Oh bother

[Utopia Browne]

She'd been a bit surprised when she'd received an invitation to Mister Merlin's campaign function. Surprised and delighted. Of course when the time came, delight turned into a jittery ball of nervousness in her stomach as Hogsmeade weekend neared. When the time came for her to actually go to the Huxley home, she was certain that she'd do something stupid to embarrass her friend. That was the last thing she wanted to do, especially in front of voters. She just wanted to help support him. As such she was wearing one of the rosettes that she'd managed to talk Annette into making and it went quite well with the simple lavender gown she had chosen to wear. It wasn't nearly as fancy as anything Anne might wear and she would probably be lost in the crowd of upper class ladies that might show up but she thought she looked respectable enough.

After being let into the house, Pia fussed with her gloves and looked around for familiar faces in the clusters of people; namely Annette who had been invited as well. Apparently a handful of Mister Merlin's friends had been invited and she was quite honored to have been one of them. Her fingers found the locket she always wore on a long chain though today she had the chain doubled so that the locket rested just above the neckline of her gown.

Finding an out of the way place to stand, Pia watched as the attendees rubbed elbows with a faint smile on her lips. Maybe if she just stood off to the side, she wouldn't accidentally get in the way and cause some sort of mishap.

  

[His Majesty Merlin Huxley]

Things seemed to be going well so far. Of course, they were only five minutes into the event - but nothing had burst into flames so far, and he had not been mauled by ravens or anything, so that was a pretty good sign.

He was convinced that it was going to go well because it had to go well; it was the only event he was able to host and he was going to rub elbows with as many young disenchanted voters as possible, damnit. Even if he did not win - and he hoped that he would - he was going to put on a good showing.

He was supposed to be rubbing elbows but the event had only sort of started and when Merl saw Miss Utopia standing at the side of the parlor. He approached her, carefully making his way through the guests and greeting all of them with a winning smile and, if he knew who they were, a quick inquiry as to the well-being of their family.

Finally he reached her.

"Welcome to the Huxley home," Merl said, "Not quite as eclectic as one would expect, I believe."

  

[Utopia Browne]

It wasn't long before Pia spotted Mister Merlin as he made his way through the parlor. Her smile became more prominent as she caught sightof Merlin's. It was a n engaging smile. Fussing with one of the ruffles on her gown , she checked once more for any familiar faces before finding Mister Merlin again. After a moment of uncertainty it became clear that he was headed in her direction. She hadn't truly expect to see him much during the event. He needed to gain voters, not entertain his silly little school friend. But that aside she smiled and was more than happy to get to see him.

"Oh, no! It's a lovely home!" She insisted and truly it was, or at least what she had seen of it. "Thank you so much for inviting me, Mister M--Huxley. I've never been to such a fancy affair, I hope I'm not under dressed. I dont want to embarrass you."

  

[His Majesty Merlin Huxley]

"You're dressed perfectly for the occasion," Merl said. Her gown matched her eyes, he noted rather absently - she was good at color-coordinating, when she wasn't in school robes. If he became Minister, maybe he would ask her to help him decorate his office!

"And as far as the List of People Who Could Potentially Embarrass me - well, you're not even on it," Merl said with a half-smile, "I'm not really too nervous - if I could navigate a conversation with a reporter, then I think that I can navigate this." His campaign seemed to be going well, not that he was an expert in these things or anything.

  

[Utopia Browne]

Looking down at her gown, she smoothed her hands over the purple material then looked up at Mister Merlin with a smile. She hadn't had many options but she was glad that her friend approved. She was glad that he had so much faith that she wouldn't mess anything up for him. He did make a more impressive figure outside of Hogwarts and in his fancy clothes . "It is good that you are so confident. It will make others confident in you and your abilities."

I think I am plenty nervous for the two of us. Though, I do have faith in you. You will be brilliant." Pure earnestness transformed her face as she looked up at him. "Is there anything I should be doing? I suppose I could go find Miss Fontaine. I'm sure she has found a crowd to charm by now."

  

[His Majesty Merlin Huxley]

"Thank you," Merl said, "That means quite a bit." Miss Utopia had faith in him, Elmer Macmillan had faith in him - and they were both intelligent, well-reasoned individuals. If they thought that he could handle this, then surely he could.

"Not yet," Merl said with a bright smile, "Not until the brunch - which is, of course, very soon, but I expect that we'll be called in." There were plenty of things he should have been doing, but he could have this moment.

  

[Utopia Browne]

Smiling once more, Pia looked around at all of the nicely dressed men and women who had come to Mister Merlin’s event. She really was glad that there was a decent turn out. She’d been a bit worried about all of the potential problems that had been brought up back in March at Hogwarts. Imaginative as she was, she still had troubling thoughts about Merlin being assassinated. For a brief second her brow puckered at the thought and then she smiled again, chiding herself for being too dramatic.

“Will you be giving a speech later, or are you just going to mingle?” She’d of course be there to listen if he spoke and then her mind touched on another topic. “I’m not sure about the criquet; I’m not particularly athletic.” Hopefully she wasn’t expected to play. She wasn’t even entirely certain what was being played. Fussing with a ruffle again, she tilted her head slightly. “Is it anything like croquet? Or is it more like quidditch?” Truly the extent of her exposure to sports. Maybe Annette would know.

