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Tweak says, "Once. You."

Megan Elizabeth Baker (megs) wrote in strugglewithin,
@ 2008-11-29 20:47:00

Entry tags:

*complete, august 1997, justin finch-fletchley, megan jones

Date: 26 August 1997
Characters: Megan Jones (Justin, if he wants to)
Location: London, Paris
Status: Private
Summary: Megan runs away.
Completion: Complete

Megan yawned and stretched in her bed. She rolled over in her bed and covered her head with her pillow in an attempt to drown out the knocking sound. It wasn't terribly loud, but just enough to pull her away from what had been a very lovely dream. She'd been having difficulties sleeping with what Justin had told her and the war as a whole, and now her ruddy neighbours had to have builders over at some ungodly hour in the morning. It's not like any amount of money could salvage their taste anyway, so she didn't see why they even bothered. After several minutes of trying to ignored it, Megan finally gave up. Tossing the duvet covers off her body, she slid over to the edge of her double bed and moved her legs over the edge of the bed, sliding her feet into her slippers. Still hearing that irritating sound, Megan turned toward the large side bedroom windows and stopped.

Okay so maybe it wasn't her neighbours. A little confused at the sight of the little own lapping on her winder, Megan headed toward the window, threw open the nearly see-through sash and opened her window to allow the bird entry. It flew past her, landed on the owl perch next to Ivy and started grooming itself. Expecting it to be a letter from Hannah or Susan, Megan walked over to the perch and untied the letter once the bird extended its leg for her. She smiled at it and reached out to stroke the little feathery head. Paying a attention to her own owl then, Megan started to unroll the piece of parchment and slowly read it's content. The colour started to slowly drain out of Megan's face as she read the words on the paper. Expelled.

Reading the letter over a second time, Megan let out a slow sigh and rolled the parchment up. She crossed herself, walked over to the messenger giving it a small owl treat, and then watching it fly out of her window. The second it was gone, Megan ran to her wardrobe, and pulled out her school trunk. It was a standard Louis Vuitton trunk that her parents had given her on her acceptance to Beneden, though Susan had taught her a spell just last year to expand the storage space. Normally she wouldn't have started to pack for a few days, but given what she'd just been sent, Megan wasn't taking any chances. She then ran through her items, looking at the various wizarding and muggle clothing, packing several different items making sure she would have robes if they were going to pretend they were wizards and regular clothing just in case. Before she could put anything away, Megan pulled out all of her school things, save her cauldron, potions ingredients and Charms book, just in case. The few wizarding coins she still had left Megan fished out of her trunk and set them aside.

The rest of the thing she filled with her clothing, makeup, CD player and most things she would need over the next couple of weeks. She wasn't really thinking about what was to lay ahead, all Megan knew was she needed to leave. She hadn't been reading the paper, but her friends, Justin included, had been mentioning the sudden turn against the muggleborns. Maybe they were only going against Justin and Hermione and Harry's friends, but who knew what they would do next. And now that she was expelled? Well, she couldn't very well sit at home and wait could she? Besides it was the only way to be sure that they wouldn't come after her family. Although she felt rushed, Megan knew she had to make it seem like she was going to school, as if everything was normal for the sake of her family, and just in case the Ministry came looking for her. She really wanted to just run, run far away, but that was hardly the right thing to do, and that was so not what Justin had said. At least if he'd been there - Megan shook her head and tossed in the last pair of socks before closing the thing.

Once her trunk was packed, Megan quickly decided on something to wear for the day before changing. It was almost like she was in a dream of sorts and had picked out an outfit, shoes in record time, for her anyway. Taking the few steps over to her bedside table, Megan picked up her wand, and cast a spell on her trunk to make it lighter before tucking her wand, and the galleons into her favourite tote. She picked up her wallet and looked at the contents, making sure she had a couple of pound notes and her credit cards, just in case. Making a mental not to stop by a bank and pull out some cash before arriving in Paris, Megan picked up her mobile to dial her brother. When he didn't answer, Megan left a message, telling him that she would be going to her friends a couple of days before school started and that she would ring him later. Hanging up, Megan put her mobile away before heading toward her desk. Finding her stationary, Megan scribbled a quick note to her parents then folded it up and placed it in one of her envelopes.

