She knew the moment someone walked in. Had to be the Auror the Ministry said they were sending. Mac popped up from behind the bar where she'd been reaching down for something, intent on saying a good morning to whomever they'd thought to send only to find herself looking at Harry Potter. She gaped instead. They'd sent Harry Potter for a drunk? He was slightly different than she recalled him being in school. Not that they'd known one another then. But everyone knew Harry Potter on sight. He had a bit more hair that was a bit more unruly.

Then Mac realized she was staring. Appreciatively, because my he was a handsome one, but staring still.

"Mornin'," she offered. If she were the getting embarrassed sort, which she was not, she'd have been mortified by how husky her voice had sounded and how thick her brogue seemed to be while staring at him. "Thanks for showin' so quick. I've him in a bindin' in th'storeroom. Would ya like to go back there wit me or are there questions tha' needs answerin'. I never had to deal wit an Auror a'fore."

Then she smiled at him. He certainly was a pretty thing for a man.

She looked a little young to be running the Three Broomsticks in Harry's opinion, but he shrugged. "The ministry doesn't usually send out an Auror for a drunkard. I'm just a trainee. We also don't normally ask them questions. Drunks tend to be past coherent thought." He waved an arm. "Show me the way."

He followed her when she started to lead him towards the back. He rose an eyebrow, not really used to seeing a skirt matched with combat boots. He couldn't exactly say he disliked the look, at least not on her. He tore his eyes from her legs and stared at the back of her head. "What did you say your name was?"

Mac looked over her shoulder at him. "I dinna say. It's Morag MacDougal. Mac, iffen ya please. No one ever calls me Morag lest they're wantin' an arse whippin'. And no' the good kind. We were at Hogwarts together, no' tha' I expect ya to be rememberin' me. I were in Ravenclaw and quiet back then to boot. And I dinna mean for ya to be askin' the lush and letch questions. I meant iffen ya had any for me."

She stopped in the doorway to the storeroom and gestured to the man bound and lying on his side on the floor. "M'brother will appreciate ya gettin' out so fast, but no' that he missed ya. Even though I were the one doin' all the work wit this."

Harry nudged the man with the toe of his shoe. "You've got a good binding spell." When he looked back up at her, she was grinning widely. Apparently she took that as a compliment. Excellent. His eyebrows furrowed. "MacDougal? You wouldn't happen to be Connor and Brody's little sister, would you? Merlin, the way they talk about you, I pictured a twelve-year-old in Ravenclaw robes and pigtails."

She leaned back against the door frame with a wicked grin gracing her features. "I am. Bro bought the place after the war. I help him tend it. And I still have m'robes, and pigtails can be arranged iffen tha's what yer into."

Laughing, Harry flicked his wand at the man, casting a quick awakening spell. The man began to stir. He turned back to her. "Pigtails aren't really my thing." He surveyed her for a second. "I knew Connor. He was a good man."

Mac nodded, surprised by the sudden pain in her chest that still happened every so often when someone mentioned Connor. She had to wonder what Harry Potter was into though. He was awfully pretty. Who knew that gawky thing from school would turn into this? Not that she'd been much interested in boys in school. Well, there had been one boy, but that had ended very badly. She was pretty interested now these days though. Kept trying them on like pairs of pants, much to her brother's horror. She had yet to find the right fit.

And she wasn't going to think on that just now.

"Appreciated," she finally replied.

Mac was at a complete loss as to what to say to him now. She didn't want him to leave. She wasn't finished with her in person research of the man. So far she could make little of him out, but the little she had made wasn't unlikeable. Other women had problems with being too bold and too blunt. Not her though. Never that. She said what she meant, and she meant what she said.

"In a hurry to get back then? I could see what we have iffen yer hungry or thirsty or... whatever. I do believe it's just m'self, you, and Gut-rot Gus here. I dinna think he'll mind ya puttin' off his departure."

Harry rose an eyebrow, looking at the man, who was currently drooling onto the dirty wood floor. He shrugged. "I can't drink, what with it being the morning. I tend to end up like him when I do so anyway. I wouldn't say no to a butterbeer, though." He moved from the doorway, leaving the man there. The ministry had sent him out on a useless and unneeded errand. He saw no reason to be rushing back. He smiled at Mac. "Do you have anything cold?"

"As far as beverages go, aye. I have stuff tha's warm iffen yer in the mood for tha' too."

She pushed off of the door frame and headed back up front, a bit more of a sway in her hips than was really necessary. Brody would die if he saw her right now. He got so irritated when she flirted with men. She had the distinct feeling he'd be as happy as a hog in shite if she decided to become a nun. She was all but alone with a handsome man. What else was she supposed to do?

Mac popped the top on a butterbeer and handed it to him with a smile, wishing she knew exactly when Brody would be back so she'd know if she had enough time to try to lure Harry Potter out of his pants.

He took the bottle slowly, pulling it across the bar towards him. He was used to women flirting with him, but most of them did so by giggling obscene amounts and telling him how brave he was. This was a much better type of flirting in his eyes. He looked past her, regarding the mirror that he'd looked into so many times during his years at Hogwarts. "How long has your brother owned the Sticks? Last I heard it was still boarded up."

