You Spin Me Right Round! (Tag: Garf)

[ANTONIA RENNICK]

The thing with bad ideas was that they were great at masquerading themselves as good.

And to think that Antonia had originally planned on having a quiet night in...

The night started off easy with a glass of Latvian firewhiskey, 'just one glass', which of course turned into two glasses, which then birthed the genius idea to hit a magical nightclub in London where – you guessed it – more alcohol was consumed. At this point Antonia had worked up a nice buzz; she felt happy and relaxed like she hadn't felt in months, years even, dancing the night away as though she had not one care in the world.

She was offered shots and she downed them happily, dancing with the men that had bought them for her, eyes closed, heart pumping along with the electronic beat. In that moment, Antonia wasn't an ex-convict with a tarnished reputation and a struggling business; she was just a normal, fun-loving woman in her 30's blowing off some steam after a long workweek.

Someone encouraged her to climb up on the table and she went willingly, laughing and shaking her hips, completely oblivious to the fact that it gave people a front row seat up her short party dress. She was wearing red knickers today. House pride! Wohoo!

Everything was spinning, spinning, spinning.

"You spin me right 'round, baby, right 'round. Like a record, baby, right 'round, 'round, 'round!" Tonia sang with her full chest, both hands cupped around her mouth like a megaphone. It wasn't even the song currently playing. 

A man, possibly the bartender, was gesturing wildly and shouting something that sounded an awful lot like 'Get down from the table!' but could just as well have been 'Clowns are unstable!'. "Aye! Creepy f***ers, aren't they?" Tonia shouted back and laughed, but still took the hand offering to help her down, reaching for her glass once she was back on the floor.

Ohh... ohh... the world was really spinning now.

Maybe that last shot hadn't been such a good idea after all. Tonia stumbled, no longer finding the heavy bass enjoyable as she could now feel it pulsating in her temples like a persistent jungle drum, and only caught herself by pulling at someone's shirt sleeve. But righting herself proved to be even worse than staying down, and next thing she new she was throwing up all over a pair of cornflower blue stilettos. The unlucky woman that was on the receiving end of Tonia's gastric shower did not look particularly happy about getting her shoes repainted, face turning an alarming shade of red.

In her current state Tonia did not notice that the angry woman had drawn her wand...

---

TAG: GARFIELD HYDE || OUTFIT

[GARFIELD HYDE]

While his night hadn't started standing in the mirror fretting at wrinkles, it had certainly felt like it had been headed that way before Garf had dragged himself out of his home. Headed off to anywhere else, any distraction would do. So, a nightclub.

Now, hours later with the bass thumping through him like a second heartbeat and a good few shots down the hatch, Garf was finally starting to feel less like a sad old man and more like a normal old man. His feet moving from a sluggish shuffle to find a rhythm to a steady groove as the night progressed, none of his footwork particularly fancy and yet better than half the patrons who were already completely sloshed. Well, he was well on his way there too, Garf thought as his head bobbed along with the music.

A forebodingly familiar head of hair caught his eye as he twisted around again with the music. He said a silent prayer to whoever was listening, though it seemed increasingly possible that no one was, that it wasn't her. But no, he knew that figure clambering off balance onto a table. Tonia. He saw Tonia clambering drunkenly up onto a table.

Garf twisted again along with the music, even as his mind spun viciously and he desperately wished for another shot. Debated whether it was more worth his time to cut his losses and head out or fight his way back to the bar. It was only when he heard Tonia shouting from atop her table that the decision was made and Garf found himself shouldering his way through the crush of the crowd towards his ex. Damn his bleeding heart.

By the time he reached the table? It certainly felt too late.

Yeah, having a front row seat to Tonia throwing up all over some woman was definitely too late. Add in the truly astounding colors that the woman's face was turning and he wasn't feeling particularly optimistic. Yet Garf still found himself moving forward, wrapping an arm around Tonia too easily and giving the poor blue stilettoed woman an awkward grin, "Good thing we're all magic, eh?" He commented before casting a quiet scourgify at them.

It didn't seem to help, and if anything the shoes seemed worse off.

"Well Tonia, time to go. So sorry for, well, everything." Garf continued as he began to usher Tonia out of the club with no little sense of urgency. "C'mon Tonia, we've got to get moving before she figures out her shoes are well and truly fucked."

[ANTONIA RENNICK]

Over 67 million people in the United Kingdom and it just had to be him. The universe was clearly not done tormenting Antonia.

