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The Eighth Summer || A Self Para

It was the summer of 1966, and Emmeline’s favorite ever movie was Mary Poppins. Em absolutely loved playing Mary, dancing around her adoptive parent’s little cottage and imagining her toys coming to life to dance with her, just like they did in Jane and Michael’s nursery. She’d snap her fingers at everything, trying to turn it into a game. It didn’t help that her dad loved to pretend his work bag was bottomless, pulling out treats and surprises he’d gotten for her on his way back from the office once he’d gotten home. She watched that movie nearly daily, and spent a lot of time trying to be just like her idol Miss Mary.

If she wasn’t playing pretend, she was helping her mom in the gardens, tending to the flowers and helping clean the statues. She loved to scale the fruit trees, eating whatever she picked as she rested in the tree branches high above everyone’s heads. Emmeline liked to pretend that the vast garden was her kingdom, and the treetops her throne. She was completely engrossed in her game when she heard her mom call out in frustration. A moment later and Emmeline was shimmying down the tree, skipping over to where her mom kneeled by her rose bushes. “What’s the matter?” She asked curiously, the peach from the tree she’d previously been in still in her hand. Emmeline plopped down in the grass next to her mom as she spoke, biting into the peach and letting the juice from it dribble down her chin.

“I can’t seem to get these roses just right. Everything I do, I wind up killing them.” Her mom muttered, more to herself than her daughter. “I can fix that!” Emmeline said, scrambling up from where she sat and standing in front of the rose bushes primly. “All you have to do… is make it a game!” And with her last phrase she snapped her fingers in the air, her other hand rested on her hip just like Mary Poppins did. Nothing happened, of course, and after a moment she huffed. “A…game!” She repeated as she snapped her fingers again, her voice sounding more and more agitated as she tried to make the flowers bloom. After the third attempt her mom laughed, standing up from where she kneeled and ruffling up Emmeline’s mane of curls. “Keep trying Emmy, you might get it to work one of these days.” She told her lightly before turning on her way to head back inside.

“One of these days.” Emmeline mimicked under her breath, still upset that she hadn’t managed to make her magic work. She stepped closer, moving her face toward the bush until her nose was nearly touching one of the dropped, closed flower buds. she squinched her nose up with all her might and snapped her fingers one last time, this time not saying a word. To her surprise, each and every flower on that bush stood straight upright, as if they’d been called to attention. Emmeline was so shocked she tumbled right over, landing on her backside in the soft grass with a gasp. She looked down at her hand and back to the bush slowly, raising her hand and snapping once more. As soon as that sound rang through the air every flower bloomed, the entire bush suddenly huge and colorful, and the bushes around her blooming as well. Two second later, and Emmeline was sitting in a circle of great, grand flowers in the middle of her mom’s garden. Her eyes widened, filling with wonder as she turned around slowly to take it all in. It was real, it really was! One second later and the magic of the moment snapped, Emmeline sprinting to the cottage door just as quickly as her little feet could take her. “Mom! Mama!”

Emmeline’s had a knack for Herbology ever since

#latronem:task #Her first ever time doing magic!#and the first time realizing it was real #god bless my baby tbh

littlelionessmary

She could feel her blood pressure drop at Emmeline’s words. An attack. The concept echoed about for a moment and she felt as though the floor had fallen out from under her. It was all she could do to focus on the next thing Emmeline had said. “A family?” she asked, her voice weak with shameful relief. Her mother didn’t have a family. She only had her witch daughter. “That’s…” she shook her head. Her relief was likely someone else’s sorrow. “That’s awful.” This was them, then. The Death Eaters. It had to be. If it was just some muggle on a rampage, it wouldn’t be news in the Daily Prophet. The only reason it would make the wizarding papers was if it was connected to that madman and his cult of followers. Cowards, the lot of them, going after people who couldn’t fight back. “How dare they,” she said, anger starting to mix with the fear, before she shook her head, refocusing. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, I just...” She was more than relieved that it was a family, almost glad. If it was a family then it wasn’t her parents, and while she couldn’t be more thankful for that, the feeling made her sick. The whole ordeal made her feel like she was going to spew her insides out where they most certainly don’t belong. “I’m just glad it wasn’t my parents, you know? As awful as that sounds.” She knew she sounded greedy as she spoke, and felt more guilty about it than anything else. That was someone’s family. Someone’s parents, or kids. They had lives, they had jobs and loved one and people that cared about them and who they cared about themselves. Reading the entire ordeal made Emmeline practically see red.

