The Dragon's Den (Jermaine and Scarlett)

Jermaine Vepoul was a man with business interests throughout Europe and the greater Wizarding World. He said wizarding world, as Jermaine was one of the more old-fashioned purebloods. In that though he despised mudbloods and what they were doing to his country, he was not about to enter into a civil war. Hence why he had broken ties with the House of Malfoy when they joined Voldemort. But the principles were something that he agreed with and followed in his day to day life. Hence why, as he walked towards the Horntail Apartment Block, he made sure to stride very quickly, lest he stay in the presence of some of the ignorant muggles or the sickeningly impovished mudbloods and half-bloods around the area.

Finding her floor, he quickly disapparated to the floor to speed up the time. Walking through the halls with purpose he stopped when he found her door. He took the time to make sure that his 'muggle' suit was presentable before rapping on the door with his cane,

"Miss Foxx?" he called out politely, "Miss Foxx it is Jermaine Vepoul, I am here because we arranged a meeting for this time?"

He had also gone through something that he honestly hated because she had mentioned something at the first meeting. It would be a good peace offering to such a lovely woman he was sure.

Scarlett had been up all night making a new bit of coding, it was nothing special but she had managed to get most of her contracts done, she made several webpages for people who asked her too after all and that was where she got most of her money from if she was honest. That and, when she was desperate she hacked into some of the banks computers and transferred money to her account from their services, as a little gift without interest.

Although she was excited to get started on her newest bit of coding, she had in fact arranged to meet up with the man from the meeting with the Master, he was her partner and although she was very pleased she hadn't gotten one of the psycho killers to be with, he still looked a little uptight compared to the people that she normally hung out with, and a lot richer too.

When she heard him knocking on her door she was glad she had tidied up before he had come, her place was more than a little bit of a mess most of the time.

Padding through her house in her Levi shorts, hoodie and slippers Scarlett really hadn't been expecting a formal meeting and was just making some ramen for herself because she was more than a little bit hungry having worked through both lunch and breakfast. Now it was almost dinner time she was ready finally for something to eat.

As the kettle boiled she walked to the door and opened it with a grin;

"Yes yes, come in. Nice to see you again." she smiled "And you can call me Scarlett. Do you want something to drink the kettles just boiling?"

The flat was small, compact, and not very well furnished, typical grotty flat, but, it was good enough for Scarlett, even if Jermaine looked like he'd just stepped into a cardboard box.

Jermaine smiled a little bit when she opened the door and his cane slid back down to touch the floor again as opposed to the door. She was looking very good he had to say. Stepping into the apartment when he was invited inside, Jermaine took a quick glance around. He had expected small and he wasn't disappointed. However, despite being a bit untidy in places it was a solid room. There was no damp and no terribly broken objects still being used, as he had seen in some homes of his less affluent 'business partners'. He chuckled lightly,

"Ah now I believe that is my line Miss Foxx, I doubt anyone enjoys a visit from someone as stuffy as I apparently am to some people." he joked lightly before bowing his head slightly, "Scarlett it is then. In that case I insist that you call me Jermaine."

He shook his head a little bit as he leant his cane against the wall near the door. He didn't need it, it was just for the sake of his image after all. Jermaine held out his right hand, palm facing the ceiling. He closed his fist and when he opened it again there was a large cup of Cafe Nero Vanilla Latte resting on his palm,

"I remembered you mentioning a desire for vanilla latte during the meeting... although it was a muttered comment based on the combined insanity of our fellow guests." he teased her lightly as he set the drink down on the table, "If you have any muggle drinks I'd be interested in trying them. I've been told that... coca cola... is quite good."

Scarlett smiled lightly as she shut the door after Jermaine, locking it with the chain and the lock on the door as well as she always did. It was odd having a guest in her home, she never had many and when she did it was just people looking to secure some sort of business deal, so it wasn't exactly a social call. There would be talk in the block now that she had such a handsome man visiting her, he stuck out like a sore thumb in this place, it made her smile a little to think about it.

"Alright, Jermaine it is. I'm not much for formality, it just wastes a lot of time." she grinned "I'm just making myself some dinner, I don't suppose you'll want any of it but, you don't mind me eating while we talk do you?" Scarlett asked as she padded into the little mini kitchen, that was open leading to the living room.

