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last online May 2, 2024 22:33:49 GMT -7
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Dec 11, 2017 20:38:38 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2017 20:38:38 GMT -7
Imogen asked how many of her cousins were still at Hogwarts and Lucy’s first reaction was to shrug. “I’ve got no clue… 4...maybe 5?” she offered, knowing that she probably sounded like an awful cousin. She did like all of her cousins, however, there were so many of them that it was sometimes a challenge to keep up with them all. So many of them had graduated with her this year, which was so odd to think that most of her cousins were adults and now were living on their own and supporting themselves. Christmas this year would surely be different. It would be the first time she would be seeing a lot of them again, since they weren’t at school together. She didn’t really think that she’d go out of her way to get together with most of them over the summer at least. If someone sought her out, of course she’d obliged. The two of them walked into the building and past a doorman while they were talking. Lucy honestly had no idea what to expect, but, it was surprisingly easy to talk to her ex-teacher and she was actually kind of looking forward to the night. "So where do we go?" she asked, looking around.
@imogen
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last online May 2, 2024 22:33:49 GMT -7
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Dec 14, 2017 18:31:41 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2017 18:31:41 GMT -7
Imogen made a small, disbelieving noise when Lucy shrugged at her question about how many Weasley cousins there were left at Hogwarts. She hadn’t expected the younger girl to know right off the top of her head – there were, after all, quite a few Weasleys – but it was interesting to see the sort of apathy that Lucy had about her family. Maybe, Imogen thought, it came from the size of the family, and the fact that they were always in the spotlight thanks to being war heroes. It was hard to care about your family when that was the only thing that people seemed to care about. Coming from a small and anonymous family, Imogen didn’t know anything about that sort of thing. Lucy asked where they ought to go, and Imogen shrugged. “Wherever we want, I suppose. The auction isn’t due to start for another half hour.” The room was set up with rows of chairs all facing a main stage, where Im assumed the Quidditch players and auctioneer would stand when the time came. “Food, maybe?” Imogen asked, gesturing to the table of refreshments that was set up for the patrons’ enjoyment.
@lucyweasley
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last online May 2, 2024 22:33:49 GMT -7
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Dec 14, 2017 20:38:30 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2017 20:38:30 GMT -7
The room they were in was decorated well with a stage and rows of chairs facing it for the auction later, however, it didn’t look like anything had started yet. There were people around and most of them were chatting in smaller groups, a few had already taken seats in the rows. It didn’t start for another half an hour, Imogen confirmed Lucy’s theory. The red head nodded. “Food sounds good.” Lucy agreed, beginning to wonder if she was out of place here. If she had got too over her head by accepting a client that she knew, someone from her world. What if Anna was here? It was harder to pass off that you were dating someone to people that actually knew the both of you. They’d have to come up with a reason for them to not go out again if anyone who saw them together asked later. Lucy rarely thought about things like this while on the job until/unless it came up. But it was different. Being in her own world with someone felt a lot more like a date than any of her muggle clients did. Lucy took a glass of wine off the table of refreshments and looked over the rest of it. “So I’m guessing you don’t plan on bidding on any Quidditch players?” Lucy asked her date before taking a sip.
@imogen
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last online May 2, 2024 22:33:49 GMT -7
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Dec 15, 2017 13:59:56 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2017 13:59:56 GMT -7
Imogen let go of Lucy as they made their way over to the refreshments table, figuring it would be easier for both of them to serve themselves if they weren’t attached to each other. Imogen couldn’t guess what Lucy was thinking as they walked over, but the redhead was obviously thinking about something, and it wasn’t just food. Imogen was going to ask Lucy what she was thinking, but then realized that probably would lead to the younger girl having to lie to her if her thoughts were pertaining to their “date”, and that would just make things awkward for both of them. Lucy grabbed a glass of wine, but Imogen reached for a glass of water, not wanting her head to be fuzzy, especially if her date was going to be drinking. Lucy asked if she was planning on bidding, and Imogen shook her head. “I’m not much of a Quidditch fan. I just thought it’d be good to show some support from Hogwarts.” Im explained. Even if the fundraising event was for a Durmstrang student, it was good to show that Hogwarts was supportive of the cause. Imogen surveyed the foods before them, brow furrowed slightly. “I don’t know what half of this is.” The table didn’t have any labels for the foods, and everything was arranged in a way that was meant to be fancy, which meant it was difficult to discern most of the ingredients.
