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Tweak says, "I didn't know you could read. "

Peter Pettigrew (p__pettigrew) wrote in hogwarts_dawn,
@ 2021-04-12 10:32:00

Entry tags:

character: padma patil, character: peter pettigrew

RP: Peter/Padma
Who: Peter/Padma
When: mid morning, 12 April
Where: research floor
What: they talk work

Peter wasn't surprised to see Remus when he arrived at the research floor. Head of a department or not, if there was no work, Remus wouldn't sit around doing nothing, and Peter understood. He was already bored doing nothing. "Hey, there," he told his friend. "I'm here to see a beautiful woman. I'll let you know how it goes with that idea."

With a few short words, he was on his way to find Padma. She was in one room, sitting on a big table with plenty of chairs and even more books. "Ms. Patil? I'm Peter, nice to meet you," he said, stepping inside.

He closed the door and then sat a few chairs down. "You've appropriated a lot of books already." He and Remus had spent enough hours in the library to find the spells that the Marauders needed that this seemed normal. "I'm not sure where to even start, with the memory thing. Your work, though, that's awesome. I wanted to go into the Department of Mystery and- well, not enough connections. In my time, those were as needed as your NEWTs." And apparently he was still unable to speak properly when talking to a woman when he knew for a fact that she had no interest in him and he had no interest in her. He got nervous and rambled on.

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lotusraven
2021-04-13 04:29 am UTC (link)

Padma didn't look up immediately. She had two books, each floating to either side of her, pages fluttering as a keyword charm looked for topics of interest. A third was in her hands while she read a particularly lengthy passage and finished off a line of notes in a spare journal she'd found -- non-enchanted except by her for her note-keeping. There was something serenely calming about sitting cross-legged amidst a pile of books. Once she'd finished the notes, she set the book in her hands down and smiled at him in greeting.

"I suppose I have," she said with a laugh, looking around her at the stacks surrounding her. "Pince used to pitch fits when I'd do this in the library before exams. I'm still not sure if it was the multiple piles of books that bothered her, or sitting on the table so I could reach them all better." She had actually been tempted to set up in the library itself, but had decided a smaller room down the corridor was more defensible against disturbances.

"I don't think that had really changed much in my time. My father knew someone and I had my history with the D.A. to open doors that wouldn't have even with Father's connections." Being a 'friend of Harry Potter' changed things, whether you wanted them to or not. "I don't think I'd have been accepted in your time, either. Too female, too foreign. And, yet, here we both are." Nott, as well, but not revealing other Unspeakables' identities was still too ingrained in her to even think about saying it, yet. "From what little I've heard about you and your friends, you seem to have done more experimental magic at school than most of the other journeyman Unspeakables I know, though."

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p__pettigrew
2021-04-13 04:43 pm UTC (link)

"I can imagine why," Peter answered, laughing. "If every student takes over a table, pretty soon she'd run out of tables although I have to admit that you are quite the side. You'd have distracted all poor researchers like me." It didn't even matter that she wouldn't have been interested in any of them. She was a beautiful woman surrounded by books. It was the perfect image.

"It's good to see that some things never change. Although I told Remus just the other day that they haven't really changed now either. If Harry likes you and trusts you, you get the job. The standards are a little different, but the bottom line stays the same." Harry had been indifferent to him, which was more than Peter had expected, so he couldn't complain too much.

"We did do plenty of magic. Sirius and James were always the more intuitive. Remus and I were more into research and old spells. When you put the four of us together, we could do plenty that wasn't allowed," he admitted with a grin. "But now we're here and they have jobs and I- I was thinking. I know what I know and I know what you know at this point, and I think we both agree that we can't let the castle decide when to throw tantrums. So I pitched to Ron the idea of creating a small Department of Mysteries. You can be in charge, I don't care. We tell Harry that it's to study the castle's magic, to predict new arrivals and also to prepare for new tantrums. If we get to study anything else when we need a break from talking to the castle- I don't think that'd be terrible. So what do you think?"

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lotusraven
2021-04-16 01:42 am UTC (link)

"Flattery, Mr. Pettigrew." Laughing softly, she smiled a bit impishly. "Should I mention my sister has been known to do the same?" she asked innocently, unable to resist the teasing because otherwise she'd have to acknowledge that the man across from her now knew what only her sister knew...well, and poor Jamie, who'd shared the strange week with her as the Ron to her Hermione.

"Unfortunately, you're not wrong. Perhaps, we should look at curbing that some as we expand our strange little society here. Merit should have more of an influence for all of us than it has historically." She wondered how Harry's likes and trust were going to work when her own faith in him was near to shattered?

