Started In Beautiful Rooms // Harper And Antonin
Started in Beautiful Rooms // Harper and Antonin
Approaching the Malfoy Malfoy Manor simultaneously comforted Harper while also setting her on edge. It oozed elegance and class, along with mystery and foreboding; just her type. She was intrigued by it, and to some extent, that worried her. Less so than it had in the past, but there was still a dull, nagging concern in the back of her mind.
“How did I get here?” she sometimes asked herself, flashing through memories of the intense and turbulent series of events that led to her current arrangement. She stopped herself before she could get too far. Wrong time, wrong place. She had a job to do and an image to uphold.
Many of the BDK hotels were large and sophisticated, and Harper had no problem walking into those with an air of confidence and ownership, but here? Here she felt dwarfed. Sometimes she even felt that the perfectly manicured shrubbery hissed at her presence. None of this was helped by the fact that, unlike most of the Death Eaters, Harper was not allowed to apparate into the manor. She knew why that was; because she was a half-blood. It didn’t matter that she was smarter than most of them, and perhaps more talented, to boot. According to them, she was lesser. Momentarily clenching her hands into fists and looking down at her shoes, she took a deep breath and tried to channel the attitude she could usually put on so well, before lifting her head and venturing forward up the walkway to the manor’s ornate front door.
Upon reaching it, Harper hesitated. Was she to knock? Was she to ring the bell? She doubted it was in her best interest to just walk in, though that was what she would prefer to do. Attempting to gain some control over the situation, she gave two raps on the door, paused a second, and tested the handle, discovering the door was unlocked.
Harper was acutely aware, as she crossed the threshold, that the door being unlocked was no coincidence. And although there was no one in sight, she instinctively knew that she was being watched. Perhaps someone wanted to observe how she behaved when she thought she was alone, or perhaps it was just another demeaning tactic. Adjusting her bag on her shoulder, she entered the room to her right. It appeared to be a sitting room (likely one of many), with portraits adorning the walls. Intrigued, Harper began to examine them, beginning with the one closest to the door, intending to make her way from there to the other side. She was only a couple of pictures in when she sensed a presence at the doorway, and looked over her shoulder to see who it was.
@antonin-whoisleft
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sebastian-whoisleft:
Sebastian did his best to be on time to the meeting, which was to say he was just over twenty minutes late. It was strange for him, too – not to be late to meetings, but certainly to be late to the information-drops held at bars. He had a sneaking suspicion that this was why he’d been chosen for today’s handoff…but it almost might have had something to do with the fact that it was Harper Baddock he was meeting and, unless they were sleeping with or enjoyed intimidating them, many of Sebastian’s fellow Death Eaters considered themselves above meeting with the lower-level informations.
Knowing who he was meeting – and knowing the venue well – took a lot of the pressure off things. (A little more pressure might have encouraged him to show up on time, even early, but Sebastian wasn’t interested in connecting any Point A to Point B that would make him be a more devoted servant of his Dark Lord.)
The Gilded Serpent was an infamous Death Eater haunt, frequented by seedy people doing seedy dealings often enough that people didn’t blink any eye when spooky, grizzled folks crossed the threshold.
And so nobody, either, cast a second look in the direction of Sebastian Nott: his youthful glow, his recently-arrested father, his tousled hair.
“Right on time,” he said, laying the fake congratulations on himself while he sidled up to the bar.
Get in, get the information, get out, Antonin’s voice said in his head. Quickly.
Sebastian flagged down the bartender instead.
“Is that your first one,” he asked Harper, lifting a brow. “Or do I have some catching up to do?”
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Finally he arrives Harper thought, resisting the urge to look down at her watch as Sebastian slid into the seat next to her at the bar. She didn’t know him well. She didn’t know many of the Death Eaters well, to be honest. But the fact that he didn’t seem too keen on immediately turning his nose up at her gave Harper some semblance of hope. Combined with his tousled hair and the easy smile on his face, she felt like she couldn't be mad at the young man.
She was impressed that he was even making an effort to have a conversation; his words implying that he was going to stay for at least a drink or two. Harper had enough encounters that lasted barely long enough for the documents she had prepared to leave her hands, and she could count the number of times she received a thank you.
“And to think I was worried you’d stood me up,” she remarked, shooting him a sly smirk. “Don’t worry, you’re only-” she paused to effortlessly polish off what was left in her glass, “two drinks behind,”
For what it was worth, the Gilded Serpent made surprisingly good drinks, and most drinks were even better when you weren't drinking alone, as far as Harper was concerned. As a general rule, she was a private person: In her day-to-day life she didn’t usually let people in, and she certainly wasn’t the one who usually initiated conversations. But her rules changed when she was out at night; at a bar, a club, a party, really anywhere with drinking and nightlife. Definitely when she was drinking— but even when she wasn’t— something made her want to socialize; and she was damn good at it when she wanted to be.
“So, what are you drinking?” she asked Sebastian, tilting her head towards the waiting bartender.
You’re so calm and quiet, you never say. But there are things inside you. I see them sometimes, hiding in your eyes.
Tracy Chevalier, Girl with a Pearl Earring (via roseir)
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Harper Baddock 23. BDK Hotels Owner/Heiress. Ravenclaw Alumna. Featured in Transfiguration Today
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