A/N: This is a small one shot. It's main purpose is to introduce the character of Melissa to my readers. She is an instrumental player in Family Ties and she may likely turn up in other stories.
It's other purpose is solely to entertain, which I hope it does.
With that said,
As always,
Enjoy.
Disclaimer
: You know, for what it's worth, it could very well be mine, as that not one single character in this comes from JK Rowling's Harry Potter series. But as that it does borrow certain concept from that series of books, note that anything even vaguely related to said series of stories is not mine.THAT WAS NO LADY
It had been a long hard day, and with Katlin at the lair for a few days, Orion had accepted his partner's invitation to go to a local restaurant for dinner.
Because it was already late when he and Charly arrived, the place was already packed with diners either just finishing their meals or halfway through the main course.
Seated at their table, Orion was carefully studying the menu in front of him while Charly was only sparing his own casual glances as he constantly peer over the top of it at the other diners in the room.
But suddenly the menu all but fell to the table as Charly's mouth dropped open.
"Oy! It's our illustrious leader!" He stated in a surprised sounding tone. "And....and he's with a woman!"
Orion continued to peruse the menu without even looking up. "Bale dates women, Charly. I keep telling you to try it, but you just never take my advice."
Charly kept his eyes fixed on the table. "A real looker that one. I wonder who she is?"
Orion looked up finally. Sure enough, several tables over sat Orin Bale, head of the Unspeakables in the Department of Mysteries. And sharing the table with him was an attractive looking brown-haired woman who looked only about half interested in whatever the man sitting across the table from her was saying.
Sparing the couple only a quick glance, Orion buried his head in his menu again. "Don't know. Never seen her before."
"Then I believe introductions are in order." Charly stated, pushing his chair back. But Orion had a hand on Charly's arm as he started to get to his feet. "Charly, what are you doing?"
The man returned an innocent look. "I'm going to be social, Orion. Something you should try. You see someone in a restaurant, you go over and say 'hello'. Just like this....."
As Charly tried to get to his feet, the hand increased it's pressure on his arm. "We've seen Bale out in restaurants before Charly. You never felt the need to be so instructive with my social graces before."
"That's because Bale is usually sitting with Fudge or some other Ministry muckity-muck. But this....this bird is a real prize."
"And Bale obviously won the ring toss. Not you."
Charly turned a shocked and disbelieving look at his partner. "What exactly are you implying? That I'm going to go over there and do something stupid?"
"Nooo." Orion drawled out. "If I believed you were just going to go over there and do something stupid, I'd let you go. Because I am not just your partner, but your friend. And as such, I will defend to the death your right to do stupid things. However, if you go over there and try to hit on Bale's possible date for the evening, you will get assigned some horrid little mission that Bale sets aside for just such special occasions. And I, therefore, have to take into consideration that I, not just as your friend, but also your partner, will likely share the same fate. Therefore, 'Sit down, Charly!'"
"Hit on his possible date?!" Charly looked even more indignant. "You honestly think I would do such a thing?"
"Yes."
Charly gave him an infuriating smile. "You know me so well."
"Sit down, Charly." Orion reiterated in a slightly firmer tone this time.
Charly leaned down over the table. "The point you are missing here, mate, is that all to often overlooked little word...'possible'."
"I am not overlooking it. I'm think, in fact, of all the places it can be applied right now. Like all the 'possible' places Bale could send us. The 'possible' end of my career. The 'possible' fact Bale might not want to be bothered right now."
"Or the idea that it is 'possible' that the lady is just another in a long string of sad people trapped into a business dinner with our great leader, in which case my presence will be a welcomed one."
Orion fell forward on the table as Charly yanked his arm free and proceeded over to the table in question.
(Scene change.)
"Good evening, sir." Charly said pleasantly as he positioned himself just behind the woman's chair.
The head of the Unspeakables favored his agent with barely a glance up. "Misser."
