when: late December where: Alice’s cottage who: Alice and @longbottomlad
Alice’s first cat had been a stray when she rescued her and, really, Pepper never quite got over being brought inside. She’d spent her life insisting that Alice let her out to explore, or finding a way outside on her own, and decimating the rodent and bird populations wherever they happened to be living. Alice’s current cat was a very different creature. Cinnamon was more than appreciative of the comforts of being an indoor cat, and rarely looked for more. The only time he ever wanted to be let out was when there was someone particularly special coming up the drive and the only person who was really special enough to merit such a greeting was Frank Longbottom. There was a joke to be made in that about pets taking after their owners, but Alice tried not to think about it. Frank had become one of her dearest friends since she joined the auror program, and Alice was determined to be satisfied with that.
Still, when Cinnamon perked up and abandoned his spot by the fire to sit at the front door and meow insistently, Alice’s heart did a little flip. She shoved her feet into a pair of boots as Cinnamon began pawing at the door and opened it before he brought out his claws. She pulled on a jacket while he trotted down the walk to flop at Frank’s feet with all the drama of a fainting Hollywood starlet and none of the grace. Alice followed at a more leisurely pace, but she couldn’t keep a wide smile off her face. She hadn’t seen Frank since she left the aurors, and if she thought about it too hard it worried her how much she’d missed him.
If there was one thing Alice had learned from her childhood at the Lestrange estate, it was that the only person she could depend on was herself. She liked having people in her life, her friends, her coworkers, her fellow order members, but she never wanted to rely on any one person. Alice hadn’t realized until she wasn’t seeing him everyday just how much Frank’s presence in her life steadied her. She didn’t like it, and she didn’t know what to do about it, so she tried not to think about it. For now, she focused on Cinnamon, who’d begun his ‘aren’t I so cute, don’t you want to pet me’ wiggle. “He missed you, you should come around more often.”
