Daisy {has a lot of feelings} Rosier (thornflower) wrote in reduxpitch, @ 2016-08-03 20:52:00 |
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To say that Daisy was slightly put out that she wasn't able to waltz right into the auror office to find her father wouldn't be completely accurate. She was rightly annoyed, thank you very much. Of course, she didn't recognize the secretary that had stopped her, so that might have had something to do with it. Most already knew who she was, well familiar with her visiting the Ministry with her father when she was younger or just dropping by like she was doing today. Rebuffed to the Atrium, Daisy pouted as she stood in front of the fountain. She was going to complain, she decided. Complete with fancy letterhead.
Daisy had been quite quite happy to use the excuse of ‘lunch with her father’ to take a long lunch. Only he didn’t know he was having lunch with her yet. Details.
So instead of surprising her father, she’d had to send an interoffice memo by way of the very unrelenting secretary that she was here and waiting to be taken out for lunch.
James had a ridiculous amount of memos flying into his office, and he wasn't sure how he was going to get to them all but at least they were organizing themselves into an orderly fashion. That would help in the long run. Except one flew in and smacked him right in the middle of the forehead rather than joining the rest, and he quickly unfolded it to look to see what it was and who it was from.
Daisy.
Leaving his office for the first time in hours, he got up from his desk and locked the door behind him, going down to the Atrium to find his daughter - an easy task, as it turned out. “Daisy…” he pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly. “This is a nice surprise.”
“Daddy.” Daisy smiled up at her father, kissing his cheek. “Sorry about not being able to go down and surprise you myself, but your new dragon of a secretary wouldn’t let me pass.” She was still annoyed at her surprise being ruined. Angry letter indeed.
“So, I thought you could take me out to lunch. What do you think?” She linked her her arm through his, already heading towards the floos. “I even took a long lunch because I haven’t seen you in ages.” Daisy kept talking, not giving her father to argue before she got what she wanted, which at the moment included lunch that she didn’t have to pay for.
“Yes, well, security has been upgraded quite a bit recently,” James said with a scrunched nose as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. Security measures were important but that didn't change the fact that his daughter should have been able to get through to his office.
“Did you have a particular destination in mind?” he asked as they headed toward the floo exits to the building. “I hope so, because my brain is fried from work. Where would you like to go, Daisy?”
Okay, she hadn’t quite thought that far ahead, but that was alright. Daisy was known for thinking on her feet. “Well, I would normally say the Hound’s Pint, but even I’m not that oblivious to politics and the nastiness spouted by the papers. The Leaky then?”
Anywhere with alcohol. There was nothing like a liquid lunch. Smiling again, Daisy ushered her father towards the floo. “Don’t tell Mum, but it looks like you could use a decent meal or five. So really, I’m just doing my daughterly duty by making sure you have a generous lunch.”
“Yeah, let's not make things worse than they already are,” James agreed, chuckling. “As much as I'd love to go have lunch with your uncle, I also don't want to stir things up.”
Lingering by the floo, he tutted under his breath. “Your mother feeds me well, and I would never let her know you said otherwise. I do appreciate getting out of here for lunch, though. So the Leaky it is.” He stepped into the floo and seconds later for whisked away to a place distinctly Not Work and that had better food than what was in the cafeteria.
The world needed to be stirred up a little bit more stirring up in Daisy’s opinion. If her father couldn’t visit her uncle then she would just have to do it for him. It would likely mean another free lunch, Daisy realized, and that would definitely be a boon to her bank account. Another day, she promised herself.
“Well then that just means that you’re likely skipping lunch or breakfast or something.No doubt she wouldn’t be happy about that.” Daisy leveled her father with a gaze before blithely seeking out a booth for the two of them, already pulling out two menus for the both of them before her father had fully settled. “What are you thinking of having? It’s too warm for any sort of roast, but I don’t know if I want fish and chips.”
“Did she send you to check up on me?” James asked, eyeing his daughter warily as they found a booth. There certainly was enough of Lily in Daisy to be concerning at times, like when she looked at him like that. He'd been doing better about leaving the office, getting rest and yes, food. Maybe not as much as he should, but he was busy.
“I'm thinking fish and chips,” he replied as he looked over the menu before setting it on the table. “Bad for me and filling. Sounds about right.”
Daisy’s look was slightly affronted. “You don’t think I could just want to see my dear, loving, wonderful father all on my own? That I would need some sort of ulterior motive?” Nevermind there was in the form of her not having to pay for lunch, the fact that he would know her well enough to figure that out had Daisy teasing.”But yes, you should get out from behind your desk at least once a day. What are you teaching those poor impressionable young auror recruits?”
Nodding, Daisy decided on one of the savory pies. The crust wouldn’t be as good as her’s, but she didn’t want fish. If she felt like chips she’d just steal one of her father’s. “Well, look on the bright side. At least you aren’t old enough that you have to be put on a low fat, full fiber diet. Yet.”
