Mad World Mods (madworldmods) wrote in madworldrp, @ 2007-08-28 14:40:00 |
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Entry tags: | alice parker, frank longbottom |
Fralice!
LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY goaskalicee)
Who: Frank 'n' Alice
What: Impromptu meeting; Frank embarasses himself with his broom
Where: In a small clearing near the Longbottom residence
When: Backdated to this past Sunday.
Warnings: None. To be continued in thread :)
Alice had spent the majority of her morning cutting the grass in her front yard, since her father had decided to neglect all household duties as of late... so as a reward to herself she decided to grab her broomstick and floo to a small wizarding supply shop near the longbottom residence in order to pay Enid a visit and see if she wanted to go flying with her. She would have owled, but it took far too long and Alice didn't want to waste her afternoon waiting for a response, so she walked the few blocks from the location that she floo'd to, to Enid and Frank's house. Upon arriving though, she was abruptly notified by Mrs. Longbottom that both Frank and Enid we out of the house, and Alice suddenly wished that she HAD sent an owl. Instead of turning around and flooing home though, Alice decided to keep to her initial idea and headed off to a nearby field to practice some low level maneuvers, since she hadn't done so in a while, and there was a game coming up that she was taking part in.
Frank had left the house as early as he could get out of their, smuggling his broom behind him. It had been a gift from his Aunt, but he didn't want anyone to know he had it. He knew Enid, and pretty much everyone else, would mock him merciless. The darn thing refused to cooperate with him even holding it though, so for now he had it tied to a rope and he was sitting in the middle of a field, writing in his journal and the rope was tied to his ankle. The broom floated lazily beside him. As long as he didn't actually try to touch it, it behaved just fine.
As Alice came to the clearing that she had visited with Enid a few times before, she stopped walking and tilted her head to the side a bit as she noticed a figure sitting a ways off. She couldn't quite tell who it was, but she definitely caught sight of the broom hovering next to him, so she knew there was a good chance that she had just found a flying mate for the afternoon. She continued her short trek in the direction of her currently faceless companion, and as she drew closer she realized who it was. It took ever ounce of tact that she posessed not to laugh out loud at the sight of the boom tied to his ankle, and she covered her mouth with her free hand to stiffle the threatening laughter all the more. She stopped a yard or two away from him and composed herself a bit, then attempted to address him without laughing. "Do you realize there's a stick of wood attached to your leg, Sir?" She asked casually.
Frank looked up and blushed and coughed and half choked at the same time. "Ummm... My new broom," he said, reaching down for the rope to untie it from his ankle. "I-- It was a gift for my birthday." He really wanted to say something a bit less retarded, but this had to be THE most embarassing moment of his life. It wasn't necessarily because it was Alice, but it didn't help things. "I know that this is probably the most hysterical thing you've ever seen but please don't tell James. Or Sirius. Or Enid. Or anyone for that matter, it's bad enough they all know I can't fly, I really don't want to have to sit through an entire year of watching them walk around with their brooms on leashes just to tease me," he said, letting the rope go and watching as the broom took off across the field before burying itself in the ground.
Alice winced slightly as she watched the broom take off and plunge into the ground, and hoped in the back of her thoughts that it wasn't broken. However, she brought her attention back to the matter at hand and shook her head. "Now come on. Since when have I been the sort to damage a bloke's reputation? The only time I divulge juicy gossip with people is when it's about myself." She said with a shrug, and sat down in the grass in front of where Frank sat. She placed her broom down next to her, then leaned back on her palms as she glanced once more back to the broom that had fled so willingly once Frank had let it go. "Who thought to get you a broom for your birthday, anyway? S'a nice one." she said with a quick nod, then added. "At least, it looked like one before it took off and attempted to splinter itself into the ground..."
"Yeah, that's the effect I typically have on them," Frank said with a rueful smile as he looked at it. "My Aunt Enid is the one who sent it to me. Not everyone knows they hate me, and I suppose she was trying to be nice. It is a great gift really if it weren't for the fact that it tries to commit suicide every now and then," he said, pulling out his wand. "Accio broom," he cast, and despite the struggle that the broom put up, his magic slowly dragged it back to him. It was all in one piece.
