Who Doesn't Hate Family Meetings?

[Melanie McKinnon]

Mel had spent good two hours on the phone with her mother, trying to argue with her that her latest "idea" was not a good one. A very bad one actually. A really, really bad idea. But her mother wouldn't budge, because when her mother got an idea that idea was the law and it was impossible to change her mind.

So Mel had been forced to do some last minute… changes to her (and her siblings') life. And then she had requested another family meeting - they seemed to be having those a lot now of days and usually they weren't filled with good news.

The blonde cleared her throat, looking over at those of her siblings that had actually bothered to attend the meeting. "So, I asked you all to come here because I have something very important to tell you." She coughed. "Like you know Mother and Father have gone on a trip to Azerbaijan and are going to spend some amount of time there… and they've been so… generous to invite Mr. and Mrs. Odair to go with them, while they're building their new house." Because buying another house far, far away is not possible? Ugh. "But… the thing is… They will not be taking their children with them and-" Mel swallowed, speaking her next words really quickly. "They've invite Lucy and Christopher to live here until they come back!" Mel took a second to breathe out before she continued. "-And I'm going to move in with James!"

[Laura McKinnon]

There was another family meeting. Laura didn't particularly mind since all the other family meetings were good (in her opinion), but the meetings kept her away from her room. And that, she reasoned, was bad.

Laura was sitting crosslegged on the floor, leaning against the wall, with her Sketchbook of Words in her lap in case she got bored. As usual, it only took a few moments for that to occur. As a result, the Pyxis was scribbling away, pausing every now and then as her mind started to wander, when her elder sister started talking.

She felt a foreign bitter feeling swell inside her when Melanie started talking about their parents current escapades but quickly dismissed it. They weren't the topic of the conversation, so they wouldn't be the topic of her thoughts, Laura told herself.

"Wait, Lucy's moving in?" she asked, grinning happily. The grin was only slightly affected by the next words to leave Mel's mouth.

Mel was moving out? Did that mean that...Will was going to be in charge?

Laura didn't particularly like that idea, though she'd never say that out loud, but still tried to think on the bright side of the situation. The predicament seemed to be experiencing stormy weather...

"Congrats, Mel. Ooh! Can we have a 'moving out' party?" Laura beamed.

[William McKinnon]

Family meetings sucked, and by Merlin they seemed to be having a few at the moment. Here they were, gathered in the kitchen, waiting for Mel to give them the reason for their meeting, and Will really honestly did not want to be there, what with a virtually sleepless night (imagining other scenarios, though he would never ever admit that, not even to Laura) and the hangover that had stayed away in the early hours now making his head very foggy around the edges.

When the reason of their gathering was announced, Will's jaw dropped. "You're shitting me," he said, for once completely uncaring about trying to cover up his gross misuse of language in the presence of children. "What? When I said they could stay the night I figured they'd bugger off home within a few days." He'd have to live with Odair? Odair? Odair? That sounded like his worst nightmare. For a moment he didn't care that her house had burnt down. He hated her living next door at the best of times, but in their house? Their actual house?

As if to make things worse, Mel announced her next piece of information. I'm going to murder Jackson. "You're moving out?" he asked, voice beginning to sound more and more desperate. "But... but you can't do that!" Stop sounding like a child, McKinnon, you're eighteen years old. "I... what? So does that mean... Can't Odair and Half-Pint go and live with Jackson?" He heard Laura's voice and turned. "No, we can't have a party, this is dreadful news! Terrible, terrible news."

[Ginny Weasley]

Willow was happily snuggled up in Matthew's lap, turning the pages of the book he was holding as they read together in the kitchen, waiting for the family meeting thing to start. They did have a lot of family meetings. She would've thought some people who be too busy for them, but that never seemed to be the case. At least it was getting her used to being in the same room as all her siblings at once.

She looked up when Mel started talking, trying not to look too upset about the fact their parents had disappeared on another adventure without her, even if she did know this already. It was still kind of upsetting. Her eyes widened as Mel continued, and announced that Lucy and her brother would be staying with them. A smile spread across her face, practically bouncing in place. She liked spending time with Lucy. Lucy was always so nice to her.

And then Mel announced she was leaving to go live with James, and she hesitated for a moment. That was good news. Kind of. She focused on the part where Lucy was moving in, trying not to feel upset that her big sister was leaving. Maybe that meant she would be able to see James more?

She turned to look at Matthew when Will started objecting. He did that a lot. "Does this mean we'll see Uncle James more?" she asked him quietly, not wanting to draw too much attention to them.

[Lizbet McKinnon]

Liz had propped herself up on the counter, a glass of orange juice in her hand and she was chewing on a chocolate bar as she waited impatiently for the family meeting to start and finish. She really just wanted it to end so she could leave.

Finally, after what seemed forever, Melanie started talking and Liz‘s mouth fell open at her words. “How come you get to move out?!” she asked, eyes narrowing. “I’m not living here if you don’t have to live here-“ She refused, shaking her head.

She didn’t really have any thoughts about Odair and her brother moving in, she honestly didn’t really care, the house was big and it wasn’t like she’d have to spend a lot of time with them, this new change of event did seem to be upsetting Will though and Liz wasn’t sure why. Weren’t they friends or something?

What - on the other hand - did bother Lizbet was the fact that Mel was moving in with James. Mel got to get out of there and move in with James? Uncle James. While Liz had to stay here? Who the hell did that leave in charge? Will and Laura? Matthew? They were so fucking screwed! “I say we vote on this, you can’t just pack up and leave and let some strangers live here instead, Mel!”

