Doc wasn’t sure why he’d let Tilden talk him into a double date with a bird who’d accidentally apparated herself into his mum’s garden (she was probably mental, though seeing how excited his best mate seemed to be over the whole thing he’d kept that to himself), except that he was trying to distract himself from the new low he’d hit last night. He was a mess, and now bloody MacFusty of all people knew that, too. But he was trying his best to stay in good spirits, to focus on his curiosity over this bird he’d heard about a good month ago. Writing a book about muggles, and even if she was mental that was still something Doc could respect. He greeted her with a pleasant smile, though it quickly turned to a look of surprise when she introduced her friend. “McCormack?” Bloody hell – at this rate he was going to run into everyone he’d gone to Hogwarts with. But at least tonight he looked as put together as he ever did these days, and at least McCormack was a housemate – a former teammate, even – he’d liked well enough. And the years since Hogwarts had been good to her, though there was something very weird about being set up with his former housemate without realizing it. Still, she was better than the ugly former Hufflepuff he’d been expecting to be stuck with, so he let a bemused grin settle across his face as he stood up. “Small world, huh? Good to see you again.” He extended a hand to shake before he turned to Daisy and did the same. “I’m Doc, it’s nice to meet ya.” Sitting back down, he explained to her and Tilden, “Meg and I played quidditch together at school.” 

Tilden too stood up when the girls got to the table. “Oh a Ravenclaw! Thought I recognized ya. Good to meet you.” He shook Meg’s hand. “Glad to see you made it,” he said turning his attention the Daisy and giving her a wink. Her friend was thankfully not ugly but Tilden felt he had the better of the two. Sitting back down he gave Doc a smile, this wasn’t gonna be too bad. If nothing else Doc and his bird could talk quidditch. Probably good for him to be around someone he semi-knows. “We went ahead and ordered firewhiskeys but if you gals want something else please don’t be shy. You can order it when she brings us round our drinks.”

Daisy looked back and forth between Doc and Meg in bemused surprise for a moment. So that was why he’d looked familiar – Daisy had seen him in quidditch matches. At least he didn’t seem put out by the fact his date was an old housemate, and Daisy just hoped the same could be said for Meg. After greeting him cheerily, Daisy was much too busy turning her attention back to Tilden to worry too much. “I let Meg handle the apparating this time,” she answered him with a grin as she slid into the seat next to him. “Firewhiskey sounds good to me.” She’d missed it, after a year in the muggle world. “So – are you telling me I’m surrounded by a bunch of Ravenclaws, then?” Daisy asked, lifting a brow but mostly just amused; and curious, too, as to what house Tilden had been in. 

Meg went from being relieved that Doc had remembered her, had he not that would have been very awkward, to feeling foolish to think he might not. They’d played quidditch together, it wasn’t as if she had sat behind him in Potions for years or something. She smiled brightly at him and giggled softly at Doc’s comment. “Good to see you, too.” Meg shook hands with both blokes before settling down in her chair. At least she knew Doc was interested in quidditch, they’d have something to talk about. And while Doc looked like he could do with a vacation maybe, he’d always been a little intense though, he looked a lot better than Dirk had looked. Not wanting to think about that encounter Meg chimed in along with Daisy about the drinks. “Firewhiskey is perfect, thanks.” She laughed at Daisy’s question. “You are!” And then to explain her amusement, “Normally it’s the other way around and I’m surrounded by Gryffindors. I think this is a first.”

It was almost like Tilden had taken Felix Felicis with the way things were working out today. He’d actually remembered to go to his parents and work in the garden on the day he’d meant to. Daisy had accidentally ended up apparating into the garden before he finished up. And he’d been successful at getting Doc to come out and go on a double date with him. If he were thinking beyond having a drink with a cute bird he’d think maybe fate was trying to tell him something. But Tilden rarely thought of the future, and then only when it involved his herbology potions. All he was thinking about was how wonderfully things had worked out. He smiled widely when he saw the girls walk in. “Looks like our dates are here, mate.” Tilden waved them over to the table he and Doc had gotten. “Can’t see the other bird yet, I’m sure she’s a looker though.” Or so Tilden hoped or he’d be hearing about it later. But if his past two experiences with Daisy were indication it would be completely worth it.

