InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "collegeboy thinks hes so smart"

As she'd promised Owen, after Merc and Gabi and the children left, Florrie apparated over to the MacFarlane house with her gifts for Lorna and Owen and the children. The bruise was already mostly faded and what was left was easily hidden with charms, and this time she'd remembered to put on scent to cover the smell of the bruise paste. With a bag of boxes in hand, she rapped sharply on the door and waited for someone to let her in.

Owen was the one to answer it, and he greeted Florrie with a wide grin. If there was a deeper concern there, he was very careful to mask it. “Happy Christmas! May I take that from you? And your cloak? Please, come in, come in!”

From behind him, the sound of small feet running across the floor could be heard. “Aun’ Florrie! Aun’ Florrie!” Rhonna cried out, and came from around Owen to all but tackle herself into Florrie’s legs. “Happy Chr’mas!”

Fergus wasn’t that far behind as he came running down the hallway to the door. “Happy Christmas! Did you bring presents?!” he said and hugged Florrie too.

“Hey! Fergus, we’re happy to see Florrie any time for any reason,” Lorna reminded Fergus as she came out with the rest of the greeting party. While both of her children were already all over Florrie… once Owen took her bags and cloak, Lorna came in for a hug too. A concerned one, her conversation with Meaghan still looming in the back of her mind.

“Why don’t you wee ones get Florrie a seat in the living room!”

"Yes, you two do that and in a bit we'll come in and open gifts, how about that?" Florrie suggested to Fergus and Rhonna, offering them a big hug to sweeten the deal. "And if there are any biscuits left from yesterday, you can find them for me, because I didn't get any." She'd recognised the look on Lorna's face and clearly they were going to need a moment to sort things out.

“Come on, you nifflers.” Owen corralled the kids with him toward the kitchen, while they put up a token protest. “Let’s put on some the kettle on as well. We’ll do Christmas tea properly.”

“DA! We’re DRAGONS, RAWR!!!” Rhonna said while running ahead after Owen had rounded up the kids.

Lorna shook her head and couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s been that, all day,” she said looking to Florrie. And then after a beat leaned in to hug Florrie again. “Are you feeling better?” she asked concerned. She’d been concerned since Saturday especially after finding out what happened from Meaghan. She didn’t know all the details but she’d let Florrie tell her what she wanted.

Florrie accepted the hug, and hugged back even harder than she had before, because she felt like she needed to. "I'm better. Not great, but better." The season was never fantastic for the McGonagalls because of the anniversary of their father's death, but some years were easier than others, and this was clearly not an easy one. "Who told you, and was it all over the party yesterday? I know Ellie didn't go either. She warded me but I couldn't figure out what I needed to say."

“Better is… well better than not at all,” Lorna said and she knew she sounded a bit foolish. She knew this was a rough time of year anyway for Florrie but other things just made it… worse. Lorna paused when Florrie read exactly on her face that she knew. “No one. Well, I suspect Mum knew only because Ellie probably told her why she wasn’t coming. Meaghan told me through journals. I didn’t even tell Owen. I’m still processing it,” Lorna said and reached to brush her hand over Florrie’s arm. “Honestly Florrie, she pushed me off her patio and I still don’t know what to say to her.”

Florrie reached in to give Lorna another hug. "She hit Cav too. It's not just us. Something is really wrong with her and we need to help her. I just don't know what." There was a long beat and then Florrie asked, "Did Meaghan tell you what happened after she hit me?"

Lorna knew she hadn’t gone what she should have as a sister. After their fight… she should have tried to reach out. Merc had suggested to let Ellie come to her, but that didn’t happen. And now things seemed to be getting even worse. “No, Meaghan just mentioned it had something to do with Cav. What happened?”

