Who: Bertram Aubrey and Emmeline Vance
What: Baaaaaabies
Where: A park near Bertram's house
When: July 1978
This was beginning to become a routine - Bertram would slip out of the house in the middle of the day with Amissa in tow and head out to the park to sit in the grass with her. She was crawling around by herself by now, and he had to put a confinement charm on her blanket just to make sure that he didn't lose sight of her during one of his ... distractions.
And by the look of the pair of legs walking by, he was about to have one of those. Bertram whistled and grinned, leaning back on his palms in the grass and eyeing the fine pair of gams. Correction - the fine, familiar pair of gams. He'd recognize those legs anywhere.
"Hey, baby! Back it up and walk by a little slower, would you?" Emmeline wasn't likely to stop at that line, but that certainly didn't stop him from making the remark. Besides, he hadn't spoken to her since Black had cockblocked him.
Bertram was absolutely right; Emmeline was not going to stop at his remark, even if she had noticed the baby on the blanket. Okay, she was a typical girl (somedays...), and babies automatically made her voice go up an octave and drip with sweetness. It happened, but this child was going to have to miss out because she was unfortunate enough to have to spend the day with Bertram Aubrey. Emmeline would give him that he was at least good looking, and sometimes rather interesting when he wasn't shouting random pickup lines that were so very lame and---ugh, she just wasn't in the mood for him.
She wasn't in the mood for anyone, really---well, that was a lie, there was one person, but Emmeline didn't know what to think about in that situation, so she continued past Bertram as if she hadn't heard him. Today was supposed to be a walk to get out of the Order house (Dumbledore had all but kicked her out, making up some things Emmeline knew for sure were lies about re-carpeting---please.) and to clear her head about everything that had been going on. Maybe she was being dramatic, but---ah, you know what? Fuck dramatics. She needed a break, and not in the form for Bertram Aubrey.
Well, that meant it was time for plan B.
"OI, EMMELINE. WOULD YOU HOLD THIS KID FOR A BIT? HER MUM WENT OUT TO GET CRACK AT LEAST TWENTY MINUTES AGO AND SHE ONLY PAID ME FOR TEN." Yes, he was being far more obnoxious than usual. It was only because he wanted to get Emmeline's attention, although he wasn't sure why exactly he wanted to speak to her. Maybe it was just the fact he wanted to speak to an adult and not some child who would just burble back at him (although he had to admit that it was bloody adorable when Amissa did it).
He flashed her retreating back a winning grin and ran his hand over Amissa's back, making sure that she was still comfortable on her blanket. After all, he was constantly worrying about her getting too hot or too cold or too ... something. It was nerve-wracking.
She stopped before she could think about it. If she had thought about it, Emmeline would have realized how ridiculous Bertram's exclamation was. How on earth had she allowed something like that make her stop in her step? It had to do with the cute little baby he was playing with, and Emmeline turned around sharply, arms crossed for a moment before she came back to stand in front of Bertram.
"How long did it take for you to come up with that one?" she asked, slightly bemused by his gentle ways with the baby. She knew that his little cousin...or was it sister? had been spending a lot of time with him this summer, but it seemed like Bertram was used to the baby clambering all over him and around the blanket. Sixteen (or seventeen?) year old boys certainly shouldn't be. Except maybe Brad, who she'd seen make a long post about children that she couldn't really understand.
"Oh, you know I've been waiting all day to use it on a suitably hot girl. You just happened to be that lucky lady."
No, sixteen year old boys shouldn't be used to having children crawling all over them. Bertram was barely even phased when Amissa crawled onto his lap and bit sharply at his thumb. It wasn't like she could do much damage, anyway. All gums.
He actually grinned at Amissa and held up a finger to Emmeline while he rummaged through the shabby looking bag he had shoved most of Amissa's things into, coming out with a bottle. The warming spell took him two tries (much better than the first time when it had taken him seven and he'd lit the counter on fire), and then he was offering the bottle to the little girl.
"But it made you stop, didn't it? So it worked."
"If only to make sure the poor kid wasn't going to be picked up by some dealer."
Emmeline hesitated for a moment before dropping down to the blanket, feeling the little field Bertram had set up to keep the baby. That was thoughtful, at least he knew that kids could disappear in a second. For a fleeting moment Emmeline thought about when Frank and Alice started having kids, and how she'd have to baby proof her house...because surely he'd let her babysit, if...he didn't hate her for basically setting You-Know-Who on him.
She did smile when the baby finally took the bottle, and looked up from her to Bertram. "What did you do to get stuck babysitting?"
He had to bite back the urge to say 'used a faulty contraceptive potion'. Bertram sighed a little and ran his hand through his hair, wincing when Amissa's tiny foot rammed into his kneecap.
