Lis!Fic - Mirror, Mirror (1/1) - Emily Summers
Category: Harry Potter Fic / Pink Sheep Future
Title: Mirror, Mirror
Author: 'Lis aka pyrobear
Characters: Emily Summers, Jake Summers, Noah Macmillan
Rating: PG-13 (references to sex and f-bomb dropped)
Word Count: 2000
Summary: This is what people should think of when they thought of her, not a little twit with her head in the clouds.
Author's Notes: Sequel to White Horse (1/1)'. It's probably best if you read that first.
Children and adults alike crowded Kings' Cross' platform nine-and-three-quarters, talking animatedly about the Christmas hols and the upcoming term, their breaths puffs of warm air that swirled around the crowd before dissipating. As the scarlet locomotive pulled into the station there was a burst of activity, no less frantic than in September, as parents hugged and students escaped with their dignity in tact while they still could.
"Emmy," Jake called softly to his eldest daughter, arms open, beckoning for one last hug before departure.
It took a moment, as priority had been previously assigned and the littlest Summers had wanted to extend her turn, others be damned. Emily put Dani down and went to her father, wrapping her arms around him, letting herself believe, just for a moment, that princesses and pirate ships still colored her world as opposed to her younger siblings'.
Blue eyes took time to study the brown haired, green eyed girl in front of him. Surely he had just looked away for a moment. When had she grown up without him? "Oh, Emmy-bean," he murmured, tucking a lock of hair behind an ear. While her coloring favored her mother, he could spot pieces of him in her face. The shape of the eyes. The mouth. Thought that could have been her Aunt Sam as well, including the smart arsed remarks that came with it. "When did you grow up on me?"
She blinked up at him, lips parted slightly, the words ready to tumble out, ready to tell him that she didn't want to be an adult yet, that she still wanted to search for Snow White's cottage and wander the pumpkin patch before Halloween, but the words wouldn't come. She hadn't told her parents what had happened that day up in the Astronomy tower, and she doubted any of her three siblings that currently attended Hogwarts had tattled either. But her mother knew, probably. Mrs. Mandy Summers had given her eldest knowing looks over the holiday, even going so far as to make Emily painfully aware that she was available if she felt the need to talk, about anything.
"When you weren't looking," she settled on, finally, as the Hogwarts' Express gave a a warning bell, letting all that were still on the platform know that they best get on the train lest they miss it.
Jake snorted, pulling her in for one last hug, noting how she seemed to press herself closer every time he did so. "Just remember, Emmy-bean, I love you. Forever and for always."
"Forever and for always," she echoed, pressing her face to his chest, taking in his special daddy presence for just one minute longer. In some ways she did not want to go back to Hogwarts, to go back and see him fun and flirty, but she knew better than to ask. Asking would lead to questions; questions that would be uncomfortable to answer.
"You need to get going, Emmy-bean. You don't want to miss the train."
Letting out a sigh, the fifth year drew back, with a slight wibble of her chin. Pressing a quick kiss to her father's cheek, she went to her mother's arms for a hug, kiss, and promise of baked goods forthcoming. Emily spared one last look to her parents and her two remaining siblings as she boarded the train. She was in no mood to wave, or say goodbye, or much of anything.
Surprised at finding an empty compartment, Emmy settled into the silence. Withdrawing her book from her bag, she flipped to her current chapter and began to read.
"There you are." There he stood, leaning against the compartment door. All careless grin and mussed hair.
Her traitorous heart gave a quick leap in her chest and began to beat so hard, she was sure he would be able to hear it in the stillness that was the compartment. "Here I am." Marking her place, Emily closed her book and looked up at the seventh year Gryffindor.
"And here I am." He moved into the compartment, shutting the door behind him and sprawling onto the bench next to her, hands going behind her.
She pursed her lips and shifted closer to the window and away from him. Her fingers ran over the spine of her book, itching to get back to the topic at hand.
"I missed you." He reached out, calloused fingertips brushed over her temple as he tucked a few loose strands of hair behind her ear. "I kept expecting an owl."
A likely story that she didn't believe for a moment, though she wished it were true. Flinching slightly as his skin roamed against hers, Emily bit her lip. "I-I-I think you should move. Please."
A frowned marred his pretty, gorgeous face. "Alright." Standing, he collapsed into the opposite bench seat, feet coming up to rest next to her, his long legs effectively blocking her in. "What's up with you? You're acting strangely. Did something happen over the hols?"
Now that he was farther away and not touching her, she could think, breathe. And now that her head was as clear as it was going to get, mad began to take over from the childish swooning. "I thought I made myself clear up on the Astronomy Tower?"
"Oh that." The man-boy or boy-man, whatever, ran a hand through his hair. "Thought you got over that."
