Cheesy Beginnings

[Ferdinand Denbright]

Ned was never the kind of person to need a walk in the park often. He liked trees and nature, but he didn't appreciate them as much as a woman or a child would. He liked the comfort and luxury of his home. He had worked hard to make sure that he didn't live in a stable.

He decided to return from work through the park, as the weather was particularly good. Save for the wind, of course. It wasn't anything too terrible, but it was enough to knock off some hats from people's heads.

Like the hat of the lady walking in front of him. As it flew in the air, Ferdinand caught it and then walked towards the lady. "I believe that is yours?"

  

[Drusilla Bexley]

After her recent move to the rather exclusive area of Wellingtonshire it had not taken Drusilla especially long to begin to enjoy the benefits of living in the better part of town. True, Padmore Park was accessible by everybody but there was a certain sense of superiority that one was afforded coming from the Wellingtonshire side that she revelled in.
Or rather she had been revelling in her walk before the wind picked up dramatically. She managed to keep a hand on her hat for a while before deducing that it looked a little foolish and removing her hand. The wind didn't seem to be too terrible anymore and even-

Blast! She felt the wind take her hat, and pin, with it and turned around just in time to see a rather handsome man coming towards her.

"Yes," she smiled. "Thank you very much Sir. I might have chased it myself for hours before catching it."

  

[Ferdinand Denbright]

"One would think that some sort of spell to keep it on our heads would be invented all these years!" Ferdinand commented in a rather chatty manner.

Ned usually wasn't one to start conversations with strangers, but the woman didn't seem like the shy short, nor she was some young debutante who couldn't spend too much time talking with a man. She was probably married or on her way to spinsterhood, as she had no chaperon and she hardly looked like a Hogwarts graduate.

Not that it mattered, of course. It would be unfair to judge one because of their age and maybe if she was married her husband was someone interesting Ferdinand could befriend.

  

[Drusilla Bexley]

Drusilla smiled crookedly at the comment. It was rare to find a man, and a young man at that who bothered to speak to her. He wasn't aware that she was amongst the Mulciber's servants of course - an upper servant of course - but he was still speaking to her which was more than most men bothered to do. For that, she thought he might even be worth a conversation.

"Perhaps that could be your contribution to the world?"

She reached out to take her hat from his hands and held it contemplatively

"Until that time though I need a means of securing it." She rolled her eyes slightly and looked around. "I think I'd be banished forever if I broke protocol and declined to wear a hat."

  

[Ferdinand Denbright]

Ferdinand would much rather contribute to the world by doing something more majestic than invent a hat spell. Not that he'd completely mind that. Silly inventors usually got chocolate frog cards and he wouldn't mind having one about him. He could just imagine one with his face in it and the title 'Ferdinand Denbright - Inventor of the non-hat-removing spell'.

"But in that case, you can simply blame the wind." Ferdinand commented. The lady didn't seem to belong to the upper class, so it wouldn't be too much of a scandal if she was seen without a hat.

"I've heard many fools say that we should just drop our manners and ettiquette and live a life closer to nature and, frankly, I begin to think that nature itself wouldn't mind that."

  

[Drusilla Bexley]

The possibility of a world without etiquette and manners, and as a result possibly a world bereft of class, was something that Drusilla could quite happily imagine. She didn't consider herself a socialist or a revolutionary by any stretch of the word but neither was she so entrenched in the system that she wouldn't be pleased to see it change.

But then, perhaps she was over-thinking his comment? It certainly wouldn't be the first time that she had misjudged a perfectly casual comment as being more significant.

"Are they fools then? Perhaps they're more astute than the rest of us after all."

Fiddling with her hat still she hesitated and decided against returning it to her head. Wind aside, it was such a lovely day and though her employer would probably think her uncouth she had spent too many years abroad not to like a little bit o sun on her skin.

"Which manners would they have us drop first I wonder?"