January 8th, 1978
Who: Caradoc Dearborn and Emmeline Vance
What: Caradoc gets-- well, he'd rather not say.
Where: Hogwarts
Emmeline had taken it upon herself to be the scout outside of Dumbledore’s office for the rest of people involved in this entire fiasco. Of course, there hadn’t been much reason to do this, and she was really falling behind in her studies already even though it had barely been a week since class had started up again, but, Emmeline didn’t care. There had been absolutely no news, and since The Meeting (it deserved capital letters in her head), nothing else had stirred.
Except the sudden appearance of her roommate Juliet’s big brother, who, if Emmeline remembered correctly (and she always remembered correctly) he’d been in Slytherin. Now, she tried not to hold House grudges (she did have a Slytherin in her past, sort of), but the man was looking awfully smug and heading up to the Headmaster’s office and…and coming out, looking smug, but knocked down a few notches.
Hrm. Her intuition told her that Caradoc had just been told off, and, well, any information was good information, in Emmeline’s head.
“Caradoc? Caradoc!” she squeaked, trying her best to act like a giggly seventeen-year-old, chasing after him down the corridor to the entrance hall, heels clicking rapidly, “You’re totally Juliet’s brother, aren’t you? Are you here to see her? Hi, I’m her roommate, Emmeline? Do you remember? Maybe?”
Caradoc had hardly noticed the younger girl as he passed by her when exiting the Headmaster’s office. Why care about anyone else now; he felt on top of the bloody fucking world, and no stupid sixteen-year-old was going to make him stop on his egotistical march back down to Hogsmeade, and eventually back home. But, this girl seemed extremely persistent- and familiar, how could she be familiar? Finally, Caradoc gave up trying to shake her off and stopped a few steps outside of the entrance hall. Bloody girl, she probably wanted to talk to him, or something trivial like that.
Hell, this girl looked young. Cardaoc watched her for a few moments, instantly concluding her to be rather annoying with her mannerisms. How could this girl be Juliet’s roommate, he would never know; his sister couldn’t stand annoying people just like he was unable to. It was likely more than not that she was lying, girls did tend to lie. Still, what did she matter? There would be nothing that concerned him that she could bring up. Finding her almost entirely useless, he decided to try and dispose of her quickly. “No, I don’t,” he answered curtly, still watching this Emmeline roll back and forth on the balls of her feet as she looked up at him.
“Really? I did visit one summer and it was just so much fun and---” Her mouth dropped into a bit of an ‘o’ shape as if she’d recalled something, but she was entirely put off that this jerk didn’t. Hrmph, he’d only driven Juliet absolutely insane the entire time she and Anneliese had been there, it almost made Emmeline thank her parents for not giving her a brother, they seemed quite useless.
But, no one just came in and out of Dumbledore’s office lately, only other professors, Aurors, officials…she’d kept track, so for this Caradoc character to come out of no where and simply waltz on in was highly intriguing. If the dumb act didn’t work for long, Emmeline would just cut straight to the case.
Her eyebrows quirked, “Is Juliet in trouble? Is that why you were visiting Dumbledore?” Emmeline put a finger to her mouth as if keeping a secret, “I won’t tell, I promise.”
Yes, Caradoc definitely found Emmeline excruciatingly annoying and bothersome. Why in the world did she care about whether or not Juliet was in trouble? If she was in fact Juliet’s roommate (and best friend- the name was coming back to him now), wouldn’t she know if his sister was ‘in trouble’ or not? A small smile curled on Caradoc’s lips as he found a very easy ploy in this girl’s spiel. Or whatever it was that she really wanted to find out, because it was obviously not about his sister and her current being. “If Juliet was in trouble, wouldn’t it be correct for me to assume that you would know about it? You are her roommate, after all. So, apparently, there’s nothing for you to keep a secret about,” Caradoc said smoothly, fighting off the sudden urge to give an impatient look at his nails.
Really, did this girl think he was that stupid? Apparently, she didn’t know the Dearborns as well as she thought she did.
Okay, so with that out of the way and with a tug of her robes against her shoulders as it was quite apparent that Caradoc was not at Hogwarts to wish the Headmaster a happy new year. The hapless look in her eyes disappeared immediately and she pursed her lips, just short of glaring at him. Emmeline really didn’t give a damn if he was Juliet’s brother, as, well, Frank was far more important to her than anyone else in this castle, and if this berk had any information about his whereabouts, she wanted to know about it.
“So, you weren’t here about Juliet, the Quidditch match isn’t for a few weeks, which, by the way, Slytherin is going to lose miserably because they’re absolutely dreadful this year, and…well,” Her eyes cast up and down him as if he were something lowly like a house-elf, “I severely doubt that you’re here inquiring for a teaching position, so, Mister. Dearborn, what could you possibly have had to say to the Headmaster that interrupted his rather busy schedule?”
Emmeline’s eyebrows were high as she waited for a response.
“You aren’t a very smart Ravenclaw,” Caradoc spat out quickly before he could stop himself. Who in the bloody world did she think that she was? Emmeline, Emmeline- what was the girl’s last name? He would have remembered, if she hadn’t gotten his temper going so quickly, and his face soon formed to set his jaw straight. She had no clue who he was, did she? He noticed the looks she was giving him, and Caradoc figured quite quickly she felt he was incompetent. Ha, and she was here, interrogating him like some lowly pawn. Oh, ho. Caradoc’s last look melted away as quickly as it had come, and he shifted slightly in his spot.
