You've Got To Be Kidding [Black's]

[Thom Pettigrew]

Thom had, once upon a time, thought about what it might be like to run for Minister. When the world had briefly believed Minister Urquart had been decapitated, he'd even told Hannah that he planned to stage a campaign. Since then, however, he'd paid slightly more attention to the political sphere than he had before and decided that a job like that was not for him. He might have enjoyed the renown and social status granted to him by such a position, but the actual job seemed rather miserable. Having to attend Wizengamot meetings, having to pass laws, having to deal with inter-department politics... he definitely didn't need to deal with that, when he still had his own business empire to oversee, his team to manage, and his new wife (and soon to come, new baby) to spend time with.

He rather supported August running, though. It seemed to him that this would get him in on all of the good things about being Minister (getting invited to parties with foreign people and being able to schmooze with them) without having to do any of the actual work.

Thom had spent the morning in his office, then was popping in to Black's for lunch before checking in with Puddlemere United that afternoon. He'd picked up a copy of the paper more to check the Quidditch listings than anything else--Puddlemere was first in the league, and he was anxious that they stay that way. The front page story, however, couldn't help but catch his interest, and he read over the details with a critical eye. He knew the gentleman in question, but not well, and some of what he read surprised him.

"'He has finally started running a store,'" Thom quoted, voice entirely incredulous as he turned to the person next to him--the other man was involved in this conversation, now, whether he wanted to be or not. "Have you seen this? It took him four years to open a shop." If business experience was enough to qualify one for Minister, perhaps Thom should have run, because he would have been much more qualified than Power by that metric! "I had a manufacturing business off the ground by eighteen, and I didn't even have a full inheritance to work off. What on earth do you think he was doing for four years, gambling and whoring?"

  

[Orpheus Parkinson]

The adult he was, Orpheus had spent most of his time since the election had been called hiding from his own mother. Last election, she had run, but during that time he’d been little more than an office worker, and not much use to her. Now however, he wasn’t sure which prospect of many was worse- seeing how much Mordred’s death had broken her when she refused to campaign, or urged him to do instead so despite his own mourning, or as a Head of a Department having to take a political stance that might see his position risked should she not win.

His house, to that effect, was not safe; no butler or footman could stand up to Astrid Parkinson. Black’s, however, was a refuge.

“What else does a young inherited man do?” Orpheus replied non-committally, putting down his paper and heading to the whiskey decanter. If they were going to talk politics, he was going to need it.

He might not have inherited his father’s fortune, but he’d managed to do what most rich young men did- with an inheritance, Merlin knew how much worse it would be. “He did marry his wife after less than a month, after all. After moving it up a month.” That screamed preventing a bastard to Orpheus. He knew most engaged couples didn’t wait till the wedding, but they could at least have made it less conspicuous by making sure she didn’t get pregnant!

Orpheus shrugged to clear his thoughts, uncorking the bottle and raising an eyebrow at Pettigrew to see if he wanted a drink too. “But on the upside, his mother must be a logistical machine to organise a wedding so quickly, so maybe he’d let her finally sort the Ministry’s filing system. And you have to say, the Minister’s wife turning into a child every so often could hardly make politics more dull.” He gave a small smile. “And we all know being a shopkeep for a year makes you perfectly qualified.” Orpheus added rather scathingly.

The following 1 user Likes Orpheus Parkinson's post:1 user Likes Orpheus Parkinson's post
   Thom Pettigrew

[Thom Pettigrew]

Thom had, in his life, done his fair share of gambling and whoring--more of the latter, particularly after his disgrace of a cousin had made his intention to claim the former as his domain and kingdom clear. He did not judge those who wished to partake in similar pleasures, only those (like his cousin) who did so to the exclusion of doing anything useful with their life, which was, from all appearances, what Power had done. Four years to open up one measly shop. In four years, QQS had grown from an ill-advised dream to an established provider of Quidditch supplies for the entirety of the British Quidditch league, and that had been while Thom had been gambling and whoring!

"That does seem odd," Thom replied to the comment regarding the wedding's timing; he hadn't taken note of it enough at the time to speculate on what the cause for such a move might have been. There was, however, only one obvious reason for moving a wedding up: either you were dying to have sex and were the virtuous sort, or else you'd already had it, and needed to cover your tracks. "Particularly with the whole party in mourning." Weddings and mourning periods didn't typically mesh well, but given the events at the wedding, it had hardly been the most noteworthy aspect.

