a little fall of rain

[Jackie Lupin]

Single hood had been an adjustment. Months without someone ... without Brandon, really, left the former Mihael with an empty feeling for sometime. With the help of Sarah and her sisters, her recovery into becoming a full - fledged independent individual was just around the corner. The girls night outs and shopping sprees had been helping. The changed in career was also a motivator as she found her niche again but Jackie knew, as any woman knows, when they're not complete. Perhaps she needed a companion again; dating was nice. Or at least someone to talk to and phone when she was having a disastrous day. Of course, she could do any of these things with her girl friends but there were other things she wanted too; to hold hands again, longing looks across a dinner table, dancing in the middle of her apartment just for the fun of it. She by no means had any intentions of finding a boyfriend today ... or even this week, maybe, some time outside of the flat on her day off would do.

The streets of London are as exciting as they always are: gloomy, rainy, gray. Jackie is fortunate for her habitual nature to carry an umbrella, not to mention for picking skinny jeans and tall brown riding boots to wear today; less chance of getting her feet wet. The brunette strolls past endless shops, pedestrians and bustle that occur around noon. It's lunch hour so several businessmen are popping out of buildings and the ministry for a chance to dine. She ponders for a brief moment, blinking large green eyes in thought. Dare she attempt to shmooze or wine and dine? After a long, drawn out pause, Jackie lets out a weary sigh, straightening her back, lifting her chin and finally continues her stroll. Not today.

Today was for her. Although she knew if Sarah was here, she'd be dragging her to the closest bar for happy hour and a good chat. She could turn around now, head home and make a feast for the family for dinner. But it was too early and Ashley and Sirius worked late so it was best just to wait. She at last comes to a pause in front of the Red Star Lounge. She remembers Harmony raving about it a time or two. It's no place for a lady to go and down drinks - and she supposes that's where her and her female cousin always differed - but it was an ideal location to rest her legs and escape the rain. Upon entry, Jackie takes a quick glance around, surverying the establishment. Everyone seems to be in deep discussion or interested in something in front of them. Jackie pulls out a chair of her own to a lone table beside the window and once situated, reaches into her bag for a book she had been reading. Crossing her legs, the young woman releases a soft hum, leaning back in her chair whilst settling the book in her lap. "This will have to do for now," she mumbles quietly to herself, all the while silently hoping for a form of company whether she knew it or not.

[Straw Buckett]

Emptiness, never so easy to fill however with the right moment and person, can be filled instantly. To find such person and moment is a phenomenal exercise in itself. It’s draining, it’s tasking, it depletes your soul and crushes all hope of forever after. But with a crocked smile you look, you search and you tell yourself that you don’t need anyone, that you are ok. Thinking and trying with all that’s left inside you to believe you’re ok when deep down it’s hard to admit that you’re far from it. Was Straw there? He believed he was ok. There were lonely moments that consumed him on cold evenings where he longed for touch. He missed moments where all he wanted was the sensation of his nose resting against the nape of a lover’s neck, to caress her soft hair and smooth skin with back of his hands. He missed whispering before falling asleep, the smell of her freshly washed hair that somehow always seemed to smell from roses. Straw tried not to miss it, he couldn’t help it but soon those late nights yearning would fade as he’d drift off to sleep and forget for another few more days.

He was at the red Star lounge for lunch, he had an hour and did not feel like last night’s left overs that Queety so generously saved and packed for him. He decided to shout himself something fun and with the rain decided Red Star Lounge seemed closest and best. So that’s how Straw found himself sitting alongside the bar sipping a butterbeer while he waited for his meal. That’s when he spied her by the window. The feeling of ‘is that who I think it is’ took hold and Straw sat back not wanting to embarrass himself in case he was wrong. She looked like the girl he went to school with.. ‘What was her name again??’ It had been so many years, at least 5 now, Straw had gone blank. ‘No, no, definitely her...Kylie, Nancy… Mannie… Tracy?’’ He knew she ended in an ‘ie’ but it wasn’t until he watched her lift her head and tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear did he catch a glimpse of her eyes and realise it was Jackie Lupin.

Instructing a staff member he was moving, Straw proceeded over to Jackie and stood behind her. How to approach her though? Did he sit himself down, smile and pretend they were long lost friend? Should he tap her on the shoulder awkwardly? Perhaps just stand there and wait for her to turn around and hope she doesn’t scream in fright from his stalker presence. And how excited was he allowed to be and if excited at all. Should he walk out the door, walk past the window, spy Jackie and invite himself in to sit with her? Was that weird for people who barely spoke in school?! Should he go to the bathroom, walk past her table and act all surprised. So many options and still he stood like a stalker behind her wondering how best to say hello. She would catch him soon and he would then awkwardly find himself explaining why he was there for so long staring…

“Jackie?” he quickly said out loud, realising it was best to not plan and just see what happened.