Tucking her note into her pocket, Megan walked back over to her owl and gave the bird another treat. She gently rubbed the feathered head and grabbed another treat for her. "Alright, Ivy, you get to go on a little vacation, okay? I can't take you with me today, so I'll need you to meet me in a couple of days, okay?" she said smiling as Ivy hooted in response. Offering her arm for Ivy, Megan gently stroked her head again before lifting her arm so that Ivy could take off. "Have fun!" she called after the bird before she turned back to her things. She grabbed her trunk and purse and headed toward her bedroom door.

Heading down the main stairs dragging her trunk behind her, Megan paused as she saw one of the maids vacuuming the hallway. Waiving to get her attention, Megan waited for her to turn off the vacuum before speaking, "Irenka! Could you give this to my mum when she wakes up? And can you ask Trevor to pull the car around? I'm going to Nottingham so I need him to take me to St. Pancras." Megan asked with a smile as she handed over her envelope for her parents.

"Yes, miss," came the response as the girl ran off to do as she was asked. Whilst she waited for the car, Megan proceeded the final set of stairs down to the ground floor, still dragging her trunk behind her; she had to admit that spell was really pretty brilliant. Depositing her trunk in the foyer, Megan ran into the kitchen, and grabbed herself a couple of bottles of water and an apple for the time being. Tucking the items into her tote, Megan headed back toward the foyer. She smiled at her father's driver as he stood there waiting for her, her luggage in his hand.

"I need to go to St. Pancras?" Megan asked, unsure if the message had been passed on correctly. When Trevor nodded and mentioned that the car was out front waiting for her, Megan smiled. She followed him out the front of her home, down the stairs and to the waiting car, letting the driver handle her case. Getting in, Megan waited patiently for Trevor to finish putting her things away before they were finally off. They arrived at the station less than thirty minutes later thanks to light traffic, although to Megan it almost felt like an eternity. She was trying really hard not to worry, to think about what she was doing, but the more time she sat by herself, the more difficult it was not to think. Maybe it would get easier when she was at her destination. Good God she was running away!

Trying to calm herself, Megan gripped the seat and stared out of the window a moment longer. Taking more deep breaths Megan barely noticed that they'd arrived when Trevor was already opening the door for her. As he gathered his things, Megan checked the time on her watch and frowned ever so slightly. What if she couldn't find him? Deep breaths, and Megan was now hugging the driver goodbye and heading for the main entrance, pushing the trolley he'd acquired for her with her trunk already loaded. Once inside the station, Megan headed immediately for the cash-machine. She wasn't sure what they were doing, where they were staying, but she couldn't go with only a couple of quid, it would have been a stupid thing to do, and besides wasn't tracking cash harder?

She certainly hoped so. She would really have preferred to fly, but that would have been far too complicated and would have required loads of explanations. At least there were plenty of departures. Looking up at the list of scheduled departures, Megan's frown deepened, the last train for the next couple of hours was leaving in only minutes and she didn't even have her ticket yet! Armed with money from her personal account, Megan headed toward the ticket counters and purchased a first class one-way ticket to Paris. It was exciting and scary and completely terrible all at once, but Megan wasn't thinking about that as she walked as quickly as possible toward the platform. Boarding the train, Megan quickly found her seat and stored her trunk away.

Just over two hours later the train pulled into the station and Megan made her way out of the compartment with her trunk. Once she had her things on a trolley, Megan reached for her phone. Biting her lower lip, Megan slowly rocked back and forth on her heels. "Please answer, Justin, please," she whispered into the phone as she impatiently waited for either for him to answer or his voicemail to kick in.