"Cav and I had been dancing and we went out to cool off. She was out there with Doc and she slapped me. Here." Florrie indicated where on her jaw Ellie had struck her. "I think she was going to punch me and at the last moment went open-hand. And I--" Florrie paused and swallowed and couldn't quite look at Lorna "--medics are trained what to do with violent patients. Some of them are in fear and pain and some dark curses make the victim attack anyone who tries to remove it. So there's a bind we learn to stop them and lower them to the ground, and that's what I did. By reflex. And then Merc came, stinking of fags, and we sorted out what to do when we freed her, and since she wasn't under a curse or anything--I checked--we released her and she tried to kick Cav, and then stormed off with Doc."

Lorna sighed at the explanation but it still didn’t make sense. Again, WHO would hit Florrie? “I’m sorry she hit you but I’m glad it wasn’t worse than that,” Lorna said. Not that she was making light of what happened. “You did better than me. I hit her first,” she reminded her and for good measure gave Florrie another hug because this was hard to deal with, especially at Christmas. “There’s something going on. It’s bigger than you and me put together. She needs help, and we just need to figure out what to do.”

Florrie nodded her agreement, more vigorously than she otherwise might have. "Part of it is being around quidditch when she can't play herself. Five years isn't long enough. Not when she didn't leave on her own." She did not add that it would have been too soon for Merc to come back but the analogy was clear. "I don't know what the rest of it is about, though."

Lorna nodded as she had started to suspect that herself. “For awhile I thought it was me coming back… especially because she couldn’t, but there is more. We can’t figure it out till she talks about it, but for now she does just need some time to cool off. If she’s apologizing, that is a good sign,” she admitted but she was still worried. “Anyway… thanks for telling me,” she looked to the living room when she heard her excited children running back in there. “How are things with Cav?”

"I don't know. It's not anything he did or didn't do--not like that, he's been a prince--but Meaghan said he'd been seeing her, not dating her but just hooking up, and now I have to wonder if that's what's going on with Ellie too." Florrie shook her head again, looking skyward and spreading her hands. "That makes no sense, though, because I thought she'd gone back to Doc." She didn't elaborate as Lorna probably understood the complications there better than she did, to the extent anyone did these days. "So I feel as though there's something to be straightened out there even though he didn't do anything. And that's before we get to Mercurius McGonagall, human thundercloud, who didn't quite bore a hole in Cav with his gaze not for lack of trying. And everyone wonders why I'm single."

From her talk with Meaghan, she wouldn’t exactly call Cav a Prince (he’d hooked up with three different women she knew) but Lorna wasn’t saying that out loud. She nodded though at Florrie’s confusion. “No, if she’s back with Maddock that wouldn’t make sense. And it doesn’t explain her other behaviour either,” Lorna said going with that more rational reason. She couldn’t help but smirk as Florrie full-named her brother in frustration. “Well, here’s hoping between he can stick up to Ellie and Merc for you.” Said with utter confidence of course.

Florrie frowned a little. "Either that or it won't matter. Honestly if he's been hooking up with Ellie, regardless of Doc, that may be a dealbreaker for me. Not that he did it; he's a grown wizard, but it's bad form. And I wouldn't have stepped on Ellie's gown that way if I'd known. I don't think that's Ellie's problem but it may be mine. Anyroad, we can talk more about it later--I think if we don't go in and let Fergus and Rhonna open their gifts, we'll have them back in in a moment, and besides, I barely got to say hello to Owen."

Lorna frowned at that. It was true… This was Florrie they were talking about. If Cav wasn’t going to give her his full attention or be forthright, then Lorna didn’t want to see her hurt. Not for all the gossip time with Maggie.

At the mention of the kids Lorna just grinned again. “Oh believe me, they’ve had their fill of presents. But let’s get you some biscuits and tea and you can talk to Owen,” she said leading Florrie into the living room.

True to his word, Owen had been busy putting the tea things out, along with an assortment of biscuits that Ainsley had sent over a couple of days before. Fergus and Rhonna were sitting on the couch, and the youngest was kicking her feet over the side, while Fergus looked to be well on the way to a full sulk. “Da says we cannae open any more presents ‘til yeh’ve opened yers, Auntie Florrie.”

“Fergus,” Owen’s warning tone was unmistakable as he poured tea for Lorna and Florrie. Rhonna giggled- she might not have really understood the situation fully, but she was tickled whenever her brother got the Da Voice.

