they say that we ain't got the style

[Arthur Pettigrew]

Despite everything, he had survived Valeria Lestrange's wedding. Arthur was more than happy to go back to his regular boring life - being around money made him miss money, and unless half the family dropped dead he could not expect another fortune to find its way into his lap.

The dance in Irvingly was a more than acceptable distraction. Arthur flooed into the closet in the back of the cafe (best not risk the casino; not with Christmas four days away) and exited to locate the dance.

Benches and a fire and a band and sprigs of mistletoe - this was what the holiday season was about, casual chatter and cheerful music and ooooh, eggnog!

It was on his way to acquire some of that that he spotted the curly hair of someone familiar and was diverted. Arthur wandered towards her.

"Desdemona Collins-Potter!" he called once he was close, "I didn't know you were going to be here - dance with me!"

  

[Desdemona Pettigrew]

• Mr. Porter was invited to Christmas.
  
  This decision of her parents was baffling to Desdemona, who had not originally intended to attend the dance in the half-muggle town. When her father had informed the Collins-Potters at dinner, though, Dezzie had decided not getting caught in the Cordelia/Isabella crossfire was a good decision, and had promptly changed into one of the few nice dresses she owned, did her best to do something with her unruly curls, and had traveled by floo to the Casino in Irvingly, before finding her way to the meeting hall where the dance was to be held.
  
  Initially, she found herself uncertain about attending alone—a feeling reinforced by the fact that some strange man had tried to kiss her on arrival, claiming she was standing beneath mistletoe!—but Dezzie knew she was neither well-bred (though she came from two good families, it was the less prestigious end of both) nor attractive enough to warrant much attention. Besides, she hardly expected society to be at such a rudimentary event, and therefore no one was likely to care.
  
  Her nerves were helped—slightly; Dezzie was not wholly comfortable in his presence, though she could not say why—by the appearance of her captain, a familiar face in an otherwise unfamiliar crowd. “Do let me catch my breath, Arthur,” the chaser insisted. While there were few men she would call by their given name, most typical formalities tended to be suspended amidst teammates. “I’ve only just arrived!”

  

[Arthur Pettigrew]

Arthur grinned, a little bit mischievously. "Fiiiiiine," he said, dragging out the vowel for the sake of it. He had far too much energy to be very patient - Arthur was very much and always had been someone who needed to be constantly entertained (perhaps this contributed to his various problems) - but he was willing to wait for Dezzie.

After all, Arthur was pretty sure that they were friends, never mind that she was his teammate.

"I like your dress," Arthur said, the corners of his lips twitching up, "It's not red and pink, that's different." The Howlers were great - he adored them, and was still infinitely fond of his position as captain - but their team colors certainly left something to be desired.

At least they weren't Puddlemere with their boring brown.

  

[Desdemona Pettigrew]

• The brunette rolled her eyes at his reluctance. She knew Pettigrew was the energetic sort, and so could hardly be kept in one place for long, but she wanted to get her bearings properly before venturing out onto the dance floor. At least it wasn’t a proper ball—with her two left feet (there was a reason her sport involved riding a broomstick), dancing would make for a nightmare.
  
  Desdemona’s cheeks turned the pink she was not wearing at the compliment—even if it was offered jokingly, the chaser’s appearance was plain enough that she was not accustomed to hearing them. Dezzie did her best to brush it off.
  
  “You clean up nicely yourself, Captain,” she teased before realizing it was an accurate statement. That was something that did not need dwelling on in the moment. “I confess, I would not think social gatherings—” that did not involve copious amounts of liquor “—would be your style; too much talk, not enough action.”

  

[Arthur Pettigrew]

Arthur grinned rather crookedly at her. "Oh, some of my upbringing managed to make an impact at some point," he said cheerfully, "My mother will be thrilled to know that I retained the ability to dress nice when I want to."

He wondered if he could try and push a 'fake it 'til you make it' agenda onto himself, though of course he had no chance of actually making it again unless he actually managed to win something massive in gambling.

He could not think of the casino right now, though.

"Thank you, though," Art said genuinely, "And though these aren't really my thing, it's not too boring and stuffy and I'm not going to see any of my cousins here."

  

[Desdemona Pettigrew]

• “Who are your cousins?” Desdemona asked before she could think not to, realizing belatedly how impertinent her question might have been. Though they were teammates, their interactions almost always centered around quidditch. While the chaser assumed that he was related to Pettigrews, she could not exactly guess beyond this. “Not to be rude, of course!” the witch added hastily.

  

[Arthur Pettigrew]

"No offense taken, of course," he said.

With a wry smile, Arthur added, "My cousins are the Lestranges, mostly, and - well. They're the Lestranges." They had been much more entertaining than threatening when Arthur had simply been Andromache's golden boy, but now he was essentially the family fuck-up, (though not quite as bad as Mrs. Linaeve Pendergast,) and that was not a comfortable position to be in. He missed having money.

