Charles was feeling frustrated
He had the perfect evening planned with his latest conquest who happened to be a secretary in the Business section of the law firm he worked for. They were going to dine at Draben, a restaurant he knew she favoured, but didn’t get to attend frequently as she lacked a membership. They would have the duck since she mentioned her love for it followed by the mint chocolate mousse which was his favourite. The Briton had even dressed up for the evening. The lawyer was clad in a bespoke navy blue suit with a patterned tie which brought out the colour in his eyes, or so he’d been told.
But then it happened. A note, which had clearly been scrawled quickly, was delivered by an owl that landed on his shoulder just outside the restaurant. It was an apology from the woman as she would no longer be able to attend due to her husband having to switch shifts with a colleague at St. Mungo’s. Damn that man! Charles had wondered for a moment if the man suspected, but then decided it wasn’t his problem. Nothing had happened between them, at least not yet anyway.
And that was how the Lawyer found himself sitting alone in a corner booth of Draben’s restaurant area. Instead of the duck a plate consisting of shorthorn sirloin, an assortment of vegetables, and mashed potato sat before him. He was drinking from a glass of single malt whiskey having decided it would be too ostentatious to buy the whole bottle. Heaven forbid someone he knew saw him drinking a whole bottle by himself and come to the conclusion he suffered from some sort of drink problem. He had worked too hard to build a reputable reputation for himself to ruin it by encouraging such rumours.
He was in the process of eating his dinner (and bemoaning his cancelled plans) when he spotted him, Draco Malfoy. It had been several years since the Briton last saw the Malfoy heir and the blonde looked all the better for it. Clearly living life without the threat of Azkaban hanging over his head suited him, or maybe it was the pretty young lady he had become betrothed to, if the recent press was to be believed. Either way Charles was pleased to note that Draco seemed to be taking better care of himself.
The Lawyer couldn’t say that he knew Draco. Their relationship had been a strictly professional one with Charles as the savvy criminal lawyer and Draco the heir to a massive fortune who’d gotten himself into legal trouble. However, he liked to think that countless late nights discussing strategy and the divulgence of secrets Charles needed to know had created a comradery between the two of them. It helped that Draco had been the most likeable of the clients he’d been forced to work with during the fallout of the war. In Charles’ opinion the Malfoy heir seemed like a decent person. He had simply been a misguided youth who tried desperately to live up to the expectations of his troubled father. At least he had seemed willing to learn from the failures of he-who-must-not-be-named’s war. Unlike many of his other clients who would rant about the injustices they were suffering at the hands of mudbloods when they were alone and confident in their lawyers discretion.
“Mr. Malfoy†he called out once the blond was close enough to hear him without shouting involved. “How nice to see you again†he offered pleasantly without the purr he may have used had he been flirting. While the Malfoy heir was certainly attractive he was also heterosexual and Charles was not the type to waste his time pursuing those he couldn’t have. Life was too short for that. “I must congratulate you on your recent engagement to Miss. Greengrass, a fine match.†The pleasantries out of the way he smirked before cheekily adding “though I must say I was quite disappointed to not hear the news from you directly. And here I thought I was your favourite lawyer.†He was of course joking. Draco owed him nothing and they both knew that, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t tease the blonde a bit.
@Draco Malfoy (Michaela)
