InsaneJournal

Who: Percy Weasley and Victoria Frobisher
What: Date ---Not a date Date
When: Saturday, 21 February, evening
Where: Some Muggle Italian restaurant
Rating: ‘C’ for Cute
Status: Completed in gdocs



Vicky tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled as the server put their food on the table. “Thank you.” When he was gone, she giggled. No matter how often she ventured into the Muggle world, she never ceased to feel a little thrill… especially when she got something right. So far, no one had given either her or Percy an odd look, and she counted that as a win.

The restaurant was a nice cozy Italian place just down the street from the theater, popular enough to be fairly busy even this early. The Muggles around them were talking about some figure skater who had just won a gold medal in the Olympics and their computers being on the fritz and their jobs and a bunch of other stuff Vicky wasn’t up to date on. It was weird, but fun.

“So how do you like working at the joke shop?”

The big question of the evening was, was this a date or wasn’t it? Percy told himself it wasn’t. He and Vicky had hung out informally with a group of people on the evening of St Valentine’s Day, and Percy liked what he encountered. Vicky was kind and sweet, plus very cute, all attractive characteristics. But Percy wanted to know if their personalities hit it off before officially calling it a date. A trial run, so to speak. It was a safe and sensible route, because Percy was a safe and sensible person.

However, that did not stop Percy from automatically offering to pay for Vicky’s portion of the meal as well as her movie ticket. He thought himself a gentleman, and this was a gentlemanly thing to do. Percy was aware it might be giving Vicky mixed signals, but Percy insisted. Because maybe, subconsciously, Percy was considering it date.

Percy sat in the booth opposite her, mentally calculating the cost of the items they'd chosen from the menu: he wanted to make sure she had a good time, but he also was hoping to stay within budget. Vicky's question made him pause. She was Fred and George's friends, so he hesitated to speak what he really thought.

"It's urm... interesting. To say the least. I'm very grateful to them for giving me the job, but it's really not something I'd base a career off of. Ah... how long have you known Fred and George?"

“I don’t remember. They used to come to the sweet shop when we were kids and your parents dragged them along to Diagon Alley. I snuck them the sweets we couldn’t sell and they brought me frogs and stones.” She looked down and blushed at the memory, then shook her head. Fred and George were great friends, but she knew Percy didn’t share their sense of humor. He was being very sweet, but she didn’t want him to hide things to spare her feelings.

“Now, tell me how you really feel. Because your brothers are fantastic people, but I’ve spent enough time with them to know that you really have to be in the right mood to deal with them. I don’t know if I could do it all day every day.” She put her hand on top of his and squeezed. He was so tense, so worried about everything. Fred had been right when he said she needed to get him to loosen up.

“Actually, never mind. I know you hate it. Let’s talk about something that doesn’t involve your brothers.”

Percy blinked and then a spark of realization shown in his eyes. “Oh! That’s where I know you from! The sweet shop in Diagon Alley!” Being able to piece these things together made him happy, but upon hearing that the Twins got away with getting candy practically for free dampered his spirits, somewhat. The open invitation to speak his mind was not as big a surprise as having Vicky place her hand upon his. He opened his mouth to begin, but before be could say anything, she abruptly cut him off to change the subject. It was just as well. Percy’s tirade against Fred and George’s behavior and how they treated him might’ve caused a dark cloud to darken an otherwise pleasant evening out.

“Good idea,” he told her, smiling as he recovered. The usual go-to topic of conversation for Percy was work, so he asked, “What made you decide to go into broadcasting, instead of continuing to work at your father’s shop?”

“They don’t need me there. Mum and dad still work every day and they’ve got a couple employees they hired when I was a kid. They’d make space for me if I really needed to work there, but I’m not good at selling it, either. I just want to give it away! Candy is, like, a basic right!” She laughed. She’d been notorious when growing up for slipping people extras, especially kids who were sad. It brought a lot of repeat customers, but wasn’t great for the bottom line.

