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Tweak says, "Damn the man, save the Empire."

A Cattermole (alfiecat) wrote in wished,
@ 2009-11-08 18:23:00

Entry tags:

!1997: 11, !complete, alfred cattermole, ellie cattermole

Who: Alfie and Ellie Cattermole
What: Sibling Time!
Where: Hufflepuff Common Room
When: Tonight
Warnings: TBA

Alfie had been so focused on himself, lately, and on owling mum every day to be sure things were okay that he hadn't worried nearly enough about his sister and then she'd gone and talked to Draco Sodding Malfoy's father, who had to be some sort of Death Eater or something, Alfie knew it! Still, what could he do, really? They were safe at Hogwarts, and all the bad things going on in the real world outside the castle didn't really seem to touch them there, except that Potter was gone and things seemed so dark and depressing and confusing since Headmaster Dumbledore died.

And the papers were rubbish, but who knew what was true and what wasn't? He certainly didn't.

He did know that he hadn't talked to his twin sister in far too long, though. It had been almost a week since they'd had time just to themselves, and even then he hadn't told her about Julien or about the mess with Evie or about the fact that he and Audrey were dating, though he was sure she knew about that somehow. Girls' gossip and all. Still, he wanted to talk to her. Keeping secrets from his sisters made him feel all twitchy and ill. So he headed to the Common Room to wait for her, sinking into the comfortable sofa nearest to the fireplace.

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alfiecat
2009-11-09 12:44 am UTC (link)

Alfie blushed and brushed her kiss off with the back of his hand like he'd do to their mum when she did the same sort of thing, but he did smile a little sheepishly when she sat.

"Yeah, I guess. Maybe." But he had missed her - she could at least make as much sense of things as he could, and with both of them thinking about something they could figure a way out to solve a problem, couldn't they? He couldn't remember the last time they'd had to, or he'd had something that was this serious, or that bothered him this much, but it was easier to think about his problems with dating than it was to think about their mum stuck at home, not able to leave the house. Or their father, at the Ministry, with whatever was happening there.

"Miss me?"

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cattyellie
2009-11-09 12:52 am UTC (link)

Ellie scoffed softly when Alfie rubbed his hand where she'd kissed him. But it was kind of amusing. It made her think of home and her mum. That did bring up thoughts of her stupid comments to people she shouldn't be talking about, but she could easily push away such thoughts right now.

"Maybe? Psh. I know you missed me. After all I definitely missed you." And it was true that she did. She'd known she missed him, but she hadn't realized just how much she'd missed him until she saw him sitting in the common room. It looked like he had a lot on his mind though and it made her wonder how much she'd missed with him. It seemed like they didn't spend as much time with each other as they did with others and that was a rather sad thought.

"So.. What's up? I think this is definitely catch up time and you seem to have been much more busy then I have."

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alfiecat
2009-11-09 03:04 am UTC (link)

"Busy?" Alfie looked alarmed, like somehow she'd found out about Julien from somene else, which meant that other people knew, and what the hell would he do if that was a rumour around the school or something.

But then he realized she just meant in general, or maybe she meant just this week, or just with Audrey, and he took a shuddery, obvious sort of breath and then relaxed. "Oh. Oh, yeah, I guess I have... you heard about Audrey, right? How we're dating?" Which even sounded weird to say!

Ellie certainly wasn't expecting the reaction that she got from Alfie. It seemed like he was sort of freaking out about such an innocent question. She reviewed how she'd said it and tried to think about why it would cause such worry, but she really couldn't think of anything. She wanted to question him further on it, but then he'd dropped a relative bomb shell on her.

Her eyes widened and she tilted her head, eyeing her twin. "No. What? Since when? I'm seriously that out of the loop that I didn't know that my own brother, my own twin, is dating someone? Oh my goodness!" She practically squealed those three words out as she turned in her seat, pulling one leg up under her to fully face Alfie. She had to hear all about this. And then she had to go interrogate Audrey.

"Spill, Alfie. I want the whole story."

The problem was, giving her the whole story was the reason he'd been terrified, and the uncomfortable way he frowned now wasn't just a teenage boy who didn't want to talk about snogging with his sister - it was decidedly more uncomfortble than that.

"Not long, really..." He said, trying to divert her. "A week, I guess. We just... decided it would be easier than. You know. Dating other people. I had that horrible date with Bagnold last month to Hogsmeade and it just..." He shrugged. "It's easier with Audrey." He sidestepped telling her about Julien for now. He'd wait to see how she reacted to this news, first. But it was also obvious, at least to anyone who could read him like his twin could, that there was something more he wasn't saying.

