Edible Leaf Cigars

[Galatea Merrythought]

30 September @ this.

So far, Merry's favourite candidate was Justin Ross. He seemed to best represent Merry's interests and he had the added bonus of being the head of the department she worked directly under. Even if he was right-leaning on his political views, he'd still be a good leader.

Merry was curious about his campaign, so she decided to attend his first event. She'd even worn her one Sunday best dress for the occasion.

She didn't regret her decision at all when she was introduced to all the dishes of the dinner portion. Her favourite had been the leaf cigars with the rice filling. It was like nothing she'd ever tasted in her life!

"Can you pass me these?" Merry asked the person sitting next to her, seeing that the platter of the dish was closer to them. "The edible leaf cigars?"

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ooc: Merry is talking about those, in case your character knows more about greek cuisine :P

  

[Percival Adlard Jr]

How much longer did Felicity intend to keep him here? Percy wondered, looking for his sister among the crowd dancing. His eyes scanned over the couples dancing looking for the lilac color of her gown without any luck. He frowned. While he trusted Felicity's fiance he couldn't help his brotherly concern at the situation. Where had she gotten off too? His eyes finally found Felicity laughing amid a group of young ladies. He let out a sigh. How she had even convinced him to attend this was beyond him. But Felicity had insisted that Percy attend with in under the guise of seeing her fiance and friends but more likely intended as a sisterly insistence that Percy actually have a social life.

Percy wasn't even a fan of politics, he supposed if Eugene's bid for Minister was more successful than last time he'd vote for his friend. Granted it wasn't for entirely unselfish reasons, if Eugene left their department he'd have the opportunity for a raise and while Percy wasn't entirely sure he'd like a promotion, he was getting to the age where he truly needed to do something with his life.

And so he was here. Sitting at an almost empty table Felicity had sat them at in the Greek room waiting for his sister to return to the table and declare it was time to leave. An unlikely turn of events, he well knew from experience, but still a goal he'd rather than mingling with society and tediously treading the water of small talk that was expected at events such as this.

Next to him a young woman was enjoying the meal. Felicity had introduced them earlier as the two had attended school together and Felicity felt they'd have something to talk about as they both worked in the ministry, but she had promptly left them alone under the guise of greeting several other acquaintances of her's. Since then few words had passed between the pair, although a few others had stopped to speak with the woman. It almost startled him to realize she was speaking to him. Looking at the indicated dish Percy could help but chuckle. They really did look like leaf cigars that could be eaten. "Of course." He handed the dish to her. "I've been wondering what to call them all evening. I think edible leaf cigars might just stick. " Percy gave her an amused grin before taking one off the platter and placing it on his plate. He had rather enjoyed the food so far this evening. Even if it did mean engaging in small talk to eat it, he begrudgingly thought to himself.

@'Galatea Merrythought'

  

[Galatea Merrythought]

Merry put about ten of the 'leaf cigars' into her plate. If one was to take a look at her, they'd really wonder where she managed to put all that food. Merry had a large apetite for someone so thin. It wasn't that she'd been starving in the past years, either. She'd done all seven years at Hogwarts, where every student, regardless of class, could eat as much as they liked. Then, she began to work for the Ministry. Her salary was high enough to afford a better diet than most people of her class.

"Until someone Greek or a cook corrects us!" Merry commented in a very toast-like manner as she popped one of them in her mouth. As she chewed, she caught a glance at the gentleman's sister. She knew Miss Felicity from school and it was thanks to her that she was introduced to the man.

"Your sister really puts us Ministry people to shame. All we've done so far is eat!" Merry joked. "We are at a political event. What do you think of Mr. Ross so far?" She popped another of the leaf cigars into her mouth and eyed the man.

  

[Percival Adlard Jr]

“Until then.” Percy agreed holding a small bite of the leaf up in toast before plopping it into his mouth. The girl had significantly more on her plate than Percy had, honestly he had begun to wonder this late into the meal just where she was putting it all. Both his sisters had always ate like birds, as had the girls of his acquaintance at Hogwarts. He had known Maggie’s appetite to suddenly expand when the pudding course arrived though. He wondered if maybe the woman had to eat more in her line of work, Felicity had mentioned she was an auror.

It appeared that the woman wasn’t done speaking with him. Percy followed her gaze to his sister chatting with a young couple, looking at ease with everything around her. It certainly didn’t look like they’d be leaving any time soon. With some resignation Percy turned back to the woman and nodded, it’d be rude not to talk he supposed. “I’m fairly certain she’d put a politician to shame.” He teased Felicity, fondness evident in his tone. Their father had repeatedly bemoaned the fact that Felicity had set her cap for someone with no political aspirations at all.

