Last night was a dream, and whether it was a fantasy or a nightmare he didn't know. He had found a great woman, who caught his interest like no other, yet she was forbidden. Usually he didn't really care, the worst part was that forbidden caught his attention all the more, wanting to break the rules.

He knew that was his libido talking and he ignored it immediately wanting to be as good of a person as possible. But it was hard, why did it have to be little Rossmund, his baby sisters best friend and nearly her sister.

"Black, two sugars please" he told the waitress wanting to forget her and forget this booming hangover.

Victoria wandered through Hogsmeade, lost in her own thoughts. She'd stopped at Honeydukes to get as many sweets as she could stand. A week at Tess's proved to be a slight hell with not enough sweets to go around. Victoria had always had a sweet tooth...well actually a food tooth at all. She loved any food she could get her hands on. Thank Merlin for a high metabolism!

Since Tess was taking a later shift, Victoria had no incentive to rush back to an empty flat. She actually needed to stop by Diagon Alley before going back, to get things for her new job at Hogwarts. She'd gotten the letter after her and Tess had made lunch, before she'd had to work.

Seeing the sign to the tea shop, she hummed. It was just what she needed to power through her shopping in the chilly autumn air. She walked in and walked over to the counter. She figured she could just grab something to go. "Pumpkin Creme, please." It had been her favorite drink for the cold, winter visits when they were in school.

As Alec got his own coffee he murmured a thank you and taking a step back, pushed someone by accident. Turning to face them, he was surprised to find himself face to face with the woman that he was avoiding.

"Sorry" he commented.

Whether it was because of the bumping into her, or the actual whole night before, he didn't know. But he felt that he needed to say something and didn't run off. His eyes had subconsciously landed on her lips, but he simply lifted his cup of coffee hoping to be casual about it.

He didn't want to walk away, but it all depended on what she wanted to do.

Victoria was about to say sorry, even though it was the persons fault. But when she heard that smooth purr, her heart felt like was beating a mile a minute, while completely stopping, at the same time. She looked up into his startlingly blue eyes and was at a loss for words.

It wasn't until the man behind the counter tried to get her attention with her drink that she looked away from him, not missing how his eyes had moved to her lips, making them feel as if they were still burning from his kiss. She tried to smile at the man, but she could see he was worried by how shaky her hand was when she took her drink.

Moving out of the way of the other patrons, she finally stopped and looked up at him. Not sure how he was feeling about last night, she tried to play it safe. "So...how are you?" She couldn't help a small smirk, though it was timid.

She wasn't running away. Alec inwardly sighed in relief that she initiated the contact, this meant she wasn't too mortified to talk to him. Pointing towards the table, he walked her towards the table and sat down across from her.

"I'm hungover" he replied bluntly. "How are you? How is-how are you?"

It was too soon to mention her.

Victoria walked quietly to the table he'd gestured towards, and took a seat. Her tea was still too warm to drink, so she didn't have anything to busy herself with. When he mentioned a hangover, she laughed. "Can't be as bad as mine was."

She knew what he didn't want to ask. But she'd never gotten anywhere by avoiding something. Sighing, she said, "I didn't tell her." She didn't know how he'd react, so she simply concentrated on the steam rising from her cup.

"Well I told her some stuff. Vague stuff about what happened. But not who you were." She had to close her eyes to focus and not just rush ahead with all her thoughts. She didn't want to loose her best mate. But she didn't want to loose the wonderful man that she met last night.

Her laughter was comforting, Alec realized this as he heard it. He figured that they could be mature adults about this, and he was relaxed as he sat there and drank his coffee. He let out a lazy grin at her humor and shook his head.

"You're right," he said smiling.

As she told him that she hadn't told Tess, he felt a weight off his shoulders and sighed. He was surprised that she didn't tell her what had happened considering how close they were.

"I figured, considered that she didn't send me a Howler, or hex me this morning at my flat" he commented trying to do a joke.

It wasn't a very good one, but he looked at her and smiled slightly.

"Why didn't you tell her?" he asked curiously.

Victoria's heart flipped at his smile. It was confident and sexy all rolled into one. She couldn't stop smiling when he mentioned Tess sending a howler to his flat. She would do that, all right.

"Yeah. I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of a howler from her." Victoria fained looking frightened. She then burst out laughing.

After getting over her laughing fit, his question made it's way through to her. She sighed and noticed his hand on the table. Victoria had always been a tactile person, so it wasn't out of character for her to start drawing light circles on the back of his hand like the night before.

"Honestly? I was scared." She looked up into his piercing blue eyes. "I...really wasn't sure what this is, so I didn't want to put everything in jeopardy til it was figured out." She looked closely, trying to read his emotions on his face.

Alec couldn't help but laugh alongside her. He knew that she didn't think that Tess was much to deal with, and she really wasn't. She had the heart of a Hufflepuff, Merlin only knows how she had made it into Slytherin. She was laughing and he let out all the tension by laughing alongside her.

"She's dangerous you know. She might look harmless, but she's dangerous" he said smirking. "She might be sweet to you, but she has a bite."

But her comment made him let out a smirk.

"Perhaps that was best" he replied simply.

He never liked attachment and commitment was really foreign to him. But he wanted to hear what she wanted, he needed some sort of something from her.

"What are you thoughts?"

Victoria gently pulled her hand back from Alec's. She knew she'd gotten caught up in the moment of seeing him so soon after their...whatever that was. As much as she hated it, she knew she had to be careful with him. And not just because he was Tess's brother. But because he was a man at all. The only other man she'd ever been serious about had torn her heart apart. She didn't want to rush into that again.