"I've gotten to be quite good at charming wooden things against breaking," he said, running a hand through his hair and causing it to stick up a bit on one side. "I guess it's just a good thing aurors aren't required to be good at flying even if it's helpful."
As Frank flicked his wand and summoned his broom back, Alice instantly remembered that Frank was now of age. "Oi! I forgot you can do magic now. Have you taken your Apparition test ye--" She started, momentarily distracted from Frank's current broom crisis. She cut her self off though, as she caught herself diverting from the topic, and scrunched her nose a bit. "Sorry, one of these days I'll learn how to have a normal, single subject conversation with a person..." she said with a sigh, then looked back at his broom once more. "So have you tried riding it?"
"Umm... first, no I haven't taken my test yet," he said with a laugh, "but I will the day before school starts back. Secondly, I like it when we have three conversations at once, it's how I know I'm talking to you, and thirdly, no, not exactly. It won't stay still long enough for me to get that close to it," he said, standing up and demonstrating. Sure enough if he got his leg close to it it would struggle and pull and nearly start bucking.
"Well, good luck then. I'd be rather nervous if it was me taking the test. It can't be a very pleasant test." she said, then leaned back up into a proper seated position and dusted her hands off on her pant legs. "and if there's ever an Alice imposter you'd know it. I doubt if anyone would ever TRY to sound like a bumbling fool, and even then they probably wouldn't do as good a job as me." She said with a grin, then watched as Frank got to his feet to have the broom jitter in protest. "That's got to be the most bizarre thing I've ever seen a broom do, Longbottom. Good on you for having such a profound effect on an inanimate object." She said with a nod, and stood up as well. "And if you've gotten so good at reparing and preventative spells, have you tried any that could possibly train your broom?" She asked, not sure if anything of the sort even existed.
Frank nodded. "Well, I could never really try much at school, you know how the guys would act if they caught me doing it, but in the last few days I've tried some things. Mostly I've been trying to kill it though," he said realizing that wasn't a very good explanation.
"The thing is, I know the wood is... dead... but clearly it has some personality left, so I want to try and get rid of that, but every book I read says Avada Kedavra is the best way to kill anything with a spell, and it's a broom, it's not as if I could drown it. I'm not going to turn seventeen and start using unforgivables though," he said with a smirk, "So clearly you can see my dilemna. I've already tried threatening it with fire, too, and that was a no go. I think it actually laughed at me when I tried it. It was shaking in a rather... humored... way."
Alice shook her head. "You can't THREATEN a broom, Frank. No wonder it hates you." She said, and gently picked up her own broom. "The way I see it, you're trusting this thing to wisk you through the air with the hopes that it WON'T crash you into a tree or dump you off from 200 feet in the air. So naturally, you've got to be nice to the thing before you can trust it." she said. "Threatening to burn it isn't going to have the best effect." She reached out for Frank's rather lively, broom, and took hold of it before turning to hold it out directly in front of Frank. "Now, take the broom from me without thinking about burning it, chucking it into a tree, or running from it in fright." She said with a smirk.
Frank looked at her doubtfully but took the broom, trying to clear all thoughts that might be interpreted as vicious. It still shook and attempted to pull away but it was a significant improvement even then.
"I think maybe it just likes you," he said with a laugh. "It's probably got a crush and it's trying to impress you. If all wood hates me it's only reasonable to think someone in this world would be my exact opposite and wood would want to woo it with good behavior in hopes that the person would hop on and ride it." Suddenly Frank burst out laughing at the mental image that gave him. "Great, my broom isn't just demented, it's a pervert too," he said between gasps for air because the broomj jerked away from him trying to get to Alice and it made it all the funnier.
Alice rolled her eyes at the thought and let go of the broom as Frank held onto it. "See, I think you've just got a possessed broom. I've never EVER seen a broom act out the way this one does. Brooms can't have crushes!" she said, shaking her head. As the broom continued to attempt to get away from Frank, she frowned, but couldn't help but be slightly amused by how hilarious he found this situation to be. "I think you should just give up the broom riding idea and sell the thing to whomever you can once we get to school."