"Orion and I noticed you sitting here and felt we should at least say hello." Charly pressed on, undaunted by the reception so far.
Bale continued to study the menu before him with a deep frown. "And you have done so. Now be so kind as to....."
"Orin." The table's other occupant stated, fixing her own stare on the man across from her. "Don't be rude. You haven't even introduced us."
Charly gave the woman a charming smile as he stepped around her chair to face her. "An oversight I can not imagine anyone making." He said. "But rest assured, dear lady, I would not have left this table without at least learning your name."
Bale looked up at his agent, but with his frown still firmly in place. "Charly Misser, this is Melissa."
"Melissa." Charly repeated, putting a soft undertone on each syllable. "What a lovely name for an equally lovely lady. Perhaps you would do me the honor of a dance....providing your companion doesn't mind?"
The woman got to her feet in a solid, fluid motion. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind in the least." She stated haughtily.
As Charly led the woman towards the dance floor, Orion carefully slipped into the chair she vacated.
"So, where are we headed?" He ask dismally. "I'd like to at least dress appropriately."
"Think cold." The head of the Unspeakables replied in a stone chilling voice. "Think very, very cold."
Orion turned to the dance floor for a moment where Charly was whirling a smiling woman around the other dancers with practiced ease. He quickly turned back to his superior. "I'd like to firmly point out that I'm not the one on the dance floor." He stated.
"He's your partner."
Orion sighed in resignation. "So, not a business dinner Charly interrupted?"
"No." Came the still chilled reply as Orion noted his superior's eyes never left the couple on the dance floor.
"Well, I'm afraid I missed out on the introductions."
Bale turned his stare to his agent for the first time. "The lady's name is Melissa."
"Melissa.....?" Orion pressed gently.
"Melissa Bale." Came the cold answer.
Orion sat very still for several moments as he kept his eyes trained solely on the man across from him.
"Sister?" He ventured hopefully.
The small smile that curled the man's lips already had a positively artic shiver running down Orion's spine. Likely only half as cold as wherever he was sure they were now headed.
"Ex-wife." Came the chilly answer.
(Scene change.)
"So," Charly said as he carefully maneuvered his dance partner around the dance floor, "do I win any sort of thanks for rescuing you from an impossibly boring evening?"
The woman gazed up at Charly from under long, dark lashes. "I suppose that could be one way of looking at it."
"My dear woman, any associate singularly roped into spending the evening with our great leader is likely in for a very dull time of it once the talk about business has come to an end. And from the looks of things, you two had already passed that point."
"Business?" She inquired.
"Yes. So what department do you work for? Surely nothing in the Ministry. It's very unlikely I'd have let you go un-noticed for so long. Or a new arrival perhaps?"
The woman gave him a small, frosted smile. "I don't work for the Ministry, Mr. Misser."
Charly gave her a low, throaty laugh. "Oh no, no. 'Charly', please....., Melissa."
The woman gave him another small, even frostier smile. "I think we should stick to last names." She said.
Charly kept the smile beaming down at her. "Well, now that won't be fair, since I don't know your last name."
The woman's smile spread across her face. "Oh! Did I fail to give it previously? How rude of me." She positively purred at him. A bright, gleaming smile now looked up at Charly. "It's 'Bale'." The woman stated in a falsely pleasant voice. "Melissa Bale."
Charly stopped so suddenly in his steps that the couple next to them ran straight into his back. But Charly seemed to fail to even notice.
"Bale?" Came the barely audible question. "Melissa Bale?"
The woman nodded.
(Scene change.)
Orion barely had time to register the hand on the back of his shirt before he found himself yanked out of the chair.
"Honestly, Black!" Charly snapped. "Could you be any more rude? Give the lady back her chair."
Orion watched as Charly all but placed the woman back in her seat with all the care of a fine, porcelain doll before turning an apologetic if not down-right frightened expression to his superior.
