Tweak

InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Ed bakes with shortening."

Username: 
Password:    
Remember Me
  • Create Account
  • IJ Login
  • OpenID Login
Search by : 
  • View
    • Create Account
    • IJ Login
    • OpenID Login
  • Journal
    • Post
    • Edit Entries
    • Customize Journal
    • Comment Settings
    • Recent Comments
    • Manage Tags
  • Account
    • Manage Account
    • Viewing Options
    • Manage Profile
    • Manage Notifications
    • Manage Pictures
    • Manage Schools
    • Account Status
  • Friends
    • Edit Friends
    • Edit Custom Groups
    • Friends Filter
    • Nudge Friends
    • Invite
    • Create RSS Feed
  • Asylums
    • Post
    • Asylum Invitations
    • Manage Asylums
    • Create Asylum
  • Site
    • Support
    • Upgrade Account
    • FAQs
    • Search By Location
    • Search By Interest
    • Search Randomly

Lucy Spinks ([info]addingvalue) wrote in [info]finnigans_rpg,
@ 2014-09-01 20:07:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:character: hannah abbott, character: lucy spinks, character: susan bones, status: complete

Express Day
Who: Lucy and OPEN.
What: Lucy's having a nostalgic moment.
Where: The Leaky Cauldron (at least to begin with).
When: Monday, 6pmish.
Rating: SFW.

It was barely a week since Lucy had last been on Diagon Alley. Then, she'd been directed towards Finnigan's, stood outside it for about twenty minutes and then fled. It was just too strange, that it had been opened by someone who'd been in her own school year. It had been too personal a connection to part of her life she thought she'd left behind her.

Then on Monday morning on her way to work she'd seen a tiny blonde girl holding tight to an adults hand - trying to get a caged owl into the lifts at Tufnell Park station. September 1st hadn't been a significant day in Lucy's life for years, but just seeing that she knew what it must mean. The Hogwarts Express would be waiting at King's Cross... All day, Lucy had been trying to distract herself from memories of Susan, Justin, Ernie and Hannah all crowded into one train compartment, talking over one another in their eagerness to share what they'd been doing over the holidays.

So now here she was again, standing in the courtyard of The Leaky Cauldron. She hadn't brought her wand with her, hadn't had any reason to think she would need it when she'd left the house. Part of her wondered whether she'd have been able to activate the doorway even if she did have it. She'd been standing there alone for five minutes when the door to the Leaky behind her opened and Lucy stepped aside, not wanting to be in the way.


(Post a new comment)


[info]ex_tonicandg693
2014-09-01 07:32 pm UTC (link)
Hannah had traded shifts with another at the Health Centre so she could be at the Leaky Cauldron today. The beginning and end of terms were always busy for the pub and she did worry about her uncle, even if he insisted that he was as healthy as a hippogryff. It wasn't that she didn't believe him, but it was just for her piece of mind that she'd spent most of her day there,

The crowd was winding down, however. In fact, most of it had been gone before the late lunch crowd had even tucked in for their meal, but she'd hemmed and hawed about leaving just yet. By six, though, she'd run out of little projects to do and her uncle was getting that look in his eye that indicated he would sooner throw her out on her ear than listen to her fuss any longer. He was a dear man, just grumpy, but her feet were killing her and Hannah knew when to admit defeat.

"Excuse me," she stepped around the young woman standing in the back courtyard that was the entrance to Diagon. "Are you waiting to be let through?" Most muggles wouldn't be in Diagon by now, the mediwitch thought to herself, what with the children on the train and it much to early for owls home with lists of things forgotten and desperately needed.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]addingvalue
2014-09-01 07:58 pm UTC (link)
"Uh." In that moment, Lucy wished she hadn't come at all. It was all so awkward, and she didn't belong here anymore. Hadn't for years. Wasn't, in all honesty, sure she ever had. "Not exactly." She didn't know what to say. Presumably, real witches didn't leave their wands at home, tucked safely into an old school trunk with a journal they hadn't asked for and didn't intend to look at ever again.

Frustrated with herself, Lucy tugged at sleeve of her jumper. "I don't have my wand. I haven't - hadn't - been here in years and then this morning I saw this little girl with a Hogwarts trunk and an owl and I just..." She stopped, already wishing she hadn't said all that. It was stupid, so stupid to be here. What was she hoping for, that she'd find her old friends and they'd somehow still be as tightly knit as they'd once been? It didn't work that way. Even Lucy's sisters weren't still hanging out with their school friends. Everyone had probably moved on.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]ex_tonicandg693
2014-09-01 08:11 pm UTC (link)
Hannah tilted her head slightly, observing the woman's profile in front of her. She was nervous, that much was obvious, and Hannah didn't need her background in healing to see that. "The first of September always has that nostalgia, doesn't it?" she said cheerfully, turning fully to face the other woman. "Lucy!" she gasped, a large grin spreading across her face.

