fell asleep again ;;, tag;; Alice

[frank longbottom]

Date & Time;; 10 January 1979 6:30 AM
Weather: Windy

Last night, 11:45 PM

Another night working late. Honestly, Frank didn't know how anyone kept their sanity in the Auror business, nor how they kept a life outside of the office. This cubicle was practically a home to him after three years, and Merlin, was it a mess. Empty coffee cups were sitting around, as were files and papers. He'd even gone so far as to keep a set of clothes in a drawer, since lately, he'd been falling asleep right at his desk. Not tonight, though. Tonight, Frank had his three cups of coffee, black, and a light on bright enough to get rid of a dementor. Yes, there was no way he was falling asleep here tonight, no sir. He grinned a little to himself as he pulled out a file of a perpetrator they had just brought in. Forget that technically it was a senior auror's job to fill out the paperwork, he was the nearly-finished auror who had to do it for him. It was, however much they claimed it wasn't, a game of sucking up and proving that you're useful. As he flipped it open, he noticed a piece of parchment that the senior auror had left, reading:

Longbottom,

I want these all filled by morning, stamped and ready to get turned in. I'm leaving early tonight, but I'll be there first thing tomorrow morning, so don't put it off like you did the last file!

-Chauffer

Frank could not repress the slight groan that emitted from deep within him as he read the short yet instructive note. They literally expected any trainee to have positively no life. So maybe they didn't know that he had a second side job that was more demanding, but that shouldn't matter. After tossing the note to the side, he began sifting through the paperwork he would be doing. He'd done similar ones before, but this one was far more time consuming. Frank knew he'd be there until one, at least, and that was if he could keep a fast momentum going. Chances were, the more lines he wrote, the slower he'd get, and he wouldn't be done till two or three. Then he'd trudge home, only to sleep for three hours before coming back to do more paperwork. Silently, Frank reminded himself that in just one year's time, he would be free. Free to do what he pleased, without a senior order pushing him with the threat of putting in a bad word.

With resignation to his fate, Frank began looking around his desk for that damned stamper that he'd had only an hour before. It just had to be somewhere around here. After a few minutes of searching, Frank realized he must have misplaced it, and he did not want to waste any more time looking for it. Peaking over the top of his cubicle to see if anyone else was there, he bit his lip when he noticed he was alone, and got up out of his chair to go find a similar stamper. He passed by Alice's desk, then stopped and reversed. Ahhh, good ol' Alice. There was a gleaming stamper right on top of her desk, ready for him to used, as well as a scrap piece of blank parchment. Picking up the stamper, he scribbled down onto the parchment:

Alice-

Stayed late, again. I needed a stamper, and I seem to have lost mine (again) and couldn't have found it if it was to save my life, so I'm stamp-napping yours temporarily. I'll bring it back when I'm done, but if it's not back here when you need it, just come badger me at my desk for it. If I've lost that one too...well, then I'll buy you lunch today to make up for it.

-Frank

Satisfied with that, he scurried off to his own desk, where he grudgingly began to fill out the various applications. It would be way more fun if Alice were there.

Today

As the early risers began arriving to their day jobs, Frank was slumped over in his desk chair. His face was planted on an open file, a quill bleeding into the ocher of the desk, and another stamper missing. It had been at this spot last night that Frank had fallen fast asleep, despite having promised himself he wouldn't. It seemed no amount of caffeine consumption could keep him awake anymore. The position he was could not have been comfortable. His neck would no doubt have a crick when he awoke. His hair was a disheveled mess, as it usually was, and he was still dressed in his clothes from the previous day. Worse yet, the very file he'd fallen asleep on was supposed to be on a certain senior auror's desk in only thirty minutes. Though mostly finished, the oils from his skin had no doubt smeared the ink, and he was showing no signs of waking up just yet. Deep in his sleep as he was, he began to stir in his chair as he distantly heard his name being called, though it was right next to him.

