Aug. 13: Can’t Blame A Girl For Trying: Fabian

[Mary Macdonald]

▶︎ and just as i'm giving up, my heart is palpitating -
here comes another one and it's so intoxicating...

madam puddifoot's → hogsmeade proper

It's a first date, Mary. You've done this before. Nothing to be frightened of.

    And it was your idea, besides. And he's got Alice's approval. And he wouldn't dare stand you up, not with her in the know…You've got this, all right? Just be yourself.

Her usual afternoon shift felt like it was stretching, though, with how often the young woman checked the flowery clock on the wall and how slowly the minutes chose to tick by. Fabian was due to pick her up at the end of it, using his one evening off this week to spend with her; and for as nervous as she was, Mary couldn't help but be excited. Meeting the bloke last week at Alice's birthday had not so much been a chance encounter; her sister had built him up beforehand, touting his qualities to emphasize how he'd be such a good match for her, and Mary secretly had been wont to find fault with the idea. Especially as he was heavily involved in the Order, as a life mixed with the war...You're not letting yourself get scared off, okay? Promised yourself. Ever since giving her heart to Roderick, Mary had been cautious, denying advances when they'd come up on nights out in Hogsmeade. But some tough love - they had been apart for almost three years, now - had led her to the light, and after finding Fabian a surprisingly easy guy to talk to, someone who found her card tricks impressive, and yes, good looks emphasized in that gallant way that the fighters had about them, she'd done the asking that night before heading back to Hogsmeade alone. Even if knowing that Rod was like a little brother to him had the potential to make this awkward.

But now they'd have the opportunity to see if their attraction was more than a fluke, something born of birthday bliss and nothing more.

The giggling of the teenage girls at the table she was fussing over, hushed whispers as they leaned to the sides to look around her, drew Mary's attention to the door at her back. There stood Fabian Prewett, hippogriff in a china shop style, trying to be discreet and unobtrusive, which was nearly impossible for someone of his stature to achieve. Mary's face broke into a smile at the sight and she quickly finished topping off the girls' cups. Drying her hands on the lacy apron tied at her waist, she rather sauntered his way.

"You're early," she teased happily, beaming up at him before taking his hand in both of hers, lightly tugging him further into the shop. "I'm nearly done here. I'll get you a table for now, all right?"

[Fabian Prewett]

It had all started about a month ago. Alice, the sweetest woman he knew, had just casually asked him about his love life. He hadn’t much to fill her in on, as he hadn’t seen anyone for the past few months. Blondie and him had split back in April, and he hadn’t bothered much with dating after that. It had been a friendly split, no hard feelings, but after it hadn’t worked out with someone who knew about magic he’d been down on himself. Things with Kyra would never work out, they’d tried and failed more than once to have something. He wasn’t destined for the same love story as Phoebe and Edgar, he just needed to accept that. But, as Alice had wonderfully also pointed on to him, it didn’t mean that he was hopeless. He just needed to find the right person.

The weeks following he had noticed she was mentioning her sister a lot in conversation, talking about how wonderful of a person she was. He should have known then what Alice was trying to do. But then at Alice’s birthday party, she’d introduced him to this Mary she had talked so much about. And Mary? She’d been just as sweet as Alice had described her, just as pretty. Her muggle card tricks were fascinating to him, and before he’d realized they’d spent half the party talking to each other she’d asked him on a date. While it had most certainly not been expected, he would have been a fool to say no to a woman as sweet as Mary MacDonald. That brought him to today, ducking into the tea shop in Hogsmeade.

She was easy to spot in the shop, busy helping a table of young girls who were staring at him and giggling. Hell, I don’t miss those days. This had to be the second or third time he’d even set foot in Madam Puddifoot's, his school age years he’d never been one for any sort of long term dating. He felt awkward and out of place, too tall and too much for this dainty little tea shop. He was glad when Mary finally turned around, spotting him quickly. He felt awkward in the shop, like he was too tall and too strange to be there. He had to admit, it was nice the way she smiled when she saw him, the way she took his hands in hers.

He smiled as she teased him, following her to a table in the shop. “I can’t say that I’ve ever really appreciated this place before,” he said as he sat down, trying to ignore the girls that were still looking at the both of them only a couple of tables away. “Sorry for being early, just wanted to make sure I wasn’t late.”