When he summoned a vanilla latte she laughed softly and picked up the cup, blowing on the hot liquid a little bit before she took a sip. Scarlett sighed happily at the sugar and caffeine rush.

"Thank you very much, oh and yeah sure." Scarlett opened the fridge door and leant down into the bottom of the fridge, taking out a can of coca cola for Jermaine, it was so weird that he had never tasted it, two different worlds she supposed they came from "Here you go, I'm taking you're cola virginity. It's odd, meeting someone who's never tried it."

Pouring the hot water from the kettle into the ramen pot she covered it again and let the noodles rehydrate again. It was smelling good already.

"You been excited for our little talk?" she asked with a small smirk "I don't even know what we're supposed to talk about but...I'm sure we'll find something."

Jermaine had glanced outside the door just as she was closing it and he had spotted no less than six people watching the door and whispering amongst themselves. Most of them looked the picture of a typical bored housewife he had to admit. Hopefully Scarlett's reputation wouldn't be sullied by his visit to her home. Perhaps they should have met at his home instead? Of course that would have been needlessly intimidating for the poor woman and he had no desire to intimidate her,

"Formality has it's time but it's not for right now. Plus I try to be informal as often as possible... helps me relax a lot more." he admitted before smiling a little bit and shaking his head politely, "No thank you, I already ate before I arrived. But considering the time, lunch time, I don't mind if you eat at all. I am intruding with my visit after all."

When she accepted his little offering he smiled a little bit. It was something he had learnt to do before, when he was starting his businesses. Namely, finding something that your potential partner liked and either present it as a gift or lead the conversation towards it,

"It is not a problem at all. Thank you very much, I've never tried it before." he admitted before he glanced over to her. Noting that she was bending over to retrieve the coca cola, his eyes lingered on her ass. She had a very impressive ass he had to admit. He managed to appear as though he hadn't been looking at all when she turned around and took the cola from her, "Yes well I am from a very traditional family, all things muggle were frowned upon by my father. Personally I have a slightly looser view."

He sipped the drink and almost immediately perked up, any residual tiredness leaving him. Looking at the drink, he blinked a few times before pulling his attention back to the conversation,

"I have been actually. The Master made it clear that we were to be working together and I wished to learn more about you." he told her honestly with a small smirk, "You were very interesting to me Scarlett, I just had to take the chance to get to know you better. Would you like the chance to get to know me as well?"

Scarlett smiled lightly and whipped the lid off the ramen, bringing it to the sofa in the living room so that they could sit down and talk at the same time, instead of standing up in the kitchen while she prepared and ate her meal, normally she ate her food in her room, it was actually rather odd using the living room. It was mostly just for show, her real home was through the bedroom door.

"Thanks, I haven't eaten much all day, I've been too busy with work unfortunately." she sighed softly, beginning to wrap the noodles around her fork and trying to very gently eat them so she didn't end up being covered in ramen broth.

Admittedly, she had been looking forwards to their little talk, she wanted to get to know the man behind Jermaine's exterior, and already she was hearing that he was from a very strict pureblood familiy. That she could have guessed through her minor research alone. Although she was happy that he was willing to share some of his personality with her, as she was with him.

"I would enjoy the chance to get to know my 'partner' better." she smiled softly "I already know you have never had Cola before today, and you have been brought up in quite a strict way, and you're a pure blood."

For a moment, Scarlett stopped her eating and she smiled lightly at Jermaine, although she was going to enjoy finding out a little bit more about the handsome man in front of her, she believed that it was only fair for him to ask her a few questions, given what she had found out so far.

"So I would think that it is your turn to ask me a few questions if you would like to."

Jermaine could sympathise with that. Sometimes work just got on top of you and you just lost track of the amount of food you'd had that day. During one particularly busy period of 'aggressive expansion' he had almost fainted before realising he hadn't eaten anything in three days. He chuckled lightly and nodded in sympathy as he sat down on the sofa beside her,

"I know that feeling all too well." he agreed as he casually sipped at his cola. This drink really was rather intoxicating. He wondered if there wasn't some kind of addictive substance in it actually. He wouldn't be surprised if the muggles did actually put drugs in the drinks actually, it certainly seemed like the style of some of their more ruthless business people, "I must admit I've never seen such a meal... noodles but what kind are they, may I ask? Oh and what kind of work keeps you from eating?"