[alice llewellyn]

Wednesday. Alice hated Wednesdays, with a passion. She'd learned that Wednesdays meant paperwork, and trouble. The only positive thing so far about this particular Wednesday was that another owl from Hayley had arrived this morning. She couldn't wait until Hayley got back from her mission with Reiquen. Well, she couldn't wait until she could sleep in her own bed again. When Hayley was home, then there would be someone else in the flat and she wouldn't feel so alone. Even after her chat with Lily the other day, she still hadn't been able to bring herself to stay at home. She actually missed the muggle stereo blasting ACDC and the screaming along with the music and the nightcaps. It was a wonder that Alice every got any sleep at all with a roommate like Hayley, but she wouldn't have asked for anything different. There was never any doubt about the young blonde's presence in the flat when she was there. Since the summer when Hayley had moved into the second bedroom in her three-bedroom flat, Alice had become accustomed to not having to be alone.

Amelia had still been asleep when Alice had gotten up this morning, so she'd been extra quiet when she went to get breakfast. Much like other days, it was a biscut in one hand and her purse in the other when she apparated first to her own flat where she picked up a small bit of powder from a dish near the fireplace and stepped in. After vanishing in a puff of smoke, she reappeared in the Atrium level of the Ministry of Magic. Making her way through the hall toward the lift, she pulled a couple pieces of her biscut apart and stuffed them in her mouth, chewing in a rather unfeminine-like manner. It would be silly of anyone to say Alice did things like other girls. She was hardly a lady, nor had she the manners of one. After all, she grew up with two older brothers who were more interested in Quidditch and getting dirty than cleaning themselves up for appearances sake.

Work seemed to be the only thing Alice was capable of arriving early for. In fact, she was normally an hour or so early... but Wednesdays, she chose to be a few hours early. Paperwork, seemed to take forever and she absolutely despised feeling rushed. When one was rushed, they had a tendency to absentmindedly do things improperly, or not in full, and Alice was not someone who enjoyed having their mistakes pointed out to her afterward. Considering all of her paperwork had to be turned in to Senior Aurors for review before being formally submitted, and a fair lot of those had a tendency to be pompous asses, Alice made very certain that she had little or no mistakes at all on her papers. They were perfect.

It seemed like a longer walk than normal by the time she found herself marching up to her cubicle in the Aurors main office. The room was absolutely lined with cubicles, though at six in the morning, there were only two or three of them occupied. Alice found her way to her own desk and immediately noticed something was different. The only problem was, she wasn't quite sure what it was. On top of the small stack of papers on her desk was a parchment with a note stuck to it. To paraphrase, the note said something along the lines of: 'Miss Llewellyn, these reports are to be completed and turned in to me no later than noon today. Sincerely, Meeks.' She couldn't help but roll her eyes. Did Aurors ever do their own paperwork? or did they alway dump it on the juniors? Alice was beginning to believe the latter part of that. In fact, she couldn't wait until she was a full Auror so she could shove all her paperwork off on the next unsuspecting Auror hopeful.

Unfortunately, for now, she was required to be at the beck and call of her Senior Aurors when she was not in tranining sessions. It was the first six months that had been really steady training. However, since the holidays, they'd only had one session per week for training, and the rest they were left to shadow and assist an assigned Senior Auror. Alice had unfortunately been stuck with this unfortunately little runt of a man called Meeks. He was only barely taller than Alice, which meant he stood a good foot shorter than most of the other people in the department. Either way, he seemed to have a complex about needing to prove that he was just as manly as the rest of his coworkers, so he treated Alice as though she were his slave. The young woman had to restrain her urge to sock him in the face several times a day. How the twisted little man ever got through training in the first place, she couldn't imagine.

Nearly a half-hour later, she'd finished with three out of the five documents he'd left on her desk when she needed to use her stamper. Looking around, she couldn't seem to find it anywhere. She spent the next ten minutes digging through all of her drawers to see if she'd put it away, and lifting up all the papers on her desk, in case it'd gotten covered. She was about to scream in frustration when she noticed a piece of parchment that seemed to have fallen to the floor during her tornado-like rampage in looking for her stamper.

It was from Frank. He stole her stamper. No wonder she couldn't find it. There were several not very nice names that came through her mouth at first, until she had a moment ro two to calm down. After all, he had left her a note. It wasn't his fault that stupid Meeks had probably covered it up with all his reports that he was too lazy to do and she hadn't seen it. The thought of Meeks made her glare. He was probably sitting off in another room having a nice tea with a couple of the other Senior Aurors and laughing at the fact that they'd left all their reports for their Juniors to do.