  

[His Majesty Merlin Huxley]

"I think I'll just talk to reporters," Merl said, "I didn't prepare a proper speech or anything." He was trying not to look too preachy here - even if he was advocating for the tearing down of many of their systems of power, it would not do to either look too radical or too stuck-up and privileged. He was walking a fine line. His name probably didn't help very much, either.

"It's very similar to croquet," Merl said, "If you've played that before, it should be pretty easy for you to get the hang of it." Or so he hoped. Maybe he should have just gone with croquet - but he did think that his selection was much more interesting, in the scheme of things.

  

[Utopia Browne]

“Well, I shall have to try it. Just...promise not to laugh if I am horrible at it?” She didn’t seem to have much confidence in her athletic abilities. Quite frankly, she was more than happy to leave such things to Mister Merlin and Miss Annette and any number of her friends who excelled at such things. She was far more content with her nose in a book, learning something new or reading about some daring adventure, even if it happened to be fiction. She would try though, it was all anyone could ask of her.

“Are there many here? Reporters that is.” She supposed there might be a few, at least. Or was there only one? It seemed that they seemed to be pretty specified in regards to what they wrote about. Getting an idea--and the accompanying light that always seemed to spark in her blue-violet eyes--she very nearly grinned and had to suppress a dramatic gesture. “Oh! Did you want me to ask some practice questions? I could try and come up with some. Or would you rather talk about something else?” He’d been quite busy with his campaign of late and could imagine him wanting to take even a short break from it. It was a bit like studying she supposed.

  

[His Majesty Merlin Huxley]

"I promise not to laugh," Merl said, the corners of his lips twitching up.

"I think there are at least a few," he said. Hopefully. That was sort of the point of all this - apart, of course, from making himself visible to voters outside of the school. They sort of had to consolidate the points of all their potential events into this one - and it was going to go well. He hoped.

"Sure," Merl said, "I think that would be very helpful." That Miss Utopia was much less likely to roll her eyes than an actual reporter was definitely an added bonus - he could brace himself for the questions that reporters were certain to ask.

  

[Utopia Browne]

She wasn’t so sure that he wouldn’t laugh but she trusted him at the very least not to make a scene if she happened to make some big blunder. But she put her potential at making a fool of herself aside and pondered on the questions that a reporter might ask. Once she’d thought of a few, she donned a rather serious expression for pitched her voice a little lower for whatever reason. She even went so far as to pantomime holding a pad of paper on which to take notes and looked up at her friend. “So Mr. Mer--” Her serious expression faltered slightly and her cheeks flushed but she barrelled onward, hoping that no one had noticed. “Mister Huxley, tell me why you think you are qualified to be the next Minister of Magic.”

  

[His Majesty Merlin Huxley]

Merl smiled for a second at her slip. Then it was time to launch into his answer - and with reporters, he could not pull the 'I'm not, that's the problem, they need someone like me because the system is broken and I'm willing to recognize it' spiel out. They would only pay attention to the first part, probably.

"My lack of involvement with the Ministry means that I will enter this broken, corrupt system with a fresh outlook," Merl said, "I'm willing and ready to change the system, and because the system has not had a chance to poison my opinions, I will not back down just for the sake of maintaining work-friendships or the status quo."

"A vote for Huxley is a vote for a new Ministry."

  

[Utopia Browne]

For a second, Pia forgot that she was playing the part of a reporter and began to smile then forced her face back into a her overly serious expression. It was a good answer, very succinct and strong. Though as he tossed out a little campaign slogan at the end, she couldn’t help but smile. It took a moment but she managed to get her “reporter face” back on.

“And are you not worried that perhaps this might be a bit too much responsibility for someone your age? Changing the system as you say, very well might require these work-friendships, of which you have none. How exactly do you expect to affect change with little to no reputation within the Ministry?” This was actually somewhat fun, pretending to be a reporter. Of course she had every faith that Mister Merlin would do his very best at anything he put his mind to, but these were concerns that she’d heard here and there, and a couple she even had herself but was far too loyal to voice otherwise and certainly never in such a brusque manner.

  

[His Majesty Merlin Huxley]

"People are surprisingly easy to convince when they're curious," Merl said, actually grinning at her. He could do this because he had excellent help - Elmer was an actual modern genius, a sort of smarter, wizarding Henry David Thoreau. Miss Utopia had been more helpful than he had ever dreamed of hoping for - she was just so good, and she was better at politics than she gave herself credit for, and even if he lost he owed her so much. She had gotten Miss Fontaine to help with the buttons, and she had helped with the posters - and it was just a lot.

And then a servant called them all into the dining room. Merl flashed another quick half-smile at her. "Wish me luck," he said as they wandered in.

He could do this, because of his friends.

  

[Utopia Browne]

Blinking, Pia looked upon Mister Merlin’s grinning face and couldn’t help but smile in return. She wasn’t sure she’d seen a smile that big grace his face in all her time knowing him. It looked quite nice, she decided as faint color bloomed on her cheeks. Opening her mouth to ask another question, she abruptly snapped it shut as a servant called out that the meal was to be served. Returning Mister Merlin’s smile, she of course obliged.

“I wish you all the luck in China, Mister Huxley.” Perhaps an unconventional wish for luck but then Utopia Browne was always filled with such random sayings. She joined the organized filter of people into the dining room and couldn’t help but look around her in awe. The Huxleys really did have such a lovely home.