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Tweak says, "ouch charley! that really hurt"

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

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.

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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.

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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!"

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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?"

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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."

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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."

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