“Well not until you put it like that,” James said wryly, but he still grinned all the same. It didn't matter why she was there to see him and have lunch, because he would welcome a meal with any of his kids any day. “I'm probably teaching them that when something horrible happens, their job is extra important.”
He chuckled, scrunching his nose. “If and when that day comes, I fully expect you to sneak me actual food when your mother isn't looking.” When their server stopped over, he ordered and handed the menus over once Daisy had done the same. “So, what's the real reason for your visit, my darling daughter?”
“Until you fall down, faint from hunger.” Maybe she should send her father snacks to keep in his desk drawer. Not just sweet type snacks, though Daisy did get a giggle out of the image of the whole auror office chasing down an escaped chocolate frog, she would have to investigate. “Then you’ve just lost your pride in addition.”
Daisy waited until their drinks arrived (thankfully rather quickly), and as she sipped her cider, she lifted one shoulder in an off-handed shrug. “Can’t a daughter want to visit with her father? Why must I have an ulterior motive?”
“You don't have to have one,” James said, taking a slow sip of his drink and shrugging a shoulder. He really was glad to have a chance to get away and a chance to see her, especially since everything was particularly busy. “I just thought you might have a particular reason for wanting to have lunch.”
He ran his hand through his hair, pushing it back from his forehead. “What have you been doing with yourself lately? I feel like I haven't seen you in a bit.”
In a move that mirrored her father's, Daisy pusher the hair out of her face, quickly pulling a hair tie off her wrist to pull it back into a ponytail. Hardly the most fashion forward and it was a shame since she was having good hair day, but it was too muggy to keep it down. “Oh this, that, and the other thing.” Cursebreaking was not as glamorous and exciting as she had hoped. There was a lot more research and paperwork involved. There might have been some false advertising involved.
“They might be letting us baby cursebreakers out on a real excursion. Crete last I heard. Maybe Morocco. The rumors keep flying with nothing to back them up.” She's heard about the Galapagos, which she thought was rather exciting and different than any old world locales that people kept suggesting.
“Oooh, an excursion!” James grinned as he considered all the difference places she’d named. “I know you’d be going there for work, but it would be nice to travel and see different places. Maybe once all this stuff settles down, I should take your mum somewhere fun. I can’t remember the last time we went on a trip.”
He drummed his fingertips on the table absently. “Work’s going alright, though?”
“Work’s going great,” Daisy said brightly. Maybe for reasons not strict reasons her father might think of, which suited Daisy just fine. “More research and paperwork than I originally anticipated, but that doesn’t make for a very exciting sales pitch. Come for the travel experiences, stay for the paperwork.”
Looking at her father, Daisy cocked her head to the side. “And you? Or is that somehow compromising your super serious work?” Reason number one why Daisy could never be an auror. It was far too serious.
“Ah yes, paperwork,” James said with a knowing nod. “Ran into that starting out with the Aurors, too. Not all running around catching bad guys, but having to do all the paperwork once you caught them. Definitely not as fun.”
He shrugged a shoulder. “Work’s going alright. There, that doesn't compromise anything. It's been nonstop ever since the cup final and all that… mess.”
Well Daisy had been trying to avoid the subject of the Cup’s final and the events that transpired after it. The fact that Sirius Black, vehement anti-pureblood supporter, would be accused of throwing the Dark Mark up into the sky sounded downright stupid to her ears. But then again, people might not know her uncle the same way she did. More fool them for not taking the time. Of course, id did not occur to Daisy that she was in a very privileged position to have grown up with such an intimate look at the man behind the Devil May Care facade.
“That sucks. Hopefully people will get their heads out of their arses soon and catch the person who is actually responsible for the madness.” A man that wasn’t Sirius Black, but Daisy understood how her father couldn’t officially comment on that.
“We can certainly hope for that,” James agreed. It was enough of a mess without Sirius being the main suspect, but the evidence was certainly stacked against him. He knew better, but it was difficult to get the rest of the department to see anything other than what they viewed as proof. “The sooner we get the party responsible, the sooner everyone will be able to take a breath and relax.”
That was, of course, assuming there wasn't some larger plot going on behind the lone incident at the cup. But again, he wasn't going to jump to that without some kind of proof. “Have you been doing anything fun outside of work? Please say yes - someone should be.”
Daisy looked over the rim of her pint glass, eyes dancing. Yes, she certainly had been doing someone fun outside of work. “When have you known me not to do something fun. Please. Of course I’m amusing myself with merriment and frivolity.”
“I feel like I shouldn't ask any further,” James said with a laugh, taking a long sip of his drink. “Thought I'm not sure if that's more the dad in me speaking or the law enforcement official doing the talking…” Though he truly didn't think his daughter, or any of his other kids, would be doing something illegal. He hoped.
“Both,” Daisy answered for him as she spotted their server coming towards them, lunch ready and piping hot. Leaning back, Daisy could already feel her mouth watering. The crust might not be as good as her’s, but a free lunch usually tasted pretty good. She wasn’t about to complain about that. “One more round,” she told their server before she and her father began to tuck in.