy narrow it down, but then decided against it. Who, in the past, had reacted against him particularly strongly? Only Devyn was popping up into his mind, but he was fairly sure Devyn didn't have a brother. Unless she did, and he hadn't realised it. In fairness, he often forgot she had a twin sister until every now and then he was reminded that the well-dressed blonde was, in fact, related to Devyn. Maybe they had a brother, though. He eyed the boy warily. He'd tried very hard not to think about Devyn recently, and he wasn't going to start again.

It definitely felt as though he was on the right track, though. This blonde fellow was definitely connected to Devyn.

[Louis Weasley]

Louis ignored the comment about girls not knowing what they were missing, which seemed like just the sort of remark he'd have expected Nott to make. Merlin, the guy was an arrogant dick - Louis was remembering just why he couldn't stand him. Although, of course, the real reason was that he had insisted on hanging around Devyn - no, it was that he'd treated Devyn like crap, which was a different thing, Louis reminded himself. Admittedly, the incident in which Nott had treated Devyn like crap had been over two years ago, and as far as Louis knew, Devyn was completely over it (he couldn't imagine that she even cared any more), so it wasn't a very good reason. But the guy was clearly still a dick.

"Yes, really," he said flatly. "Though I guess that probably doesn't narrow it down that much for you, does it? Dominique Weasley? Ring any bells?" he added, as Nott still appeared to have no clue what he was talking. The guy seemed pretty dense, though, so maybe he didn't remember the names of his classmates. He honestly did not understand why people like Albus and Lorcan, and even Roxanne and Rose, were friends with Sebastian Nott. At least Dom had more sense, he thought, feeling quite proud of his sister for once.

He took another drink, wondering what it was about Nott really that made his blood boil. Louis didn't hate people, and he rarely stayed angry about things. It wasn't as if he still fancied Devyn, even if anything had actually happened with her and Nott. No, it was just the guy himself, he decided.

[Sebastian Nott]

Relief coursed through him when he realised that it wasn't the imaginary brother for Devyn he had cooked up in his head that he was sitting with. Only Dominique Weasley's brother. Giving a short laugh, he scrutinized the guy almost eagerly. If you insisted he imagine Dominique Weasley's brother, he'd have conjured up a highly different image. This bloke wasn't scary at all. He seemed mostly sane, actually, except for the fact that he didn't seem to like Seb. Which was appalling. As Seb scrutinized, he realised that Albus had mentioned this particular Weasley in one of his letters.

"Hang on!" Seb said, very solemnly indeed, raising both hands and placing fingers on his temples as he looked at the bloke in utmost concentration. "Hang on, hang on, hang on, Albus mentioned you in a letter, I know your name - Leonard!" He came to this conclusion proudly, absolutely certain he was quite right. His features relaxed, and then formed themselves into an expression of utmost sympathy. "My condolences for being related to Dominique. I mean - " he lay a hand over his heart, " - don't get me wrong, I definitely would, but...shit. Mind you, she is hilarious. When she's not injuring me."

He still, however, felt that he hadn't come to the right conclusion, and he shot another sly glance at Leonard. He recognized him, and it wasn't for him being Dominique's brother. Seb was never quite sure whether to give Dominique a wide berth or go over to her to irritate her all the more and get a laugh (unfortunately, he'd usually also get a punch in the face for all of his troubles), but he didn't pay her much attention other than that. As he raised his glass to take another generous gulp of Butterbeer, however, it clicked. A memory dredged itself up - him and Devyn in a corridor, and some whingey bloke pottering vaguely in the background. He had the memory a bit tweaked to suit himself, of course, but now that he'd thought it, there was no denying it.

Heaving a great sigh, he slammed the drink down on the table, forced himself to smirk at Leonard, or whatever his name was, anyways, and said, "So I don't have to apologize for shagging your sister, then. Just your girlfriend wanting to shag me."

[Louis Weasley]

Louis was going out of his way not to scrutinise Seb. After all, the guy was entirely unimportant in every way. Devyn never talked about him any more, so whatever had been going on there - if anything - was presumably not going on any more, and even if it had been his interest would only have been as Devyn's friend. As there was nothing, there was no reason for him to have any interest whatsoever. He wasn't even sure why Seb seemed to want to talk to him. And he definitely wasn't going to sit here looking the guy over, as if he was trying to see what Devyn could have seen in him or something. Partly because, on a purely physical level, he could indeed see what Devyn had seen in Sebastian and would rather not. But mostly because he didn't want to look as if it mattered to him.

He debated not even bothering to correct Seb on his name, but the guy was way too smug. "Louis," he said coldly (and sounding quite unlike his usual self, as he rarely spoke coldly). "My name's Louis." He glanced sideways at Seb, his eyes narrowed. "And I quite like being related to my sister actually. I don't really have a problem with her just because she happens not to like you." If Seb had been anyone else, Louis might have accepted the condolences and agreed with his sentiments, but he wasn't going to let this guy slag Dom off.

He was aware that Seb hadn't quite made the connection between him and Devyn yet, and could practically hear the cogs in the guy's brain working as he figured it out. And - yes, there you go, he'd got it - or at least Louis assumed he had. However, he was not going to give Seb the satisfaction of reacting to that barb, or at least not without a supreme effort to stop himself.

"If you're talking about Devyn," he said slowly. "I'm pretty sure if she'd wanted to shag you, she'd have shagged you." He had never been 100% certain that that had not happened, though he didn't think so. But Seb's phrasing definitely suggested that it hadn't - he'd said wanting. Which meant that whatever either Seb or Devyn had wanted at any point, it had not happened, and knowing Seb's reputation, Louis was willing to bet that that had been Devyn's choice. He couldn't help feeling slightly relieved, as well as a little proud of his friend. And, no denying it, the smallest bit smug.

