Penelope Clearwater (clearly_copper) wrote in whatprice, @ 2009-06-11 11:40:00 |
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Current mood: | happy |
no matter how far or how wide i roam , i still call australia home
Who: Penny & Dean
When: Saturday, 30 May, Teddy's bday party (wicked backdated)
Where: Ginny's Farm
What: Penny and Dean catch up and realize they have mutual connections in Eastham
Penelope had seen quite a few new or vaguely familiar faces. There was one that stood out easily among the red heads and Penelope made her way over to the taller man.
"Mister... Thomas, right? Gryffindor?" she asked, trying to pull names out from her prefect days.
Looking down at the petite woman, Dean nodded as he tried to place her face. "Yes. Although you can call me Dean," he said before giving her an apologetic look. "I'm sorry... You look familiar, but I'm having a bit of trouble placing a name...."
"Penelope Clearwater," she answered with a smile. "Penny's fine. Ravenclaw prefect back in the day, dated Percy for awhile, petrified by the basilisk.."
His face brightened with recognition when she mentioned having dated Percy. "Right. You were encouraging bets on the Quiddy games, weren't you? You actually got Percy in on that too, right? I remember there being surprise that someone could actually convince Prefect Percy to gamble on anything."
Penelope chuckled.
"Yeah, although I do maintain that the Firebolt skewed things that upset my betting strategy," she said with a laugh and a blush.
"The broom is only as good as its rider," Dean pointed out with a grin. "Having a Firebolt won't do any good if the person on it doesn't know how to handle it properly. I would think the Slytherin team proved that the broom doesn't always make the team."
Penelope laughed.
"I think the proper response is 'It's not size, but how you use it?' " she teased. "Well, Slytherin had a bit of raw talent, but used physical force to make up for a cohesive team strategy. Violence just doesn't make for a good strategy - especially depending on the referee. Harry was certainly a skilled flyer, but when I started, Charlie Weasley was the quidditch star of Gryffindor. I'd like to have put those two head to head while they were both in their prime along with Viktor. That would be an interesting challenge to watch."
"I would certainly pay money too watch that," Dean said with a nod before breathing out a sigh. "Although I think we'll have to settle for a match between Charlie and Viktor now. It should still be interesting to watch."
"There should be a lot of good flyers there. It'll be interesting to watch them warm up and play - see if they can get good team chemistry," Penelope said with a smile.
"Perhaps I'll even take bets again."
"Depends what the bets have to be in," Dean said. "There's no telling how many galleons or pounds everyone will have on them."
"Oh, I'm sure I could work a money changing house as well," Penny said with a grin.
"Now don't take offense to this, but with all this entrepreneurial talk, are you sure you weren't sorted Slytherin?" Dean teased.
Penelope chuckled.
"I hope I've outgrown taking offense at most things, though with going into politics, I think there's still some things there I'll take offense to," she explained. "My best friend's partner- er, business partner, is a Slytherin, so I suppose his serpentineness has rubbed off over the past few years. Heavens knows that some of Percy's gryffindorness rubbed off on me as well. But then I rarely think we're the cariacatures of our houses. By the time we leave Hogwarts, most of us are such complicated individuals that it'd be hard to resort us. Although I wonder if we don't try to embody the traits of our houses. Forgive me, I'm babbling."
"I think you have a bit of a point there. At least about embodying the houses," Dean said with a chuckle. "People can use it as a bit of a safety net. Or an excuse. 'I can't help it if I ran off and did something stupid, I'm a Gryffindor' sort of thing."
Penelope chuckled.
"Because we all know bravery equals stupidity," she teased affectionately with a smile so that Dean would know she meant no offense.
Dean laughed heartily. "A good number would argue that the Gryffindor variety follows that rule. Do remember that I'm best mates with Seamus and I was in Harry, Ron, and Hermione's year. I remember all the bravery that ran about then. It certainly was of many different varieties, some of which was stupid."
Penelope chuckled.
"Certainly gave me something to do as prefect," she teased.
"Likely most of the things you had to deal with as prefect were also attempts to annoy your boyfriend at the time," Dean pointed out. "At least most of the activity from the lion side of things."
Penelope chuckled.
"It was always easy to get under his skin," Penny whispered teasingly.
Dean laughed as he shook his head. "I think anything those two did got under his skin easily. They seemed to have made it an art."
"Well, I think the twins certainly caused us a fair amount of trouble. So, how have you been? I haven't seen you awhile in quite some time," Penelope said with a smile.
"I haven't been around here for quite some time," Dean admitted. "I just got back a few weeks ago. Been in Australia for the last year and a half."
"Oh? How was that? Although I reckon you're probably tired of people asking, so if you'd rather talk about something else, that's fine too," Penny offered with a smile.
"It's not problem at all," Dean said with a warm smile. "It was great. The circumstances for staying so long not so much, but it's a beautiful country. Very different than England. I'd forgotten how green everything is here."
"It is lovely in the spring, despite the rain. In winter the grey can get a bit tedious," Penny said with a smile.
Dean laughed as he shook his head. "You get to actually yearn from the grey when it's sun all the time," he pointed out. "At least for a few days."
"Perhaps I should take an extended holiday to Australia then," Penelope said with a smile. "It's hard to imagine yearning for the gray."
"It is a spectacular place. Especially for a holiday," Dean said with a nod before looking at her curiously. "So what have you been up to? Certainly not being petrified by basilisks and hopefully not still dating Prefect Percy."
Penelope chuckled.
"No, no basilisks, thank heavens. Haven't really dated anyone in awhile. Life got rather busy rather quickly, I think. Working as assistant to the Eastham MP right now. Been doing that since last summer. Doing what good I can there."
"Oh, that's brill. Is the MP still Timms then?" Dean asked curiously. "I've been a bit out of touch. News doesn't always travel as well as it should into the interior and Seamus really doesn't have computers lying about for me to check up on this sort of thing."
"Yup. Timms is still MP. Things have been interesting recently, but luckily Eastham isn't known for corruption," Penny answered. "How do you know about Timms?"
"Dad works in the social work circuit in East Ham and Mum is a primary school teacher in the area, so they tend to keep an ear open to what's going on politically," Dean supplied before smirking. "Especially when it may be the sort of thing they can put their voices into in order to change the world."
"You mean I've probably crossed paths with your father, then? Is this the part where we start singing 'It's a Small World'?" she asked with a smile. "What are their names? And how much do they know about magic?"
"Noel and Freya Thomas," Dean provided before breathing out a heavy sigh. "I've always been open with my parents, so they know a great deal. Seamus has been keeping them notified about what's been going on recently in order to keep them safe. Especially since I was abroad."
Penelope nodded.
"I may have crossed your father's path then. Should I mention knowing you if I meet him again?" Penny asked curiously. "That's good that they're informed. Let me know if there's anything I can do for them. Eastham's had a bit of a rough time of it lately, losing one of our boys in the Seeker incident."
"You can mention it, but considering what Seamus has been saying, he may be a bit wary of you mentioning my name. Think you're one of them, especially with you working for an MP and that likes." Dean frowned slightly as he looked curiously at Penny. "Really? That's horrid. I suppose I should ask my father about that too when I go and visit them."
"A lad of 19, working class," Penelope said softly. "It was rather horrid, but the community gathered round and rallied. But let's talk of something more cheerful."
Dean nodded. "Yes. Let's talk about something a bit more cheerful," he said with a chuckle. "Or games. I saw that Ginny set up quite a few over on the other side of the yard."
Penny smiled.
"Well, I would certainly be up for playing some games. A bit of fun wouldn't go amiss," she said brightly. "Shall we?"