Twisting Isn't The Way I Was Going For.

[Justin Weasley]

"Nothing's Changed."

These were the words, running through Justin's mind as he was sporting long blue jeans, torn at the knees, and an Aeropostale hoody. Justin walked the streets of Diagon Alley, thinking on the old days, when he would buy all of his school supplies, in this very area. He loved it here, and could not really come up with a logical reason on why he left the Wizarding World in the first place.

Though Justin had been away from Diagon Alley for two years. He knew where everything was. Nothing had physically changed there. Except some new wizards, and witches, he'd never seen before.

Flourish and Blotts had seemed to be 'flourishing' even more. As well as the Apothecary.
"Didn't think I'd ever see the day, when people actually liked Potions." Justin thought chuckiling to himself.

Justin looked around a little anxiously, he was looking for some one he knew. Not anyone in particular. Just somebody that he could say he went to school with, in the earlier days.

Though Justin knew where everything was, he bumped into alot of objects, on his hunt for anybody. That's the result of getting bigger.

Eventually, he realized the path was curved, not straight. But before he did, he bumped his knee, on a hard rock statue, next to a Quidditch shop's stairs...

[Queety White]

Once upon a time, Queety walked down these same streets, lost, confused, and alone. Now, four years later, she had come full circle. Sure, she was a lot older, smarter, and more mature [though the last part was debatable], she did not realize until she was walking down these streets again that really nothing had changed.

The faces blurred by her, none of them familiar. All her friends were off living their own lives and she did not intend to run into any of them. Queety sighed coming to the realization that she was the only one left not having any idea of her future. Sure, she was the youngest of her friends, not even twenty yet so ideas of getting married and starting families should have been far from her mind. But she still felt left out at the idea of finding the love of her life. She thought she did at one point. Was that only a week ago?

Passing by Flourish and Blotts, she saw the small section dedicated to her novel, Another Dreamer. The sign above said "Hogwarts Professor's Powerful Novel." Queety sighed, wondering when again she would have the desire to write another novel. She had almost finished one but that story was crumpled up and thrown at her best friend. She had no desire to work on it for a long time. After she had recovered from their fight. As soon as she stopped loving him.

Coming around the corner, she saw the Quidditch Shop. Because he was on her mind, Queety remembered that day at Quidditch practice when she was still a student. The day he caught her in midair after she had fallen off her broom. That was the day that her feelings for him began. They were small and insignificant then but they quickly grew. Now, in one day, it had all been destroyed.

Queety quickly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. There was no need to be upset. She needed to move on. She would not be able to find him again and apologize for exploding at him in anger unless she was sure that she could stay calm the next time she saw him. She stopped for a moment, next to a rock statue, and took a deep breath so she could compose herself. Her mind was so wrapped up in her own drama that she did not realize who she was standing next to.

[Justin Weasley]

Justin had been so absorbed in his knee pain, he did not realize anybody or anything near him. He sat on the stairs, and rubbed his limb, forceably, but gently. Until the sharp pain he felt was minimal. Justin sighed, knowing he was not as limber as he used to be.

"We'll might as well continue my search" Justin thought to himself.

He stood up, did a little stretch move, and took one step.

Justin looked toward his right side. But by now, his feet wouldn't allow his body to move. Or better yet, his brain wouldn't send signals to his feet to move. It was like the person he was looking at, cut off the circulation to his body....

It was Queety...

"My search is over, I guess" Justin muttered to himself.

Justin turned around and made his way towards Queety, making sure not to bump into statue once more. Queety looked kind of depressed. Atleast, that's how Justin would've described it. Justin wasn't the type of person, that enjoyed seeing others sad, I mean who is?

So he just kind of slipped up next to Queety, put his arm around her, and looked the other way. As if nothing happened, as if he didn't even notice her.

Justin often did strange things to people, just to see them smile, or hear them laugh. That was just the kind of person Justin was.

[Queety White]

Queety used to hate anything sad. Depression was on her list of things to lock up in a drawer and forget about forever. That was why she was always able to move through life with a smile. But lately, she had come to realize that sadness was a part of life and without sadness, there could be none of that happiness she seemed to perpetually carry around with her. Allowing some moments to cry allowed her to live in reality.