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finch_fletchley
2008-12-18 09:49 pm UTC (link)

And now she was sitting on his bed. The bed in which he'd been sleeping. Justin had never once had a girl that was not his sister sit on his bed. There was a good possibility he had been leading a very sheltered life, but it was still a little intimidating. And it wasn't just any girl. It was Meg.

"Um, yeah. They do. I'll just go find it," he said, nodding vigorously. He went over to the phone and picked up the room service menu, bringing it back to Megan, and plopping down next to her.

"Thanks. I've been... really bored, actually. And you, did you at least get to enjoy the rest of your summer before the Ministry went wonky?"

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megs
2008-12-19 06:18 pm UTC (link)

Megan had never had anyone else sit on her bed at home either, or at school for that matter. She was hardly the sort of girl who had all sorts of blokes up to her room, but this was different. It was a hotel room, and the bed was by far one of the best parts of the room. The fact that she ws sitting on Justin's bed in itself hadn't quite entered her mind yet, although she would likely fill her journal about that little gem in a short amount of time.

When Justin sat down next to her, Megan scooted in close, as close as she could without being completely obvious, and opened the menu so Justin could see as well. "Hmmm something to nosh... maybe just some chips? With ketchup and mayo? Do you suppose they have bubbly? Maybe we could get a bottle, have a mini celebration? I bet they have the really good kind here."

Brushing a few strands of hair out of her eyes, Megan smiled as she looked over at Justin. "I'm glad. Not that you're bored, but that you know, nothing worse has happened. Or anything. I did enjoy the rest of my summer though, thank you, Victoria had this amazing party last week, a live band and everything, I think we stayed out until nearly five. Well, it was almost light, so we just had to head home, it was wicked brilliant you should have -" Megan paused and frowned just a bit. "It was fun, but I'm kind of glad I'm here with you, I don't. I don't think being at home would be really good right now."

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finch_fletchley
2008-12-20 03:59 pm UTC (link)

"Yeah, that sounds good," he agreed. The fact that Megan was here, and he wasn't alone in Paris anymore seemed like a good reason to celebrate. Even if the circumstances in which they'd found themselves in Paris weren't the best.

He listened to her talk about her summer, frowning when she reached the end. Things must have gotten pretty bad if she would rather be here with him than having fun at parties with her friends and stuff.

"No, probably not. Everything is all right, at home I mean? What did you tell your parents? About you leaving?" he asked. Must have been good if they'd let her go, or maybe she'd done what he'd done and sneaked out.

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megs
2008-12-20 04:44 pm UTC (link)

Megan grinned as Justin agreed with her. There was always an excuse to have a little fun, even in the most dire of circumstances. It's what helped one get through things, at least as far as Megan was concerned. Besides she was certain Justin needed a little pick-me-up, and that she was fairly good at.

At his questions about her family, Megan shrugged her shoulders. "Home? It was boring at usual. Well, couldn't really have told them that I was running off to Paris with a bloke, could I?" She said with a giggle. Deep down, Megan knew quite well that her parents wouldn't have cared in the slightest, but Megan refused to admit this to herself. "I left them a note. Or mum anyway, dad was likely already at the office. I did ring Preston, but he wasn't answering, probably too busy with his girlfriend so I just had the car take me to the station."

"Anyway; food! You're paying." Megan said as she leaned in and gave Justin a peck on the cheek before crawling over to the phone to order. It took a couple of minutes, thank merlin the staff understood her broken French, before Megan crawled back to join Justin.

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finch_fletchley
2008-12-21 02:28 pm UTC (link)

"No, I suppose you couldn't have," he said with a smile, nudging her with his shoulder a bit. It didn't sound like a very nice send off. Although he supposed that was understandable. Hard to explain that you were running away, and all.

He laughed, and hoped he wasn't blushing too much from the kiss on the cheek. His face felt too warm, however, so that was probably a foolish thing to hope for. "They'll just put it on my tab." He leaned back on his elbows and watched her order the food, and smiled at her when she came back to join him.