@lucyweasley
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last online May 2, 2024 22:33:49 GMT -7
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Dec 15, 2017 19:35:49 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2017 19:35:49 GMT -7
Lucy sipped her wine as she listened to her date explain that she wasn’t a fan of Quidditch was mostly wanted to come to show Hogwarts’ support for the family and the event. “That’s very professional of you.” Lucy hadn’t planned on drinking much. She rarely drank at all on these dates because she knew she had to keep her wits about her. However, she knew that in this case, it would be weird for her not to drink. If someone she knew saw her with a glass of water rather than wine in her hand, they’d question it. Lucy Weasley had always been a drinker, but she wasn’t sure if that was something she wanted her ex-professor to know now. She knew that Imogen couldn’t give her detention, but, the caution was still there. “Yeah I’m not sure either.” she admitted with a laugh. “Maybe we should just hold off and go get a burger or something after.” she teased with a shrug. She had really expected there to be better food at this event. Not that it all looked bad, but she wasn't sure how she felt about eating something while not knowing what was in it. Especially at work.
@imogen
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last online May 2, 2024 22:33:49 GMT -7
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Dec 18, 2017 9:56:25 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2017 9:56:25 GMT -7
Imogen shook her head when Lucy said that it was professional of her to go to the event to represent Hogwarts. It was difficult to explain that part of her attendance was to assuage her own guilt, as if she could have somehow prevented the explosions from happening in the first place. “It’s just… decent, I guess.” She said with a shrug. She wouldn’t be surprised if she saw other professors there, which would, of course, make the fact that her escort was a former student more awkward than it would have been otherwise. Imogen sipped at her water as she continued to survey the appetizers before them. Lucy said that she also didn’t know what any of it was, and Imogen chuckled. At least she wasn’t the only clueless one. Lucy suggested holding off and going to get burgers instead, and Imogen arched her eyebrow, unsure what Lucy’s play was. Imogen had paid upfront, so it wasn’t like Lucy was trying to get more money out of her, but it was weird that she was thinking of more things for them to do rather than just bag off as soon as possible. “We could.” She said slowly. “Or we could just leave now, since I’ve made my appearance and I’m not going to bid.” Imogen suggested. That made more sense logically.
@lucyweasley
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last online May 2, 2024 22:33:49 GMT -7
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Dec 19, 2017 16:17:45 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2017 16:17:45 GMT -7
“It’s just… decent, I guess.” Lucy nodded. She could understand her ex-professors reasoning for wanting to be in attendance at the auction despite the student who died having not been a Hogwarts student. He was still a person and he was a sibling to some Hogwarts students and his life and death was reason enough for any decent person to want to attend a benefit in his name. Lucy hadn’t been invited, not that she thought the event was invite only, but she wasn’t really the type of person who would just show up somewhere like this not knowing who else was going to be there for her, or, honestly, what was in it for her. She didn’t know the boy well enough to truly mourn his death and she had little desire to bid on a Quidditch player, so what was the point really? Lucy hadn’t been completely serious with her offer, however, she did find herself a little hungry and likely would go and get something to eat after the event regardless if she was on her own or still with her date for the evening. “We could - it’s really up to you.” Lucy shrugged. Imogen was paying for the full evening so Lucy’s plans were all based on whatever her date wanted to do.
@imogen
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last online May 2, 2024 22:33:49 GMT -7
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Dec 30, 2017 18:49:07 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2017 18:49:07 GMT -7
Imogen blinked at Lucy when the girl said that they could indeed ditch to go get burgers. Imogen knew that they theoretically could – but they could do a lot of things, and Imogen wasn’t sure that just being able to do something was a good enough reason to go ahead and do it. She ran through the pros and cons in her head. The most notable pro was that they didn’t run as much of a risk of running into someone who knew them and asked questions about the whole dating situation. There was also the fact that Imogen not being there would free space for someone who might actually want to bid on the Quidditch players. The cons? Well, it seemed rather cheap to walk into the place, walk over to the food bar, decide that nothing looked good, and then walk out. Imogen wished that Lucy was more decisive, because Imogen definitely wasn’t equipped to make split-second decisions outside of a classroom. “How about we wait until the bidding starts, and then duck out?” Imogen suggested. It would make the situation feel less trashy, but they also wouldn’t be wasting time or space.
