RP: A Life Between

[anon_alice]

Date: June 2, 2003
Character(s): Alice Longbottom, James Potter
Location: James'new home on Bere Lane
Status: Private
Summary: A second encounter in as many days, but slightly different circumstances
Completion: Complete

Comments

[anon_alice]

It answered her question then, that not all people came through right away, though it seemed she had, at least close enough. Alice wondered when Annwn was 'created', but still - all that really mattered was that it was here now. It hadn't occurred to her though that he might not know what had happened to him, that he really had been dead, but then again neither had she really. But at least he had already gleaned the knowledge from other sources, who'd probably filled him in on pertinent details as it was. For her part, she would have only months of knowledge to offer as it was, given she was as clueless about the rest after.

James' response to her question about Lilly was a good indication of perhaps the cause of his mood. While she was happy they were both able to come through in Annwn, it was implied in his statement that they hadn't found any second chances together. It honestly startled Alice for a moment, because she would have never thought it of them. They had always been so close, and solid in their marriage, despite being young. But time did change things - and even if it had been here, they'd had some of it. It wasn't a seperation of unfortunate circumstance, but one of choice it seemed.

"I'm sorry," Alice said quietly, but could offer nothing more under the circumstances - not knowing them, just giving him a pat on the arm. "I had just assumed."

But they weren't just about respective spouses any more, though last time she'd inquired after the other man's son he'd been just a babe. He too would be grown now, and from the very generalized knowledge she had, a hero of sorts. "Has Harry been here - Annwn 'here', and to see you? He must be so thrilled to have his parents back, and you to see him again." It was hard in a way, not to dwell that she wasn't having the chance with Neville, but she could just imagine how it was for them, and a flicker of jealousy reared it's head because she wasn't that selfless not to make the comparison.

[anon_james]

James shrugged, trying to pretend it wasn't anything that bothered him badly. In that way, he was just as he was when she last knew him. He was only four years older, after all, and until recently hadn't had anything to challenge him beyond his current maturity level. He found it difficult to do much except brood about it, at least when he was alone. It was easier when he was at work, or with Sirius (not that he'd seen Sirius in a long time) or even Cedric. Alice had had the unfortunate luck to come upon him alone and brooding.

"I assumed, too. Guess we know what that means."

Another shrug, and he stepped back, motioning for her to come up the stairs and enter the house with him if she liked. "Harry's in Annwn, been here a little less than a year. Married to Ginny Weasley. We don't... ah... talk much."

Yet another thing for him to look dark about. James Potter's fairy tale family seemed to have fallen apart in Annwn.

[anon_alice]

Apparently things really weren't going well for James since his return. Alice felt for him, because none of that was easy. It wasn't easier, having one's husband lost in himself in a hospital, someone she could see but couldn't have, essentially love from afar corny though it sounded, but at least there was no willing choice in their seperation.

There were two sides to every story - and she knew neither of them, but it seems at least it hadn't been James desire for the end.

"Apparently I keep sticking my foot in my mouth in some respect," she said with a small sigh, following him into his home at the unspoken invitation, "but I'm sorry you don't get on well. I suppose the only consolation I can offer is that Neville doesn't seem to be here at all any more. Though that's bemoaning my own situation rather than offering you any real comfort. What happened?"

Hearing what James said, Alice gave a slightly bitter smile. "Married? Dear Merlin, I still don't feel old enough to be married in the truest sense - I can't believe we have children who are old enough to be, were you around for that? And Ginny Weasley - is that some relative of Arthur's? Last I remember their's was an all male brood, but there have to be a million Weasley cousins."

[anon_james]

James took her into his very sparse living room with only the couch to sit on, and the look on his face said she hadn't really thought about what it would look if he chose to entertain visitors. He hadn't really been expecting to entertain visitors, though. "Um, sorry, I haven't been in this house long. Just a couple of days, really."