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alfiecat
2009-11-09 03:05 am UTC (link)

A week. A whole week and Ellie had been oblivious to it all. How hadn't she seen it? Now she was feeling like a lousy twin and she was determined to make it up to Alfie. She was so thrilled though too. After all Alfie was her best friend and Audrey her closest. The two of them together just made her want to giggle and pull Aud down for their little talk so she could see them together.

But something still seemed... wrong. She was positive there was something Alfie wasn't telling her. One horrible date couldn't be enough to push him into thinking that it would be easier to date Audrey. For that matter that didn't seem like a very good reason to choose to date anyone at all let alone a close friend. "Both of you thought it was easier?" That meant she had something to talk to Aud about too. "But wouldn't there have to be more then one bad date with Bagnold to bring up that sort of idea?"

Alfie rocked back and forth a little where he was sitting and then looked around to make sure they were alone. There were a pair of first years in the corner playing exploding snap, but other than that there wasn't anyone really about. It was safe to talk... but it was still hard to admit, even to his sister, and he looked at her sideways and then sighed, turning (mirroring the way she was sitting) so that he could face her.

"That day that ... that the bad things all happened at the Ministry? When we didn't know if mum and dad were okay, and I went to send an owl and then didn't come back for a while? You remember?"

Things were sounding very serious and then it seemed more so when Alfie looked around to make sure of something. She assumed it was to make sure that there wasn't anyone around to listen. What could he have to say that seemed so important that no one else could be around for? A brief flash of fear shot threw her before she pushed it away. There was no way he'd keep anything really bad away from her.

"Of course I remember. That was a really tense day." An extremely tense day. Ellie was full of nervous energy and twitchy until they finally received an owl back telling them that their mum and dad was ok. "Something else happened then?" She wanted to push, but felt that perhaps she was pushing enough without demanding.

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alfiecat
2009-11-09 03:05 am UTC (link)

"Yeah..." Alfie opened his mouth to admit to it, but the words didn't come at first and so he snapped it shut again, and then closed his eyes. It wasn't supposed to take like... bravery. to be able to admit things to your sister. "You know that bloke in Ravenclaw? Dorny?" He said it in a rush, voice dropping lower, but he was sure that his sister could decipher for him. "I've been hanging about a lot with him lately. Like, I met him at Brixton market over the summer when he came up to granddad's grocer stall, and then we've been talking a little and hanging about..."

Was he changing the subject? No, she didn't think he'd do that. So Dorny had to have something to do with whatever it was he was trying to tell her. She cast her mind as she tried to put a face with the name and it came to her. Now that she thought on it more she was pretty sure she'd noticed comments between the two in the journals. "I know him, yeah. Not well, granted, but I know him. Did he do something?" If he'd done something mean to Alfie she wouldn't forgive him.

"Yeah," Alfie said again, then he frowned and shook his head. "No. Yeah... I don't..."

And he knew he wasn't making any sense, he could hear himself after all. For some reason he thought suddenly of learning to swim, and his dad telling him that the only way to get used to the water was to jump in.

For a second his eyes closed again, and then... well, it was easier to say it all with his eyes closed Again, everything came out in a rush, words in his admission tumbling over each other. "We were just talking and he trying to make me feel better about mum and all but then he moved and I - or he - I'm pretty sure it was me and I kissed him and I hadn't even thought about doing something like that before, but then it was really bloody amazing and I wanted but how wrong is that, right? He was right to have pushed me away, but then I ran off and he won't... We're not mates anymore."

He knew he still hadn't made much sense, but he did slowly open his eyes to see his sister's reaction.

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alfiecat
2009-11-09 03:06 am UTC (link)

He'd done something to her twin and that didn't sit well with her. But then she was confused. Had he or hadn't he? Even Alfie seemed confused on the subject. She wanted to say something, but she could tell that he was trying to gather what he wanted to say or the courage to say it and she was willing to give him the time to do so. Alfie was one of the only people she'd do that for.

When he'd finally gathered the resolve to tell her what he'd said definitely wasn't something she was expecting. She'd thought they'd had some sort of fight or something. This was so far from that. Her eyes widened involuntarily as she gazed at Alfie. That was... Wow. That was big. Very big. And he seemed so distraught over it and it made her want to reach out and pull him close and into a hug. That made a spike of anger shoot through her at Dorny, but she pushed it away. If it was confusing for Alfie it was probably confusing for him too.

