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Who: Alice and Frank
What: Read!
Where: 7YGBD
When: Before the Gryffindor v. Ravenclaw [morning]



Eventually, Frank began to rustle under his sheets with Alice at his side, seemingly in a deep sleep. As his eyes slowly became open, he noticed how peacefully beautiful she looked laying there, her chest slowly rising and falling to a rhythmic beat. A small smile played on his lips as his eyes fought to stay open; last night had been an eventful one, to say the least, and they couldn't help but want to be lulled back to sleep. But-- oh. He checked his watch; only five more minutes until he had to get up and prepare for the match against Ravenclaw. The last match of his Hogwarts Quidditch-playing career. Before, Frank thought that he would have been extremely stressed over the whole matter (like with N.E.W.T.s), but right now, he felt so calm and just happy. About everything.

As carefully as he could, Frank leaned closer to Alice, hovering for a few moments before lightly placing his face into the crook of her neck, kissing it softly. He loved her, he loved her, he really, really did. She was so beautiful, and they were together and just--- ah.

Alice's smile widened as she woke, and her eyes flickered open slowly. Drowsily, she turned her head to face him, stretching her arms up over her head and arching her body up, yawning just a little. She had gotten a wonderful, long, unbroken night's sleep and she felt wonderful.

She kissed him very delicately, her loose hair dangling over her shoulders and tickling at his neck. "Morning," she mumbled, lying back down after a moment and allowing her eyes to close again. Everything was perfect.

His arm wrapped around her waist tightly, enjoying the fact that he could. He really, honestly could. Frank had never felt so at peace with himself, and just so-- right, this felt right. And he didn't care what anyone else would say (not that they would ever really find out), because he knew Alice was the one. As much as they fought, and had their rough patches (mainly becuse of, well), in the end it was always them. Frank checked his watch again before speaking.

"The match is soon, I have to leave or all of Gryffindor will be after me," Frank smiled as he said this, snickering slightly as her hair tickled his nose. But he didn't move, he didn't want to, and Frank held her hand tightly, liking the way just everything looked.

A noise came from Alice's lips that sounded half like a groan and half like a sleepy sigh. She didn't want him to leave but she knew that he had responsibilities. This in mind, she slowly pulled herself away from him with a small pout on her face. Brushing her fingers through her hair to try and get some of the overnight tangles out, she couldn't help but smile brightly at him after a moment of watching him. She loved him so much that it still gave her the funny tingles in her stomach, and she knew that that had to be a good thing. They had done the right thing - they had done good thing. This was right.

"I know, I know," Alice groaned, pulling a pillow to her chest and holding it to her. There was a very sudden flash of brightness on her hand as the sun hit her fingers, and Alice glanced down at the ring on her finger. And smiled. "I guess I have to take this off for awhile, don't I?" she sighed, but obligingly reached down to wriggle it off her finger. After all, they had agreed to keep this a secret.

Aaahhaaaa, Mrs. Longbottom. Mrs. Alice Longbottom. Alice Longbottom. Frank really liked the sound of that (well of course he did, he'd been writing it all over his journal for ages now). And he could harldy believe it-- all of this, he really couldn't. Well, he could because the ring was wrapped snuggly around her finger and glowing right back at him as a constant reminder. Ah, they had to be so stupid. But--- Frank didn't care, he didn't care at all.

He let Alice pull away from him, though a small frown formed on his face as she began to take the ring off. She was right, though; they had decided to keep this a secret, and if she kept it on, then-- everyone would know about their marriage so quickly that they wouldn't even know what hit them. But still, Frank liked the way it looked on her hand; it was a Longbottom heirloom, of course it looked nice.

"It still looks very nice there," he mused quietly, slowly starting to drag himself out of the bed. Ugh, right now he could so care less about the-- no, no, he took that back, he did care (oh, merlin if James found out he had even thought that), just the prospect of sleeping in with his new wife (holy shit) seemed much more pleasing than coming in second for the Quidditch Cup.

"Mrs. Longbottom," Frank stated with a wide smile as he slung his feet over the edge of his bed and turning back to look at her. Oh, they were so incredibly stupid but he wouldn't want it any other way.

