Beautiful

Waiting at the station with a workday wind a-blowing
I've got nothing to do but watch the passers-by
Mirrored in their faces I see frustration growing
And they don't see it showing, why do I?

She’d missed the music festival, of course.

Emma wasn’t surprised, and hadn’t expected to go. She was still so new at her jobs, and there were other workers who really wanted to go. Emma hadn’t much cared, which took some people aback. She just really wasn’t that into music. And the whole thing?

She wouldn’t be able to do that. All the emotions of everything pushing in on her, near-overwhelming her own. She’d get lost, and just truly be a creature of the crowd, feeling what they did, reacting the same way. It was always dangerous, especially because riots started there at times. She didn’t know if she was good enough at others to pull a crowd down to sanity, and never wanted to try.

So it worked well, that she’d been working through the festival. She liked it, honestly, even though students weren’t around. The rhythm was reassuring, what she’d grown up doing, and she could calm a few people down if need be. The familiarity ran in her blood. Mum had wanted her to get experience at the other famous inns, and Emma had wanted to be near Hogwarts in case she could help.

She gave her usual smile to the newest customer— not quite a professional smile, a bit too warm and true for that. Emma had never really been good at those customer-is-always-right ones that Mum donned when one was being particularly irritable. "Any idea of what you’d like?"

☆295 words, previously OPEN ☆

❤fai

YOU'RE AS BEAUTIFUL AS YOU FEEL

OUTFIT

Hadley hated being “back” in England. When she had been pretending that she was studying abroad in Paris, there hadn’t been a need to see her parents. There hadn’t been any owls asking if she’d like to stop over for lunch or if she’d like to go shopping on the weekend. No, when Hadley was “away at school,” her parents had respected that (and even when they had sent owls, she’d returned short responses due to her “busy schedule”).

But she knew that she couldn’t stay in hiding forever. No matter how upset she was at her parents for keeping the truths of her family’s parentage a secret from her, eventually she was going to go back. Not for them — she still needed space from her parents — but for her brother.

No matter how different the pair of them were, Hadley and Atticus had always been close. He’d been there to protect her when she had needed it most and now — in a roundabout way — she felt like she was protecting him. She wasn’t burdening him with everything she knew about their parents…Atticus didn’t know their mother had almost been a Death Eater. He didn’t know that her father had killed one of his best friends during a blood battle long ago. He didn’t know the half of it.


They were here all those years ago. She could imagine her parents and her aunt and uncle here at the Hog’s Head. Secret meetings…living secret lives. Her parents wore the badge of the Order of the Phoenix, but they were just as bad as the rest of them. Pulling open the door, Hadley walked inside and took a seat at the bar.

She recognized the bartender — Emma Longbottom. She’d seen her coming and going for Order Meetings and, when her parents hosted Order Christmas, she always came with Neville. “Hi Em,” she said, rather sheepishly, giving the girl an awkward wave. “No idea, actually. What’dya recommend?”

Beautiful

You've got to get up every morning with a smile on your face
And show the world all the love in your heart

She'd been happy to see Hadley come in. It had been far too long, she almost worried about her, that she'd done something or something had happened. It had been an almost-worringly-long time, really, but then again, Emma worried that way about everyone. Maybe that was Ted's fault, having known . . them?him? (Emma still wasn't quite sure about Ted, but Ted didn't seem to mind that). If Emma didn't hear from Ted every week, there was little doubt Emma would have that Ted did something brave and reckless and got in trouble.

Or that worry might have been from having younger siblings, and then growing up with everyone else so connected. There was Emma, AJ, Sylvie, Athazaz and sometimes Amelia, Teddy at times, the Potters, some Weasleys, the Scamanders, and then the younger siblings, and sometimes Emma wasn't really sure where one part of the family ended and the other began, but her family was the Order, was Dumbledore's Army, and if Emma didn't know every person she'd grown up with in any way, shape, or form, she was letting people down. Everyone liked to be remembered, after all.

Hadley was. . there were a few surface emotions Emma tried thrusting away from herself. She'd try at them later, if needed. Pubs were good like that, and she and Hadley were friends of at least some sort, if not friends in general.

"As for the breads, I'd say eggy or cranberry are my favorite, and the turkey leg's certainly one of the better meat options, even if you'd like it off the bone. You can't come here without some of the Firewhiskey, and Odgon's Old is the best known for very many reasons." Was Hadley a vegetarian? She didn't think so. "Scotch eggs, of course, are other favorites. If you're here for a while, there are a number of other dishes that'll suit you well."

