July 8th, 1977
Who: Emmeline Vance and Frank Longbottom
What: Frank goes to Emmeline because he has no where else to go.
Where: Vance residence, Liverpool
When: Saturday, Midnight
How Frank found himself at the Vance’s doorstep in the dead of night, he would never know. In fact, he had been sure that he was going to splinch himself just Apparating anywhere- his mind felt like it was going every which way. But, where else could he go? Surely not to Aunt Enid or Uncle Algie or anyone in his family that close. Or to Alice either, because how would it look if he just showed up at their house like the way he was now? He couldn’t remember Ben’s house, or Marlene’s. Sirius didn’t have a bloody house to go to, and he couldn’t go back to Dorcas, or James because he’d just been there. Emmeline was family though- literally, and he always held his baby cousin close (whether he showed it or not). Forlorn, he shuffled up the door steps slowly.
What if they didn’t let him in, though? News did travel fast. But they were family? Frank tugged on his sleeves painfully. It felt like he was some numb burden.
Slowly, ever so slowly, Frank reached for the knocker and tapped on it with his wand. Hopefully, someone was still up.
Emmeline wasn't exactly sure how she'd managed not to have a mental breakdown after the attack in Diagon Alley. Maybe it was the journal entries indicating that people were fine, that they weren't hurt, that everything was okay…
Except Frank. Oh, every time Emmeline flipped through the journals, looked through the mail, she burst into tears. She couldn't find anything about Frank, anywhere. And then his mother had sent her parents an Owl, asking if they'd seen Frank or Derrick. She'd been quite hysterical for a good hour, but promised herself not to cry anymore until she heard official news.
Good news, she prayed.
That's why Emmeline was up at midnight, sitting in the front parlour of her house. She was constantly checking the journals for updates, and jumped at the sound of knocking on the front door. Emmeline got up and looked through the peephole, only to gasp loudly. She threw the door open and flung her arms around Frank, "FRANK!"
He mustered the smallest smile he could at Emmeline as she flung her body at him. Well, at least someone was happy to see him. “Hey…Emmeline,” Frank said, wrapping his arms around her back into a tight hug. And that was rare, because he hardly hugged anyone; his hugs were increasing by the day, it seemed.
“Why- I didn’t think-” he started, then shook his head. It was in the middle of the night, and they were standing there, vulnerable to anything. Just lovely. Frank sent a glance over his shoulder. “Go inside?” he pointed to the open door and stepped away from her just slightly.
Emmeline didn't waste a moment and she pulled Frank into the house, shutting the door quietly. Her parents' bedroom was on the complete other side of the house, so there was really no risk in them hearing her or Frank.
"Are you okay? Where have you been? What happened? I've been worried sick! Why are you so dirty? Here, sit down, I'll get you something to eat!" she said very quickly, rushing away only to return with a tray of leftovers from dinner and a glass (House-elves were quite handy sometimes). "Are you okay?"
Frank frowned as a whirlwind of questions came his way. Emmeline tended to talk fast, but now, she was talking faster than ever. He shook his head at her as she pushed him to the direction of a seat. Slowly, he sat down.
“Have you heard from Alice?” he asked her quietly, ignoring all her other questions (not that it mattered, he hadn’t heard anything she’d said anyway). Frank looked at the food underneath his face. It was true…he couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually had a good meal. But, Alice first- hadn’t his mother said something about Alice earlier? He couldn’t even remember what she had said. The whole last hours came to a blank in his mind. And Ben, oh bloody hell and they’d gotten nasty just before he went to Diagon. He prayed to Merlin that wasn’t it hadn’t been her he’d seen, and the same with Ben. To tell the truth, he felt horrible about not checking with both of them yet.
"She's fine, all accounted for," Emmeline said with a nod, sitting on the edge of the table in front of Frank. "But what about you? Where have you been, Frank? We've all been worried out of our minds!"
That was clearly an understatement, but Emmeline couldn't bring herself to get annoyed at Frank for not checking in with anyone, she was just too immensely grateful that Frank was alive and well.
A grim smile formed as he heaved a sigh of relief and slouched just a bit in the chair. Well, at least Alice was alright and one person accounted for. He would have to owl her tomorrow, or maybe pop over. Maybe not pop over, he really didn’t want to talk to people right now.
“I, uh,” Frank started. Did she know about Diagon? Did anyone know? He had no clue what the public knew at this point…hell, if his parents had just found out. “I’m sorry,” he grimly stated, looking at her across the table. “I didn’t- want you to worry.” Maybe he was avoiding telling Emmeline exactly where he’d been for the past day or so. And what had just happened in the last minutes. But her face looked so worried, so concerned…
“I was at Diagon when the attack happened,” he started.
