A Note on "Biscuits":

I know, you're thinking, "Where on earth is she finding the time to write brand new stories when we're still waiting for Chapter 20 of "Biscuits"? Well, in my defence, the vast majority of this was written in early 2010 with the intention of publishing it last St Patrick's Day, but was left unfinished. I'm only finishing it now, because – well... read on.

Regarding "Biscuits": I knew this was coming, the "Lavender business", and I've been dreading it. Mainly because I've already covered the events of sixth year in great detail in "Six Foot of Ginger Idiot", but also because I knew that I had another 10 chapters of angst and misery to write if I was going to finish the story at the end of sixth year, and 20 if I was going to carry on to the end of the war. It's taken me two years to write the first 19 chapters of this story and frankly, the thought of it taking another two years is not exactly a thrilling prospect. For the last few months I've been trying to complete some of my many unfinished projects, all the while hoping that my "Biscuits" mojo will return. I do want to finish the story, and I do want to take it through until the end of the war. I may have to rethink how I go about getting there, that's all. Shorter chapters (I know; imagine!) will almost certainly be one way to go. Thanks for your patience and I hope very much that normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

A Note on this story:

As regular readers will know, all my stories set after the end of 6th year disregard the events of Deathly Hallows. However, I have borrowed a couple of very minor incidents from that book, notably the attack on Lavender and the death of Colin Creevey. Everything else (and 90% of Seamus!) is all my own. Also, just because I like to make things harder for myself, this story will have real-time chapter postings. Apart from the first two, because my flatmate was on the phone and the internet connection cut out. Hmm, what can possibly go wrong?

Let the mayhem commence!

Pinky Brown, 17th March 2011

Pub Crawl

Chapter One: Charing Cross

March 17th 2000

5.47 p.m, The Leaky Cauldron

Seamus downed the dregs of his pint and slammed the glass purposefully down on the table.

"Right then, are we ready?"

"Yep."

"Got the tube map?"

Ron patted his pocket. "Yep."

"Got enough Muggle money on you?"

"Yeah, Hermione sorted it out for me."

"Got your Travelcard?"

"Yep."

Seamus raised an ironic eyebrow. "Did Hermione sort that out for you too?"

"No," retorted Ron, annoyed. "I am capable of doing some things on my own, you know. I'm not a complete moron. It's just the money I can't get my head around."

Seamus chuckled. "Come on, let's synchronise our watches."

"What?"

"Synchronise our watches."

Ron looked blank. "Why?"

"I dunno; that's what they always do in the fillums."

"Seamus, I'm going to be sitting next to you for the next -" He checked his watch and groaned. "Seven hours!"

Seamus laughed, and reached for his coat. "Exactly! So we'd better get a move on, hadn't we? Come on, drink up! Only another ten more pubs to go!"

Ron shook his head, downed the last of his pint, and followed Seamus out of the pub.

"I have a horrible feeling I'm going to regret this…"