meredith watkins is in love with a killer (merewrites) wrote in find_horcruxes, @ 2009-10-08 18:59:00 |
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"So I see you haven't written an article with my name plastered all over it yet," Edward called out to his sister as he flopped onto the couch in Meredith's living room, several biscuits in his hand. He'd have to thank Greta or Addie (or both? He was never sure who was feeding him whenever he stopped by) for it later, because those biscuits were probably the best he'd ever had. Edward was glad that he and Meredith were getting along again, because even though he wouldn't admit to it, he was lonely when they were fighting. He hadn't always felt closest to Meredith, out of his three siblings. Never Ida, no; she was older, and by the time he was old enough to walk and talk, Ida was playing with dolls and doing things that she claimed boys weren't allowed to do. And Lawrence was younger enough that Edward often didn't know what to do with him, leaving him and Meredith in the middle. It wasn't always easy, but he wouldn't have it any other way. "Can't tell you how relieved I am," he continued, "but maybe it'd be a good idea to use me as an example, what with my date today and all. See, I'm not completely hopeless after all! Take that, Mum!" Meredith smiled, holding her own biscuits in her hand as she sat cross-legged on the armchair. "I'm not going to tell you when I write it! Your name isn't going to be on it. We can't use real names if we're using real-life examples in them." Not that she was told this fact. She just picked up on it from what she heard around the office. She supposedly wasn't expected to write yet but she had gotten at least a tiny little column, at least. It was something. She preferred this as well over fighting. Silent treatments were the worst. If they were fighting, at least there be actual verbal arguing. She could handle that properly. Of course, Edward always knew a way to win her over even if she stubbornly thought she was right -- all he had to do was mention his Auror position and how at the next crime scene, he might never return home and that was enough to give Meredith the wibbling chin and an imagination before she apologized and begged him not to ever mention it again. "Or do you want me to include your name in it and put in 'take that, Mum' as well?" "No!" Edward squawked, eyes growing wide with horror. "God, no! She'd kill me in my sleep!" Which was an exaggeration, but what their mother would do would most likely make Edward wish he was dead. He knew she meant well and that she just loved her children very much, but he was still young enough to be mortified by her on a regular basis. He stuffed a biscuit in his mouth, continuing to speak despite the full mouth. "Or she'd make me bring Miriam over straight away, and neither of us want that, because then I'd just remind her that Barty hasn't been over yet and you've been seeing him a lot longer. You can't win that one, Mere. Trust me." He paused to chew. "Maybe you should just write something up and put it on Judith's desk over and over again until she puts it in." Meredith laughed at his shocked look. She like doing things to intentionally put that look on his face. Though several times, she's done it without really intending to do it. Like all the times she wore something that didn't really cover a lot. "I sense potential blackmail material. Brilliant!" Of course, her merriment dropped when he mentioned inviting Barty over. "No," she said sternly. As much as she loved her family, what she and Barty were having was an amazing thing and she had no intentions of ruining it because her parents end up scaring him away, especially Mum and her speeches of the future. When was she going to learn that Meredith wasn't the plan-so-far-ahead-and-make-everything-br "Don't even try it," Edward told his sister in a low, vaguely threatening voice that Meredith would know wasn't actually very threatening at all. Unless, of course, she decided to go through with it. "I've got plenty on you, too, you know." That was probably the best reason to stay close to Meredith: they both knew way too much about one another and knew that if one of them snitched about something, or said something they shouldn't (like in the aftermath of Frank and Alice's wedding, for example), the other would always be able to retaliate. Edward snorted. "Don't look so sour, Mere," he said, rolling his eyes. "I wouldn't tell her a thing." Not again, at any rate. "It's probably for the best, honestly. As long as she stays hooked on Ida's love life, we're safe." "What about Lawrence's?" Meredith raised an eyebrow accompanying it with a sneaky smile. "We need to find out when is their Hogsmeade weekend, because we just have to find out who he's seeing." She purposely ignored the memory of the day that Edward had told her that - how it was also the day of the King's Cross attack. "But I say we should also get Ida to bring home this bloke she must be seeing. I'm sure she's seeing someone. She acts so aloof like her mind is preoccupied by someone and she smiles randomly like she just thought of something between them!" "Bet there'll be one before Halloween," he mused, remembering how that Hogsmeade weekend was usually one of the first, and one of the best, too. He would always return to the castle with his pockets stuff with candy... but that was fairly usual no matter what time of year it was. "I'd be up for some stealthy sibling stalking if you are." Edward grinned at Meredith, looking devious. He knew that she wouldn't be able to resist tormenting their little brother. He didn't get to as often as Edward would have liked, now that he was out of Hogwarts. "If there is someone, I bet he'll be with her. Hogsmeade dates were always popular. And if he's there, we'll be there. He'll hate us for it." "Oh, he'll get over it." The idea was super tempting and it was just pulling her in. Edward knew it too, she sensed, but she couldn't hate him for it when she was really planning on doing exactly that. "In some years, he'll learn we were just looking out for him. Like we're supposed to." "And speaking of dates..." Meredith tilted her head and narrowed her eyes, regarding Edward in a curious manner. He likely would know what was coming. "How did the date go and was I completely right in guiding you that way?" Something told Edward that their brother wouldn't be as understanding as Meredith thought, especially if they interrupted him