February 23rd, 1891 - Prewett Twins Party

Arthur felt out-of-place here but was trying desperately to feel in place. It was a Prewett party, it was a Quidditch party, it was Fitz's birthday and even though there was some of the rich pureblood crowd here he was pretty sure that he was not related to any of them. It couldn't be because Desdemona wasn't here; he was used to being at Fitz-parties without her, had never really expected her to come even though she was invited.

Still, he felt as if he was going to crawl out of his skin - like the longer he was here, the more he felt like he didn't belong. But he was going to stay, and stay late, because that was what he did when he was at Prewett events - and because this was the sort of thing he had fun at. So Arthur was drinking brandy because he suspected that the tipsier he was the more grounded he would feel. What would Fun Arthur be doing at this party?

Arthur excused himself from a conversation with a Cannons player whose name he could not remember - he'd rather not discuss Saturday's game, anyways - and sidled over to Freddie, who he tapped on the shoulder.

"You should drink more," Art said, raising the brandy bottle at him, "It helps with the nerves." If Freddie was particularly nervy today Arthur hadn't noticed yet; this was just a fair assumption with Freddie generally, and of everyone here he seemed the easiest for Arthur to absorb into his own discomforted drinking. Fitz was Party Boy, after all, and Arthur was not nearly as comfortable with the rest of the Prewetts as he was with the ones he'd been to Azkaban with.

---

Freddie Prewett Holly Scrimgeour

  

---

set by MJ <3

Freddie wasn't nervous. Not visibly. He liked parties, and he was usually just as jovial as anyone else at them, but this was a Harriet Prewett party, and more than that she'd suddenly gotten very aggressive at marrying her sons off. Freddie thought he was safe (none of his brothers were married) but he apparently wasn't; it was nearing midnight and he'd already been introduced to more unmarried ladies than he could count on his hands, and he was sure he was related to a good number of them.

Freddie took the bottle with a grin. If he drank enough, his mother wouldn't want to introduce him to anymore ladies, right?

"I assume you're talking about yourself, because I'm in a perfectly good mood," he said, clutching his free hand to his heart with mock offense.

---

  

---

— set by mj <3 —

"Proud of you," Arthur said, although the thought of Freddie being entirely at ease was foreign to him. Maybe that was why he felt so odd today; he'd absorbed some of Freddie Prewett's anxiety and Freddie had absorbed Arthur's ability to be comfortable wherever he was. This - did not seem likely to Arthur at all, even as he tried to convince himself.

"If we split the brandy, it'll be celebratory," he said, instead.

---

  

---

set by MJ <3

Freddie smiled, but it did not quite reach his eyes. Even if he did not totally associate Arthur Pettigrew with their stint in Azkaban, it was difficult to forget it with him around. He supposed Azkaban was one of the reasons he was here, pretending to enjoy the gaggle of giggling girls and their mothers. He had always been the Happy Prewett, and he still was... with a bit of something in his system.

"I wouldn't call the twins' birthdays something to celebrate," he joked, all the while pouring himself a glass. "If they're getting older, that means—" He gasped, and smiled up at Pettigrew. "—I'm getting older."

(Pettigrew was positively ancient, he thought to himself, the corner of his mouth twitching. He couldn't imagine what it felt like to be more than thirty. Wasn't that when all the fun was meant to end?)

---

  

---

— set by mj <3 —

If Freddie Prewett wasn't drinking from the bottle, that meant that Arthur couldn't either - he grabbed another glass and poured himself some brandy, too. He took a sip of it before he responded. "Oh, please don't start calling me old," Arthur said, wrinkling his nose at Freddie, "Let me maintain my dignity, come on now."

---

  

---

set by MJ <3

Freddie laughed loudly, drawing the attention of people nearby. He didn't care. This was his family's party and nobody would think less of him for enjoying himself, especially since he'd always been told he had a nice laugh.

"But you check off every box for an old man," he complained, "Thirty, married, a father. Your only saving grace is not working in a stuffy office job." He smiled a smile that told Arthur that he was about to insult him some more.

"But I guess you're not that old. You still know how to have fun, don't you?"