So he offered to let her sit on the couch while he stood. "Anything to drink? I've got... ah... water and Firewhiskey." Holy hell, Potter, you sound like Sirius. The thought translated to a sheepish expression. "Maybe water." Despite him holding a glass of Firewhiskey for himself.

Sighing, James took off his glasses to rub at his eyes a moment. He really didn't want to go into this again, not with anyone, and especially not with a woman. Penelope had taught him his lesson, and he'd been good even with the sympathetic and calming Annis. "Really, it's not important. I'm sorry Neville's not around. If I knew where to find him, I'd tell you, but I haven't run into him at all."

The questions concerning Ginny Weasley were a lot more comfortable for him, and finally managed to get a real smile out of him. "Arthur and Molly ended up with seven, if you can believe it. Ginny's the youngest, and her mother's daughter from what I've been able to tell. I've only talked to her once or twice, even though I work for the twins. Merlin, I work for Molly and Arthur's kids."

[anon_alice]

"You don't have to explain to me," Alice said as she sat on the couch he'd indicated - looking around the room they'd entered, "I haven't found a place yet at all. And I'm not the most fastidious guest."

When he made the offer of drink she probably would have gone with firewhiskey, if he hadn't made the assumption of water. It didn't really matter it was the middle of the afternoon, but she didn't need the warmth of the drink, welcome though it might have been. Besides, it looked like the entirety of the bottle would find a more welcome home with James than in her own body - so she simply nodded when he made the safer assumption.

If he thought she was going to buy that it wasn't important, he was deluded. What was more important than his own son? James might not have been the most serious of men but that didn't mean it didn't hold true for him too. But she would easily buy was that he didn't want to talk about it at all. Understandable perhaps, but she felt cut off in the moment. Not that she wanted to get into all the circumstances of herself in it's entirety, but she thought there'd be some consolation in it, giving the parallels he might be able to understand.

She had to admit half of it was just that she didn't have that sort of confidant right now, and so many elements of her life Lilly or James could understand. But they'd likely come to terms with things already, and better than she obviously had, and worked through that at least together. "I'm not prying James, feel free to ignore my questions, though I can't imagine it's not important. But talking solves nothing I suppose. Doesn't change anything, does it? And no, I think Neville is well and far away from Annwn. I would have found him otherwise - and his greenhouse stays unattended. And even if I could corporeally exit the town, I don't make a habit of looking for people who don't want to be found. Just hope he's allright, you know. Since I know...nothing."

Alice shook her head mentally against the thoughts of that, watching his expression lighten slightly when focused on others not himself. "No, I can't believe it," she said, happy to escape into the lighter topic of conversation, "I couldn't imagine past one personally. I was shocked enough at six, but...well, that's them." Even if she might have quipped to Frank once or twice she wondered if Molly had ever heard of a birth control potion before. "At least they finally got a girl though. I just..., I mean she must have been..." She was realizing that Molly would have already been pregnant likely when Alice had last been sentient enough to see her.

Breaking off, Alice bit back a smile. "Doesn't seem real does it? Or right on many many levels. First off that we're old enough their kids are adults, though I think we'd feel that regardless of whether or not we'd been there for the growing up years. What is it they - and by extension you - do?"

[anon_james]

A light flush actually colored his cheeks, and suddenly he understood why Lily had always insisted the house be as clean as possible. Having company over with so little furniture and knowing everything about him was dirty was a little embarrassing. Especially considering he'd left it that way on purpose in a fit of male rebellion against what he knew his ex-wife would see as an insufferable mess. He smiled that part-sheepish, part-dashing smile that had won over so many people, including one Lily Evans. "Yeah, but when you do find a place, I'm sure it'll look much nicer than mine."

A break in the conversation occurred when he went to the kitchen to get her a glass of water, and for good measure he dumped his Firewhiskey and took a glass of water for himself as well. Moving back to the living room, he handed her one glass while he sipped from the other.