"Mrs. Longbottom." Alice emphasised each word, repeating it to him. It sounded so odd to her and even if she had, like Frank, been writing it all over her Transfiguration textbook for the past couple of years...she knew it was going to take her awhile to adjust to it. She was so used to being Alice Goodsmith. And...well...she knew, to a lot of people, she would continue to be Alice Goodsmith, for a very long time. Alice liked the thought of keeping this all to themselves. No fuss, no gossip, no nothing. Just them being happy, and that was what this wall all about.

Sighing, Alice picked up her dressing gown from Frank's dorm floor and pulled it over her shoulders, gingerly climbing out of bed. They'd had a late night and she was still tired and sore for all the walking they'd done. "I better get back to my dorm and get ready for the match myself," she said after she had tied the dressing gown back up again, a loose bow sitting at her hip. "I'll see you down there, Mr. Longbottom." she grinned at him. He was her Mr. Longbottom. It was hard to surpress a laugh at how ridiculous and exciting the whole situation was.

"We'll resume honeymooning after you've beaten the pants off of 'em," she added, pausing at the door on her way out, gripping her ring firmly in her hand. She gave him a quick smile, and then closed the door behind her on the way out.

Alice Longbottom. Life couldn't get much better than this.


Who: Emmeline Vance and Frank Longbottom
What: Beeeennnn :(
Where: Outside on the entrance of the school
When: Before Dinner


He was gone.

Emmeline sat on the bottom steps of the stairs outside of the Great Hall, eyes locked onto the front gates of the Hogwarts grounds as they opened for a figure and he---gone, disappeared, she couldn’t see him anymore. Silent tears rolled down her cheeks and she looked down at her hands, which hadn’t been able to let go of the red and gold tie that had been thrown to the ground what felt like a millennia ago. It was wrinkled and twisted now and she wrapped it around her wrist only to unwrap it, and she let out a long, shuddered breath.

Ben was gone.

She’d expected it, she’d worried about it, but she’d never thought that it was ever going to really happen. After the death---after the murder of his—his sisters and their families, it was was---it was horrible----Emmeline had been sure Ben would drop out of the magical world completely, she’d read the news and she’d know, but she hadn’t---she hadn’t prepared herself for it and was quite sure that she wouldn’t be able to deal with it any time soon. He’d---he’d asked her, he’d asked her and Frank to meet him out here and when she’d seen his trunks and met his eyes, she’d known. She and Frank fought with him fiercely for at least two hours, it had been---she was so tired.

Emmeline couldn’t get over it, though; she couldn’t get over his pleading. Ben had asked them to come. He wanted them to leave with him, that he couldn’t bear it if either of them got hurt again, that they’d manage and have a wonderful time and---and he’d looked at her in that way, and for a brief, brief second she was ready to go with him, but that quickly disappeared and she’d begged him to stay, but---he left.

“What are we going to do?” she croaked, looking up at Frank who was standing on the ground a bit in front of the steps and squinting her eyes against the sun.

Frank stood in front of the steps with his chest heaving and his hands balled tightly into two fists. He didn't care if Ben had already gone out of sight already and over the hill, without even looking back; Frank was still going to yell and scream and shout with all his might--- scrutinize his friend, because now, he didn't care what horrible things were pouring out of his mouth. There was just so much anger boiling at the bottom of his stomach and coursing through his body (bloody prick had asked them to come with him!), he didn't care--- he didn't care, he didn't care, he didn't care.

His best friend was--- leaving--- him. And Emmeline! Just like-- and it was incredibly selfish, he knew, because Ben had always had a problem with the wizarding world to begin with but, that didn't mean--- Ben wasn't going to keep in touch-- Frank knew it. Emmeline knew it. Even Ben knew, with his half-hearted response concerning it. He was just going to fall out of place and through the cracks, never to be heard from again, because--- Frank was more than sure Ben would make sure it would happen that way. They would be lucky to hear even a whisper of him from now on.