"Any idea where you're going to stay? We could probably see if the room next door is going to be vacant for a bit." He thought about suggesting they get a double, but it probably wasn't proper, and she might want her privacy. Or something.

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megs
2008-12-21 02:46 pm UTC (link)

Once she was back sitting next to Justin, Megan smiled up at him as she leaned a little against Justin. She was quite comfortable here with him. So when she heard him mention getting the room next to him, Megan found herself frowning just a little. She'd rather been looking forward to the thought of spending all of that time alone with Justin. "Next door?" Megan echoed trying not to look too dejected.

"Or... we could pretend we're actually here together? You know, make us a little harder to find I think?" She smiled as she looked over at her luggage to avoid looking at Justin for just a minute, just so he didn't think anything of it. "I've you've only paid in Francs, we could make up our own names, and stuff, live on the lam, like in the movies! It could be so much fun!"

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finch_fletchley
2008-12-21 02:55 pm UTC (link)

Wait? She wanted to stay in a room with him? Justin grinned at that. "All right. I mean, that's a good idea, having a cover story," he said, trying not to sound too excited about this. "I already transfigured all my identification to read Johnathan Fletcher. Who do you want to be? We could pretend we're, I dunno..." his voice trailed off as his face grew even warmer.

"Touring Europe before Uni?" he suggested. That was probably a lot more believable than a honeymooning couple, wasn't it? Who in their right mind would believe a gorgeous girl like Meg would have tied herself down to a bloke like him at such a young age?

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megs
2008-12-21 03:13 pm UTC (link)

Megan couldn't help it, she was already grinning. "You think? I could be... I dunno yet, who do I look like to you?" Megan asked looking up at him now. "Obviously not a Megan, but I dunno what else, and you can help be Transfiguring my ID? We can be muggles students, that would be fun. Of course we may just have to pretend to fancy each other in public, you know cause why else would we have just one room right?" Megan said, trying really hard not to giggle.

"Ooo maybe we've been dating for ages? And this was a surprise trip and everything" Megan said sitting up now. She was really quite excited by the idea of pretending to be someone else. If her mum could see her now, she'd probably kill her. "Oh! We'll need to have a Uni to go to, other than Oxford or Cambridge, of course."

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finch_fletchley
2008-12-21 03:58 pm UTC (link)

That was a good question. Megan Jones was a rather plain name for her, admittedly. "I don't know, I think you could get away with something fancier than Johnathan Fletcher, though, definitely," he told her. "I can transfigure them for you... and, um, I'm sure that won't be a problem."

What was more difficult was pretending he didn't fancy her in public. Or in private. Or at all, really. "Do you think you can manage?"

He got up long enough to find paper and something to write with, and started taking notes. It couldn't hurt to have it for reference. "So, Johnathan and... whomever you're going to be. Dating for ages, on a trip before... University of Portsmouth, maybe?"

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megs
2008-12-21 04:12 pm UTC (link)

"Hmm maybe something common? Not Jones, though that is fairly popular, but erm... Smith maybe? Or we could save me the trouble and just use yours." Megan said, looking at Justin out of the corner of her eye, just to see how he'd react. "But I think I like the name Diana, like the Princess. Or maybe I could just stick to my middle name Elizabeth. This is so complicated."

"Manage?" Megan laughed and nodded. "I doubt it'll be hard. Just have to make sure it's appropriate, can't, you know, snogg you in public. Or maybe they do do that here? It is France, I hear they have all sorts of things on the telly. We should look later, I bet it's really gross."

Waiting patiently for Justin to fetch the pad, Megan decided it was a good thing she had him here. Getting their story straight would definitely help, plus it was all sorts of fun. Megan smiled and nodded. "Uh huh. Since almost forever, maybe even planning on getting married after uni. University of Portsmouth sounds good, I like the sea. And um, I'm studying... fashion, that's easy enough to fake, and you can be studying, I dunno? Something muggly. And intelligent. I can't see you picking something silly. Maybe that's why we like each other? Opposites?"

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