"I just don't want to talk about it," he said with a small smile. He sighed and sat down on the floor in front of her, not wanting to sit next to her for the couch really wasn't so big. "I haven't had much luck in finding confidants." Especially if they're female. "I'm sure Neville will come back eventually. He runs a greenhouse? I can't imagine he'd leave it forever." He really didn't know, as he didn't know Neville well, or at all. But considering the boy was Alice's son, and Frank's, James thought Neville must have an incredible work ethic.

That smile was back as she asked him what the twins' business was, and this time there was more of the old James in it. "It's a joke shop. Fred and George are brilliant, ten times better than the Marauders ever were, but don't tell them I said that. It's only true because they set their minds toward making it a business, and we just wanted to have fun."

He thought he probably wouldn't tell her about the graffiti bomb. Yeah, that wouldn't be a good idea.

[anon_alice]

It was amusing how he seemed so sheepish over the cleanliness, when it hardly bothered her, and if it did a scourgify was easy enough. The smile though was good to see, and Alice's lips curved in return. "Perhaps. Or at least I'll keep visitors sitting on my front stoop until I get it into a more presentable state."

Alice accepted the water when he came back, toying with it in her hands for a moment rather than responding. "Like I said, you don't have to talk about it, James. We've all got baggage it's easier to simply keep to ourselves, and if you want the selfish truth I've got enough of my own burdens without taking on others. But you look like you're about to throw yourself on your own wand - so just know this, there's a lot I'm able to understand and empathize with, but that doesn't mean I have to be given the opportunity."

With a sip of the water at his other comment, she did wish for a moment it was firewhiskey. "Thank you for the platitude, but physical places aren't enough to have a hold on people. And people can be a force to drive away." And that was as willing as she was to delve into that. It went unsaid that it wasn't easy for her not to see him, never to have seen him or known him, though she supposed James didn't know that she never had - she just assumed. She was used to her life being more the knowledge of others even more than her.

She couldn't quite fight back an inadvertent snort when the business was mentioned. A joke shop. She couldn't believe anybody would ever open such a thing, but she could picture James working there. At least the old James. And who knew if they were one in the same. "I'll keep that our little secret," Alice said, "not need to inflate the young'uns heads with the knowledge they might have surpassed their seniors in anything. But they've found a worthy what...stock boy? In you." She couldn't keep a mildly teasing note out of her voice. "A way to pass the time I suppose."

[anon_james]

"Hey, don't give me ideas. Maybe I should put you on the front stoop." He gave her a smile that was almost a genuine grin. "Not that I'll be able to make this place hospitable any time soon."

James accepted what she said with a brief nod. If she didn't want to force him to talk, that was all well and good with him. It was nice to have someone he could talk to, but wouldn't invade into his private life. Annis is like that, too. She was very gracious when you didn't want to talk anymore. James shook that thought from his head and returned to the conversation with Alice.

"I don't know," he said to her about Neville, "he's your son. It's not just the greenhouse I think he won't be able to stay away from." James stopped, suddenly realizing he didn't know how she came to be in Annwn, if she were alive or dead, and if Neville knew. For that matter, he didn't know how she'd lived her life. "I mean, you're his mother." He wanted to ask if Frank was with her, but it didn't seem right to after he'd basically shut her out of asking anything of him.

Her comments about the twins made him laugh. "Oh no, wouldn't want them getting big heads at all, not like certain other people you used to know, right? And I'm not just a stock boy." He pulled himself up to sit straighter and said with dramatic dignity, "I'm also a cleaning boy and, on occasion, a product demonstrator."

He didn't bother to mention he'd been demonstrating products in a clown suit as punishment.

[anon_alice]

"Don't think that's going to get me to offer to help," Alice said with a shake of her head, "because really, few waves of your wand and a few purchases, and at least you won't be a disgrace. Maybe you won't be ready to have the Minister around for tea, but well...people won't have to cast their own scourgify's nor make a point of wearing their grungiest clothes."

