“We’ve got to find the right slow burn to really make him pay, perhaps without him even realizing or finding out who is behind it. That way we stay out of it, so to speak, and he has to deal with the outcome.” Sylvan said as she handed Melinda a glass of wine and sat down on the couch in the living room. They’d been on and off talking about how to get back at Adrian Pucey after his horrific text messages.
“He’s dating Katie Bell right now, so that provides an interesting in too,” she added before taking a sip of her wine. “A lot of her friends are well known for disliking him, it could add to the confusion of who is messing with him.” Sylvan was furious with him still and if she were honest it was easier to focus on anger at Adrian than her confused feelings when it came to Oliver Wood.
Taking the glass of wine from Sylvan, Melinda settled down into the cushions of the couch. Her thoughts in regards to Adrian Pucey didn’t involve anything too malicious; just annoying. Mostly. Inconveniencing. Those sorts of things, in Melinda’s opinion, were far better for revenge and ten times more of a hassle to deal with than some straight up attack. And definitely more satisfying than a punch, even if a punch might feel good in the moment.
“We should also do several things. So it looks like it’s not just one person or could be a group of Katie’s friends. Maybe acting independently,” she said, taking a sip of her wine. “And I’m sure he’s made Quidditch enemies over the years.” If not other enemies, she thought. “And you know how mental some fans get. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to think one of them had gone a bit too kooky and owled him something unpleasant.” What that something was, she was still debating on. Maybe some fancy wine or sweets with a Babbling Beverage or a Confusing Concoction slipped in. Nothing too dangerous…
“Oh! Could slip him a Dogbreath Potion! Pretend it’s a treat from a fan or at the next party he’s at, slip it in his drink when he’s distracted,” Melinda suggested, a little amused at her idea. No one wanted to snog someone with nasty breath. Especially not dog breath.
“Some of them are also angry about the way he was kicked out of the Falcons, he is disgraced right now,” Sylvan added thoughtfully. The more she thought about how to get back at him the more she agreed small little things that could not be traced to them was the way to go.
Sylvan laughed. “A confusing spell just as he’s trying to do something important, or perhaps we go an even less obvious route,” she paused thoughtfully. “He has a knack for wanting to humiliate people, so set him up to humiliate me publicly and watch it backfire.” She paused again. “Somehow showing how small-minded and petty he really is.”
Melinda sat quietly in thought for a moment, considering what Sylvan had said. Using her depended just a bit too much, in Melinda’s opinion, on Pucey wanting to humiliate her friend. What if he wasn’t in the mood at the time? What if he was distracted? What if it got interrupted? There were quite a lot of variables to consider, though it wasn’t a bad idea in and of itself. Plus, there was the possibility he’d either see it coming or assume it was Sylvan’s doing in the first place. Unless…
“I think, if we did something where it’s set up to humiliate you but backfires, it may have to front fire, too.” She took a sip of her wine. “If you’re also humiliated, it’d likely be a lot harder to pin it on you. Especially if you keep it up in public. Nothing too terrible or out of your comfort, of course. But if it’s meant to be you, if you do get what appears to be humiliated, and it also happens to him, well, that’s just his bad luck, isn’t it? Because why would you ever decide you wanted to be humiliated yourself? It’s just not logical.” Unless you’re trying to get back at a prat, of course.
“If that’s what you intended,” she continued quickly, sitting up a little, “then nevermind! It’s a good plan. A good start to a series of bad luck for him.
“Did you have anything specific in mind?” she asked, her mind already starting to churn a little bit about possibilities to knock him down a few pegs.
“Oh, I’m just throwing out any ideas coming to mind right now,” Sylvan said quickly. She didn’t have a plan past the fact that she wanted to do something to get him for being the worst bloke around these days. She honestly couldn’t figure out what she’d seen in him, well, past his good looks.
“I’m open to any other ideas,” she was too. “Whatever it is, it’s going to have to be good and either a big hit or a slow burn.” She couldn’t make up her mind but she just knew he couldn’t get away with it.
“Could be a slow burn with a big hit at the end,” Melinda suggested, taking a sip of her wine. Admittedly, she didn’t know Adrian Pucey well enough to know exactly where to hit him or how or when. But that didn’t stop her from trying to think of possibilities.
“We may have to do some recon,” she said. “See what’s going on in his life, what’s coming up that he may care about… Maybe have a few things in the wings that can be ready on a short notice.” There always seemed to be something going on, which meant lots of opportunities for small things. But which ones would cause an impact on Pucey and which ones wouldn’t, Melinda didn’t rightly know. She could make a few educated guesses based on what she did know, though.