After grumbling for another moment or two about Meeks, she hoisted herself off her spinning office chair and made her way down the isle of cubicles to where she knew Frank's was located. Expecting to see him chipper and brightly working on his own stack of paperwork, she instead found him fast asleep. She couldn't help but chuckle softly to herself. He really was rather adorable, wasn't he?

"Frank?" she said quietly, not wanting to shout and disturb the other few people who were in the office that morning. Squeezing herself into his cubicle beside his chair, she began to look around for her stamper. As she tried to root through the things on his desk without really disturbing him or the papers he was drooling on, she mumbled to herself, "Bloody hell, Frank, what did you do with my stamper!"

Five minutes later, when she was still emptyhanded, the brunette sighed and poked her friend in the side.

"I give up," she said, poking him again, and repeatedly again as she spoke, "c'mon Frank, wake up. I can't find what you did with my stamper and I need it! Frank! Frank! Frank!" She was very capable of being annoying when she wanted to be. Though her poking him was probably not his option for a wake-up call, it was what he was gunna get this morning, unless her stamper just happened to turn up in front of her before he woke up. Though, it still wasn't there... so she continued to poke him and repeat his name.

[frank longbottom]

Some people dream about falling off some huge cliff and awaken right before they die. Other people dream that they go to school butt naked and no one says a word about it. And even others dream of, well, things that do not need to be mentioned, as they are self-explanatory. Frank had had all of these sorts of dreams before, as any typical person (especially a boy) would have. Particularly the middle one, for his subconscious seemed to really enjoy the idea of him running into class or the office nude. He'd never do it, of course, unless it involved a tremendously large amount of sums. Even then it was unlikely, as having to deal with his father should he do it was not a fun thing to look forward to. However, as of late, Frank had been having a very different dream from those of the juvenile variety, particularly when he fell asleep at the office. The dream, or perhaps nightmare is the better vernacular to choose, began innocently enough. Frank would finally work up the courage to say something about his feelings to Alice, whom he found returned the feelings, and everything was genuinely well. That never lasted long, however, as soon everyone he knew was dead and he was tortured before he would finally wake up.

Tonight's nightmare had gone by much in the same fashion as it had every other night, until one point when he was suddenly zapped to an abandoned warehouse. It was empty, and dark, with the only part illuminated being the part around him. It was almost like he was in the spotlight. Distantly, he heard the faint calling of his name by none other than Alice, and looked around frantically. Of course, he couldn't see one damned thing, but that didn't stop him from becoming irrational. That overprotective side of him took complete control as the memory of her almost dying flashed through his mind. It had to be some kind of trick, he tried to convince himself. The calling began to get louder and louder, and then he began feeling this poking in his side. Suddenly, the light was off, and it was total darkness. Alice's voice was much clearer now, yet still quiet, as though she didn't want to disturb anyone other than him.

It took a moment before his eyes began to open, and with a start he realized he'd fallen asleep in the office for the millionth time since he'd switched cubicles a few weeks prior. Jolting into a sitting position, his eyes squinted from the pain the light caused, his right hand immediately flew to the back of his neck to brace it as it protested to the sudden motion after maintaining such a stiff and uncomfortable position for as long as he had. Across his forehead was the pattern of his sleeve, red and imprinted in the skin. That would disappear in a few minutes, but what would not was the slight smear of ink across his stubble-covered jaw. That would take a few minutes of washing (or a simple spell, if he could remember what it was) to get that off. At the moment, in his disoriented and confused state, he didn't notice nor did he care about those things. All he saw was Alice, who looked a little frantic and had probably been the one poking him so incessently.

"Bloody hell, Alice, can't you think of a better way to wake someone up than poking? Especially me, for Merlin's sake," he mumbled almost incoherently, still noticeably muddled by the nightmare. His free hand he ran over his face as he yawned, as though to rid his expression of its obvious exhausted appearance, and it was then that he eye caught the clock that loudly blared just after six from in between his fingers. Suddenly, his expression cleared up. "Shit!" He proclaimed under his breath, quickly standing up and almost tripping over his own feet in the process. He continued to repeatedly hiss the curse as he frantically began gathering the papers. He had three left to fill out, and less than ten minutes to do so. He need only stamp them, which seemed simple enough, but as he looked on his desk, he noticed that he'd misplaced the stamper...again. Mumbling incoherently about his own stupidity, he began moving things around on his desk, disregarding all sense of organization as he did so. Suddenly, he turned to Alice, unaware of how silly he looked with frazzled hair and his unkempt appearance, and said nervousily, "Hey, I, uh, seem to have misplaced your stamper...accidentally. How about you take that side of the desk and those drawers, and I'll take this side, and that way one of us will find it, yeah?"