Nothing, they had nothing. Frank's body began to shake as his voice became hoarse, and suddenly-- finally it set in that Ben wasn't coming back with a brunt-red face, angrier than ever. He wasn't going to come stomping up that hill, hurling something at Frank, and he just wasn't coming back. Taking huge breaths of air, Frank shook his head and gave out one last exasperated, angry cry. The bloody--- he had no right, no right at all to just do this-- because they were a part of the wizarding world, weren't they? Weren't they included in this thing he wanted to drop out of, and leave behind? This was exactly what those bloody Death Eaters wanted, for Ben to never come back, because it was one less person-- Absolute, absolute--- he put his hands over his forehead, and stood looking at the ground for a few moments while frowning deeply.

What were they going to do? What were they going to do?

"I-- I---" Frank hadn't been holding on to much lately, and-- his best friend. His best bloody friend. Gone, just completely gone-- mind made up, that was it. And he hadn't even--- granted, when they had found out about Ben's family, and what had happened Frank knew he had to start to watch his friend, try and stay with him , because he had thought a reaction like this would occur but… not seriously. Because Ben, well-- he had been logical. Finally, he turned to Emmeline and threw his hands up into the air, but not yet willing to admit defeat. "I--- I----"

Emmeline let out a frustrated sound and covered her face with her hands, ugh the stupid tie, it smelled like him. Him, she didn’t even want to say his name anymore, it felt like if she did, it would just start to hurt more and damn it. They---they were going to fix this. They had been---she’d slept with him because she thought they were finally going to----to be happy and she knew how much his family meant to him, she knew it was going to be the hardest thing he’d ever had to deal with, but----but this was what the Death Eaters wanted; kill the mudblood’s family and get him out of Hogwarts, to give up magic.

He’d told her that if she loved him like she said, she’d come. She’d understand.

How dare he! How dare he try and use that against her, and how dare he do that to Frank, who was the only person to truly stick with him after all the crap he’d put him through. Frank was the only friend that managed to still tolerate him and be by his side. After all Frank had been through he didn’t deserve to have such a—such a---selfish prat who didn’t realize how many people cared about him and were willing to protect him and the rest of his family.

And! And they would’ve, they had been. The Order had been circling around all of the members’ family’s since the attack against Marlie’s sister and Dorcas Meadows----his family, they’d just been in the wrong place at the wrong time, it was out of their hands. There was no way he could protect his parents on his own if the Death Eaters came back, there was no way that cutting magic out of his life completely would make life easier, there was no way that abandoning the people who’ve loved and cared for you for the past seven fucking years was the right decision, and Emmeline hated him for it.

She pulled her hands away from her face and threw the tie away, letting out another angry sound.

He needed-- he needed to hurt something, or stun, or stomp at, or run to-- just something. Something to get all of this anger pumping through him out of his body. For the time being anyway, because Frank was nearly ninety percent sure he was ready to go chasing after Ben at this point, and drag him back to the castle, if he had to. Just haul the bloody asshole back here, because--- they weren't finished. Emmeline wasn't finished, and most certainly there was so much more to say.

Again, Frank let out a low, almost pained growl as his hands finally came back down to his sides forcefully. Ben had had no right, no right at all to ask them--- to Emmeline! Emmeline of all people, who Ben had spent a good part of the beginning of the year ignoring her, or trying to make her jealous and move on--- for him to do that, to her--- it would have been one thing if he had asked Frank to just come along, but--- no, it wasn't right. Not at all. They had--- something had started up again with them, and for Ben to go and ask her something like that--- it wasn't right.

"Fine," Frank snarled, his top lip curling upwards as he turned to Emmeline again, hardly looking at her. "He wants to be a complete bastard of a human being? Fine. See if I fucking give a shit--- you better not." His voice was harsh, and in any normal circumstance-- Frank had never talked about Ben like that before, or even in that type of light. If only, he promised to come back. If only. He could have lied to them, and said he would even though he wouldn't-- that's what Frank wanted, just lie to the both of them. Lie to them. At least then, things wouldn't have ended so badly like this.

Hearing Frank that angry was something she’d never seen before, and even though Emmeline knew he was capable it, she hadn’t wanted to be witness of it. It was…it was devastating, really, seeing how hurt and distraught he was and Emmeline had to look away, a fresh batch of tears welling up and she didn’t try to stop them. Her knees were pulled to her chest and she wanted to press her face to them, but that felt like hiding and---and she didn’t want to hide, she didn’t want to be like him.