For her part, Daisy did think fate was trying to tell her something – and that something was that she was about to have a brilliant night! There was simply no other way to explain her ending up in Tilden’s mum’s garden exactly when he’d happened to be there – and with her finished draft of her book, no less! This date simply couldn’t be a dud, it wasn’t possible. A fact of which she’d assured Meg over and over again when she sprung the surprise on her, though as always she’d been a good sport – especially given they had reason to celebrate! Daisy beamed when she spotted Tilden across the bar, glancing back at Meg. “Told ya he was cute!” And he was even more so without all the dirt on him. She gave her friend a grin as she led the way over to the blokes. “Hi!” She greeted Tilden with a wide grin before smiling at his mate as well – pleased to see he wasn’t bad looking at all. Meg was in for a good time too, then. “This is my friend Meg.”

Being friends with Daisy meant being prepared for anything. Including meeting two blokes she didn’t know for drinks because Daisy had apparated into one of their gardens. And really this was much easier then wearing muggle clothes and trying to figure out how to talk to a muggle boy. Though that hadn’t happened as often since Meg had no phone and Daisy had sworn off magic for a year. Much harder for spur of the moment plans that way. Still being whisked away to have drinks with strange blokes was such a Daisy way to celebrate her finishing her book that Meg found it all funny, which helped with the nerves thankfully. As did seeing who they were meeting, slightly. Meg wasn’t sure if it was less or more embarrassing that she knew her date. That’s why the name Tilden had seemed so familiar, Doc’s friend. Meg thought about telling Daisy that she knew them, or at least one of them, but if Doc didn’t remember her that would be terribly embarrassing so she settled on just greeting the blokes. “Hi.”

mckinnonmax:

The sudden change in Meaghan’s demeanor did not escape Dirk’s notice, and if anything it had him feeling even more frazzled. She didn’t believe him – but he was telling the truth. And he didn’t want to believe he was mental, and what was so bad about that? He wasn’t mental. And he hadn’t done anything wrong. He was the victim, here, and whatever blood was on him was surely his own, even if he’d been healed after the fact. He knew perfectly well a memory charm didn’t explain the blood, but it explained his lack of an explanation and Dirk would take that for now. “I – yeah, I’m – oh.” He paused at her suggestion he make sure he wasn’t hurt, because there was a small part of him that was desperately hoping he was. Hoping for some sort of explanation. “I – I guess I should make sure, I…” But he was also afraid. Afraid of his nagging worry that he really wasn’t hurt, and he didn’t want Meaghan to know if he wasn’t. Even though he didn’t have anything to hide… “It’s not far, though, I uh – I think I’ll make it.” He finally finished, very much eager for this conversation to be over. Eager to find Benjy, and hopefully find some answers, even if his best mate did decide he needed to be handed over to St. Mungo’s. “But I um…thanks.”

Part of her felt like she should insist he check for injuries. Or offer to help him to his destination. The other part of her wanted to be as far away as possible in case he really was insane. All of her felt bad for even thinking that of her former housemate. Her muggleborn former housemate. Mild mannered, always nice former housemate. Bloody hell. “Okay. If you think that’s best. Just be careful. Unless you need help?” Why had she spent so much time on the pitch and not found the time to join dueling club in school? Meaghan was positive that she wouldn’t enjoy dueling but having a little more faith in her ability to protect herself would be nice when her mornings were disturbed by blood covered former housemates. Still she felt she should offer. If Dirk ended up collapsing and she read about it later she’d feel terrible guilty.

“No!” The word was a knee-jerk reaction, out of his lips the moment Meaghan said the words “St. Mungo’s.” Dirk may not have been a healer, but it wasn’t hard to guess what happened to blokes who came into the hospital covered in blood that may or may not be their own and claimed not to remember anything. Oh, bloody hell. This was serious. Maybe even worse than he’d thought. But he couldn’t go to St. Mungo’s, at least not like this. He needed to – Dirk didn’t know what he needed to do? Clean up? It wasn’t as if he’d done anything wrong. And yet there was some nagging, unsettling voice in the back of his head suggesting maybe he had. But what would he have done? Dirk was the one in danger these days, more than anyone thanks to his blood status. He’d been attacked, that had to have been what happened. And yet – he was uninjured. So – a memory charm, maybe! Yes – that made sense. And there was a much less upsetting way of sorting that one out than going to St. Mungo’s, when his best mate happened to make a living of working with memory charms. “I – must have been a memory charm, I think.” He nodded once, trying to convince himself more than Meaghan. “I just need to – I need to go talk to Benjy. He’s an obliviator, you see, so he’ll – yeah, he can get things sorted.” At least Dirk sincerely hoped he could, or he didn’t know what he was going to do.

