how could a heart forget? [odette]

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The December winds were blowing through the streets of Hogsmeade, but Jamie just kept walking. She had prepared for this, with two heavy cloaks wrapped around her shoulders. Odette hadn't told her why she needed to meet so urgently, but Jamie had decided not to think too hard about it all. Thinking too hard had been getting her in trouble the past couple months, but when she just let go and decided to let the world go the way it went, she was a lot happier...most of the time. Jamie had to admit that it was strange that Odette had insisted on the meeting with a little context at all, but she trusted her sister not to wait her too long if it was something truly important. Jamie ducked into the Three Broomsticks, sighing in relief at the warmth. Not much of her had been exposed, but that parts that were were numb and tingling, and not in a pleasant way at all. Jamie didn't see Odette immediately, but her sister had said that she had reserved a room to have this talk in, so Jamie asked the bartender and was led to the place, where she stripped her cold and wet outer layers as she waited for Odette to appear.

@odette

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Odette had sent an owl to Jamie about needing to meet her in Hogsmeade at the next earliest date. It had finally approached them and Odette found that she was rather excited to tell her sister her news. As Odette walked the streets of Hogsmeade, holding her cloak up her neck to keep out the chill, she couldn't help the chuckle in her throat. Never in a million years did Odette think she would get pregnant, especially this young, but much less did she ever think she would have a sister to break the news to! She was wondering what the look on Jamie's face would be once she finally told her. Would Jamie be excited? Or would she try to weirdly scold her for it?

Odette had a room reserved beforehand so that the two sisters could speak privately. When she entered the bar, she approached the bartender to ask her to point to which room it was and then the bartender asked Odette if she would like her usual, to which Odette had to politely decline. The smile on the brunette's face was evident as she opened the door to the reserved room and saw Jamie taking off her layers. Odette closed the door behind her and then stood in the doorway, wearing an odd smile for Odette's usual facial expressions. "I have something to tell you," Odette said, holding her cloak still and making no move yet to take it off. "Or, rather show you."

@jamie

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Jamie had been so obsessed with finally getting out of her cloaks that she hadn’t paid much attention to who was coming into the room; the door opening hadn’t registered with her, but the closing certainly head, and she turned around to see her sister standing there…smiling. Jamie wasn’t sure if she had ever seen Odette smile before, so if she was honest, the look was rather unnerving. Without preamble, Odette said that she had something to tell Jamie. Well, the Hufflepuff had guessed that, since her sister hadn’t yet attempted to schedule something at Hogsmeade just because she wanted to. She didn’t think that Odette would appreciate the sarcasm if she remarked that, especially considering the last they had left off, things had been rather…tense. Instead of the sarcasm, Jamie decided to go with curiosity. “You’re scaring me a little, Odette.” She said softly. Jamie’s last few bits of major news hadn’t been pleasant things, and now that she was looking at her sister, Jamie was nearly sure that another bombshell was about to drop down on her. But Odette was smiling, which was complicating things as far as Jamie’s problem solving process. The best she could do for now was wait for her sister to tell…or show.

@odette

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It didn't occur to Odette how vague she was sounding or acting. Odette was just simply excited to tell her half sister her news, she could hardly contain herself. She had not told anyone else aside from Jacob, yet. Not even Royal, Teddy, or Victoire knew yet. A part of Odette wanted to be able to share it with her family, first. She thought about her still-strained relationship with Adrian for a moment, wondering how he would take the news of becoming an uncle; if he would just run away again like he had when Odette told him that she was his sister. Oh, well. She'd cross that bridge when she got there. First, she had to tell Jamie.

Odette stepped toward her sister with her hands up to indicate her sister to calm down. "It's alright, there's nothing to be scared of. I promise," she began. Odette then straightened up and moved her hands to begin unbuttoning her cloak. "Just, promise me you won't freak out?" She raised an eyebrow and for probably the first time, looked at her sister with a pleading sort of her look. Then with a deep breath, Odette unbottoned the rest of her cloak and revealed the nearly four month old pregnancy belly beneath her shirt. She looked up at Jamie with a guilty sort of smile.

"I'm... pregnant." She shrugged happily.