Frank sighed. "You're right," he said, clearly disappointed. "But it isn't just this broom. They all do it. Look," he said, reaching his hand out toward her broom which immediately ducked out of his reach. "I'd give anything to be able to ride one, just once," he said a bit wistfully as he finally was able to get his laughter under control. "There's no point in being all glum about what I can't do, though," he said, being optimistic because that was a part of who he was. "I'm good at plenty of other things, and now I can add brownie making to the list," he said, reaching into the bag that was laying near his feet and pulling out a towel that had a few brownies wrapped within. "I'll be the first to admit they aren't pretty," he said, "But they taste good, if you'll give one a try."
Alice's frown softened as Frank expressed how much he genuinely wanted to learn to ride, but couldn't think how that would be possible if the thing learched away everytime he tried to touch it. "Well, I'm sure we can come up with SOME way to get you on a broom, Frank. but it might take some bumps and bruises...' she said with a slight laugh as her broom had a similarly avoiding attitiude toward's Frank's outstretched hand. "Besides," she started, and took one of the lumpy brownies that he offered "watching you wrestle with a broom will probably be rather hysterical." she said with a nod, and took a bite of the brownie. "Ya know, food is one of the main examples of how looks can be decieving. Good Job!" She said.
"Thanks," he said brightly. "I was quite proud of the way the non-exploded ones turned out. I think the problem was that I was trying out a muggle recipe. My uncle Orville sent me muggle money for my birthday so I walked down to the grocery and I was just going to blow it all on candy but saw a box of brownie mix instead and thought I'd give it a go. It wasn't hard really, but it was a bit messy when I realized I didn't have all the ingrediants and used pumpkin oil and Eagle Owl eggs in place of what the box said to add. I'd have never though combined it would all blow up, but it did. It was totally worth it though to see the look on my mum's face. I could tell she was near throttling me, but now that I'm 17 she's eased off a bit." He ignored the part about flying for now. It was hopeless and he wasn't too keen on making an idiot out of himself in front of Alice with his broom any more than he already had.
Alice laughed. "wow, Muggle brownies no less! I can't believe your mum didn't throw you out on your arse." she said with a grin. "But I'm sure the clean up was a breeze now that you can do magic at home." she said with a nod, wondering all the while why he had suddenly decided to give up hope on his broom.
Deciding to change the subject a bit and maybe persuade him to give the broom another go, Alice decided to ask about Enid, since she WAS the reason she'd treked all the way to Bath. "Have you seen Enid at all today? I was kind of hoping she'd join me. I wanna warm up a bit for the Pick-up at the Bones' later this week. Which I hope you're going to. We need a commentator, afterall."
"Yeah," he said, nodding and watching his broom as it skirted over the grass as if it was watching him. "Of course I'll be there and I owled to Edgar asking him if he'd let me call the game. I'll even be able to use my own voice amplifying spells now," he said. "Being seventeen is bloody brilliant!"
He laughed when he'd realized what he'd done. "You know, Parker, you're a terrible influence on me, always wrecking my train of thought. You asked me a question about Enid and I was extolling the virtues of freedom. To be quite honest i'm not entirely sure where my sister is off to, but I told my mum that she was off with Leslie. I've been covering for her all I can lately. I could warm up with you though," he said. "The broom... obviously that's a bust, but it doesn't mean I can't hit bludgers from the ground, I do it with Enid all the time," he said. "I even have some equipment in my bag if you want."
"Well, then the comentating should be just that much more exciting then. You'll have free reign." She said with a grin, but decided to leave out her typical remarks about calling in Gryffindor's favor. She figured he had gotten the hint by now, and really, it didn't even need to be mentioned since it was all for fun anyway.
At mention of Frank practicing with her though, Alice shook her head. "Oh no, I'd probably bore you terribly having you lounge down here chucking bludgers up to me. It's not all that big of a deal, I can practice later." She said with a shrug. Truthfully, she didn't want to accidently deck him with a bludger. She had a track record for getting overly excited with a beater's bat, and the last thing Frank needed was his mother chirping at him about how his head got knocked in when he wasn't even supposed to be playing quidditch in the first place. "But thanks."
Frank nodded. "It's too bad you can't do magic yet or we could practice throwing and dodging hexes," he said, reaching back down to his bag to show her what he'd been reading. It was a book on Auror skills that Professor Dumbledore had given him when he'd told him about the lessons he'd arranged for him over the summer.
