Sunday's were always lazy quiet days for Katie, being it was the only day she had to herself all week. No Quidditch, no responsibilities. She'd taken the puppy monsters out to the beach, visited her mum, and spent the rest of the day helping out in the pub. There wasn't really much to do though, as Sundays were generally pretty quiet, mostly regulars.

One such regular was sitting in his normal corner, eating the same fish and chips and the same lager he'd been ordering on Sunday evenings for as long as Katie could remember. Harold Gumtree was a burly, jovial old wizard with a grizzly peppered beard always full of smiles and fantastical stories. Katie had spent more than one Sunday evening sitting with Harold in his booth visiting and listening to his tales.

Currently, Harold was telling her of the goblin he arm wrestled in a backwoods pub in Romania. Katie smiled at him, entertained even if she did find many of Harold's stories more than a little unbelievable. Her eyes flicked up to the bar where Aiden was smiling at her and she gave him a quick grin, eyes twinkling as they both silently laughed over Harold's antics. Turning back to the old wizard across from her, she took a sip of her butterbeer, hiding the wry smile pulling at her lips in her mug.

Cormac walked into the The Broom Shed in search of two things: Katie and a large drink of something with a high alcohol content. Spotting Katie sitting with a customer, he headed over to greet her dad. "Aiden," he said as he sidled up to the bar. "How have you been? And while you're answering that, would you please get me something extremely innebriating to drink?" He saw Aiden reaching for a shot glass. "Bigger, please. Either that or line up a row of them. It's been a rough week."

Pulling out a highball glass and setting it in front of the younger man, Aiden filled it half full of Ogden's Old before setting the bottle on the counter and reaching his hand across to shake and nodding his head, "McLaggen," at the other man's firm grip. Cormac was a friend of Katie's and he'd always been more than proper. "Been good. Business is moving and Katiegirl is home." Raising his brow, a wry smile tugging at his lips, he continued, "I take it that's why you're here then, yeah? Haven't seen you around in awhile, after all." Then eyeing the glass that Cormac was currently sipping generously, he said, "though it does look to have been rather rough."

"Women and work. Enough said." Chugging the remaining contents of the glass, he moved it forwards toward Aiden. "Another, please."

Aiden chuckled as he refilled the younger man's glass. "Yes, more than enough I'd think."

Katie gave a final, affectionate pat to Harold's hand as she slid out of the booth when she turned to head back to the bar to see if her help was needed. As she wove around the tables, she saw her dad talking to a stuffy Ministry worker and her eyes lit at the sight. That dark, hand-ruffled hair couldn't be anyone's but Cory's. She met her dad's eyes over his head as she walked up and he gave her a little smile and a nod before wandering off down the bar. Coming up next to him, she tip toed up and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead while she smoothed his hair down. "Hey, Cory. You're hair's all mussed from you stressing over it. That rough a day, huh?"

A smile lit up Cormac's face and he threw an arm around Katie's waist. "No worse than the rest of my week. How's my favorite girl? I was hoping you'd be here."

"She's pretty good." Katie smiled up at him. "Happy that her friend dropped in to to see her." She reached over to loosen his tie, more out of habit than anything. "I know you were all stressed earlier this week, but I take it didn't get any better?" Then glancing up to his face from where her fingers were pulling at the fabric, she asked, "Everything's okay, right?"

"Everything's fine. Just a long week. Had to take care of someone who was causing problems for the department. Meetings. Paperwork. Women. Not necessarily in that order." He eyed Katie wearily, fearing he had implied too much when he mentioned 'taking care of people'. He ducked his head, letting Katie remove his tie from around his neck and tossed it in his bag. "Thanks. I forget I have it on sometimes. It's my ministry collar."

Katie crinkled her nose at the list of real work things that were plaguing him. "That all sounds just ... ick." Then, face smoothing out in innocent interest, she leaned towards him, interested. "But what's this you say about women? Did things not go well with Alicia? Or is there someone else?"

"Alicia? Hmm...well, I think that ship has sailed. I seem to do exactly the opposite of what she expects." He grimaced slightly. "I don't think she'll want to see me again anyway, not after last night."

"That's alright, Cory. You always seem to turn out just fine where women are concerned, in the end." A small smile tugging at her lips, she continued, "And if I know you at all, you've another bird you're thinking about already, yes?"

He grinned. "You do know me well, don't you, beautiful?" Cormac took another long drink. "Speaking of attractive female Quidditch players, great game yesterday. Way to kick some arse; you never disappoint."

"Thanks, Cory." Katie grinned as she gave him a light squeeze around the waist before hitching up her hip to slide on the barstool next to him. "I try to do my part, put some points on the board, work hard for the other girls. All the credit really goes to the team though. Everyone worked for each other, everyone on the same page and just having fun. Thankfully having fun usually means winning though."

"You're way too modest, as usual, but I suppose that's part of your charm," Cormac said with a grin. "Now, I'm going to get my glass refilled, and then I want to hear about your week, if I may?" He raised an eyebrow as if to suggest Katie had been holding out on him, and turned to find Aiden and his fabulous bottle of firewhisky.

Katie glanced down the bar where her dad was chatting with one of the regulars and hopped off her stool to walk around the other side. Grabbing the bottle of Ogden's that Aiden had left out, she filled Cormac's glass half way and he nodded his thanks. Setting it down again, she leaned over and put her elbows down, face cradled between her hands and grinned at her friend. "My week, huh? Saw both Angie and Alicia. Girl talk and dancing and margaritas and sombreros. Also dropped in on Fred Weasley." She debated telling him about seeing Fred the night before at the Muggle club where she'd noticed that he smelled rather nice and that his fingers on her skin made goosebumps, but decided that those little details were best left to ... well, herself and maybe Tonksy. "I also saw someone from school I haven't seen since, completely random, and kind of an unexpectedly nice surprise."

"It's always interesting running into old school chums, isn't it? Hmm... both Angie and Alicia?" He smirked. "But how is Fred? I saw him awhile back; he looked distracted. I hope he's doing well," he said. Cormac finished his drink and pulled some money out of his wallet and set it on the bar. "I better settle up now before I'm tempted to drink the whole bloody bottle."

"You need any help home, Cory? Just in case? I don't want you to splinch yourself," Katie said, brow furrowing in concern.

Had it been any other female alive asking that question, he would have scoffed. Loudly. But this was his Katie. "Would you mind, beautiful?" he said, thinking of the nasty drinking while apparating incident he had read about in The Prophet last week. "I'm quite partial to my arse and lips staying where they belong."

After Cormac gathered his jacket and bag, Katie took his arm, pulling him towards the stairs leading to her dad's apartment and the apparation point there. She glanced up at him, a mischievous twinkle in her eye and a wicked smile pulling at her lips. "As does this mysterious lady friend you've yet to tell me about, yes?"