Drew Thornton
Ministry of Magic
Auror-in-Training
I didn't do it and you can't prove otherwise...
Posts: 14,114
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Post by Drew Thornton on Oct 15, 2008 0:35:17 GMT -5
"Hardly something I'd enjoy writing though," Aunt Abigail answered seriously. She told her nieces and nephews the stories in the hopes that they would remember and learn, but she didn't think she would be able to do them justice by putting them down on paper.
"But I think that perhaps I should focus on my letter writing rather than my novel writing for the time being," she continued, placing her napkin on the table next to her plate. She would like to stay and chat a bit longer, getting to know Felicity, but thought that perhaps the two young people might like a break from trying to entertain an old lady.
Drew saw that his aunt was preparing to excuse herself and he scooted his chair back to stand as soon as she decided to actually do so. "I think we'll go out to the garden..." he said, looking over towards Felicity to see if that was alright with her. Breakfast was pretty much over and Drew was looking forward to a little alone time with his girlfriend. Besides, she had gotten a little quiet and he thought the break from his aunt might be good.
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Post by Felicity Hjort on Oct 15, 2008 20:00:25 GMT -5
The small commotion of hearing Drew's chair being moved drew her light brown eyes up to look at him in question. Only, her question was answered when he spoke and looked at her, making her cheeks heat over slightly. His Aunt was very nice, but she knew she was only making continuous mistakes in speaking. There was no reason for her to keep trying if all she was going to do was make his Aunt not like her anymore than she all ready had. If Drew's Aunt Abigail didn't like her, then that was almost a shoe-in that his parents wouldn't like her either and she'd been looking forward all summer to the promise of meeting his family. Last summer had been her fault, winter break had been a terrible time, but she had her dad's promise this summer that she was allowed to meet them when they were available.
Nodding slightly before glancing over at his Aunt, hoping she didn't think Felicity was being rude, she sat her own silverware down and placed her napkin along the edge of her plate so it'd make for easy cleaning up. And she was more than ready to grab all of their plates as soon as his Aunt excused herself, wanting to show she didn't expect to be taken care of in anyway shape or form. The blonde was more than capable of cleaning up after herself, and after others as well.
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Drew Thornton
Ministry of Magic
Auror-in-Training
I didn't do it and you can't prove otherwise...
Posts: 14,114
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Post by Drew Thornton on Oct 16, 2008 0:27:26 GMT -5
"Then perhaps I'll excuse myself and leave you to show Felicity around," Aunt Abigail said with a cautious smile. She was confident they couldn't get into too much trouble around the house, considering the portraits would tell her in an instant of any improprieties, but the garden was fairly unattended. She'd be sending a house elf out there with lemonades occasionally and taking a book out onto the veranda after her letter writting just to be sure.
Aunt Abigail stood and Drew immediately rose as well, pulling the woman's chair a little to make her exit smoother. "Felicity, thank you for having brunch with an old lady as myself. It was a pleasure and I'll meet up with you two in the garden later perhaps." Before leaving the room she gave her nephew a look reminding him to be a gentleman. She was sure it wasn't needed, but felt it should be given anyway.
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Post by Felicity Hjort on Oct 16, 2008 18:58:21 GMT -5
Standing when both Drew and his Aunt did, Felicity gave a weak smile to the older woman, briefly glancing at Drew. Was the woman jesting her? It was a pleasure? Only because it showed her just how wrong she was for Drew. The wrong topics, the wrong things to say, his Aunt was surely going to report to Mrs. Thornton just how horrible of a person Felicity was, a terrible choice for a girlfriend on Drew's part, and likely convince Mrs. Thornton to convince Drew to get rid of her. But she at least knew Drew would fight that.
"Thank you for inviting me," the pretty blonde answered, avoiding the woman's eye and instead eying the plates and wondering if it'd be all right to stack them or if she didn't like plates stacked to be carried. But as soon as his Aunt left the room, Felicity was quick to pick up hers and Drew's plate, casting a glance to her boyfriend for him to direct her to the kitchen. There wasn't any way to mess up washing dishes, right? She knew how to do those, well, of course, she could break something but she prayed she wouldn't. And though she knew there was at least one House Elf in the home, she wanted to help out, show that she wasn't above doing something as such and that she really didn't mind.
"Where's the kitchen, love?" she asked quietly, not wanting his Aunt to hear her.