Although he really did not find one iota of interest in politics, Percy had found himself keeping up with the newspaper articles, a respectable young man such as himself was suppose to be well versed in politics - or at least keep abreast of the latest in politics. If Eugene weren’t running Percy supposed his next logical choice would be Mr. Ross.”He looks promising so far.” Percy admitted. “What about yourself? What do you think of our candidates?” He’d much rather she spoke than himself.

@'GALATEA MERRYTHOUGHT'

  

[Galatea Merrythought]

"I like Mr. Ross," Merry replied. He was her hope of getting more rights, given her gender. It was appaling that women could work and even be elected in office, but still so few of them had the vote! The few that got to vote because they owned property, or because they had underage sons didn't count. The system didn't take the majority into consideration. The poor. They were citizens as much as the rich folks.

"Then Mr. Scamander perhaps."

  

[Percival Adlard Jr]

Percy nodded, “I do like Eugene. Granted I do work for him.” Percy had worked for Eugene for almost ten years now and arguably with their own form of friendship it was more like working with his boss than for his boss. Not to mention that Eugene had only been a few years ahead of Percy in Hufflepuff during their school years so it had never truly felt like Percival worked for Eugene when Eugene had taken over the department.

“Does that mean I’ll run into you at Mr. Scamander’s fundraiser as well?” Percy hazarded to ask. The event had only just been announced early in the day and already he knew that he’d go. Granted he’d likely blame it on Felicity dragging him along, or maybe even Cat as it boasted Hippogriff rides, than actually supporting his boss as was his true motive.

It almost surprised him that he had mentioned it to the young woman, but if they were to run into each other at a circuit of campaign events he supposed it should be mentioned. And he didn’t honestly hate the idea of running into her either. She did seem to have a decent sense of humor and she reminded him of Cat at that age.

@'Galatea Merrythought'

  

[Galatea Merrythought]

The man sounded like he had a special relationship with Mr. Scamander. He'd referred to him with his first name, where many men would use 'Mr. Scamander' even when talking about a friend. Merry didn't mind that lapse of etiquette, personally. It proved that this man wasn't the stuck-up sort.

"Probably," Merry replied. If Mr. Scamander's event was open to the likes of her. Which it probably would, because Mr. Scamander seemed to be in favour of representing the least privileged people of society.

"I try to remain informed on the elections' progress, even if it's not my call to make as to who will be ultimately chosen."

  

[Percival Adlard Jr]

The idea of running into the woman again surprised Percy in the fact that he didn’t dislike the idea. She could hold a conversation beyond what the weather was like, had a good sense of humor, and it would be nice to be able to talk to someone he somewhat knew at one of these functions. He had the distinct feeling that he’d be expected to attend many of them between his work at the ministry, Felicity, and his father. “I will look forward to the opportunity to see you again then.” He admitted with a sincere smile, almost surprising himself. Perhaps Felicity had not been wrong to introduce him to this woman and then leave. He glanced over at Felicity to see her eyes lingering on her brother for the barest of a moment before they traveled back to the young man she was speaking with, a laugh tinkling over her lips as her fiance looked on. A half smile curled his lips as he looked on at his youngest sister, yes, sher certainly did have a way with people.

“I would think it would benefit you in your line of work.” Percy agreed, a frown creasing his lips at the change of conversation. Cat often bemoaned the fact that men could vote and women couldn’t when both would be affected by the changes that happened, while Felicity held similar beliefs without the determination behind them she tended to leave such conversation to the men in her life. Granted Cat loved to be included in men’s conversations while Felicity rather enjoyed changing men’s conversations. As Percy had just witnessed moments before. Despite the opinions of Percy’s sisters he had little opinion on the matter. Surprising as it might be between Miss Margaret in his youth and the influence of his sisters. And yet he often could summon little opinion when the topic was brought up. His thoughts paused for a moment recalling a recent conversation with an old schoolmate, now Mrs. Brownhill. He had read her work on women’s rights and had found it interesting enough. When he had bought it, it had simply been to appease his younger sister, but Mrs. Brownhill had laid out an excellent argument in support of his sisters’ beliefs that he had found that if he were required to have an opinion on the matter he would more often than not side with Cat and Felicity. Then there were the rumors that Mrs. Brownhill, a woman of some degree of stature, would also be running for Minister of Magic. “Besides, that may change with time - if my sisters are to be believed it may be soon. Why, I even heard that Mrs. Eleanora Brownhill may run for the position.” Ironic if one considered that she herself could not vote.

Word Count: 466
@'GALATEA MERRYTHOUGHT'