For the last week, Queety had tried to immerse herself in reality. For years, she had been too much of a dreamer, living in a fantasy, and not excepting the truth, that there is such a thing as being hurt. But, suddenly, in one day, everything that she had kept hidden inside had come out. Now, as much as it hurt her, Queety was ready to accept everything instead of imagining her own little fantasy land.

But the feeling of someone's arm around her was not her imagining. She was sure of that. Blinking a couple times, she looked at the man who was standing next to her. He was not looking at her but he was still touching her. She could not see his face as he was looking away but she was sure that it was no one she knew. So, she instinctively acted since her mind was too exhausted to think of a calmer way to react.

"What the hell are you doing?!" she shouted, pushing him away. She reached into her purse for her wand, ready to hex this man if he tried to do anything tricky. "Who are you?"

It had been two years since she had last seen him so it was no surprise that she would not recognize Justin, especially because she had not thought about him in those two years.

[Justin Weasley]

Justin had been so excited on seeing Queety, he actually did not think on his actions. So when he slipped his arm around her, he thought nothing of it. Except "She's gonna laugh so hard, when she realizes it's me!" He chuckled a little, and waited for Queety's response.

A few more young witches, and wizards had passed by before Queety actually reacted to Justin's... 'plan'.

So...
Justin's plan had not worked as sufficiently as it had went inside his head. Basically, he would slip his arm around her, she'd stop being sad, laugh, and they'd go on being friends for the rest of their lives.

But as it seems, it got a wand pulled out on him instead... So Justin did a thing any logical wizard would do. He stretched his arms, and legs out, pretended to be scared for a bit, and he apparated.

But as I said before, Justin was not a logical thinker. Instead of apparating far, far away from her. He apparated to the right side of Queety, and pulled his wand out also. "Hey Queeters, who are we pointing at?" he said with a smile, "It's Justin, I see you've forgotten me."

[Queety White]

"Dammnit," Queety muttered when the guy disapparated in front of her. Maybe he had mistook her for someone else and got out of the way to avoid any awkward embarrassment. Queety sighed and began to put her wand away when suddenly she sensed someone behind her. She quickly spun around and her wand was pointing right at the face of this same creep. So, he was intentionally trying to get her attention.

Before she could think of some charm that would blast him into the next century, he began to speak, calling her Queeters. This caused her to hesitate, lowering her wand a little. Only her friends called her Queeters. Only her closest friends used that nickname. Only the people she went to school with...

"Justin...?" she repeated. The way the name felt on her tongue suddenly brought back old memories, the days she had always longed to have again. She dropped her wand and purse and stared at him with her mouth wide open. Now she recognized him. There was no way to forget that devilish smile. Justin...Weasley...

"Oh. My. GOD!" she squealed, jumping forward and wrapping her arms around him. "Justin, what the hell was that, trying to scare me? Oh, man. Where have you been? It's been forever!" She laughed and squeezed him tight. That glimmer of hope had suddenly shone on her and now Queety knew that with enough time, things would be great again, like they once were.

[Justin Weasley]

Justin had reappeared beside Queety. She had seemed to forget about the confrontation that just happened. But, Justin got the feeling she sensed him, and she turned around. Almost stuffing her wand in his eye.

"Now this high-strung Queety, is not the Queety I know." he thought to himself.

"Justin...?' Queety had repeated his name. He knew what it meant... She remembered him. He smirked a little, as she dropped her wand and purse. He bent over, and picked them up. "My uncle broke his wand, meesing around with it like this, in his second year. So watch out," he said rising once again.

By the time he was up, Queety had made a sort a pig squeeling noise, and jumped on him. "Now, this was more of the greeting I expected," he said laughing, "You looked sad, so I cheered you up. I went to Durmstrang for a bit, and then the muggle world. And it totally hasn't been forever, just three years."

After answering all of these questions, Queety, was still hanging off of his neck. Justin thought "Well, I haven't seen her for awhile." And hugged her right back. And right there, Justin knew, he'd feel right at home, back in the Wizarding World.

