January 1st, 1977
Who: Emmeline Vance and Frank Longbottom
Where: Ben's house, Ben's room
What: Emmeline tries to wake Frank up and make him feel better after a row with Alice
She’d admit it, basketball was interesting. Emmeline like watching Ben play, and she liked attempting to play…but when his family came out to join them, she didn’t like looking like a fool. So, after about ten minutes of standing on the ‘side lines,’ Emmeline snuck back into the house to avoid any further embarrassment.
Ben’s house was incredibly quiet without the family, and Emmeline immediately realized that there was another inhabitant in the house. Frank was still asleep up in Ben’s room, probably still very much hungover from the night before. Feeling like a good cousin, Emmeline found some leftover lunch items and made him a few sandwiches, and brought it and a drink of orange juice (orange juice? How did Muggles think that one up?) upstairs to Frank. She knocked softly, but entered before he could respond.
“Time to get up, Frank,” she said, nudging the edge of his mattress.
Frank was not willing, or even ready to get up; it was too early. Who was bothering him now? They weren't at school, so why should he be getting up early? No, just a few more minutes. So, in reaction to Ben, most likely, trying to wake him up, Frank let out a loud groan, and shifted under his covers. Man his head hurt. Didn't Ben understand that he was very much tired right now?
Emmeline sighed loudly and rolled her eyes. Putting the plate of sandwiches near Frank’s head (maybe the smell would wake him up), she sat down on Ben’s bed and with all her might, shoved Frank’s mattress a good foot with her feet. Maybe he’d go rolling off, or something.
Dazed about why the ground was moving, Frank's eyes popped open suddenly. The light burned his eyes like a thousand 'lumos' at once, straight into his face. "Nooooxxx," he gutted out, his chest still on the mattress. Where were his sheets? And why- where were his feet? Confused, (and having a hard time focusing, due to his extreme headache) the Gryffindor buried his head into something (hopefully a pillow?) to stop from blinding himself.
“Frank,” Emmeline said sternly, standing and coming around the mattress. She had to hold in a laugh; half of him was sprawled on the floor, the other half barely on the mattress. She took a seat in Ben’s desk chair, staring down a bit pitifully at Frank. “It’s almost one o’clock, you have to wake up! I made sandwiches,” she teased.
That definitely was not Ben's voice. Unless, unless someone was using some strange spell that should never really be used by a guy. Braving the burning light (didn't- where were his hangings?), Frank raised his head a bit, groggy eyed and tired. This was not his bed. Or even the dormitory, for that matter. Where was he again? "Emmeline?" His eyes followed the floor to--food! "Whatzat?"
This time, she did let out a laugh, “Sandwiches for the hung-over one,” she said, an amused eyebrow raised. “Are you functional, or am I going to have to pour some cold water on you to wake you up?”
"I'm- I'm not hungover," Frank answered stubbornly. He kept his eyes partially closed, just incase Emmeline turned around and he could go back to sleep. Really, Ravenclaws always thought they were so smart.
"Oh, okay, I suppose you're just having a bit of a lie in until dinner,” Emmeline said sarcastically, leaning on the desk. She didn’t feel like teasing Frank as she knew he had a rough night, but something needed to wake him up. “Really, Frank, you’d have to be hung over to miss breakfast and lunch.”
"I…I could, I could be sick," he answered, eyes dropping lower and lower by the second. "That happens to people…you know." Really, Emmeline was just being a nudge. Not really feeling like keeping this conversation going, Frank dropped his head back down onto his 'bed' and took a big sigh. Much better.
“Well, after last night, I don’t suppose you’d be feeling too well.” Emmeline smirked, and left her seat to sit on the floor besides Frank. He must really be hurting, if he didn’t want to eat. She examined him for a moment, “Do you want to talk about it?”
Frank lay like he was for a few moments. What was Emmeline talking about? What did he do last night? Bringing his head back up, (whoa, was Emmeline there the whole time? He would've sworn she was on Ben's bed), he gave her a quizzical look. "What are you talking about?"
“What am I---aw, Frank, you don’t have to act all macho with me.” She put a hand on his shoulder, looking sympathetic. Really, how could he act as if nothing were wrong, with the way he’d been last night? “I understand that you’re in a lot of pain right now.”
Frank squinted his eyes at her, biting his lip. What the hell was Emmeline talking about? And she thought he was hungover. "Did I beat someone up?"
