i refuse to be the girl in the sensible shoes [aaron]

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She didn’t know why she was waiting at the station. She could be out and about, filling her pockets with sweets and her stomach with the warmth of butterbeer, but instead she was watching trains. They came and went in blurs of different colors, scarlet and silver and blue all melting together until they hardly seemed real. Sitting on the wooden bench in the corner, Jamie felt invisible, and she liked it. Only her age would mark her as a student, and if she was being honest, there was nothing but her own conscience to keep her from taking a train back to London, and then riding a bus home to her mother. Wouldn’t that be a pleasant surprise, Jamie thought, her lips turning up at the corners.

Perhaps if she was anyone but herself, she would have done it. But Jamie wasn’t willing to put that sort of burden on her mother, who still lived in terror. Her mother feared the wolf perhaps even more than Jamie did, and it wasn’t fair for her to subject her mother to being around the one thing she feared most in the world. Jamie swung her feet back and forth as she sat idly on the bench, the rhinestones on her silver shoes catching the light as they swung back and forth, back and forth, creating a kaleidoscope of colors on the wall. Another train came past, whistling merrily, and Jamie watched as people departed and others boarded. What she would give to live their lives, without the wolf to scare love away.

@aaron

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Aaron was on his way to visit the sweet little village of Hogsmede. He had only been there once before and it was quite enjoyable. He hadn't lived in London that long, after all, and since he didn't attend Hogwarts he hadn't had any child experiences there. He wanted to see what all the fuss was about that his teammates would go on about. He hadn't seen much the last time and he had another day off so he hopped on the train.

He did come by himself, however. Normally he would like to have brought a friend to show him their favorite spots, but he had been quite a bit... distracted as of late. He had been researching who his father was as soon as he got to London and just recently he had learned that it was this famous Greyback wolf that circulated throughout the werewolf community. He also learned that he had quite a few siblings out and about. He had met two of them already, but that was before he knew who he was. Odette and Adrian. That was a rather awkward experience. Adrian ran away. That was weird. He would find him again later after giving him some time to work through things.

He stepped of the train and immediately his senses were bursting with the scent of another wolf. His eyes darted about until he saw her, the blonde girl sitting on the bench. He slowly approached her. "Hey... anyone sitting here?" he asked, trying to stay casual as he gestured to the seat beside her.

@jamie

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Jamie attributed her poor senses to the fact that so many people had rushed off the train all at once; once the strange man (boy? He didn’t look old enough to be a man, nor young enough to be a boy) came closer to her, she could smell it on him. Wolf, wolf, wolf. Considering the only werewolves she had met so far had been related to her, or turned into werewolves by someone related to her, Jamie couldn’t help but wonder if he was yet another long-lost half-sibling. Something else, though, other than his wolfishness was nipping at the edges of her mind – she recognized him, and didn’t know why. She’d remember eventually.

The Hufflepuff was surprised that he approached her. If he was a wolf, he was probably just as intrigued as she was by the prospect of finding another one. “Nope. Feel free to take it.” Jamie shot him a nervous smile. There was an elephant in the room that was shaped a lot like an entirely different animal, and she had no idea how to bring it up. Instead she decided to continue swinging her feet listlessly, hoping that she didn’t say anything horribly awkward. “What brings you here to Hogsmeade? And by the way, is your father Fenrir Greyback?” Merlin’s beard. She hadn’t meant to say that last part out loud; it was supposed to be a quip inside her head. She redirected to her lap, and wondered what would happen if she just stared at her hands until the stranger went away.

@aaron

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Aaron took the seat at her offer, looking to her as she asked her two questions in a row. He found himself smiling, turning his body to face the girl, his arm on the back of the bench. "Well, it's true what I've seen then. My siblings don't like to mess around," he chuckled. He gave a small little bow before offering a hand out to her. "Aaron Carter McClendon. Only figured out my relation to Greyback a few days ago, not planning on changing the last name though," he explained in a casual manner.

He quickly assessed the girl. Sixteen, seventeen maybe... Hogwarts student by the location. She seemed a lot nicer than Adrian and Odette did, which was a relief to him. Being such a sweet spirit made it difficult to accept the temperaments of those two. But, he didn't know much about this girl yet. Still, he was grateful to have bumped into her. His mother would have said that jumping on that train today was inspiration, that this was fate. The Chinese really believed in that stuff. Aaron did too, for the most part.

@jamie

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Jamie thought that maybe she should be disappointed by the fact that her father slept around so much. That brought her grand total of siblings up to three. Instead, she was…excited. Lily had definitely rubbed off on her, with her idealistic views of how a family should be and all the talk about loving her brothers and whatnot. Jamie was not as excited, however, that so far she was the only girl in the family. Too bad his father wasn’t some wacko hell-bent on having an heir to his throne; then he’d definitely be in business. Instead he was a psychopathic werewolf who couldn’t keep it in his pants.

