April 23rd, 1891 - Minister's Masquerade (The Night Sky)

Ross really only danced with his wife or the particularly persistent wives of Ministry/Hospital/Wizengamot officials at these things, so he had been able to get away with mostly making his way around the edge of the dance floor and making small talk for most of the night so far. This was his ideal Minister's Ball situation, and they were nearly to the end of it now — the Night Sky was the fourth hour of the night, and the Venetian carnival had to be starting in a half hour or so.

Despite the dancefloor being lit only by the constellations, Ross was fairly visible — or, he was fairly confident that the people he was talking to knew who he was, because his mask was a simple black one and he was tall enough to easily garner attention. Or — maybe they didn't. He wasn't that worried, and they would know when the lights came back on, if they didn't figure it out first.

"And what have you thought of the theming so far?" Ross asked, as if he'd put almost any thought into the themes at all, aside from occasionally offering Roslyn an opinion when she asked. His wife was an excellent hostess, even if a very visible life wasn't one she had ever wanted, so she did not need his unnecessary input on things like this.

---

1-3 others! if multiple people, no post order, just 2/2

  

Caroline had been asked to dance by one friend or another, and Evander had much less energy than she did to begin with; so naturally he was content to revert to his old ballroom habits, loitering at the edges and interacting with as few people as possible. Or, failing that, then at least people he knew.

Curse the masks. The masks were making this evening rather difficult in that regard. Evander had of course worn an exceedingly plain one, but elsewhere people had indulged more fervently in the masquerade theme. Not that he had been wonderful with faces to begin with, but how on earth was he supposed to know if he knew the completely-obscured-plague-doctor or the woman whose mask was writhing about her face like Medusa?

He could recognise the Minister, though, thank Merlin. Even then he had been letting the other people around him do most of the conversational labour, but this group had gotten a little smaller and now he could avoid talking much less. And it was not so much the Minister he minded, here - although he thought it a strange, bitter twist of fate that of the Darrow brothers, one had worked diligently in the Ministry for more than twenty years, and the other had ended up being invited to private dinner parties at the Minister’s house and carrying out special rescue missions on his behalf.

Not that he wanted to attend any more dinner parties, either, because even this conversation was more a minefield than anything that could come up in the Law Enforcement Offices. “Er,” Evander stuttered, wracking his brain for something to say about the theme that was not I am not fond of summer, bright colours or exotic décor, and most of all am not fond of parties. “Yes,” (- not a yes or no question, Evander -) “quite the feat to have so many in one night,” he managed, “and with such - attention to detail to them all.”   

“Though I think this may be my favourite so far,” Evander offered, glancing sidelong and finding some degree of earnestness in this. He had no excuse to be, but he was rather fond of a starlit sky. (Ideally the ballroom would have been devoid of people, that he could better observe the constellations, maybe discern whether they were true to astronomy or just inaccurate decorations - but if he could not get rid of the people and he had not been in the middle of a conversation, Evander would have at least dispensed with the lit-up lapel pin and stood alone and uninterrupted in the darkness for a quiet meditative hour... which was probably not the point of parties.)

---

The following 2 users Like Evander Darrow's post:2 users Like Evander Darrow's post
   J. Alfred Darrow, Justin Ross

---

Ross smiled genially at Mr. Darrow. (Improper Use of Magic Darrow, who was by extension the brother of Captain Darrow, The One with the Boat. Ross did not spend much time thinking about his wife's siblings' drama, but he did spend time noting people's helpful qualities, so — he was aware of the Darrows.)

"There's something about seeing the sky through magic, isn't there?" Ross said genuinely, with a glance upwards towards the ceiling above them. He looked back at Mr. Darrow. "The theming was admittedly mostly my wife's idea —" obviously, although Ross was not under the impression that Roslyn cared much more about this than he did "— but I do think she's outdone herself with this one."

That was more genuine; that Roslyn could do so well at something she cared so little about was a testament to her general intelligence.

