InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "NaNoWriMo has eaten my soul"

Alice Longbottom (happily_alice) wrote in beyondthepages,
@ 2010-05-15 18:16:00

Entry tags:

!complete, 2023 10, alice longbottom, dorcas meadowes

RP: Not the Right Wing
Characters: Alice, Dorcas
Time/Date: Saturday afternoon, October 15, 2023
Location: St Mungo's
Warnings/Rating: None
Summary: Alice wonders why she's in the long-term wing
Status: Complete

Alice was no stranger to St Mungo's. Her line of work had wound her here often enough - and nevermind the not exactly so long ago giving birth to her son bit. But never had she found reason to be in the Janus Thickey ward. No relatives of hers or Frank's were here, none of the Order members had been committed here.

Come to that, she wasn't sure how she'd even gotten here. She'd been in the Ministry library, looking up some apparition coordinates and then she'd blinked, and been here.

Impossible, as far as she knew.

Her eyes swept curiously over the room, but it was barren and looked as though it hadn't been occupied for a bit, so why would she even be here?

Shaking her head, Alice strolled out of the room and meandered down the hall. It was about then that she realized her wand was missing. That wasn't good. Yes, all right, she had a backup at home, but that didn't help her now.

Because how would she have lost it?

The situation was getting more and more unnerving as she started down the hall toward the lifts. Maybe she'd just Floo home and pick up her wand and just ... forget about all of this. Or maybe she could ask someone at the front desk if there'd been some sort of magic anomaly that was randomly displacing people.

Humming to herself, Alice wandered down through the Lycan ward on her way toward the front desk.

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dorcas_m
2010-05-16 03:18 am UTC (link)

All of a sudden, Cas felt very uncomfortable being the one without a child. It's not that she hadn't wanted one, not that she didn't find motherhood as her calling, it was just that she had wanted to establish herself first: get some time in on her profession, fall in love, win the war. Sure, she had Lily, Benjy, and now, Alice here, but it wasn't the same as having a child here.

Don't be ridiculous, she scolded herself. Be glad you've got friends here at all.

"I don't know what happened to Frank; I haven't seen him here, but that doesn't mean he won't show up." Cas paused, hating the news she'd have to drop. "Alice, look, I don't know how to finesse this properly, so I'm going to just have to be upfront, I suppose. Even if Frank shows up, he might not be your age. I mean, Lily's twenty-one and James is sixteen. Granted, they're the only couple I know of who were pulled forward, so that might not mean anything."

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happily_alice
2010-05-16 03:23 am UTC (link)

She shook her head to the news about Frank not being here. He had to be here, didn't he? Well, he'd show up. If James was ...

... "Sixteen?" she echoed hollowly. That would put him firmly in school and, as far as she knew, not even on Lily's dateable boy radar. She recalled Lily admitting to not dating him until ... seventh year.

What if Frank was sixteen?

Alice pressed her hands to her mouth and shook her head, closing her eyes. She'd rather be dead than have Frank be so much younger than her. "What about ... my baby. Neville," she said. "Where is he? Is he here, alive?"

What if she'd died and ... and Frank had died with her, and ... who had taken in her son? She shivered at the idea of Frank's mom raising him, though there were worse. Like Frank's brother. What if Neville had died? How had they died?

Everything she didn't know was frustrating the hell out of her, and she ached to have Frank here, his arms around her, telling her it would be fine even if it was a big fat lie and they both knew it.

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dorcas_m
2010-05-16 03:30 am UTC (link)

Well, at least she'd appeared to take it fairly well; being told you might be separated from your significant other forever was hardly an easy thought, especially when you were stranded this many years in the future.

"Neville Longbottom ... Neville Longbottom ... I think i read something about him teaching at Hogwarts. I think. I couldn't tell you where, though. He's alive, that much I know. As for Frank, he hasn't been registered with the Ministry as a returnee, and I haven't heard anyone talk about him. It doesn't mean anything, though. He might still show up. I've seen both you and Benjy reappear, and I've only been here for a month or so. He could still just show up." This was awful; Cas had no idea how to comfort Alice. Anything she could think of sounded trite, not even worthy of the air needed for the sound to travel. She and Benjy had been single and Lily had found Severus. It would only be Alice who was newly without.

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happily_alice
2010-05-16 03:34 am UTC (link)

Teaching, at Hogwarts. Well, she'd have to go look into that, she decided. See how her baby boy had turned out. She focused on the fact that Neville was here and tried not to think about the fact that Frank wasn't.

Because he could be back. He would be back. He wouldn't let her be alone for long.

Alice nodded, and decided that anything else was going to be an overwhelming information overload, so she just ... nodded a few more times. "So I should ... Ministry, right? That's where we're meant to go?"

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	dorcas_m 2010-05-16 03:37 am UTC (link)
	"Yeah. Ministry. It isn't bad, really. Bloody boring interview, and they'll set you up somewhere." Cas decided that she'd get around to telling Alice about living with Benjy, but not in that sense, and would Lily tell Alice about living with Severus in what was probably that sense now. "It gets less strange," Cas added as an afterthought."Really." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

happily_alice
2010-05-16 03:47 am UTC (link)

She suddenly had a lot more questions. Who was in charge of the Aurors now? Could she get back in? Was Moody still around? Where was everyone else who had come back? Slender fingers ran through her hair.

Wand. She had to get a wand. So she'd go put up with the Ministry, figure out what her money situation was like, get a wand and find her son, or vice-versa if all her money was with Neville now.

"I ..."

Alice forced a smile. "I'm sure it does," she said. "Get less strange."

She gazed at the formerly dead witch, and thought that it was likely she only even half-bought this was because Cas was dead. She wasn't completely sold on it, but ... what else made sense? "So ... I'll see you," she offered.

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