(Untitled)

[ravenscorner]

WHO: Michael and Morag
WHERE: Morag's house
WHAT: Just some time together! Maybe it will keep them both sane and provoid some happiness.
WHEN: December 27th, sometime in the later afternoon.
RATING: PG?
STATUS: In progress

Comments

[misobel]

Morag's Christmas, like many others, had been different this year. It was the first time a family member had been missing for the holiday, and it hadn't gone unnoticed. A letter was no consolation for an absent sister. She had been spending a lot of time at Cecily's, simply because she enjoyed being there more than being at home. However, she could tell her parents were getting annoyed with it, and had returned for a few days. She thought it would be best to avoid another argument.

She was much happier away from school, despite the arguments and absent sister. She liked most of the people there, of course, but that didn't make up for the rest. Besides, she could always see them away from school, something that was demonstrated by the knock on the door. She had been reading on the couch in an attempt to take advantage of the relative quiet. The only other person around was her father, who was working in another room. He either ignored or didn't hear the knock, which left Morag to glance through the window to see who was there before heading to the entryway.

It felt like she had been away from school longer than she had, and she was glad to see Michael standing there. She greeted him with a smile once she had opened the door, and then said simply, "Hi." She glanced over her shoulder to see if her father had emerged before turning back with another smile.

[ravenscorner]

Michael wished that he knew more about what was going on with Morag while they were apart. This had been different than just being separated by a few walls in their own dormitories. Half the time he felt like a terrible boyfriend, and for the rest of the time he knew he would get too annoying if he was constantly owling Morag and waiting eagerly outside for some sort of reply. Even if he did like to know what was going on, he wasn't quite mad enough to let himself do such a thing.

At least there was no more then and only now; now, after Christmas, at Morag's house. The hat on his head was really starting to get annoying, and just as he ripped it off his head he heard the door opening. His eyes wandered back up from his feet at the exact same moment that his left hand went up to flatten his hair back down. He caught sight of the smile on Morag's face and couldn't help but smile back, though his eyes were scanning her slightly for traces of bodily harm or emotional distress. She seemed to be perfectly intact, so he let the smile further shape his face.

"Hi," Michael responded, letting his eyes move away from her for a brief second so he could look to see where she was looking behind her shoulder. He didn't know if anyone was lurking around and watching them, but he took a few steps closer and bowed his head so he could kiss the crook of her mouth before returning to his full height. "How are you?"

[misobel]

"I am good," she answered, stepping aside to let him in. "Dad is around somewhere. I think he is busy," she said. She suspected he was just ignoring what was going on at his doorway, but he had likely paused in whatever he was doing to make sure it wasn't anything dangerous. He didn't show up, though, which was something he was more likely to do when Morag's mother wasn't home. Her parents were both less strict when apart, and generally liked to spend that time alone.

"What about you, though? Have things been all right?" Morag asked almost immediately after. He looked fine, but that didn't mean a lot anymore. Her own answer had given little information, but it had been automatic and she was never very comfortable talking about herself. She didn't feel like she had anything important to say, especially compared to what a lot of people were going through at the moment. Her life was still fairly normal by those standards. Her sister might not be around, but at least Morag knew she was safe. She didn't want to think about what it would be like otherwise. She also felt bad for not knowing the particulars about Michael's past week, seeing as she thought this was something she should know more about. Hopefully he would be better at supplying information than she was.

[ravenscorner]

Michael couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief as Morag said she was good. He figured that if anything was terribly wrong, terribly life-threatening, she would have said so right away. If there was anything else wrong, anything small, she could always mention it later once he wasn't standing outside the house, still looking as though he were about to turn around and run away back home. Quite frankly, he didn't want to go home anytime soon, so he instead offered Morag another smile.

He paused for a few moments and simply watched her, but he didn't speak for another few moments as he stepped inside her house and felt the chill of the air leaving his body. The easiest way to answer would be with something short and sweet, much like Morag had responded with. Now wasn't the time for giving a speech on the things in his own home that were bothering, and bringing up his mother's paranoia and his father's drinking would probably get him in a slightly bad mood. He knew that he wasn't going through things as difficult as others were, and Morag wasn't either, thankfully, but that didn't mean it was easy to deal with, either. "Things are alright. As good as they can be, really. We had a nice Christmas dinner, at least. Did you enjoy your Christmas?" Michael shrugged his jacket off and shoved his hat into one of the pockets.

[misobel]

Morag didn't think what he said sounded very promising, but she decided to leave it for the time. She wanted to know, but wasn't sure if he wanted to say anything. There was also the possibility that she was thinking too much into what he was saying, even if that usually wasn't the case. Regardless, having shut the door behind him, she turned back without mentioning anything as he finished speaking.

