December 30, 1890, Sometime after this — Same Random Party

Ford had loosened up as the evening had gone on, to the point where he was — well, not quite enjoying himself, but close. He was still watching Verity, but he had realized that was more to help his own nerves than to provide any needed oversight. She was capable of conducting herself very well at a modest affair such as this one, and it was hardly as though anything dramatic was going to happen tonight. Courtships were not built in a day, and it wasn't even properly the season yet — this was all extra, in theory. Fortunately for Verity, she seemed to be making a good impression on everyone she met. Unfortunately for Verity, very few of them seemed to be properly eligible. The crowd in general was trending young, with his classmates and a few years above the oldest in attendance besides chaperones, so while they were free from attachment they were also most likely free from financial security. It would be a few years before some of these gentleman were able to actual look for a wife, and that would be too long for Verity to wait — though of course, she didn't know that yet.

Once he'd realized the chances of anything productive coming from tonight were slim, he'd relaxed considerably. This was more like a trial run than anything else, which meant he could leave his sister to her own devices and find someone else to talk to. He'd caught up with a few old school friends here and there, until he found himself unexpectedly face to face with one of the nearer and dearer friends from his Hogwarts days — or at least one that he had done a better job of keeping in touch with than many of the others.

"Professor!" Ford greeted in a cheerful but teasing manner. "Where have you been hiding away this evening?"

Sayid Weber Roberto Devine

  

---

Set by Lady!

Sayid had opted for going home to London for the holidays. He had attended a couple of social events over the past couple of weeks, both on the muggle side of his life and the magical. This party he was at now was on the magical side of things. He was too young to make any woman a suitable husband but his affable personality tended to do well at such things. Everyone else here seemed to be in his age range anyway.

He had already spoken to a few friends and had just gotten himself something to drink when he came face to face with Ford. Well, he had spotted him earlier looking remarkably awkward with a young lady that he recognized as being Miss Belby, a girl that had been in his year.

"I was playing cards and then I went to go see what kind of art these hosts might have in their gallery." And predictably, most of his attendance at this party had been spent there until he had seen everything of interest. "Anything interesting happen?"

---

  

---

set by bree

Ford shook his head at Sayid's explanation. "You can't go to a party and then wander off by yourself to look at art," he said, though he didn't really blame him. He might not have minded slipping away for a breath of fresh air himself, if he didn't have a younger sister to keep an eye on (because even though she was in no danger of trouble, he couldn't in good conscious wander too far while he was meant to be her chaperone). Art was Sayid's passion and profession, too, which made the temptation all the greater for him. There wasn't really a comparison to anything in Ford's life, that he could think of. He supposed if he were at a party and there was suddenly a catastrophe with a ghoul in the next room over, he would certainly go see to it rather than staying and chatting, but that was a very different sort of thing.

The truth was that nothing interesting had happened at all — just the same thing that always happened at these social events, dancing and talking and drinking, with a rotating set of partners the whole night through — but since he had just chastised his friend for disappearing he didn't think he ought to admit as much. "Well, let's see," he began lightly. "Miss Clemmens caught her dress on fire by the Christmas tree, but some bloke put it out with his glass of champagne... which was when we discovered someone had spiked all the champagne with distilled whiskey. The whole thing went up in flames. Half the parlor was consumed. Miss Clemmens carted off to the hospital. Ministry officials dispatched to set things to rights. It's only just returned to normal," he finished, with a grin. "I can't believe you didn't hear the commotion from your gallery."

  

---

Set by Lady!

Sayid chuckled as Ford told him that he couldn't wander off by himself. He supposed that his friend had a point there but he had found little of interest to entertain him beyond speaking with a friend or two - and the art gallery, of course. Sayid supposed it was a little different if you were head of your household with debutante sisters, though. Sayid only had himself to think of and the Webers as a whole weren't particularly society-minded.

"Indeed, I cannot believe I missed such a spectacle. I am sure Miss Clemmens and the bloke that came to her rescue will now be listed as the next to marry by that ladies magazine despite the fact her set her aflame,"  Sayid said, playing along with a grin. "I wish someone would spike the champagne. At least it would make for some entertainment." Some of the more uptight blokes looked like they could hardly hold their liquor.

---

  

---

set by bree

Ford laughed at Sayid's suggestion. "'The flames of their love outshone only by the flames on her dress,' perhaps?" he quipped. He was not a reader of Witch Weekly, but with three younger sisters, the magazine's articles had not entirely escaped his notice. Presumably the ones his sisters felt inclined to share with him were only the most ridiculous of the bunch, but still, they were quite laughable.

"I think if you're looking for that sort of entertainment, you'd do better at a pub," he continued with a grin. "At a party like this, you're meant to find all your entertainment talking to and dancing with young women."

  

---

Set by Lady!

Sayid laughed since that sounded about right from the glimpses of the cover he sometimes had when clearing up magazines left discarded by students. At the mention of women, Sayid couldn't resist the urge to poke well meaning fun at the other man. "I imagine you found it quite entertaining to be talking to the lovely Miss Belby?"

---

  

---

set by bree

Ford's cheeks flushed immediately and involuntarily. The embarrassment with Miss Belby was too fresh for him to try and downplay the matter, and certainly too recent for him to have any desire to talk about it.

"Oh, you saw that?" he asked lamely.

  

---

Set by Lady!

"Indeed, I did. She seemed to be quite taken with you." His friend was adorable in a way that kind of made Sayid think of a puppy. He could see why a young lady might want to amuse herself with his company.

---

  

---

set by bree

Oh, dear — this was rather awkward.

"Was it obvious?" he asked, cheeks flushing. It hadn't been obvious to him, but somehow Sayid seemed to have picked up on it, from across the room or wherever he had been at the time. Who else had noticed? Had they made any assumptions about whether he returned the feelings? Or assumptions about his eligibility, for that matter, or his general willingness to engage with marriageable young women? The last thing he wanted was a repeat of that conversation.

"I think I must have embarrassed her terribly," he admitted fretfully to his friend.

  

---

Set by Lady!

"I'll confess I'm mostly teasing but she did seem to be enjoying your company." Well, from what he had witnessed the short while he had observed them. It wasn't like he had stuck around to watch someone elses conversation.

"How did you manage to do that? Did you step on her toes during a dance?"

---

  

---

set by bree

"I didn't dance with her," Ford pointed out, a little too quickly. This wasn't even the sort of party where there was much dancing, anyway; it was too crowded in the house for there to be room for much more than talking and drinking. Maybe he ought to be glad for that. If there had been dancing, Miss Belby might have suggested the pair of them dance together, and he might have agreed before he'd caught on, and then they would have been stuck together through the end of the dance. She certainly wouldn't have enjoyed that. Once they'd come to understand each other, she couldn't have fled the conversation any faster.

"I just... didn't catch on as quickly as I should have," he explained. "I guess really it's that I let her embarrass herself, without meaning to."

  

---

Set by Lady!

"Ah, well nothing to be done about that if you have," Sayid said sympathetically. "I am sure she will recover from her embarrassment quickly - most debutantes are scarily resilient about things like that. Why don't we grab a drink to sooth your nerves?"

---

  

---

set by bree

"My nerves are fine," Ford assured him, but headed towards the refreshment table anyway. A drink could hurt his nerves, that was for sure.

  

---

Set by Lady!