July 14th, 1978
Who: Emmeline Vance, William Jugson, Remus Lupin, and Anneliese Rosenberg
What: Remus and Emmeline need to tell Anneliese the truth about her sister
Where: Emmeline and Anneliese's house
"Sorry, we've got---muggle keys too cause of...oh damn it, go in, hurry--" Emmeline's hands were shaking so badly that she couldn't get the bloody key into the lock. Long fucking weekend this had been, too fucking long, thank God it was about to...yeah, no, it wasn't going to end. Anneliese was going to be hysterical, Emmeline was going to feel like shit, and Anna Marie was still dead.
So, really, it was never going to end, she might as well get used to that fact and stop cursing at her damn keys. Emmeline sent a shaky 'ha...I'm not a complete idiot, you know' kind of smile before she finally found her keys in her bag and---the door opened.
"What are you doing here?" Emmeline snapped at Will Jugson, glaring up at Anneliese's boyfriend. She was not in the mood to deal with Will; the two were not very subtle about their feelings toward each other, which happened to be something along the lines of unadulterated loathing.
Will rolled his eyes at her and looked Remus up and down with a look of obvious disgust before pulling the door open and sighing. Emmeline wanted to strangle him, but simply tugged on Remus' hand to pull him into the house. She had to find Anneliese, they had to do this--
"She's in the parlour--"
"Shut up, Jugson," Emmeline retorted quickly, but cut a quick corner to the parlour.
Remus had felt rather stupid for asking where Emmeline was because of course she'd be at--oh, whatever, he was there, he was helping. He swallowed roughly as he watched her rifle through her bag for her keys, twisting his hands a bit and trying his best to not look too nervous. He was here for her, he was going to help, she was going to unlock the door and they would tell her, and there would be tears, but the truth would be there and it would all be good.
That was the plan.
That was a good plan.
Will Jugson was not part of this plan. Why was Will here? What? Despite the obvious dirty look, he smiled weakly, waved, and then was tugged by Emmeline into the house. "Er... We're just--" Parlour. Right. Or left. Or - he really needed to just let himself be guided. He looked over to Will, saying a quick "Thank you," that was sort of stretched out a bit and cut off as he disappeared behind Emmeline.
Nyeh.
Anneliese was absolutely livid. How-- how could Anna Marie do this to her-- them! More her, though, because she and Anneliese had always bonded over the fact that they never truly got along with their parents. Or at least, that was how it had started. And they were sisters, for heavens sake, and very close at that. Well, Anneliese had thought they were close; apparently not enough to get an actual, living and breathing goodbye. So honestly, she really had no clue. It would be dramatic to say that because this little act Anneliese didn't know her sister at all, but it sort of felt like it. It was just so unlike her, to just go gallivanting off with some American.
Sighing, she looked over the letter again. It was only--- not even ten sentences! How-- how-- how could she have thought that this would be substantial enough to make it okay? Anneliese wanted a bloody novel, at least! No, actually, she wanted her sister back.
"Emmeline!" Anneliese squeaked as she came through the door... with some boy. Man. He looked vaguely familiar--- maybe someone from Hogwarts? She wasn't really sure, and didn't exactly care at the moment. His name would be produced eventually.
"Where-- what's wrong?" She didn't like that look on Emmeline's face at all. And the face on the other man's didn't help either. Stomach giving a nasty twist, she stood up from the chair that she had been sitting in. Surely there wasn't more bad news, no no. The both of them did look rather flustered. Anneliese glanced back to the doorway, catching Will's eye for a second (he looked fine, there was nothing on his face). So what-- what?
Oh fucking hell.
Emmeline froze at the sight of Anneliese, causing Remus to bump into her and---oh, oh fucking hell. Her grip on Remus' hand tightened as she tried to think of how to phrase this...oh, that was a lie, she'd been up all night trying to think about how to break the news, and now with the added lies of the Ministry, Emmeline didn't know what the hell to do. Would Anneliese believe her over the the 'letter' she received? She had too, Emmeline would never do something so cruel...even though a part of her wanted to let Anneliese think that Anna Marie was alive and well...but that would make her a horrible friend and an even worse person.
"You need to---sit, sit," Emmeline finally let go of her death grip on Remus and put her hands on Anneliese's shoulders, leading her down to the couch so she could sit beside her. Breathe, breathe. She heard Will enter the room, and the bloody snot came and sat on the other side of Anneliese. Emmeline frowned at him but when he didn't move she looked back at Anneliese, doing her best to ignore her boyfriend. "Anneliese. I---I'm going to sound crazy, and...and you know that---that I'd never do anything to hurt you, but---but that letter, from Anna Marie? It's...it's not real."
"What are you on about---" Will tried to interject, but Emmeline's glare silenced him and she put her hands on Anneliese's knees, leaning forward. There were tears in her eyes as she recalled the very vivid memories of the day before, still very fresh in her mind and Emmeline was sure she'd always remember.
