Fish and Chip on the Shoulder | Katherine

[Brutus Razi]

Mid-June

He’d just graduated and already he was working for his father.  The jobs he’d been given were easy deliveries with things that he evaluated barely teetered on the line of illegal.  Still he was relieved when he succeeded in his last delivery.

The problem was the customer handed him something to take back to his father instead of the expected payment he was to receive in galleons. Something that felt cold in not only a temperature sense, but also seemed to made him feel sad when it was put in his hand.  He was happy he had a book with a hollow inside he could stick it in within his bag that let him forget it was there.

A forgetting that made it completely forgotten when he ran into Katherine and realized he could probably get back a little late after a lunch.  It was easy pleasantries when they met outside that continued as they found themselves at a table to the side of the pub with a simple lunch fare ordered.

Leaning back he said " Are you stuck going to the summer campus this summer?  It's sad to see how happily they all devolve to muggles. "

Even if he was insulting it with Katherine he did enjoy the simplicities when he got to go in past years and hang with his girlfriend Kora.  However, he understood expectations and it certainly wasn't going to be something he admitted to.

[Katherine Dankworth]

Katherine smiled bitterly when she heard the comment, remembering this was the first summer she was spending away from her summer home, locked up in a camp with filthy, annoying kids. She didn’t know what her father’s motivation  was, considering they didn’t see much of each other in the summer anyways because he was always away on business trips, but she was too afraid to ask.

“Seems  that way. I don’t really know what bug bit my father, he always preferred I spend vacations at home, with… well, decently behaved people.” the way she strained her last words made it clear she was subtly pointing to those she deemed unworthy, the same way Brutus did. “It is as awful as it sounds, isn’t it not?”

[Brutus Razi]

He remembered his summers at the summer campus and only one of them he spent supposedly wandless.  Though he wasn’t going to mention he only handed over his first wand and always had a second on him during camp.  A second wand that for the most part he didn’t end up using - another detail that would go unstated.

He said “ Any chance you can still apply for counselor? “  That was the best situation summer wise.  After all, the only reason his other summer at camp worked was because his girlfriend Kora was a counselor.  He certainly couldn’t advise someone as young as Katherine on similar as he had sisters deeming what was good enough for him unacceptable for someone Katherine’s age.

Then he took a sip of the tea that was sitting in front of him and said “ There is entertainment in the awfulness. “ Then he smirked and said “ I found it best sticking with a couple of friends and finding a good chill spot. “  He was leaving out the fact that a couple of friends was generous in number as most of the non-Kora people he hung out he ranked merely as tolerable not as friends.

[Katherine Dankworth]

"That would be nice if I had friends." Katherine remarqued, but she didn't sound bitter about the fact, but instead a little amused "But I don't."

She ordered a glass of butterbeer for both herself and Brutus, without asking if he even liked it. The more the date for going to the camp approached, the more uneasy she felt about the idea. She just didn't get the point. Why would her fahter send her there? She wasn't an idiot, she knew he didn't like having her around. But they barely spended time together to begin with, and he wasn't the one to send her to cohort with those himself said were filthy.

Maybe she had done something wrong without noticing, she thought. An even she was perfectly behaved everytime she was around her father, it wasn't difficult for her to cherry pick moments where she might've make him mad.

"And no. Counselour doesn't seem like and option. I'll suck up to the most bareable of them, though. Do you know any of them?"

[Brutus Razi]

He reached for the butterbeer that Katherine ordered uncertain on how to respond about the friends concept.  He didn’t have many either.  Though now he was graduated he couldn’t find himself upset with that detail either as friends in high station weren’t the type to call on the business he’d be doing now in service of his family.

He said “ Have you considered mentoring a few of the more tolerable ones to see if you can turn them into something acceptable?  Surprisingly I made some strides with my cousin Tigran. “  He didn’t really make many strides with Tigran beyond getting him to fetch the ingredients his father wanted him to fetch from the forbidden forest for part of the money he was given for the tasks.  However, it certainly gave him more time to hang out with Kora in his final term.

As for the counselors for this summer he said “ Minus Cordelia, I haven’t talked to any of them before. “  Then he said “ Cordelia has potential, and is rather amusing when angered and not directing hexes at you. “ He left out that on more than one occasion it was him the hexes were directed at even if it was still funny to him later.

[Katherine Dankworth]

The suggestion didn't seem like a bad one. Mentoring a younger kid and growing them into a tolerable human being with actual value actually seemed interesting. Tempting, even. She just nodded, telling herself she would keep that in mind.

"Cordelia von Stein? Yeah, I've heard about heard. Very weird things, though. But whatever, at least she's not some mudblood, she will do. And for the hexes... I honestly don't care if someone tries. I already read the rules and it's prohibited for campers. Maybe I'll even try to anger someone, you know? So the trash can take itself out."

[Brutus Razi]

He said “ Cordelia will be a counselor. “ As he wanted to make sure Katherine was warned that Cordelia would have a wand.  Then he said “ Also the rules are blurry on the use of potions as my cousin Tigran loved to point out. “

Or more so it wasn’t really trackable who did what with potions unless one got to the level of fingerprinting or people were sloppy.

He said “ I wouldn’t try to anger the trash into taking itself out.  You’re outnumbered.  I choose to ignore them. “ Though his ignoring was far easier as he had a girlfriend to distract him when he’d been at camp without his wand.  He continued " I never found a way to get the trash to take itself out. "

He had tried.

[Katherine Dankworth]

She blurted laughing when she heard Brutus, drinking another sip of her drink before responding.

"And since when do I care about being outnumbered? They can't really hurt me. Just a little hex before some idiot with an hero complex jumps in my defense, and they're out. As for Cordelia, don't worry. My best shot is try to befriend her, I don't care if she has a wand."

Katherine was proving herself bold, and maybe even over confident. She didn't really care if they came for her, it seemed like the only way to make things interesting.

[Brutus Razi]

He chuckled and said “ Most of them are like gnats anyway. “  Though he wasn’t foolish enough to really muck with them purely as he didn’t want the headache.  He found them better ignored personally.

However, he was curious and if Katherine was tempted by the entertainment then it would make an amusing story later.  Or so he hoped.

He said “ Good plan on Cordelia. “  Of the people left in Hogwarts Cordelia was one of the more tolerable purebloods.  Thankfully, while he talked about pureblood superiority in the right venues and to people like Katherine he didn't really believe it.  He said " While, I'm not going to admit I miss them all now I'm graduated.  I want some good stories at the end of summer. "