InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Hello Amanda"

Lily Evans (just_lily) wrote in silverage,
@ 2011-07-30 12:45:00

Entry tags:

!log, lily evans, neville longbottom

Lunch Meetings
Who: Lily, Neville
What: Meeting, chatting, swapping stories
When: Noon, Saturday
Where: Welcome Center Cafeteria
Rating: Low, probably
Status: --

With the prospect of a steady pay check, Lily had felt comfortable splurging a little. That, and the fact that she was going to need things to wear to work that were appropriate ... well, it had seemed a shopping trip was in order. Between thrift stores and discount racks, she'd managed to compile a wardrobe that would do for the next couple of weeks, at least, until she could afford to diversify a bit.

It amused her a little to wonder ... if these fashions were out of date but still somewhat familiar to her, what must it be like for the people from further along the timeline.

After she'd put all her clothes away in her room, she'd showered and dressed in the clothes she'd arrived in since she didn't plan on leaving the building. They were a little anachronistic, but they were more comfortable, and she valued comfort over making an impression on the people she was temporarily living with.

At noon, she made her way down to the cafeteria, belatedly realizing she didn't actually know what the person she was looking for looked like. Still, if he knew who she was, he'd have an idea of what she looked like. Standing near the door, Lily cocked her head as she looked over the others present to see if she could pick out Neville from the people already there.

(Post a new comment)

profplant
2011-07-30 09:35 pm UTC (link)

Neville woke up frowning. He looked at the calender by his bed, sighing deeply. It was his twenty-seventh birthday, but he wouldn't be born- he wouldn't even be conceived for another fifteen years. This was insane. He shook his head, getting out of bed. He looked through the wardrobe, struggling with the muggle clothing. The trousers were easy enough, but the shirts had so many buttons, it was too complicated.

He made his way to the bulletin boards, checking to see if anyone had responded to his request for work, then talked to Millie about help wanted adverts. He couldn't stay here forever, and he wanted to find his own feet. There was always Galen's ship, if it didn't work out- good man, Galen. He still wanted to try. He'd spent too much of his life dependent on others.

Settling into a seat in the cafeteria, he continued to look around, hopeing to spot her. Lily Potter. No, Evans. He guess she'd look a bit like Harry, around the eyes at least. That's what everyone said, that Harry had Lily's eyes. He saw a redhead enter the cafeteria and stood up, wringing his hands. He waved a bit hoping he had the right woman, and smiled with relief when she didn't look as if he had two heads.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

just_lily
2011-07-30 09:55 pm UTC (link)

Her attention was caught by the bloke standing up and waving, and she guessed that must be him. As she stepped closer, she smiled a little because she could definitely see echoes of Alice in his features. It made her wish she'd gotten to know them better, but she hadn't been involved in the Order long enough to really have had much of a chance to.

She stepped over to the table he was at, pausing before extending her hand to him. "I'm Lily," she introduced herself. "You're Neville then?" She guessed. Between the standing and waving and his general appearance, she thought it was a safe assumption. "You look a bit like your mum," she said softly as she studied his features from a comfortable distance. "Imagine you've heard that before though."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

profplant
2011-07-30 11:00 pm UTC (link)

Yeah, definitely Harry's eyes, Neville thought, smiling. It was nice to see something familiar, even if it wasn't a face he knew well at all. "Yeah, I'm Neville. It's- wow, it's nice to meet you." Lily Potter. Er, Evans. It was practically a miracle- though he was getting a bit concerned. Everyone from his world who turned up here was dead- what did that mean for him?