"I can not apologize enough for interrupting your evening, sir!" He stated formally. "It was rude and unforgivable. If it would improve my chances for surviving long enough to bid my loved ones farewell, I'll pop out right now and do myself an injury and do it right proper."
"It won't." Came the frozen reply.
Only a giggle from below him caused Charly to momentarily take his eyes off his superior's cold expression.
"Honestly, Orin." The woman stated from behind a wide smile. "It was only a dance."
Charly latched onto the explanation. "Yes, sir!" He stated quickly. "It was a simple dance, I hardly even touched her, and returned her safely to her chair in proper time."
Orin took a short, deep breathe. "Misser."
"Yes, sir?"
"Get out."
"Before you even know I was here, sir." Charly replied, grabbing Orion's arm and all but running with him back to their table, which he bypassed and seated them instead at a vacant one furthest across the room.
"So," he asked after a moment, seemingly to wait for some cataclysmic incident to materialize and only breathing a sigh of relief when several moments passed without such an event transpiring, "how cold did Bale say it was going to be exactly?"
"Won't even need to put the beer in the fridge." Orion answered dismally.
Charly's head fell forward on the table. "Oh man! How in the name of magic was I suppose to know she was his wife!?"
"Ex-wife." Orion supplied.
"Ex-wife?" Charly asked hopefully, seeing just a glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel he was currently standing in.
"I don't think it matters much to him." Orion supplied, watching the hope fade in Charly's stare. "Did you notice the way Bale was looking at her?"
"I couldn't see anything past the way he was looking at me!" Charly replied bleakly as his head hit the table again. "Like a wolf looks at a lamb right before supper."
Orion shook his head. "Nah. It wasn't anything like that sort of a look, Charly." Orion stated as his partner looked up at him. "That would have been positively friendly next to the look Bale was giving you."
Charly's head hit the table a third time. "You're not helping, Black." He stated in the same dismal tone. "Look, can we just drink dinner tonight instead? I've honestly lost my appetite for solid food."
"Suits me." Orion replied, getting to his feet. "But just know that the only exit to this place takes us right past Bale's table."
"Can't we just forget the whole 'don't cause a scene' thing and just apparate to the nearest bar?"
"Isn't wherever Bale is sending us cold enough for you yet?" Orion stated with a deep frown.
"Fine." Charly muttered as they headed across the room. "But do me one favor. If you see him go for his wand, do me in first. I'd like my final act on this planet to be denying him the pleasure."
Orion tried desperately to look casual as they approached his superior's table, hoping they would be allowed to pass without notice. But as they came flush with the table, Bale's hand came up and instantly a small folded piece of parchment appeared in it.
"Your assignment." He said simply, never once looking up at the two men.
Orion slowly took the piece of paper and carefully opened it. Reading it over, he refolded it and tucked it into his jacket pocket.
"Thank you, sir." Was all he said as he grabbed Charly by the arm and dragged him rapidly past the table towards the front door.
(Scene change.)
"All right." Charly stated finally after they had managed to walk several blocks and he simply couldn't stand the suspense anymore. "Hit me! Is it colder than Antarctica or warmer than the Sahara?"
Orion walked on for a few more steps before answering. "Neither." He answered eventually.
"What? Charly asked. "He's bypassing land this time and deciding to just dump us in the ocean?"
Orion reached into his pocket and pulled out the parchment and handed it to Charly. "No." He replied as his partner took the paper and unfolded it. "He said there wasn't any place he could think of that was cold enough to send us. But if you ever disrupt his dinner again, he personally create one."
Charly carefully read over the note before handing it back to Orion. "Nice that." He stated with a frown. "But at least we got off of it."
"Don't count on it." Orion replied, holding up the piece of parchment and watching as it flared up in a small bright flame. "Bale has a very long memory."
"That he does." Charly stated quietly as he watched the ashes of the parchment fall to the pavement, where they were picked up by a small breeze. "That he does."