fandomtownies | Parents' Weekend Brunch, Sunday Morning to Afternoon, The Park

Parents' Weekend Brunch, Sunday Morning to Afternoon, The Park

As was traditional, the start of the end of Parents' Weekend featured plenty of food, benches, chairs, and coffee in the park. After all, the Student Council couldn't let the parents be weirded out one last time without a feast.

The sky was a little overcast, but the temperatures were still above normal, which was a lucky break for the final day of the weekend.

[OOC: Have fun!]

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It was the last day, and Hermione was sorry for that. She liked having Ron and Harry around. She told herself that she wasn't going to be here forever, and that she could easily pop back home to see them, and to stop thinking about it.

She could do that while mingling, really.

Peter noticed Hermione, and she somewhat matched the description Neal had given him of her. He figured that after Principal Winchester, she'd be most likely to know how he was settling in.

"Excuse me. I'm sorry to bother you, especially if I'm wrong. But are you by any chance Hermione Granger?" Who Neal called Hot Girl Peter. Which was just not right.

"I am, yes," she said, shaking off any stray bad thoughts. "Can I help you?"

He held out his hand, his most low-key and reassuring smile in place. "Peter Burke, Federal Bureau of Investigation. Neal Caffrey's case officer off the island. He mentioned that you were his teaching buddy, and I thought I'd check in."

Hermione shook his hand, eyes a little wide. "It's nice to meet you. I didn't realize he was... involved with the FBI," she said tactfully. She'd seen the ankle bracelet, so she knew something had been up, at least.

"Ah, well. That's a rather long story... but the upshot is that he's our confidential informant, on certain matters of expertise." Peter looked rueful, and a little weary. "He's on work-release dependent on his good behavior, and I'm very much hoping he has been behaving."

"As far as I know," Hermione said. Aside from his class, which she figured Peter would have to know about already. "I haven't gotten to talk to him much lately, but I haven't heard of him getting into any sort of trouble, and that kind of information tends to get around here."

Peter sighed in covert relief. "Good to know. Mind you, I know Neal's perfectly capable of being an upstanding citizen when he wants to. I was hoping this place would keep him occupied enough that he wouldn't feel like getting up to his usual tricks. Looks like it was a good call." He smiled a little, and asked, "He's not giving you too much trouble personally, I hope?"

"He's been fine. We don't talk as much as we probably should, especially since I don't teach anymore, but he's been no trouble," she assured him with a smile. She wondered if it was weird that she'd figured out how to deal with him pretty quickly.

Smart women usually figured out that Neal was trouble and to not let him get away with much pretty quickly. Even with as charming as he could be. "Good. I worry about him," Peter admitted, probably looking more sheepish than an FBI agent should. "We're... friends. I really want him to make this second chance work out. But it's hard to trust him, sometimes."

"I can see how that might be hard," she said, remembering their last conversation and feeling like she'd been conned into something without having been conned into anything. "Though I have to say, it probably helps him having a friend in the FBI who's actually looking out for him."

"He's basically a good guy. He took a lot of money, and created the most convincing forgeries I've ever seen, but he never hurt anyone directly. And very few people indirectly. Financial institutions took the hits, for the most part. But he sticks to his promises." Peter shook his head, smiling a little. "So what do you teach here? I didn't know what half of what he told me to believe, although his visual description of you was spot-on."

That was a little scary, actually. Now she wanted to know how she'd been described. "Social activism, most recently," she said. "I work at the law office now."

And because she felt it warranted saying, she added, "I think the office had fun pairing us together."

It had been a combination of the artistic (A Maxfield Parrish with Goya eyes), specific details, and the description of the expression on her face matching Peter's when she was thinking too hard. So, mostly flattering, if you took into account Neal's tendency to want to avoid rules or real work.

"I wouldn't be surprised," Peter said dryly. "Or they thought Neal needed to be sure someone would be able to post bail. Or at least tell him why not."

"It would be the second thing," Hermione said. Which had something to do with the fact that she did not make enough money to post bail.

"Good for you," Peter told her, meaning it. He considered, then pulled out his card -- Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Peter Burke, White Collar Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York City-- and said, "If you ever do need back-up, or he does get arrested. Or God forbid he goes missing or gets hurt? Please give me a call. That TA of his would just cover for him, the way she did when he 'turned into a cat.'" Peter was still not entirely sure he bought that. Even if there were photos.

By the way he said that, Hermione was not even going to tell him that she'd once turned Peter into a cat, too. "I'll do that," she said, taking the card.

"Thanks very much." Peter smiled. "It was nice talking to you, Miss Granger."

"Looks like the lot of them survived the weekend," Ron said giving Hermione a friendly nudge. "Somehow it all seemed more traumatic when we were going to school here."

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Parents' Weekend Brunch, Sunday Morning to Afternoon, The Park

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