"Well, you know how mum is. She's a right bitch most of the time, and it isn't like our Aunt's been around to take care of her..." Hopefully Emmeline didn't investigate too far into this or she'd figure out that it wasn't actually his cousin and ... that would fucking suck. He didn't want all of Hogwarts finding out about her. He shrugged.
"And I take offense to that. I'd at least sell the kid to a dealer."
No, she really didn't know what mum was like. Her mother had treated her like a young woman since she was born; Emmeline couldn't remember a time being playful or childish with her parents, except when she threw a tantrum and got punished for it. She supposed she could use Frank's mother as an example for what a mother should be like, even though Emmeline was quite sure that Augusta Longbottom was a little more than off her rocker. She loved the woman, though; hell, she was far more interesting than some of these other pureblood mothers she ran into over the course of her life.
"You'd get a pretty knut for her, that's for sure," Emmeline said, bending forward slightly to almost lower herself onto eye level with the baby, scrunching her nose. Oh, she could feel the silly voice revving up in the back of her throat. It was amazing how a baby, one you didn't even know could send your crappy mood soaring. "What's her name? How old?"
Bertram would have liked to think that he had a part in getting rid of Emmeline's bad mood, though! He couldn't help the proud smirk (oi, he was going to give himself away like this) that passed over his lips when she spoke, though.
"Her name's Amissa - and she's nearly four months, now. And a right sharp little girl, aren't you?" He tapped her nose with one finger and looked to Emmeline. It was bloody brilliant how babies seemed to turn women into babbling motherly messes, he thought.
Well, most women. Not Rachel ... but most women.
Okay, maybe that smile was for Bertram, because it was rather cute how he handled and seemed so proud of the girl. Amissa, a very pretty name. Emmeline was quite sure when she had children...if...she ever did, they'd have fairly normal names like Jane, Grace, Ella...not that she'd thought about it, really...oh, didn't every girl have baby names? There was something strange, though; she thought about baby names, but she never exactly thought about having one, or who they'd be with. Sure her friends and herself had giggled about Ben, but...seeing as he couldn't see past their time at Hogwarts, Emmeline had always had a hard time doing it herself.
"Amissa, you have a very pretty name," Emmeline said knowingly, reaching forward to flatten out the little girl's skirt. Ugh, baby clothes should not be allowed to be so cute. She wondered if there were any pictures of her as a baby somewhere in the house, and for a second figured that her mother must have taken them to Paris with her, and then realized that was definitely a long shot. "And very pretty eyes, I wonder if they'll go lighter or darker."
"Hrm, well ..." He lifted Amissa so that they were roughly 'next' to each other for Emmeline to observe. Probably not the best thing to do, considering they really did look too similar to be just cousins ... but then again, Bertram had never been terribly intelligent, "... people seem to think that we look a lot alike, so maybe her eyes will turn out like mine." He was personally hoping that they wouldn't turn out like Rachel's - but so far he hadn't been reminded of her because of Amissa, and all was good.
He brushed a hand through his hair after he set her back down on the blanket and looked to Emmeline. "There's pictures of her all over the house. I think she's finally growing on my mum."
She instinctively (instinctively? Since when did she have maternal instincts?) reached out the second Bertram sat Amissa up, as if worried he was going to drop her or something silly like that. He'd been trusted to take care of the baby for this long, why should she fret that he was going to drop her from a simple motion?
Because he was Bertram Aubrey, and no matter how much he thought it, he wasn't that smooth.
"I could---hold her, if you want. Your arms must be tired." Of course, she was barely a few centimeters off the ground and basically on Bertram's lap, but---oh well, if he wanted on her good side he'd let her hold the baby. So what if she was using his flirtatious manners to get what she wanted, hm? Men did that all the time.
Women did it too! Bertram would never have gotten Rachel pregnant if she hadn't seduced him into her bed because she'd had nothing better to do. He arched a brow when Emmeline leaned forward, but glanced down at Amissa only once before offering her to the woman carefully.
"Don't drop her," he muttered, shaking his head and giving her another smirk. "You see? Babies are the perfect way to pick up chicks, Emmeline. Maybe we should lend Amissa to you so that you can find a bloke, huh?"
Emmeline rolled her eyes at Bertram's warning; as if she'd drop the baby, please. One of the best wand handlers in their year, and he was worried about her dropping Amissa? Did he not know who he was? Before she could retort Bertram muttered another stupid statement, and Emmeline set a hard glare on him as she positioned Amissa on her shoulder.
"I don't need a bloke," Emmeline said, matter-of-factly, almost a bit snootily. Not that she didn't necessarily want a bloke, but the need was definitely not there, and it hadn't been for quite some time. She wasn't keen on the idea of being attached, but she wasn't going to deter any situations that she...might find interesting, to say the least. "And it doesn't look like you've picked up any chicks today."