[Sebastian Nott]

"Well, if you're going to be all technical," Seb sighed dramatically, but nodded his head and tacked on in a contrasting, most agreeable tone of voice, "Louis, then. Sounds very French. Ah! Hang on. You've got another fit sister. The older one. Victoria?" He suggested, which sounded quite right to him. She'd left Hogwarts quite some time ago, of course, but he could vaguely remember her regardless. "You like being related to Dominique?" He repeated, voice weighed down with incredulity. "Right, then, suit yourself. I'm just saying that most people with their head screwed on right like to stay as far away from her as possible...well," he contradicted himself here, "I suppose I'm being a tad hypocritical, what with my hitting on her, but I'm an optimistic soul. I always hope she'll find a place in her heart for me." Unfortunately, that day had yet to come.

Merlin, did he have to rub it in that for some reason Devyn Oberlin hadn't slept with him? He considered being all how do you know she didn't sleep with me, just to wind the guy up, really, and to save face, but he shot this idea down quickly. First off, because it was stupid - it'd be a downright lie. Second off, because if Devyn got wind of him saying that, she'd probably hunt him down, or something, and he didn't want to have to deal with her again. And thirdly - well, it seemed sort of unfair, to say something like that. Which seemed ridiculous, because it wasn't as if he'd been all sunshine-and-light with Devyn ever before.

Either way, he shrugged, and merely said, "Yeah, well, remind me next time not to try with her." And, because he couldn't help it: "But, you know, for the record," he pushed himself away from the bar slightly in order to gesture most impressively towards himself and said deliberately, "Everybody wants to."

[Louis Weasley]

((OOC - I DON'T KNOW IF THIS THREAD IS HAPPENING BEFORE OR AFTER LOUIS'S THREAD WITH DEVYN AND IT'S CONFUSING MY BRAIN BECAUSE DEVYN JUST TOLD LOUIS ABOUT HER THING WITH SEB, i'm going with this one being first because it seems like he doesn't know very much here))

"Yeah, it does doesn't it?" Louis agreed, with as much sarcasm as he could muster. Which was quite a lot, given that he'd been learning from Devyn for six years. "And my sister's name's Dominique. Anyone would think we were half French or something." He didn't bother to correct the idiot again - he highly doubted that Victoire would care whether Sebastian Nott remembered her name. "And yeah, I mean, she doesn't go round kicking everyone in the balls, you know. Only people who ask for it." This was, perhaps, a stretch of the truth, although he couldn't recall any other stories about Dom doing exactly that. She was fairly violent with everyone, of course, but Seb didn't need to know that.

He couldn't help a surreptitious glance or two at the guy to see how he'd reacted to Louis's reminder about Devyn. Did he know that Louis and Devyn had slept together? Well, only if Devyn had told him, which she might have done, or if he had guessed, which was also possible. It would have been satisfying to point this out, but also pretty rude to Devyn, so he didn't. "Yeah, think I'll leave it to her to remind you herself." He shrugged, then glanced at Seb as he gestured towards himself, his eyes flicking briefly over the guy before he turned away again. "Really? Because, just going on this conversation, it seems more like nobody wants to."

[Sebastian Nott]

"Aha! You're the one with the fit mum! Not as fit as Hermione Granger, obviously, but...she holds a special place in my heart," he slammed his palm down on his chest, smiling fondly. "Oh, yeah?" Seb grinned. "That's such a lie. I went to school with the girl for seven years. She's crazy. I'm ninety percent certain she nearly annihilated half of her own Quidditch team, let alone all of the rest. I'm not much of a Quidditch man," he admitted, "But, Merlin, it was so worth it to go to a match if Gryffindor lost. Her face!"

Seb caught the glances in his peripheral vision, but he ignored them. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he felt sort of uncomfortable all of a sudden. Like how he'd felt back in seventh year when everyone thought he had fancied Devyn. Even if he had fancied her - he wasn't going to admit it - he would have denied it to the ends of the earth because everyone had seemed so damn smug about it. "Psh. Like I'm ever going to get near enough to her to let her remind me of anything," Seb snorted. No, he was going to give her a wide berth. It was the best way forward. "Well, going on this conversation, maybe," Seb pursed his lips for a second before relaxing his face, "But, if you go on my track record, you'll see it's quite true. I was the most lusted-after guy in Hogwarts. Wonder who's going to fill my shoes?" He shot a look at Louis before breaking into derisive laughter. "Well, obviously not you."[/i][/i]

[Louis Weasley]

Don't react, Louis reminded himself. It wasn't like Nott was the only to crush on Louis's mother - or his sisters. Louis had resigned himself to that a long time ago. If it had been anyone else, he'd probably have told them to shut up. He wasn't going to give Nott the satisfaction of any reply at all, so he merely gave the other guy a pitying look and took another mouthful of his drink. Because, honestly, it was kind of pitiful, the way Nott went round lusting over people who'd never touch him - of whom there seemed to be quite a lot.

However, he couldn't help the smallest hint of a grin appearing on his face as the conversation turned to Quidditch - because it was quite true that Dom had been very entertaining - if not very safe to be around - whenever Gryffindor had lost. Quickly wiping the grin off his face, he shrugged. "Yeah well. Maybe they all asked for it. Though probably not as much as you did."

"Lucky for her," he retorted, on the subject of Devyn. "Expect she'll be relieved not to have you hanging around her any more." He gave Seb a disbelieving look. "Yeah, if you say so. Keep talking about it and you might convince someone other than yourself." He ignored the barb about himself, mostly because the idea of everyone lusting after him was horrifying.