Meaghan jumped slightly at the no that came out of Dirk’s mouth. For the first time ever Meaghan found herself slightly wary of her normally quieter former housemate. He was covered in blood and acting very, very off. “Oh. Okay.” A memory charm. Meaghan didn’t bother mentioning that a memory charm wouldn’t leave him covered in blood. Especially since she was starting to have the terrible thought that it wasn’t Dirk’s blood. She was standing here talking to someone covered in someone else’s blood, possibly. It seemed so unlike Dirk that even though the evidence was literally staring her in the face she had a hard time with that fact. “Benjy is an obliviator? I..I’m sure he can help you then.” She was being silly, it had to be Dirk’s blood. He was a mugglborn for Rowena’s sake. They were the victims not the violent ones. “Are you sure you’re okay to go find Benjy? Maybe you should clean up first, make sure you’re not still hurt?” Because he had to have been hurt, right? All that blood. It came from someone. Meaghan didn’t really want to think of who though. Could Dirk still be standing, talking to her if it was his? But muggleborn….

“Wha - ?!” Dirk started when he collided with a figure, jumping backwards and flinching as if he might be attacked – because maybe he would be, because he didn’t know what the bloody hell was going on. But wild eyes landed on a familiar face, and while it didn’t relieve his nerves he was at least fairly certain Meaghan McCormack wasn’t about to hex him. In fact she seemed downright concerned, which had him looking back down at the blood on his robes and growing panicked all over again. “I –” He paused, frowned. “Yeah.” Another pause. “No.” He shook his head, looked over his shoulder in case someone or something was pursuing him. “I don’t know. I don’t – I don’t know what happened. I don’t know how I –” I don’t know how I got here, he was going to say, but something stopped him. Was he going mental? Because that certainly sounded like something a mental person would say. What would Meaghan do, if he told her he didn’t know how he’d gotten here? What if someone found him and tried to lock him away in St. Mungo’s or something? Maybe he needed to be locked up. Remembering the girl in front of him, he shook his head quickly. “I mean – I don’t – I don’t know.” His voice was growing more frantic the longer he spoke. “I think I blacked out or something.”

Meaghan watched him flinch like he thought he was going to be attacked. Continued watching in surprise and confusion as Dirk struggled with what to say. Maybe he’d hit his head. It didn’t explain the blood though. And looking at him, despite the confusion and the frantic speech he didn’t seem to be injured. The blood was fresh but not as if it were still coming from wounds. Surely the blood had to have been Dirk’s though. Maybe an accident, Meaghan couldn’t remember if Dirk was one who played around with potions. Or a bloody nose, except his nose didn’t look as if it had been bleeding.

……Dirk had taken a wrong turn. 

Meaghan enjoyed early mornings in Diagon. It was peaceful and quiet, two things Diagon was hardly ever. Plus as much as she enjoyed meeting fans it was a lot easier to get her errands done without stopping and signing autographs every time she left a shop. There was the safety aspect of it too. While she knew it was probably not true it just seemed safer in the mornings. Most of the attacks had been early evening to late at night. It fit that a group that hid their appearances would prefer the cover of darkness. She’d nearly convinced herself that the bright sunshiny morning was a determent to them.

..I…we weren’t that cozy. It was a kiss on the cheek. I uh…well I may have mentioned there’d be a party after the match.

Ha! Alright, better luck next time. Did ya? She coming?

…Wha…oh I um…right, yeah I uh…yeah, I’ll um…see you then.

Great. ....Good luck at the match, Cene. ....Night.

I um....I should probably get going. I didn't realize how late it had gotten er how early I guess. ....I'll see ya at the party?

…Um…yeah I uh….I think so.

Good.

Yep. …Yeah? Great. I’ll uh…see you there, then.

Yes. Okay. ...Should be fun.

Yeah? Thanks. I uh….there’s gonna be a big party after, you know for the end of the season and all. Er - lots of players will be there. You um…you should come. I mean um if you want to.

Yeah. Welcome. Is there? I....I'd like that, thanks.

Ha! I uh…you coming to the match?

Yeah, of course. I'm sure it'll be a great match.

Ha! No problem. I try.

Ha! I guess so.