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Drew Thornton
Ministry of Magic
Auror-in-Training
I didn't do it and you can't prove otherwise...
Posts: 14,114
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Post by Drew Thornton on Oct 16, 2008 23:41:07 GMT -5
Drew was a little surprised when Felicity stood as well, but he appreciated the gesture and knew his aunt did as well. Aunt Abigail excused herself and left the room with a final warning look at her nephew.
Felicity took up the plates, but of course there was no need to do so. Drew took the plates from her and returned them to the table, holding her hands to keep her from picking them up again and pulling her to come closer just because he wanted her there. "The house elves will get them," he told her, and while he was used to doing the dishes at his own house and had no problem helping out when he was at Felicity's, things were done differently at Aunt Abigail's. "They'll get upset if you do their job for them. Did you want to see the kitchen anyway or go out to the garden?"
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Post by Felicity Hjort on Oct 16, 2008 23:51:27 GMT -5
As soon as Drew took the plates from her, she reached out to grab his Aunt's plate, figuring he was going to lead the way with their dirty dishes, but he surprised her by replacing them and holding her hands tightly enough she couldn't grab up the mess. Allowing herself to be pulled toward him, like a magnet looking for its opposite charge, she kept her gaze lowered and listened to what he said, uncomfortable with not helping.
"I doubt they'd really be that upset if I helped, and shouldn't I? I did eat here after all," she argued him lightly. It wasn't in her to leave a mess like that, not when she had the ability to help clean up, especially at least after herself. Though, seeing the gardens was enticing, she just wasn't comfortable leaving things as they were.
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Drew Thornton
Ministry of Magic
Auror-in-Training
I didn't do it and you can't prove otherwise...
Posts: 14,114
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Post by Drew Thornton on Oct 17, 2008 0:36:41 GMT -5
"These guys aren't like the house elves at school," Drew told her. The Hogwarts elves seemed used to students trying to take over their domains. Besides, with hundreds of people to take care of he doubted they really missed the occasional chore given that there were a zillion other ones to do. In a regular house, things were way different. Drew knew there were some houses where the elves weren't happy and only did what they did because they were magically obligated to, but if the elf was happy, they wanted nothing more than to work for their family. "Yeah, they will. It's what they do and if you don't let them, they'll be insulted. My aunt has my sister's house elf because Mimzy was actually getting sick not being able to do stuff."
As if on cue, Kester and Mimzy scampered in, gathered all of the plates, and scampered out again. Mimzy shot a look at the two humans as if she knew they had been talking about her, possibly conspiring to trick her into accepting clothes. The she-elf was sure the new girl was behind it since Master Andrew would never do something so dispicable. Mimzy was sure to watch out for that one.
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Post by Felicity Hjort on Oct 17, 2008 22:40:03 GMT -5
As Felicity hadn't grown up in a home of magic, only a few teachings of the things her mum could rightfully due justice to, she didn't fully understand House Elves. How could a creature be so content with just being ordered around? Allow themselves to be bound to something that didn't earn them much in life? It didn't make sense and she really didn't feel right about allowing them to clean up after her. At her home, Drew helped out with the dishes quite often, sometimes even when he didn't have any reason to, so why couldn't she help out with the dishes here?
When they appeared and started to pick up after all of them, Felicity gave them saddened looks, wanting to help, but knowing she couldn't go against what Drew said. But it didn't make her feel any better about anything she'd done that day. The wrong conversations, the wrong things said, and now not even cleaning up after herself...what if she was having one of those days where she did everything wrong? Should she maybe take Drew's present back until another day?
"I'm not doing anything right today, am I?" she asked quietly, turning to look back at her boyfriend. It wasn't her day.
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Drew Thornton
Ministry of Magic
Auror-in-Training
I didn't do it and you can't prove otherwise...
Posts: 14,114
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Post by Drew Thornton on Oct 17, 2008 23:21:15 GMT -5
"What are you talking about?" Drew asked, a little confused. He really hadn't expected her to understand about the house elves and definitely didn't think it was a problem that she wanted to help clean up. He knew it took some getting used to. There was nothing wrong with wanting to help with the plates, and doing so definitley didn't make everything wrong.