He wanted to know more about her for a number of reasons. One of the main reasons though was that she was by fair the closest person to being sane in the entire group. Some people considered him insane for his beliefs (a very rude and equally judgemental view in his mind) so he wasn't as close as she was to being the sanest,

"Yes all of these things are correct." he winked at her with a small smirk, "I'm also a stunning conversationalist, a snappy dresser and enjoy long walks on the beach."

Chuckling a little bit, he shook his head slightly,

"But honestly..." he thought about it for a moment before telling her, "I live in York, in my family's home. I don't like the beach, I don't like the sand, but I do enjoy walking through the rolling hills of Yorkshire. For fun I play chess, polo and I duel with both wand and sword. What about you?"

He sipped at his cola a little bit before smiling back at her. This woman was a little bit of an enigma to Jermaine and he wanted to know more about her,

"Mmm good point." he conceeded with a wink, "Mmmm may seem like a barrage but... do you have a significant other? Any siblings or remaining family of any kind? How has a lovely young lady such as yourself fallen in with a group of rogues such as those called to The Master?"

Scarlett couldn't help but laugh softly when Jermaine admitted that he had never seen the sort of meal that she was having, she didn't think that he would have done, the background he had been a privy to growing up definately did not mean making your own meals - in most cases this was noddles for Scarlett. Wasn't much of a problem, she liked noodles, still did never mind how much she ate them.

"They're miso noodles." she giggled "I got them from the chinese supermarket not far from my house, great for people on a budget like me, if you want, you can take a packet home to try." Scarlett teased softly but when he asked about her work she couldn't help but start to bristle a little with pride, she loved talking about her work, it was one thing she could show off about "Well today I was desiging some webpages for professional clients, they all turned out pretty well."

Hearing that Jermaine lived in York, Scarlett smiled softly, a beautiful city but she hadn't been there enough for her liking. She could see that it would be a place that Jermaine would live, old and very refined city, with plenty of large estates and mansions, Scarlett would be very surprised to see that Jermaine lived in a hovel like this, he reeked of manor house awesomeness.

"York's a lovely place, although I don't really go there that much." Scarlett smiled softly "Well for fun I mostly do my hobby, which is quite time consuming but very very rewarding, I have to say, I hate chess, and I hate duelling because I was never very good at either, and I don't really like being away from my computers so...nature and lack of internet connection is totally out."

A little bit shocked by all of his questions, Scarlett merely laughed happily, she had never had someone ask this much about her, it was really rather nice in her opinion. She wanted to be able to enjoy a conversation with someone, that wasn't over Skype or some sort of chatbox.

"Well to answer your barrage, no I don't have a partner, I have three older siblings and my mum and dad are still married, and to your last question, I believe it is because of my hobby, I am a professional hacker, I have successfully at one point infiltrated several Government and Invesitagive bodies systems, just to see...what was going on." she grinned "Why is the Master so interested in you, a pretty rich boy doesn't exactly fit either?" Scarlett teased.

Jermaine knew that he was being laughed at but he tried not to take offence considering he doubted she meant any by it. Of course it all depended on the context of what on earth she was actually eating. If it was a dish popular with the poor or with muggles then he was unlikely to have ever had it after all. When she told him what they were he clicked his fingers as he connected the dots,

"Ah! Miso is a flavour of ramen, so it's ramen noodles right? I must admit I've never made them myself..." he commented with a grin before chuckling a little bit and scratching the back of his head sheepishly. When she told him what she had done today he smirked slightly, "Sounds like you've had a productive day then. I dare say it was much more fun than mine so far."