Of course, she was not too concerned about having made a complete arse of herself in front of her ex and some ninety other patrons just then. The shame would come later when all the alcohol had left her bloodstream, the hazy memories of table dancing and ruined shoes a bitter aftertaste that would feed many sleepless nights.

In that moment all her brain power was going towards trying to keep herself upright – and doing a poor job of it. She felt nauseous and sluggish and would have sunk down to the sticky floor if not for the strong arm wrapped around her. Tonia squeezed her eyes shut and leaned into it.

Garfield was saying something to the angry woman but Tonia wasn't listening to the words, tuned into the comforting familiarity of his voice, his cadence. She remembered when she used to fall asleep and wake up to that voice. With a sigh Tonia rested her heavy head on his shoulder and took a deep breath, a mix of sweat, alcohol and the cologne she would forever associate with him finding its way to her nostrils. Had it really been six years since she last saw him?

Her eyes snapped open when he started moving, leading her through the throng of sweaty, inebriated people on the dance floor and out to the biting cold. She was as steady as a newborn giraffe. "Wait," Tonia said, gripping onto his arm and looking up at him through unfocused eyes. The chilly midnight air made her shiver in her dress but did nothing to sober her up. "Babe, wait. Where 're we goin'?" Babe. It slipped off her tongue before she could stop it, adding to the growing list of embarrassing moments that would haunt her in the morning.

---

TAG: GARFIELD HYDE

[GARFIELD HYDE]

Holding onto Antonia felt all too familiar, and a bit like holding onto a bomb because he really didn't want her to barf on his shoes too. He should probably be more concerned about that second point than he was right now. Right now though he was far more focused on keeping Tonia upright, and on her head resting on his shoulder.

Too familiar. More familiar than he wanted to be thinking about.

It had been six years since the last time that he had seen her, nothing was allowed to feel this familiar. He was suing. Who? His brain. Taking most of her weight, however much he had to to keep her from falling on her face, or taking the both of them down. Out into the night's chill, and he wondered why he hadn't thought to bring a jacket along. But, it hadn't felt necessary back at the start of the night. Now, with Tonia stumbling along with him it felt a whole lot more necessary.

At Tonia's grip on his arm he stopped immediately, blinking down at her and immediately feeling bad as she shivered. Where were they going? He really didn't have a clue, and that wasn't helpful at all. "Shit. Hadn't thought that far." Garf sighed, running his spare hand through his hair roughly as he considered their options, pushing his brain to give him something.

"Do you think you could make it to a diner?" There were some of those that were open all night he knew, more than once he'd relied on their lukewarm waffles and coffee to sober him up after a long night. "Get you in somewhere warm," Garf added, fighting the urge to pull her closer to shield her from the cold. Not like he hadn't just carried her out of the night club but he really shouldn't be doing that. Should he? It didn't seem like such a bad idea but his brain was hard to trust right now.

[ANTONIA RENNICK]

If Antonia had run into Garfield at a better time, there were many things she would have liked to say to him, things that were long overdue. But stood outside shivering in the crisp January air with a headache the size of a hippogriff, all Tonia could think about was how she didn't want to move, both body and mind telling her that she was safe right where she was.

But they couldn’t stand out there all night delaying the inevitable.

“Hmm?” she said, brows furrowing. Was he hungry? The mere thought of greasy diner food made Tonia’s stomach turn, but it was probably a good idea to try to eat something. After all, she had left her dinner with a pair of blue stilettos. “Yeah, we can go,” she answered after a moment, though she didn’t mind the cold if it meant he would stay close. The realization made her feel needy and pathetic, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. She needed this, needed to feel wanted if only for one night. She gripped his arm a little tighter as they began walking.

Then, because her mouth had decided to be Pettigrew levels of traitorous tonight, she blurted, “Y’now, Garfie… I’ve food at home if you’re hungry. My friend Sera, you know Sera? @seraphim ? She makes this amazing garlic bread.” Tonia was gesturing wildly with the arm that wasn’t holding onto him, the movement making her sway dangerously as she rambled on, “Like, out of this world. An’ she taught me how to make it. An’ I got some. At my flat. You wanna try it? I promise it’s good.” She finished the sentence with a small hiccup and blinked large, expectant eyes at him. “Oh, and I’ve wine too. Red, white. Whatever you want. Firewhiskey, too.”

