WHO: Delilah Spinnet and Thomas McCormack
WHAT: Random meet up
WHERE:
WHEN: Toooday?
STATUS: POSTING THIS because I keep forgetting I have gDocs and seeing it here will help me tag lmao ♥



You see, Quidditch Leagues weren’t the only wizarding sports organization that held annual charity events. Duelist had them to, except they were just a bit more elite and high class than the Quidditch ones. Well, that was Delilah’s humble opinion anyways. And due to the fact that she was this year’s witch to beat,yet again (but then again, they like to make sure your winning wasn’t just a fluke), she was an invited guest, getting to sit at a table near some of the Dueling Greats. She could hardly contain her excitement.

But she would. Delilah Spinnet was a professional and she could hold herself in a dignified manner while she dined mere feet away from some of her idols. That is right up until she saw Bethany McCormack sitting just one table over and she nearly dropped her fork.

Bethany McCormack. That woman was her hero. Really what female duelist didn’t look up to her.

Some how Delilah managed to finish her dinner, and when everyone else was getting up to go and mingle with other people, she stood, smoothed out her dress and made her way over to the table.

“Mrs. McCormack?” she said politely. “I’m sorry, this is probably just a bit unprofessional of me, but I just had to come over and introduce myself. Delilah Spinnet. It really is just an honor to be able to meet you. I’m sort of a big fan. I think this might be the highlight of my evening.” Really she had no trouble talking to anyone else and here she was struggling to even sound like her normal self, or any normal person for that matter, her cheeks tinging pink. She could not believe she had just said that. What if Bethany McCormack hated being approached by fans. But Delilah wasn’t a fan, she was a fellow professional duelist. No, she was fan that pretended to be a professional. What on earth was she thinking.

Thomas had just returned with the drinks he’d been sent to fetch by his mother and sister when he spotted the back of Delilah Spinnet’s head. He stopped a few feet behind her, contemplating whether or not he should just turn around and say he got called in for an emergency Magpies practice, but decided against it. His sister would surely find out that he’d skip out and somehow, in her miraculous ways, she would find out that Delilah was the girl who attacked (confronted, whatever) Regina, and then she’d go to him, and then he’d hear it.

Though, his mother had been very happy that he’d returned the ring to her. Maybe that would be the way to break the awkwardness of all this. Thomas wasn’t sure if Delilah knew that the famous Bethany McCormack was his mother, but what were the odds that she’d been paying so much attention to him that she hadn’t put the clues together?

...she was a Gryffindor, though, so maybe the odds were rather high.

“Here,” he said to his mother, looking around to see where Catriona had gone off to before turning to Delilah, waiting for his mother to finish talking to her and shaking her hand before he interrupted, “Mum, this is the girl who got the ring back.”

Thomas looked at Delilah with a smile as his mother let out a sound of excitement, and instead of waiting for his sister to return, handed her the glass.

Oh Bethany McCormack was so much more awesome in person than Delilah could have imagined. She was running through all the questions she’d want to ask if she ever got the chance to meet her when a familiar voice pulled her back to reality. What on earth was Thomas doing here. And then he was handing Mrs. McCormack a drink and oh my god. How had she never put that together. Thomas McCormack. Bethany McCormack. Oh. God. He was her son. She paled as the realization hit her. “Oh H-hello, Thomas.” she stuttered out. “Fancy seeing you here.”

And then he was telling his mum that she was the one who go the ring back. She had gotten arresting for attacking--not attacking, confronting-- a girl for Bethany McCormack’s ring. And while she seemed pretty excited about that, Delilah had no idea what else Thomas may have told his mother about her. Oh merlin She had asked Bethany McCormack’s son out to lunch while he was wearing nothing but a towel. Delilah barely noticed that Thomas was handing her a drink. Why. Why did her get her a drink. What was even going on right now.

She was blushing bright red (which was unusual. It took quite a lot to make Delilah blush) by the time she took the drink from Thomas. “Thank you.” she said quietly not really looking at him at all. This was so embarrassing. “And that was---I didn’t plan---I didn’t know---” Delilah didn’t even know what to say about getting the ring back. “I’m a bit impulsive.” she hedged taking a sip of the drink she was handed.

By the look on Delilah’s face, she had not made the connection. For some reason, this amused Thomas, and he was also thankful for it. That meant that the girl had not approached his mother because she was simply his mother. Good, that was good, and it made Thomas feel a bit easier at having this conversation. As long as his sister stayed far away, he’d be fine.

“Just a bit,” Thomas added with a smile. He wasn’t the most comfortable when it came to talking around his family, but his mother was in her natural element around other duelers, and she seemed completely wild about the idea of Delilah using her skills to get back such a precious piece of jewelry.