"I was there, we---" she motioned back toward Remus, "We were in the bookstore yesterday...with...Anneliese, Anneliese, Anna Marie was there too--she---she's not in the States, she..." Emmeline looked down and tried to regain her breath and noticed Will's leg jumping more than her friend's. "She---they---the death eaters...she...they killed her, Anneliese, they---I saw her, she's not--the Ministry is lying, Anna Marie---dead."
Remus stopped in his tracks when he bumped gently against Emmeline, clearing his throat and doing the same shy wave he gave Will to Anneliese, someone else he knew but was pretty sure would have no idea who he was - that was a pretty big theme in his life lately - and he wasn't about to point it out right away. He was here for Emmeline more than anything else, though he was willing to give any support that any of the people sitting in the room needed, but he was sure he was just going to make things worse.
The fact that Will was glaring at them wasn't helping any either and he shifted a bit in his spot, looking at the ground. He felt like he should have said something to help, something to make it sound less painful, but what could he have done? Anna Marie was dead and he really wasn't planning on speaking until Anneliese seemed to need to be assured that yes, this was real. Was there anything he could do to make it better? No. Short of bringing the girl's sister back which wasn't very likely to happen. He bit his lip, his hand unintentionally lying on Emmeline's back just so she would know he was there, and he continued to just... be quiet.
Best.
For the best.
Yes.
Why, why--- why did she need to sit? No, no, Anneliese didn't want to sit because when people said that, bad news always followed, and what more could possibly have happened? “I-- but,” she started, suddenly becoming overwhelmed by everything. Emmeline looked so distraught, and Will was-- hadn't he just been over...there? And the other-- his body looked absolutely worn, not to mention the look of helplessness plastered all over his face did not help her twisting stomach. What was going on, what the bloody hell was---
“Wh--what?” It was-- but-- how did-- that didn't make sense! Why would someone send a fake letter to her, saying that Anna Marie was leaving? What could have possibly-- Anneliese regarded Emmeline fiercely for a few seconds, not wanting to believe her. But, she knew-- yes of course she knew, Emmeline would never be one to lie. Especially to Anneliese-- they never did to each other. Granted, talk about how they would lie to other people and whatnot, but never to--- holy hell, that would explain for-- Anneliese drew back from Emmeline, sitting further into the seat to look at her knees.
So what, what-- where could this possibly be going? What could have-- if her sister wasn't in the States, where could-- was Anna Marie in trouble? With all that had been happening lately, Anneliese would hate to admit that-- her eyes began to well up, knowing that either way this was not going to end well, as well as fully becoming absorbed with Emmeline's emotions as well. Why else would everyone be circled around her? Why else would Emmeline be looking at her like that? It made sense; it was starting to make perfect sense. “You we- were in there on----? I th- thought that yo- you---” Anna Marie! No, no that wasn't possible, why would she-- she had said nothing about going to a bookstore that day, it wouldn't make sense for---
A low-gutted gasp escaped her lips and Anneliese’s hands flew to her face. No-- no, that couldn’t be-- it wasn’t possible. She wouldn’t believe it, it wasn’t true. There was no doubt in anything, there was no possible way her sister was dead because Anna Marie-- that wouldn’t happen to her. Despite her inner thoughts, tears began to roll down her face (because this wasn’t funny at all) as she once again looked wildly around the room. They were, they were--- but Emmeline, Emmeline would never--- and this-- holy fucking hell, it was so obvious that he felt pity for her. This was, this was--- feeling like she was going to throw up, Anneliese clamped her eyes shut and began to shake her head side to side.
“N-- no,” her head shook assertively, and Anneliese refused to look at anyone else from this point on. Only at her hands, that was it. She felt her body slump into into the couch even further. It was--- impossible.
This might have been worse than seeing Anna Marie fall. She never wanted to do anything to make Anneliese cry, to make her feel this horrible; she should have just lived with the guilt and not told her, the Order could have solved this, they could've. The pressure of Remus' hand was the only thing keeping her seated, and Emmeline reached out to put her arms around Anneliese, but Will cut her off and pulled his girlfriend into him.
"I think you need to leave," Will said sternly, the glare in his eyes hard, flickering up to Remus before settling back on Emmeline. She didn't know what to think---did he think she was lying? Did he think that she would make this up? He as an auror in training, he probably knew about it and was hiding it himself, he probably knew and had been ready to let Anneliese think that her sister had just run off---it was the look in his eyes, the look that was screaming at her to just shut up and leave---The hatred that had been boiling inside of her for this man was about ready to pop but Anneliese's constant sobs kept her from lashing out at Will.
"It's the truth," Emmeline croaked, standing even though it was her house and she shouldn't have to leave, "And we're going to get the truth out, Anneliese, I promise you---Anneliese, I promise!"
"Get out!" Will exclaimed, standing and pushing Emmeline back. Too shocked at his outburst to do much more than stumble back, Emmeline gaped as Will pointed a stiff finger at Remus. She felt that flare of anger build up again and wanted to shout back but this wasn't the place, the time---there was no energy for it. "Get the hell out of here!"