She felt miserable, like an orchestra was playing ‘Shotakovich’s Symphony No. 10’ inside her skull, but she didn’t want the night to end. Tomorrow she would pick up the pieces and fuse herself back together into the self-sufficient person she had been forced to become, but tonight she wanted to pretend.

---

TAG: GARFIELD HYDE

[GARFIELD HYDE]

In another universe maybe there were other Garf's who knew how to deal with this sort of situation but, maybe a lot of things. That Garf in whatever world or universe or whatever probably knew what he was meant to do. Too bad they couldn't give him a hint, really. None of which would help him find somewhere warm, and all he really wanted to do was get back to somewhere warm and he was starting to care less about where that where was the more the chill set in. He suppressed a shiver and tried to focus on warm things. Warm thoughts only.

His mind circled right back to Tonia, warm against him and his arms still curled around her.

There was a part of him that railed against the fact that he was in this situation as if he'd ever desert her in a situation like that. The part that would rile on occasion when her words came back to him but, being mad felt too hard right now and they had just started moving again anyway, "Yeah, alright." Garf tightened his arm around her waist just to hold her up, just to hold her up.

Sera? "I'm not sure I know her," It wasn't a name he recognized straight out it had been eight years. after all. Still, he blinked consideringly at her suggestion, tilting his head back to stare at what stars he could see. "Oh garlic bread," Garf turned his attention back to tighten his arm a bit as Tonia tilted, and found himself smiling fondly at her broad gestures. Then her eyes were on him, wide and dark and Garf couldn't help himself from nodding along immediately, "Garlic bread sounds amazing." He responded, "And Firewhiskey doesn't sound half bad either." Agreeing without a thought to the voice of responsibility screaming in the back of his mind.

Maybe he would regret agreeing to this in the morning he probably would, but that was a problem for the morning. Right now, Garf had warm garlic bread waiting for him and spending more time with Tonia and maybe one of those shouldn't be so appealing. But, that wasn't his problem right now.

[ANTONIA RENNICK]

Six long, eventful years had passed yet in that moment it felt like no time had passed at all; if Tonia closed her eyes she could pretend that they were still their old selves, that she was still the Tonia from before her sister's accident and the life changing mistakes that followed. The Tonia that had been truly happy.

But that was an unattainable fantasy that she wouldn't do well to dwell on. However, the alcohol had relegated her brain to the backseat, leaving her heart do all the talking. Her stupid heart that longed for closeness no matter how hard she tried to convince herself that she was doing fine by herself.

So she trained big, hopeful eyes on Garfield and invited him over for garlic bread and whiskey on a complete whim, and for some reason he agreed. His readiness to accept was something to pick apart later but right then it sparked a jolt of excitement in Tonia that she clinged on to as tightly as she was clinging to Garf's arm.

Tonia let out little laugh. "The best garlic bread, I tell you," she said, mostly to herself, and hummed, leaning on Garf as they walked. But they hadn't gotten very far when Tonia stopped abruptly.

"Wait." Tonia put a hand on his arm and gestured at their surroundings with the other one. "We're in Diagon Alley," she remarked, a small furrow marring her forehead. "I live in Hogsmeade."

There were many things she wouldn't have remembered in that moment but she did remember the lesson about safe apparition. "Are you good to apparate us or should we take the bus?" Tonia was certainly too far gone to apparate them. The knight bus would take longer but better safe than splinched.

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TAG: GARFIELD HYDE

[GARFIELD HYDE]

He probably shouldn't be agreeing to this, and he knew that on some level. Knew that agreeing to go back to her place would open up old wounds and that he was going to hurt in the morning (could feel the ghost of the sting now). But right now that didn't feel so important, so urgent. So, he could tell his brain that it was being silly. Push it off as him worrying over it too much and forget about it for the time being. He was happy right now, and that was all that he needed to know.

Garf blinked when Tonia put her hand on his arm, coming to a stop and swaying a bit at the abruptness. "Yeah?" He asked, not too concerned about anything past the chill of the night at this point. "Oh. That is a problem." Garf's eyebrows drew together and he frowned, that was really quite far away. He wasn't sure how far, couldn't summon up a number in his mind, but he knew that it was as far as Hogwarts. That was a lot. How could they even get there if it was so far away?

Apparition. Right, apparition existed. He'd forgotten about that. "Uh," Garf paused, then gave a helpless shrug, running his spare hand through his hair. "I forgot about apparition," He admitted quietly and rather sheepishly. Garf sighed, "We should probably take the bus then." It wasn't something that he was thrilled about Garf thought as they started walking again, this time just to the street, but it wasn't bad. Not really, anyway.