“Thomas had mentioned it was a friend of his, but not that you dueled! And of course I know who you are, dear!” his mother beamed, “You remind me a lot of myself when I was just starting out! You should come by some time, I can show you a few tricks if you’d like.”

He grinned; he hadn’t known how he could repay Delilah for getting the ring back, but Thomas figured that a few private lessons from one of her favorite duelers could do it. His mother shook Delilah’s hand once again and then kissed Thomas’ cheek before excusing herself to go talk to the commissioner of the dueler’s union. He turned to Delilah and smiled lightly, “Sorry if I interrupted.”

Delilah looked quizzically at Thomas when his mother used the term friend but that didn’t last long because Bethany just said that of course she knew who she was, and Delilah’s attention was instantly back on her. Delilah was trying her very best not to gape, because that was just uncouth, but she had just said that Delilah reminded her of herself. And Delilah just couldn’t process that. Then, she was being invited over. Oh. My. God.

“Yes! I mean, if it’s not too much trouble, of course. I can’t even tell you how much I’d appreciate that. “ she said unable to even try to hide her excitement as she shook Mrs. McCormack’s hand. Oooh, she couldn’t wait to tell Charlie! She was going over to her heroes house to learn a few tricks.

It took a few seconds after she had left before she was back to thinking like a normal person. And then, she remembered that Thomas was here, standing right beside her. Merlin, this probably looked all sorts of crazy. If he didn’t think she was a stalker before.

“I did not know she was your mother.” she said turning back to face him. After she gave the ring back to him, she was done. leaving it alone. No more talking to, thinking about, wasting time on Thomas. “This has nothing to do with you at all. I was done--- I’ve been a fan--- “ she huff playing with the tie on her dress. She hated being this flustered. Especially, in front of other people. Delilah Spinnet was a composed, collected, kick ass woman. She sighed giving up even trying to explain. He would believe what he wanted. And she certainly never seen him smile like that at her before and she wasn’t sure what to make of it.

“Of course you didn’t interrupt. She’s your mother.” she said, dropping the bow of her dress that she was fiddling with. “Obviously, you haven’t told her you think I’m crazy, so, thanks, I appreciate that.”

Thomas had to laugh, “I don’t think you’re crazy.” He didn’t! He really didn’t. Delilah was just excitable, she didn’t exactly think before she did things, what could he really expect from a Gryffindor? Not that his neurotic Ravenclaw tendencies could go unnoticed, but Thomas was sure she just couldn’t help herself, and it was for a good cause. She was just being a good person, a good friend, and now that he’d gotten out most of his anger at the entire situation (with a punch to Brookstanton’s face), Thomas was able to appreciate it.

He looked over his shoulder and toward his mother, who was chatting away happily. His whole family was rather impressive, and it was hard to feel proud of your own accomplishments when there were so many prestigious awards hanging around the walls. It was part of his nuttiness, he said to no one in particular. Always trying to impress the impressive.

“When’s your next competition?” he asked, eyeing the crowd for his sister. If he managed to avoid Catriona for the rest of the night, he’d be set. Thomas turned to Delilah with an interested smile, putting his hands behind his back.

Delilah blinked when he laughed. And it wasn’t a ‘I’m laughing at you laugh’ but just a ‘that’s an amusing thought’ laugh. “You don’t? I mean even Charlie thought I was--- nevermind.” she said taking another sip of her drink and took a breath. He wasn’t mad at all. He was smiling and from what she could tell genuinely interested in when asked about her next competition. She was fine. She didn’t need to freak out at all. Just talk to him. Show him you are not spastic all the time.

“Well I just had the one in Wales the other week. Um. I think my next one is an invitational in Spain next week. I should have time to make it over to Barcelona for a day before I have to come back for some interview or what not.” she said excitedly. This invitational should be an easy one, as small as it was. “It was easier when I was newer and just had to show up for the events, then had weeks in between, so I could just hang out for as long as I wanted, but now I have all these other things to do too. I’d forget half of them if it weren’t for the magic calender Henry made for me.” She shrugged her shoulders a smile easing on her face. Talking about dueling always calmed her down. But thinking about dueling reminded her that she was going be going over to learn from Bethany McCormack. Today was very close to being the best day ever, and now she wasn’t even bothering to hide her grin. But she wasn’t going to go on and on about that, Thomas probably heard that sort of thing all the time.

“When’s your next game? This weekend? Charlie has a game practically every weekend. Which is sad because its harder for me to drag him along to my competitions this time of year.”