"The article says they suspect his brother was responsible," Thom pointed out. "I don't know why he wouldn't have tried to stop them from printing that. There's bound to be trouble in the family, when they read that. I wouldn't be surprised if this brother of his sabotaged his entire campaign within a fortnight," he said, setting the newspaper down and following the younger man's lead in claiming a glass for whiskey. "Not that I'd shed a tear for the loss."

  

[Orpheus Parkinson]

“It's not like either of them are particularly old either.” Orpheus said, taking his seat again and sipping at his glass. “A year’s delay till he was out of mourning would have been survivable.” The girl could have been packed off to finishing school if her parents really didn’t want her round the house- it was hardly like she was going to lose her childbearing capacity in a few months.

He shrugged, and took a deeper drink. “Maybe it's all some ploy.” Orpheus joked. “Maybe now they’ve put it out there his brother likes cursing people, he can ‘accidentally’ curse each candidate on stage by missing his brother, till he gets into power.”

  

[Thom Pettigrew]

Thom snorted at that, unable to treat the idea of Power taking the debate stage with other Ministerial candidates like a very serious prospect. Was there some sort of bar for these types of events? Surely there had to be rules somewhere, or else what was to stop a vampire from deciding to run for Minister and then showing up on the premise of coming to a debate, only to slaughter everyone at the assembly? (Thom had no first-hand experience with vampires whatsoever, and so generally supposed them to be remorseless mass murderers at every opportunity. He was somewhat more charitably inclined when it came to half-vampires and the more diminished variations of vampiric blood, because so far none of them had ever tried to kill anyone he knew)

"I doubt he'll make it through to the debate," he said with a shrug. "Unless they're inclined to let everyone come on for it. He may have been the first person to come out and claim to be running, but he'll hardly be the last," Thom predicted. How many people had run for Minister the last time there had been an election? At least half a dozen, and most of them (from his recollection) far more qualified than Power seemed to be. "From the way the papers read, I'd imagine there's a handful of Wizengamot members already lined up at the door, wouldn't you think? After the things they were printing about Minister Urquart over the last few months, it's hardly as though no one in the political world saw this coming," Thom pointed out.

  

[Orpheus Parkinson]

”I’ll eat my hat if Malfoy doesn’t.” Orpheus remarked. Hadn’t his article in the Daily Prophet basically started all of this? The Wizengamot had been incited to the point of forcing Urquart to resign, even if he hadn’t already been debating it, and Malfoy was obviously going for a bit of a power-grab. “Maybe him running will mean the Lestranges won’t put one forward.” Orestes Lestrange was long dead, after all, and the other Wizengamot Lestrange wasn’t likely- Priam had been rather odd after his accident. Unless the eldest Lestrange’s new wife ran, but Orpheus rather suspected she wasn’t in the position to.

“At least I don’t think my own Mother will run this time.” He said wryly. Once upon a time, he couldn’t have imagined a scenario which would have stopped the indomitable Astrid Parkinson trying to live up to the Orpington legacy, but now it seemed her ambition would have to be funnelled somewhere else.

  

[Thom Pettigrew]

Thom rather agreed about Malfoy. It was almost a granted that the stogy old man would run, and though Thom didn't know much about his political standpoint, he was at least, objectively speaking, entirely qualified. The real question that remained to be seen was whether things had already been more or less decided in the Wizengamot. If the rest of the legislature (or at least the more conservative half of it) had already decided to back Malfoy, it might make the pool of potential candidates somewhat sparser than it had been in the last election.

Having one less Lestrange in the race certainly wouldn't hurt, though. Thom wasn't particularly partial to the family. Technically, some of them were second-cousins, but since his closest tie to them was through Arthur Pettigrew (and ugh), he tended to ignore that. Besides, most of the family seemed a bit too formal for him, and they never threw the kinds of parties he liked to attend. Having one as a Minister just seemed... dull.

The remark about Parkinson's mother made him laugh. "And I'm sure that's quite a relief," he commented, taking another drink. "Not to say a word against your mother," he added with an easy grin. "But I can't imagine anyone wants their mother becoming their employer, no matter how capable she may be." Thom certainly didn't want his mother involved in politics. What a nightmare that would be!