[Queety White]

Life experiences had taught her to naturally be on her toes. Justin was not there when the school had fallen under attack almost two years ago. He had not seen her when she had fallen from her broom and almost seriously hurt herself. Only a few times when they were younger did they go into the Forbidden Forest together. He did not know that she had learned to always be on her toes and expect the unexpected. Of course, that came to being under attack. When it came to an emotional blows, she was still susceptible to them. She learned that last week.

Her laughter turned into tears as she held him tighter. Finally, she had something concrete to hold onto. Many of her friends had left before but to see that Justin had returned, she knew that, if she waited and hoped, all her friends would return and maybe that carefree happiness she had felt years ago would return. Maybe one day...

Stepping back, she looked him over. "Goodness, Justin. I didn't recognize you at first. You grew up so much. I don't remember you being that much taller than me. Seriously? It's been three years? Trust me, that feels like forever."

She listened to what he had been doing and grimaced when he said he had lived in the muggle world. Her feelings toward the muggle world had changed drastically over the last few years and despite being a muggleborn, she often did not associate herself with that world. Last August she had gone to muggle Boston but for the most part it had ended up in disaster.

"Sorry about being sad," she quickly explained. "It's been a rough week. But you just made it so much better, Justin. So, what brings you back to London?"

[Justin Weasley]

Justin listened Queety, as her laughter went downhill, into what sounded like crying. If you have ever been engaged in a hug, you realize you cannot see the others face, until they let go. Queety started to squeeze the life out of Justin, it was fine though, Justin believed she needed it right now. Justin had never seen Queety so, grounded, and upset before. It just never occurred to him, that pain could affect somebody like Queety.

Queety stepped back from their hug. Justin, extended his arm, handed Queety's things back to her, then wiped her tears away. This was the first person he had talked to inside the Wizarding World, and she felt awful. It started affecting Justin as well.

Justin listened as Queety remarked his height. He brushed the top of his head, and extended it over Queety's. This is what most people do, to see how much taller they are, compared to you. Though they have no ruler, to come up with the actual number. "Oh, jeez, I did get taller didn't I?" he asked himself. "Well. That's the result of getting older."

Justin watched as Queety grimaced at the word 'muggle'. He figured, she must've not been there in a while. Or something happened between her and her muggle family.

"Anyway, 'it's okay Queety, I'm here now," he said smiling, "There's no reason to be sad. But since you are anyway, you wanna talk about it?" Justin sat on the stairs right next to them, and motioned for Queety to sit down next to him.

[Queety White]

"Thanks," Queety said as she took her things back. She blushed when he wiped the tears from her face and turned away. "Sorry, about that. It must be a girl thing to get all mushy gooshy and emotional about that. I'm just really glad that you're back. It was like someone had sent down to me an old friend just when I needed it most."

She turned back to him and laughed. "Yes, we both got older I guess. Ever imagine we'd be this old? Not that our ages are necessarily old when we still have the rest of our lives," she rambled.

She was not sure if she wanted to go and divulge all the details right now. While this was her friend before her, he also had been away from everything that had happened to her the past few years, especially what had happened the last week. Still, he was an outsider, he would be able to offer advice without being biased. She shrugged and leaned against the rock statue near them.

"Do you remember Straw Buckett and Kat Samuels?" she asked slowly. "Well, they just got engaged." She bit her lip, realizing that this was the first time she had openly admitted it since she found out. It did not make it any easier. "And, well, to make a long story short, it absolutely crushed me. I haven't been able to talk to him after I yelled at him about it last week."

She took a deep breath. "I shouldn't be throwing this all at you. I should just be glad that you're here, Justin. You still haven't told me why you came back to London after living with those... muggles." She tried not to grimace again but it just came out.

[Justin Weasley]

[[OCC: It's hard to keep dodging the words. I'm going back to what I used to do!]]

Justin smiled as Queety, turned away, but still talked to him, about him. She referred to him as being 'sent down'. Though he had been alive the whole time. And never went up, in the first place. But, he still understood where Queety was coming from, when she said all she said. When she turned back she was laughing, it made Justin happy, that was his goal from the beggining.

Just to make Queety laugh.

"Well, yeah. I can honestly say, I believed we would've stayed young forever. Hogwarts, made it feel that way," he said laughing also.

When he changed the subject, Justin realized after a moment, Queety did not feel comfortable conversing on that particular area.