Her eyes narrowed as she pulled her wand out of her pocket. Though they were not allowed to practice magic at home, she was technically not at home at the moment and perfectly in her rights to hex the prat in front of her. "Oh, how silly of me. I wasn't aware that I was supposed to just get over flirting with slags right in front of me."
He snorted. "They weren't slags and what's wrong with a little flirting? You seemed to enjoy it well enough before."
"Yes. Well. That was before." Before she had fallen into the trap of lust. Before she had given herself to him. Before she had lost her innocence. Before everything. "Before I realized that it meant more to me than it meant to you."
His face twisted into a sort of nasty smirk, making him look truly ugly to her for the first time that Emily could remember. "Don't tell me you fell in love with me. What did you imagine, a little house in the country and two or three kids and a dog?"
Emily's nose wrinkled. She preferred the city and disliked dogs. And that statement alone illustrated how little he really knew about her. This whole relationship was a losing bet from the beginning. "I may have deluded myself with lust," she said coolly. "I'm sorry I fucked you. Now get out."
Snarling, he stood. "You'll regret this," he warned as he tugged the door open.
"Not bloody likely," she whispered under her breath as she held her eyes wide, willing herself not to cry. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of letting him see her tears.
Once he was gone, a quick wave of her wand assured her that the door was closed. Her book had fallen to the floor, forgotten, as she drew her knees up to her chest, wanting to be anywhere else but the train heading to the snowy north of Scotland. She wanted to be home, in Bath, with her Daddy and her mum's scones. Horrors upon horrors, she discovered that there was wetness trailing down her cheeks and that once she started crying, she couldn't stop.
Noah yawned and shifted his bookbag from one shoulder to the other as he searched out his cousin. A search of compartment after compartment had yielded no results and he was beginning to feel a little bit annoyed as he looked for her.
And then once he did find her, he almost backed out of the compartment immediately. Crying women were trouble. Always.
Emily didn't even look up when she heard the door open. "Fuck off," she said in between breathy little sobs. She was in no mood to deal with company, no matter how desperate the person was to find a seat. Let them find that somewhere else.
He glanced over his shoulder, then back at Emmy and moved further into the compartment, sliding the door shut behind him. "Don't think I will actually."
"Oh, Noah." Emmy looked up, wet eyes wide in surprise at seeing her cousin and housemate in front of her. "What are you doing here?" she asked as tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes. Wiping at them with the back of her hand only served to smudge her make-up. She knew she should have worn waterproof mascara that morning.
"I was looking for somewhere to sit and I found you." He rocked back on his heels, tucking his hands in his pockets. "Want to tell me about it?"
She glanced down at her tucked up knees. "No, not really," she said lowly. Talking about it meant that she had been a foolish, silly little girl and that was exactly what she didn't want to be.
"Okay." He sprawled back on the seat across from her and dug a book out of his bag, flipping it open to the bookmark.
Sniffling, she bent down and retrieved her own, fallen, tome. They sat in silence for a few minutes, a picture perfect example of two studious Ravenclaws before Emily couldn't take it any more. "I was an idiot, Noah. A stupid, foolish, idiot."
He glanced at her over the top of his book. "What did you do?"'
The story began to spill forth from her lips, anxious to share some of the secrets she had been keeping to herself for almost the past two months. As she told her story, trying to gloss over the most graphic of details. She was sure he didn't want to hear them and she, sure as hell, didn't want to share them. She talked about how, blinded by lust and naivete, she had spent a night in the Astronomy Tower, only to face the confused feelings the experience had conjured up shortly before they had come home for the holidays, before moving onto the confrontation she had with the Gryffindor just minutes earlier.
Once she was done, her head fell back against the seat with a soft thunk. Green eyes studied the quiet thoughtful boy in front of her, so different than the previous occupant. She had known him all her life, longer, considering their mothers were pregnant at the same time. "I'm sorry," she murmured, "I shouldn't have unloaded on you, especially because this, of course ,comes with the caveat of not telling a soul."
Noah kept quiet as she spoke, knowing that she just needed to let it out, but not liking what he was hearing. Emmy was like a sister to him and knowing that someone had hurt her like that and there was nothing he could do about it grated on him. "It's okay," he replied. "You know you can tell me anything."
"Perhaps." Emily uncurled herself and reached down into her bag for her make up. Flipping open her mirror she began the arduous task of ridding herself of the underfed street orphan look and to apply a fresh layer. As she worked, silently putting on the powders and the creams deftly, she began to feel more and more like herself.
She rarely wore make-up while at home, yet it was the made up Emily Summers she preferred people to see. The perfect and intelligent Emily Summers with her flawless skin and expertly smudged eyeliner. This is who she was and who she would be. This is what people should think of when they thought of her, not a little twit with her head in the clouds.