Fergus slipped from the couch and went to the tree, coming back a moment later with a rectangular box that he thrust in Florrie’s direction. He tried for a not terribly successful smile, and said again, “Happy Christmas, Auntie Florrie.”

"Thank you very much, Fergus." Florrie reached down and gave him a big hug. "It was very kind of you to think of me." Florrie followed the rituals even if she was sure that what Fergus really wanted was to open the package with his name on it.

Lorna went over to Owen so she could get her tea. She grinned too at Owen’s warning tone for Fergus. Rhonna scrambled out of her seat to come over to Lorna who she wanted her to pick her up. So tea ignored for the moment, she picked up her baby girl. “Did you pick out a biscuit for Auntie Florrie?” she asked and Rhonna picked out Father Christmas on a broomstick. She whispered to Owen about the tea, and carried Rhonna over so they could have a seat while Florrie opened her presents. The first gift was from the kids: it is a scarf with a twirling design. The default is montrose colours but it will change to coordinate Florrie’s outfit.

Having gotten his own cup in order, Owen put a warming charm over Lorna’s and then sat back and watched as Fergus held court with further present opening. Once Florrie had pulled hers out, he had to suppress a laugh with a healthy sip of tea as Fergus went from sulking to almost vibrating with excitement. He ripped the paper from the package with all the subtlety of a hippogriff at feeding time. And that excitement only grew as he revealed the book within. “Beginners Quidditch? Ma, it’s just like the Beater’s Bible that Auntie Scrimmy sent us! Thanks, Auntie Florrie!”

Rhonna was also squirming at this point as she was sitting with Lorna because she wanted to go give Florrie the biscuit and get her own present. “There you go,” Lorna said setting Rhonna down. She was free then to take her tea from Owen. Still didn’t get to drink it as Fergus came over with his book. “That’s awesome! When we’re done presents maybe Auntie Florrie will want to see your new broom,” Lorna told him and he was DEFINITELY excited. As Rhonna got over to Florrie, she held out the biscuit she’d picked for her and moved to climb into Florrie’s lap.

Florrie took the biscuit and helped Rhonna into her lap and into a comfortable position. "Thank you very much," she said gravely, and then broke off the back end of the broom to share with Rhonna. "I need to suggest a children's line to Jason and his partner," she told Owen and Lorna.

“It definitely would go over really well,” Owen agreed. “I’m sorry I missed the opening, but I heard it was a success.” He tipped his cup toward where Florrie sat with Rhonna doing her valiant best not to squirm in her Auntie’s lap as she munched on the bit of cookie that Florrie had given her. “To future success!”

“Aun’ Florrie, do I have a present too?” the little girl looked back at her with wide eyes.

Since she was juggling the toddler, Owen came to her rescue and moved the gift from the bag and into Rhonna’s lap. She started tugging at the paper, but couldn’t quite make inroads. It was clear to all in the room that she was about fifteen seconds shy of having a bit of a meltdown. “Ma”- and oh, the tears that stood out in her eyes- “i’ won’ open!”

“Oh, it’s alright leanbh,” Lorna said. Mum to the rescue when Rhonna struggled with her present. She set her tea down and headed over to Rhonna and Florrie. Lorna helped her daughter tear at the paper so it was easier for her to open. “Ooooh look what Aunt Florrie got you?” Lorna said encouraging when she got the book open. The book was called Little Dragons of My House and it was a magical pop up book. Lorna helped Rhonna open it so she could hold both sides open. There was a pop up dragon and blew paper fire. “What do you say, Rhonna?” she said encouraging the little 3 year old who had wide eyes now. “Tank you, Aun’ Florrie.”

"You're welcome, darling. I hope you enjoy it." Wrapped up in her scarf safe and warm at Lorna's, with a box with gloves for Lorna and another with a handsome set of self-inking quills for Owen in the pile near the tree, and a happy toddler in her lap, Florrie could almost forget the trouble that had preceded the holiday. Instead she was just enjoying her family and friends for once. It was all she really wanted for Christmas.