Like a Fish Out of Water

[Thaddeus Pettigrew]

Thad wasn't entirely sure why he'd even come to his brother's party. The invitation was probably meant as a pity type deal and not really expected to be accepted but for whatever reason, he'd decided to go. He regretted it the moment he stepped inside, however, noticing just how truly out of place he was. Quidditch was not his thing exactly and never really had been. He was all brains, no brawn, and he was quite certain he looked as out of place as he felt.

With a sigh, however, he made his way through the mingling crowd and to the refreshments table. A glass of champagne was quickly snatched up but before he could even take a drink of it, someone was knocked into him and contents of the glass were splashed all down his front instead of down his throat.

"Lovely," he muttered under his breath, grabbing a handful of napkins to try and sop up as much of the liquid as he possibly could.

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   Thom Pettigrew

[Penelope Darrow]

On the pitch Penny knew she was better than she had ever been. The keen focus she could now give to Quidditch, without rubbish like potions and astronomy eating into her precious practice time meant she had mastered manoeuvres on her trusty broomstick that she had only ever dreamed about being able to execute. Her reflexes were improving every week and sooner or later she would get the nod to advance to the first string team.

When that happened, she hoped, perhaps she wouldn’t feel so incredibly out of place at a party she had actually been invited to.

Hovering near the table she kept her eyes open for literally anybody she knew but despite several members of her team insisting that of course they were coming, she couldn’t help but feel she had been duped. With a huff she reached for a glass of champagne, having promised herself she would not exceed two glasses, and as she turned back to her thankless lookout someone shoved into her side and sent her flying into the stranger on her other side.

“Are you supposed to be a seeker?” She snapped at the man who laughed and skedaddled away without a second look. “Should know how to look where you’re going.”

Peeved she looked to the other gentleman and found possibly the only other person scowling more than she was.

“I’m sure it’ll come out,” she offered practically. “And there’s plenty more.”

  

[Thaddeus Pettigrew]

Thad's eyes widened some when he heard a woman's voice call out and reprimand their assailant. He didn't know many ladies that would have bothered to play anything but the damsel but when she turned her attentions to him he was able to realize she was a Quidditch player. Which, truly, made sense since that was what this party was all about. Unfortunately for him, she was still a woman and his tongue seemed to instantly tie up into a million knots.

"Umm.." he started, eyes quickly averting from the woman before him and to the mess on his shirt once more, "Yes. Surely." Smooth. Clearly, he should have the nickname of Mr. Smooth.

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   Thom Pettigrew

[Penelope Darrow]

Rolling her eyes at the lack of communication Penny didn’t imagine for a moment that the man next to her was especially important, or that he was related to the host. If she had, well, she would have probably rolled her eyes anyway – mumbling was something her father would never have approved and she certainly agreed with that opinion.

Raising an eyebrow she assumed he was simply awkward and now that she had actually found somebody to speak to she was not about to give up without another go. This party was far too boring to face alone: a fact that she didn’t find too surprising. Parties were always dull and this one seemed too concerned with the people that put the money into Quidditch rather than those that put the hard work and heart into it.

“I don’t mean to be rude,” lies, “but you don’t seem too happy to be here.”

  

[Thaddeus Pettigrew]

Thad balked slightly at the woman's blunt nature initially but for whatever reason it helped to calm some of his anxiety. She clearly wasn't the type to put much focus on the ladylike customs he so often encountered. It made things not feel so pressured at the very least, like his every word or movement wouldn't be judged.

"I'll admit," he started, eyes moving about briefly to make sure none of his family was within earshot, "But this isn't exactly my sort of event. All brains, no brawn here. But when your brother is the host.." He shrugged then to end his remark. He had a choice, he was sure, but with his brother's recent nuptials he felt a bit obligated to do more within the family. For appearances sake.

  

[Penelope Darrow]

Brother. Bugger. She might have known she’d put her foot in it somehow or other and now she had gone and behaved as she would with her teammates with Mr…well, it must be Pettigrew, but she didn’t know which one. In fact she didn’t know who half the guests were at this party but it wouldn’t have killed someone to point the important people out to her would it?!

“I didn’t realise you were a Pettigrew.” Should she apologise for being a bit rude? She didn’t feel especially apologetic but that was the sort of thing that people like this did wasn’t it? Apologise when they didn’t really give a damn about what they had done or whether they had hurt someone’s feeling.

“I don’t think I could manage so many parties as you lot do. Must be a nightmare!”

Apologising had never really been very her.

  

[Thaddeus Pettigrew]

"Thad Pettigrew," he answered with a nod and a bit sheepish of a look, "The lesser known of the lot. Just brains here, no brawn so Quidditch has never really been my bit." Which further made him look like a fool being at a party revolving nearly entirely around the sport. There was nothing that could be done about it though.

"I try to avoid as many of them as I can," he said with a shrug as he finally replaced the spilled glass of champagne and took a long sip of the beverage, "I'm not often missed at these kinds of things."

  

[Penelope Darrow]

He didn’t seem a bad sort, which was quite the surprise given Penny’s (limited) experienced with the upper echelons of society and she gave him an awkward but pleasant smile. She certainly knew how it felt to feel like you were making up the numbers while surrounded by your family so she felt a little more at ease when she sipped her drink.