There was…every minute she felt a different way toward him. One minute she saw it as noble, giving up everything for your family, but the next she was back to miserable and thinking that he was a coward and going about this all the wrong way. If she tried to sit and think about it, it only made her more upset and maybe it was just because he’d just left, but Emmeline knew that later today, tomorrow, by the end of the week, next year, she was still going to be upset about this and fuck him for doing this to them.

One hand wrapped around her waist and the other pressed her knuckles to her eye, now willing herself to stop crying. She wanted to try and stop this feeling as quickly as possible, seeing as she knew it was going to take ages to feel better again.

“I---I won’t,” she responded to Frank, even though she wasn’t sure if he had actually been talking to her. Emmeline wouldn’t, she’d do her bloody best to push all of this away until she was hidden behind her curtains in bed and wouldn’t let this get to her in any other way.

Frank raised his head high, finally feeling more than able and allowed to stick his chin out into the air. Good, Emmeline shouldn't--- they shouldn't let this kill them. Though, he knew on every level it would--- oh, it would. But at least, not right now, right now they had to act- well; he wasn't sure how they were supposed to act. The only emotion coursing through him was pure fury, so perhaps that was appropriate.

"Good," he mustered finally, his voice still strong while talking more to the sky than down back on the ground to Emmeline. But--- she would know he was talking to her. There was no one left to talk to. Turning his back to his cousin to hide the deep frown forming on his face, Frank heaved a heavy sigh as his legs began to shift and move. He followed the same path Ben had just a while before, except, only stopping after ten or fifteen steps. There, he stood in silence, as if watching the road for something-- anything. Maybe his best friend, maybe not.

He stood there for a good twenty minutes, refusing to move or make a sound. Emmeline might have called to him, she might not have; Frank was too involved in his own swirling thoughts to notice. But, finally-- finally, his head dropped in a defeated sort of way while his shoulders hung themselves heavily against his sides. Slowly, he turned his back to the entrance gates; now, it was their turn to not look back.

"Come on," he whispered, shakily sticking out his hand for Emmeline to grab on to once he reached her. "Let's go back inside." He's never coming back.

Emmeline watched Frank walk away and when he didn’t turn back after a minute or so she let out a long, shuddering breath and leaned back against the steps behind her, shutting her eyes and dropping her head.

Deep breaths, take some deep breaths. If you stop thinking about him, it’ll go away. It’s hard, you know it’s hard, but you’ve got to do it, you have to.

Emmeline tried to will herself to believe all this, but the moment she thought about forgetting, memories flooded her mind and she wanted to go after him and beat the hell out of him.

It just---she may have been okay if he’d just left. If she hadn’t known and then the next morning Frank would tell her and she’d rant but, she wouldn’t have been this upset. Did he---did Ben (see, she couldn’t keep herself from thinking his name even after five minutes) really think that she could have just stopped loving him? She did, she did, but----did he really think that because she didn’t want to go off with him into the sunset and live happily ever after that she didn’t care?

All or nothing. It had been all or nothing, and he’d decided that nothing was the best choice.

Her eyes opened at Frank’s voice and she didn’t hesitate in taking his hand, pulling herself up. They both looked a right mess, her more so than him, and it was definitely going to start the rumor mill around Hogwarts. Ben’s departure would certainly be known by dinner tonight. Emmeline made to follow Frank back into the school but stopped for a second, turning around and quickly summoning Ben’s tie and stuffing it in her pocket.

Just because Ben could completely erase her, didn’t mean she could.


Who: Finn McLaggen and Anna Marie Rosenberg
What: Oh noes! We're in trouble
Where: Finn's abode
When: Now..ish


Anna Marie had only intented on going out into the real world for a few minutes- fifteen, tops. With everything happening at Diagon lately, it was obvious that staying inside, and therefore lying low was probably the best thing to do, and really, she had no qualms against it. Staying home was.... nice. Relaxing and peaceful, plus there was always something interesting to watch on the telly. She had even left it on; why bother, she was only going to pop into Anneliese's to make sure everything was fine, and then walk down the street to buy a book.