#littlelionessmary

penny--lane

Raising her head, Penny refrained from crinkling her nose at the blonde. Blonde. God how she hated blondes. “Splendid, obviously.”, Penny replied before she could help herself. Under better circumstances, the woman could be quite pleasant and very friendly. But being out done by her rival for what seemed like the hundredth time made her demeanor spoil. “Is there something I could help you with”, she continued trying to redeem herself from her last snide comment.

“Oh of course, just fantastic obviously” Emmeline retorted without a second thought, her eyes widening slightly as she heard the words slip from her own mouth. She wasn’t one to be rude often, but sarcasm was another matter. Em offered a small smile in the other girl’s direction as she readjusted the folders in her grip. “I, ah; not much. I had some statistics to drop off and heard you.. just wanted to make sure everything was alright.” She barely knew the woman in front of her, nothing outside of reading her name attached to articles in the paper; yet she was still compelled to check in.

#penny--lane

jamaispurs

the mood in the ministry that day was grim, to say the least. andromeda had stopped meeting people’s eyes an hour into the day, knowing that she’d either see hollow fear or, even worse, a sick sort of triumph. nobody spoke about what happened except in hushed voices. andromeda had received her fair share of dirty looks – the black family was well-known in the wizarding world and so, apparently, were their beliefs. she couldn’t blame them, either; for all she knew, it could very well have been her own blood who killed those muggles. she was tense and exhausted by the end of the day, and all too eager to go home and be alone. fumbling in her purse for a cigarette, andromeda strode into the ministry floo, speaking her home address distractedly. it wasn’t until after she had already lit her cigarette on the other side that she looked up, realizing with a sinking feeling and a muffled curse that she was definitely not in her living room. as if her day wasn’t already bad enough.

contenuem-blog

Emmeline was hunkered down in her office at St. Mungos, completely engrossed in her piles of file folders for the afternoon. The holiday season was always so busy, she’d barely had any time to catch up on her paperwork. She wasn’t paying much mind to anything else until she heard the familiar pop from the room’s fireplace. “Hi?” She shot off without really thinking about it, immediately setting her quill down. People used floo to get to the hospital often, though usually straight into the lobby. “Can I help you with something?” Emmeline asked before the ash covered figure had turned around.

#jamaispurs

#latronem:ooc

tedstcnks

“Yeah, you could say that.” Ted’s voice grew quiet, his spare hand thumbing over the shifting text. He realised the Prophet hadn’t printed any names. He understood, of course, why it would be ill-advised, but he couldn’t help but feel it was a disservice to anyone in the Wizarding World who might have known them. Dark Wizards didn’t just randomly attack unsuspecting muggles in the middle of nowhere, did they? No, he told himself, they didn’t. He had to. The alternative was unthinkable. “Hopefully it’ll be the last. Otherwise I don’t see how the Prime Minister, or at least police, won’t catch on.”

“Hopefully.” She repeated absentmindedly, her mind still wandering over the recent events. She could feel herself breathe a sigh of relief once he vocalized his view on the whole matter. While she knew of him from school, she was always careful to appear neutral around anyone but her closest friends, and would continue to even in conversations with people outside of that circle that seemed alright. In time like these, it was just much safer to carry on that way. “I’m sure they’ll catch on soon, someone from either government. Its got to be too obvious for someone not too, hasn’t it?.” She was just babbling at this point, but actually mentioning it to someone was calming somehow, so much unlike the tension building in the streets of the Wizarding World.

