t a k e a sip |Isaac|

[igloogirl]

Gabriella felt more exhausted than she had ever felt since she had become a vampire. Between working overtime at the Ministry (though she was technically in training), having randomly timed Quidditch practices, and wedding plans, there seemed to be a few too many things to do. She supposed she should have felt glad that she was a vampire, but in a way, she wished that she wasn't so that she wouldn't have taken on so many things at once. At least she didn't actually need sleep. Well, not for a while, at least.

Plopping down at the bar, Gabriella glanced around the Leaky Cauldron. It was mostly empty, spare for a few witches and wizards who, like her, had just gotten off work and were trying to drink the day away. Ordering a firewhiskey, Gabriella checked her watch. Isaac was supposed to meet her there in about five minutes, though she hardly expected him to be early.

The bartender slid over her firewhiskey and Gabriella drank deeply, glad for something that would make her feel a bit better, at least for a while. After another long drink, she pulled out her wedding notebook and looked through things to see what she still had left to do. The most obvious was the glaring problem of her wedding dress, which still hadn't arrived, despite the hopes of everyone involved, including the woman who had ordered it. Gabriella had become a bit impatient with the company that made the dress by now, but couldn't help but think that the beautiful gold dress might be worth the wait.

Slipping her wedding notebook back inside her cloak, she pulled out her work notebook and opened up the the page where she had written a coded message sent from a known Death Eater to a suspected one. It was rumored to be important, but no one had been able to crack the code just yet. Pencil moving across the letters and mind working quickly, Gabriella didn't notice the door to the Leaky Cauldron squeak open once more.

[malfoy]

"Hello love," said Isaac, taking the seat next to his fiance and placing a light kiss on her cheek. He ordered a large mead. There wasn't Quidditch practice tomorrow, and so he could afford to get to the vampire equivalent of drunk today. He might not go that far, but maybe have a mead or two. "They really are working you far too hard for just an intern," Isaac said, hopefully things wouldn't always be that way with his fiance.

[igloogirl]

Gabriella grinning, looking up as Isaac kissed her on the cheek. Looking back down at the code, she heard Isaac's next words. "Well, half the office is out on some mission or other," she replied. "I wouldn't be doing nothing even if they wanted me to." Gabriella ran the letters through her head once more. It was ridiculous, she wasn't going to get anywhere. "Anything in this code look familiar to you?" she asked, sliding it over to Isaac. He had grown up differently than she had; perhaps he would think of something else. If not...well she would figure it out eventually. But that was not a task for tonight.

[malfoy]

Isaac frowned a bit at the paper, trying to decipher it. He gave forth a slight chuckle. "Well, it might help if you weren't looking at it upside-down," said Isaac, then turned the paper around. It happened to be the same type of code he used to use when passing notes in class; a rather nasty one to try ad figure out, though. Isaac pulled out a spare bit of parchment and conjured himself a pen. Isaac started working on it, but the second he started to form the next letter, the paper he was writing on burst into flames. They self-extinguished when the paper had been reduced to cinders. "Whomever sent this really does not want anyone else to read it," Isaac said quietly.

[igloogirl]

"Apparently not," Gabriella agreed, biting her lips slightly once the flames had gone away. "Can you solve it in your head, or must it be done on paper?" she asked after a moment, trying to figure out if this was even possible. At least Isaac knew the code; that was a huge step in the right direction.

[malfoy]

"Trust me, if you know this you'll know you have to write it down, but the first letter is..." Isaac said, and then all of a sudden his mind went completely and entirely blank. He cocked his head to the side a bit, frowning. He looked down into his glass, and then back at Gabriella. "I'm sorry, what were we talking about?" said Isaac.

[igloogirl]

"The co-" Gabriella began, but then realized what had occurred. "Oh, it doesn't really matter. How have you been?" Closing her notebook, she put it back in her pocket, watching it shrink by magic. She didn't want anything worse to happen with the code, and figured she could ask Isaac about it another time.

[malfoy]

"Fair enough," said Isaac, as if nothing had ever happened, he didn't have any recollection of the code whatsoever. "Quidditch is going excellently. But I've been wondering if you still want to go to Romania for our honeymoon, plans could be altered because of... You know," With their rings they could go someplace warm and tropical instead of a different place that was cloudy.

[igloogirl]

"That's good," Gabriella replied with a nod, taking another sip of her firewhiskey. It was nice to know that Isaac's job was going well. He made an excellent beater. "And yes, I would still like to go to your family's castle. I don't know what it is, but something sounds quite awesome about saying 'I went to a castle in Romania for my honeymoon.'"

[malfoy]

"I guess it's the unique air to it," said Isaac. "Most everyone goes to Hawaii, or Fiji, or someplace like that." He didn't have a problem with going to Romania, he just wanted to be sure that Gabriella wouldn't rather go someplace warm and sunny, now that they had their rings, it wouldn't hurt them to go; but he was looking forward to spending about a month in Romania; he hadn't been there in such a long while, it would be interesting to explore with his soon-to-be wife.

[igloogirl]

Gabriella nodded knowingly. "Yes, it just seems like white noise to go somewhere tropical, and somewhat boring," she replied with a slight shrug. "I think we'll have fun in Romania." Gabriella downed the rest of her firewhiskey, briefly wondering how many more she could afford.

[malfoy]

"Oh, we'll have loads of fun," Isaac said with a smile. When he too finished off the rest of his drink, he used his hand to signal the bartender. "Another round, please," Isaac said, sliding enough money across the table to cover another firewhiskey and a mead for himself. The tender nodded and came back a few minutes later with their drinks.

[igloogirl]

"Thank you," Gabriella said as Isaac paid for another firewhiskey. He was often generous with his money, and while Gabriella didn't feel as bad as she used to about accepting it, she still would rather pay herself. She supposed it would be easier once they were married and had combined incomes. "Where do you want to live after the wedding?" Gabriella asked after a moment.