But then he started to worry. While he hadn't had elves in his own house growing up, both sets of grandparents had, so he knew how they worked pretty much. Was Felicity starting to think he was one of those snobby, stuck-up rich guys who thought he was better than the house elves? Of course, he didn't think he was one of those guys and had actually come to realize why his parents had gone without the elves while he was growing up. In fact, if he really thought about it, the whole thing had backfired on his mom and come out to benifit him. He doubted he'd be with Felicity if he hadn't been okay with picking up a dishrag.
No, she really couldn't be thinking that. He knew she knew him better than that. If he had really been that kind of guy, she would have dropped him a long time ago.
"You haven't done anything wrong," he said, still not sure what she meant. He could tell his aunt liked her which was bound to get back to his parents. And the house elf thing...? That wasn't anything at all.
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Post by Felicity Hjort on Oct 18, 2008 0:16:04 GMT -5
"Yes I have," she told him plainly, looking down at her shoes. There were so many things she hadn't done right that she was surprised his Aunt hadn't yet thrown her out the door on her bum. Thankfully she seemed to make it through brunch swell enough, but she was pretty good at eating. Too bad that didn't count in impressing the significant others family. "I asked your Aunt what dream she followed and she told me following dreams isn't what's right to do. Your Aunt basically said I'm doing everything wrong. I'm leaving home and going away for a long time, she even said it wasn't the right thing to do. And she said following dreams isn't what I'm supposed to do, that I'm supposed to sit at home and wait for...suitors." The word just tasted bad to the blonde. "And I'm not even supposed to pick up after myself either? Drew, that's not what I was taught. I was taught and told and encouraged to follow my dreams, to leave home and find what's right for me, to actually clean up after myself. Your Aunt doesn't believe any of that."
If his Aunt didn't believe any of that, surely his parents didn't either. Which just meant more bad news because it meant she wasn't right for him, right? Their backgrounds were quite obviously clashing, and it wasn't looking pretty from where Felicity was standing. Why was it he could follow his dreams and not be told it was improper, but his Aunt could tell her she was being completely improper by doing everything she wanted to do? Was it also wrong for her to love Drew all ready when she hadn't sat at home and waited for boys to come around? She had had a number of them ask her on dates, make very suggestive comments, and she didn't want any of them. Drew was all she wanted because she liked how he made her feel.
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Drew Thornton
Ministry of Magic
Auror-in-Training
I didn't do it and you can't prove otherwise...
Posts: 14,114
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Post by Drew Thornton on Oct 18, 2008 0:35:06 GMT -5
"That's not what she said," Drew told her before thinking back to the conversation and realizing that yeah, she actually had. "Well, okay, she said it, but that's so not what she meant." His Grandmother had been the rebellious one in the family and Aunt Abigail had always been impressed with her younger sister's spirit. Beatrice had been the one to run off to America while Abigail stayed behind.
"She was saying that's what she was told," he tried to explain, hoping to make Felicity understand. "It was a different time and place in history. It wasn't considered proper when she was our age and she's always talking about how she wished she had gone ahead and done it anyway. I can tell... she's glad you've got goals bigger than sitting around waiting for someone to take care of you."
"And I don't want you sitting at home waiting for any sort of suitors," he said with a smirk. This whole thing was actually a good thing. Drew's mother was convinced Felicity was a gold digger and now Aunt Abigail would be able to report that she had career goals of her own that didn't involve the Thornton fortune.
"If the house elves bother you, then we won't have any," he told her softly, assuming they'd be together that long and not even giving the idea a second though. "But when we're here... or at my Grandmother's... we gotta do it this way. Is that okay?" It probably wasn't, but he hoped she'd try to make it so.
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Post by Felicity Hjort on Oct 18, 2008 1:00:56 GMT -5
If it wasn't what she'd meant, then why had she said it? While his Aunt hadn't pointed fingers and really told Felicity outright that she was doing everything wrong, in way, she had pointed fingers and told her because she was talking while Felicity was present about what was proper and what wasn't proper. Felicity knew her upbringing wasn't the same as Drew's, as he'd had a more magically inclined background, Felicity had her mum teaching her about plants and potions since before she could remember when, but other than that tid bit and a few runs here and there to drop orders off, magic had been kept from her until her eleventh birthday when she was taught a bit more, and then the September of that year when her mum began teaching her magic after her regular schooling and athletics were over with for the day. But her upbringing differed greatly from Drew's, and she knew he knew it as well.