Seeing the look on Scarlett's face, he chuckling a little bit. A lot of people loved the city of York but not a lot of people could afford to live there, especially magical people. The magical community of York was exclusive as almost every inch of the city was rich in ambient magic from long ago. He nodded in agreement,

"It is a lovely place, I honestly can't ever see myself living anywhere else but in the city of York." he admitted with a happy little sigh. He really did love York. When she told him she mostly did her hobby he raised an eyebrow, "What hobby would that be? Ah so you're a believer in integrating muggle technology into the Wizard World?"

The last comment was said without any of the distain he felt for muggles. Honestly, to him muggles were useless creatures. But their technology, if adapted to wizards, was useful. He smirked a little bit when she seemed kind of surprised by his genuine interest in her. She had opened the floor for him to ask her whatever he wanted so he was taking advantage of that,

"I'm surprised a woman of your beauty is without a partner. Glad to hear that your family is still present and happy too! Ah... yes I believe that would be a skill he would be very interested in." he had started off happy but became slightly more subdued when she told him her hobby. He smirked slightly when she asked why he was interested in him, "Ah well there's two reasons for that. One is that I have control over a lot of businesses... not all of them legal. And the second is that I have a great deal of knowledge and experience in economic matters. Could you imagine what the two of us could do if we were to hack the stock market? Just one additional shift and we could be rich beyond our wildest dreams... or we could bring a country crashing down into bankruptcy."

Scarlett was glad that Jermaine had at least heard about what they were, if not she would feel even more scummy than she did right now, to be honest they were from two completely different classes of wealth and if she ever got to go to his home in York she would most likely want to cry and run out as soon as possible in case she broke something or sat on the wrong chair.

"Yeah it's ramen noodles, nothing beats the fresh stuff though, but I don't normally have time to go and get some, and eating alone in a restaurant is just sad." she sighed softly "What kind of food to you normally eat then? All caviar and fillet mignon?" Scarlett teased lightly, sticking her tongue out.

Although she would realistically love to live in York and she probably could do with only a few clicks of her fingers, Scarlett didn't think that she would really fit in there, a witch that freely used muggle technology, and preferred it over magic? She'd be lynched within the week! Scarlett kind of preferred life here, much simpler, and much cheaper.

"Well, I really prefer using technology to magic, because I was never really any good at magic, I got Dreadfuls and Trolls in all my Hogwarts exams." Scarlett admitted with a small shrug "Really wasn't my thing, but I took to this like a duck to water."

When she heard that Jermaine was very good with the business side of things and the money, she realised why they had been put together. Scarlett was more than happy to hear that she was partnered with a guy who was so savvy, she had wanted to invest but didn't think that it was wise to gamble her money away, she would probably be so really unlucky and lose it all.

"We are the behind the scenes guys then." she grinned "I have to say, I am more than a little relieved, I felt more than a little scared in that first meeting, my laptop isn't going to protect me much from the other guys crazyness and spell work." Scarlett sighed softly "I'm glad that you're my partner, I hope that you feel the same way."

Jermaine could see that, for some reason, his opinion on what she was having right now mattered to her for some reason. It seemed to matter an awful lot more than it really should do considering he had only just gotten to know her really. But to be fair maybe it was to do with him. He had no doubt that knowing he was incredibly rich was somewhat intimidating to her but after a while money had quickly ceased to be important to him anymore so he wasn't sure,

"Well then how about next time you get a craving for ramen we go out to get it together? I know this great little japanese restuarant in London's Asian district if you're interested." he offered her with a small smile. Jermaine wasn't usually this forward but he rather liked Scarlett so far and it was the least he could do to return her hospitality, "Actually... my favourite food is pizza. But on occassion I have to act the part and eat the fancier foods. A little tip... never touch caviar. It's disgusting."

Her revelation about her relationship with magic and technology hit Jermaine like a tonn of bricks. She preferred to use technology over magic? She was better at using technology than she was at using magic? He was almost disgusted before he thought about it logically and found that he was actually perfectly okay with it, despite his hatred of muggles. After all, he was more skilled in economics than he was in magic. It wasn't too different,

"Yes I was much the same with economics. I didn't much care for any magic other than spells to be used in duels." he admitted before chuckling, "I guess we both found that we have talents outside of the magical sphere."