@jamie

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Odette said that there was nothing to be scared of. In Jamie’s experience, that normally meant that there was everything to be scared of. She was going to try for optimism, though, and think that Odette wasn’t about to say something scary. Her sister asking her not to freak out wiped out most of that optimism, though, because Jamie honestly didn’t know what was going on. Like, at all. Odette was finally moving to unbutton her cloak, and when she did, the Hufflepuff finally understood what her sister meant about showing her, and freaking out, and not being a bad thing. The words Odette said barely made it through Jamie’s ears. She was too busy staring at Odette’s stomach, which was swollen and pregnant! After about five seconds of silent, motionless shock, Jamie snapped into action. She crossed the space between herself and her sister, wrapping her arms around Odette in a hug that was much gentler than the one she wanted to give her sister. Squeezing Odette to death probably wouldn’t have been comfortable for either of them. “Congratulations!” She half-squealed, half-screamed. Jamie was going to be an aunt! She didn’t know why the idea was so exciting to her, but it was. There was going to be a baby Greyback, and unlike their mother and aunts and uncles, Jamie was going to make sure there was not a doubt in that kid’s mind that they were loved and wanted, and definitely not a monster.

@odette

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It felt like a lot longer than it really was between when Odette opened her cloak to reveal her pregnant stomach and the time it took Jamie to respond. But really, it had been maybe .2 seconds. Before Odette knew it, Jamie was squeezing her in a hug that the Curse Breaker figured could have been much more rough had Jamie not been holding back. The brunette's eyes widened but she smiled when the blonde squealed. She felt like a small weight had been lifted off her shoulders. One down, four to go. She was glad that Jamie had taken it so wonderfully. Not that Odette had feared that she wouldn't, but it still relieved her nonetheless. "Thank you," Odette said happily, hugging her sister in return. "I'm... actually excited about it." She admitted a little sheepishly. Odette never thought she would be the type to settle down and have a baby, especially this young, but she was doing it all with Jacob and that just felt right.

@jamie

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Jamie felt really weird and bubbly when Odette hugged her back. She knew it was normal to be excited about a new baby, but in a way, this solidified for her that Odette really did see her as family, and not as the annoying girl in the joke shop. Jamie let go of Odette and held her at arm’s length when her sister said that she was excited about what was to come. “That’s great.” Jamie said, managing to tone down her excitement a little so she wasn’t so shrill. She was still grinning like a fool, though, because she was so excited! “Have you told any of the others yet?” Jamie asked, ‘the others’ being the rest of their siblings, of course. She liked the idea of being the first to know, but she wouldn’t have been surprised if Odette had told their eldest sibling first, just because he was much more accessible than Jamie, being out of school and everything.

@odette

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Odette hadn't expected to feel so relieved after finally telling someone, especially Jamie. Odette hadn't necessarily expected Jamie to be upset or anything, but she felt so happy to see Jamie excited about it too. As her sister held her at arm's length, Jamie held onto Jamie's arms. Jamie's grin made Odette grin widely herself. She shook her head when Jamie asked if she had told anyone else yet but she stayed smiling. "No, not yet," she said. "It just felt right telling a sister first, ya know?" She chuckled at her own words; she never thought those words would ever leave her lips.

@jamie

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Jamie still couldn’t believe how happy she was. And if she had been happy before, the fact that she had been the first person that her sister told made her absolutely ecstatic. Jamie knew that wasn’t really important, because everyone was going to learn about it eventually, but she still couldn’t help but feel like she was somehow the most favored of Odette’s siblings… which was different from how things had started for the two of them. “Yeah.” Jamie responded to Odette’s semi-rhetorical question with a smile, albeit a slightly less manic one. “Do you want me to keep quiet until you can tell them yourself?” Jamie asked. It would be difficult to hide it, she was sure, since Jamie hadn’t been this happy in ages, but if Odette wanted to tell each of their siblings individually, then Jamie didn’t want to get in the way of her plans.

@odette

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Odette had not expected Jamie's happiness to be so infectious. Odette found that she, herself, couldn't even stop smiling. It was nice to see Jamie smile, too, especially after everything Odette knew she had been through. And that was just the stuff that Jamie had told her. Odette figured that there was probably stuff she didn't know too. Either way, she was glad to see her sister happy.

The brunette shrugged happily at the blonde. "You don't have to," she said nonchalantly but then had to take it back. "Actually, I want to tell Elias and Max myself. But, if it slips out around Adrian, don't worry about it," Odette waved a hand dismissively. Odette still had barely ever spoken to her younger brother. The first time she ever introduced herself to him, he ran away. In fact, Odette was certain she had spoken to his little red headed girlfriend more than she had spoken to her brother himself. She figured he probably wouldn't be ecstatic like Jamie anyway.

