Have you ever felt alone in a crowded room?
Date: March 3, 2005
Characters: Ludo Bagman, Caradoc Dearborn
Location: Five Alarm
Status: Semi-private (it's a public place)
Summary: A chance encounter at the Five Alarm.
Completion: Complete
Ludo stared morosely at the polished counter of the bar at the Five Alarm. He squinted and saw past the surface at his reflection staring back at him. Had there been bags under his eyes two nights ago? He was sure there hadn't been - or perhaps he was simply seeing things. It didn't matter, he was here to relax, to get away from things, to...to simply forget for a while.
As of late, a “while” had lengthened itself from a day, to a week, to a fortnight, to a....
Merlin, how many nights had he spent here in the Five Alarm, with company, or more commonly, alone? The jokes and smiles and laughs that he shared with his acquaintances - Lee Jordan and Molly Weasley - were all fine and well, but at the end of the nights spent with them there was always a lasting emptiness that left him unsatisfied, unfulfilled, and ultimately, empty. And so, in order to fill that gaping hole - that place in his life that should have been occupied by his friends or his family - he came here and he drowned that emptiness with Firewhisky, Guinness, anything he could afford.
He felt around in his pocket and he dropped a few sickles on the bar; a cold glass of Guinness was left in front of him. Ludo raised his mug in a mock cheer to no one and he drank.