"Moody says he has no doubts I'll make it into Auror school," he said brightly. "It's been amazing studying with him this summer, even if I'm fairly certain the only reason Dumbledore arranged the lessons is he knew I wouldn't get head boy this year," he said, though he didn't sound bitter about it anymore. "All that talk about earning it for sticking up for people seems a bit silly now. I mean, everyone stands up for people in other houses... you and Lily do it all the time. I'd say you both deserved it more than me."
"Well I'd obviously make a fantastic head boy, Frank. Everyone knows that." She teased, tossing her hair dramatically.
"But I don't know that Dumbledore would have set these lessons up for you strictly because you got snubbed. It's not like he does this for all the students that don't get the positions they want. You deserve this. It's a good opportunity and I think he knew you'd really value it." She said. There weren't too many students that understood just how brilliant Alistor Moody was, and those that did may or may not have been able to keep up with his intensity. Alice had met him once before when she surprised her father at his office with Lunch, and he was both the most terrifying yet interesting adult she'd met in a long while.
"Besides, who wants to be head boy anyway? One can be far more effective at altering peoples' behavior if they can be a bit of a troublemaker as well." She said with a laugh.
Frank nodded. "That much is true. You know, at first I really did care that I hadn't gotten it, or maybe I just cares more that Joshua had, he's always been my biggest competition for nearly anything, but then when I really thought about it, I think it's for the best. Head boy is always busy with something and I've decided I want to try and-- expand my horizons I guess. There are so many things I haven't really done yet, you know?" he asked, taking a seat in the grass and spreading out the blanket he'd been sitting on before so she could sit on it.
"I mean... I'm going to learn to fly. That's the first thing... and I'd really like to go on a date that DIDN'T end up with me begging for forgiveness," he laughed, thinking about the Amala disaster, "And I'd like to get better at my DADA stuff, and spend a bit more time on Potions," he added. "Do you have any big plans for the school year Parker?" he asked, picking up a clump of grass and throwing it at her playfully for absolutely no reason.
She sat down diagonally from him as she listened to him talk, and was glad to hear that he wasn't so bitter about not making Head Boy has he had been before. "See? Not being Head boy is a GOOD thing, Frank. You'll actually be able to ENJOY your last year!" She said. "And from the sounds of it, you'll have loads to do anyway. It's going to take some major work to you get YOU a proper date." She said with a smirk. It was no secret that Frank wasn't the most suave bloke in Hogwarts, but it was a stretch to say he was undatable.
"As far as MY plans? I don't make plans. I find that if I plan ahead it turns into a complete disaster and I'm left with a load of dissapointed people and a whole lot of confusion on my part. But winging it is my forte. So I'm sure I'll come out on top. I think I SHOULD probably get to planning SOMETHING for my muggle scholars group though..." She said thoughtfully, almost as if making a mental note to herself.
"Hey now," he said, laughing and looking and picking up more grass to throw in her direction. "I'll have you know that Amala and I were having a GRAND time before it got disastrous! And even that wasn't my fault, we were sitting on a wooden bench and I've clearly demonstrated to you that wooden objects have it out for me. I simply need to find a girl who's allergic to wood," he said, grinning as he teased. "Surely they must not be that hard to find. I'll just look round for the girl with a wand carved out of ivory or something. She'll likely be French I'd guess," he said, just being totally random and sort of looking up at the sky in mock affection.
"Her name will be... Aureeeeelia, and she vill find me irreeeeesistable." Frank's French accent was so bad he nearly sounded Russian. "It's finding YOU a proper date that will be major work," he added, straightening up in his chair. "Every man who's ever seen you with a bad and a bludger would fear for his life."
"Finding dates is not a problem for me." She said confidently. Which was partially true. When she wanted to find one, she typically had no trouble... but she rarely felt the need to 'find a date' since deciding that Sirius Black was NOT in fact the 'boy of her dreams.' "Besides, if a bloke was afraid of a bludger, I probably wouldn't want to date hime anyway." Which was true. Pansies need NOT apply, as far as Alice was concerned.