  

[Desdemona Pettigrew]

• Desdemona raised her eyebrows. Arthur Pettigrew was among the last people she would have thought to be connected to the Lestranges. He was an excellent captain—diligent in spite of his good-natured humor—and a good man in her experience, but he hardly carried about with him the air of prestige and seemed terribly liberal for such an old family (not that the Huxleys and the Potters weren’t notable, but both were more modern in their views, and she was at the poor end of each, besides). Besides, while the chaser was hardly destitute, the Lestranges were wealthy, and he had never struck her as such.
  
  “I had no idea,” Dezzie responded truthfully. “I mean, I suppose most of the older families are related to one another in some regards—I have cousins I’ve never even heard of—but you’ll forgive me for saying you don’t seem very Lestrange-y to me.” She hoped that he took it as an observation, rather than an insult.

  

[Arthur Pettigrew]

ooc: March challenge #2!

“I’ve never been very Lestrange-y,” he said, grinning as he hijacked her adjective, “My mother was one, and even she’s not nearly as - well. As the rest of the family.” If he was Orestes’ son, or Lucius’, or even Katherina’s, Arthur felt certain that they would have abandoned him ages ago. Of course, he didn’t think that his circumstances would have worked out this way if his father hadn’t died. But it was certainly something to think about - in the same way that Lucius’ offer was something to think about.

“I’m probably boring you,” Arthur said, snapping back to attention, “I’m sorry.” Talking to Desdemona was much better than thinking about his skilamalink family.

  

[Desdemona Pettigrew]

• “Well, I think you’re the better for it,” she offered shyly, uncertain if such candidness was appropriate. “I am sure that your relations are lovely people, but I suspect we would not have been friends had you belonged to an aunt or uncle instead of your mother.” Though she was far from a muggleborn, she knew some of the older families could be very particular where bloodlines were concerned. “And I should very much hate for us not to be friends.”

  

[Arthur Pettigrew]

Arthur's face lit up with a grin. He hadn't expected the 'half a Lestrange' conversation to go so well - and it was rarer still that he was actually delighted by it. "I'm also very glad that we're friends," Arthur said, still grinning, "And thank you for - thank you."

Leaving the Kenmare Kestrels had been a good decision, he thought - he hadn't had many real friends there, and he was becoming more and more confident that he and Desdemona would be friends for a while.

  

[Desdemona Pettigrew]

• Dezzie smiled—rather awkwardly, but it was still a smile. After her debut had been such an utter flop, she had never expected to be comfortable around the opposite sex. Even when she had first started playing quidditch she had doubted that switch would ever flip; after all, the Harpies were a women’s team. But since moving to the Howlers, she had found all her teammates, and the captain in particular, almost comforting, and Desdemona thought rather girlishly that she might have fared better in society had she met this sort from the offing—a thought that the chaser quickly dismissed.
  
  “Do you spend much time with your family?” she asked. Pettigrew had not spoken much about anyone but his mother, at least not to her.

  

[Arthur Pettigrew]

Arthur shook his head. "Just my mother, really," he said, "I don't run into the others very often - except for family gatherings, like this one." He still didn't know why he had been invited to this one - maybe Lucius' wife had made a mistake, maybe it really had been an elaborate trap and Lucius had just changed his mind about murdering him.

"What about your family?" Art asked, "I know you've mentioned sisters."

  

[Desdemona Pettigrew]

• For a brief moment, Desdemona felt bad for the woman who had raised Captain Pettigrew—both because she was so apart from her family and because Arthur surely would have been a handful—though immediately thought such a belief uncharitable. Mrs. Pettigrew must have been quite happy with her lot in life, else why would she not have changed it?
  
  The change of topic to Dezzie’s own family made the chaser much more comfortable.
  
  “Three sisters,” she answered brightly, “and three brothers—though two are only half. Gregory and Brenjamin Crieghton are by my mother’s first husband. Mrs. Isabella Quirrell is my eldest full sibling, and then there is Miss Cordelia Collins-Potter, myself, Miss Cressida Collins-Potter, and flory—that is, Florizel, my younger brother. Cordelia is to be married soon,” she added helpfully, though she avoided entirely the mess surrounding that engagement. Mr. Pettigrew did not need to be burdened by such personal matters.
  

  

[Arthur Pettigrew]

"Wow!" Arthur said. He was visibly enthused - she had such a big family. It was practically the exact opposite of his own experience - yes, very nearly the exact opposite, she had grown up a middle-class halfblood - and he had always thought that having siblings was more fun, for whatever reason.

"I sometimes wish that I had sisters or brothers," Arthur said wistfully, "What's it like? If you can sum it up, of course." He didn't know if that could be easy or not - it was hard to sum up his own fairly small family in a short amount of time, though some of that could have been chalked up to his rather interesting circumstances

  

[Desdemona Pettigrew]

• “You have none?” Dezzie asked eyes widening in surprise. When Arthur had said his mother was the only family with which he much interacted, she had simply assumed he did not get on with his brothers or sisters. To not have any siblings was entirely a foreign idea to the chaser!
  
  She thought long and hard on her answer. “I suppose…I suppose you’re never lonely,” she offered at last. “Though I daresay that’s not much help. My sisters were my first and closest friends, and with brothers I know that, even once my father passes—God-willing, several decades from now—I shall be protected.”