#tedstcnks

rablstrange

the newest headline of the daily prophet hadn’t gone unnoticed by rabastan. he’d read the story earlier in the day during one of his morning breaks, though it didn’t phase him much. the attack was brutal; sure, he could definitely admit that. but seeing as it was an attack on muggles, he didn’t have too much to worry about. besides, if the dark mark was truly involved, he knew his family was in the clear. if his brother was safe, that was all he cared about. then as soon as he’d finished reading it, he’d gone on with his day as if he hadn’t even read it at all.

rabastan was on his way to put a misplaced potions book back on it’s rightful shelf when a customer bumped into him. and seeing as he was at work, he couldn’t react how he normally would have if the situation had happened elsewhere. he didn’t like being touched – no matter who it was – and the result of the sudden physical contact with another person made him freeze in his position. he stared down at the ground, cursing to himself in his head as he tried to contain the outburst that wanted to escape from him.

it wasn’t until his hands started hurting that he realized how tight he was holding onto the book in his hands. in fact, he was holding onto it so tightly his knuckles had turned completely white. he loosened his grip and looked up at the intruder of his personal space. “you should pay attention to where you walk next time,” he said in a dull tone.

Emmeline stepped back as quickly as she regained her balance, putting a decent amount of distance between herself and the person she’d run into. Her mind was still on the paper, the article. Still on just how easily something that brutal had happened. She knew that this war was bringing on worse and worse things, but this was much more of a wake up call than she’d expected.

“I- I’m sorry,” She repeated quietly, stilling the swinging basket of potion ingredients that hung on her arm. “It was an accident.” Emmeline wasn’t one for confrontation of any kind, even if it was just bumping into someone she’d only ever heard of. All the same, she still silently wished for the floor to open up and swallow her and her flushed face whole.

#rablstrange #sorry for the length!!

littlelionessmary

She should have stopped to get potion ingredients before work, but she’d been in a rush this morning, and so she’d left it until her lunch hour. She probably could have borrowed something from the Hospital, but it was for her own personal use, and she felt that it wasn’t right to take anything from there—or even go out and do what amounted to personal shopping on hospital time. So she was braving the crowds and shoving her way out to get more vervain and wiggentree bark and a few other things that she’d blown through in the past months. She was just about to finalize her selections when someone backed into her, though luckily she was able to keep her balance. “Oh you’re fine, no harm done, I’m —” she cut off, realizing who it was that had just bumped into her. She and Emmeline Vance had been in different houses, but they’d still been friends. She’d rather admired the Ravenclaw girl. “Emmeline?” She put out a hand, steadying the other girl. “Are you alright? What’s wrong?” Because clearly from the look on her face, something had happened.

Emmeline’s gaze drifted up to the girl’s face slowly, almost lazily as she took a moment to process what she’d just said to her. She clung to Mary’s outstretched hand for a moment before letting go, her voice heavy. “There was an attack.” Was all she said. Four simple words that barely skimmed the surface of what she was feeling. Her mind was absolutely racing, the only source of comfort being that the poor family had three children. There may not be any names released, but if it was just a muggle couple Em knew she would unravel at the seams. Without a name or exact location lord knows how she’d figure out if it was her parents or not. “Did you read the Daily Prophet this morning? An entire muggle family was murdered last night.”

#littlelionessmary

everly--yours

Letting out a guttural scream, Penelope threw the latest issue of the Daily Prophet onto her desk with all her might. Which truly wasn’t enough to move any of the back issues that had piled up. Not a single one of them with any of her articles. Rita, Rita, Rita, the red head mumbled under her breath. Always with freaking Rita. It was bizarre, how it never mattered how much digging Penny did, how many connections she had, Rita always seemed to get a copy on the editors desk minutes before her. Defeated, and trying her damnedest not to cry, the twenty four year old collapsed into her chair and dropped her face into her hands before hearing the creak of the door. “Go away”, she croaked in her raspy voice.

contenuem-blog

Emmeline had simply gone into the Daily Prophet’s office to say hi to a friend that worked there, and to drop off some statistics from the hospital. That was all she’d planned to do during her visit, but the aggravated scream coming from the end of the hallway drew her in far faster than she thought it would or should have. Lord help her and her morbid curiosity.

