drinkee | rhys & alfie

[alfie edward o'callaghan]

Friday night. It was Alfie's favorite day of the week, meaning he'd get two full days off to himself away from the castle. This year he had a couple of trust-worthy upperclassmen students to look over the greenhouses over the weekends for extra credit, which had become a great relief for him. As much as Alfie enjoyed his job and teaching, he enjoyed being home with no commitments more. Maintaining a greenhouse was a lot of work so it was great to have willing help.

Alfie waited around for Esther at his classroom until she owled him about an incident on the quidditch pitch that was holding her up. Since he wasn't sure how long it would take her to treat the students, and he was thirsty for a cold one, he decided to take the walk home through Hogsmeade solo. The Professor was smoking a cigarette so he didn't care to apparate to get to his typical Friday destination faster. He took the path from Hogwarts through Hogsmeade, beeling directly for the Hogs Head. 

As Alfie entered the pub, he was greeted by a chiming bell above his head. The Professor made his way over to the bar and was pleasantly surprised to see a familiar face there. Rhys Greyback. With his typical stoic expression plastered across his face, perched at the bar. He was a fellow werewolf and resident alcoholic. Alfie knew anytime he ran into Rhys they'd have a good chat. They dealt with similar love woes and he had grown to enjoy his company over time since arriving to the UK. 

"Heeey, I thought I'd run into you here..." he greeted with a knowing smile. "Sup, maan?" he asked, offering him a pat on the back as he fell into the bar stool next to him, ordering himself a nice tall pint, and gesturing 'whatever this guy wants'.

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

every map I follow leads to the unknown

---

October 24, 2025
alfie edward o'callaghan

---

Rhys sat on the familiar stool, both arms leaning on the bar though his right hand was up to his face rubbing his eyes. When he reopened them he realized they still felt dry, a side effect of his usual lack of sleep. It was a strange combination, the new potion he had been taking for some months now effected his senses and his nightmares, more often than not he'd find himself out sooner than usual after the
full moon had passed. His overloaded senses sending him into a mood that was sulky, temperamental and irritable. Rhys had found that he usually found solace the same way each time, familiar brown eyes and olive skin popped into his head, again. Rhys moved his hand away from his face and grabbed his glass of whiskey, draining the remaining contents and place the glass back on the bar.

It was only his third one, though to be honestly he'd lost track of time being so lost in his thoughts. Whatever was going on around him was a mystery as he wasn't focused on that or even any of the noise. When one was a regular here or nearby sounds like the buzz of people talking or the bell that chimed when someone else entered was easily tuned out. Rhys rubbed his eyes again, hoping the bartender would be looking his direction soon or at least when he opened his eyes. If Rhys wasn't at the Hog's Head, he was at the Three Broomsticks or any of the fine establishments in the local magical world that could give him whiskey. Rhys had barely opened his eyes when he heard a voice very near him followed by a pat on the back. Normally, Rhys would have wondered who dare bother him let alone touch him but really only one person ever did that with him.

Rhys looked to the side and confirmed the voice belonged to who he thought it would be. "Hey Alfie." Rhys greeted him. Alfie was a newer friend in the sense of many of his friends were from school, but he was another werewolf and honestly he didn't meet too many werewolves that were not associated with Fenrir Greyback let alone from the States. He'd been able to see Alfie more this past year considering the quarantine had left him mostly grounded here, the only positive of that situation in general though he missed the constant work. He wasn't sure what stories Renfri or Jasper might have told him, but they each had their own anyway. "Same." Rhys answered when Alfie ordered his drink. "Taking a break from all those wonderfully well behaved students?" Since his former coworkers had gone to teach it had popped in his head, but that idea had been very quickly dismissed.