[Jackie Lupin]

What was she doing? Sitting here in the middle of a pub reading of all things? People were going to start to get the wrong idea and think she was a former Ravenclaw or something preposterous like that. Well, at least half of her mind was telling her so. The other half remained insistent and stubborn and had her sticking her nose further and further into her book that should someone look at her closely, they'd see that her nose was actually nearly skimming the pages themselves. Jackie's green eyes flicker in concentration, roaming back and forth, back and forth as they skim the page of their contents. Books. She quite liked books and they tended to keep her mind from wavering or drifting to other things. For instance, were she not so indulged in this book right now, she would, perhaps, be thinking of how she finished school and quickly became a TA, and then a professor, and then worked in the ministry and now she was tending others in St. Mungo's. Was that part of fate's plan?

Was it also part of fate's evil doings that she had a boyfriend for nearly every year of schooling, and was just settling in quite nicely with that last one of hers before the two drifted and now can barely face one another without feeling awkward? Was she doomed to spend the second half of her life alone seeing as the first half was spent in such wonderful company? Her love life wasn't the only travesty. If it weren't for beloved Sarah and her family, Jackie would be very much alone. Her friends - the musketeers - had all left and moved on to the next chapter of their lives, probably living much more peacefully then she was now. And that was the problem, wasn't it? Everyone had moved on and grown up and became so happy and she was still stuck in London, unsure of where life would lead her living the same day, same story, time and time again. The former Mihael sighs, knowing the book no longer has any hold over her, and she shifts in her chair to navigate her wand. Murmuring a few hushed words over the object, the binding begins to shrivel and the leather binds until it shrinks to such a tiny size that it can fit in her pocket. Pleased with this, Jackie tucks her wand back into her outer robes with every intention of leaving and going home to clean or cook or master potions but that's when her name is heard, clear as day, stopping her in her tracks.

Werewolves and keen hearing and she was ever fortunate for that trait just now. Jackie turns further in her seat, eyes taking on a larger form as she takes in the sight of a once familiar figure. He was older now, and clearly aged for he hadn't sported facial hair back in school ... or the lines of stress and time. She smiles gently, expression softening once she realizes who her surprise visitor is. One of those former boyfriends of hers. Just how odd it was to see him now. "Staw Buckett," she boasts, reveling in the way the old name feels ever so familiar on her tongue. "What a surprise! Still lurking the streets of London as well, I see." Her and Straw had an interesting relationship to say the least. For a while, she could have sworn he had taken a fancy to her cousin Harmony, but when she and Straw were down in their relationship luck back in school (he with Kat, and she with Joseph) they took comfort in one another and exchanged innocent, youthful kisses on the school grounds beside the garden path. She couldn't even tell you if he would remember such a dismal thing - it was strange how her own memory worked and recalled these events - but for some reason, the memory lifted her spirits some. Teasing a little, a soft giggle escapes the brunette, and how rusty it sounds as she hadn't done so in quite some time. "Why is it every time we run into one another I'm hopelessly alone? Do you enjoy seeing me down on my luck? " Jackie doubted so, but it was nice to joke around. How she missed it.

[Straw Buckett]

Straw stands for a few seconds before registering that she was in fact smiling and not scowling at him to leave. Good sign “The one and only,” He smiles and hastily sits opposite her. “On my lunch break and thought I’d be a little fancy,” he winks then reaches out to fumble with a menu before realising he had already ordered. “It’s a good question Lupin but are we really alone?” and he leans forward to whisper as if there is a very real and dangerous notion that what he is about to say, if overheard, could put them in a life or death situation. “From what I’m not allowed to tell you my old friend, IS that we are possibly not entirely, if ever, alone!” he nods and bits his low upper lip with raised eye brows. “The Muggles might be onto something you know,” and he pauses to see if she can guess. “There’s actually a real chance that there is intelligent life out in the big beyond! Something the only some in the wizarding world are privy to know!” he says very matter of factly, “So you see, we are never truly alone,” Pleased with himself he sits back with an all-round ‘sneaky Straw’ smile.


“What’s been happening Jackie?” his voice softens and he puts the menu back down. Jackie was always very pretty, how lucky Straw was to have, if be only a moment, with this girl so many years ago. Though as grand as her beauty was he could see a sadness behind those dazzling eyes. She wasn’t happy and he wondered how come. Someone with her talent, splendour and promise was not supposed to be so gloomy. In Straw’s mind Jackie Lupin had been the popular girl in the whole school. Everyone loved her, she was the girl to be with, the girl to have as your friend or in your corner. Jackie Lupin, was in more ways then one ‘The Girl’!

To him, Jackie was simply that amazing and unattainable he often regarded their fling as a dream. No one believed him and the more time went on even Straw didn’t believe the memories. When he’d first blabbed in the boys dorm they’d all laughed at him and told him to stop smoking whatever it was he had taken. It wasn’t till Jackie held his hand in the hall ways did they all fall over with open mouths. It was lucky Straw wasn’t any good at Potions or they would have accused him of making a love potion. Jackie Lupin was the catch every man wanted so it was with great confusion that he had not heard of her getting married and settled down yet. Perhaps this was reason behind her sadness.