'Do you remember Straw Buckett and Kat Samuels? Well, they just got engaged.' The way Queety had said it, it seemed like she felt for the Straw Buckett she talked about. "Oh, I see. You felt for this Straw Buckett fellow," he explained to his understanding, "And you believed you'd be with him. But then he goes off, and gets engaged."

Queety sighed, and it made Justin feel awful. But then she tried to changed the subject. Justin figured this wasn't the best time to talk about that subject. "Oh well, I heard Hogwarts wasn't exactly Hogwarts anymore. So I kinda picked a random magical career, just to come back," he said, "I'm a lawyer." He smirked.

[Queety White]

"Seriously," Queety sighed. "I would give anything to be a student in Hogwarts again. I've been a Professor there for two years now just so I didn't have to leave the castle. But it's still not the same as being that crazy Mihael with the greatest friends in the world." She grinned, thinking of the good old days.

But her smile faded when Justin tried to make sense of what was wrong with her. He hit the nail on the head, Queety thought. She was about to respond to his statement, explaining that she was more upset with how she reacted than what he had actually done, but he changed the subject rather quickly. The smile came back, though it was not as big as it was a few minutes ago. At least, Justin was being sensitive about that.

"Yeah, the school is completely different from when we attended," she said. "It closed down for a little bit, actually. I was without a job for a few months. Then they created this university where I taught for a little. But it was weird since I was only eighteen at the time and most of my students were my age or older. Thank goodness, they resurrected the old school. Now there's both the regular school and the university."

She then frowned. "Random career?" she raised an eyebrow. "I'm adventurous but I don't think I would just take a shot in the dark and take a random career. Then again, the teaching thing was really unexpected, I guess..." She shrugged. "Well, how is that treating you?"

[Justin Weasley]

"Don't you think it's a little extreme? Taking a position in a school, just so you wouldn't have to leave?" Justin asked smiling. All Justin could do was smirk, as he listened to Queety refer to all her friends as the best in the world. Back then, those days were the best. Justin looked around, at all the little things in Diagon Alley, the detailed brick gorund. The charmed pictures, that moved. Life in the Wizarding World, it was just, amazing.

Looking back at Queety, he watched what had been a smile, fade into a complete frown. After Justin had explained Queety's problem, to his unnderstanding. This is why Justin changed the subject, rather quickly. Queety's smile emerged once again, and so did one from Justin.

Justin listened to Queety, as she talked about the school, and all that happened with it. "Why did Hogwarts close down," Justin asked, "And yeah, being out of a job can be horrible, depending on how you handle it. In the mug--non wizarding world, I was out of a job for quite a bit. I had to live for my car."

Justin's grin grew even larger, as Queety talked about his random selection. "Haha! But it got me back here didn't it?" he asked laughing, "Same thing with you and teaching!"

[Queety White]

"I had nowhere else to go!" Queety protested. "I barely passed to graduate and then, the only classes I did well on were Charms, History of Magic, and Divination. My only choice really was to go into teaching, especially because I also wanted to work as a novelist. Being a professor meant I had a home, still got to stay in the castle, and I had time to write."

Though she never was able to finish a book until after she lost her job as a professor. If the school had not been resurrected, she had considered working as a full time writer and just getting odd jobs in order to put bread on the table. Luckily, her first novel had turned out quite well, mostly due to Flourish and Blotts advertising her book so strongly. Outside of London, it was just an every day book, nothing special.

"Oh, you really must have been living in a bubble. It was all over the newspapers. Well, when I was a seventh year, muggles were able to break down the security measures and started attacking the school. And that on top of the fact that the headmistress allowed werewolves and vampires into the school lead to a whole bunch of controversy and they shut the place down," she explained. "I was living from one friend's place to another. I guess that's better than living in a car." She scrunched her nose. "How did you travel in a car? It's so much slower than apparating or floo. I do have my driver's license though..."

Queety looked back up at Justin. "Yeah, I'm glad it brought you back here," she admitted. "It seriously just made my day a whole lot brighter. I haven't been this happy in a long time. I seriously can't believe you're standing in front of me right now, Justin. Please tell me you're staying for a while. It would be a shame for you to leave again."