"Less than a year. Our first Hogsmeade weekend is comin' up. He's a bit nervous. Drunks he can handle. Third years, he's thinkin' he might have a problem wit," she chuckled then. "He's hopin' he dinna have to go hexin' any of the older boys for touchin' inappropriate, but I'm thinkin' he'll no' have a chance for tha'. Anyone who touches iffen I dinna want them to gets broken bones. I grew up no' too terrible far from here. Nem's Nook. It's a wizarding village like here. Only not entirely wizards. The muggles tha' live there know about magic though. It's near Inverness."

At his look, she clarified.

"Near Loch Ness."

Harry nodded, taking a sip of the butterbeer. "Well, Madam Rosmerta handled it fairly well. I'm sure you and Brody will do just fine." He tossed a look towards the back, where he knew her binding spell was still holding the drunk. "I don't think you'll have much to worry about. Your wand looks pretty quick. Quick enough to take down a drunk in the middle of the morning, anyway." He smirked at her, taking another drink.

He had no idea how quick she could be, and not just with her wand. Mac leaned on the counter a bit.

"He was the only one about, and it's no' as if he were stealthy. I dinna have to be tha' fast."

Once again, she was at a loss. She wondered if he'd be offended by her just staring at him. The way his Adam's apple bobbed when he swallowed was turning her on a bit. It had been a bit since she'd tried a bloke on for size.

He set the bottle down on the bar. She was obviously flirting with him, bent over the bar like that. He ignored the urge to look down the front of her shirt. Merlin, what would Hermione say if she saw him? He tried his best to focus on her face, smiling slightly. He hadn't flirted in ages, unless it was trying to convince the receptionist to give him a file ahead of the rest of the people in her queue. He leaned forward, one elbow on the bar. "Well, the most they'll do to him is throw him in a Ministry holding cell and fine him for public intoxication. Just a few sickles, but it looks like he'll miss the drinking money."

He smiled again, feeling like an idiot. He hadn't dated anyone since Ginny. Dating, being the main word, and dating wasn't what Mac had in her eyes.

She could smell him. He smelled male. Slightly spicy too. Crisp. Something not feminine. She liked it. A lot. Mac wondered if she'd be too forward in asking him up to her room right quick. She could put up a closed sign. People wouldn't start trickling in until closer to noon hour anyhow. She had not had this instant of a sexual want for someone in an age. She didn't know if she wanted him for anything else, but she did want him in her bed. At least once. That was always the case with her - at least once. Then she didn't want them for anything else. She'd yet to find a man to hold her attention for longer. Not that she was opposed to it. It just had yet to happen. The bloke needed that extra something. She wasn't sure what that was, but she had not found it in anyone to date.

Mac leaned a bit closer to him. He probably wasn't allowed to take sex breaks on his job.

Well, if she was going to bend over more, he couldn't really be held for where his eyes wandered, now could he? He let his eyes linger on the piece of flesh exposed at the top of her shirt before his eyes darted back to her face. "So is this what you've been doing since school ended? Waiting tables? No offense, but you look like you could have much better uses than a barmaid."

Mac snorted. "This is better than what m'family would have me be... wife and mother to many. At least Brody doesna want me to settle down and start poppin' out wee ones like everyone else. I dinna just wait tables. I have other talents."

She was femininely pleased that her charms were not going unnoticed. Though she'd best stop before her brother walked in and saw her attempting to shag Harry Potter on the bar.

"Of that, I have no doubt." Harry snorted, drinking the last of the butterbeer before setting it on the bar. He slid off the stool, standing and grabbing his wand from his sleeve. He flicked it towards the back room, hearing as the man was levitated towards the front. He grinned at Mac. "Thanks for the butterbeer. I'll be sure to stop back in sometime soon."

"Make it real soon, aye?" Mac said, not hiding anything at all. She'd give him a lick goodbye, but that might be entirely too forward, and she didn't want to go scaring him off.

Harry pointed the body towards the door, leading it front of him. On his way out, he turned back and looked at Mac. "Make sure those boys don't get too forward with you, yeah? I don't want to have to be called back out here on business. Only pleasure." He smirked before making his way out onto the street.

"Potter," she called.

He turned around.

"Top of the stairs, first door on the left," and straight on til morning, she nearly added.

"What's that?"

"Where m'room is," she grinned wickedly and pointed up. "Tha's m'window."

She saw her brother coming down the street.

Harry rose an eyebrow at her, unable to stop himself from returning her smirk. "I'll have to remember that." He turned, smiling and nodding at Brody as he made his way past, the drunk bobbing along in front of him.

Mac sighed and sagged back against the door frame. She really needed to learn not to go so long between having friends with benefits. It made her too feisty and too forward for words, but at least Harry Potter didn't seem put off by her approach. In fact, he seemed into it. That was good.

"What are ya about?" Brody asked suspiciously as he watched Harry Potter disapparate with the drunk.

"This and tha'."

{SUMMARY} Harry meets the new barmaid at Three Broomsticks.