---

  

“There is,” Evander agreed, grateful that Minister Ross had articulated it so simply so he did not have to explain why he had such awe and fondness for the sight of it. Perhaps all young wizards and witches felt that draw from the moment they stepped into the Hogwarts Great Hall, if their astronomy lessons had not done it. Or maybe it was something about the vastness and the distance, or the way the human invention of constellations somehow imposed order on the universe -

That was to say, he could have stood and lost himself in it without trouble. But Evander focused back upon what the Minister was saying, which he supposed he might have guessed - that this was his wife’s achievement. He nodded assiduously to impress that she had succeeded tremendously with the whole affair, and added: “It’s quite remarkable. Though I hope you have both had - well, at least a sliver of a chance this evening to properly enjoy the fruits of her labours,” Evander said, with a rueful twist to his mouth - it would be a shame not to be able to glimpse the outcome of one’s efforts without interruption for a moment or two before it was all gone. Though he had to imagine Mrs. Ross would be burdened with her duties as hostess the whole night, much as Minister Ross was probably bombarded with just as many questions and platitudes here as Evander suspected he must be in his day-to-day at the Ministry.

(Evander would step away to stand a few feet off and stop talking to him to better facilitate this, if only he could think of a way to loiter near the Minister of Magic and purposefully ignore him that would not be taken as incredible impoliteness.)

---

The following 1 user Likes Evander Darrow's post:1 user Likes Evander Darrow's post
   Justin Ross

---

"A sliver of a chance," Ross echoed, with a wry smile, "Is an accurate descriptor." The truth was, Ross would be surprised if either of them got a real moment alone off of the dance floor — and even if they danced, they wouldn't be truly alone, because people would be watching them. This was the trade-off for public life: people cared about what he and Ros were up to in a way that they had not back when they had just been Mr. and Mrs. Ross, and he had known exactly what was coming, and it still sometimes surprised him.

It was a fair trade-off, though; Ross got to try to reshape wizarding Britain into a better world, and as an exchange, he had to make small talk when he would rather not. Of course it was worth it.

"Has Miss Delaney joined you this evening?" Ross asked. It was mostly a fluke that he remembered the woman's name — but generally once upper-level Ministerial staff got engaged, he became a bit more aware, especially so when there were additional connections to his wife's family.

---

The following 1 user Likes Justin Ross's post:1 user Likes Justin Ross's post
   Evander Darrow

Evander tried not to preen too much at the Minister of Magic calling anything he had said accurate. (Was not accuracy the highest compliment of one’s speech? Wasn’t that the kind of praise people dreamt of, to be precise in language? As near to truth as one could be, and truth was perfection and perfection the height of truth, and – possibly whatever Evander was drinking tonight had gone to his head at about this juncture.)

He blinked at the question about Caroline, however, Miss Delaney being about the last topic he had expected to face. Not that he had expected – anything especially governmental, at a ball, but... But speaking remotely personally seemed a great deal more daunting, suddenly, than any safe small talk about the decor.

(...That one was a simple yes or no question though, Evander.) “Yes, she – is dancing just over there, in the green,” he affirmed, inclining his head briefly towards the ballroom floor. “You would hardly know she was on a shipwrecked cruise a fortnight ago,” he added, with a small disbelieving shake of his head. She – and most of the society sorts aboard – had proven quite hardy in nature, to be back at parties as bright and carefree as ever, hardly worse for wear.

(If he had been aboard, Evander would have taken at least six months off from parties in the interest of being already preoccupied with ‘recovering from the trauma’.)

---

The following 1 user Likes Evander Darrow's post:1 user Likes Evander Darrow's post
   Justin Ross

---

Ross glanced over where Mr. Darrow had indicated, catching the flash of green. If Roslyn's sister had her way, he would soon be almost-related to Miss Delaney — and to Mr. Darrow — and could probably expect to see more of them at Fisk family events, in addition to the general Ministry events. So far, he had no complaints about the prospect — or at least, fewer complaints about the extended Darrow family than Ros had about Captain Darrow himself.