[Mary Macdonald]

"You've never appreciated Puddifoot's?" Oh Merlin save her from the warning bells ringing like mad in her mind - certainly the least concerning thing about possibly dating Fabian Prewett was his lack of love for the tea shop she worked at. It was hardly abnormal for a bloke to not care for the place, finding it too frilly or too pink or too glittery for their tastes. But it wasn't all of that that made it special, and Mary hoped that her date could realize that before they left. It had an incredible aura that, if you relaxed, would bring you out of even the dourest of days. She eyed him perhaps a bit too harshly than was warranted and, realizing it, laughed and softened her gaze into something that was hopefully more acceptable for a first date. "Let's see if it can work its magic on you today," she went on quickly, stepping behind where he was seated to give his shoulders a reassuring squeeze. From there she could see the fireplaces - multiple, each set to get water boiling at the perfect temperature for a particular sort of tea - and shelves upon shelves of loose tea. It was overwhelming to the casual observer, to be sure, but at the end of the day it was tea. Can't go wrong! Open palate, open mind.

"Start easy, hmm? What sort of flavor tea do you like? Oh, we're having a brew before we go," she announced offhand, "you're getting the whole experience now that I know. Did you never bring someone here when you were at school?" The redhead half-regretted her last question as soon as it left her lips; their romantic pasts were not something they'd covered at Alice's, and even though she didn't have a world of experience in all of this, she knew it was too soon to get into the nitty-gritty of heartbreaks of times gone by. But Fabian's Hogwarts times were a bit earlier than her own, and with any luck, his longer separation from them wouldn't make her question supremely awkward. When was it that he graduated? '71, right? She remembered lamenting with him over all the lost opportunities upon realizing that they would have shared a House had they been any closer in age, and while she'd never dated anyone out of her year, Mary thought that maybe he was just what she needed. He hadn't grown up with her, as her other beaus had. With being older, for being engaged with the war effort for years, he had to have a different sort of perspective than the blokes she'd previously been with. Getting to know her for who she was now, having the life experiences he'd had...This could work. It's not so crazy, is it?

"And I don't mind that you're early - it's sweet," Mary assured with a smile, coming before him to prop herself against the table. "I'm glad you wanted to come by today - do you come to Hogsmeade often? I can't remember seeing you around. And I would remember you."

[Fabian Prewett]

He’d just arrived, and already he’d managed to let his words get the best of him, chuckling at the look she gave him. He was sure he deserved it, with almost insulting her place of work. How would he feel if someone came into his job, and said that they didn’t appreciate the work he was doing? He would be just as offended as Mary was. But before he could apologize for his slip up her look had softened, and he grinned at her words. “With such fine company, how could it not work it’s magic on me?” he said, holding back laughter as his words sent the nearby table into a fit of giggles. Oh, how he did not miss being a teenager. After graduating school, he’d thought he would miss Hogwarts, and he did - but he had a good life going for him right now.

“Ah, I don’t know that much about tea,” he said with a laugh, “I buy these little muggle tins of tea, it’s black tea? Pheebs got me drinking it when she was protesting in the tea strikes a few years back.” He hadn’t quite understood what about tea they had been protesting, but he was always more than happy to go out as backup during a protest. Especially considering what had happened the one time he’d almost bailed on them. “I didn’t make it out here much in my school days, maybe once or twice - had to spy on Gideon on a date in here with Edgar one time,” he teased her, before he laughed to himself, “Oh, and once when this hufflepuff in third year thought I was Gideon, and asked me to come here with her.” He’d played the part of his brother well enough to earn a second date, but he’d let his brother go one that one. After all, the girl had been Gideon’s partner in Herbology.