"Lucy Spinks I hardly recognized you." Stepping back, Hannah took in the whole sight. "Oh, you look lovely." Much better than her own rumpled and slightly stained clothes, tragic casualties to a day serving at the pub. "How have you been? Are you well? Oh, you just have to come to Finnigan's with me and get a drink. I'm sure everyone would love to see you!"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]addingvalue
2014-09-01 08:23 pm UTC (link)
Despite the fact that Lucy had spent most of her day thinking of her old friends, she honestly hadn't recognised Hannah. Probably because she'd been remembering them all as they'd been at fourteen. "I... Hannah?" Her smile was shy, overwhelmed by the coincidence of meeting one of the very people she'd been thinking about. Impulsively, she stepped forward and then stopped just short of pulling Hannah into a hug. "This is unreal..."

She looked at Hannah quietly for a long moment. She looked older, grown up, but still very much like Hannah. She shook her head. "Finnigan's." Again. Could Hannah have sent that journal? But she hadn't seemed to expect Lucy... Before she could ask, something else caught her attention. "Everyone?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]ex_tonicandg693
2014-09-01 08:34 pm UTC (link)
If Hannah noticed the fact that Lucy stopped short of offering a hug, she said nothing. Instead she offered another smile. "Well may it's a little bit of magic," she offered, taking out her wand and tapping out the familiar pattern to open the way to Diagon.

Stepped forward, she turned back to her old school friend. "Well, maybe not everyone as people's schedules vary from day to day and while I'm good, I'm not that good that I have everyone's daily schedule memorized, but someone should be there. If not, that's okay. I'll get you a pint and we'll catch up." Hannah was anxious to hear what Lucy had been up to. She was so very glad to see the other young woman. After their seventh year she had been so afraid that Lucy had been killed. She'd even gone through a sort of mourning for her friend.

But it was like seeing a ghost, but better than that, as Lucy was very much alive.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]addingvalue
2014-09-01 08:51 pm UTC (link)
Lucy followed Hannah through the doorway and into Diagon Alley, still tying to process. She knew magic didn't work like that, but it did seem almost as if somehow wishing had made it so. "A pint sounds good," she agreed, thinking she could really do with one right now while simultaneously amazed that they were both old enough to legally drink now. "But who is everyone?" she pressed. "I know Justin..." He'd written to her a few times after the war, his owl finding her even though her parents had moved house.

She'd never sought out details of the war after she'd left. Part of her didn't want to know, wanted to leave her memories of her friends pristine and not have to hear who had fought, or been caught, or died.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]ex_tonicandg693
2014-09-01 09:00 pm UTC (link)
Hannah linked her arm through Lucy's as she guided the other through the still bustling street of Diagon, soon turning them onto Monument Alley. "Well Justin, Susan, and Ernie, of course. Megan, if she's not busy with her store. Wayne should be along sooner or later."

There War had been long and difficult, but they'd managed to rebuild their lives. Now Lucy was back and that would make it a little bit easier.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]addingvalue
2014-09-01 09:19 pm UTC (link)
As Hannah listed off the names of Lucy's old friends, Lucy couldn't help but smile. "That... really is everyone." It was like stepping back in time. "I didn't think you'd all still spend much time together. I figured everyone would be off doing their own thing." Magical means of travel probably make it easier than it had been for Lucy's sisters. After Jenny left Sheffield she'd had to find a whole new social group or else spend every weekend travelling back and forth.

"So tell me about Finnigan's. You're the third person that's mentioned it to me in the last few months." Technically one of those 'people' had been a bit of parchment, but Lucy wasn't going to split hairs.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]ex_tonicandg693
2014-09-01 11:14 pm UTC (link)
Hannah blinked. Not spend time with her friends? But they were the family she'd never had. "Of course we all have our own careers, but somehow Justin, Ernie, and I all ended up in healing, though we each have our own specialty, so there's always time to talk about work with others who understand. As for everyone else, we make it work."

She gave Lucy a slightly sorrowful look. "With my mum gone you guys were all I had. I wouldn't have let you go for the world."

They continued along until they got to the pub. "It attracts a slightly younger crowd the Leaky and hosts all sorts of clubs and events. Seamus Finnigan, he was a Gryffindor in our year if you don't remember, is an absolute doll owns and runs it."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]addingvalue
2014-09-02 07:55 pm UTC (link)
Lucy smiled, her mind full of questions. What were Megan and Susan doing? And Wayne? She couldn't ask them all at once, so she kept quiet, her arm still linked with Hannah's. She wasn't going to let her go until she'd found out everything. "That's amazing," she said again, unable to think of any other word for it.