"Oh, Alfie..." She reached out and took his hand, squeezing it and holding it between them. It stopped her from leaning forward and hugging him like she wanted to. "I think I've gotten a general idea." Maybe. "How does Dorny make you feel when you are together?" The bit about not being mates now though... Ellie was going to have to track him down and have words. That wasn't right.

"Well, I haven't seen him since..." Alfie trailed off and shrugged, frowning but holding his sister's hand a little tighter than was strictly necessary. "I mean, I've seen him in classes and all, but I know he doesn't want to talk to me. And I get it, I was taking advantage, you know, because of mum and being scared and I'm sure he didn't want me to ki - to do that... he was nice enough not to punch me or anything, but he should have, and it isn't his fault that I li... that I liked it so much." That even when he thought about it now he felt like his heart was going to beat through his chest, and it was hard to breathe.

"But Aud... she had something going on too, you know. I mean, it's not my place to say anything about it. But it didn't go too well for her either, and things are just... they're just so much easier, with her as my girlfriend."

It hurt her that he couldn't even seem to say that he'd kissed Dorny more then when he'd first said it. It shouldn't be so hard. Especially since it was Ellie he was talking to and there wasn't anything he could say that would change what she thought about him. He was her brother and she'd love him no matter what. "You weren't taking advantage, you were just looking for comfort from someone you cared about." She was trying to think of something to say, but this was different. Not bad though. Definitely not bad. She wanted to seek this Dorny out and talk to him. She wanted to know why he'd seemed to cut her brother out completely and if he thought like Alfie did. If he did... Well, she'd deal with that then.

Aud had something going on too? She felt like a terrible friend and sister. How had she missed all of this? So now she definitely had to find Aud an speak with her too. But who she was going to talk to first she didn't know. Aud would be easier, but considering how much she'd already missed with the other girl she might get in contact with Dorny first. "I'm sorry that you both feel that way. But I would like to point out that Dorny punching you wouldn't be an appropriate reaction just because you kissed him." Oh she would have gone off on him if he'd dared to punch Alfie.

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alfiecat
2009-11-09 03:06 am UTC (link)

"I don't know, I might have punched him." Alfie said it with a shrug that seemed almost sullen, like he might want to believe that he would have but that he wouldn't actually have done it. The idea of Julien having been the one to kiss him made him feel just exactly the same damn way that thinking of kissing him made him feel. "But you don't... I mean, blokes just don't go around snogging other blokes unless they're... and I'm not. And he's not. So it was just a fluke, you know. Like what happened to Audrey, too, and it makes sense that we're together. She's one of my best friends, outside you and Maisie, so why not?"

Oh this was going to make her head hurt. She was just so confused. What had happened with Audrey that was similar to what had happened with Audrey? Had she kissed Dorny too and he'd reacted badly to her as well? That didn't seem right. She really needed to find out what had happened to Audrey so that maybe this made more sense. "I don't think that you would have punched him." The words were said quietly as she gazed at Alfie, still trying to wrap her mind around what they were talking about. "There are blokes that snog other blokes. There are girls that snog other girls. You might not hear about them as much, but there are." He could only think of Capper and Weasley since they were publicized, but she was sure there were more then just them.

"Yeah, I know. It's just..." He shook his head, shrugging again, a tightness settling back into his shoulders. He thought he'd feel better after telling his twin. "Just not me, you know. I'm not one. It was just a ... a fluke, like I said. He's a mate. Or he was. Besides, it's easier with Aud. She doesn't make me feel like ...." He sighed, waving a hand helplessly when he didn't have the words for it.

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cattyellie
2009-11-09 03:14 am UTC (link)

He still seemed so tense and upset and Ellie didn't know how to make him feel better. She used to be so good at it. They have always been close and they always knew what to say to make the other feel better. But this was so much deeper then what they normally dealt with and whatever words she wanted to say just didn't seem to be enough to make this better. "There would be nothign wrong with it if you were. But if you want to be with Aud... If being with her makes you happy then that is what matters."

She couldn't help but feel that from the way that he was talking that wasn't the case. It seemed that Dorny seemed to invoke stronger feelings from Alfie then Audrey did since he seemed to have such a harder time talking about the other boy.