“Er…no.” Now, Emmeline was confused. Frank looked as if she had no idea what she was talking about. Could he have suppressed the memory? It wasn’t that traumatic. He’d done most of the yelling, anyway. Oh. Wait, it could be because he was drunk off his rocker last night. “Do you…remember anything about last night?”
Frank screwed up his brain (which was harder than usually, seeing as his head was pounding) to try to remember even what day it was. After a few seconds, he remembered just a bit. Today was…yesterday was James' New Year's Party! Yes, and everyone went, and it was big, and loud, and…..that was it. "Er…we all went?" he answered sheepishly.
Emmeline paled slightly, now stuck. Merlin. He didn’t remember. And she’d just brought it up like a concerned friend and now he was probably worried and…oh no. She didn’t have to tell him, did she? Maybe she should go get Ben, he could handle this better. “Yes…and…” Ohhh, how could she? It would be like him and Alice breaking up again. “You…had a bit of a row…with Alice.” Emmeline winced, biting the inside of her cheek.
Frank furrowed his eyes even more, trying to remember. The last thing he remembered was watching Alice? No…nowhere in his recollections did Alice and he break-"WHAT?" Frank's head started to pound furiously as everything somewhat… rushed back at once. Yelling, faces so many faces, Alice slapping him, Alice crying, him breaking up with her. "Bloody shit."
She recoiled slightly, feeling bad for being the one to bring the memories back. Should’ve just let Ben take it, she thought a bit miserably. “You could talk to her through fire connection! Or send an Owl, it was probably just the alcohol talking…?”
Feeling even more miserable than before, Frank rubbed his eyes with such force, maybe his eyes would pop out. "No no nono," he repeated glumly, shaking his head from side to side. What had he done?
“It’ll be okay,” Emmeline tried to console, patting his shoulder again. “You guys love each other, right?” Of course they did, she’d heard Alice shriek that at Frank.
"I- I- I," he sputtered, feeling his throat dry up instantly. "All those pe- people." If he knew anything, Alice would not want to even associate with him after making such a show of their relationship falling apart. "She won't, she won't" he started again, but gave up, and threw his head down into the mattress, face first. Maybe, just maybe if he stayed like that, everything would be fine.
Emmeline frowned and rubbed his back sympathetically. No matter how frustrating Frank could be sometimes, he was the closest thing she had to a brother (so, maybe that’s why he was so frustrating), and she hated seeing him like this. “Well…you’re sober now; maybe you can talk to her.”
Frank didn't respond, just blinked furiously into his sheets. Alice and he…they were, not together. He couldn't…do anything with her anymore. And, oh unfair. It, they, were over, and he broke it off. He didn't ever want to! He just…but she was being so stubborn. "I'm fine," he answered finally, but still not moving.
“Liar,” she said immediately, then felt a bit bad for it. Well, it was true. There was no way he was fine with it, she’d seen the way he looked at Alice; he was head over heels for that girl. “But, if you want to sulk, I completely understand.” Emmeline leaned back on her hands, hoping he’d talk to her, but ready to leave if he didn’t want to. Hell, she was a girl; she had that natural instinct to help out!
Frank sat up quickly, ignoring the immense amount of pain coming from his whole body at this point. He wiped his face with his hands, and then looked at Emmeline for a moment. Taking another deep breath, he said, "There's nothing to talk about anyway."
Aww…he was tearing up! Emmeline noticed with a frown, and, feeling like she really couldn’t say anything, she quickly moved forward and gave him a tight hug. Her poor cousin! Stupid Alice!
Grimacing, Frank let Emmeline nearly squeeze all of the air out of him. Well, if he hadn't, she would've beaten him until she did, so he saw no point in trying to resist. But, after a few seconds, Frank let go and pushed himself into a standing position. Wavering greatly, his hand flew to his head instantly. He was going to kill Sirius and James for letting there be so much booze be out and about last night. "I told you Emmeline, I'm fine."
“But!” she said, scrambling to her feet. “Are you sure? This could leave scarring on your mind, your heart!” Emmeline poked him in the chest, to try and put an exclamation on her point.
Frank swatted her hand away after a few seconds (he missed her hand completely the first time) and glared as much as he could without hurting his head. Really, he was fine. Alice and Frank were no longer together. He was fine. It wasn't like he hadn't meant to break up with her or anything like that. And he definitely did not care about what Regulus was going to do to her.
