The muggle detectors were admittedly intriguing but Enoch had been hovering by them now for ten minutes, making tedious conversation with the proprietor - some American he had little interest in pursuing an acquaintance with - and finally the real cause of his fascination had become free. Dueling dummies and sneakascopes were ten-a-penny in Enoch's profession but he had never even contemplated what the moon could be like and he was beyond intrigued.

Of course it wouldn't do to actually show too much eagerness and as such he had been obliged to wait for the crowd to thin and he seized his chance as swiftly as he could. Unfortunately, to his absolute lack of surprise given that of late women seemed to exist entirely to vex him whether it was by going missing, possibly murdering their brothers, or showing him up in the park, he found himself with a companion at the entrance.

"Miss Pendergast," he said politely in greeting, recognising her face even if he had never obtained a formal introduction. "Perhaps you would permit an escort?"

The exuberance of Miss Pendergast’s entry into the exhibit took him aback for a moment and Enoch’s lip twitched despite the display being as far away from what he would consider seemly as it was possible to be. She was loud and far, far too energetic for a young lady and she was bouncing with abandon.

This was clearly what came of befriending a Crouch.

Flexing his feet Enoch felt the unusual tread of the ground and was deeply intrigued by the way his heels seem to take longer than usual to reach the ground again. Perhaps he could try bouncing too? It was only the two of them after all and Miss Pendergast had already managed to be embarrassing enough for the both of them.

He bounced. And bounced. And bounced. And found himself laughing before he could stop himself.

“Miss Pendergast! Shall we see who can get higher?” He asked with a grin, already planning to win and then never speak of this again.

Infectious enthusiasm was not normally a disease Enoch contracted easily, and he momentarily considered the possibility that the tent held some kind of charm that forced people to behave in a frivolous way, but nevertheless it did not stop him from leaping into the air upon her count. Perhaps it was some sort of charm that made him obey her whims?

No that was impossible. If such a charm existed then surely every woman in the land would be scrambling over each other to acquire it and unless they had the ability to keep such a secret – which Enoch had never known a single woman to do – then he would surely know of it!

“Careful Miss Pendergast,” he called out in concern as she bounced into him and he caught her instinctively. She was really quite pretty up close and her mother was…well, Enoch certainly knew who she was even if she did not know him.

“I do believe the moon has lifted your mood just as much as your feet.”

Enoch knew precisely fuck all about Miss Pendergast’s moods and, generally speaking, he cared even less but her doubt in his word gave him pause. Was there some reason she would not be? She was moneyed and with an excellent mother such as hers would no doubt be found an excellent match - Mrs Pendergast was someone Enoch certainly paid attention to at social gatherings even if her daughter was not – and as far as he could remember she had not endured any calamity of late.

Oh, there had been something. Griselda had mentioned something about Egypt but when his sister spoke no one else existed so Miss Pendergast had not been his focus at the time.

“I am often a surprise to people,” he said with a dry voice as he continued to bounce, unable to stop his face breaking into a small smile.

As a rule Enoch made a point of keeping himself to himself and never discussing anything with others that was not work, women or whiskey and as a result he liked to imagine the shroud of an enigma cloaked him in society. There were, he was glad to say, a great many things that nobody else knew about him – apart possibly from Griselda but she was different.

Miss Pendergast, though pleasant enough, was not, but he still did not wish to be impolite. She had a rather impressive mother after all and it would not do for Mrs Pendergast to think him irregular!

“I scarcely know where to begin,” he said with a mysterious smirk. “I spend so much of my time investigating others Miss Pendergast you will have to forgive me for holding my cards close to my chest.”

As it was Enoch barely gave the slightest of fucks about Astronomy, or indeed anything that might be adjacent to the practice, and he had loathed the subject at school. The depth of the night had been his favourite time: he was not obliged to be in classrooms and it was considerably easier to do his seductions at night: the girls were much more obliging in the dark where they seemed to think their virtue would be safeguarded by the lack of light.

As though he hadn’t know who each and every one of them were!

“I like it was well as any other pastime Miss Pendergast, though I take it to be a favourite of yours?”