Me? I'm Falling Like A Pro

[Rodolph Murdo]

It was seven O'clock on a monday night in October, England. On the corner of a street lit by several street lamps and four white lights hanging from the pub, a man walked, dressed in a non-offensive dabbed-grey shirt, a black hoodie and a pair of casual blue jeans. He was a Quidditch player headed to a muggle pub for a quiet drink and chat. It was his sole purpose, at that moment in time, to enter that pub with its warm orange glow and mutter of voices, to reach the bar and order a pint of lager and a packet of cheese and onion crisps, to sit on the worn red leather sofa in the emptiest corner, to sip at his pint and to extract a crisp from its imprisonment.

Rodolph had only just been reading the Daily Prophet a few hours before, and had seen stories on international news, such as the recent change in government in New Zealand. There was a new minister of magic and it sounded as though she had some very different ideas. Some of which Rodolph did not truly agree with, but then, it wasn't really his business. Not right now. For the time being, he was just a man in a pub, drinking lager and listening to the murmur of muggle voices and the faint whisper of mainstream music. Not many clubs were open, yet. And not many would be, not on a monday. Normal people had work. And yet, the pub was packed with muggle men and women- admittedly, mostly lightly bearded men in their fifties.

Rodolph drained the last dregs of his first pint before returning to the bar to order another. It was as one hand found its way through the pack of men surrounding the bar, reaching the counter, that Rodolph first noticed one of the women present. His eyes could have picked on any one but they had chosen her. For what purpose? He stared for a moment or two, observing her, trying to understand why it was she whom he had first noticed. He didn't realise quite how much he had allowed his hand resting on the counter to support his weight, and his hand was beginning to slip with the lack of concentration. It was not one of those obvious falls of simply dropping to the ground, before standing up again, but one in which Rodolph's arm began to shake a little and he could do nothing about it, slowly falling over. He was still trying to look good, of course he was- which was why his other hand managed to press onto his side. His legs had also seemed to come together and fold, slightly.

He was slowly falling over and it was humiliating. It was also taking forever. And he was still looking at that woman.

 

[Ellen Harper]

It was that time of the year again. The familiar pangs of annoyance and irritation from spending too much time with family and at work consumed Ellen until the point where she absolutely had to get out of New Zealand. The United Kingdom was her destination of choice naturally because she had lived in this very town a few years ago. She didn't miss the tiny apartment and the many meals that contained ramen noodles and cheap brands of already terrible quality food but other than that little snag, it was a very charming place to take a bit of a break from the real world. In fact this time she would be staying in an elegant Hotel Suite because of the lovely amount of galleons the Ministry deposited into her Gringotts account promptly at midnight every Friday morning.

It was day two of the mini vacation and Ellen felt the need to get out and grab a couple of drinks at the nearest bar. The town was primarily muggle, so she opted to take stroll and enjoy the town in its evening form. Many muggles seemed to be on their way home, driving in their muggle contraptions that Ellen had grown used to in her stint as a Secretary and chatting on their cellular devices. She was required to get one at that particular job, and when she finally bit the bullet and turned in her resignation, the cell phone was thrown fiercely on the pavement outside of the building and stomped on several times. It had been a large distraction, ringing every few minutes with bosses and co workers on the other end snapping something at her and hanging up. She hated cell phones.

Ellen brought her attention back to the real world as she neared the pub. It was a charming little place, although swarmed with middle aged muggles. She smiled at each of them and made her way to the bar, ordering a glass of wine and taking the small glass back to a table. She had always enjoyed watching people when in a place such as this. They did such strange things when they felt as if no one was watching, and it humored her. Cheap entertainment, she mused, her eyes catching a hold of a somewhat older looking gent.

Sipping at her wine, Ellen followed his gaze landing on the attractive woman he was intent on staring at. She was a beauty, sure enough, but lacked something that interested the young woman herself. And then it happened. Ellen gasped, pressing her clenched fist against her wine touched lips to prevent from laughing loudly at the man in question toppling over into the floor. "Oh!" She said out loud, echoing the many others that were staring at the fallen man. She stood up and rushed over in front of him, blocking his view of the other woman. "Are you okay?" Ellen looked at him with worry furrowed in her brow, and laughter gleaming in her eyes. She reached a hand out, intending for him to grab it.

 

[Rodolph Murdo]

The moment he had fallen, Rodolph had worked out why that woman had interested him, and he was a little ashamed of himself. He was thirty, for crying out loud, not thirteen- if he fell over every time he saw a woman in a skimpy dress, he'd never find his soulmate. And then, he wouldn't see her, anymore. Someone was blocking the view and, a little disorientated, Rodolph took their hand to help himself up. It was another woman, and Rodolph had the horrible feeling that she knew just who had caused him to lose concentration. A little red flushed the corners of his cheeks. "I.. Thank you." He said as he clambered to his feet. So much for not attracting attention to himself.

It felt like the right thing to do and Rodolph looked the woman straight in the eyes. Although, he kind of wished he hadn't, for his cheeks only reddened further. "Can I get you a drink?" He asked politely, though his eyes couldn't help flitting this way and that until he finally spotted the other woman.. Leaving. He wasn't sure whether to be pleased or disappointed. Rodolph had never been one for eyeing up a woman, before, but with his thirty-first birthday fast approaching and no sign of his soulmate, another part of his anatomy had begun thinking for him.

The people who had been watching, had gone back to their own business. Good old muggles, mostly never questioning, mostly never bothering to look deeper into the dark, trying to see the magic. Rodolph's mind was still on soulmates, on the only woman he had ever found himself to get a buzz from being around. But that was nearly two years ago that Nadia and Roddy had become close, that he had almost kissed her that night in the club- before falling from his stool and passing out on the floor. Rodolph had never even kissed a woman, regardless of what the press thought. One day, he would meet the right woman. One day.

 

[Ellen Harper]

Ellen smiled at him hoping to hold back the huge grin a teensy bit longer, at least until he got his bearings straight and was able to laugh it off. "You're welcome." She said, pulling him up and facing him. The pub was dark, as most pubs were and before she had been unable to see his face as well as she could now. Ellen had always been a detail woman, and the larger picture didn't appeal to her as much as the tiny little areas in it. Her dark eyes flickered over his face, scooping up every detail. He was handsome, not in a traditional way, but in a charming sort of way.

In fact she quite liked the way he looked. Ellen glanced over at the woman the man had been so intent at staring at, and saw that she had picked up her pocket book and followed her little friends out the door. Good riddance. The echo of chatter and giggles followed the group out of the door, leaving behind a satisfied Ellen and a most likely disappointed man. "Don't be too mortified. Chances are, you'll never see them again." She gestured over at her table, the wine glass still half full. "I already have one, but may I join you at your table?"

Ellen hadn't had a male companion to drink with in a bar for a pretty good while, and so it felt strange and somewhat flattering to be asked under these uncertain circumstances. Regardless, she crossed back over to her table and picked up the wine glass, joining the man who had previously embarrassed himself in front of a crowded room. "May I ask your name? I am Ellen Harper."