"She does seem to have bounced back from the Santa Antonina well," Ross said, a soft smile curving; broad smiles were inappropriate for shipwrecks. "I'm glad to see it."

---

  

Evander had an inkling that, if he were to mention it to Caroline later that he had mentioned her to the Minister, she would probably take it well in stride. She would probably be delighted to speak to the Minister, actually; if not in so mercenary a social-climbing way, then at the very least in curiosity. (She had rather a lot of curiosity, he thought – a little too much curiosity, and not quite enough reverence for things. The ‘Minister’; he could not imagine her being daunted in the slightest by any sort of title, somehow.)

“Well, I suppose I ought to thank you for your quick response to the disaster,” Evander remarked, half-sincere and half-dry (if only because Minister Ross was probably tired of thanks, and tired of talking about it altogether by now); but he would not have said it if he did not earnestly mean it. (Imagine if the Portuguese Ministry had been left to coordinate the rescue efforts! There would be lifeboats still drifting around out there.) “And my brother, of course,” Evander added, half an afterthought – and of course he had thanked Alfred since, had revised his opinions of the worth of his career, but mostly, right now, he didn’t want to sound as though he wasn’t appropriately proud.

---

The following 1 user Likes Evander Darrow's post:1 user Likes Evander Darrow's post
   J. Alfred Darrow

---

Ross smiled drily; it was not as if he could have ignored the disaster, but he did think his Ministry had handled it fairly well. Or — they had handled it as well as they could have, under the circumstances. Krakens were not exactly typical, and while the casualty numbers had been higher than Ross would have liked, there had not really been anything additional that the Ministry could have done. (His ideal casualty number was, of course, zero.)

And people like Miss Delaney had been successfully rescued. Nothing to frown at, there.

"Your brother's help was invaluable," Ross said genuinely, "Not everyone would have dropped everything —" presumably, Ross didn't know Captain Darrow's life "— to get there so quickly."

---

The following 1 user Likes Justin Ross's post:1 user Likes Justin Ross's post
   J. Alfred Darrow

I’m not sure my brother actually had anything terribly important to drop, Evander thought, except an interminable courtship with the youngest sister of your wife. But since the wider Fisk family did not appear particularly – how should he say it kindly – on board with that arrangement, Evander had no intention of signalling directly to it.

So Evander bit his tongue and smiled through the urge to disparage him. “I’m glad he could be of help,” he said instead, with considerable effort to manage the uncustomary remark, “and that his ship could be of some use.”

Nevertheless, if the Minister of Magic liked his brother – or rather, thought his help invaluable – Evander supposed, in relief, that John Alfred Darrow was not a complete failure of a man.

---

The following 2 users Like Evander Darrow's post:2 users Like Evander Darrow's post
   J. Alfred Darrow, Justin Ross

---

Ross nodded. "Hopefully we shan't have to call on his services again," he allowed; this was primarily because Ross could very happily never deal with boat problems again in his term as Minister. He was not so optimistic as to assume there would be no crises at all — Wizarding Britain would not be so lucky — but crises in international waters were a particular difficulty to handle.

---

  

“Yes,” Evander agreed dryly, because one had already been too many ship-related incidents, and he did still hold out some long-lived, far-fetched hope that Alfred would retire from the sea once and for all and take up a new career.

(Though not in the Ministry. Never in the Ministry. Never mind Alfred, Evander wasn’t sure he could bear that.)

“And I hope you’ll have the rest of the year off from further disaster,” Evander added, and though he knew sentiment had little effect on the future, he remained of the opinion that if any Minister deserved a solid term in office, deserved to be remembered well, it was Minister Ross. The music died down between sets, and Evander’s mouth twitched towards wryness at the never-ending nature of these parties. “Or at least the rest of the evening.”

---

The following 2 users Like Evander Darrow's post:2 users Like Evander Darrow's post
   J. Alfred Darrow, Justin Ross

---