"Not a soul," she warned as she shut her mirror with a sharp click. "Because I'd honestly hate to have to kill such an excellent revising partner."
Title: Mirror, Mirror
Author: 'Lis aka pyrobear
Characters: Emily Summers, Jake Summers, Noah Macmillan
Rating: PG-13 (references to sex and f-bomb dropped)
Word Count: 2000
Summary: This is what people should think of when they thought of her, not a little twit with her head in the clouds.
Author's Notes: Sequel to White Horse (1/1)'. It's probably best if you read that first.
Children and adults alike crowded Kings' Cross' platform nine-and-three-quarters, talking animatedly about the Christmas hols and the upcoming term, their breaths puffs of warm air that swirled around the crowd before dissipating. As the scarlet locomotive pulled into the station there was a burst of activity, no less frantic than in September, as parents hugged and students escaped with their dignity in tact while they still could.
"Emmy," Jake called softly to his eldest daughter, arms open, beckoning for one last hug before departure.
It took a moment, as priority had been previously assigned and the littlest Summers had wanted to extend her turn, others be damned. Emily put Dani down and went to her father, wrapping her arms around him, letting herself believe, just for a moment, that princesses and pirate ships still colored her world as opposed to her younger siblings'.
Blue eyes took time to study the brown haired, green eyed girl in front of him. Surely he had just looked away for a moment. When had she grown up without him? "Oh, Emmy-bean," he murmured, tucking a lock of hair behind an ear. While her coloring favored her mother, he could spot pieces of him in her face. The shape of the eyes. The mouth. Thought that could have been her Aunt Sam as well, including the smart arsed remarks that came with it. "When did you grow up on me?"
She blinked up at him, lips parted slightly, the words ready to tumble out, ready to tell him that she didn't want to be an adult yet, that she still wanted to search for Snow White's cottage and wander the pumpkin patch before Halloween, but the words wouldn't come. She hadn't told her parents what had happened that day up in the Astronomy tower, and she doubted any of her three siblings that currently attended Hogwarts had tattled either. But her mother knew, probably. Mrs. Mandy Summers had given her eldest knowing looks over the holiday, even going so far as to make Emily painfully aware that she was available if she felt the need to talk, about anything.
"When you weren't looking," she settled on, finally, as the Hogwarts' Express gave a a warning bell, letting all that were still on the platform know that they best get on the train lest they miss it.
Jake snorted, pulling her in for one last hug, noting how she seemed to press herself closer every time he did so. "Just remember, Emmy-bean, I love you. Forever and for always."
"Forever and for always," she echoed, pressing her face to his chest, taking in his special daddy presence for just one minute longer. In some ways she did not want to go back to Hogwarts, to go back and see him fun and flirty, but she knew better than to ask. Asking would lead to questions; questions that would be uncomfortable to answer.
"You need to get going, Emmy-bean. You don't want to miss the train."
Letting out a sigh, the fifth year drew back, with a slight wibble of her chin. Pressing a quick kiss to her father's cheek, she went to her mother's arms for a hug, kiss, and promise of baked goods forthcoming. Emily spared one last look to her parents and her two remaining siblings as she boarded the train. She was in no mood to wave, or say goodbye, or much of anything.
Surprised at finding an empty compartment, Emmy settled into the silence. Withdrawing her book from her bag, she flipped to her current chapter and began to read.
"There you are." There he stood, leaning against the compartment door. All careless grin and mussed hair.
Her traitorous heart gave a quick leap in her chest and began to beat so hard, she was sure he would be able to hear it in the stillness that was the compartment. "Here I am." Marking her place, Emily closed her book and looked up at the seventh year Gryffindor.
"And here I am." He moved into the compartment, shutting the door behind him and sprawling onto the bench next to her, hands going behind her.
She pursed her lips and shifted closer to the window and away from him. Her fingers ran over the spine of her book, itching to get back to the topic at hand.
"I missed you." He reached out, calloused fingertips brushed over her temple as he tucked a few loose strands of hair behind her ear. "I kept expecting an owl."
A likely story that she didn't believe for a moment, though she wished it were true. Flinching slightly as his skin roamed against hers, Emily bit her lip. "I-I-I think you should move. Please."
A frowned marred his pretty, gorgeous face. "Alright." Standing, he collapsed into the opposite bench seat, feet coming up to rest next to her, his long legs effectively blocking her in. "What's up with you? You're acting strangely. Did something happen over the hols?"
Now that he was farther away and not touching her, she could think, breathe. And now that her head was as clear as it was going to get, mad began to take over from the childish swooning. "I thought I made myself clear up on the Astronomy Tower?"
"Oh that." The man-boy or boy-man, whatever, ran a hand through his hair. "Thought you got over that."
