I know, its dire. Trying to interact with nice people when stone cold sober, Id rather be shot in the foot. In fact, if you have a gun handy do it.

Well that answered one question Modesty had had, or at least she assumed it did. Wizards, even muggleborn ones, did not seem to talk about guns or shooting. After five years of Hogwarts even Modesty had found that she was as likely to come out with something about hexing so and so rather that hitting them. Not that she would in most cases reach for wand over fist. There was something reassuring real about muggle fighting, there was more control, more contact, more adrenaline. There was no way magic could compare to that. The fact that Jam himself appeared to be a muggle was neither here nor there. Modesty had not taken her wand to the BBQ, there was after all no where to conceal it when wearing so little material. Most would probably deem her mad to walk around so vulnerable, however she was not one to feel comforted by the presence of a wand, at the end of the day if she came across anyone who seriously wanted to harm her there was little she could do with her simple knowledge of hexes and spells against someone versed in the dark arts.

"You wouldn't be leaving the party already would you Mods? Not even a hello for your former housemate? I'm crushed. Here I was expecting hugs and kisses rained upon my face, and I don't even get a hello."

She looked at the boy, who was more a man now than a boy, as he sat next to her, her dark eyes widened in surprise and her mouth curled into a genuinely affectionate smile. Modesty would never understand how anyone could not like Dam; he was just one of those people who never failed to make you feel good. However in spite of the friendly greeting Modesty couldnt help but feel something had changed within the newly graduated Gryffindor. Of course she had heard about his brother, and she could only assume it had something to do with the tired look about Dams eyes.

Dam! I never realised you were here, this was true, in her quick and dismissive scan of the guests she had failed to spot her old housemate. Perhaps he was wearing too much clothing, one of the last times she had seen him he had appeared from the middle of a cake wearing next to nothing. So now you want those kisses? she grinned, her tone light. Dam and her had never been more than friends, however she would not have said no to him.

Merlin,

Her eyes flicked back to Jam in time to catch his eye roll. Certainly Damocles demeanour was not to everyones liking. Even Modesty had thought before that he was entirely too happy at times. However he had cheered her up more than once so she was not about to criticise his attitude to life. What was more interesting was that all of Modestys previous assumptions now seemed baseless. Merlin was a wizards curse, something she had never heard a muggle use. It was surprising, everything about Jam had been pointing towards him being a muggle. It sat easier with her if she was honest, not that she really cared either way, she just didnt like being wrong.

She watched them introduce themselves, Jams display of formal manners and cheeriness as surprising as his earlier language. It didnt fit with the image Modesty had built up of him, and image heavily tainted by assumption and bias. The druggies Modesty knew were not big on manners and certainly didnt fake cheeriness. For it was fake if his earlier comments were anything at all to go on. All in all she decided to throw any and all assumptions out the window now before they too were proven false.

So, you two are close I take it?

Close? Modesty wouldnt have said close, but then again Modesty was truly close to few people. She was close to Lia; she supposed she was close to Sirius, though there were mutually selfish motives for that. Perhaps compared to other people she was close to Dam. He was a friend, but then in Modestys mind Dam was one of those people who was like a friend of the world. Someone else in her position may have just left Dam to answer, however Modesty didnt see the need to.

Yeah, I guess, deciding in fact she did not really know the answer she turned to Dam, her fingers rapping off the nearly empty beer can, Are we close? It was rare that Modesty couldnt answer such questions, and her smile bore traces of amusement and confusion, Close enough, though I did manage tae no see you, she added, a grin sent in Dams direction. However no matter how much she liked Dam, there was part of Modesty that still wanted to leave, and no amount of school friends was going to change that now.