She squeezed Hannah's arm briefly, feeling a flash of guilt that she had left them behind so easily. It had seemed safest, most sensible. Why go back to a world she couldn't defend herself in, even though the war was supposedly over? "I sort of remember, him and his friend."

As they stepped into Finnigan's, Lucy looked around. The crowd did seem to be younger than that she'd found in the Leaky. She gripped a little harder at Hannah's hand, as if afraid everyone was going to turn around and stare... It was irrational, but she felt like it must be obvious she'd been gone for so long. "It's nice," she forced herself to say. "Busy."

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]susanamybones
2014-09-03 03:06 am UTC (link)
Wizengamot hearings were going to be the death of Susan, or at the very least the catalyst that would push her over the edge of alcoholism. Her heels clicking, she marched up to the bar with a single minded intensity and ordered two firewhiskeys. Ignoring the speculative looks her outfit earned her, she downed one of the glasses in a single gulp, and smacked it down on the bar. "Thanks," she said, laying down a tip, before taking the second glass and looking around the bar.

"Hannah," she called questioningly as she spotted her friend standing with someone vaguely familiar. "Hi," she said, walking over and kissing her friend on the cheeks before turning to the other woman. "I'm sorry, I feel I should know who you are but I've had a horrid day at the Wizengamot, so please forgive me for forgetting."

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]addingvalue
2014-09-05 08:30 am UTC (link)
Again, it took Lucy a moment to recognise her old friends now that they were all grown up - but this time something in the way Hannah and Susan interacted seemed to provide the hint she needed. "Susan?" Her eyes were drawn down to Susan's outfit and she raised an eyebrow. It was a far cry from their Hogwarts robes.

"It's Lucy. Spinks. From school?" It felt ridiculous to add the clarification. Surely Susan wouldn't have forgotten her? They'd lived in the same dormitory for six years, it wasn't an easy thing to forget. She offered a smile which seemed to run away from her, widening into a grin. Her friends were all here and still alive and even seemed to be thriving.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]susanamybones
2014-09-05 12:14 pm UTC (link)
"Lucy," Susan said slowly, staring transfixed at the woman in front of her. "Lucy, for Merlin's sake!" With a cry, she gathered her long lost friend up in her arms.

"How have you been," she asked, leaning back to examine her. "Where have you been? I mean, you didn't appear on any of the known casualties list after the war, so we assumed you survived, but Godric!"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]addingvalue
2014-09-06 01:32 pm UTC (link)
Lucy was only too happy to hug Susan in return, though she had to reach up a little to do so. She laughed - it was so strange to hear people say things like 'Merlin's sake' again. "I've been fine. Good!" Mostly good, anyway. Lucy liked her life, and if it felt like there was something missing, well. She tried to ignore it, to be grateful for what she did have.

Where she had been was a more difficult question to answer - because it came with the implied 'why didn't you come back?'. "I stayed in Sheffield for a few years, working. Then I moved to London for a proper office job." She looked up, feeling guilty once more. "How've you been?" she asked, to deflect attention.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]susanamybones
2014-09-07 02:37 am UTC (link)
Susan held her old friend tightly, delighted to see her again. "I'm so glad! How are your sisters? Have they forgiven you for going away to Hogwarts yet?"

She felt her eyebrows shoot up. "You worked? In the Muggle world? What did you confund someone in the Ministry for Education into giving you some A-Levels? What job do you have?" Seeing an expression made of equal parts guilt and embarrassment cross Lucy's face, Susan delicately let the matter drop. "I've been good actually, really good!" She led Susan and Hannah over to a free table and ordered them each a drink. "I'm an Auror now - a dark Wizard catcher you know."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]addingvalue
2014-09-07 04:55 pm UTC (link)
"They're good," Lucy said, her face lighting up as she talked about her sisters. "I'm living with Jennifer and some of her friends. She's a hairdresser so I never have to worry about booking an appointment for a trim. Katie's teaching, which came as a surprise to no one, and Alison's working as a waitress at the moment." She gave a slight shrug at Susan's question. "I think so. They were glad to have me back."

Lucy frowned because of course she'd worked. What else was she going to have done for years? Her parents weren't rich enough to support her while she did nothing. "I... sort of used my sister's name for a while. But then I had a good reference from the shop I was in and my current employers never checked for GCSE results." Her frown only deepened when Susan explained her job. "You catch dark wizards?" She couldn't imagine why anyone who'd lived through what they did would want more of it.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]susanamybones
2014-09-07 05:51 pm UTC (link)
Susan smiled encouragingly as Lucy as she talked lovingly about her sisters. Personally, Susan had always found herself having a less than positive view on the other Spinks sisters, owing mostly to the fact that they made Lucy - in Susan's opinion - feel horrible about 'abandoning them' and joining the Wizarding world. It was utterly unfair, but Susan had always had a suspicion that perhaps if her parents and sisters had been more accepting of her magical identity, that perhaps Susan wouldn't have struggled quite so much. "Well that's excellent! I'm glad they're all doing so well. Although I'm slightly flabbergasted that you avoided snatchers during the war? Justin was taken from inside his parents house!"

