RP: Morning Meeting

[shh_fleur]

Theodore,

I have the morning without plans, perhaps you should come to my house and we can discuss matters of the school? I believe now is the opportune time to begin such things and trust you won’t let any unimportant engagement prevent you from visiting me.

Yours sincerely,

Fleur Weasley

Fleur watched the owl depart

Comments

[shh_theodore]

Theo read the note carefully, not answering it immediately but rather taking the time to think it through. He'd been making too many rash decisions lately and if he was to see Fleur Weasley again he needed an agenda.

Especially since she was Veela.

Reading Fleur's note over again, he went through it step by step. Ignoring the fact that it was a summoning rather than a request, he concentrated on her words about the school. So she wanted his money, then she would have them. Under certain terms, of course.

Theo smirked as he got dressed, confident with the game plan which formed in his head. In the hallway, he picked up the leash and collar he'd bought during his last venture into Exeter and secured it around Beelzebub's neck. It would take longer to get there with the dog as he couldn't Apparate, but Beelzebub would serve as a distraction if the attraction became too much for him to keep focused. Well the dog was supposed to be good for something, wasn't it?

By the time he arrived at Fleur's, he was relaxed and ready, and there was no hesitation as he lifted his hand and knocked on the door.

[shh_fleur]

Theodore was later than she would have expected, but still early enough that they had time to discuss things. When Fleur opened the door, her eyes were immediately drawn to Beelzebub, and she looked up at Theo with a small measure of surprise.

"Good morning Theodore, it is good to see you again. Come inside, you can leave the dog in the garden," she smiled as she turned and retreated into the house with the expectation Theo would follow.

[shh_theodore]

'Good morning,' Theo answered her with a smile, not completely happy with the idea of leaving Beelzebub in the garden. He wouldn't serve as much distraction there. Still he held Beelzebub back and told the dog to stay in the garden.

It immediately disobeyed and pushed past Fleur into the house when Theo didn't hold onto his leash well enough.

Maybe bringing the dog had not been such a good idea after all?

'I'm so sorry, Fleur,' Theo said instantly as stepped inside. 'He isn't particularly well trained. I wouldn't have brought him if I thought it would be a problem, but seeing how fond Gabrielle is of him I thought...' he shook his head. 'I do apologise. I'll try to get him to keep outside,' he finished.

[shh_fleur]

"Gabrielle?" Fleur frowned and did not finish the sentence, though she looked once more at Beelzebub with a more considering expression. "Perhaps he can stay inside, I do not think he would be good in the garden," she amended as she thought of how devastated Liam would be if he visited next time only to discover his gnomes had been eaten.

They were in the sitting room now and Fleur pointed to a place on the floor near the fireplace where the dog was already standing beside his owner. "You stay here," she said to the dog as she went and sat down in one of the seats and waited for Theo to join her.

[shh_theodore]

Beelzebub looked confused, taking a step towards Fleur but then deciding to stay and laid down in front of the fireplace. Theo took his seat in one of the chairs and turned towards Fleur with a smile.

'Again, I'm sorry about the dog,' he said warmly. 'I shouldn't have assumed.'

He smiled again before pressing on. 'So you wanted to discuss business,' he said, deciding it in this case was far better to keep it on a purely professional level. If any flirting was to take place, Theo had a feeling he would be on the losing end.

Theodore Nott was never on the losing end.

[shh_fleur]

"No, it is okay. I like animals but we were never allowed them in the house at home. Things are different here." Fleur waved her hand dismissively before discarding the issue.

With her hands folded in her lap, Fleur sat on her chair like it was a throne and she nodded at Theo. "Yes, I wish to discuss what it is exactly that you see yourself obtaining with your money. I would not wish you to be expecting control over what goes on in the school, but I do not wish you to be excluded if you want to be involved."

[shh_bill]

Bill woke to find Fleur's side of the bed empty. She'd mentioned something about a meeting the night before but he'd be a bit, uh, preoccupied at the time so he'd forgotten about it until just now. He squinted at the early morning light and went to get dressed. He was halfway down the stairs when he heard Fleur and a stranger's voice coming from the sitting room. He walked into the sitting room, realizing that this must be Theo Nott. He wasn't sure how he knew since he'd never seen him before, but from the way Fleur was talking animatedly with him about her school and money, he knew it had to be him.

The dog, on the other hand, was a surprise. Bill glanced over at him and he stared back at Bill, his hackles rising. Bill instinctively bared his teeth, just a bit to assert dominance and let the dog know who was alpha in this house. The dog ducked his head just a bit and whined scooting over to Bill on his belly. "Fleur love, I'm pretty sure you have to go to the Ministry to start up a school," he spoke up patting his leg at the dog. He hopped up and sat obediently in front of Bill, watching him raptly for further commands.

[shh_fleur]

"What?" It wasn't often that Fleur could only manage a monosyllabic response to an unexpected turn of events. She frowned and shook her head as Beelzebub stared up at her husband like he was the master instead of Theodore. Surely Bill was wrong? She remembered her father donating a considerable sum of money to a school that was set up in a small village near their home, why should things be any different here?