He grinned at her innocently, trying to put as much of that classic Gryffindor charm behind it as he silently pleaded forgiveness for losing it. However, it soon lost its oompf and disappeared from his face as he nodded and began sifting through drawers. As he reached the one with his clothes, he began to pull out a fresh outfit for today, which would be changed into in the nearest bathroom quickly. It was pathetic, really, that it had come this far that he actually kept clothes in the office. But that was really besides the point as he continued digging through the drawers. Where was that forsakened stamper?!

[alice llewellyn]

The man before her looked a little distressed as he slept. It was reminiscient of what she imagined she looked like when she slept... at least recently. There were nightmares... flashes of purple and orange light colliding and exploding in front of her, greens and blues and whites and reds in the background... wands and arms duelling before her... and one wand pointed straight at her, with a bright flash of yellow light which struck her. She felt the pain for a moment or two before everything went black. It had been dreams and nightmares like that which had been haunting the young woman's sleep in the weeks of late. It was becoming increasingly worse however. Not only was she having these nightmares in her sleep, but because they continued to wake her and cause her to lose sleep, she was starting to fall asleep during the day. Just little moments here and there, but the flashes of light and sounds of battle would fill her mind as soon as she lost consciousness. It was getting very near the point where it worried Alice just to close her eyes for a moment.

"I think not. I've found it most spendid to annoy people out of sleep when they steal things of mine, and then lose them. Ask my brothers, Frankie, they'll attest that I've done so all my life and am stubborn enough to continue to do so no matter who it is that protests," as if only to prove her point, she found it necessary to again poke his side. A wide grin spread upon her face as he seemed to all of a sudden become a whirlwind of fluster, cursing so that only she could hear and beginning a rampage of looking for her stamper. She found it both amusing and adorable, that he seemed such a mess. If he kept up behavior such as that, then he was likely to end falling over himself as she seemed to so often do. He seemed to always misplace things, and he'd never do it intentionally. It was always right in his hand and then disappeared, no matter what. Match that up with her strength of being unable to stay on her feet, they were a rather unfortunate pair.

"Besides, you like it when I poke you," she grinned mischeviously, "admit it." Perhaps teasing one-half of the men who were responsible for saving her life wasn't an appropriate way to say thank-you, but at the moment, it seemed like the most appropriate response. He enjoyed teasing her just as much after all, and she was certain it would make good of it as soon as he thought of something. It was surely to be far wittier than anything she'd ever said. Alice wasn't one who was particularly good with words. She was more of a physical comedian. Even when it wasn't comedy, she still had a little trouble saying the right thing, but she was the first person to just hold your hand or hug you and tell you everything's going to be alright. It occurred to her that though people had just recently said and done such things to her, it hadn't helped much in the long run, but at that exact moment it had made a world of difference.

"I don't understand how you can perpetually lose track of everything," she grumbled, watching for a moment as he pulled clothes out of a drawer. She raised an eyebrow, laughed and shook her head lightly. He must've slept here often. It was a little sad, actually. Though she'd pulled her share of all-nighters, they'd never been frequent enough for her to even consider bringing a change of clothes to work let alone keeping them there. The poor bloke. Wondering if he ever slept at lall, the brunette young woman found herself asking, "You keep clothes here, Longbottom? Don't you ever go home to sleep?"

