finchfletchleys - Tumblr blog

finchfletchleys · 6 years ago

Text

“ was he scared? hell, yeah. but sometimes the only way to change something was to break it first. “

TYLER POSEY? No, that’s actually JUSTIN FINCH-FLETCHLEY from the GOLDEN TRIO ERA. You know, the child of VERITY FINCH and CHRISTOPHER FLETCHLEY? Only 22 years old, this HUFFLEPUFF alumni works as an ASSISTANT MANAGER AT FLOURISH AND BLOTTS and is sided with THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX. HE identifies as CIS MALE and is a MUGGLEBORN who is known to be RESTLESS, OVERSTRUNG, and FRUSTRATED but also AFFABLE, RESPONSIBLE, and PERSEVERING. — &&. ( ZOE, CST, SHE/HER, 21. )

WARNINGS: discussions of war, racism, implied homophobia ADDITIONAL MATERIALS: justin’s playlist, stats page, & pinterest board

the finch-fletchley’s were the sort of large family sitcoms were built around and justin, as a textbook sort of middle child, had been helpless to do anything but love his three siblings and their harrowed parents. their life was kind of perfect, after all, small daily hiccups aside. what kind of kid didn’t love a life that was perfect?

everyone in the finch-fletchley household was a hard worker --- anything less than that and their well-oiled machine might go from pleasantly chaotic to stiflingly chaotic. as soon as all the children were of a school-attending age ( and of course they all attended the best schools, when they were of a school-attending age ) they had their own part to play in the morning routine, in the evening routine, in the weekend routine.

justin liked the rhythm of it, the feeling that he had a role, that he was necessary. of course his family loved him and he loved his family but it was kind of comforting to know that he was needed. after all, who would feed and wash the dogs and cat without him? who would make sure to load the dish washing machine, and help his youngest sister with her history homework?

he loved their animals, being in the kitchen, and history. they were fitting roles for him to take up, and he was pleased to help out in ways that helped him.

the chaos was nice but it was still chaos. at least he could find some peace in it.

so justin couldn’t help but thrive in certain degree of controlled chaos. he was rarely the source --- he had an older brother, an older sister, and a younger sister, all far more primed than he was to wreck havoc on the family’s routines by nature. but still; he loved his big family, his parents with their fast-paced careers and rushed affection for their kids, and his siblings with their larger than life personalities and every evolving social calendars. he didn’t do much to disrupt it ... at least, not on purpose.

the finch-fletchley’s were a well-to-do family --- there was no mistaking that. justin’s father came from old money and his mother came from a fancy family name back in the untied states, and their children might have been just as chaotic as their lives but they were normal. they had expensive hobbies and extensive friends and knew their lives were laid out for them already; but that’s what passed for normal in the circles the family roved in.

justin’s magic was a surprise to everyone; at first it was hand-waved away as him being clumsy, or someone else pulling a prank. a vase or two fell ( for they must have fallen, if they were shattered ) when he was excited and everyone just laughed it off as him not being able to control his limbs. the candles on his birthday cake flared up so high as justin made his wish that everyone felt the heat. but it was easily explained as one of his older siblings forgetting that they bought trick-candles as a joke.

when a no-nonsense woman in odd clothes came to their door to explain that he was a wizard ... everyone in his family seemed to try and find another explanation for that, too. justin, magic? he was, perhaps, the least rambunctious of his siblings, the least likely to have some fantastical touch.

his family had no real trouble with sending him off to hogwarts, once they learned it was the best magical school around, but he could tell his parents were just this side of annoyed that he was crashing through their eton plans, could see his siblings roll their eyes at the idea that he had this special gift.

it kind of stung but they weren’t outwardly disdainful of the wizarding world. so he moved on.

the wizarding world was culture shock after culture shock for justin. it was all just so different. the family trip to diagon alley to pick up all his school supplies was an utter whirlwind --- but one he’d never forget. it was like his parents’ impatience and his siblings’ irritation melted away at proof of the world justin apparently belonged to now. the trip to the pet store stood out especially golden in his memory, because after eleven year old justin spent a solid ten minutes just gazing forlornly at the cats, he was allowed to pick one out. the family cat had always been more his father’s than the whole family’s even though justin looked after it. his oldest sister promptly named her for him but justin didn’t mind.

he fell in love with his house almost immediately and decided right on the spot ( with a still very basic understanding of the other houses ) that none of the others would have worked for him like hufflepuff did. it was nice being justin there --- a little clueless about the wizarding world, just until he found his footing, but not graded against his siblings or his parents. the only thing people knew about his family was what justin wanted to tell them.