[Jackie Lupin]

Straw always was ... well, an oddity. Not necessarily in a bad way. It's just, if Jackie and her clan of girls were notorious back in school for bringing cheer and fun to every occasion, then Straw and his own bunch had a knack for doing that and more, on an entirely different level. She remembers him and Logan causing trouble, being every bit the mischievous Slytherin and Gryffindor that they represented. Classes were certainly interesting with the two boys around. She never necessarily spent time with Kat Samuels or Kelly Evans, but she did remember Josh Chambers and how he, in every way, meshed well with the group. His passing was a tragedy, but those friends of his were nearly as bad as the Drubsky clan! Drama and havoc spurred their adventures, if that's what you wanted to call them, and more times than any, she knew of Straw being called to the headmistress' office for something or another. Poor Headmistress Potter. What a nightmare! But those girls ... Jackie didn't very well remember them. Perhaps it was because she had no desire back in school to interact with Kat Samuels (the girl, was rumored, to consistently indulge herself in relationship dramas) and that wasn't anything that the former Mihael was interested in. Even though, as fate would have it, Jackie had more than enough share of her own.

She wonders, briefly, in the back of her mind if Straw was still chasing Kat, even now. Because that was how the story usually went, no? Boy chases girl. Girl denies. Boy tries harder. Until this common game became too much and hearts were broken and no one really had any answers. Looking at Straw now, he looks the same as she remembered, only with facial hair, of course. He had the same worrisome smile. Worrisome in that he always looked like he was up to no good, and even now, he lives up to his reputation. "I suppose we're not entirely alone, no. But you see, what I meant was ... you don't have a ring on your finger and neither do I. So, essentially, alone." She smiles, if a bit sadly, trying to keep her shoulders back because Aunt Kellie always told her as a young girl that shoulders back made any girl look strong and proud and honorable. She didn't know if she wanted to be any of those things right now, but out of habit, she does as she remembers. It was a peculiar thing, though. To see Straw without a wedding band on his finger? It wasn't like she stalked the Hogwarts alumni but she could have sworn he and Kat did marry and have their happily ever after a few years ago. Or was she misconstruing things in her old age? Startled by his voice, Jackie allows those memories to wander, drawing herself up straighter in her chair to continue the conversation.

"I've switched jobs more times then you can count," is what she chooses to tell him, laughing some at herself. For someone who had such unbreakable aspirations back in school, Jackie hadn't lived up to much of any of her former dreams or goals. Everything in her life she had planned for herself seemed to take a different path one way or another. Quite peculiar how life worked out like that. The last she heard, her aunt was shacking up with Seamus Finnigan again; and a small fire of hope burned in her chest that true love could be reunited. She was happy for them, more happy then she'd been in some time. Her aunt wasn't the young witch she once was when she married Sirius' father, but she was still very beautiful and it was nice to see her forming that bond with someone again. The rest of her family, on the other hand ... pitiful. All very much alone. Just look at how Sirius was living his life right now. Scoffing inwardly, she shakes the thoughts from her head, smiling wider when she realizes Straw seems genuinely interested in keeping a conversation going here. So she dares to dip in the social pool. "What about you? Things are much different now that we're not living in dormitories anymore, hmm? How has life been treating you, Mr. Buckett?"

[Straw Buckett]

The rawness of his situation never failed to cause uneasiness within Straw. It was a new chapter in his life, one that he wished he’d never have to deal with and certainly was convinced he would never happen to him. And yet here he was, attempting to take this new challenge with his head held high was he could, and that wasn’t very high at all. “Hmmm,” he sighed in response. He wasn’t alone and he often was reminding himself this fact to avoid spiralling into a pit of darkness and despair. Straw had his children to think about, three adorable rays of lights, whom without, Straw may have left this town all together and never come back again.

He listened to Jackie, surprised by the sadness in her voice or was that the same exhausted tones that he could all too well relate to? Either way he was honestly sad for her, he’d heard humours she was dating Brandon, Mandy’s old ex. Glad the man could move on, Straw wondered why the two never made it down the aisle. That seemed the next logical step but he would not ask, unless she brought it up which he highly doubted.

“Life’s been alright. You’re right though, I’m no longer a married man. Single father but with thanks to Queety I tend to make it work,” his eyes fall to the table and he begins to draw patterns in the tables surface. “I left Kat, if you’re wondering,” he wasn’t ashamed to admit it anymore, his therapist had suggested that Straw should not try to hide it or supress it. That he was not a disgrace of a man nor an embarrassment to his family and so should not act like it was his fault. The end of their marriage was Kat’s undoing and there was nothing he could do or have done to stop that train accident. It was still very hard for Straw but a year had almost past and he was able to now talk openly about it.

Straw needed to accept things with his ex-wife would always affect him and his family. There was nothing he could do to make it stop. There was one thing Straw had control over and that was himself. He’d changed his thinking, knowing no one could really (unleased hexed) could control him and his emotions. “Long story but the main thing is I’m alright. Be nice to go back to those dorm days though. If I could go back and change how I did things I think I would.. .” he looks back up to meet her eyes. The pain was no longer there, he was tired but that was only due to work and lack of sleep. “Reckon if you could, would you go back and change anything?” he now smiles lightly, he didn’t want to talk about Kat anymore and hoped Jackie would bring up a subject to keep him distracted through his lunch break.