“So what do you do?” She blurted with her general lack of decorum after she swallowed down the mouthful of champagne. With a brother like Thom Pettigrew it seemed a bit mad not to be in Quidditch – and at least this brother was taller than she was so he’d probably be much better at it.

  

[Thaddeus Pettigrew]

Thad was a bit surprised to feel a small tug on the corner of his lips causing a small smile to grace his features in response to her own. He still felt just as awkward and out of place but he had surprisingly begun to feel a bit more at ease. Perhaps it was the champagne, though he'd hardly had any in comparison to others since his initial glass had been spilled.

"I work at the Ministry actually," he started, fidgeting slightly with his glass as he certainly couldn't be completely comfortable yet, "I'm the Assistant Head of the Magical Education Department." Further proving the all brains and no brawn bit. "I assume you're a player?" he said in a more questioning sort of tone, sincerely hoping he was right so as not to really put his foot in his mouth.

  

[Penelope Darrow]

“Harpies,” Penny replied proudly, taking no small amount of joy in being able to say that and have it be true after what felt like a lifetime of waiting for it to happen. She had worked so hard and felt daily as though her father was disappointed in her for her lack of ability in the academic arena, so she was damn well going to enjoy being able to announce herself as one of the team!

“You might know my father then,” she said without taking too much pleasure in the possible connection. “He’s a teacher at Hogwarts – Darrow? He’s the old one who thinks he knows best but I suppose that could describe a fair few of the teachers there,” she added with a smirk.

Her father was probably the only one who always had whiskey with him though, but she wasn’t about to say that.

“He’s the Deputy-Head now so you’ve probably met him.”

  

[Thaddeus Pettigrew]

Thad continued to smile slightly, especially at the obvious pride the woman before him had in her position on the Harpies. He at least knew something of that particular team. After all, it'd be kind of hard not to know them. They were the only all female team after all. That, however, was about all he knew of them. Who was on the team, other than the Miss Darrow he now knew after her final comments, would remain a mystery.

"Ah yes, Professor Darrow," he said, his smile widening some, "He's a good sort. Always has a story to tell. Whether you have time to hear it in its entirety, however, is an entirely different story." Truth be told, Professor Darrow was one of Thad's favorite teachers to deal with. There was little room for crazy shenanigans in Ancient History studies after all.

  

[Penelope Darrow]

Her father was, by some distance, Penny’s favourite family member and yet even she was not entirely blind to his faults. The sting of hearing them from anybody else though was ever-present and Penny pursed her lips and she bit her tongue to stop herself snapping back. She reminded herself she was speaking to Thom Pettigrew’s brother and it would not do her any favours to be too disagreeable – and it wasn’t really as though he was lying. Her father did have a tendency to go on a bit.

“Usually we don’t get any say whether we hear it or not,” she said with a hint of a smile. Thinking about papa’s stories, however long-winded they were, always cheered her up. Largely because now she was older she could drink along with them. Her teammates were teaching her to be rather good at that if she did say so herself! “The trick to learn is that he never really checks to see if you’re listening,” she added with a small, conspiratorial grin.

  

[Thaddeus Pettigrew]

Thad regarded Miss Darrow closely, noticing the slight pursing of her lips and quickly realizing that his comment had been misconstrued. He didn't have a chance to respond and correct it before she was speaking though. His face flushed some as he quickly felt bad for making it seem as though he didn't like the man's stories.

"Oh I believe you've misunderstood," he said quickly, smiling weakly, "I do quite enjoy his stories. I just literally rarely have the time to hear them in their entirety. Typically when I meet with your father, it is strictly business and I rarely have the spare time to actually remain and hear all he has to say."

  

[Penelope Darrow]

She knew it wasn’t an especially refined reaction but Penny felt a sense of fulfilment at making him backtrack that she seldom felt in any part of her life that didn’t involve flying. Granted the vast majority of her life did involve flying but that was beside the point! The upper classes generally seemed a rude bunch to her but this one was a bit different.

Penny made up her mind that she liked him there and then. She liked someone who knew she was right.

“You should sit down with him one day. You’ll have to keep up with his drinking – you might want to eat something first – but he’s great fun when he gets going,” she confided with a smile. “What does your father do?”

  

[Thaddeus Pettigrew]

Thad smiled a little more easily once the woman seemed to not take offense at his words. He took a mental note of what she said but his smile waned slightly at the mention of his own father. "Well," he said, feeling a bit awkward now, "He'd dead. The plague took him in '84." He hadn't been overly close with his father but he still hadn't meant to sound so flippant about the man's death. But the words had been said already so there was nothing that could be done for it by then.

  

[Penelope Darrow]

There was very little by way of an appropriate response to that sort of pronouncement in Penny’s experience, other than the usual boring apologies of course. She had heard them all time and time again since her mother had died and she knew how tedious it was to hear the same thing so often. Especially from people who hadn’t known her mother.

“Bad luck for him,” Penny commented, not unkindly at all but bereft of the usual social etiquette. “It got my brother too,” well half-brother, but he was hardly likely to care about that technicality. “Then again he worked at the Hospital so he was a bit buggered from the off.”