Emma hadn't had the same exact ability to talk to others as her parents, but she thought that she worked it well enough. You didn't live in the Leaky Cauldron all your life without picking up a few somethings, and Hads was someone she didn't have to be quite so professional for. Yet, at least. And the pub was near-empty. "I'm afraid it's only the cook and I today, so while your meal might take a little longer if this was a normal day, there's few others before you."

☆432 words, @hadleyerixon ☆

❤fai

you're as
beautiful as
you feel

❧

Hadley had never felt so far from everyone else. Her parents, her friends, her family, people she’d claimed to know so well seemed to have disappeared into the wallpaper when she’d ‘left.’ But she’d wanted it that way, she reminded herself. She wanted a clean break from her old life because it all felt like lies. Her mom had almost been a Death Eater. Her Aunt had been…so had her uncle. They hadn’t told her any of that. In fact, she distinctly remembered her mum telling her that they’d always believed in the ‘light.’ But how could someone believe in the light and get to the very cusp of evil? How could you almost become a Death Eater if you believed in what was right?

If he ever found out, Atty would tell her she was overdramatic, she was sure. Her brother would tell her how much their parents loved them — how much they were trying to protect them both. But it felt hollow. What Hadley really wanted was to find Desdemona and Orpheus and ask them to tell her the full story. The truth. Maybe then she would finally get her answers and she could find peace. She might even be able to forgive Ma and Da. But until then — until she got what she needed — she couldn’t go home and face them. She shook her head, trying to focus on what Emma was saying.

A listing of various options nearly had Hadley’s head spinning. “Cranberry bread sounds good. And a turkey leg—” Her stomach gave a loud sort of growl that she could feel and Hads hoped it couldn’t be heard over the drum of people in the small pub. She didn’t like hard liquor, but then again, she attributed it to being young and having grown up on Butterbeer and Pumpkin Juice at her parents’. Maybe if she was rebelling, she might as well start doing it properly. “And a small glass of the fire whiskey.” That wasn’t the proper way to order it; her naivety was showing.

“S’okay, I'm not in a rush,” she said about the timing. In truth, Hadley was almost relieved. She hated feeling like she was running around all the time. She hated feeling like she was lost. But being here tonight, being with Emma, made her feel like her old self. It was like the girl was providing a certain amount of stability that Hadley hadn’t felt in a while. It was like the connection to her old life was doing her well. She swung her legs under the bar, barely skimming the sticky bar floor below her. Talking to Emma was easy. Easier than talking to her own family. “I didn’t know you worked here. Half expected that you’d be serving at the Leaky Cauldron, what with your parents and everything.”

Emma Alice Longbottom

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Beautiful

You've got to get up every morning with a smile on your face
And show the world all the love in your heart

Anger?HurtConfusionBetrayl-- No. No digging, no trying to lift. Friend to friend, not getting sucked in. She hated that part sometimes, she hated knowing things people didn't want her to. And emotions were personal, emotions were private, and Emma was the Hippogriff in the greenhouse, flapping around wildly and damaging things.

"I'll get you those, yeah. And a lighter Firewhiskey-- consider the difference of that one on me." Emma wasn't sure if she'd worked at the Hog's Head enough to do that, but she. . . she'd figure it out. Use her wages. "If it's a secret, I mean." She pulled the edges of her mouth up in a smile.

Hadley was good with sitting a while? Good, Emma would definitely keep things flowing. Hads might need that now, and Emma would make sure she'd be okay. She skimmed over the few others there-- they'd need Firewhiskey with a smile every so often, but most of them seemed far gone enough that they wouldn't notice an absence of Emma for around three seconds, by which time their mug would be refilled.

"I thought about that," she tilted her head. "But then I figured-- that was far too familiar, and Mum and I decided it was better if I learned in other pubs. And it's close to school you know. I'd be able to maybe well. . . you know." Her face stained pink. Arrogant of her, maybe, because this was something her dad had done, and she wasn't as good as that. Emma had tried, with the Muggleborn support society Nick had, but she wasn't very brave or strong.

And that was okay, that Emma would never be a warrior, a soldier. She couldn't be, with their emotions twisted about her and tugging her in. Emma had been made to help others, and what better place than eating places?

☆332 words, @hadleyerixon ☆

❤fai