Just a face in the crowd | Lucy & Cas

[Deleted]

Lucy had come to the match mostly because everyone else had. Not that she was much of a follower, but she was extremely social and she liked being around people. At least the right kinds of people. She spent every night of her life seducing mostly older, muggle, men and she liked an excuse to take the day off and spend some real time with wizards. She loathed muggles, but she adored their money. Lucy did what she had to to make it, while using her talents in the best ways she knew how.

So she went to the match. She knew most of her family would be there, but she planned to ignore them as much as possible. She’d say hi and fake a smile every time she saw anyone with red hair. She’d make casual small talk with her parents even though she despised them most of all, and she’d politely chat with her cousins. But it was about the last thing that she wanted to do. It was hard being in a family who loved muggles so much when all she wanted was the power that came from being a pureblood in this world.

She distracted herself from her general disdain with alcohol, as she often did. With a beer in her hand, she stood at the raining, looking over the pitch where various crew members were still setting up. People were filling in the seats all around her and she’d go to her own eventually, but she liked leaning over the railing by the stairs that she walked in to get from the concessions area to the pitch, it was a nice view. And it offered her a moment to herself without having to look at every face around her.

Casimir Elias Karkaroff

[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

It was depressing how often Cas’s natural instincts clashed with social protocols. He valued his solitude, long hours that he could spend in the backroom of his store or out tracking magical artifacts. He could even appreciate the one-on-one interactions his profession sometimes required, making house calls or haggling for a particularly fine relic for his collection. But crowds? Large, packed events with no room to breathe or maneuver freely? He tended to pass on those.

Still, his brother’s last letter echoed in his head. There was a certain ignominy to being told off by one’s younger brother for being too anti-social, and so...here he was. At a Quidditch match. At an English Quidditch match. Cas had very little interest in watching wizards on broomsticks try to knock each other off and steal a ball, so he planned his strategy carefully. A little bit of networking, perhaps even conducting a little bit of business. At the very least, he’d make his presence known well enough that perhaps he could earn himself a few weeks without some fresh complaint from Prague.

He considered the possibility of that happening as he maneuvered through the crowd, before turning his mind to happier topics. He had been trying for weeks to persuade a middle-aged wizard to part with a valuable family heirloom – the family was pureblood but not nearly as well off as their blood status perhaps mandated. Cas had been trying to leverage that fact but the man was stubborn. Which family name had that been again...?

Cas was torn out of his train of thought by an unusual sight. Young lady, drink in hand, leaning over the railing. Maybe she just liked the view, but everybody around him had come in pairs or groups for the match. Very few individuals. He fought the desire to edge around and just keep walking, and instead approached cautiously. “Are you alright, miss?”

@lucyweasley

[Deleted]

Lucy Weasley looked up at the young man as he approached her. He asked if she was alright like she looked like she was about to jump or something. She smiled. “Just fine, thanks.” she nodded. She wasn’t sure what it was about her that made him want to approach her, but she didn’t hate it. It was the same thing that made her good at her job; well, her jobs. No one wanted to watch someone act who was unapproachable or hard to look at. And no one wanted to pay to date someone like that either. It also helped her stay unsuspecting as a member of her political party. That, and the red, Weasley hair. “Just enjoying the breeze.” she didn’t owe him any sort of explanation, but he was cute and she also felt no reason to drive him away. “And the view.” she added, biting her lip slightly as she tilted her gaze back to the pitch.

Casimir Elias Karkaroff

[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

Okay, you can leave now. It wasn’t anything about this particular situation that was encouraging Cas to vacate, but he was far out of his comfort zone and wanted to maximize the utility of being here. Perhaps by making a sale, or even contacting another member of Ouroboros for an update. A Quidditch match was exactly the type of location where wizards of different walks of life could meet, which was fortunate because Cas didn’t have the opportunity to ‘naturally’ run into other members frequently.