“Because if you were smart, you would have noticed that I didn’t decline your accusation of Juliet’s connection for my arrival at Hogwarts,” he started evenly, raising his eyebrows to match hers. “Especially since you seem to be so keen on finding things out, I expect more from you.” His eye twitched slightly in annoyance as he mulled over the fact that she was actually wasting his time. Oh, maybe he should show her his mark, just to get her all excited and pass out. At least then he would be able to step over her body swiftly and powerfully to leave.
“But you told me I would know if Juliet was in trouble,” Emmeline was quick to point out, barely containing her smirk, ah, hell, she smirked anyway, what did she care about this guy, “and that there’s nothing to keep a secret about. So, either you are a liar and can’t keep your lies straight, or…well, there’s something you don’t want me to know, and don’t know how to say otherwise.”
Honestly, did he really think that Juliet would hang out with morons? Caradoc was absolutely up to something, and Emmeline, even if he left right this instant, was determined to find out what. Dumbledore, Emmeline was quite sure of, was not doing much more than searching for Frank and James, so the fact that some…old Slytherin had just waltzed up there…Emmeline’s hopes jumped sky high, because this means that there was probably some new information about the boys.
At least, she hoped. “Is it about Frank and James,” she might as well try, “Come on, I know what kind of circles the Slytherins run in, they know all about this kind of stuff.”
She was certain Juliet would kill her for suggesting her brother was a Death Eater, but Emmeline, quite frankly, did not give a damn, as long as she was able to work some sort of information out of him.
It didn’t take very long for Caradoc’s smug smirk to drop and become replaced with a very straight, stone one. This girl was so incredibly annoying, and really, she was beginning to ruin his good mood. His eye gave an unnecessary twitch as he continued to regard Emmeline, as if still trying to totally figure her out.
Though, he found it hard to control his inner emotions as she made a rather, straight forward suggestion about a certain unspoken something. No, the whole bloody reason he had come here was because--- it took a lot of his self-will to not frown deep with an angry sigh, or better yet simply turn his wand on her.
“So then maybe you’re missing something,” Caradoc gritted through his teeth, holding back a sneer. Hell, if she wasn’t going to be civil about this, then he as sure hell wasn’t. His younger sister needed to make new friends; he didn’t like the ones she had now. “I don’t think Juliet would appreciate finding out that her best friend accused her one and only older brother of being a Death Eater, especially since she’s had enough trauma in her life from the past two weeks.” He sent her a low glare, as if trying to hide behind the information he had just ‘slipped.’ “Why would you want to cause more drama in her life right now?”
Hell, just because she was pissing him off, there was no chance in hell he was going to tell her anything about Potter or Longbottom. Not that he would have in the beginning, but at least he could have teased her with dangling something above her head. “In fact, I think it’s an offense to wrongly accuse someone of something like that, simply because of their house during their school days.”
His new expression was all Emmeline needed. Her smirk widened and all of a sudden, a wave of relief passed through her. Oh, she really had no idea if this man was a Death Eater, but now, now she was quite sure that he was in possession of some knowledge about Frank and James (which would lead her to believe he was a Death Eater, but if he was helping out her cousin, she did not give a damn). She felt giddy that he could possibly know, that she was sure he knew. Hell, she wanted to kiss the man for being so dumb as to actually react to her comments.
She took a step closer to him, noticing that he was a lot taller than her and not feeling at all small or insignificant. Her grin was the closest to an actual happy, satisfied smile. If he went and told Juliet about her accusations (which she could get away with, since she never really specified what she meant), Emmeline would simply deal with the consequences. All that mattered was Frank, right now.
“Gosh, Mister Dearborn,” she said, tilting her head and letting her hair fall prettily over her shoulder, “You’ve just made my day.”
Yes, Juliet needed new friends. She needed to dump this, this-- this girl and start befriending people who would not make him feel, make him feel incompetent. No one made him feel like this-- ever. And Caradoc had taken pride in that fact for many, many years. But now, now this bloody, fucking--- this sixteen-year-old had squashed him, made him feel like a bloody first year Hufflepuff or, or even-- this wasn’t over, this wasn’t over at all. Feeling sick by her sweet look, Caradoc squinted his eyes into two slits and took a large step back away from her.
He refused to admit he had just lost to some, some--- no, it was impossible. She had known something else, he had been missing a part of this equation the whole time. She had known more than him going into this, that was the only explanation. He had not acted stupidly, she had just known what to look for. There was no way he could have-- his previous emotions certainly hadn’t gotten the best of him. No, no. Though, he would have to watch himself more. There wasn’t room to slip up, and he had no intention to do so.
“You better watch yourself, Miss. Vance. Hide that pretty little head of yours if you know what’s good for you.”
“Oh, you think I’m pretty?” Emmeline asked, using that higher pitched voice from earlier. She let out a giggle and tossed her hair over her shoulders, feeling as if she could take over the world. Man, this had been so incredibly easy, Frank and James would be home within the week…not that she knew what Caradoc had told the Headmaster, but if he’d gotten so riled up about it, then their return would surely be soon.
With another grin, she patted his chest, “I’ve got to go to class now, I’ll tell Juliet you said hello, okay?”
Her fingers waggled in an annoying good-bye wave, and she hurried up the steps to the entrance hall, grinning almost maniacally.