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alfiecat
2009-11-09 03:17 am UTC (link)

"Yeah." Alfie said, and then nodded and said it again as if he was trying to convince himself. "Yeah, I am. Happy, I mean. Audrey's great, and we've been friends forever, and what bloke wouldn't want a girl that pretty and little and great, you know, who's willing to snog him and who's comfortable just hanging about..." And not snogging, because they definitely spent more time not snogging.

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cattyellie
2009-11-09 03:24 am UTC (link)

Ellie's nose crinkled when Alfie mentioned snogging Aud. She wasn't certain she wanted to think about her best friend and her best buddy snogging each other. It was odd. She'd be happy for them though. "I'm glad for you then, Alfie. I'm happy you've found someone you like." She didn't believe for a second though that he was happy like he said. He was rambling about being with her, so it definitely seemed like he was trying to convince himself. "You and Aud are going to have to tell me if I'm bothering your alone time now though. I might barge in sometime when you are trying to be all date-y like."

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	alfiecat 2009-11-09 03:26 am UTC (link)
	"It won't bother me," Alfie assured her maybe too quickly, then he realized how that sounded, and how unconvincing he was being, and frowned again - trying to push past it. "So, what have you been doing, besides talking to people you shouldn't be? I mean, Malfoy's dad? Really?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

cattyellie
2009-11-09 03:30 am UTC (link)

Ellie easily picked up on the fact that he'd said that way too quickly, but before commenting on it he'd changed the subject. Normally she wouldn't let something let that go, but the subject he'd brought up had to be something that already made her cringe without him having to have said anything. "I know! I know! It was stupid. He just made me mad." So mad. Even now he incensed her. "But I haven't been up to much. Just the normal. Hanging out, going to class. Normal stuff." Plus ignoring homework as much as she could since she'd much rather be doing something else.

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	alfiecat 2009-11-09 03:31 am UTC (link)
	"Yeah." He said ith with a frown, then remembered something else he hadn't told her and sat up a little. "Oh, I heard something weird! Did I tell you about it? I was charming the Care of Magical Creatures paddock and Hannah was there, and we heard like... something crying, in the Forest. But we looked and there wasn't anything there. It was weird." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

cattyellie
2009-11-09 03:37 am UTC (link)

She was glad when the subject of her comments was easily dropped and they moved on. She didn't want to get all upset over it again or angry at a man she'd never met face to face and didn't really know beyond what she'd heard. "Really? No clues as to what it could be?" She shuddered lightly at the thought, wondering how she'd have reacted had she been there. "I think I would have freaked."

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	alfiecat 2009-11-09 03:43 am UTC (link)
	"It sounded like it was a long way off, but like it was something huge," Alfie emphasized the word with his hands wide out, then frowned. "Maybe I should have told Professor Weasley? But it wasn't like I could go into the forest looking for whatever it was. Not that deep, anyway." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

cattyellie
2009-11-09 03:47 am UTC (link)

She didn't like the sound of that. She also didn't like the fact that Alfie had been around it. She didn't know what she'd do if something had happened to her twin. "You didn't say anything to him? Hannah either?" She bit her lip in worry, wondering if it was still out there somewhere. "I think that maybe you should have told someone. I doubt he would have expected you to go back into the forrest."

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	alfiecat 2009-11-09 03:48 am UTC (link)
	"Yeah, I'll have that class tomorrow," He shrugged and slumped back against the sofa finally.He'd had enough admission to last for the night. "I'll tell him." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

cattyellie
2009-11-09 03:53 am UTC (link)

"Good." Ellie couldn't stop her need to hug Alfie any longer though and leaned closer, wrapping her arms around him again. She at least kept it short, but he seemed to be having such a confusing and tough time without her even realizing it and she felt like she needed to give him better support then she was. "Any other big revelations I've missed out on, Alfie, or have you covered them all?"

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	alfiecat 2009-11-09 04:01 am UTC (link)
	Alfie snorted at the question, but he hugged her back this time, resting his head on the top of hers and laughing. "Yeah, I think I've got them all. Want me to have some other crisis, or something, so you've got more to think about?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	cattyellie 2009-11-09 04:05 am UTC (link)
	"Hmm..." She made a show of pretending to think about it before saying a very decisive, "No!" while she grinned at him. "I think you've had enough crazy things happen in a short period of time to last for a while. Time to let someone else have something mind boggling happen." She certainly hoped she didn't have anything nearly as confusing happen to her though. (Reply to this) (Parent)

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