@jamie

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Jamie was relieved when her sister said that she didn’t have to keep quiet. She was still going to make an effort to, just because she knew it probably wouldn’t feel good for any of her siblings to find out about their sister’s pregnancy second-hand. The Hufflepuff didn’t want anyone thinking that she was the most favored of Odette’s siblings – it was probably just that Odette knew that she was likely to have the most positive and most emotional response. No offense to the rest of their siblings, but they weren’t exactly the best at being happy, or at displaying any emotion that they did feel. “I’ll still try to let you tell them.” Jamie said firmly, just so that Odette knew not to assume that anyone already knew because Jamie had told them. “If it does slip out, I’ll be sure to let you know.” It was important that they were on the same page and all of that. “You know, Jamie is a great name, for a boy or a girl.” The Hufflepuff said with a broad, teasing smile. Of course, she was still hoping at least a little bit that Jamie would make it into the baby’s name, but Jamie wasn’t going to be hurt if it didn’t.

@odette

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Odette couldn't help the smile on her face as Jamie firmly reassured her, and Odette had a feeling she was reassuring herself too, that she would let Odette tell their siblings. Odette was excited to tell her siblings, but also a little scared. She was particularly wondering how Adrian would possibly react. She knew Max would probably be just as happy as Jamie. And she wasn't sure how Elias would respond, since she still didn't know him terribly well, which she suddenly felt bad for. Odette smirked as Jamie's plug for her own name, saying it was the perfect unisex name. "I will keep that in mind," she chuckled at her sister. Then she bit her lip as her mind fluttered back to her other siblings. "What do... what do you think everyone will say?" She asked curiously. Odette knew Jamie would likely tell her the truth, after all Jamie was never really one to beat around the bush as far as her feelings and thoughts came. She was a true Hufflepuff, as always.

@jamie

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Jamie smiled back at her sister when Odette said that she would keep the name Jamie in mind. It probably wasn’t going to happen, but at least Jamie knew now that she had planted the seed in her sister’s brain. Odette asked the Hufflepuff what she thought their other siblings to think, and Jamie hesitated. “Well…” Jamie began, trying to think of an answer that was both honest and encouraging. “Max has other half-siblings by her mother, younger ones, and they seem to get on well, so she doesn’t hate children.” Jamie said, chewing on her lip. She honestly didn’t know about her other siblings’ opinions on children, especially babies, so she wasn’t sure if she was in a good place to judge their reactions, but she wanted to make sure that Odette did end up telling them, so Jamie was going to keep this whole thing positive in tone. “Adrian probably won’t hate the idea any more than he hates the idea of having siblings, and I think he’s come around to that, so…” Okay, maybe that attempted at being positive hadn’t worked out as well as she had hoped. “As for Elias…” Jamie curled her lips down. There was no polite way to say that she didn’t care what Elias thought, so Jamie just shrugged. She didn’t know what he would think anyways.

@odette

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Thinking about what her siblings would think of her bringing a child into the world was definitely a thought that would probably be plaguing Odette until she actually told all of them and found out for herself. Max probably would be happy for her, just like Jamie. Odette imagined Elias would too? But she wasn't sure. Adrian was the one she was worried about. "Ha, I don't know about that," she chuckled at Jamie's words. Odette had actually hardly ever spoken to her youngest brother. But... he couldn't hate a baby could he? "I'm... determined to show this kid as much love as possible." Odette nodded once in affirmation. "Which, ya know, with you in the picture probably won't be hard." She nudged her sister with a smile.

@jamie

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Jamie chuckled a little when Odette said that she didn’t know about Adrian. “He’s a softy. He just doesn’t like people to see it.” She insisted. She had seen glimpses of the real Adrian behind the front that he liked to put up to keep people away. Jamie was still puzzling over why none of her siblings really seemed to be open to love. She knew that there were some Muggle psychologists that would say it was because their father had abandoned them, but Jamie thought it was probably just a coincidence that they sometimes behaved like one another. Jamie seemed to be the black sheep when it came to being more open with her emotions… which Odette had evidently noted, given her comment about giving the baby a lot of love. “The most beautiful think about love is that you can never run out of it.” Jamie informed her sister. All of their siblings could make room in their heart for the littlest Greyback without having to edge anyone else out.

@odette