“How secret do you think this secret project of his is,” she asked casually. “And do you think it’s more a secret project to garner hype and attention? It’d be a shame if whatever it is failed.” Unless it had to do with helping kids or animals. She doubted it, but she had to draw a line somewhere. “Although messing with secret projects with someone like that may have little effect,” she added, just in case it did have something to do with kids or animals.
“If we could figure out why he really got kicked out of the league and off the Falcons that would be a fantastic place to start.” Sylvan didn’t believe the news reports and had a feeling like pretty much everyone else that he was out for another reason that wasn’t just being a bad boy and fighting. Those weren’t new things or things that had gotten other players kicked out that way.
“I don’t know, but whatever he is working on he can’t keep it secret forever no matter how good he thinks he is, he is never that good.” She half laughed rolling her eyes. “He has a massive ego and anything that takes his ego down a few notches would be good for,” she paused. “Well anyone who has to deal with him.”
“No matter what the papers say, what the press release states, there’s always records. It’d just be a matter of finding them,” Melinda reasoned, idly swirling her glass and the wine in it. “Sports teams aren’t ever going to release any real information about why they release someone. So it comes down to who’s telling the narrative.” And that was something that she… honestly didn’t know. Obviously Aidrian Pucey would know, but was he the one behind the narrative, or was he merely allowing it to play out? And, if so, why? She took a sip of wine, telling herself to stop chasing rabbits.
“So his little project is probably something to boost his ego. Especially after all of,” she waved her hand a little bit in the air, “that drama with the Falcons. Something that’ll… un-disgrace him. Re-grace?” Huh. She wasn’t sure, in that moment, what the right word was. “Which means he’s probably counting on whatever it is to be successful. And redirect any bad light shining on him.”
“It depends on the team, and the reason,” Sylvan pointed out, but with Adrian there was so much secret about it. “Well, I guess we just need to find out what the actual story is.” That was at least a game plan and she had a feeling while it might not be easy it wasn’t impossible. Too bad one of the best PI’s around happened to be his best freaking mate though.
“He always wants to come off the winner,” she rolled her eyes as a memory of one of their dates came to mind. “It’s likely to be flashy and potentially exclusive, he likes status and what that can afford him. It also likely isn’t something that’ll be done cheap, but that doesn't mean he won’t try and cut some corners.”
“It sounds like,” Melinda began, taking another sip of wine, “that the first step is finding out more information about the project. Anyone we know who might be able to find out?” She briefly flashed to thoughts of her brother, but she doubted he was Adrian’s type. Not that he had to be to get information. But some things were just… easier when you were. Or so she’d observed.
“Until then, we can try to implement little jabs at his armour. Maybe he’ll think someone’s out to get him or ruin his project and slip up.” Or he might use it to boost his ego, she mused. But there was no point in dwelling on that. They could deal with that if things headed in that direction.
"His whole little group pretty kicks people to the curb the second one of them loses interest in whoever they're dating at the moment," Sylvan rolled her eyes. She wasn't close to any of them, not that she ever counted herself as close to any of them, they were all prats anyways. "There is always Gemma Montague, she's close with him, but that's just because of her brother, and I doubt she'd give any intel. If she even has any." She thought for a moment.
"Well, like most things there is always a paper trail," she voiced. "So, it's just a matter of keeping an eye out on the tabloids. He's still featured a lot and go from there." Sylvan liked the idea of getting to him in a way he'd never really see coming or could trace back to anyone living at #4 Gold Town Homes.
“Maybe one of the exes then,” Melinda suggested. “If they’re angry enough. It’s not like you can’t lend a sympathetic ear to one of them. You know, you understand because you dated one of them, that kind of thing. If the opportunity presents itself,” she added, thinking it’d be a bit too suspicious to actively attempt to approach one of them for that reason. But if one happened to be in a mood and at a place Sylvan was, who’s to say her friend couldn’t play the sympathetic ex? She doubt it’d be hard if they were all truly that awful at relationships and to people.
“There’s always a kernel of truth, even if there’s a lot of dung around it,” she said with a little nod. The tabloids were only so truthful, but there had to be some truth behind even some things. Except her Cormac, but she decided not to dwell on that at all. “And he’s in the public eye, so it’s not unreasonable to think he’s got mad fans and even madder enemies. And when your life’s published everywhere, anyone can know where you are and what you’re doing. Especially if you’re also sharing that information.” Which to her just meant anyone could be behind anything that happened to Adrian and that it’d be easier to keep it from being traced to them. Well, she hoped so, anyway.
“And he does love the spotlight,” Sylvan added with a smirk. She half wondered if that was why they started dating in the first place, sure, she’d used his connections for her own gains as well but she did wonder if there had been any moments of actually caring. She doubted it.
“Well, it looks like we’ve got our work cut out for us,” Sylvan grinned as she held up her wine glass to cheers.