[Matthew McKinnon]

Matthew was so engulfed in the book he and his little sister were reading that he didn't even notice Mel had already started talking. He only noticed when Willow didn't turn the page when they finished, and his head snapped up to look at his older sister. Apparently, Lucy and Christopher were going to live with them. And Mel was going to live with James. Well, that was a drastic change.

Matthew bit his lip. He didn't like Lucy very much, she wasn't nice or liked any of the same things as he did. She was just rude and a tiny bit weird. Matthew sighed and turned his head back his to the book, not looking at anyone as he muttered; "Well, I think I'll just move in with Ari then."

[Melanie McKinnon]

Well... They didn’t seem to be taking it too badly. Or well, Willow and Laura both seemed rather excited, Will... was being Will-ish about it, not that she had expected anything else and Liz was being her usually cheery self and Matthew quiet as always.

“Yes, Lucille is moving in.” Do I sound more like an adult if I use her full-first-name? Mel looked at Will, forcing a smile. “C’mon, Will you guys are in the same year right? And both in Lacerta, you can’t get on too badly with her.” she forced up a laugh. But seriously, did anyone really like Lucy? Mel herself didn’t hate her, but she wasn’t exactly fond of her. Laura and Willow did seem to get on with her, though, so she couldn’t be so bad... right?

Barely catching what Matthew said, Mel’s eyes narrowed and she focused on her brother, ignoring Lizbet. “No, you’re not moving in with Ariadne. You guys have to take care of each other. This means that Laura, William and Matthew are in charge-“ she paused for a second. “And I guess Oliver too, at least let him do the cooking, yeah?” she forced up a laugh again. “It’s going to be a bit different having me live with James and Lucy and her brother living here, but I’ll come over all the time and you guys are allowed to visit me at James’ as often as you want.” She promised, looking over her siblings. “It’s going to be kind of like an adventure and this isn’t for forever, just for a little while... okay?”

[Laura McKinnon]

Now Laura was confused.

"How's this terrible news? Lucy's lovely! And this Christian...Alexander...person...brother of Lucy's can't be all that bad. And Mel moving in with James is a little...scary, but it'll be great for them and the baby!" she grinned.

When Lizbet said that she should be able to move out too, her smile dropped a bit. And then Mattie mentioned that he'd move in with Ariadne (which confused her a lot), practically obliterating her lips altogether with how tightly she pressed them into a tight line.

After all, Laura didn't frown. No matter how upset she was, she wouldn't frown. But the uncharacteristically serious expression she wore felt foreign to her, and her lips started to tilt upward a bit. Her attempted smile came out as a malformed grimace.

Wait, Mel's actually letting me be in co-charge? Is she insane? Laura thought, thoroughly shocked. "Er, Mel, do you think that's a smart idea? I mean, Will, Mattie, and Olli, yeah, they're great to be in charge (--Well, not so much Will, she thought to herself--), but, me?"

[William McKinnon]

"Yes, I'm quite capable of disliking her," Will said flatly. That's why we always wind up having hate-sex. He looked at Mel and wondered if she knew about that. He really hoped she didn't. Did Liz know? She always knew everything. That was embarrassing. He bit his lip, and then felt his cheeks flush a little, turning quickly to bury his face in his arms on the counter as to avoid the others noticing.

He lifted his head at what Laura was saying and turned to look at her, smiling feebly. "You do a good enough job already, don't ya?" he said, grinning. "Like, I don't know. Ugh, my head." He looked back up at Mel and tried to smile. "It'll be good for you and the baby and Jac-James, I get it. We'll manage. Even if you're my safety net. I just don't see why Odair has to stay with us and not go off with her parents." I don't see why Mum and Dad can't stop being bloody idiots and come back and look after their own bloody kids. He breathed in deeply and tried not to think about that. Thinking about that only wound him up, and he didn't want to make this a tradition of him getting angry at family meetings.

"Okay, okay, I'm calm," he murmured to himself, and cast a glance over at Matthew when he muttered something. His stammer had gone, something that only happened on rare occasions when he was either pissed off or feeling confident. Will raised his eyebrows a little. "Matt, if you leave, I swear I might burst into tears or die or something. And nobody wants to see that because that's scarring." He grinned and ran his hands through his hair, getting up to pour himself a glass of water and get some paracetemol. Headache first, then the other stuff.

[Ginny Weasley]

Everyone seemed to be reacting very badly to Mel moving out. She couldn't say she'd exactly object to the house being less crowded, but she'd miss her siblings if any of them moved out. She glanced nervously between Liz and Mel as Liz began getting upset, feeling her heart skin as Matthew announced he'd move in with Aunt Ari. She knew that they were close...or something. She sunk back further against Matthew in an attempt to let him know that she wanted him to stay where he was.

Her heart lifted again when Mel said that they'd be able to visit her at James as often as they wanted. She always enjoyed a reason to go to James'. She nodded furiously in agreement with Laura at the news it would be good for the baby if Mel moved in with James. It was better to have two parents under one roof after all. She'd miss Mel, but she wouldn't be far away, right? And she'd have Lucy to distract her.

She held onto Matt's hand when Will said he'd burst into tears. "It'll be fun," she murmured as strongly as she could. Which wasn't that strong. "To have Lucy and her brother stay with us. It'll be a house with no adults. And good for the baby, for Mel and James to live together, like Laura said..." she turned to Matthew with big brown eyes. "You'll stay, won't you?"

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