“Besides, I really like talking, so broadcasting seemed like a good fit. When I went traveling after, uh, graduating, I told stories about it whenever I met up with, uh, people”--she mimed waving a wand--”at, uh, sporting events.” Merlin it was hard to talk about some things around Muggles. “Most of the people I traveled with had never heard of the game I played in school, so it was nice to catch up with other fans occasionally. And I told them about the people I traveled with and things I saw. I got told I should go into radio a lot, so when I got back, I looked into it.”

Vicky hoped that made sense. She wasn’t sure how much Percy knew about her travels after leaving Hogwarts, and she couldn’t very well tell him here that she’d hooked up with various groups of Muggles while backpacking around Europe and only met with Wizards when she went to Quidditch games.

Candy being a basic right made Percy crack a smile. It was aspects of her personality like this that made Vicky so endearing. The same way she offered to help his uncle Gideon when she read on the journals that he was having a problem with the Pygmy Puffs. Did she even know Gideon? Percy wasn’t sure, but he suspected she didn’t. But she still freely gave of herself, and that was a wonderful trait, even though Percy was able to do the same.

At first, Percy wasn’t sure why she was pantomiming, but quickly pieced together what she was trying to say. Nodding once to show he understood, he muttered under his breath, “We could cast a charm around us so nobody can hear our conversation, if you’d like?” Again, the topic of travel had come up. It seemed to be a trend in his life, but he was interested to know, “Where did you go on your travels?” he asked, punctuating his question with a sip of water.

“Right! I should have thought of that!” Vicky dabbed at her lips with her napkin and then, when she put it back, slid her wand out and waved it under the tablecloth, casting a charm that would make it seem like they were talking about things that made sense to whoever overheard them. “There. Done.”

She stuck her wand back in her pocket and sprinkled some cheese onto her pasta. “I backpacked around the continent, Muggle-style. France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Belgium… pretty much everywhere close. I took a portkey over and just went where my feet and the buses and trains took me.” She smiled at the memory and took a sip of her drink. “I camped when it was warm and stayed in hostels when it wasn’t and traveled with groups of Muggles for a few days or weeks at a time. Except when I took breaks to watch quidditch matches and catch up with my family back home, I traveled as a Muggle. It was fun. And affordable.”

Her family was well enough off with the sweet shop, but she hadn’t let her parents fund her travels. Sure some of the money in her account had come from them--she wasn’t stupid and noticed deposits she hadn’t made--but she’d kept her budget as close to what she’d saved up as possible.

“Have you done any traveling?” It seemed like something Percy would enjoy, though she suspected that he’d spent most of his time working and studying. She’d have to do something about that if this turned into more than one date. Outing. Whatever it was.

As Vicky described her experience, Percy tasted his ravioli and added a little salt. His answer to her question came with a sigh. “The summer before my seventh year at Hogwarts, my father won the lottery and the family was able to go visit my brother, Bill, in Egypt.” He smiled fondly at the memory. “I loved it. It was so exotic and fascinating, the people, the flavors. Bill was able to take us to places which aren’t accessible to the ordinary traveler, and we actually went inside some of the tombs he was excavating. Bill was a Gringott’s Curse Breaker, you see.

“Since then? I’m afraid I didn’t have time. I choose to focus on my career. But I was saving my galleons for a long holiday. I was torn between Italy or Greece. Unfortunately, being laid off work put a damper on those plans.”

Vicky ate some of her fettuccine while Percy talked about Egypt. That was a place she would love to go someday, as well as Greece. She winced a little when he described his plans being dashed. “Well, it’s good you had the galleons when you needed them. It sucks that you had to spend them all, though.”

She patted his hand and then brightened. It wasn’t her way to stay down about anything and she thought Percy could benefit from the same philosophy. “Still, you can save up again. And travel cheaply if you want to go sooner. I picked up a lot of tips while I was traveling. If you want, I can share them with you. I wrote notes down so I wouldn’t forget. I still have most of them.” She was good at misplacing things, so she didn’t have all of them, but she knew where most of them were.

