Ping!

[shh_justin]

Date: 31 July 2005
Characters: Justin Finch-Fletchley, Ernie Macmillan
Location: Just Desserts
Status: Private
Summary: An old friend stops by at work.
Completion: Complete

The shop had been quiet the entire day and Justin was all alone.  Eloise had stepped out just a moment ago, in search of ingredients for her mad experiments in the back kitchen, so

Comments

[shh_ernie]

Ernie deserved a reward. He was putting in all of his normal hours at work plus helping Eleanor ready her shop plus entertaining Henry. He never thought he'd say this, but if he had to play another round of Grand Theft Auto, he might go mad.

He pushed open the door to Just Desserts. Hopefully, Midgie--Eloise, he quickly corrected himself--had some chocolate frogs in stock. A man was examining the receipts. Ernie glanced around but found no sign of Eloise. Good Merlin, was this a robbery?

He drew his wand. "Turn around slowly. With your hands up."

[shh_justin]

Justin heard the door open and he assumed it was Eloise. When a distinctly male voice practically put him under arrest, he froze and put his hands up in the air in clear view. The long strip of receipts hit the floor again and bounced.

"I, uh, I work here," Justin said quickly. "I was just, uh, okay this looks bad and, um, the truth isn't much better or particularly intelligent, but - "

He turned around slowly and found himself face-to-face with Ernie Macmillan.

"Ernie?!," he squawked. "Good Merlin, way to make a bloke nearly piss his trousers!"

He grinned, his hands still up. "Care to put the wand down?"

[shh_ernie]

"Justin?" Ernie said, unable to stop himself from grinning back. He lowered his wand a fraction of an inch before Ambrose's voice echoed in his head. While it was rather unlikely that someone had polyjuiced themself into Justin Finch-Fletchley in order to steal from Eloise's shop, stranger things had been known to happen.

Raising his wand again, he squinted at Justin. "How do I know you're Justin? And where's Eloise?" He glanced around and shouted, "Eloise!" There was no answer however.

[shh_justin]

"Who else would I be?" Justin asked curiously. He didn't have any connections that would make anyone want to pretend to be him, at least not to his knowledge. And he had a bum leg, which he wasn't sure was the type of thing one would want to pretend to have.

He laughed, thinking at first taht it was a joke. "I've got Eloise tied up and gagged in the back. She got in the way of my trying to lift six tons of cavities and gingivitis from this shop."

When Ernie squinted at him and shouted for Eloise to come out, Justin blinked incredulously. "It's me, Justin! I was kidding! I lived with you for seven years at Hogwarts, I know you've got smiley face underwear and underwear with little hearts and scottie dogs and...uh, clearly I know too much about your underwear and I should shut up now."

[shh_ernie]

It was Justin. No one, except someone with whom he'd shared a dorm for seven years, would know about...those. Thankfully, those pants were long gone. Somehow Ernie doubted that Eleanor would be impressed by scottie dogs. Lowering his wand, Ernie grinned sheepishly, "Sorry. Can't be too careful this days." He tucked his wand away and extended his hand. "Where in the bloody hell have you been, Justin?"

The last he'd heard Justin had up and left Stoatshead. Ernie could've told him that he and Millicent Bulstrode would never have worked. Slytherins never looked out for anyone but themselves. But Justin hadn't asked. And Ernie, for once, hadn't offered his opinion.

[shh_justin]

Justin put his hands down. "It's all right. I know now that my disturbing recollection of your underthings can save my life on occasion. Good knowledge to have."

He smiled weakly and shook his old friend's hand. He hadn't seen him since...well, since the Millicent chapter of his life. Now that he thought about it, it was a bit embarassing to see Ernie again, after leaving so quickly without even saying good bye and then not keeping in contact with anyone. Ernie knew how enamoured he'd been with Millicent and he had to have guessed by now that that relationship had tanked miserably. Since Jusitn had returned to Stoatshead, it was like starting over completely new, as if he hadn't lived there before. Now the past was looking him straight in the eye and asking him where he'd been.

"Uh, well, stuff didn't work out here...so I decided to travel a bit. I came back here at the beginning of the month and I think I'm here to stay this time." He grinned sheepishly. "What've you been up to?"

[shh_ernie]

Ernie decided to hold his tongue about Millicent. Instead, he smiled, saying, "Well, I'm glad you're back. Nice to have some more mates about town." He looked down at his feet. There was a disturbingly large pile of receipts and he bent down and gathered them up. "Yours, I take it?"

Justin asked what he'd been doing. "I'm still working as an Auror. It's going really well." His smile widened into a goofy grin. "And I...well, I've met someone...special. Eleanor Branstone. Don't know if you remember her. She was a Hufflepuff a few years behind us. Actually, we live a few doors down." He pointed eastward. "The brick house."

[shh_justin]

Justin laughed awkwardly. "Uh, yeah. Slight malfunction with the thing." He pointed at the till. The bothersome, seductive, deceiving little till. "Thanks. I'll just, uh, look through them in a bit

[shh_ernie]

Smith? Ernie scowled, "That sodding tosser's been talking about me and..." He paused, momentarily confused. "And...Eleanor?" He was dying to know what Smith had said exactly. If he was saying anything that reflected badly on Eleanor, he'd answer to Ernie. Promise to Eleanor about being nicer to the stupid git or not.

