InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Will you marry me Shadow?"

Alice (inadvertently) wrote in expresslogs,
@ 2012-08-24 23:37:00

Entry tags:

alice longbottom, {neville longbottom

Snap-pop
Characters: Alice, Neville
When: post-arrival
Location: outside Neville's room
Warnings/Rating: None anticipated?
Summary: Alice sees a familiar name in an unfamiliar place, and is curious
Status: Complete

It was uncanny, but it wasn't the first time she'd accidentally floo'd herself somewhere she didn't mean to go. It didn't happen terribly often, but often enough it was a bit of a joke among her closer friends. So she rolled her eyes and turned to face the fireplace only to find no Floo powder present. Well, bugger that. With a shrug, she withdrew her wand to apparate herself back to somewhere familiar only to find that she couldn't.

Well. This was a muddle, wasn't it? No flooing, no apparating. Which left flying -- if she'd had a broom -- or walking. Exhaling heavily (despite the fact she seemed to be alone with no witnesses to her exasperation), Alice turned to make her way along the train. She started toward the front (well, what she assumed was the front, given the motion), and she moved as though she had every bit of business being there. She offered nods to anyone who happened to catch her eye, but until she had the feel of this situation, she was going to work it on her own, thank you very much.

When she reached some cars that appeared to be sleepers, she quirked a brow. She did notice names that looked neatly painted (or somehow imprinted) onto the doors, and she lifted her hand to trace one. The next name over caught her attention, and her brows lifted. If it wasn't for the wrong middle initial, she would have knocked -- but the Lily she knew was a Lily Belle, not a Lily L. All the same, it was yet another uncanny thing about the evening.

As she continued on through the car, she kept a close eye on the names. The next familiar one was Percy Weasley, and she recognized that last name, too. So far, a couple dozen names, and two of them familiar. Unsettled, she continued along, moving easily between the cars.

The next familiar name she came across caused her to do a double-take, and she very nearly tripped over her own feet. Neville? How on Earth was her infant son here? It had to be ... some other Neville. Longbottom. Because that was a horribly common name. Perplexed, she lifted a hand before she stopped herself.

Could it be a trap? It was possible. Things were getting very intense, after all. But was it likely? She'd been here for a solid five minutes, and no Death Eaters had leapt out at her. But ... she couldn't not knock. The worst that happened was ... well, some bloke who shared her son's name answered the door, she had a moment or two of awkward conversation, and she continued on with her dogged pursuit of answers.

Lifting her hand the rest of the way, she rapped sharply twice on the door, and awaited a response.

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inadvertently
2012-09-02 07:41 pm UTC (link)

While Alice couldn't -- and wouldn't -- argue that most Death Eaters weren't of Slytherin, they weren't the only ones who wound up as Death Eaters, and there were plenty of Slytherins who didn't venture that way. Maybe in his time through school, things had progressed that way, or gotten to that point. The prejudices had always been present, of course, and Slytherin had very, very few positive associations, and it perhaps wasn't a surprise. Maybe something about how the war had turned out had perpetuated and strengthened that mentality among the wizarding community.

It wasn't a very cheerful thought.

She also wasn't going to ask who a Slytherin had killed, because entirely too many possibilities came to mind. Her? Frank? Members of their family, of the Order? No, she'd rather not know just yet.

"Well, I won't say they're all sunshine and roses, and I don't know how things were in your time," she admitted. Maybe they were worse.

"You wouldn't have been the first to have an accident learning to fly," Alice replied. "And potions aren't for everyone." She was a little curious about the professors mocking him; that didn't seem right. Not in the least. Her brow furrowed, and she wondered if he'd always lacked self-confidence. How had that come about? She and Frank wouldn't have let it happen. They would have supported him and encouraged him, and ensured he entered the world with all the confidence they could instill in him. So what had gone wrong?

The obvious answer was that ... she hadn't raised him. So she was dead, and ... who would have taken him in? Frank's mother? Her lips thinned into a grim line, because that would explain at least some of it. "You're not pathetic, Neville," Alice said firmly. "You're my son, and you are not pathetic."

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not_nobody
2012-09-03 04:22 am UTC (link)

Neville just kind of shrugged at that. He wasn't good at taking compliments - probably coming from a childhood where he hadn't gotten many. And plus, she was saying that because she was his mom, and also because she didn't know him.

He wasn't evil, and with Dumbledore's Army, and everything that had followed, he wasn't as pathetic as he had been...but he still wasn't Harry, and knew that - at best - he was an average wizard. He wasn't as talented as his parents, as his grandmother had always told him growing up. And even though she'd said just a few months ago that they'd be proud of him for what he'd done in the Battle of Hogwarts...well, the years of telling him how ashamed they'd be just didn't wash away that easily.

"Slytherins..." he trailed off, not knowing how to explain it. "Well...when I was at Hogwarts, all the trouble we ever had came from that house. And there was a bloody lot of trouble."

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inadvertently
2012-09-03 05:33 am UTC (link)

Her lips pursed slightly, but one thing at a time. She'd work her way through the train, and then she'd tackle the matter of her son and figure out what had gone so badly wrong.

"Oh, I won't deny their house was the source of the worst of it," Alice replied with a lightness she didn't entirely feel. "But they were never the only source of it." She didn't like how dark his life was starting to sound.

Later though -- tomorrow, or the next day -- she'd start gathering up the pieces to try to put them together into something like a picture. She doubted she was going to like what it turned out to be, though. Still, she'd never shied away from anything like that before, and just because she was stuck on a bloody train didn't mean she was going to start avoiding it now.

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not_nobody
2012-09-04 03:26 am UTC (link)

Neville shrugged a little at that. There was never only one source of evil, and in that war it had seemed to come from everywhere at once. But mainly from Slytherin. Or ex-Slytherins. Maybe it was unfair to blame them entirely, but it was hard to keep from doing it, too.

"Well, that's all over now for the most part, anyway," he said. "We're just...cleaning up now, you know? Making sure there's nobody out there who's going to...start things up again."

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inadvertently
2012-09-04 11:26 am UTC (link)

"Right," Alice replied. Except, that never was the case, was it? There was always going to be someone who wanted to start things. Leaders had followers, and followers sometimes had ambition -- and it only took one spark to light a fire. But that hardly seemed worth mentioning just now, so Alice held her tongue.

While she was curious about the years between, she wasn't ready to ask yet. So she lapsed into silence as she followed along with him, content enough to engage in small talk or talk about the train as she was toured around.

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	not_nobody 2012-09-04 04:48 pm UTC (link)
	[OOC: Shall we fade, and start another one after she finds out some stuff? :)] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	orientexpress 2012-09-04 05:52 pm UTC (link)
	((Sounds good! Pls ignore journal; am at lunch )) (Reply to this) (Parent)

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