Besides the magical and muggle way of things, Felicity was brought up in a British way, which she knew was different from the American way. Movies had taught her enough to know that. And what was even more, though she knew he didn't really seem to like it anymore than she did, his status in world was a whole universe ahead of hers, he had money, enough to be able to be happy getting on by, Felicity's family didn't have that. Out of all of them Meridith had everyone beat, and that was because her husband had a really, really good job, one that actually paid for more than they needed. Felicity's dad only got raises as good as they came because of the size of his family and expenses were becoming more and more as the year passed and his boss realized that and was accommodating as well as possible; and that wasn't barely enough most of the time as was.
The blonde understood things were different, but when his Aunt had spoke, she sounded to Felicity as though she was saying it still wasn't proper. And perhaps it wasn't, not for the social circles Drew's family came from.
When he mentioned future plans, Felicity finally looked up at him, slightly startled. Had he really said something about them in the future together? Those words sent a whole new reel of butterflies swimming around her stomach, and they felt nervous. Sometimes, she knew one or the other of them would say something about them still being together in the future, but it was usually planning on how to see one another while they both pursued their dreams. Not, an almost definite something that would predict them being together. Actually, those butterflies were the same kind that went through her stomach when he presented her with the ring and the promise that he didn't want to break his promise to her and he wanted her to have his heart.
She didn't like letting something clean her messes though, not when they had nothing to do with the mess she made.
"I don't want any House Elves."
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Drew Thornton
Ministry of Magic
Auror-in-Training
I didn't do it and you can't prove otherwise...
Posts: 14,114
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Post by Drew Thornton on Oct 18, 2008 2:07:12 GMT -5
"Then we won't have any," he answered. He had complained about it a lot growing up, griping that none of his other wizarding friends had to take out the trash, clean their rooms, or unload a dishwasher, but in the end he was glad he didn't have to rely on the creatures like so many of his peers did. It made him feel more independent.
She hadn't said anything about what he had said about his aunt, so he hoped that meant she understood. Aunt Abigail liked her, he could tell. If she hadn't, there was no way she would have left them alone for any amount of time. Either she would have stayed there in the sun room, or they'd have a house elf shadow for the rest of the day. Just in case, Drew glanced around, just to make sure Rumie wasn't hiding behind the ficus in the corner.
"Is it okay now?" he asked, still wondering if she could forgive him for growing up the way he had. She just seemed so uncomfortable and he wanted so deperately to make it better. If she didn't like being with his Aunt, there was no way she'd like his grandmother.
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Post by Felicity Hjort on Oct 18, 2008 2:32:27 GMT -5
Nodding, she was glad. They were nice and all, and she was sure that during certain times they were quite a bit of help to those who needed them, but honestly, if they really did clean up after someone and were upset when another tried to do it for them, she couldn't live with one. Or two, and most definitely not three. Sometimes Felicity complained about having to do it on her own, but she didn't want to be taken care of like that either, it was lazy in her opinion. And she wouldn't be lazy.
Was it all right though? Honestly, not really. She still didn't want even his Aunt's helpers doing what she should be doing. Maybe if there was a big party or something, but not when it was just them. She could take care of herself and she wanted his family to know she wasn't relying on anything from Drew like that. She was going to be self-sufficient with her own money and she didn't need him to help her with anything. Felicity wanted a job, so she could contribute and have a little extra of her own, she wanted to have something to give. A give and take relationship, right? If she gave a little, then it was all right to take a little. If she cooked one night, then she could let him cook for her another.
"No..." she shook her head, letting her gaze fall again. "But I think I can deal with it, as long as it isn't too often..." Felicity wanted to be with Drew, and if she needed to be a certain way, she'd try, but she couldn't promise she'd always let the dishes be taken away by the Elves. And if they didn't like it well...tough for them.
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Drew Thornton
Ministry of Magic
Auror-in-Training
I didn't do it and you can't prove otherwise...
Posts: 14,114
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Post by Drew Thornton on Oct 19, 2008 23:01:19 GMT -5
He wasn't too happy with the answer, but glad she was being honest. And he appreciated that she thought she could work with it when they had to. That was really all he was asking. When they had their own house, they didn't need to have house elves, his parents didn't have them, and they weren't going to spend every day at either his Aunt's or his Grandparents.
Of course, there would probably be a few other times she might have to let the house elves do their thing. His parents had never been big on the whole society thing, but with social status did come a bit of responsibility and expectaion. He'd be able to ignore a good chunk of it, but not all of it. Would Felicity be okay with those occasional functions that needed to be attended to?
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