Garf held out his arm, wand extended, to call for the knight bus once they reached the road. While he wasn't looking forward to the ride exactly, Garf was looking forward to garlic bread.

[ANTONIA RENNICK]

‘Oh, that is a problem’ he said. Tonia snorted, suppressing the urge to roll her eyes like she used to do in response to Garfield’s antics when they dated. It would have made her feel more dizzy, anyway. “A wee bit,” she agreed, emotions she knew that she had no right to be feeling making her chest flutter in a way it hadn’t in a long time. They were much harder to suppress than an eye-roll, her gaze returning to Garf’s handsome face despite her best efforts to keep her eyes on the road and her legs moving.

He forgot about apparition? Tonia giggled, shaking her head at the ridiculousness of the situation. She immediately regretted it. “Ow.” Tonia leaned on him again, closing her eyes and taking a few breaths to fight off the sudden nausea that came over her. “Ok, I’m good,” she said after a minute, the cold helping to fend it off.

Soon Garfield called for the bus and it appeared with a bang, making Antonia jump and cover her ears. “Bloody loud,” she complained, scowling at the purple double-decker like it was a personal insult. How had it existed so long and was still so loud? That thing desperately needed an upgrade, she thought. 

“Come on then, garlic bread and whiskey awaits!” Tonia announced after a moment, pulling Garfield towards the bus. The doors opened and the conductor stepped out, welcoming them to the Knight Bus in a cheerful tone that did not match his bored facial expression. “Helloooo mister conductor!” Tonia greeted the man, slurring her words. “We wanna go to Hogsmeade, please.” She dug around in her purse for some coins for the fare, but when she held them out to the man she managed to drop them. “Shite.”

Tonia could have used her wand to collect them, but it was as though she had forgotten she had one. Not being allowed her wand during her imprisonment had felt like losing a limb and it had taken a long time to get used to, and now a year after getting it back she still caught herself doing things the muggle way at times. With no thought for her pretty dress, Tonia went down on her hands and knees on the damp ground to try to find the escaped sickles. The task was made more difficult by the darkness. “Garf, help me look.”

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TAG: GARFIELD HYDE

[GARFIELD HYDE]

Well, Garf felt incredibly silly. Who just forgot about apparition? Everyone apparated! It's just what they did. He might as well forget about broomsticks next! For as much as he didn't have much of a mind to mount a broomstick. Ever. Even he knew about them. Right? … what were they talking about again? Definitely not how she had the prettiest laugh around. He wasn't allowed to think things like that; nope, nope, nope. Traitorous brain.

Garfield easily took the extra weight as she leaned against him, glancing down in concern and just stopping himself from pressing a hand to her head. Shouldn't do that. "Good. Good that you're good." That was a sentence that made sense, right? It certainly didn't feel like it but who was he to judge himself?

He jerked as the Knight Bus banged into existence, lifting his spare hand to help cover Tonia's ears. Not that that'd be much help now of course.

Garf grinned as Antonia led the way onto the bus. Garlic bread and Whiskey indeed. It still sounded so magical. He was happy to step back and let Tonia talk to the conductor, his head was spinning just a bit - but he managed to stay upright easily enough. Just had to sway with the swaying in his head or something. Garfield blinked wide, shell-shocked eyes as the coins Tonia held out fell to the floor though. Shit, shit, shit. He didn't even think of his wallet before he was stooping to the ground, peering under the seats.

"I'll help, I'll help." He murmured, knees finally hitting the floor as he couldn't manage to stoop low enough and he reached for his wand to cast a quiet lumos to light their way. Launching himself under a nearby seat to grab one, "Got one!" He crowed cheerfully, as he began building a neat little collection in the hand not holding his wand. "We'll have these all cleaned up in no time, promise!"

[ANTONIA RENNICK]

While Antonia and Garfield crawled around on the floor like Velma looking for her lost glasses the conductor stood watching them with his arms crossed, a disdainful look upon his face. They were delaying the bus, but Tonia was unaware, mind set on collecting all the coins like a character in Subway Surfers. It was quite fun.

Feeling a sudden rush of competition, Tonia threw a discreet glance over at Garf to check how many coins he had found. When she spotted one under the seat on her right she giggled and let out a triumphant, "Found another one!"