At his comment Alice felt a level of sadness, sighing into her water and contemplating, using it as a crutch to not speak for a moment. "A mother he doesn't know," she said quietly and bitterly under her breath, "little more than biology in truth."

But James antics brought a small smile back if nothing else. "What, you mean that's changed? Knock me over with a feather - you actually learned humility. Though I supposed working for men however many years your junior will instill some if nothing else ever has."

For all she wouldn't pry into the other mans life, there were things - real things, she might have liked to talk about, all equally as hard as his marriage - past and present, but she bit her tongue back on them. This wasn't the old days, and he was withdrawn. Well, this was what tragedy did to people wasn't it, pulled them into themselves and only certain others.

She forced a bit wider smile, "Hope their products are safer to demonstrate than things you used to produce."

[anon_james]

"Damn, you saw through my attempt to get you to clean my house for me," he said with a wink. He'd get his own house together in time; already the embarrassment was fading. She was here, after all, couldn't change it now.

James frowned, not sure whether or not he should ask about that. In the end, his curiosity got the better of them both, and he couldn't stay silent. "What do you mean, Alice?" he asked in a subdued voice. "What happened after Lily and I died?"

Humility just might be somewhat beyond him, at least on most days, but he put a hand over his heart and bowed his head. He did, however, defend his employment under the Weasley twins. "They aren't exactly years my junior, not technically. I'd say we're about the same age. Sirius, though, you should see him. He's ancient." James grinned, knowing he'd probably end up with tentacles for arms or something if Sirius ever heard him say it, but hey, this was Alice, and he could say whatever he wanted about Sirius while he wasn't there to defend himself.

"Actually, their products are somewhat more dangerous than anything I ever came up with."

[anon_alice]

Her comment had been inadvertent, full of her own personal hurt, but it had opened the door. Alice only shrugged, focusing more on her own water then anything. "Nothing happened James - nothing you haven't been filled in on I'm sure, and...simply nothing afterwards. It's just hard, like I'm sure it was with Harry, coming back and realizing they had grown up without you being the ones to raise them or knowing a bit of it. At least we have the children who grew up though - though my own morose nature is because Neville's disappearnce has been I can't reassure myself of that, or get to know him."

She shot him a look, "I'm not looking for sympathy. I know I'm not alone in having a circumstance like that - but that doesn't make it any easier."

And it was true, James was a near carbon copy of the past, the biological 'years' were similar - after all sitting beside him made her feel like this was the 70's again. This place had such a way of mucking that all up, timelines and sensations it seemed.

"Ancient?" Alice smiled, "As old as this body seems to be then when you see it? I should be insulted. Good for him - not that it's a true achievement. Well, he probably doesn't feel that way when you take the mickey out of him, but means he had that long and full life, doesn't it. Be sure to offer to hand him a walker though."

[anon_james]

James watched her as she spoke, and in light of all of the things that weren't being said, he decided it was time to stop joking around, time to really get to the point of things. "I didn't think you were looking for sympathy, Alice. You were never the type. That's me, but I'm not looking for sympathy either, for once." Through his glasses, he peered at her, searching for the answers to his questioning thoughts. "I don't know what happened. No one told me that part."

And he hadn't thought to ask about Alice and Frank. They hadn't been close friends, not yet, so he hadn't asked. Knowing that felt terrible now.

He knew also that if he wanted Alice to tell him about her life, then he should offer something in return, considering she'd been asking him questions that he hadn't answered. With a sigh, James offered the details he hadn't before. "Lily left me, by the way. It's a long story, but I did something stupid, and for whatever reason she decided she couldn't forgive me for it this time. But she didn't actually leave me until she decided she'd rather be with Snape."

His voice changed to a growl at the name. Though he knew it was Lily's choice, it was too easy to direct his anger to Snape. Part of him wanted to think that one day Lily would come back to him, and he didn't want to have any bitterness directed at her when that happened. If it happens.