“You’ve met Adrian?” Jamie asked. It didn’t seem likely that their younger brother would mingle with a stranger, but not messing around was definitely the Gryffindor’s style. “I’d do the same thing if I were you. My mum only made me take it because she thought it would offer me some sort of protection in the magical world.” She rolled her eyes dramatically. It had done just the opposite – a lot of people, she learned, had a bone to pick with Greyback. They’d have to get in line. “You seem oddly okay with him being your dad.” Jamie finally commented with a raised eyebrow. “I’ve had years to come to terms with it and I’m still not okay. Care to share the secret?”

@aaron

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She asked about him meeting Adrian and he gave a nod, "I guess he goes to school with you? I met Odette too- erh- have you met her? She's about my age, I think," he shrugged, unsure how old his other sister was. He wasn't sure how many sisters he had, really, and if his family was already friendly or not. Well, Adrian and Odette clearly weren't friends.

Jamie went on to explain why she took her fathers last name then went on to ask how he seemed oddly okay with it. He found himself smiling at that question, "I think it's more that I'm glad to at least have a name to work with. Plus, I always hated being an only child and now I'm not... really... I'm focusing on the positives. You guys."

Wow, if that didn't sound cheesy and weird he didn't know what could. But he held his ground on it. It was the truth.

@jamie

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“Yeah, Adrian goes to school with me. We’ve kind of avoided each other until a few weeks ago.” Well, he avoided her and she didn’t object to it. “We have another sister?” Finally. Jamie grinned at her half-brother, not only because he had brought perhaps the best news she had heard all day, but also because he actually seemed interested in a relationship with her. She wasn’t sure how receptive she would have been if a stranger had ambushed her in the train station claiming to be her half-sibling.

Her heart melted a little at his speech. She could definitely get used to being the positive part of someone’s life. “That’s so sweet.” Jamie said, turning her head away to hide the blush creeping up on her cheeks. “You sound like one of my friends. She’s determined to make sure I have a relationship with Adrian. Our youngest brother – his name is Max – hasn’t really talked to me, so I don’t know much about him, but I’d like to get to know him better, too.” She shrugged. “There’s five of us, you know. Only two more til we can start our own Quidditch team.” The Hufflepuff joked. She was going to elbow her older brother in the ribs, but it felt a bit too familiar, so she just smiled instead.

@aaron

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He audibly gasped when Jamie said that she and Adrian had avoided each other for so long. That made his heart hurt. Then she was asking about the other sister and he raised an eyebrow at her, "well, it looks like we're going to have to have a family reunion, doesn't it?" he said with a bright smile on his face.

He felt his cheeks redden as well as Jamie commented on the sweetness of his explanation as to why he was being so positive about all of this. "I'd like to meet with friend of yours, maybe we can join forces and take down this estranged wall in between our siblings," he said this almost as if he were reading a dramatic poem, then he laughed.

"Max? Hmm, I have not heard of this brother of ours. Ooh!" his eyes lit up and she mentioned the Quidditch Team numbers. "That would be fantastic! I'm a seeker, what do you play? I mean, if you do, that is." he asked.

@jamie

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Jamie had already decided that she really didn’t like it when her brother was sad. Her brother being Aaron in this case, since it was apparently necessary to specify. The gasp that he gave when she mentioned her estrangement with Adrian twisted her stomach a bit in a most unpleasant way, and she regretted all the wasted time not for the first time since she had spoken to Lily. “Good luck getting us all together for a reunion.” She said with a laugh. “I don’t know of any place in Wizarding Britain that would want all of Fenrir Greyback’s children in the same place.” It was sad, but true. Too much worry about them inheriting their father’s less desirable qualities, she supposed.

“Her name’s Lily.” Jamie said when Aaron mentioned wanting to meet her friend. “She’s in Adrian’s house, so she’s friends with him, too, hence why she wanted us to be friends so much.” From that, he might be able to glean her actual identity, if he kept up with the buzz that still seemed to surround Harry Potter and his family. Stupid Rita Skeeter.

Her brother was a Seeker. Once again, something nibbled at the edge of Jamie’s memory, as if she should recognize him. It would come in time, she figured. “I’m a Chaser!” She replied enthusiastically. “I know that Adrian’s on his team, and so is Lily. And Lily’s pretty much one of us, since she’s been turned, so I guess we really only need one more sibling for a full team.” Jamie winced at the last sentence. She probably wasn’t supposed to be gabbing about that, especially not in a crowded place. Hopefully Lily would forgive her.

@aaron

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”Oh pssh, screw Britain, this is happening!” He lifted a hand into the air in triumph. He had said that a little loud which was a little stupid with all the Brits around them, several of whom who happened to toss a glare his way. He dropped his hands, shrugging his shoulder and making an awkward apologetic face at Jamie. He then whispered, ”sorry about that, I get excited!”

Lily, hmm? He listened to the description of the girl and nodded. ”So, basically Adrians got a girl friend who is braver than he is, it seems. Well, we shall reach out to her and she shall help us with this reunion. As for Quidditch,” he smirked as she answered his question as to if she played. ”Ooh, you and Adrian, great and wai-” he stopped, his face growing serious. ”She’s a werewolf?” his entire body tensed up.