He ignored that thought and stepped a little closer to fully join the redhead at the railing overlooking the pitch. He had clearly come in the middle of set-up, and the stadium was far from full. Cas leaned on his elbows to look over the edge at the gathering crowds before shooting an amused look at the young woman. “I suppose we have different ideas of fun, then.” He traced the air with his hand to make a slow chopping motion. “Maybe if the area was 50% emptier…”

@lucyweasley

[Deleted]

The man came over and leaned over the railing next to her, he looked around and then said that they didn’t have the same idea of fun, then. “Well I never did say it was fun. But I do think that it’s a little more fun than sitting up there in the stands, bumping elbows with people I don't know.” or more likely, barely knew. Vaguely recognized. There were a lot of people, but their world still wasn’t that big overall. Everyone seemed to know everyone through someone else, at the very least. In her case, she was related to a lot of them. The fact that her little comment had been mostly directed at him, since she had been looking at him when she said it, seemed to go completely over his head.

Casimir Elias Karkaroff

[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

She wasn’t wrong. Cas hummed in agreement as he took in the scale of the stadium. He’d been surprised when the event hadn’t been canceled for Hag’s Fever – and he wondered whether that was because it’d been over a month since the disease first emerged and people were calming down or if this was a sign that the English took their Quidditch seriously. The cultural customs of the UK still caught him by surprise at times, regardless of how carefully he’d been studying since he first arrived some years ago. He only missed Prague when he had missed something obvious.

…which had clearly already happened. Titus was always quick to tease Cas for the fact that he could talk to a person for hours without really noticing them – it was always about the sale or the conversation, no? Thank Merlin his friend wasn’t here to laugh at him now. Cas turned slightly to look more closely at the (admittedly very beautiful) woman he’d been exchanging small comments with. “Maybe the day will go more quickly if you’re sitting by someone you do know?” he suggested. He offered his hand. “Cas Karkaroff.”

@lucyweasley

[Deleted]

He turned to her and made a comment about sitting next to someone she knew, which of course she had planned to do, since she was sitting up there with Anna and her family were almost all close together in the stands, but she knew it would actually be worse having to be with them for the whole match. Especially since no one knew how long it would go for. Quidditch matches could last for days. But she wasn’t about to tell this stranger that. She simply nodded and smiled. He offered her his hand and introduced himself. His name intrigued her. “Karkaroff, huh?” of course she knew the name. Lucy was well versed on most wizarding families, and who usually leaned towards which direction. “Lucy Weasley.” she introduced herself as well, accepting his handshake. “Pleasure to meet you.” she meant it, for now.

Casimir Elias Karkaroff

[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

Something about her reaction to his comment confirmed his suspicion that she hadn’t come alone. It made sense, of course – most people came in pairs or groups, although her reaction suggested something about that displeased her. But he didn’t push. It was an area he didn’t want to answer any questions about, and the best way to avoid that was to refrain from asking.

She accepted his handshake and returned the introduction. He was somewhat familiar with the Weasley family – there were a number of Weasleys in Ouroboros and he’d had the pleasure of collaboration with some on certain covert projects. As this was all sensitive information, Lucy Weasley would be privileged to none of it. He hesitated briefly on how to address how she’d responded to his name – some Weasleys naturally knew of his work with Ouroboros, but most of the family had an immediate distaste for his family. He gave a half-smile and a small nod. “We have something of a mixed reputation. But, my own bias aside, you won’t find a finer or more noble family in Central Europe,” he finally responded. That was a safe enough answer. Most of the Weasleys had already lost their pureblood blood status, but family purity was still a central theme in many wizarding circles.

@lucyweasley

[Deleted]

Cas Karkaroff said that he knew there was a lot of stigma around his family, but he believed it to be one of the more noble families in all of Europe. She nodded her head. “I don’t doubt that.” she smirked. She had to admit, knowing what sort of family he belonged to made him a lot more attractive to her. Purebloods were hard to come by, and their blood status always made them more likeable to the red head. Whether or not she’d say that outloud. Most of her family had lost their pureblood status by bringing muggle borns and half bloods into the mix, but Lucy was pureblood. Her father had married another pureblood, not even on purpose. But she was so glad he had. “Well, Mr. Karkaroff, what brings you here? Are you a big Quidditch fan?” she inquired with a playful flicker of her eyebrow.

Casimir Elias Karkaroff

[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

The vast, vast majority of Cas’s conversations were incredibly calculated. It didn’t much matter whether it was a business transaction or in a locale inhabited by the pureblood elite – every conversation had the right answers that unlocked further opportunities and the wrong answers that ranged from ending the conversation immediately to embarrassing the family name. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a conversation without stakes.