"and you should know better by now than to attempt to do ANYTHING on a wooden bench, let alone snog someone." She said, and chucked the bit of grass back at Frank. "and cut it out. I just spent my entire morning cutting the grass in front of my house. I've had my fill of flying grass, thanks." She said with a slight smirk.
"Well, finding them for me isn't a problem either," he said, scrunching up his face at her as he drew out his wand. "As long as I don't mind first through fourth years," he laughed. "I wish I knew what it was about myself that made all the itty bitty girls swoon but was a smidge less impressive to the girls my age."
He really had no problem talking about this with Alice, they'd been friends for long enough that they could breeze through from teasing to serious conversation and back again with no effort at all.
"Of course Fabian and Gideon have a million suggested reasons, but honestly, it's not as if I mind that much. I mean, hanging out here with you is loads better than any date would be, don't you think?" he asked, before realizing likely she DIDN'T think that, what girl would, and changing it to, "At least any date that would involve nice clothes and proper manners, and the like. If this was a real date than I couldn't do this!"
In an instant Frank had muttered a lifting spell which lifted a square of sod about two feet by two feet right out of the ground and launched it Alice, causing it to stop and hover about three feet over her head just out of reach. He wiggled his wand and a slight shower of dust and grass rained down on her.
"Dating a firstie probably wouldn't be in your best interst, Frank. I hear they have cooties and what not." She said. Teasing people was what she did best, but only out of love. Once things got malicious, they'd end. "But really, dating is over-rated as it is. Like you said, lounging around in the grass is far more appealing than going 'out' somewhere." She said with a shrug.
She leaned back on her elbows and looked up at the clouds just before the hovering grass loomed over her head. She sputtered a bit after recieving a face full of dust, and she scrunched her nose and wiped the dirt away from her face. "You know, that's cheating. I can't get you back unless you want to be punched, and that wouldn't be nice at all."
Frank laughed. "Life isn't fair, Auror Parker," he said, using an imitation of Moody that would make anyone who knew him laugh if for no other reason than this was the one impression Frank could really nail. "And don't warn a man before you punch him! And look behind you! They're always behind YOU!!!!" he said, giving his wand one more shake so grass would fall on her and then flinging the sod about twenty feet away.
"He cracks me up, he honestly does. Did I tell you that at our very first lesson GoatFrank accidentally got loose into the house and he nearly blew the place up in his insistance that somehow our goat was a spy. Apparently it's not impossible to make them talk." Frank laughed at the very thought before looking up at the sky. It was getting to be fairly late.
"We should probably head home," he said, sounding more than a bit regretful about it. "It's been nice hanging out though. You're going to the Boneses party, right?" he asked as he stuffed his things back into his bag.
"Moody seems extremely interesting. I've only ever talked to him once, and it was probably the most paranoid conversation I ever had with a person. I hope paranoia isn't a manditory trait of a good Auror. My father's a bit on the paranoid side too."
As the grass mound was flung away, Alice shook the dirt and grass out of her hair and sighed. "You're lucky I'm not obsessive about the state of my hair. It takes ages to get stuff out of these curls when I can't use my wand." She said, but decided to pull it back in a ponytail instead of fussing over it anymore.
At the mention of heading home though, Alice faintly recalled that she'd told her dad that she would have dinner ready when he got home, since he rarely cooked for himself anymore. What he was going to do without her this school year was quite a scary thought. "Yeah, s'probably a good idea. And I'll definitely be at the Bones' party. I sent my owl to Ed just after recieving it." She said excitedly, then helped him pack up by folding up the blanket.
"I'll see you there then," he said, rethinking the odd and completely unwelcomed notion that had popped into his head about asking her to go with him. He quickly covered his pause. "I guess you'd already mentioned you were going anyway," he added, shaking his head and smiling as he slung his pack over his back. "I don't know where my head is today. I think it's just shutting itself down in preparation of school," he said, reaching out to his broom and watching it inch away.
"Come on," he said. "Please? Be a good broom?" he asked it as nicely as he could. Much to his complete surprise the broom actually hovered a few inches from his hand and then dropped lifeless to the ground so he was able to pick it up.
"Would you look at that," he said, looking absolutely jubilant, as if he'd ridden it. "You're the best teacher there is, Parker!" he said, bumping her playfully as they walked. His house was in view now.