[alfie edward o'callaghan]

Taking a long sip of his delicious, cold beer, Alfie refrained from spurting fluid from of his nose when Rhys asked about him taking a break from his angels of students. Thankfully, it stayed in his mouth and out of his nose, but he did release a giggle of sorts to stop it. "They're the reason I drink." he snorted as he shook his head. It wasn't the first time he heard that joke but it sure always hit the spot. Alfie love his job but dealing with teenagers sure took a lot of work. The Professor took another generous sip because he was looking to drink Firewhiskey at some point like his friend because it was his preferred alcoholic beverage of choice. Alfie only liked to drink beer first because he was thirsty after talking all day long in his class.

Sighing, rather dramatically, he turned to Rhys, attempting to keep a straight face. "I have something I need to get off of my chest because I kinda fucked up, man." he admitted with a laugh, shaking his head as he sank into his stool because he was going to share it. Rhys had shared his woes with his about women in the past at this very bar, so he figured he could tell him about his current shenanigans with Esther. Merlin, he felt like such an idiot. "I'm kind of embarrassed to admit this shit though." he scratched the back of his neck, finishing his first beer after nursing it for about two full minutes. He placed the empty mug on the counter before it magically disappeared as the bartender marched over, smiling expectantly at them.

"Two Firewhiskies, please." he ordered with a smile, one for each of them, buying himself time before he sounded like a complete pussy in front of his pal.

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

every map I follow leads to the unknown

---

October 24, 2025

---

Rhys smiled and chuckled a bit as his friend almost inhaled his cold beverage on his account. If any professor at Hogwarts told him that all of their students were well behaved, he would insist that individual was under some kind of enchantment or Imperius Curse and one did not have to be a Curse Breaker to notice that behavior change. He did not doubt the job as a professor held its own stresses, albeit low risk in terms of being cursed by an ancient artifact but its own stress from the students themselves. ”I don’t blame you.” He commented, it wasn’t a career he had ever envisioned himself doing and he figured it would take nothing short of a forced retirement to do so. Alfie seemed to drain most of the contents of his beer rather quickly, but he did not find that totally uncommon. They were drinking buddies after all and while Rhys preferred his whiskey, he did partake in a beer now and then when Alfie insisted.

Then with a heavy sigh his friend turned to him and the energy changed. He turned in his own seat to face Alfie a bit more in his and he prepared to listen to what he was going to tell him. It was not that long ago he had told his friend about certain things in his life, he’d shared in a summary format about how he’d been bitten as a child and his experiences at school. How he was still occasionally seeing his ex-girlfriend from when was sixteen and he’d kind of mentioned Maria but had left out some of the details such as she was his dead younger brother’s half-cousin, but he’d mentioned it in passing nonetheless. Before Alfie continued his story, he motioned for more whiskey, the gesture told Rhys this was going to be an interesting story as Alfie typically had a beer in his hand. ”Whiskey? That bad then?” It had been interesting to find someone he could confide in that didn’t know all the people he went to school with necessarily and also another werewolf, maybe that helped him be more comfortable with him—whatever it was, it was nice to have someone to talk to in these instances.

[alfie edward o'callaghan]

As the bartender dropped off a glass for both gentleman he nodded his head at Rhys when he asked 'whiskey-bad?', “Yeah..it’s pretty bad.” He admitted with a chuckle. Alfie was all for humility and self-deprecating humor, but this was something he was embarrassed to admit because it was something he did. So he knocked back the fire whiskey like a college frat boy to soothe his embarrassment. After taking a breath, he turned to his pal, “You know Esther...that blonde chick that I hang around with here sometimes...my-uh-coworker slash best friend whom I share a flat with..” Alfie laid out the basics to refresh his memory just in case, but as the words left his lips he knew how stupid and cliche the scenario already sounded. He was being more awkward than he needed to be, it honestly didn't really matter. 

“Wellll” he sighed, “We got wasted and slept together...and it was gloriooouus...” Alfie sang, knowing it wasn't appropriate to share these details...but it was just Rhys. And he had shared his struggles about yearning for Esther like a young schoolboy in the past. Several times at the very bar they were sitting at, they agreed about their lack of male friends, so Alfie confided in Rhys about these things with ease. It was easy because he shared the bane of the Full Moon. Alfie was grateful to have a friend like him in the UK, it made things a little easier.