He was glad that his actions were deemed sweet, and he shook his head at her question. He hadn’t been to Hogsmeade in a while, not since he’d been named Captain. “I used to come around a lot right after graduation, but I spend most of my days off now with Edgar and his family. Weekly family dinners and such. But I'm feeling inclined to start speading some more time in Hogsmeade.”

tea strikes : here

[Mary Macdonald]

"They're all going to write that line in their journals tonight, you know, and be disappointed until someone as charming as you comes their way," Mary whispered with a lean towards him, far from complaining as her date laid on the charm for her and her eavesdropping patrons. While it had really only been a few months since her last dating disaster, it felt like it'd been so long since someone had properly flirted with her - when the attention was wanted - that she was finding it difficult to be serious at all. And perhaps it was because Fabian knew so little about tea that had stopped him from spending much time in the shop. The redhead raised her brows as he mentioned Phoebe and protests surrounding tea - more explanation was absolutely required there - but felt her smile grow as he spoke of school-time misadventures.

Spying on his brother's dates, mistaken identities - if this went well, perhaps she would bring Fabian to the Leaky for a night with her old housemates. While many of them worked with him in the Order now, she wasn't sure how much of their time could be spent swapping stories, but she could so vividly see the attempted one-ups in her mind that it must happen! If this turns into something. Not so far ahead of yourself, Mary, dear me.

"Surely you corrected the poor girl!" Mary insisted with a laugh of her own, knowing the twins were close but also knowing a line had to be drawn somewhere. "Then again," she corrected her inner musings aloud, "I've heard you two switch places to this day. So you should probably do something to convince me it really is you before we leave." She rested back lightly against the table with a smirk, careful to not put much of her weight onto it as they were treacherously unstable little things, and her stomach squirmed a bit to hear Fabian speak of his found family. The Bones's were most assuredly people she had to get in with - again - if their relationship were to progress. But she didn't let herself dwell, stubbornly pushing the feeling down, and was all but beaming as he went on to say that he could potentially be spending much more free time in Hogsmeade. She felt it wasn't a leap at all to presume that he meant to spend that time with her.

"I think you'll rediscover just how wonderful a village it is," she said, "but I'm not opposed to exploring other places, as long as we can do that together. But for now - you just sit tight, I've got to get rid of this apron and then I'll be right back with tea for us." The young woman was away in a swish of her skirt, and back after a quick pep talk from Madam and choosing a black tea with just the hint of blueberries for sweetness. The girls lingered until Madam graciously shooed them out, following them to the door to turn the open sign to closed before disappearing into the back room. She let the tea sit between them and steep, chuckling as they were as alone as two could be in the shop, and said, only half joking - "Ready to convince me?" 

[Fabian Prewett]

He had always been a flirt, ever since he’d started taking interest in girls in school. Unfortunately for the giggling girls at the table behind him, they would probably not be as lucky in finding someone as charming as him. Unless of course these girls ever met his twin - Gideon was the only person that was nearly as charming as he was. “It’s easy to be charming when I’m talking to someone as wonderful as you,” he whispered back to her with a wink. It felt nice to flirt with someone, to feel like the war that was always at the back of his mind was far away. Today he was just a visitor to the frilly tea shop, hoping that his charms would sway the girl into a second date if this date went as well as he was hoping. They’d gotten along so grand at Alice’s party, and he was almost positive that both him and Mary would be reporting back to her.

He enjoyed telling Mary about his school days. They had just barely missed each other in school, he had graduated the year she started at school. It was nice to hear that some aspects of Hogwarts were still the same - Hogsmeade visits, Gryffindors pulling pranks, Quidditch matches - but it was also nice to hear about how things had changed at the school for the better. He looked forward to the day his own children would be attending the school, and he would get to hear about the trouble they would get into. “She did figure it out after the second date, Gideon is not as handsome as I am. Nor as funny or charming,” he joked, unable to stop his laughter as she called him on his antics with Gideon. “We really only switch places to mess with our teams, but I’m sure I can come up with something to convince Gid hasn’t taken over our date.”

Fabian had looked forward to every Hogsmeade visit in school, always wanting to check out the newest stock at Honeydukes and Zonkos. It wasn’t that he didn’t still love the village, because he did, but he hadn’t had much reason to come here. Until now. And by her words, she was also looking forward to spending more time together besides this date. He shot her a grin as she walked away, mins already coming up with ideas. He’d need to talk to Edgar, his brother had always been the romantic in their group. It would be a lie to say that he wasn’t planning on swinging by the Bones house late tonight, to fill his chosen family in on how the date had gone. He was thinking of ways to prove that he was, in fact, Fabian, when he noticed the gaggle of girls were inching closer to his table and giggling. Thankfully, Madam was quickly shooing the girls at the door, and he shot her an appreciative smile as Mary returned from the back.