Emmeline crept around the corner, spotting the red head in her desk chair and rapping her knuckles on the open door. “You okay?”

#penny--lane

Emmeline rarely ventured into town when she didn’t absolutely have to for work, tending to keep to herself in her house or dive into work at the hospital completely. But her work required experimental potions, and potions required ingredients. So she’d bundled up against the cold, gritted her teeth, and made the venture into the shops. That was how she’d found herself standing in the middle of the potions shop, her grip tearing at the edges of the newspaper she was holding in her hands. Em could feel the color draining from her face, the fear striking through her body as she got further and further down the article plastered over the front page. Her parents were muggles. Fuck, her parents were muggles that lived only a town over from where this attack was. She would have to move them or cast protection charms. Something, anything to give her peace of mind tat they were safe and out of harm’s way. After what felt like an eternity she threw the paper back down on the shelf she’d found it, turning on her heel as she wiped at her cheeks and running straight into the person that was standing behind her. “Oh, I- sorry.” She said quietly, fighting to keep her voice from shaking.

#latronem:start #she's in a panic

bloomsred

Ted sat at the back of the Leaky Cauldron, one hand curled around a quarter-full glass of whisky; neat, like his father took it. In front of him spread the Daily Prophet, it’s ugly, tragic headline staring back at him. As much as he would have liked to ignore it, Ted felt a pang of fear cut through his chest. His parents were muggles, and although they lived hundreds of miles from London today’s front page proved even they could be at risk. He took a long pull of his drink, and willed away the rising fear. “Some story today, huh?” He asked the patron next to him, sipping at his drink as if it were nothing but the day’s news – - and, really, that’s all it was to this side of the city.

contenuem-blog

Emmeline had been in the pub for all of ten minutes, waiting on a friend she wasn’t even sure if would find themselves in public that day. All it took was the sound of the paper rustling beside her to bring her back to reality and out of her thoughts, turning to face him as he spoke. “One hell of an attack.” She muttered, her own hand clenching her glass as if it were a lifeline. She was surprised at how calm he seemed, surveying the paper as if it was a simple story they ran every day.

#tedstcnks #this is so bad so sorry

smallrooms

contenuem-blog

Emmeline purposefully had her dad move his office in their cottage into her old bedroom so she could take over the littlest room in the place- she loved how cozy it felt filled with all of her favorite things

#musings #family

Connections for this sweetheart

BEST FRIEND (OPEN.)

Her best fiend through the ages- either they grew up together or met in school and they’re inseparable.

DRINKING/SMOKING BUDDIES (OPEN.)

They don’t talk or hang out much, but when they drink or get stoned together they wind up having super deep, super personal talks about their lives and the war and all of that.

LOVER (OPEN.)

My baby’s a sweetheart. I honestly just want her to have a pure, loving relationship with someone she adores and who adores her. It could be long term, could be a whirlwind, what have you. Whatever it is, she has trust issues (see below connection) so it would take some work for her to trust them completely.

EX BOYFRIEND (OPEN.)

Someone she used to date that ended badly. He could’ve cheated, or just completely broken her heart, or something like that.It could even be that he became a Death Eater and they got in a huge fight about it and now her heart aches every time she goes on a mission for the Order because she’s scared that she’ll have to face him and doesn’t know if she’ll go through with hurting him or not. But whatever it was, it utterly destroyed her.

And that’s all I’ve got for this babe right now! I’m sure I’ll come up with more, and I’ve got this tagged as connections so that its easy to go back and find I’ll update and cross things out as they get filled and add things as they’re thought of.

#connections #woooo here we go #She's the total girl next door type just fyi