“Yes,” Percy said with a grimace. “ I’m not making as much at the joke shop as I did at the Ministry, so saving up will be a bit more difficult. I’m trying really hard to see the bright side of things, but it’s hard not to be bitter and envious when you read about people you know going on holiday. It’s just…” another grimace. “I’m often told that I need to lighten up and relax and take a break, especially my family.” He then cut himself off. “I’m sorry, I’m whinging. It must not sound very appealing. It just gets to be sometimes, because I feel like they don’t know me at all. I’m sure Fred and George have told you all sorts of things about me.”

“It’s easy to travel super cheap. Maybe some weekend we can sneak away and I’ll show you.” Shit. Vicky winced. That was probably way too presumptuous, because, Merlin she wasn’t even sure if this was an actual date despite Percy offering to pay and why in the world did she say that? She really hoped he didn’t take it as her being too forward. She liked Percy, as a friend if nothing else, and she didn’t want to scare him away. “If you want. Or I can just give you the notes I took.”

“And don’t be sorry.” She wasn’t going to let Percy apologize for who he was. She had a feeling that he did that a lot, being related to people like Fred and George. And even though Vicky knew they meant well and were just showing affection the way they best understood it, Percy clearly didn’t. “Fred and George don’t really talk about you that much when you’re not around, and I wouldn’t to let them sway my opinion if they did.” She laughed as she stabbed more pasta with a fork. “The only thing they’ve said about you lately”--except for threats if she broke his heart, but she wasn’t going to mention that--”was that I could stop by the shop and see you in a tux, if I wanted.”

Did she just offer to go on a holiday with him? Just the two of them? Percy blinked in surprise, but it looked as though Vicky was just as jolted by her statement as he was. Her quick addendum confirmed Percy’s suspicion that she’d spoken in haste and hadn’t thought about the implications of what she was saying. He didn’t want to embarrass her or be presumptuous, so in a non-committal way, he told her, “Ah, well… that might be nice. Maybe we can do that? Let’s see.” Percy internally winced at how wishy-washy he sounded and picked at his meal. "It would be interesting to see your notes. It's good that you've kept them after all this time." That sounded like something he would do. After all, he kept all his old Hogwarts notes stored away in his flat.

The mention of the word tux caused the shells of Percy's ears to blush as he struggled with his own emotions of embarrassment and irritation. "If it's all the same to you, I'd much rather you not come to the shop to see me." He set his fork down and wiped his hand upon a napkin, and as he continued to speak, his voice gradually became sharper with annoyance that was restrained. "The tuxedo Fred and George mentioned is the new uniform. It's more like a clown costume, complete with top hat, all in a garish color orange. They're making me wear it just to humiliate me, taking advantage of the fact that I need the bloody job and they're my bosses. And of course, it's all my fault if I don't see their humour, I'm the one with the stick up my arse."

He snapped his lips shut before he could continue his rant. He’d been dealing with this sort of thing for his whole life, and it was a source of resentment. Percy hoped he hadn't ruined any chance of a relationship with Vicky, and hurried tried to salvage the conversation. In a more restrained tone, he told her, "We decided that we weren't going to talk about Fred and George - it's probably for the best. Shall we change the subject again?"

They had agreed not to talk about Fred and George, but Percy was clearly upset by the tux, and Vicky couldn't let that slide. "That's terrible!" She thought for a moment, weighing her friendship with the twins against how upset Percy seemed and came to a swift decision. "I know we promised not to talk about your brothers, but if you're willing, I have an idea that might help."

She leaned across the table, her eyes sparking. "I can charm the tux--if you'll let me see it--so that Fred and George still see the orange, but it looks like a better color to everyone else. Not something boring--it is a joke shop after all--but not hideous either. A nice green, maybe?"

If Percy had it his way, he’d reduce the tuxedo into ashes with a well placed Reducto and be done with it. But the way Vicky offered to help, once again, was endearing and her mischievousness, contagious. He couldn’t help but reflect her smile, despite himself. “It would be a nice for them be the target of a prank, for a change.” Thoughts turned in his brain. “Throw in a charm that colors their hair an equally garish color, but prevents them from realizing it, and we have a deal.”