The more details he provided Rhys, Alfie could tell how stupid he already sounded, he wanted to cringe. There was a big 'but' coming...

He took another sip of the whiskey before continuing. "My dumb ass tripped out about it in the morning and wasn't sure how to react so I told her I didn't remember anything when she brought it up. When I obviously remembered something...cuz I'm a bad liar, but dude, I panicked. So things are a little awkward now." Alfie told him quickly, the words flowing out of his mouth before he shrugged and ended with an awkward smile. 

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

every map I follow leads to the unknown

---

October 24, 2025

---

Rhys listened eagerly to what Alfie was going to tell him, he’d never quite seen him in such a state and also drinking whiskey so quickly. That was usually Rhys’ job. He started thinking, so this had to do with Esther. They’d both discussed their respective friends in their lives though Rhys’ situation with Maria was quite different than Alfie evens just as simply as Esther and Alfie were actually friends while Rhys and Maria weren’t really ones for conversation. ”Yea, the pretty one.” Rhys wasn’t blind, and he’d be lying if he had said he’d never noticed the half veela as Alfie had pointed her out to him at least once. A pause and then he dropped new information on him, Rhys face showed a surprise but then he half smiled. Well then, looks he finally got his girl and that made Rhys happy because he knew he liked her. ”Really? Well, congrats mate.”

It wasn’t often that Rhys had another male friend who had his own woes with another half-veela so it was something they could freely talk to with one another, but he saw Alfie’s face change and that told him that there was more to this story. He figured just since he hadn’t gotten to the part that was having him shoot back whiskey like he was trying to forget. Rhys could only look at him in a bit of disbelief. ”Well, has she mentioned it since?” He had a strong suspicion that if anyone was making it awkward it might be Alfie, but he wanted to gather more information first. It might just be the side of Rhys that tended to find more comfort in one-night stands than with typical relationships but he didn’t see quite the big deal but he also knew that his friend genuinely cared for the woman and probably hadn’t wanted to mess that up.

[alfie edward o'callaghan]

Alfie nodded proudly with a smile when Rhys confirmed 'the pretty one'. The smile quickly faded but it felt great being able to share that information with someone since he didn't typically 'share with the boys' because it was considered rude. Hell, when students bragged about those sort of things in his classroom or greenhouses he was quick to give detentions...mainly because dragon dung didn't always scoop itself. And it was good to teach those snot-nosed teenagers manners every once in a while. 

"Yeah, she did...." he offered Rhys a guilty look, showing he was ashamed to tell him what happened next. At this point, Alfie was willing to drink and laugh about his situation to make it easier to deal with. He took another generous sip of his drink, hoping it would soothe his nerves and buy him time. "When we went to that stupid zombie island thing and I fucking kissed her in the corn maze. She asked about it and I got awkward again." Alfie snorted. "I dunno, dude, I'm am such an idiot." he told him, shrugging it off. "So, have you done that shit, or do you just know how to function around females?" he asked him honestly with a chuckle.

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

every map I follow leads to the unknown

---

October 24, 2025
alfie edward o'callaghan

---

It seemed aside from drinking and being werewolves the other commonality in their lives seemed to be a half-veela. Pretty girls as a weakness was the stigma of all men, them included. Alfie’s expression told him that it hadn’t gone as smoothly as he had probably hoped, and he wondered what happened. Also, if some of his other friends had seen him here about to give possible relationship advice they might have died from the laughter and their ghosts continue to laugh, it wasn’t part of what he was exactly known for. ’Do you just know how to function around females?’ It was a very specific question, and he knew the obvious answer but not in the way he was asking it. Rhys paused a moment, ”Well you also have to remember she’s part veela.” Rhys drank more whiskey, Maria popped in his own head and he thought about how that entire experience was different than anything else for him.