It was much more pleasant to think on Eleanor. "Yes, we live together. It is serious." Ernie leaned forward, taking a quick look around. No one else was here. "I'm going to ask her to marry me," he said quietly.

Ducking his head a bit, he shook his head. "But to answer your question. No, I'm not here to pick up something for Elle. I need some chocolate frogs." He thought for a moment. "Although bringing home a bit of fudge couldn't hurt." It would be a nice surprise. Something to help her relax somewhat.

[shh_justin]

Justin winced.

"No, no, he didn't - he wasn't disrespectful at all. Especially to Eleanor." Though Zach's opinions on Ernie didn't exactly display a mutual fondness between the two. Of course, that was the kind of thing he could do with keeping to himself. "Just, whatever happened is over and done, right? But between you and me, mate, I've got to say, you did some good work on his nose." He attempted a grin.

He couldn't help but notice the glow about Ernie whenever he said Eleanor's name. It was a nice to know that love was real, sometimes. He'd been having a tough time believing in the notion lately. However, it seemed evidence of its existence was standing right in front of him, beaming, even as Ernie whispered it quietly.

"You're getting married!?" Justin yelped, completely destroying any sense of secrecy Ernie had been striving for. If anyone had been outside the shop looking in through the window at the sweets, they'd have heard and word would be all over town. He shut up for about three seconds before continuing

[shh_ernie]

Ernie blinked. "Whatever happened is over and done with? Unless Smith has suddenly pulled his shiny blond head from his arse, I doubt that." He grinned. "I did do good work on his nose." The grin disappeared and he grumbled, "Even if Eleanor didn't think so

[shh_justin]

Justin's smile faltered a bit. Good Merlin, he wanted to know what was going on. If this had happened at school, he'd be well informed just from sitting in the common room and listening to the whispers. Now he had to be an adult and either dig for gossip himself or live in ignorance.

Bah. The ignorance thing would be the right thing to do. But then again, his owl Wanker had pecked a chunk out of his finger that morning - and he hadn't strangled it to death. He'd already done a good deed that day, and it was his job to balance the universe, after all.

"Zach can be a bit of a git, yeah," Justin agreed slowly. "But he seemed kind of sure that it was all quaffles through the hoop. He said that you both agreed you were both wrong...and stuff...so..."

So what were you guys fighting about, anyway? Why would Ernie be so sore about Eleanor not appreciating his well-aimed punch? The only thing Justin could think of was that Ernie feared Eleanor had taken to fancying Zach

[shh_ernie]

"Both wrong?" Ernie barked out a laugh. "The bloody tosser deserved it!" He cleared his throat. "Although I won't be breaking his nose again any time soon." Unless, of course, the tosser hurt Eleanor in any way, shape, or form. "Eleanor's taken a liking to him for some odd reason. I promised to be nicer."

The kids? Ernie gulped. Things were going well with Henry. But looking out for Eleanor's sixteen-year-old brother was a far cry from caring for their own baby. Thankfully, she didn't seem inclined to have any soon. "Er...yeah...quite a story. As for the reception..." He smiled. "I reckon you'll have to come and find out."

Ernie took the box from Justin. He thought about arguing, but instead nodded. However, he only took two packages of frogs. "Er...don't call her Midgie. She threatened my bollocks the last time I did. I'd hate to see you get fired."

[shh_justin]

Aha! It seemed Justin was right, and Eleanor had a bit of a crush on Zach. Well, that could be potentially problematic, couldn't it? Also, it seemed that the blame didn't lay on anyone. It wasn't Zach's fault, nor was it Ernie's or even Eleanor's. If he was correct, the problem would sort itself out on its own

[shh_ernie]

"Of course they're just friends. Why..." Ernie's voice trailed off. It all made sense now. Smith kept telling Ernie about how much he liked Eleanor, about how lovely she was, how lucky Ernie was that Eleanor cared for him. Well, if Smith thought that Ernie was going to stand by while he...swooped in...he had another thing coming.

Pulling out his wallet, he took out some money, or meal vouchers, he wasn't entirely certain and handed them over to Justin. "Er...say hello to Eloise for me. And...we'll get together soon, alright?" He held up the box of fudge. "And thanks for this."

He was out the door like a shot. He needed to get some flowers. And make a nice dinner. Perhaps he could persuade Henry to go out for the night. So he and Eleanor could have a romantic evening. He'd be damned if he were going down without a fight.

[shh_justin]

Justin blinked. Ernie sounded surprised about...

Oops. Apparently he hadn't been thinking what Justin had at all. Brilliant. Ernie sprinted out of the shop with barely a smile and Justin stared after, his mouth opening and closing noiselessly.

"Bollocks," he grumbled. This was going to be a bad day for the old 'Puff crew.

As he made his way to the back kitchen, he nearly slipped on the massive pile of accidental receipts he'd dumped on the floor. He still needed to sort through them.

A very, very bad day. Midgie wasn't going to like this at all.