This one could be disguised as a random encounter at an innocent social event, but it had turned into something else. Lucy Weasley seemed flirty and fun, but she was waiting for the right answers too. He’d long since lost patience with the old-fashioned concept of blood status, but there were stakes to maintaining that façade as well. So he kept a casual stance that still indicated the good manners and etiquette he’d had burned into him from a young age. And he couldn’t deny that he’d always been attracted to the possibility of danger.

He gave a subtle smirk and shrugged. “I’ve fallen out of touch with Quidditch. I suppose I’m here looking for…something different. A new opportunity.” His eyes locked with hers. “You wouldn’t happen to know about something like that?”

@lucyweasley

[Deleted]

Lucy watched his expression change as he started to catch on to her behavior. To be honest it had nothing to do with him, and everything to do with both who she was as a person, and his mentioned bloodline. Lucy was fairly open with her sexuality and was happy to flirt with anyone. Though there were certainly people that drew her attention more than others. He said that he had lost touch with Quidditch, but was here looking for a new opportunity. What exactly he meant by that, she didn’t know. But she was able to infer that it was something that she might be able to help with. “Depends on what you’re looking for…” she almost added: and how much you’re willing to pay. but this was off the clock, and this was personal. “You wannah take a walk?” she offered.

Casimir Elias Karkaroff

[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

This could become an interesting experiment, if nothing else. Cas was incredibly work-oriented, and becoming an owner meant there was no longer any separation between personal affairs and business. Not that Cas had ever spent much time on the former even before January. He was practical, and he never did anything solely because he wanted to. He wasn’t interested in getting personal, of course. She was a stranger, and he had too many secrets and lies to balance for that. It could be…intimate, he supposed, without it ever being personal. That was a new idea for him…but why not? He was careful, he could afford it.

Her reaction was appropriately vague enough to inform Cas they were on a similar wavelength. Still, he had a policy against accepting right away. Call it the businessman in him. So he didn’t answer her question, and asked instead, “You won’t be missed by your family?” Shot in the dark based on her earlier evasion. “I tend to take my time with these things…As I understand it, speed isn’t always a virtue.”

@lucyweasley

[Deleted]

The man she was talking to intrigued her more than she cared to admit. Maybe it was his last name, or the charming smirk that appeared on his face now that he had caught on to her flirting. But he was fun, and she liked fun. And she didn’t like her fun to come easily, so when he questioned it, even though she was fairly sure he was delaying the inevitable, she bit at her bottom lip. “They’re used to me running off.” she admitted. She was probably the least family orientated person she knew - she didn’t even really care if most of them lived or died. Which was obvious seeing as most of them were here today. “We’ve got ages until the match starts - we can take all the time you want...” she cooed. This was definitely a name that she wanted on her list.

Casimir Elias Karkaroff

[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

It was rare outside of a business context, but Lucy had his full attention. That this exchange was happening at all was already uncommon. Cas was a solitary person – he chose careers that required extensive time away from other people, he’d traveled far away from home to search for greener pastures, and he continuously fed the tension with his family by rejecting their attempts to find him a suitable pureblood girl to marry and forget about the life he was currently pursuing. It also probably didn’t help that his best friend was exactly what most women were looking for and Cas had become rather used to being overlooked. So Lucy was a breath of fresh air – she was attractive, free-spirited, and certainly looking at him now. And as far from the norm as this had become, he couldn’t help but be drawn into her attention and the charged conversation.

He turned to face her completely and look down into her face. “Then lead the way,” he responded, his voice deeper and lower in volume. “Although nowhere too far…”

@lucyweasley

[Deleted]

He agreed with her suggestion, saying that she should lead the way. She nodded, letting herself easily take his hand, pulling him along with her. She knew her way around the stadium for reasons that she’d never let him know. But she had a few ideas of places that she could take him that she knew would be fairly secluded. Not to mention the whole thing was surrounded by a heavily wooded area. That would probably be the best place to go and walk. He added that they shouldn’t go too far and she nodded. “Don’t worry, we don’t have to be too long.” she agreed. She wouldn’t want to keep those she was here with waiting.

Casimir Elias Karkaroff

(Fade out for rated R reasons...)