Though, now she wished she had turned it off because she never did get around to checking up on Anneliese and her roommate. And Anna Marie never did buy that book. She did, however, buy one of those guilty pleasure trash magazines (though, not anymore), becuase, oh, look at that-- her face was plastered all over the front of it with Phineas McLaggen's. And you know, you know what the front cover said? "SHE IS THE MCLAGGEN BABY's MOTHER" Since when was she pregnant, with Phineas McLaggen's baby? And since when were they-- she wasn't exactly sure what they were, but it wasn't going to be anything soon enough; he hadn't even talked to her since the championship game.

Ohhh, she was going to kill him, just murder Finn because, because-- it didn't exactly occur to her (well it did, she just simply didn't want to admit it) that the people reporters wrote about didn't exactly have control over what was said but-- where in the world was this coming from? Oh dear, they even had her whole name in this article. Rolling the magazine tightly into a clyinder, Anna Marie stomped up the final steps to Finn's apartment, huffing the whole way. Ohhh, she was going to kill him, or hit him, most likely hit him because he was very tall and big but-- oh, smack him, yes. She didn't hesitate to thud her hand on the door forcefully, making no heed to be the least bit quiet at all.

"What is this!" Anna Marie shook the now opened magazine up and down once the door cracked open and she saw his face. "Care to explain? At all!"

Finn was in such a shitty mood. Honestly, living with a pregnant woman was definitely not the easiest thing in the world, especially when said woman was immature and blonde and now had control of his schedule so she knew where he was all the time and he---he—he was really starting to think this was a bad idea! Why had he listened to Tibs and decide to be responsible? Was it really worth dealing with this for nine months? The kid, yeah, sure the kid was, but bloody hell. Maybe he should’ve just got her a flat somewhere so he wouldn’t have to deal with Joy twenty-four seven and he knew, he did, that a lot of it was her hormones, but Finn couldn’t handle normal people, so how the fuck was this going to work?

It was like the banging on his door was a Godsend. Joy was off doing some good personal assistant stuff (or shopping, Finn really had no idea where she got off to lately) when the knocking came, and while he usually didn’t have visitors, he was desperate for not-crazy-pregnant company and flung open the door without even looking through the peep hole.

“Anna Ma---what, what---“ he snatched the magazine out of her hands (as it looked like he was about to get smacked with it) and flipped to the front cover. Finn felt all of his insides drop and he suddenly couldn’t see straight. Fuck, fuck, fuck. He and Joy had decided to wait until her first trimester was over to announce it publicly and---that fucking healer. “I---I---I can explain.”

He could explain? Oh, he had better explain. He had better start explaining like his life depended on it, because really, it did. In Anna Marie's mind, anyway. She looked at him with a stern face, and crossed her arms over her chest, half willing for her foot to start snapping against the floor. Well?

Anna Marie knew what happened with these sorts of things; poor Anneliese had gone through that whole tabloid, getting into your business then making up things with the photographs, and like the sister she was, had tried her best to help her younger sister through it. But the things they had said, and done (at one point, it had been rumored that Anneliese and Fabian were already married, if she remembered correctly)-- it had no been pretty at all. And she did not want to be apart of this, it, one bit because-- she hadn't asked for it, and this was just-- just-- Anna Marie tired her best to ignore the tired look in his eye, though she couldn't stop from noticing his wavering voice.

Her arms dropped from across her chest, and she pursed her lips together in an impatient sort of way. Well, yes, okay but-- she was still angry! Because, because--- they were, or they had been, and he had made her believe that--- but then absolutely nothing and now this and--- "Please, do."

Finn waited until the door was shut and they were in his living room before trying to think about how to explain everything. In all of this, his biggest regret was Anna Marie. He was getting used to the idea of being a father, he was dealing with his own parents, Tibs was actually being helpful, and he and Joy, well---they weren't killing each other.

Except she was going to kill him now, even though this had ben the exact reason why he had wanted to wait until everything was safe with the pregnancy; the fucking media was brutal, who knew how they could affect her. Damn it.

"I'm just going to give it to you straight," he said in a tone he never used with Anna Marie. He was trying to be cold, he was trying to avoid how much this was actually hurting him to say. They'd had a second chance, and now because of his dumb mistake that was shot out of the window, again. Finn hated that he knew Anna Marie was the only girl that could make him feel like this, and maybe that's why he wanted her to hate him. It would just be easier like that.