The conductor let them carry on for half a minute before heaving a deep sigh that spoke of years of customer service and took out his wand to help them along. Tonia, who was having a surprising amount of fun gasped as the coin she was holding up flew out of her hand, the scattered sickles following it straight into the conductor's pocket.

Tonia whipped around and fixed him with an affronted look. "Hey!"

The man shook his head, giving them a sarcastic "You're welcome" before putting his wand away.

Antonia grimaced and turned to Garf, giving him a look that said, 'Can you believe this grump just ruined our fun?'

With no coins left to collect, Tonia grabbed the edge of the nearest seat and pulled herself up, the action slow and graceless. "Come on, I can't wait to show you my new TV setup," she said, eyes filled with excitement, and held a hand out for Garfield in case he needed help getting up.

---

TAG: GARFIELD HYDE

[GARFIELD HYDE]

Honestly, collecting all of these galleons was going to take forever! And yet he couldn't possibly think of a more convenient way to collect them other than on his hands and knees. Truly, a pity. At least he had his wand to guide the way. He glanced up at the conductor occasionally, apologizing profusely for the delay as they collected the galleons one by one.

"Oooh! Another!" He wasn't sure if they were keeping track of who got the most but Garf certainly felt like he was winning. It was probably because he could see them all, what with his wand. Garf's eyebrows drew together and he frowned mournfully as the sickles and galleons that he had collected shot from his hand, along with all the other ones left on the floor! "Hey!" He managed, before he realized it was the conductor who had done it.

"Ah, good move there mate! I think you won!" His expression turned cheerfully happy as he stood, brushed himself off, and gave the conductor a grin. Garf almost managed to shake the man's hand in congratulations but the man just turned away, shaking his head. For all of his congratulations for the conductor he agreed with Tonia after a moment, what a party pooper!

Garf nodded enthusiastically, "I can't wait to see it!"

And then the bus gave a loud bang! and they were off.

[ANTONIA RENNICK]

Antonia couldn’t remember the last time she had acted so silly and carefree. She wished she could credit it to the alcohol, but she knew – or would realize hours later when she sobered up – that most of it was thanks to the man crawling across the dirty floor with her, cheering with every collected coin. It was taking her back to simpler times, back to the things they used to get up to before Tonia lost her way and their relationship started crumbling like an old packet of digestives left forgotten in the back of the pantry.

She was giggling, mind free of any concerns that normally plagued her waking hours, and it wasn’t until the conductor put a stop to their antics and she was finally seated next to Garf, eyes unable to leave his still familiar profile, that those thoughts started creeping back.

Was this a bad idea? Probably.

But she didn’t want to think about any potential outcomes right now; she wanted to shut off her brain and just roll with the tide for once, see what shore it would wash her up on.

Before long, the bus screeched to a stop, propelling Antonia forward with startling force. She held her arms out reflexively so as not to crash into the seat in front of her. “Oops,” she giggled, jumping out of her seat and pulling at Garf’s arm excitedly.

“Come on, we're here. I live in the flat above Honeydukes.” Tonia pointed to said building through the big windows and gestured for him to follow. “Bye grumpy conductor!” she called over her shoulder when they stepped off, breathing in the familiar scents of the Scottish village and giving a small sigh.

It was cooler here than in London, Tonia giving a full body shiver in her thin dress. She hurried across the cobbled road to the candy shop that had been her main focus since her release from prison, the clicking sound of her heels echoing against stone.

The Hogwarts castle could be glimpsed in the far distance, and it reminded her of another person that had been as important to her as Garfield, once. Stopping in the middle of the street, she looked over at Garfield, almost shyly. “Finnley started Hogwarts this year, didn’t she?”

Thinking about Garfield's daughter always brought a stab of pain to Antonia's chest, and she had to swallow it down to continue speaking. She wanted to ask so many things about the girl that had once been her pseudo daughter, but she lost that right a long time ago. Instead she kept her questions light and generic. “How is she enjoying it?”

Tonia didn’t want to linger on that topic, forcing her thoughts to the alcohol that awaited them in their apartment. With renewed excitement, she took the final steps toward her shop. “Let’s grab some chocolate on our way up!” she suggested, grinning wide.

With arms full of snacks she led him up the spiral staircase leading up to her flat, a nervous feeling in her stomach.

Chocolate, alcohol, and her ex.

What could possibly go wrong?

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TAG: GARFIELD HYDE