"Oh!" she squeaked, moving from the table to sit beside him. Of course he'd been there, she'd known this from the Owl his mother had sent, but that still didn't stop her from feeling shocked at hearing the words. Frank had been there, in the thick of it all. Emmeline put a hand on his back, running it reassuringly up and down. "But you're okay, you got out. Where you close to everything? Oh, Frank, I'm so happy you're okay!"
Frank didn’t say anything after that, and leaned into the table, propping his elbows up and hands in his face. Emmeline didn’t know did she? She didn’t know anything- anything at all. He had to tell one more person?
“I was there with…Derrick,” his voice muffled through his hands, looking down at the table. Frank shifted his shoulder bones to get Emmeline to stop rubbing his back. He felt wrong just saying his brother’s name let alone be comforted.
She pulled away a bit, biting her lip. Frank (and all boys, really) just wasn't good at accepting consoling. Really, they should take lessons from girls. "Is Derrick home? Wait, well…why are you here, then?" Emmeline asked, confusion written over her face. Frank's mother had said that both of the boys had been in Diagon Alley.
Frank sunk his head lower to the table, nudging the plate of food foreword and away. His hands slipped from his face and threw his hair, grabbing onto pieces of it. So, she didn’t know. A sigh escaped his throat and everything got caught in his throat again. That same feeling of losing his whole inside came back. He had to say it; he had to say it- quick and painless.
“Mum kicked me out and he’s dead.” Frank didn’t look the table, he didn’t move and he didn’t even want to know what Emmeline’s face was at this point. But, at least he had told her and he hadn’t had to say his brother’s name.
Emmeline gasped slightly, leaning forward to attempt to look Frank in the eye. Had he? Did he? Oh, oh no. Oh no. No, no. "Oh, Frank, I'm so sorry," she whispered, refraining from touching him again, but there really wasn't more that she could do.
Tears pinched at her eyes as the reality of it all sank in. She'd never liked Derrick much, but he was someone she knew, a friend's relative, Frank's relative…and the scariest part was, if Derrick could be killed, Frank could've too…
His hands slipped from the top of his head to his neck as Frank’s whole body slid more into the table, face down. Saying it like that didn’t make things easier, it just made the shock value worse for him, and the person he was telling it to. “Yeah,” he responded gruffly right into the table.
Right now was a weird feeling- one different from any other. Now, he didn’t feel like bursting apart or tearing anything up. He just really could care less; his body still ached, his head was still pounding but, he could really care less.
Emmeline bit her lip, and then stood. "Come on, you can stay in the guest room," she said quietly, thinking of how she'd have to feed him in the morning, how she'd have to break the news to her parents, oh, how she'd have to Owl Augusta right now to tell her where Frank was----even though she'd kicked the boy out, she wouldn't want him living on the streets, would she?
Oooh, that woman had always infuriated Emmeline. Kicking her son out, when he needed his family the most! How absolutely ridiculous! Emmeline put a hand on Frank's shoulder, "Come on, it's late."
Frank blinked for a few seconds. “Yeah,” he answered again, and slowly picked his head up from the table and straightened his posture. Well, at least he would have a place to stay tonight, and he hadn’t needed to technically asked Emmeline either. Her parents wouldn’t care, would they? You could never turn down family, right?
“I’ll- be up soon. I know where the room is,” he lied, still refusing to look at his younger cousin just yet. Frank was a total and complete mess; he needed some time to recollect.
"Er…well. The one next to my room is the best; it's the coolest, temperature wise." Emmeline wrung her fingers, still attempting to look at Frank. Oh, how this boy needed a hug, he needed to sleep, he needed a good meal, he just needed to go away and be by himself and fix himself and, "Okay, well…right. I'll see you in the morning, then."
Bloody hell, Frank's world had just come crashing down on him. Emmeline hesitated for a moment, but then in a quick swoop gave him a hug around the shoulders and a kiss on the head, because she loved her cousin and he should never feel this horrible. "Okay, good night," she said, disappearing up the stairs.
“Night,” Frank mumbled back to Emmeline, hardly acknowledging the comfort she was giving him, or her leave of room. He waited, however, until he heard a door shut and the house go quiet until slumping back down onto the table, planting his face on the surface. At least, at least Emmeline had given him a place to stay tonight without him having to ask for it. But then again, that left a lot of other things to think about- like how to get that haunting sentence the Death Eater had said out of his head. As if they had known each other. Mind still whirling, Frank stayed at the table until morning and when he heard stirring upstairs, he silently made his way up to the guest room and closed the door before the family woke up.