Her eyes narrowed as she pulled her wand out of her pocket. Though they were not allowed to practice magic at home, she was technically not at home at the moment and perfectly in her rights to hex the prat in front of her. "Oh, how silly of me. I wasn't aware that I was supposed to just get over flirting with slags right in front of me."
He snorted. "They weren't slags and what's wrong with a little flirting? You seemed to enjoy it well enough before."
"Yes. Well. That was before." Before she had fallen into the trap of lust. Before she had given herself to him. Before she had lost her innocence. Before everything. "Before I realized that it meant more to me than it meant to you."
His face twisted into a sort of nasty smirk, making him look truly ugly to her for the first time that Emily could remember. "Don't tell me you fell in love with me. What did you imagine, a little house in the country and two or three kids and a dog?"
Emily's nose wrinkled. She preferred the city and disliked dogs. And that statement alone illustrated how little he really knew about her. This whole relationship was a losing bet from the beginning. "I may have deluded myself with lust," she said coolly. "I'm sorry I fucked you. Now get out."
Snarling, he stood. "You'll regret this," he warned as he tugged the door open.
"Not bloody likely," she whispered under her breath as she held her eyes wide, willing herself not to cry. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of letting him see her tears.
Once he was gone, a quick wave of her wand assured her that the door was closed. Her book had fallen to the floor, forgotten, as she drew her knees up to her chest, wanting to be anywhere else but the train heading to the snowy north of Scotland. She wanted to be home, in Bath, with her Daddy and her mum's scones. Horrors upon horrors, she discovered that there was wetness trailing down her cheeks and that once she started crying, she couldn't stop.
Noah yawned and shifted his bookbag from one shoulder to the other as he searched out his cousin. A search of compartment after compartment had yielded no results and he was beginning to feel a little bit annoyed as he looked for her.
And then once he did find her, he almost backed out of the compartment immediately. Crying women were trouble. Always.
Emily didn't even look up when she heard the door open. "Fuck off," she said in between breathy little sobs. She was in no mood to deal with company, no matter how desperate the person was to find a seat. Let them find that somewhere else.
He glanced over his shoulder, then back at Emmy and moved further into the compartment, sliding the door shut behind him. "Don't think I will actually."
"Oh, Noah." Emmy looked up, wet eyes wide in surprise at seeing her cousin and housemate in front of her. "What are you doing here?" she asked as tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes. Wiping at them with the back of her hand only served to smudge her make-up. She knew she should have worn waterproof mascara that morning.
"I was looking for somewhere to sit and I found you." He rocked back on his heels, tucking his hands in his pockets. "Want to tell me about it?"
She glanced down at her tucked up knees. "No, not really," she said lowly. Talking about it meant that she had been a foolish, silly little girl and that was exactly what she didn't want to be.
"Okay." He sprawled back on the seat across from her and dug a book out of his bag, flipping it open to the bookmark.
Sniffling, she bent down and retrieved her own, fallen, tome. They sat in silence for a few minutes, a picture perfect example of two studious Ravenclaws before Emily couldn't take it any more. "I was an idiot, Noah. A stupid, foolish, idiot."
He glanced at her over the top of his book. "What did you do?"'
The story began to spill forth from her lips, anxious to share some of the secrets she had been keeping to herself for almost the past two months. As she told her story, trying to gloss over the most graphic of details. She was sure he didn't want to hear them and she, sure as hell, didn't want to share them. She talked about how, blinded by lust and naivete, she had spent a night in the Astronomy Tower, only to face the confused feelings the experience had conjured up shortly before they had come home for the holidays, before moving onto the confrontation she had with the Gryffindor just minutes earlier.
Once she was done, her head fell back against the seat with a soft thunk. Green eyes studied the quiet thoughtful boy in front of her, so different than the previous occupant. She had known him all her life, longer, considering their mothers were pregnant at the same time. "I'm sorry," she murmured, "I shouldn't have unloaded on you, especially because this, of course ,comes with the caveat of not telling a soul."
Noah kept quiet as she spoke, knowing that she just needed to let it out, but not liking what he was hearing. Emmy was like a sister to him and knowing that someone had hurt her like that and there was nothing he could do about it grated on him. "It's okay," he replied. "You know you can tell me anything."
"Perhaps." Emily uncurled herself and reached down into her bag for her make up. Flipping open her mirror she began the arduous task of ridding herself of the underfed street orphan look and to apply a fresh layer. As she worked, silently putting on the powders and the creams deftly, she began to feel more and more like herself.
She rarely wore make-up while at home, yet it was the made up Emily Summers she preferred people to see. The perfect and intelligent Emily Summers with her flawless skin and expertly smudged eyeliner. This is who she was and who she would be. This is what people should think of when they thought of her, not a little twit with her head in the clouds.
"Not a soul," she warned as she shut her mirror with a sharp click. "Because I'd honestly hate to have to kill such an excellent revising partner."