Regulus
Looking down at the ground, Frank clenched his fists. Where the hell was his bat? A rush of anger filled up inside him, and Frank looked around him for something to throw. Something, anything. Seeing a book on the floor (BOOKS!), he snatched it up and threw it across the room. That bloody bastard. A low, gutted cry of anger escaped his mouth.
Emmeline jumped back, feeling slightly hurt but understanding his anger. Hell, she’d kicked everything in the compartment on the train after Ben had stormed out on her (she’d also hexed his trunk a bit; she hoped he hadn’t set any of the triggers off yet). Then, Frank goes and chucks something across the room, a book (a BOOK!). He wasn’t going to talk to her, but he needed to get the anger out instead of holding it in.
“You’re obviously not fine!” she exclaimed, “You should go and…and hex something! You’re legal! Eat first, though,” she added.
Frank threw and kicked, but nothing made him feel better. That agonizing pain in his stomach didn't go away, and now his whole body was shaking. He ignored Emmeline, seeing as he really didn't know where his wand was at that point. And he definitely was NOT hungry. Letting out a distressed sigh, Frank crumbled to the floor. This was not a good year.
She managed to avoid Frank’s tantrum, but it hurt just to watch. He was incredibly torn up, and when he was down on the floor, Emmeline went down with him, sitting just to be there. There was nothing she could say, and she knew if she were Frank, she’d probably hit someone trying to offer advice. So, she just sat, because he shouldn’t be alone.
Curled up, Frank put his head on his knees, trying to keep it together. Right now, it didn't really matter this wasn't his house, or his books, or that Emmeline had just watched him temporarily go insane. He was just….tired. After a few more minutes, he said finally, "Where's my wand?"
Given something to do, Emmeline’s eyes darted around the room in search of his wand. His wand would make him happy…maybe. She spotted it in his cloak pocket, which was flung on Ben’s windowsill. “Got it!” she said, hurrying over to retrieve it. Emmeline came back, and for a second, hesitated giving him back the wand. He was legal; what if he decided to hex anything that moved, meaning her?
“Err…here you go.”
Frank turned his head, and slowly took his wand from Emmeline's hand. Limply, Frank concentrated as much as he could with a hangover, and pointed to Ben's books he had…er, destroyed, summoning them. Mumbling incoherent words, he began to bit by bit repair the books. He could barely see the tears from his view (hadn't moved his head at all) but didn't really care at this point.
Emmeline was slightly jealous at the use of magic; it did take a toll on her that everything in Ben’s house was Muggle (of course). Lights had to be turned off, beds had to be made, dishes washed by hands…it had been an exhausting (but fun) week! She itched to check the condition of the book, but refrained. “I think Ben’s mum is going to make a cake, later,” she said, trying to lighten the mood.
'Repairing the books, just focus on repairing the books' was the only thing going through Frank's head at that point. "Where's Ben?" he asked, moving onto the next book, and flicking the other away.
“Outside playing, do you want to go? It’ll be good if there were two us who don’t know what we’re doing,” she said with a shaky laugh. Frank's concentration was a bit unnerving; normally it took quite a bit to capture his attention.
"No."
Emmeline frowned and sat back, stretching her legs out in front of her. “How about turning on the tellyvision?”
"Do you know how to make it work?"
She prided herself on being observant, but these Muggle contraptions would be the death of her. “Well, you fiddle with the knob, don’t you? Can’t be too hard, I mean, the little ones do it!”
Once Frank finished fixing all of Ben's books, he watched Emmeline fiddle with the tellyvision. Frank had a feeling that wasn't its name, but he couldn't remember what the real one was, and didn't really care. After a few more seconds, "You're going to blow it up."
She turned around and sent him a glare, “I am not,” she said, turning back to it with a worried look on her face. What if she did blow it up? Emmeline didn’t want to turn anything too hard, but, this darn thing… “Ooh!” she turned a knob and the screen made a bit of a ‘zip’ noise, and she fell back, scared it was going to explode. Fortunately, the image of a little contraption started to go down stairs, with a woman singing in the background. A ‘slinky’ the woman was calling it. “What on Earth…?”
Frank watched Emmeline and put his head back down after she didn't make it come alive after a few seconds. What did he care, anyway? But, when an unknown sound came on, he couldn't help but look up. What the hell was right.
They sat, watching the various...things on TV (including a little song about bologna, of all things), looking slightly mezmerized. Emmeline knew she couldn't do much to help Frank through the ordeal, but she hoped he knew she was there for him, even if it was to sit and watch this nonsense Muggles used for entertainment.