Ah, but of course. They are English!

"The Ministry? There is no Ministry to deal with these things, we need a school now and not when they eventually get themselves to be organised!" Her reply came out more terse than was intended, but Fleur didn't care at the moment.

[shh_theodore]

Theo sat back and watched as Beelzebub behaved...well as a dog was supposed to behave. Frowning, and more jealous than he would like to admit, he wondered what the hell Bill was doing to create such a reaction - and if he could learn it. Then again, probably not.

Stupid animal.

He glanced over at Fleur when he heard the annoyance in her voice. He'd thought for sure that when she'd mentioned a school she'd talked things through with the proper channels first or that it was just her French way of talking about a simple daycare service. This, he had not expected, and it was a most annoying turn of events.

[shh_bill]

"Fleur, they got the secondary school up and running fairly quickly with no real major complications, I don't see why a primary school would be any different," Bill replied calmly. "Let me owl Percy and see what he has to say. I've been meaning to owl him for quite some time anyway.

"And I know that your father donated generously to a school, but no one person should have that sort of control over a school whether it's in France or England," he added hoping to calm her down when he saw her lips purse with impatience. "Good intentions or not, that would give someone far too much . . . power to dictate policies and lesson plans that could follow an agenda. Technically the Ministry is supposed to be neutral and hopefully the new one will be so you can see why donations of that sort would be a bit dangerous. Now if you wanted to start a private daycare you could accept donations from interested parties, but I would be also be wary of any hidden obligations in accepting gifts like that."

He glanced over at Theo suddenly and smiled. He walked over holding out his hand with the dog right at his heels. "I've been remiss, I'm Bill Weasley. You must be Theo Nott. I've heard a bit about you."

[shh_theodore]

There was no mistaking the fact that the words were directed at him and not Fleur, but Theo quickly decided to ignore any hints of him using his money to further an agenda.

Truth was he didn't really care what they taught (or didn't) since he didn't care about children anyway. Now if he'd had children himself - he shook the thought that threatened to form in his head before it formed - then he would possibly have cared more. For now, however, all he wanted was a good name in town.

He took Bill's hand with a smile. 'I've heard a bit about you too,' he said. 'You've been in the papers quite a few times over the years,' he added with a smile, hoping that would trigger Bill's memory of his own appearance in the paper. Things tended to be so much easier when people did remember.

[shh_bill]

"Hmm, yes. I'm not surprised," Bill responded thoughtfully. He hadn't been an avid reader of the Daily Profit, but had heard from the people he did know who were that he'd been mentioned a few times as had Theo. "I remember hearing about you as well. War hero and all that, I think. Then again there were a lot of heros in the war wouldn't you say?"

He didn't know why he was being so antagonistic, but something about Theo had raised his own hackles. "You've got a nice dog here. Very well behaved. What's his name?" he asked petting the tall dog's narrow head. The doberman sat and licked his hand, his stubby little tail wagging furiously.

[shh_theodore]

Theo smiled again, feeling the hesitation coming from the man as clear as if it had been spoken. Well some of it even was.

there were a lot of heros in the war indeed.

Still Theo pretended as if Bill hadn't said anything strange, trusting his face to never reveal what he truly thought or felt.

'I'm glad you think so,' he answered to Bill's remark about the dog, one more time thinking the choice of name had been a bit hasty. The dog listened to it though so it seemed silly to change.

'Beelzebub,' he answered with a smile. 'A joke that he,' Theo indicated the dog, 'seemed to take a bit too seriously. He refused to listen to anything else afterward,' he laughed, the lie a probable one.

[shh_fleur]

Fleur ignored the exchange between Bill and Theodore as her mind turned over everything that had been said, and she contemplated what move should be made next. The daycare was a definite. It she couldn't take care of the children with a school, she wanted to be able to do something at least.

[shh_bill]

"The devil huh? He seems more like an angel to me, aren't you boy?"

Beelzebub barked once, his tail nub wagging at an even more furious pace. He reached up and licked Bill's hand, panting happily.

Bill glanced over at his wife, noticing that she'd been stewing and simmering in silence. He'd make it up to her later. Her dreams weren't dead, just diverted and a bit postponed perhaps. She could still be very involved with the school and if he knew his wife she would make sure she was.

"So if you were to give the money to help build up a daycare, would you have any stipulations attached to it?" he asked returning his attention to Theo.

[shh_theodore]

Theodore too had noticed Fleur's silence, and had - like Bill - assumed she was trying to work something out to get around the problem. A daycare like Bill suggested was not as good as a school - but it was definitely good enough for now.

He smiled at Fleur and then at Bill before answering Bill's question.

'I would want influence, of course, as to what my money is used for,' he said casually, leaning back in his chair before he elaborated. 'I am a business man, and I would not want see my funds going to unnecessarily expensive deals if there are cheaper ones to be negotiated.'

'As for what the children and the contents of their days,' he continued with another smile. 'That I would leave completely to those who knows more of children than I do,' he added.