September 22nd, 1978
Who: Emmeline Vance and Antonin Dolohov (Sean)
What: He's on a mission :[
Where: Hogsmeade
Hogsmeade, Hogsmeade, Hogsmeade.
The mantra had been on repeat in Emmeline’s head for the entire week, the past two weeks if she wanted to be brutally honest, and she was quite sure she hadn’t gotten one piece of homework done. Hogsmeade, Hogsmeade, Hogsmeade. She could go into Hogsmeade, and who was in Hogsmeade? Why, Remus was in Hogsmeade! Remus Lupin, to be exact, and she’d gone and tried not to look like she was trying, but oh, she was, and she couldn’t bear the wait. They were meeting in the Hog’s Head, they had to talk to Aberforth for some things, and then they had a room and Emmeline didn’t plan on returning to Hogwarts until Sunday evening, if all fell into place.
Merlin’s bloody---if school wasn’t frustrating enough, having a boyfriend out in the real world was the last thing a girl needed. Emmeline didn’t know how Anneliese was functioning so well, but she supposed it could be that rock of a ring she was flashing around.
Hogsmeade, Hogsmeade, Hogsmeade, oooh, okay, just get through the crowd, the Hog’s Head wasn’t too far, just in sight, ahhh. She wondered if he was there already, and he probably was because Remus was very good at keeping to schedules and ohhh, she would almost say she had a skip in her step if that wasn’t so ridiculous, and—
“Fuck, Antonin,” Emmeline halted to a stop when her friend seemingly appeared out of nowhere, hand going to her heart, “Act a little less like a vampire next time, would you? Popping out of dark alleys, Merlin----”
Antonin had been anything but happy. Ever since Evan had informed him of his mission of sorts, he'd felt his stomach twisting into knots and suddenly wondered if he'd been making the right choices. Emmeline was his friend, and while he was all for the Dark Lord's ideals, hurting her, it was -- he couldn't -- and well, he supposed there was no reason for him to think it was guaranteed that she would be hurt but -- no, he wasn't an idiot. The Dark Lord would have no use for her once Longbottom or Potter or whoever it was he wanted was in his grasps, and then...
He didn't want to finish that sentence.
However, he knew that it was what he had to do, or his life and -- fuck, he used to not be so self-involved and -- there she was and he felt his stomach churn and he could just turn around and deal with the consequences or say she never showed up or something and it would the greatest lie ever and he was always so good at them and--
"Hi."
At some point in his mental rambling he had moved his feet and grabbed her arm, dragging her off a bit to go further in the alley. He needed to figure out how to do this. He swallowed roughly, not sure where to go with this or how to keep her attention until the portkey activated. "I... I need to... To talk to you. About... Um... Some... thing."
She let out a whine, eyes locked onto the Hogs Head until he'd pulled her too far into the alley, but following him along anyway. Merlin's freaking---he had to know that she had somewhere to go, every girl in their year that had a boyfriend (or fiancee, in a few of their cases) outside of school hadn't been able to concentrate all week, and here Antonin was, needing to talk. Since when did he need to talk! He never talked, unless it was some snarky comment in class or---
--oh.
Emmeline smirked lightly, crossing her arms but not in an annoyed manner. Had something else happened? She'd heard about his uncle's death (and oh, had she thought about it--) but Antonin hadn't exactly talked to her about it, or much at all this summer, but could something be up? She didn't want to think the worst, but he was fumbling his words.
"Is everything all right?" she asked, trying to catch his eye.
He refused to really look at her, his eyes darting from the ground to the wall to the sky then glancing over his shoulder and it was quite clear he was more nervous than ever. "I... W-w-well, it's something... It..." Fuck, he was usually so much better at this. Lying was his forte and yet he couldn't even find a fucking excuse to give her a locket? His heart pounded, he took a deep breath, and he wondered if this was going to be the hardest thing he ever did in his entire life.
"Yes. No. Maybe. I d-don't know." He leaned against the wall, pinching his nose, clearing his throat heavily. "It's... It's a ... This... My... We... I don't kn-n-now how to p-p-p-put this, it's... I've..." He dug his hand into his pocket, fumbling with the necklace, and closing his eyes tightly.
"I kn-now you're h-here to meet R-r...Lupin, but it's... I just..."
And then it hit him. It would explain his nerves, his sweaty palms, his refusal to look her in the eye. The perfect lie. It was fool proof, wasn't it?
"Emmeline, I... I l...l...l...like you."
Kalista was going to slaughter him.
“Shut the fuck up,” Emmeline said with a shake of her head and a laugh, though her eyes narrowed. Was he honestly trying to pull this? Seriously? If she was honest with herself, it wasn't completely unbelievable---not that she found herself to be an amazing catch or anything, but Antonin didn't tolerate idiots and---oh, whatever, she needn't think of that, because he had a girlfriend, she had a boyfriend, and there was no room for these kind of feelings that could ruin a friendship.
Emmeline pushed her hair out of her face, sighing and looking down the alley. Ugh, okay, you can't be a total a bitch about this if he's telling the truth, because you are his friend and this is obviously embarrassing for him.
"Well...I mean, I'm sorry, but I've got a boyfriend, Antonin---"
"I know, and... and I have Kalista but..." Fuck, it was just what? Two more minutes he had to stall her? Fucking portkeys and their need to be set off in the exact places at the exact times and -- fuuuuck. "It's just one of those things that I couldn't keep bottled up inside anymore, you know? I... I don't know, it was just ... I had to get it out and I think that, maybe, if... Well, I don't want to ruin things with him but--"
No, no, no, losing focus, had to think, one more minute and it would all be over... He felt his stomach lurch, knew he would regret doing this in the morning, but he just had to do something and finally, with a very large amount of hesitation and a big desire to kick himself in the face, he leaned over and kissed her.
Ohhhh Merlin's fucking balls.
Not that it was a bad kiss. No, it was very nice, actually, but he knew he was going to die for this in 2.3 seconds.
"OY! What's going on here!?"
Perfect plan definitely falling to pieces here.
Antonin broke away quickly to see a very irritated looking Remus Lupin (not to mention tired - that bloke sure did get sick a lot) standing at the alley opening, looking quite willing to beat Antonin and just... ask questions later. Not that that was the Lupin way, of course. Remus was far too level headed for that and Antonin was well aware of this.
"... Er..."
He wasn't really leaning in to kiss her, was he? If Emmeline hadn't stopped to think about it, she probably would've been able to move away and completely blow her top, but it was too late and Antonin was kissing her and---well this wasn't very fair, was it? Her arms went up to his chest to push him away at the same time a familiar voice echoed down the alleyway.
Well fuck.
Shoving Antonin hard even after he'd pulled himself off of her (Merlin's fucking--) she stumbled away, staring angrily at him. How bloody dare he? And he was supposed to be her friend? No matter what kind of feelings he might have developed for her, he should---he should've respected her enough not to do something that rash when she had a boyfriend, as if she was just some tart that would do such a thing.
"Stay away from me," she muttered, not meeting his eyes and not sure if she really meant it, because maybe he was just---there had to be a reason for it---but Emmeline didn't know how she could possibly talk to him any time soon, not after this. She turned away and stopped when she saw Remus; she'd heard him, but in the few seconds of moving away from Antonin, she'd forgotten about the shit she was about to get in.
Emmeline opened her mouth to say something, but realized that she had nothing to apologize for, 'it isn't what it looks like' wouldn't cut it and would only make her look guiltier, and--she bit her tongue, eyes welling with tears because fucking brilliant, everything was ruined, once again.