"It was fine. Quiet, I guess," she answered. She took his coat from him and put it down on a chair sitting nearby, set near the entryway on the rare chance that someone needed it. It normally just got used as a temporary place to put things, however. "It was different," she continued after a brief pause. "Not bad, though."

Motioning toward the kitchen, she asked, "Do you need anything? Or we can just go sit somewhere. It doesn't really matter where." She wasn't really sure what to do next, since she didn't want her dad to get curious and come out of his room. He was likely to start a conversation that would last awhile, and Morag didn't feel like doing that at the moment. She would rather have a little while talking to Michael alone first.

[ravenscorner]

There was a thoughtful expression on his face as he used the few moments of silence to plan what he wanted to say ahead of time. Usually he was good at thinking of something to say on the spot, but nowadays it seemed best to make sure that he already had something in mind before he opened his mouth and tried not to become victim of a whole case of word vomit. Besides, there were plenty of things to say to one's girlfriend, especially when he hadn't seen her for quite some time. Or a few days, but it still felt like quite some time.

"It seems that a lot of things are quiet lately. I went out shopping earlier and no one was talking," he added rather quietly, watching as she took his coat from him and placed it down. "I suppose it's better than if we would have stayed at Hogwarts, yeah? At least now we're getting something that resembles Christmases of the past."

Michael couldn't think of anything he needed, except for maybe something to drink, but he wasn't desperately thirsty for anything. As they walked a bit toward the kitchen he let his eyes wander around curiously and explore what he could see of Morag's house, which wasn't really anything out of the ordinary, but still something that interested him nevertheless. "I don't need anything, really, but how about the living-room? Is there anyone in there?"

[misobel]

Morag frowned at what Michael said, but didn't answer. Resembling past Christmases wasn't the same, of course. She knew she couldn't expect it to be, though. Quiet wasn't normal, but at least it was better to other alternatives. She only hoped it would get better soon, although sometimes wasn't sure if this was possible. Regardless, she nodded and moved onto the next point of conversation.

"No, it's empty. It's through there," she said, pointing out the entryway to the living room, even though he could probably tell for himself. She found it strange that there were so few people in the house anymore. Her sisters had all moved out, and with her parents often at work, it left Morag the whole house. At first it seemed like this would be nice, but it took some adjusting to.

"Are you sure you're fine?" she asked after a short pause, allowing him to lead the way and take things in first. And then, realizing this question wasn't very precise, added, "I mean, I can go get something, but I guess in the other way, too. Nothing too bad has been going on, has it? Have you seen anyone else?"

[ravenscorner]

As soon as he had said that statement about Christmases, he felt rather annoyed with himself for saying it in that almost wistful sort of tone. It wasn't very smart to wish for things that he couldn't control, he knew this. But at the same time, he couldn't tell Morag that he'd had a wonderful Christmas, either, because this would have been a lie, and he wouldn't have been able to get a lie out without appearing completely obvious. Plus he didn't want to lie to her in the first place.

"It seems our houses both have something in common, they're quiet around this time," he murmured, glancing around some more before walking over to a comfortable looking couch and plopping down on it. He patted the spot next to him, hoping that Morag would choose to sit there and not somewhere on the other side of the room. "Sometimes I like the quiet, sometimes I don't."

With her next words, he sighed softly and stared at the floor. "I'm fine. I mean, my dad's been drinking a bit, that's how he handles stress. My mum wanders around the house with cooking utensils in her hand because she's paranoid that someone is constantly lurking in the dark shadows. But I can't blame her, really. I've seen Anthony, I helped light the Goldstein menorah. What about you? Any company?" He had meant company in the sense of friendly people, but if someone else, like someone from the Ministry and what not, had appeared, he wanted to know as well.

[misobel]

Morag sat down next to him on the couch, turning sideways a little so she could see him better. She thought it was true that most people liked quiet at times and not at others. There were some situations where it was almost necessary to have other people around. She found she usually liked to have someone nearby, even if they weren't saying anything.

She listened carefully to what he said about his parents, looking down to where he was staring and then back up to him when she answered. "That's not good. I don't really know what you could do about that, but things will get better sometime, hopefully soon, and then that should help," she said, giving him a small smile. She thought things always changed for the better eventually, and just hoped it wouldn't take too long to get to that point. She wasn't sure she wanted to see people have to get used to this situation.

"That sounds nice. I have only seen my family so far. I have been at my sister's a lot," she replied. "I think it makes my parents angry, but I guess that is understandable, since they probably expect me to be home over break." It was understandable, but still a bit annoying. She would rather be there, where she and her sister got along for the most part, instead of having to be careful about what she said at home.