"And they say you don't have a sense of humor. Clearly, they're wrong." Vicky held a hand across the table to shake on it. "Now. What color shall I turn their hair? Hot pink? Neon green? Striped with both? Or, I know, polka dots!"

She giggled at the thought of pranking Fred and George. They'd figure it out eventually, but Vicky was willing to bet that by the time they did, they'd be impressed rather than irritated.

There was a smug smile on his face when he told her, “I’ll leave it to your discretion. When do you think you can do it?” It was all so conspiratory and quite unlike himself - Percy playfully blamed Vicky. A quick glance at his wristwatch told him the time. “We ought to hurry, though. We can’t miss our show.”

Vicky glanced at her watch. It wasn't quite late enough that they had to truly hurry, but they needed to stay aware of the time and perhaps focus a little more on eating than talking. "Right. Yeah. Sorry." She shoved a big bite of pasta in her mouth too quickly and managed to leave one noodle dangling down to her chin.

Shite.

With as much dignity as possible--so none--Vicky shoved the noodle into her mouth and wiped her chin. She looked ridiculous, she was sure, but at least Percy wasn't likely to make fun of her for it. And maybe he could remember it when she saw him in the tux.

As she chewed, she mentally reviewed her schedule. "Tuesday? I could swing by the shop around dinnertime, if you'll be there." It occurred to her that he might not want her to charm the tux in the shop, but she didn't know where else to suggest. Her place seemed too forward, and anywhere else seemed like another date. Not that she would object to another date, if that's what this was. (Oh, who was she kidding? It was. And she kinda wanted another one.) "Unless there's somewhere else you wanna meet."

Percy likewise picked up the pace to eat his ravioli and at first he didn’t notice how sloppily Vicky was eating, until he glanced up and saw the noodle dangling. His eyebrows rose, but was polite and didn’t say anything so as to not further her apparent embarrassment, looking away briefly while she tended to her noodle. When he looked back, he couldn’t help but crack a smile; a dollop of sauce happened to find its way upon the tip of her nose, which she had missed with her napkin. He met her eye and motioned with his finger the tip of his own nose to subtly let her know.

“Tuesday evening I’m closing the shop, so that’ll be perfect. Sometimes Fred and George are around, but they’re usually in the office or up in their flat, so you could sneak in without them knowing.” A pause, then he hopefully added, “And maybe afterwards, we could pop off somewhere. Have you ever been to the Swallowed Octave? It’s a jazz club with live music.”

Vicky gratefully wiped the sauce off her nose. "I haven't been. That sounds nice." She mentally winced. Nice. Way to sound interested. "Fun. Do they have food? I can't be out too late, but I could go for a couple hours. Dinner and jazz sounds lovely."

“Oh yes, we can have dinner there,” Percy replied, enlivened. “I can’t stay out very late either, since I need to be at work the next morning, but yes. I love jazz music. Not so much modern contemporary or improvisation, though.” He wasn’t going to mention the club’s Drag Night - it wasn’t on Tuesday, anyway. “When… do you think you’ll be able to hex Fred and George’s hair?”

Vicky laughed. It was oddly endearing to see him so worried about pranking his brothers. “I’ll need a few days to figure out the charm, but then… whenever I see them. I had thought Tuesday, but if you want me to sneak in and out, I can’t charm them then. So Wednesday? Thursday? I’ll find a day to stop by the shop.” She put her hand over his again. “I promise, I won’t forget.”

“Do it on Tuesday,” Percy suggested. “Sneak in to do the tuxedo charm and then announce yourself to the twins. That would be brilliant.”

This was the third time Vicky had placed her hand over his, but this time, Percy carefully turned his palm upward so that they were now holding hands. It was a small gesture, but it flooded Percy’s heart with such happiness that his chest expanded with pride and his smile widened. “Thank you.”

Vicky’s chest did that weird fluttery thing when Percy turned his hand over. She spent a moment just looking at their joined hands, trying to parse how she felt, and then, she grinned widely. This was perfect. “Tuesday, then.”

She glanced at their food--mostly gone--and the time. “Shall we ask for the check so we can get to the cinema on time? I don’t want to miss the trailers. They’re my favorite part, sometimes.”