”And you like her.” Rhys reminded him, ”When was the last time you picked up a girl at a bar?” He asked him, Alfie knew a bit about Rhys’ life in that sense. His serious demeanor and blue eyes tended to have some women asking if the seat next to him was taken and Rhys wasn’t one to generally say no. ”I think its different when they know you or can get under your skin.” Again, he drank more whiskey. ”And I’ll tell you….you remember I told you about that girl I met a few months back? She’s a half-veela too.” Rhys shook his head if only to just affirm what he had said before about the girls and that charm, it left a fog in his brain and afterwards he wondered how the heck he ended up in a situation he thought he could control. You just couldn’t sometimes.

[alfie edward o'callaghan]

Rhys reminded Alfie that Esther was a veela, probably a way to comfort him about the brain fog and turning to puddy around the blond. He nodded at the thought. Honestly, that wasn't something he thought about much but maybe it was something he should consider. Hopefully, he'd remember that in the morning...

Alfie's body froze, and he shot Rhys a straight, slightly ashamed expression. Oh, Merlin. He couldn't believe he was going to admit having zero game out loud to someone he barely knew! How embarrassing. But a part of him didn't care. Fuck. The whiskey was working great tonight. His lips twitched into a pathetic smile and he shrugged his shoulders upwards in a 'fuck it' fashion, "Well...last year I was living at the castle, so it's a little hard to pull ladies there..." he chuckled with shifty eyes as he continued, wishing he had a better answer, but Rhys could probably sense he didn't by his demeanor. "Soo-back in America some time...other than the random times with Esther obviously, but that barely counts since we live under the same roof and it didn't involve actual 'pulling'." he told him honestly. Alfie considered to for a second before quickly adding, "I went on one of those Blishwick blind date thing and she was actually cool. I should try to 'pull' her..." he thought out loud drunkenly. He'd have to refrain from contacting Tammy in an inebriated state like he wanted to if he wished to hear from her again.

When Rhys mentioned that the lady he was talking to was also a veela, the fact made him chuckle. "Ohh, so you get it, dude.." he sighed with relief, "Do you share your own woes when it comes to her?" he asked, probably more hopefully than he meant to be as he raised the glass to his lips. Alfie hoped Rhys would share if he did, because there were so many times he wasn't sure if he was just more awkward than most people.

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

every map I follow leads to the unknown

---

October 24, 2025

---

Any woman who was part-veela was a risk of losing one's mind when dealing with them. Even Rhys had encountered the ever-familiar brain fog, and he didn't like it, but it hadn't kept him away. Rhys tried his best to keep a neutral expression when his friend admitted that picking up girls wasn't exactly his scene. He supposed he couldn't assume that all men bar-hopped as often as he did. Rhys finished the whiskey in his glass and nodded at the bartender when he asked if he would like another. His night was never complete with only one or even three glasses, so he was just getting started himself.

"Well, regardless, when you like someone, it changes everything." On that he knew something about. Though Deva was the last woman, he'd had that strong feeling for--not to say there hadn't been others, but he'd become rather good at avoiding situations there were even remotely similar. Hopefully, his admission of his own woes might help him feel better. He wasn't sure how to answer at first and made a face to indicate he was thinking about how to settle on the right words. "Well..." The bartender brought him another whiskey, and Rhys seemed to down at least half of it.

"If i'm being honest, I think we're friends?" Rhys hadn't quite taken the time to figure out what they were to one another aside from someone to sleep with. "But there's something about her...." Again, he was at a loss for how to describe it--it wasn't the same as his friend's situation but still complicated.

[alfie edward o'callaghan]

"I must really fucking like her then, dude." he snorted, chuckling and shaking his head at the thought. "I probably didn't get all weird in school with her because I was dating her best friend at the time." he thought out loud, finishing his drink at the revelation. Alfie had plenty of humility to go around. The alcohol was catching up to him at a record pace, but he wholeheartedly invited that feeling today. Honestly, Alfie needed anything to make him feel better about the situation. He was afraid of getting blackout drunk over it because he knew his loneliness frequently caused him to do dumb things.