The teapot she sat on the table had a fruity smell coming from it, which was intriguing, and he’d almost forgotten that he was supposed to be convincing her he was in fact Fabian. He chuckled as she spoke, before he pulled his wand from his belt and reached over to grab an empty teacup from another table. A quick bit of magic, and he had a deck of cards in his hand. He had, in fact, been trying to practice muggle card tricks during the past week. He loved it when muggles called anything magic, he found it so fascinating that they used that word to pull illusions over another’s eyes. “Alright,” he said as he fanned them out, “Pick a card. Any card.”

[Mary Macdonald]

"You are such a flirt," Mary laughed with a lingering brush against his shoulder as she righted herself, cheeks flushing pink at the shared whispers and winks with her date. It was a statement of fact, not at all a complaint, and she felt herself falling into the spirit of things. A first date should be light, fun, easy - and to share this time with a handsome bloke her sister approved of? Pretty perfect. Knowing Alice, she wouldn't want this for her if all there was to Fabian was flirtation and a trail of broken hearts. There was more to him beneath the surface, Mary was certain, a current running deep with something that called to her heart. They had something to share with each other, something to explore together, and while she was keen to determine what it was... Easy breezy, she reminded herself.

Her grin widened as they spoke of old pranks and he - lovingly, surely - threw his twin under the bus. "I'm sure he's got lots to offer too!" Mary exclaimed, feeling that someone had to argue in poor Gideon's defense in his absence. But she was curious as Fabian went on. The two would pull stunts on their teams? Their teams within a high-pressure, high-secrecy, high-scrutiny organization? Brilliance, madness, perhaps a bit of both would be needed to pull that off. And as for why... Making space for a laugh? It was sweet, really, if that was the motivation behind such things. For the brothers to provide some entertainment, to remind the rest that not every moment was a dire life-or-death situation. "You'd better," she warned playfully as she moved to the back, smiling to herself as she hung up her apron and adjusted her outfit in the mirror. How wonderful would it be to give Alice some good news? She just had to relax, stay positive, and stay present. "Freshen up with some lipstick, dear." Mary chuckled and did as she was told with a bright product from her purse - the charmed mirror always had their best interests at heart, after all - before returning. 

Settled back at their little table, the shop quieting around them as the tea steeped, Mary breathed a laugh as her date performed a bit of magic that sold her on his identity. She couldn't let him off the hook that easily, but was touched that he chose to take this turn to prove himself to her. She'd played around with her old set of cards with him at Alice's, and couldn't stop a beaming grin from lighting her face as he spoke. Pure giddiness itself drew her to him, and Mary gave his hand an affectionate squeeze, meeting his eyes with excitement, before taking a card. Which trick he was trying to pull was yet a mystery - something she had shown him, or something new? - but Mary was ready. Three of diamonds. She drew the card close to her chest, smirking. "Do I get to hold onto it?"

[Fabian Prewett]

He grinned at her words, happy to see color appear on her cheeks. His dating history was a disaster on the best days, and he didn’t want to screw this up. His brothers hadn’t given him their usual confidence boost before this first date, both Edgar nor Gideon not approving. And not because of the age difference, but because of Mary’s own history with Roderick. Fabian loved the young healer like his own brother, but his relationship with Mary had been years ago. Surely enough time had passed since then for Roderick to not care. Still, Fabian had neglected to mention the date to the younger Bones. It was just one date, he wanted to see how it went before bringing it up. So far it seemed to be going well, and he tried not to let his mind get ahead of itself. Mary was a sweet girl, and he was flattered that she had asked him on a date. So if she wasn’t going to make a big deal out of having previously dated Roderick, he had decided he wasn’t going to either.