"I- no. No one's. You really think so?" He smiled again at the thought. Barely there or not, she was his mum, and his Gran never really talked about her. "You've got Harry's eyes. Or, I guess he's got yours. Almost exactly your eyes. It's uncanny." This was bizarre- he wanted to tell her all about her son, all the amazing things he did, but. Well, she was dead, wasn't she? How much could it really hurt? "Harry and I, we're friends. Since we were eleven. We have almost the same birthday, actually. Mine's today, his is tomorrow. Will be tomorrow. And Hugo's, his was yesterday. Will be yesterday? He's- five. Will be five."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

just_lily
2011-07-30 11:20 pm UTC (link)

Nice to meet her. Lily tried to think of any situation in which he wouldn't have already met her -- unless he simply meant, nice to meet her here. But then wouldn't 'nice to see you' have been better? There were little things that were adding up to something she didn't think she liked the look of. Things that said she -- for whatever reason -- wasn't around.

She tried not to think about it though, and instead she smiled to him. "It's nice to meet you as well, love," she greeted him before releasing his hand and sitting down.

"You do, a bit. I imagine it was more prominent when you were younger though. I'm sure if I saw your baby pictures ..." She smiled softly to him.

It also unnerved her a little that he mentioned he and Harry had only been friends since they were eleven. Since the start of school. Why not before? Surely she and Alice would have had play dates, if their sons were born around the same time. Nearly the same day, apparently, and her son's birthday was tomorrow. So why hadn't they met until school? There were so many questions and she wasn't sure it was right or fair to put him on the spot for answers. Especially if they were difficult answers.

"Hugo," she said. "Your son?" She guessed. She couldn't imagine any other relevance a five year old would have to him, and he looked of an age to have a young son. "Happy birthday, by the by. If I'd known, I would have at least brought you a cupcake."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

profplant
2011-07-31 09:12 pm UTC (link)

"Yeah. It's- really great. Just- really, really great." Lily- she was part of the reason he was still alive today. If she hadn't sacrificed herself, Harry wouldn't have survived- and if Harry hadn't survived...well, he didn't want to imagine a world that was all over like Hogwarts had been that final year.

"Well, thank you. I mean, she's- my mum, she's beautiful. Or she was. Well, still is, just- different." Lack of emotion, maybe, but still beautiful.

He laughed and blushed at the misunderstanding of of Hugo as his son. "No, no, he's Ron and Hermione's- Ron is Molly's youngest son, he and Hermione have Rose and Hugo. It's just interesting, Teddy calls us the Lions, since Harry and I were in Gryffindor and the astrology sign for Leo, it's a lion. Teddy, he's Tonks and Lupin's son. Don't worry, he's not a werewolf like Lupin, though he did get the metamorphmagi powers. He's gonna be a heartbreaker, that one, soon as he gets to Hogwarts. Only a few years now." He ducked his head, gesturing to the empty seat across from where he'd been seated. "It's- don't worry about it, you couldn't have known."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

just_lily
2011-07-31 09:35 pm UTC (link)

The names meant little, and the connections were tenuous, and she imagined an older version of her would already know this. Once she'd processed what he'd said, and picked out the familiar names, she frowned slightly.

There was a lot to work out, but she reasoned that by Lupin, he meant Remus. Remus and this Tonks person she kept hearing about had had a son? Since Remus -- to her knowledge -- wasn't a metamorphmagus, she reasoned that meant Tonks was, and that was interesting.

She also wondered how it was that Neville knew Remus was a werewolf, and she hated having so many questions about her future. Remus' secret was closely guarded, but she supposed anything could happen in the course of, what? Twenty, twenty-five years?

She wondered if Sirius had any children, and she almost smiled at the thought. If he settled down, she'd be impressed to hear that.

"It's lovely to hear that our son followed in our foot steps, at any rate," she replied in regard to Harry being a Gryffindor. It seemed like the safest thing to reply to out loud. Maybe that was a better tangent to venture along. She wanted to press for information about him, to find out why he hadn't had any brothers or sisters, to find out what had happened, but she wasn't sure she wanted to hear.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

profplant
2011-08-01 01:59 am UTC (link)

"In more ways than you know. He's head of the Auror department. We worked there together, but I wasn't as good at it as him- he's a born natural, Harry. He taught me everything I know about Defense, our fifth year, when he started the DA-" he caught the confusion on her face and smiled, ducking his head again. "Sorry. We had this teacher, she refused to let us use actual magic in the classroom and we needed to learn, Voldemort was coming back and we needed to be ready to fight. So Harry, he and Hermione and Ron, they formed the D.A.- Dumbledore's Army. They taught anyone who showed up, I learned how to cast a Patronus, shield jinxes, all that. Saved my life more than a few times." He was worried he was talking too much. Was he talking too much? He wanted to tell her about Harry- he wanted to tell her everything. After all, she'd never get to see her son grow up, never get to see everything he would do.