"I went to school with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Gryffindor friends doing things that weren't allowed seems fairly normal," she agreed with a chuckle. But, she grew serious as he went on, intrigued by the idea. Padma had to admit to herself, what with getting her memories swapped for Hermione's only a couple days after being thrust into this time, she hadn't yet given much thought to what she would do as a job. She hadn't been given the time. Researching all of that had been something she intended to do on what free time she might have, not trusting that she would be allowed to do anything like research. But, if Peter's plan worked... "I think I like it. I'm not sure if even that much is practical enough for Harry to go for it. But, we can refine the proposal some before presenting it to him. But, if we're to understand what the castle is doing, I think we may find we have to branch our research out a little into other, shall we say, related avenues of investigation in order to make sure we don't miss important details, too."

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p__pettigrew
2021-04-16 02:52 am UTC (link)

"So two beautiful women then," he said, chuckling. "I'm so glad I didn't go to school with you, because I'm not sure my heart could take it." Not that it would have mattered if they had gone to school at the same, because they'd have been interested in James and Sirius. Or maybe Lily and James in this case.

"I don't think it's possible. Human nature makes us trust the people we know. If we have to give a job, do you trust someone who maybe knows what he or she's talking about or do you trust the friends you know?" Peter knew that some things wouldn't change, no matter how further in time they traveled.

"It doesn't always end as well as it didn't for them, though," Peter said with a sigh. "Yes, but I've already spoken to Ron, and he likes the idea and he will support it with Harry, and that means more than any plan that we can present, because that would require that he listens to said plan. I figured we need to present this in a very concise way, five sentences or less," he said, laughing. "Study and prevent new temper tantrums, plus trying to predict when and where new people arrive. Okay, maybe we can sell it in two sentences. The rest- We'll the rest is really up to us."

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lotusraven
2021-04-17 03:30 pm UTC (link)

Padma chuckled and shook her head. "If you'd gone to school with us, Parvati would have been in your house and you would have become immune to her charms eventually." If only because life changed drastically as they grew up.

"To eradicate it entirely? No, it's probably not possible," she allowed. "But, to bring merit into the conversation more? I think that's not only possible, but essential if we want to avoid some of the mistakes those who came before us have made. Because it never stays just 'friends you know'. It becomes 'people you want to impress' and 'people who have power you want' and 'people you want power over'."

Peter's comments could be an understatement. "It doesn't end well for anyone," she pointed out, thinking about the 'Golden' Trio and how much they had failed, despite their heroics. "I can't end well when it's all done in a bubble as if no one else matters." But, that was irrelevant to the conversation at hand and more something for Padma to continue to assess her own thoughts on what she'd learned...or maybe truths she'd just come to finally accept...from having Hermione's memories. "True enough. If Ron supports it, Harry will at least consider it." And Ron probably knew of her own reluctance to deal with them after the memory swap. So, if he still thought it a good idea, perhaps they could work something out. "Two sentences with practical applications is about all Harry will listen to, I think. But, what I was saying about about looking into related avenues of investigation was more to the point of clarifying between us what the scope of our research is going to be. I mean, there's no time like the present, surrounded with books, to get started rather than wait for approval. Also, I think we should speak with Nott," she added, remembering, finally, that if Peter had her memories, he already knew Nott was an Unspeakable. "His work in our time could help us with those other avenues."

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p__pettigrew
2021-04-17 04:22 pm UTC (link)

"I'm not sure that's exactly how it works. Unless you're blind. In which case, maybe that's how it works." He grinned. "And in case you think I'm exaggerating, I'd like to point out to the great love story that is James and Lily. I can say with precision that being in the same house did nothing to make them immune to each other's charm."

Peter wasn't as optimist as she was. After all, she had been born rich and with family connections and where her gender might be a problem, her connection to Harry solved that. "I wished I could believe you."

He snorted. "I just meant that they survived the war. At this point, the bar is really low." Maybe it was because Peter never imagined that they would survive the war at all. "Oh in that case, I'm fine with discussing the specific with you, even now. After all, we're still free and getting a salary isn't really a priority when there is nothing to buy. I think they are underestimating people's desire to work. Or they just forget that they have to give alternatives when they fire you." He doubted that Harry would remember until they brought this little project up. "Yes, Nott, we can definitely talk to him, but I sense some kind of problem there, with Harry. Maybe we want to make it official before we reach out to him. Gryffindors, we like things to be nice and easy," he said, grinning, but he had a feeling that if they went too fast, Harry might put a stop to it. "Until then, It can be our own little secret. Now, what do you say that we start working."

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