---

  

---

— set by mj <3 —

Arthur's brow furrowed; he wasn't really used to Freddie Prewett mocking him back. "Are you trying to bait me into something?" he asked, confused.

---

  

Confused but not lacking in spirit, Freddie tilted his head and offered a lopsided grin. "Is there anything you could be baited into right now?" Except maybe a fight, but no, Freddie thought a drinking game, or a game of dares, maybe. Or they could judge the ladies in attendance!

---

  

---

— set by mj <3 —

"I," Arthur replied, bright and loud and everything he was supposed to be. "Can be baited into anything." And maybe that hadn't been true a few months ago, maybe it hadn't been true since before they had played Creothceann and gone to Azkaban, but it was true now, in this moment. "Pick your poison."

---

  

---

set by MJ <3

Freddie took a drink, and then smiled mischievously. He wasn't going to do anything bad, he reassured himself. It wasn't as if this was Creothceann again, and he wouldn't dare make a fool of himself at his brothers' party. Not on purpose, at least.

"Truth or dare. And you can't lie to me—I'm good at knowing if you're lying," he reminded him. "And if one of us refuses a dare, we owe each other... a sickle. Each time." He raised a brow in challenge.

---

  

---

— set by mj <3 —

Art hadn't been aware of a tension in his shoulders, but he was aware that it was let out. He dropped into an armchair across from Freddie, having decided that if they were going to play a game they may as well stay in the parlor. (For now - he hadn't ruled out much for a dare.) The example of money had Art feeling more at ease, too; he expected that Freddie was more likely to refuse a dare than he was.

"I'll start, then," Art said, "With a truth, since you can tell if I'm lying."

He believed he could, too; you got to know people a little too well when you were in Azkaban together. They had seen each other at their most stripped-down.

---

  

---

set by MJ <3

Freddie grinned. He knew a lot of things about Art (it was difficult to be thrown in Azkaban with someone and come out without being closer) but those were all little details about his personality. His favorites, his weaknesses, his fears—those were easy truths.

A situational truth was more in order. "Did Dez try and tell you not to come tonight?" he asked, brows raised and still smiling. Dez had never liked them, but that was years ago, and Freddie hadn't talked to her in years.

---

  

---

— set by mj <3 —

"No," Art said, easily, "But she didn't want to come." Freddie would have known the latter part of the sentence already, he suspected; and the former was true. Dezzie had not tried to talk him out of coming.

She probably didn't want him here, though.

He took a sip of brandy. "Truth or dare?"

---

  

---

set by MJ <3

No, Dez wouldn't have wanted to come, would she? She wasn't the type for these type of parties.

Not at all upset to have wasted his turn on a simple question (which, hey, he'd been wondering that since he first laid eyes on Art that evenings, so) he gave a simple shrug and continued on with the game.

"Truth," he said, because he was Freddie and he did not do many daring things nowadays.

---

  

---

— set by mj <3 —

Arthur had been preparing himself to ask Freddie for some outlandish dare to make a sickle, and was a little disappointed when the other man chose truth. "If you had to get rid of a sibling, which would it be?" he asked, because it seemed like a provocative question at a party where all of Freddie's siblings were present. Ha ha. "Also, dare."

He didn't think Freddie would be able to think of anything Art didn't want to do.

---

  

---

set by MJ <3

Freddie cast Art a dark look, but he couldn't suppress his smile for that long. He shook his head and glanced around, hoping no one would hear but then already realizing it was his family they were talking about and it was really nobody else's business which sibling he liked or disliked the most.

"Definitely Frances," he said, nodding. "She's off in her own little married land now. No time for her brothers." He smiled, not because he was happy about it, but because the image of Frances hearing it was enough to make him.

Then he had to think of a dare for Art, which seemed but fun also this was his mother's house. He could have dared him to steal something, but for what? To steal from his mother? Instead, he pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill from the drawer of a side table (his mother always kept parchment there) and scribbled down some vulgar, suggestive comment, flashed it at Art to look, an then folded it into a paper bird. "I dare you to send it to one of the married ladies in the room. Not my sisters, though," he quickly added, in case Art decided to be funny about it.

---

  

---

— set by mj <3 —