Jermaine smiled a little bit when she seemed so relieved that they were the behind the scenes guys. He had to agree if he was honest. Although he was no slouch in a fight he had no doubt that it was the rest of the group who were going to be doing the bulk of the fighting. Alongside any muscle that he could hire/coerce as well to be fair. He smirked a little bit,

"We're the support but The Master hinted to me that our part might be the most important. I must say I'm looking forward to working with you Scarlett." he told her happily, "From the moment I walked into the room I knew I wanted to be paired up with you."

Scarlett smiled softly when she heard that he was almost asking her out on a date, it seemed that way and she was perfectly alright with that because she hadn't been on a date for a long long time. To be honest the last one she had been on was just...appauling. But getting some ramen with this guy didn't seem like it would end up in a police chase so, she was all up for it.

"Why Jermaine, are you asking me on a date?" she asked, with mock shock "But I would love to go to that restaurant with you, I hope it's not as expensive as I think it might be."

The revelation that he had to act the part and eat some of the fancier food made her feel more than a little bit sorry for him, although her family were pureblood, and they had had trouble getting away from the larger circles of purebloods, they were free now to act and eat as they wanted. That restrictive lifestyle was not for her, definately not.

"I wont, sorry but eating fish eggs doesn't really appeal to me all that much." she smirked.

Raising her eyebrow at the change of expression in Jermaine, even for a small moment, Scarlett realised that he really must be one of those pure blood nuts, and he was probably only being nice to her because she was pure blood, what if she had been a muggle born? She'd be treated like crap right about now. Although she wanted to be able to think slightly better of her new friend than this and dismissed the thought.

"Well I kind of had to." she grinned "Although my family aren't very extreme, they insist that we're good at something, and I failed miserably at magic, apart from all the ones you dont use magic in."

Laughing softly she shook her head, of course the Master was going to say that to everyone, he wanted them all to be boosted in their morale to do a good job for him, even though she didn't know what job he wanted her to do right now. Scarlett was sure that it would be something to do with hacking a Government computer though, she'd bet her Apple Mac on it.

"I think he would tell everyone that just to boost their ego." she grinned "Although, you do sound rather cute when you phrase it like that, kind of like it was a realisation of true love." Scarlett teased with a smirk "Just a rather unconnected question but...you got any tips for investment, I could use the extra cash."

Jermaine realised that his offer could be taken in a romantic sense and he was perfectly alright with that. So far he had seen indications that she was the kind of woman he could really see himself spending an awful lot more time with. He didn't want to jump into something that either of them would regret however so he was more than happy to wait until they got to know each other better before it became anything too serious. But a date was one date, it wasn't too serious he didn't think,

"Why Scarlett I believe that I am asking you out on a date." he told her with a small smirk before smiling happily and shaking his head, "Well fantastic. The restaurant itself is family run so it's actually not too expensive, if you'd believe that my tastes dip below five stars."

He chuckled a little bit and nodded with her. Of course he realised that he was talking about first world problems here but that was nothing new to him really. They seemed to be the only kind of problems that he had, not counting his businesses of course. He just nodded in agreement at the caviar comment. Fish eggs and they weren't even nice.

He could tell that he hadn't hidden his expression fast enough and mentally cursed himself for being slow in doing so. To be honest he was disappointed in himself. Of course she probably wanted him to be disappointed in himself about being prejudiced against mudbloods and muggles but he was just disappointed he had taken so long to hide his expression. He smiled a little bit,

"A skill of high level such as yours should be respected and admired no matter the nature of it." he told her before smirking, "My father said that to me when he found out I was more interested in making money than turning rats into teacups."

Jermaine was not naive enough to have believed The Master on face-value but with the potential usage of both his skills and Scarlett's he'd be massively surprised if their part of the plan wasn't much larger than it seemed on the surface,

"Yes that's true but I doubt it in this case. I don't think either of us really cares about an ego boost as much as some of the crazies right?" he chuckled before giving her a little wink at the love comment but refused to comment on it. When she asked for tips he smiled a little bit, "Well with your hacking skills I recommend finding a cheap company to invest in. Put money into it. Then you hack the stock market to raise the value of your shares. You sell high and then you reduce the stock back to normal. You keep the massive payoff but the company doesn't suddenly change the world, that way no one notices your hack."