alright, and once he did find his footing in the wizarding world ... it’s not like everything was great for a trusting muggleborn who had been born to a world that was mostly great to him.

the mostly came from: some family members on his dad’s side loved justin and his siblings but looked at their mother with open distaste. it wasn’t enough that she was wealthy and successful in her own right, from a well-respected family back in america --- she was catholic and mexican and didn’t quite fit the image they’d had for justin’s father.

it was fine, you know, especially when justin was a kid and only only saw those relatives during big holidays. at least justin’s grandparents loved his mother.

but even though justin had been heading for eton like his father and older brother, there was some awareness in the back of his head that despite the pedigree of his family --- it wasn’t enough for some people. and there was no changing what those people thought, so it was best to shove them out of his head and carry on with the greatness laid out for him by his parents.

until that got waylaid too, but that was all on justin, really, nothing to do with his mother. who could’ve predicted his magic would throw a wrench in everything?

it wasn’t all great, but justin knew how to handle the kind of not great it was. for the most part. second year and all the fears it carried probably stuck with justin even to today --- being petrified and thinking it was because of his blood status, of all stupid things --- it didn’t just fade. harry had had nothing to do with it all but that didn’t change the fact that there were plenty of people in their world who would have had something to do with it if they only knew how. the war that unfurled as the years went on only confirmed that for justin.

as much as he wanted to overthink and rage about the importance of blood status to wizards, justin was an expert at putting things out of his head if he knew nothing productive could come of them. ( the overthinking had its place sometimes: nights when justin couldn’t sleep no matter how hard he tried. but the rest of the time he was ace at moving on. ) he threw himself into his studies, sped-read through whatever he was allowed to take out of the library, learned whatever spells he could, even when they weren’t being taught by any official hogwarts curriculum.

justin was no longer a vital thread in any kind of family routine, but he still thrived when he had something to do. if there wasn’t anything to do, he’d find something. routines were still comforting to him, even as they more and more frequently became routines of his own making, routines built with friends instead of family.

having to move back home during what would have been his seventh year was ... a lot. justin had grown accustomed to only having to deal with his family during holidays, and even then, he didn’t spend every holiday with them. he loved them, still, but he’d grown up from being the just-happy-to-be-here middle son. they didn’t get so much of what went on in the wizarding world and he caught from his older brother that they didn’t really believe there was a war --- his brother just thought justin hadn’t been able to hack the last year at magic school, daft thing, and was hiding out at home until he sorted his life out.

hadn’t it been enough that he’d screwed over the family’s planned image when he went and became a wizard? now he had to be a wizard dropout?

that his younger sister ( the sibling justin was closest to, he just couldn’t help it, and he didn’t blame her, not really --- ) hadn’t been able to keep a secret and blabbed that justin dated boys as well as girls whilst at school ... it didn’t help. it just added to the list of ways justin was falling short of every expectation. the ways he was a disappointment.

his family loved him and he loved them but now justin found himself annoyed with them as often as they were annoyed with him. was it so hard to be happy that he was still alive?

you see, justin was pragmatic, in his own way. an accidental optimist who maybe forgave and moved on too easily, fine, but he looked out for his own skin and was good at it.

he didn’t have a death wish when he left the stifling confines of his family’s home to join the battle at hogwarts; he just knew that they needed every pair of hands, knew he’d never, ever be able to forgive himself if one of his friends lost their lives and he hadn’t even been there to help. it was a stupid decision but one he thought out, and when he survived to see the other end of the battle it all felt worth it. he hadn’t been hurt in any way that time, medicine, and magic couldn’t fix.

once the smoke cleared he knew that he couldn’t go back to his family full force --- not just then, maybe not ever again. maybe he’d miss the idea of them he’d left home for hogwarts with, but he doubted he’d want to seek them out for anything but birthdays and holidays and family events.

knowing what he didn’t want to do didn’t ... actually help with finding what he did want to do. he took up a job at flourish & blotts less because he had a passion for selling books and more because he liked the shop and knew it was a job he could do, and do well. he loved late summer, when he got to show students and their families around to help them get all their books; he liked the relative quiet the shop took on the rest of the year. he was a surprise whiz at wrangling the stranger books they got in stock.

it was --- it was a good life. it felt like he was in between places, but justin figured he had time to figure it all out. this was his life, not the one his family had planned for him, and he trusted himself to find out what he needed to do with it.

#( ⊱ ━━ 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬┊intro. )#quantum intro #FINALLY @me why did this take so long

12 notes · View notes