Trying to be honest, but not wanting to give her all to him just yet, she took a sip of her tea. "I'll be straight with you, Alec. I've been hurt. Not a lot, but pretty deeply. I tend to get swept up in things, and it's not always the best thing." When she thought about everything she'd given up because of that night, it felt like her whole body was full of lead.

She thought back on how Alec acted in the club. For the first time since their whole meeting, she was scared. She remembered how...wreckless and free he had seemed in their youth, but didn't know how much she was really remembering correctly. And the way he acted last night made it obvious he was used to that scene. Victoria wondered what kind of a future they could really have together.

Looking at him, not without a bit of sadness, she asked. "I'll understand if you'd rather forget this happened. Especially since Tess doesn't know. Avoid it all together." She knew she sounded slightly pathetic, but it was honest.

Alec was stuck, he felt that this was moving quickly, but rather than his usual reflex (to jump off and run) he was considering all the possible outcomes. It'd be very easy for him to simply just say that he wasn't interested in something serious, and that she was putting more feelings than necessary, but in reality he quite liked her.

She was different; outgoing, cheeky, and not to mention beautiful. He wanted to say she wasn't special, beauty could be found everywhere, after all brown hair, big brown eyes, easily seen. But her other qualities despite her looks were what was making him falter in his answer.

"I don't want to give you false hopes" he began.

He wanted to be honest, but not close the door completely. It was a compulsive choice really, not wanting to just ignore all that happened. But her resigning made him frustrated.

"Don't jump to conclusions" he said frowning. "I'm not that much of a cad. But I can tell you that I am not used to commitment...it's never really appealed to me. Nor can I promise you that this will change me completely. I have been myself for 24 years and I can't just change out of the blue. But I can honestly say that you have caught my interest."

At his first comment, Victoria had to fight back tears. She tried to play it off by looking out the window at the sparse crowd, but it obviously didn't work. He knew it wasn't what she wanted to hear.

Caught his interest. A part of her did overreact, not wanting to be talked about as if she was a nifty piece of furniture or something. The rest of her was trying not to blush at the idea that he found her interesting. Trying to be an adult about this, though she knew it would be blunt, she said, "So...do you just want to give up on this? Or should we give it a go?"

She knew he was probably used to a go around with most girls. Where they would say, "Hey, how 'bout we just get to know each other?" or "What if we just go on a date?" But with her emotions quite raw, she didn't want to even bother with all that if he wasn't really interested.

"Be honest. I'm not asking for the world. Or forever. I just..." trying to find the words, she closed her eyes to focus her mind, "I need to know how you feel." Victoria may be muggle, but she put a lot of stock into raw emotions.

Feel that word made Alec wrinkled his nose at the distaste of it. Feelings were a sign of weakness, always making the brightest of minds crumple into a mess of nothing. He didn't think about his "feelings" unless they were carnal. He hated thinking about this, he hated thinking that he needed to be vulnerable. Vulnerability, got your jugular cut.

"I-I never said that I was going to just give up. Again, stop jumping to conclusions!" he said frustrated.

Why were women so frustrating? First feelings, next just wanting to call the whole thing off. If she weren't so beautiful and attractive, he would have walked off. But he wanted to try this, hell logically he would have not want to get into this whole issue of Victoria and Tess and their relationship and him being added. It was confusing.

"I want to know you better" he said automatically. "Look, I don't know you at all, and usually I wouldn't care about this, but having a lot at stake, I need to know you. I don't promise forever, I never promise anyone forever, in fact I avoid that word. BUT, but I am attracted to you, beyond your looks."

Victoria wasn't used to these dual feelings. The wounded part of her wanted to apologize for jumping to conclusions! But that side was buried under the heat rising in her cheeks. And it wasn't a blush.

"Well sorry! I'm no good at this!" It took a few seconds for the sudden quiet to register. She looked around and noticed people staring at them. She stared right back at them until they went back to their own lives.

She leaned back in her chair and sighed. "Okay. Let's get to know each other then." Kinda feeling self-conscious, she said, "So...what do you want to know?" Trying to lighten the mood she fell into her usual smirk.

Alec raised his brow as she exclaimed the comment. He was a bit embarrassed that his favorite place for coffee was now nosy about his personal life. This is why she didn't have coffee with women, they ruined a good black cup of coffee.

"Do you think I'm an expert at this? You're making me talk about feelings" he whispered.

Honestly did he have to take charge? Right now he needed a few shots because he needed a less sharp tongue. Her questions, and her smirk felt a bit forced, but he played along.

"Tell you what, I'll send you an owl for a proper....date"

He tried to ignore the aftertaste of the word.

Victoria's temper was not going away. This...man...is...INFURIATING! One second she wanted to smack him so hard he saw stars. The next she wanted to kiss him to the same effect. She wasn't sure anymore where one side ended and the other began.

She slowly took the last sip of her tea and stood. It took all of her will to move slowly when she just wanted to run out of the shop and not look back. A few steps and she was in front of him. "Feel this."

She snaked a hand behind his head, threading into his hair, and kissed him soundly. He may be a typical man, scared of feelings, but she grew up wearing her heart on her sleeve. It had gotten her through so many things, so why not now. When she came back up for air she locked eyes with him with an honest smirk.

"See you soon." And with that she walked quickly out of the tea shop.

When Victoria got up, Alec had a fear that he'd have that tea all over him, but he definitely wasn't expecting what came to him. He froze up immediately at the fact that they were in front of people that knew how to do his coffee. He growled at what she was trying to do.

If she wanted to play this way, he would. He was going to get his revenge. He immediately responded kissing her as roughly as she was him. When she pulled back, he tried to harden his gaze as much as possible. He was annoyed at her daring move, but couldn't help but feel a bit amused, seen at the glint in his eye.

"I might need to get a new spot for coffee" he muttered to himself before walking out and apparating.