She tilted her head and smiled winsomely in acknowledgement of Lucy's slightly offended expression. "That was uh, very crafty of you really. I suppose confunding someone or placing them under a suadeantus jinx would have been a tad risky?" She lifted an eyebrow as Lucy's frown intensified. "I do. I work in the Office of the Aurors Chevaliers within the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. I won't let anyone else's family suffer as much as mine did at the hand of the dark."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]addingvalue
2014-09-09 04:16 pm UTC (link)
"Snatchers?" Lucy had been so cut off from the war that she had really very little idea of what had been involved. She knew Justin had been imprisoned from his letters to her, but she'd known none of the details. "I don't know why they didn't find me. I didn't do any magic, my parents moved house after fifth year and I never knew if I was supposed to tell someone at Hogwarts..." Perhaps there had just been no record of her address left in the magical world. Or perhaps they'd only tried to sense people who had some degree of magical power - something Lucy was all but convinced she'd barely had and had almost certainly lost.

She placed a hand on Susan's arm as she talked about her family. She'd been at school when it had happened, she hadn't forgotten. "It's very brave of you," she said honestly. "I couldn't do it."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]susanamybones
2014-09-11 10:57 am UTC (link)
Susan felt her eyebrows shoot up, as she shook her head in wonderment. "You really did flee the magical world, didn't you," she said, shaking her head. "Well it may have been for the best. To answer your question, the Snatchers were groups of bounty hunters tasked under the auspices of the Muggle-born Registration Commission to hunt down and capture or kill any Muggle-born witches and wizards. They got Justin actually, poor thing." She smiled and patted Lucy on the hand. "Not telling the Ministry your new address may have saved your life, darling."

She smiled at the earnest tone of Lucy's voice. "Thank you, but if I don't stand and fight then I can't expect anyone else to do it for me."

"So, tell me more about your work," she said, leaning forward in interest.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]addingvalue
2014-09-12 11:05 am UTC (link)
Lucy felt another stab of guilt that she'd managed to escape so easily. She was glad of it, she'd left the magical world in part because the events of her sixth year had proved to her that she'd be utterly unable to defend herself against those who wanted her gone. She wondered what she was doing back. The war was over, yes, but she still didn't deserve to be here, benefitting from the fighting everyone else had done in her absence. A look at Susan and Hannah's faces gave the distinct impression that now they'd found her, they weren't going to let her go easily.

All in all, it was easier just to talk about her work, leaving the rest of the conversation to fade. She told Susan about Variety - the charity she worked for. About the wheelchairs they provided, and their coaches that took Special Needs children to activities that would be out of reach otherwise. She talked a bit about what she did in the office, balancing the books and making sure the payments went to the right people. Though obviously enthusiastic about her job, she was still reserved - holding back on the details of her personal life. "How long has this place been open?" she asked when she'd covered the basics.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]susanamybones
2014-09-12 03:16 pm UTC (link)
She watched an expression of intense guilt cross Lucy's expression, and tilted her head slightly. "It's all in the past now anyway," she said lightly. "We're in the midst of a baby boom and a cultural renaissance, and dark wizards are getting less blood-crazy and more just comfortably crazy-crazy."

"That sounds amazing actually," she said enthusiastically. "You should set up a meeting with Alicia, her charity is excellent as well! Although you may have read some of her entries in your journal? Anyway, I'm so glad you're happy." She gestured around vaguely. "Oh a couple of years. Seamus inherited the place from his Uncle, and when the Department of Rejuvenation decided to cleanse Knockturn Alley and turn it into a reputable shopping street, he reopened. It's a bit less stuffy than the Leaky Cauldron, more popular with the young crowd."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]addingvalue
2014-09-16 11:14 am UTC (link)
Looking around, Lucy could see what Susan meant about a younger crowd, and she nodded. Everything else - cultural renaissance, Alicia, Department of Rejuvenation - went over her head a little. It was too much to take in all at once, her friends being here, her friends being together and whole and... She tipped back the last of the pint Susan had bought her.

"Can I get the next round in?" she asked, before flushing slightly as she thought that through. It was instinct, to share rounds with friends, but here... "Actually, I've only got n- muggle money."

(Reply to this) (Parent)

Home | Site Map | Manage Account | TOS | Privacy | Support | FAQs