@lucyweasley
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last online May 2, 2024 22:33:49 GMT -7
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Dec 31, 2017 20:32:30 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2017 20:32:30 GMT -7
Lucy was normally a very decisive person. She knew what she wanted and wasn't afraid to go out of her way to get it. When she was at work, however, it was all about pleasing the client, even if that meant her having to suffer through a boring muggle wedding or secondary school reunion. The better she was at just being there and not making a fuss about anything, the better the situation would be and the more likely the client was to either hire her again or at least leave a really positive review. She tried not to be the ones to make decisions while on the clock, and she could understand how confusing that was. She’d keep her feelings inside, even though she was feeling kind of bored in this situation. She wasn’t really bored with her date, so much as the date itself. They were at an auction where they weren’t going to bid. The food was inedible and she didn’t even have drunk muggles asking her questions about how they met or how serious they were. Making up stories was what normally made the night fun. “That’s fair. It wouldn’t kill us to make a longer appearance. Socialize and all that.” Lucy couldn’t help but think that Imogen’s reasoning to come was just to simply be seen there. Sure, she might have felt sorry for the boy and his family, but she had admitted that it would look good on Hogwarts for her to be there. It was an image thing. “At least the wine isn’t bad.” Lucy shrugged, offering her date a sip, wondering if her ex-professor just didn’t drink.
@imogen
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last online May 2, 2024 22:33:49 GMT -7
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Jan 2, 2018 17:19:37 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jan 2, 2018 17:19:37 GMT -7
Lucy said that it wouldn’t kill them to make a longer appearance and socialize, and Imogen nodded, looking around the room. “It doesn’t look like there are many people interested in socializing.” She muttered to Lucy. The other people that were there seemed to be sampling the food – which apparently was edible, despite looking to the contrary – and flirting with each other and the Quidditch stars that were huddled in a corner. They had probably been told to schmooze with the patrons so that the bids were driven up, Imogen thought, but it wasn’t like anyone actually expected something real to come out of the dates, right? It would be a little strange to pay for someone to go out with you for a night and then expect them to fall in love with you straight away. Imogen tried not to roll her eyes at the hypocrisy of her having paid for Lucy to be there. She didn’t expect her former student to fall into her arms like some sort of damsel in distress. In fact, quite the contrary – tonight was proving that Lucy was even more capable than she had seemed in the Hogwarts classroom. When Lucy offered her the goblet of wine, Imogen hesitated for a half a moment before taking a sip of it, reminding herself that, to everyone else, she and Lucy were on a date and it wouldn’t be strange for them to share a drink. “Slightly too bitter for me.” Imogen commented. “But I have been told that my tastes are far too sweet for most.” Someone had told Imogen that she would have been better off drinking sugar water than alcohol, but that wasn’t something she was going to relay to Lucy.
@lucyweasley
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last online May 2, 2024 22:33:49 GMT -7
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Jan 4, 2018 17:42:59 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2018 17:42:59 GMT -7
At Ims words, Lucy took another look around the auction room. There were dozens of people there, maybe more, and a lot of them did seem to be socializing. However, they didn’t seem to want to socialize with anyone other than the players who were up for auction. It kind of seemed weird to Lucy to auction off people for dates, but then again, there she was selling herself to people looking for dates, on a near daily basis. However, people didn’t know about what she was going, she wasn’t auctioning herself off like cattle, even if it was for a good cause. She wondered how many people were here to support the cause and how many people were here because they hoped to actually date a famous Quidditch player? “Oh well they seem to be socializing all right.” she smirked with her eyebrows cocked slightly, watching some of the patrons fawn. “They might not want to socialize with a Hogwarts professor though.” she said with a shrug, not trying to make Imogen feel bad, or talk down about her profession, just pointing out the obvious. The people were here to scope out Quidditch players. Lucy could see that Imogen was hesitant about taking the wine. She had to admit, it was kind of a test, she wanted to see if Imogen was going to let herself calm down at all and embrace whatever happened, she seemed pretty on edge, which Lucy completely understood since this obviously wasn’t what she expected to happen tonight. But the redhead smiled when the woman took a sip. “Hmm. I kind of like the bitterness, actually.” she admitted with a shrug once her glass was passed back to her. Lucy had a sweet tooth, but it only hit her every once in a while, however, when it did hit, it hit hard. Suddenly, a voice was speaking from the front of the room, encouraging everyone to take their seats and that the auction was about to begin.
@imogen
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last online May 2, 2024 22:33:49 GMT -7
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Jan 4, 2018 17:54:15 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2018 17:54:15 GMT -7
Imogen laughed at Lucy’s smirking comment – they both seemed in agreement that some of the patrons were doing a lot more than just socializing with the Quidditch players. Lucy seemed to be less bothered by the whole notion than Imogen was – or maybe she was just better at hiding it. The younger woman commented that they might not want to socialize with a Hogwarts professor, and Imogen chuckled. “Yes, I don’t think I make nearly as much as the Quidditch players do.” She replied. There had to be someone who was just in it for the money, Imogen was sure. Not everyone was as well-intentioned as they pretended to be. As for fame, Imogen considered herself famous in a way, since she taught most of the youth of Britain, but that wasn’t exactly the best claim to fame, nor one that would be particularly interesting to a date. Lucy said that she liked the bitterness of the wine that Imogen had just sampled, and the Metamorphmagus raised her eyebrows. “You know, humans are designed not to like bitter tastes so that we don’t get poisoned.” She informed the younger woman. It was a fun fact that she had picked up from a book on charmed potions that she had read for fun at the beginning of the summer. “Do you want to be poisoned, Lucy?” Imogen teased. It was a strange subject to joke about, but Imogen was giving herself a pat on the back for even joking at all.