Alfie nodded his head when Rhys shared his portion, feeling slightly better than he wasn't a solo soldier in battle. Love was a weird battlefield. Veela's, in particular, were his kryptonite. The Professor was in a constant brain fog around her, it drove him crazy. He waggled his eyebrows, "So, you're like, Friends with Benefits?" he asked, assuming Rhys had already pulled her in. His friend just had that 'cool guy vibe' to him, Alfie couldn't imagine him getting the Veela stressies like him. "Friends with Benefits sounds fucking awesome...until it's not." he commented thougtfully. No shame in the game, just seemingly too much of a coward to follow through with it without emotions.

Raising his new drink to his lips at the thought, he drank slower this time. Now that he said it out loud, 'Friends with Benefits' seemed like the agreement Esther was willing to do with him...his heart beat out of his chest at the thought. Rhys followed with saying that there was 'something' about her. Alfie's lips curled upwards into a half smile, "You mean 'something' like-" he groped his chest passionately like a schoolboy. A display he'd seen in his very classroom, but Alfie was always trying to find a way lighten the situation. 

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

every map I follow

leads to the unknown

October 24, 2025
alfie edward o'callaghan

Rhys listened as Alfie explained how he liked this girl, and he supposed it made sense that he hadn’t noticed any true feelings at the time if he was dating someone else. “It sounds like you do.” Rhys agreed, continuing to drink the rest of his glass till it was quickly empty. He didn’t mind all this talk of dating and women, but he would need more whiskey to think about these things. ” Her best friend? Really?” Rhys had minimal serious relationships in his life. Maybe even his friend here had technically dated more girls than even Rhys had. Rhys finished his glass, and the bartender didn’t seem to flinch that he already had to give him a refill. Most bartenders didn’t when it came to Rhys, or at least in his usual places.

Still, they both seemed to have a similar problem when it came to Veelas. The allure and the charm were almost impossible to fight, though it would be foolish to blame it solely on that fact. Rhys nodded in response to Alfie’s question. ” Yea…something like that.” Rhys paused as his brow furrowed slightly in thought. ” Do you technically have to be ‘friends’ to be friends with benefits?” He wondered, only glancing away to nod at the bartender who brought him more whiskey. Rhys wasn’t sure if they were friends, but specific encounters that were pretty recent had Rhys admitting things to Maria that he’d barely even admitted to his own sisters. Still, he could agree with Alfie’s conclusion. ”Well, I don’t see any future problems on my end with her. But I know what you mean.”

It reminded him of this….thing he had with Deva. The on and off nature of it, the comfortable situation they kept creating only for her to push her intentions and feelings onto him when he thought he’d been clear with what he wanted. Rhys laughed at Aflie’s display and luckily he hadn’t been drinking whiskey or he might have choked on it. ”No…no, nothing like that.” When he’d calmed down, he drank more. ”More like…I know I probably shouldn’t see her, but I end up finding her again.”

template by vee

[alfie edward o'callaghan]

There were times Alfie knew he should stop drinking, but he simply continued to drink to soothe his woes. Tonight was one of those nights. He nodded with a smug smile when Rhys seemed surprised that he dated Esther's best friend at Ilvermorny. It didn't seem weird to him now because he hadn't seen Rose since she'd broken up with him in a letter at graduation. Now that felt like another lifetime.

As Rhys asked if people had to technically be 'friends' to be 'friends with benefits' Alfie smiled thoughtfully, "I think that may be what we call a 'fling' in the states  but who gives a fuck about labels anyway." he stated with an easy going shrug before finishing the contents of his glass, his face a warm red hue from the alcohol. The Professor enjoyed the relief the fire whiskey provided him, he felt like he was more at ease than he'd been in a while, at least not with the assistance of certain herbs. Alfie would most definitely be stumbling back to his flat tonight. Hopefully he would crawl into bed and not say anything he'd forget in the morning to Esther from being so wasted.