like Edward wanted to. Oh, he wouldn't ruin the date (if there was one) or even take the piss out of Lawrence in front of a girl he fancied, but he would definitely make sure that Lawrence knew that they knew and would be asking him about it later. Edward scrunched up his face, narrowing his eyes at his sister. He should have known that was coming. Meredith was nothing if not nosy when it came to him and his love life. "Yeah, yeah," he huffed, stretching his legs out in front of him. "You were right. As always." Edward gave her an annoyed look, but a second later, his expression relaxed again, shifting into a shy, bemused smile. "I think it was good, and that's all I'm telling you." "I'm not asking for details on what you did!" Meredith visibly scrunched up her nose in disgust. Hey, if he never wanted to know what she and Barty did past "date", she didn't want to hear anything from him either. "But is there the prospect of a second date?" "Good, because I'm not giving any!" Not that there would be anything to say, but Meredith didn't need to know that. If Meredith wanted to assume that she would be grossed out by what happened, that was her own choice. Edward snorted lightly. The funny thing was, there was nothing about the date that had been at all something Meredith would find uncomfortable. He shrugged. "Don't know. Maybe." Honestly, Edward had no idea if Miriam would be interested. He was concerned that the date had been too friend-like, and not romantic enough, and if she just saw him as a friend, then... Edward's face contorted into a slight frown as he thought it over. Did he even want there to be anything romantic? Was that even a smart idea, considering the world they were living in? "Do we have to talk about this?" he asked, looking uncomfortable as he shifted on the sofa. Meredith's eyebrows shot up in surprise. It was highly unlikely of her to let something go right away. Even if she dropped the subject in the meantime, it would stay on her mind and eventually, she was going to bring it up at a later time. Usually whenever she felt like it. That's exactly what she was going to do now. "So I'm going to be going as Queen of Spades to the ball." Thank God, Edward thought, relief spreading through his body as Meredith wisely changed the subject. He really didn't want to go over his date again; he'd been over it in his head several times since saying good bye to Miriam, and every time, he ended up reminding himself that he'd made it awkward at the end. It took Edward a moment to realise what ball Meredith was talking about, and then his eyes widened in surprise... and a lot of concern. A large public gathering was not something Edward thought was wise in the current political climate, but the Minister was set on the idea no matter how foolish anyone else thought it was. "You're going?" he asked, sounding far from enthusiastic about the idea. "That's... good. I have no idea what I'm going to be." "Of course I'm going! Do you think I'd turn it down after Barty asked me so publicly?" At the mention of his name, and the thought of the entry where he asked her brought a slight smile to her face that she had to keep it from turning into a goofier one. She'd been doing that a lot lately. Despite trying to keep Regulus' warning in mind, she really liked Barty. "No," Edward replied quickly, wishing that she would. He didn't trust the idea of the masquerade, but they had no evidence to suggest that anything was amiss. All he had was his instinct, and a heavy dose of paranoia. "I swear I won't follow you around this time," he added, his tone lighter -- but definitely forced. Meredith knew he hadn't intentionally followed her at the wedding, but he didn't want her to think he would do it at all. "But that doesn't mean I won't leave you alone completely. Can't do that. Just in case." Meredith scowled. She was lucky, really, to have a protective brother. And she knew that, honestly. But that didn't mean it wasn't annoying. "Barty will be with me! Do you think he's going to let anything happen to me? Especially with YOU probably giving him your usual I'm-watching-you-all-the-time look?" She didn't know if her parents were going. But the last thing she wanted to do was avoid her entire family at once. That was too many to watch out for when you were supposed to be having fun. It wasn't that Edward thought Barty was incapable of protecting Meredith. It was just... Edward thought he would do a better job. "I'm the Auror," Edward huffed, pursing his lips and furrowing his eyebrows. He was struggling to bite back the rest of the thoughts in his head, and it was barely working. He hadn't stopped by to fight with Meredith that evening; he'd just wanted a relaxing night in with his sister, catching up and making fun of each other. "I'm not going to watch all of the time," he insisted, "which is sort of what I just said. But I can't tell you I'll pretend you don't even exist, which I'm sure you'd love. I just can't do that." She wouldn't be able to stop that from happening, but so long as he didn't bother either of them, Meredith would be fine with it. "Then watch from far, please. I don't want Barty intimidated." He was an eager-to-please guy that would end up stammering nervously if one thing went amiss. She didn't want to end up being the consoling girlfriend that night. Except... he hadn't asked her to be his girlfriend, she realized, when she thought about it. She had it pass her mind before but she only thought they'd need a little more time, but it had been at least a month now. "Fine." Edward waved a hand dismissively at her. "Whatever you say. I'm not out to sabotage your relationship," he pointed out, "no matter what you might think. I just --" 'Want to make sure you're safe.' He sighed and shook his head. Why could she never understand that? That he was looking out for her because it was his job, not just as her older brother but as an Auror, and that it wasn't because he wanted to ruin her life like fourteen-year-old Meredith would have thought? "Can we go back to making fun of me now?" he asked abruptly. "I know how much you love doing that." Meredith would never understand, this was true. As far as she knew, she could watch over herself. And she had absolutely nothing to fear while around Barty. But she wasn't going to argue the whole night long with him either. She grabbed another cookie from the plate next to the couch and tossed one at him as she started to divulge in memories of his most embarrassing moment. |