He grinned at Mary, laughing as she defended his brother. She was right, Gideon did have a lot to offer, even if his brother didn’t always know it. “Oh, he’s a great guy. Smarter than me for sure, who do you think got me through the Auror program? Couldn’t have done it without him,” he admitted. Fabian would be the first to admit that as the baby, he had always been spoiled. And he had always relied on Gideon to get him through everything that life threw at them. He wouldn’t be alive without his brother, and he hoped he would never have to live without him. Even knowing how dangerous their jobs were, and how often they were separated, they always made a pact to come home. And to keep their teams from getting too down in the dumps by playing their little pranks.

While he had yet to successfully pull this card trick off on Gideon, he was hopeful it would work today. If not, at least it would earn him some points for trying, right? Mary returned, and he held the cards out to her with a smile. “You do indeed get to keep it,” he laughed, bringing the rest of the cards back to him. With all the drama he could muster, he set the deck down and tapped on the top, before sitting back in his chair. “Now I use my amazing powers of deduction,” he said, giving her an eyebrow waggle, as he flipped over the cards and spread them out, “The two of diamonds?” A quick glance at the remaining cards wasn’t enough, and it was also not a part of the trick - but he had admittedly forgotten what to do after she had drawn the card. “Okay, so it’s not a good trick. I’m still practicing.”

[Mary Macdonald]

There was something awfully perplexing about Fabian that Mary couldn't put her finger on. He intrigued her, this Auror program graduate, this fighter for justice, who was so free with his laughs and quick to build his brother up moments after the joke had been on the other Prewett. He was brave, and kind, and bright - even if Gideon had gone as far as to take the exams for him, Fabian had learned more than enough to earn leadership roles since then. She'd had a few worries about this since her impulsive question to him at Alice's party, the greatest involving someone they both cared about, but another large one regarding their ages and experiences. Would she feel out of her depth with him, unable to keep up with the things he wanted to talk about? Would she feel naive and stumbling, as she was still finding her footing mere weeks after graduating, and he'd already established and proven himself in so many ways? Had he only agreed to come out tonight as a one time thing to not offend Alice, not wanting to risk an early rift with a new co-worker? (Although Mary did have to laugh, as Alice had worried over Roderick being too old for her back in school, and she was quick to approve of this.)

But there was something - something so endearingly boyish about him that put her in as much ease as she could rightfully be in, and Mary was grateful for it. They had lived different lives so far, and carried the weights of those lives with them. But if their hearts could connect, if they could start sharing their lives, shouldering their burdens and their hopes together - what was in the past wouldn't matter as much as what they were moving forward into. She didn't know if Fabian himself was who these considerations would ultimately be for, if she was being honest. But she'd left school in June, and so far...so far, there was no sign of her first love, and while thinking so awakened a painful ache in her heart she'd long buried - perhaps Roderick was meant to only be her first love. If she didn't allow herself to open up to others, she would doom herself to continue alone, when to love and be loved was what she wanted...

So she was grateful, really, to continue laughing with her date. Grateful that he mentioned only his brother and not Roderick's when talking about the program. That he got her excited all over again as he did a clever bit of Transfiguration and wound up with a deck of cards in hand. Mary held the card to her, keeping its identity an absolute secret, and watched his face as he went on with the trick. He tapped the deck with such dedication to the bit that she was shaking with effort to hold in a laugh, and while he kept himself looking rather confident, it wasn't long before she started losing hope in the "trick." Bless him for trying, though, and that he could admit when he wasn't there yet.

"You were so close!" she exclaimed, flipping the card in her hand to show him. "There's a proper showman in you, and that's half of it. May I?" With a grin of her own, Mary swept up the splayed cards and gave them a few swift shuffles. "You can get even Gideon with this one, I promise. Just need to do it quickly enough for him not to think about the maths." Satisfied, she set the deck down, pushing down a twisting feeling that sprung up in her stomach at catching sight of him behind the cards. It was just a moment - she hadn't expected anyone else to be there - but for a moment she was at her uncle's shop, trying and failing to teach Roddy tricks as their laughter brought stares from customers, as they were too quick to derail each other with stories and their attempts at fancy shuffling techniques instead made for "games" of 52-pick-up and cards got lost to spots on the tables that they could never truly remove the stickiness of melted ice cream from, for her to teach him much of anything. Wouldn't have had it any other way. She swallowed and shone a bright smile onto her date again, pouring them their tea after she instructed, "Three piles, three cards in each, as random as you like."