He snorted at Rhys' face at his stupid display, slapping his knee with satisfaction. The Professor pulled himself back into a calmer demeanor when Rhys mentioned that he somehow kept finding his way back to a certain lady. Alfie rested his chin in his hand on the counter, "Maybe there's a reason you keep finding her then..." he said thoughtfully with a lazy shrug before continuing his whiskey thought, "I don't feel like people just happen to meet by chance. People come into your life for a reason." he said carefully, working on not slurring his words. After he said it, the corners of his lips lifted upwards drunkenly and he blinked a few times. "Damn, that sounded corny as fuck." he sighed with a chuckle, shaking his head with disapproval.

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

every map I follow

leads to the unknown

October 24, 2025
alfie edward o'callaghan

They were both drinking at a pretty fast pace, though it was probably just “normal” for Rhys. Everybody had their different tolerances, and drinking this much would affect everyone differently. For example, Alfie was more talkative than Rhys was, but it relaxed them both enough to talk about almost anything at this point. They talked about the women in their lives, and somehow they had both crossed paths with Veelas. For all their beauty, they seemed to trip them up more than anything. Was it even worth it at that point? Rhys asked himself that question from time to time, but then he seemed to answer it every time he showed up at her doorstep. ”A fling?” Rhys thought about it, and that seemed a somewhat accurate description. He and Maria were not friends, really…well not good friends.

Rhys shrugged. Labels were tricky and created complications. It always caused arguments when he saw Deva because of her insistence when he had always made it perfectly clear that he wasn’t interested in that level of things. That was where he and Maria at least agreed on something. ”Labels always complicate things…” Rhys also finished his drink, and they both seemed to time it well as the bartender made his rounds to check on them. ”My ex always wanted labels. And she knew I didn’t, but she’d bring it up anyway.” Rhys shook his head, there wasn’t a need to explain that it obviously hadn’t worked. He’d mentioned Deva before to Alfie, especially since they’d grabbed a drink once after Rhys and Deva had a fight.

New drinks were poured, and Rhys took a sip as he listened to Alfie philosophize about Rhys’ current situation. Even Rhys had to chuckle at his words, now starting to feel the familiar warmth of a good buzz. ”If that were true, then the Universe has a funny way of doing things.” He shook his head again, wondering about the probabilities of meeting her when he did on that day and considering her history with his family. Rhys was hardly the one to talk to about relationship advice, but maybe drinking this much whiskey made him a little soft. ”She’s a dancer too.” He added that had Maria not been intertwined in his life as she was, it would be less stress and more fun. Though they were having plenty of fun as it were.

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[alfie edward o'callaghan]

He nodded when Rhys asked about flings, nodding his head up and down. "Yeah, dude. It's like a one night stand vibe but more than once. No emotions. Easy peasy." he rubbed his hands in a 'deal done' scenario. Alfie wished he had the emotional capacity to handle a fling, he was too much of a hopeless romantic for that.

Alfie agreed with the labels thing to an extent. Once he was in a relationship with someone he kind of did want that label in a monogamous relationship. He didn't want his lover sleeping with other people, but he understood what Rhys meant. Especially nowadays. He never thought he'd be the type of person to get all weird after a one-night stand, but here he was. "Oh, trust me brotha, 'the universe' has a funny sense of humor and sure has a weird way showing us things and fucking shit up." Alfie chuckled with a nod, taking another drink. 

Rhys shared that the lady he was seeing was a dancer and he turned his body to face him, "You lucky dog!" he chuckled with a smile, patting him on the back in a boyish fashion. The alcohol always had a way of loosening him up. Alfie's mouth went small again as he cleared his throat, "Like a-uh...exotic pole dancer get up? Or does she just like to jig?" he asked with a rhythmic shimmy.

rhys alexander greyback