@lucyweasley
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last online May 2, 2024 22:33:49 GMT -7
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Jan 4, 2018 18:09:28 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2018 18:09:28 GMT -7
Imogen admitted that she might not make as much as the Quidditch players did and Lucy let out a genuine laugh, which she couldn’t remember the last time her date had actually made her laugh. She was really good at fake laughing when a muggle would make a joke, she was excellent at pretending to be amused and having a good time, but here she was, actually having a good time. Awkward. But good. Maybe it was because she was in her element and around her own people. Maybe it was simply because she didn’t have to pretend as much as she normally did and thus was more open to having a genuine conversation with her date. Either way, she was enjoying herself. “You think they get paid per game or per season?” Lucy asked, getting a little closer to her date so that she could lower her voice while the presenter started speaking about what the auction was for. Imogen explained to Lucy that humans were supposed to dislike bitter tastes in order to avoid getting poison. Lucy felt a smirk take over her lips before she even knew what was happening. “If you're not living dangerously are you really living?” She decided was safe enough to say, the phrase still had a light and joking quality, however, she kind of meant it. Lucy wasn’t one to play most things safe. In fact, she herself had been called poison before, and it was a title that she almost liked for herself. Her middle name said it all, Oleander was a flower that was very colorful and beautiful to the eye, but also very poisonous.
@imogen
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last online May 2, 2024 22:33:49 GMT -7
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Jan 4, 2018 18:16:57 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2018 18:16:57 GMT -7
Lucy asked how she thought the Quidditch players got paid, and Imogen pondered the question. “Probably per season.” She replied after a bit. “Because they still get paid, even when they’re injured, don’t they?” There were sometimes players who had to sit out entire seasons because of one injury or another, but they weren’t sent straight to the poorhouse if that happened to them. Of course, it was also possible that they managed their money responsibly and had enough savings thanks to their high salaries… But Imogen found that often, assuming that people were going to make intelligent choices was just setting herself up for disappointing. “Maybe they get bonuses if they perform particularly well, though.” She considered. Either that, or the players had more leverage for their contract for the next season if they did well in the season previous. Imogen had never been particularly interested in Quidditch or its inner workings, so everything that she was saying and thinking was pure speculation, but it was better than just shrugging in answer to Lucy’s questions.
The younger woman asked if people were even living if they weren’t living dangerously, and Imogen let out a startled laugh. “Yes, you are!” She protested. “And I find the people who don’t live dangerously are the ones who often live long.” Imogen had heard a lot about how some people could “live” more in a literally shorter lifespan, but she wasn’t a fan of that notion. If she was happy with her life, then she was living well, and she didn’t need to do crazy, death defying things to prove that to anyone.
@lucyweasley
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last online May 2, 2024 22:33:49 GMT -7
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Jan 4, 2018 18:42:19 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2018 18:42:19 GMT -7
Imogen told her that she thought players probably got paid per season since they still got paid even if they were injured, and Lucy’s response to that was, “do they?” she had no idea. She figured one of the big reasons to getting players healed so quickly was so that they could get back in the game. However, it made sense that they’d probably allow them a certain number of games per season to sit out of or miss due to illness or injury while still being on the team. And most teams also had a reserve team in case of illness of injury and those reserve players still got paid, didn’t they? She had never thought of Quidditch politics and payments before, but it was kind of interesting to think about now, probably just because they were among so many of them. “I’m sure they get bonuses, and probably sponsorships as well. I know some of them do endorsements.” she added. Lucy hadn’t at all expected her former professor to agree with her, but that was her prerogative. It wasn’t like Lucy went looking for danger to get involved in, however, she just wasn’t afraid of it if it found her. “Maybe so.” the Slytherin shrugged. Lucy had no plans of dying young, of course, no one did, and Lucy wasn’t naive enough to think that she could outsmart death at any age, but she did know that she was stronger while she was still young and in her perfect health. Lucy wasn’t one to pass up most opportunities, despite the possible risks. “I just don’t always like to take things too seriously.” she said casually with a shrug as the announcer brought up the first player for auction. They were some of the last people standing.
@imogen
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