"I'm an idiot, and this was way before we met up again at Diagon, I swear that---but, I'm going to be a dad, this girl from a party...Joy, her name's Joy, she's pregnant with my kid." Finn grabbed the bridge of his nose, because this was hurting a lot more than he'd expected, "We were waiting until the first trimester was over to tell anyone besides family. But that's kind of fucked now."

His shoulders sagged and Finn found he couldn't look at her. Some kind of man he was.

"I'm sorry---I'll fix it. They won't be talking about you anymore."

Anna Marie had been expecting a long, intricate speech, which most likely would have included someone else forcing him into scheming and going through with this wonderful plot device for attention, or maybe--- Finn had thought it would be some fun joke to play, or something else equally stupid and weak in response, but--- she had not been expecting what he actually said.
Her hands began to loosen around her chest as he quietly began to explain, and in the same time her aggravated face slowly melted away.

So he was--- there was another-- which would explain; and then--- Finn actually looked-- Anna Marie opened her mouth to respond, but she found nothing came out but an "Oh." He was--- pregnant. Well he wasn't exactly, but, with a child and. He was going to be the father of someone else's--- baby. Following him, Anna Marie's eyes fell to the ground as well, suddenly feeling very different from before- and almost stupid. Well, but-- it wasn't like-- he said that-- if no one was going to think it was her, then she... didn't have a reason to be upset anymore, did she? It seemed like some... on had just messed up, and that he hadn't really.... had control over, she had just... jumped the gun a bit. So then-- why, why did she suddenly feel very much upset? It wasn't like, they hadn't really-- they weren't-- it wasn't like she had been-- babies and everything.

She shouldn't feel upset, she should-- she should be happy. Happy for him that he... was having a baby. With some other girl, and happy and--- there really wasn't a reason for her to be upset. Though, the way he said it and---

"Congratulations," Anna Marie finally mustered out quietly, keeping her head low as she moved to give him a hug. It didn't exactly feel right (because it wasn't exactly like he had sounded all peaches and cream), but then again, she didn't know how else to act, and-- it was the right thing to do, that was it. "I'm sorry," she sniffed, finding adding in 'for misunderstanding' too many syllables for that moment. He was... having a life-- which was good. And, yes.

He really hadn't been expecting her to even look at him after all that, so for Anna Marie to hug him---Finn took a shaky breath and hugged her back tightly, dropping his chin to the top of her head. Wow, this---okay, when he'd told Tibs about Joy being pregnant, he'd gotten punched. When he'd told his parents about it, he'd been glared at and was pushed into proposing. No one else knew, so that might be the case, but no one had actually sat down with him and just been there and here Anna Marie was, after he'd basically humiliated her in front of millions of people and----and maybe she was upset that they had to put off, or--or end what they'd been trying to rebuild, but Finn didn't want to look too far into---

His grip around her tightened because he really didn't want to let go. He was getting used to Joy, he could see them becoming good friends after the hormones balanced out, hell, maybe someday he'd grow to love her, but right now his heart ached and ached at the idea of never being able to see where this...this thing with Anna Marie could have gone. You don't date someone for two years and just lose all---just the idea of rekindling something had made him happier than he'd been in years, and---

Oy. He was such a fucking idiot.

She wasn't going to cry; there was no need to cry. And Anna Marie wasn't going to. Maybe, maybe just feel stupidly upset over... virtually nothing (though it didn't feel that way); her face had never been very good at hiding her inner emotions. Good thing that it was half buried into Finn's chest anyway, so-- that took care of that.

Heaving a deep sigh, Anna Marie knew that she had to go. Leave, or just- something. Get away to actually cry (even though she would not), and drown her unnecessary sorrows in a very big bowl of ice cream. Which, she shouldn't be upset about in the first place. Ah.

"I should--- the. Dog, or-- yeah," she mumbled down to the ground as she began to actually pull away and drop her hands from around him. She didn't want to, not at all, not at all, because she liked the way he smelled, and the way he had been holding onto her just as tightly as she had been with him and--- she, had to go. Because he was-- with a baby, now.

"Owl, if--- you need--- something, yeah?" Anna Marie finally finished quietly, trying to twitch her face into something of a small smile, still directed at the ground. Wonderful.