Being a werewolf was not something he would wish on anyone. If one of his siblings had hurt this girl, his heart would be broken. Though, it sounded as if Lily was fine. Still, he was saddened by this news. ”Is she okay? Are you guys okay? Do you guys… you know, wolf out?” he didn’t even know!

@jamie

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Jamie laughed at her brother’s bravado, half-tempted to smack him so he wouldn’t dig himself a deeper hole when they were surrounded by Brits. “Well, getting Adrian to wherever we decided to meet is going to be hard enough as it is. Taking him across an entire ocean will be impossible. Well, not impossible. We could stun him first.” Jamie stopped, legitimately pondering the idea. True, they could Stun him to get him to the meeting place, but it wasn’t much good to have him there unless he could talk. Maybe a Body-Bind jinx…She’d have to talk to Lily about the logistics of it later, Jamie decided.

“From what I can tell, Adrian accidentally bit her.” She told her brother. Jamie didn’t know the details, but it made sense; the only werewolves who had access to Lily during the school year, when she had presumably been bitten, were Jamie, Adrian, and Max. She knew it hadn’t been her, and it just seemed more likely for Adrian to forget than Maxwell. “She seems fine. Well adjusted.” She considered telling Aaron what Lily had said about death, but that felt too much like tattling. “We’re good. Well, I’m good. Like I said, Adrian is an enigma. He has Lily though, so I think he’ll be fine.” This was a lot of questions, Jamie thought with a small smile. At least her brother cared – that was more than she could’ve hoped for. “Yeah, we’re wolves.” For the first time in her life, Jamie was almost proud to say that. She was a wolf, and she was beginning to find her pack.

@aaron

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"I'm sure we can find a way to get Adrian to come... the stunning is not a bad idea," he said, pointing at her and nodding once in agreement. Either way, someone could figure something out. He couldn't avoid his family forever.

Then Jamie answered his question about Lily, about how Adrian may have accidentally bitten her. He felt his heart sink at that but Jamie said she seemed fine. He would have a talk with this Lily when he finally met her. Make sure she was okay and... in all reality, welcome her to the family that he and she had both just joined. "He has Lily? What's the nature of that relationship?" he raised an eyebrow, chuckling as he did so. It was strange to think of having a little brother but was even stranger to think that this little brother had a girlfriend or something.

Then she stated they were wolves and he smiled. "Awe, well. How did you get bitten? I was, foolishly, searching for more information on my father and landed in a werewolf den of sorts..." he frowned at the memory, grateful he was wearing long sleeves as usual. "I hope yours wasn't as gruesome?"

@jamie

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Jamie grinned as her brother agreed with her idea. Only those who had met Adrian would understand how legitimate of a possibility that was. As for Lily, well…“I have absolutely no clue.” Jamie said, shaking her head. She was pretty sure they weren’t together in any official sense, if Lily’s flirting was anything to go by, but she wasn’t going to tell her shiny new brother that she might have accidentally (well, semi-accidentally) flirted with their sibling’s girlfriend until much, much later. That was a story that would be pulled out to embarrass her at family functions for years to come if she let the truth come to light. “At best, they’re close friends. I don’t know about anything beyond that, and I haven’t really asked.” Because when flirting with someone, it was generally not good to ask whether or not they were in a relationship with your half-brother.

Jamie’s entire demeanor shifted when Aaron mentioned being bitten. She crossed her arms across her chest, protecting herself from some unseen demon. “I was born a wolf.” She said, suddenly becoming very interested in her fingernails. “So not gruesome. Just sucky.” She never got to experience life without the full moon, so she thought the word sucky was pretty appropriate. “I’m glad you got out of your situation, though.” Otherwise she wouldn't have him, and then life would be even more sucky. Not that she would tell anyone if they asked.

@aaron

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Aaron narrowed his eyes as Jamie said she didn't know what was happening with their brother and the new wolf. Either way, it would be fun to try and get that information out of Adrian when the time came. "Awe, well, I'll let that go for now," he chuckled. It wasn't really that important, but it was funny to think about. He'd only met Adrian in a state of anger or running away so...

Oh, so she was born a wolf? He wasn't sure if that was entirely possible... he raised an eyebrow at her, biting his lip for a moment as if trying to decide to press on the issue. "Yeah, I was very, very blessed. So... I'm curious. Why are you sitting at the train station? Are you going somewhere?"

@jamie

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Jamie was of the opinion that Aaron would never find out what was going on between Adrian and Lily, unless they got married or something. Trying to ask their half-brother anything was sure to turn out poorly (unless it had to do with drink preference, and Jamie was still shocked he had answered that question at all) and Lily was too respectful of Adrian’s wishes to say anything he wouldn’t say himself. If Aaron wanted to keep hoping, though, she wasn’t going to be the one to tear his dreams apart.

Why had she come to the train station? She had wanted to see her mother, sure, but that thought had come after she was already inside. The more Jamie tried to put her finger on the reason she had come, the more confused she became. “I’m not going anywhere.” She informed her brother. “I guess I just came here because I knew that was where I needed to be.” She paused. “I came here to meet you.”

@aaron