Unfortunate seemed to be the correct term, considering the sequence of events that followed his suggestion to each take a side of his desk and search for the stamper. After agreeing to search the half of his desk that she was nearest, she turned and began sifting through the papers that seemed to be strewn everywhere. Nothing, nothing, nothing. Bending down a little, she opened each drawer and dug around for a moment or two, and after finding nothing along the lines of a stamper, she'd closed the drawer and move on to the next. After going through each drawer and continuing to find nothing, she stood up a little too quickly, and lost her balance, which led to her stumbling backwards and, unable to grasp onto anything except a large stack of papers on Frank's desk (which to note, did nothing by way of helping her sturdy herself, but instead slipped with her and instead of staying in a tidy stack, flew everywhere. Instead of catching her, Frank's chair managed to conveniently roll out of the way. When all was said and done, the young auror was tangled among her own limbs and buried by a mountain of papers in what little floor space there was in her dear friend's cubicle.

With a deep sigh of frustration, Alice all of a sudden remembered again why she hated Wednesdays.

[frank longbottom]

Frank chuckled and nodded. He knew Percy Llewelyn well enough to where he had already known Alice terribly well before even working together. They were, after all, only one year apart, and Frank had managed by some miracle to push himself into advanced DADA classes. Don't ask him how- he would have thought McGonagall would think him too irresponsible to be considered above average. This had led him to Percy well, even though they were far from being the best of friends. Yes, he knew of Alice's stubborn ways long before having to experience them himself. He shied away when he poked her again, wondering how the hell she'd ever manage to keep a boyfriend that way. No guy he knew could live with that, but maybe she was nicer to them when she loved him. That was a big maybe. "I didn't lose it! I just....can't find it yet. It can't have just sprouted legs and walked away...unless..." He knew it was stupid to think that someone would actually enchant the stamper to play a prank on him. This was not 7th year in the dormitories. It was the Ministry of Magic building, in the Auror department. Unless James decided it would be funny, which was doubtful. James didn't even get there that early.

Frank didn't say anything at first. How very right Alice was, and she didn't even realize it. Well, partially right anyway. He liked waking up and her face being the first thing he saw, though perhaps the method could change. What was he supposed to say to that. It was too early in the morning for wit to show its face at a moment's notice, unfortunately. "Not as much as you enjoy having to come see me first thing in the morning." He countered, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye to gauge her reaction to that. Though it came off as light and teasing, Frank was really curious if she really thought this trip to be a burden. He hoped he hadn't messed up her morning too much. He suddenly felt guilty, because if she got in trouble, it was his fault. He'd speak up, of course, which would hopefully get her off the hook, but it would probably get him suspended for a week. His father'd been threatening it for weeks if he didn't get himself together.

Frank gave a short laugh when she muttered about his miraculous ability to lose everything that wasn't attached to him. "You and my mum should form a study group. Perhaps, together, you could find a cure for it, yeah?" There was a bit of bitterness in his tone, though he didn't mean to put it there. He just got that little line enough from his mother for him to be nice about hearing it again. He grimaced, hoping she didn't take that the wrong way. He wasn't mad at her- just rather frustrated with himself.

When she pointed out the clothing, he felt a light blush run across his cheeks. Yeah, definitely pathetic. She didn't even know the half of it. The only reason his flat was as clean as it was was because he was never there to have a chance to make it messy. His bathroom was the only exception, which he tore through every morning in his rush to get back to the office. "Um...not really, to be honest. My entire life exists here and at Amelia's house, or out wherever I get sent. I'm probably home thirty minutes out of the entire week. Besides, there's nothing there for me to go home for aside from the shower. It's just easier this way."

He purposely failed to mention half the nights he spent away from the Order and the Ministry were typically spent at the Leaky Cauldron, talking with whoever was there. She didn't need to know about his slight problem with being alone for long. It was a sad excuse for never being there. He just hated being alone anywhere. He didn't want to die alone, and his solution was to never be alone. It was when he was halfway done with the last drawer on his side when he heard her falling beside him. The chair hit him a moment later, knocking him into the wall of the cubicle and effectively keeping him down while he groaned. He heard a sigh from the other side of the chair, and pushed it away so he could crawl out form behind it. The sight that greeted him made him start laughing, but he quickly tried to stifle it. He sat down on the floor not far from where Alice was tangled up, papers everywhere.

He must have looked like he had a mental disorder, trying to conceal such laughter. He even bit on his thumb for a minute, before attempting to speak. "That was, uh...nice. 10 out of 10." He teased, laughter enlaced in every syllable, biting on his lower lip again to keep from laughing out loud.