"So, Lupin, he's here? And- and Snape. How old are they, then? Here? How old are you? I mean, I'm twenty-six, no. No, I'm twenty-seven now." He tried not to let the contempt he felt for Snape come out in his voice. Harry might say that the man was a war hero, but that didn't excuse all the years of torture. At thirteen, when the world was relatively safe, Snape was the thing in the world he was most afraid of. As he got older, killed Dumbledore- the man was useless. He let the Carrow's do everything they did to the children at Hogwarts, he let them torture-

Clenching his jaw, Neville shook his head and sighed. He couldn't go down this road. Even if this Snape hadn't started teaching yet, he was still the same bastard. "Do, do you want something to drink? I could get us some tea, it's good. The tea is good."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

just_lily
2011-08-01 02:30 am UTC (link)

Lily tried to follow along, to lay all the pieces together in a picture that made sense. "Coming back?" She echoed, losing much of the rest of what he was saying as she tried to fathom that. "Where had he gone that he was coming back?" Was the war still ongoing when her son was ... what, fifteen, sixteen years old? And someone not letting them use magic in a Defense class? It made no sense to her.

"I ... Remus is ... twenty one," she replied. "I have no idea how old Severus is. I'm eighteen. Nearly nineteen. A few more weeks and I would have been."

Lily nodded at his offer to fetch a drink, if only to have a few moments to try to compose herself and warp her mind around ... well, everything. The idea that she was talking to someone who was the same age as Harry ... was? Would be? Was enough to fracture her usual thought patterns.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

profplant
2011-08-01 05:34 am UTC (link)

"Oh, shit, I'm sorry, uhm. I'll be right back." Neville got up abruptly and walked to the dinner lady, asking for two teas. Shit, shit, shit. That was definitely too much. Way too much for him to have told her. Of course she didn't know about Voldemort coming back, she was part of what destroyed him the first time. Her death, her son.

He walked back with a tea in each hand, shaking slightly. He was rubbish, absolute rubbish at this.

"Back. Yes, he was back. He's gone again. For good, this time, I promise. He was gone, gone for years. Thirteen, fourteen maybe. But then he came back, and Harry- Harry knew he came back, and no one believed him, see? The Ministry, they tried to discredit him, and they sent a woman who wouldn't let us use magic, and we needed to be safe. So he took care of it. He always does, take care of other people. He's a great man, your son." He looked down, adding sugar to his tea and stirring, avoiding her eyes.

"So none of them are my age, judging by Snape's disbelief at the news he's a professor. Not from my time, that is." He sighed.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

just_lily
2011-08-01 05:47 am UTC (link)

So little of it made concrete sense to her, and Lily couldn't imagine a more in-depth explanation leading to anything but more questions. Difficult as it was, she wouldn't ask. Asking one would lead to others, and if her memory was intact when they got home ... she'd no doubt change everything for a happier ending.

So she nodded and smiled and took her tea when he returned. "I still can't imagine him teaching," Lily confessed quietly. "He never struck me as the sort to want to. I'd imagined he'd find a career in potions where he could just ... do his own thing in a dark room somewhere. Not ... mold the minds of future generations." She was certain there was a story behind that, but she wasn't sure if asking would lead down a bad path.

"I could see myself teaching," she reflected. "Potions or charms, likely. With the war and everything, I really hadn't considered too much what I wanted to do after."

She sighed softly before she took a sip of her tea. "So," she said. "Your parents." Because speaking about the past was safer than delving into the future. "What would you like to know?"

(Reply to this) (Parent)