A Letter From Lee
by: 93 Diagon Alley

It was the summer after her fourth year, and Fay Dunbar was sprawled out on her stomach on her bed back home, reading one of her favourite books. She was still lounging around in her pyjamas, her hair in a long braid, and her knees were bent with her feet up in the air, her beloved bunny slippers snugly in place.

She had just turned the page to start a new chapter when she heard a sharp tapping on her window. Looking up, she saw Ulysses - her friend Lee Jordan's spotted eagle owl - sitting on her windowsill. She had been owling back and forth with him since the beginning of the summer break, and occasionally spending time with him in different places around the town nearest to both of theirs. 'A letter from Lee!'she thought to herself, excited. She had really enjoyed the friendship they'd developed over the past few months, and had recently discovered that she had begun to fancy him. She jumped up from her bed and went over to the window, opening it to let the beautiful bird in. He flew over to her bed, making himself comfortable amongst the pillows as if it were his own nest. He had been to Fay's house so many times recently that he pretty much considered it his own anyway.

Fay walked back over to her bed and sat down next to Ulysses, removing the letter from his leg and stroking his feathers as she opened it and began reading.

Fay,

Hi! I know it's only been a day since we saw each other, but I miss your smiling face already. In fact...I'm finding that I can't get you out of my head lately, and all I can see when I close my eyes are your beautiful blue ones, gazing back at me. I'd really like to take you out to dinner tonight - on a date. Would you be willing to accompany little 'ol me? I promise I'll make it worth your while, and NO PRANKS! Wizard's honour.

Send a reply back with Ulysses, as I'm sure he's already cuddled up with you; sometimes, I think that ruddy owl likes you more than he likes me!

Anyway, I eagerly await your reply.

Mischievously yours,

Lee

She dropped the letter as she squealed in delight, frightening the cosy owl. She immediately got up and did a little victory dance around the room. 'He wants to take me on a date! I have to call Hermione...no, wait, Fay. Write back to Lee first, you silly girl!'

She got up and shuffled around the contents of her desktop until she found a spare piece of parchment and a usable quill. Scribbling a quick note to Lee, letting him know to pick her up at

seven, she attached the letter to Ulysses' leg and patted him on the head. "Take this to Lee, would you, boy?" With an affectionate nip to her fingers, Ulysses flew back out the window and headed back to Lee's house.

'I can't believe I'm going on a date with Lee Jordan! Oh gosh, what'll I wear? Right...Hermione.' She picked up her mobile phone off her desk - her mother's a muggleborn, so they use some muggle technology in their home - and dialed her number.

"Fay!" she heard Hermione exclaim through the phone.

"Hermione, you'll never guess what's happened! Lee's asked me on a date!"

"Oh Fay, that's so exciting! I told you he liked you! When is it?"

"TONIGHT!" she exclaimed. "And I have no bloody clue what to wear! I don't know how fancy I have to dress, or where we're going, or even what he'd like!"

"Okay, just breathe, Fay, calm down," Hermione said soothingly. "Why don't you just wear that cute purple dress - the one with the cap sleeves - that you got that time in Hogsmeade when we went to Gladrags together? It's really cute, and you look fantastic in it. Besides; it's just casual enough for pretty much any setting, but not so casual that it'd be out of place at a fancy restaurant."

"That's a brilliant idea, Hermione, thank you," she said, sounding relieved. "How do you think I should do my hair?"

The two girls sat on the phone for the next hour, chatting about this and that - how she should do her hair and makeup for her date, how their summers had been so far, what their friends were up to - until it came time for Fay to actually start getting ready for her date.

"Thank you so much for all your help, Hermione. I'm so glad to finally have a girlfriend that I can giggle about boys with, and all that other girly stuff. It's tough having mostly blokes for friends, they're just not the same."

"No problem, Fay! I completely understand, and feel the same way. Do you really think I can go to Harry to gush about my dates with George? Yeah right! Oh, and I'll have to introduce you to Ginny when we get back to Hogwarts. She's a lot like us, having grown up with six brothers; I think you'll like her."

"Hah, I can only imagine Harry's reaction if you went to him to talk about your love life! And I'd love to meet Ginny. She seems nice enough from what I've seen of her around Gryffindor Tower, and it's always nice to make a new friend. Anyway, I have to get going so I'm not late. Thanks again for your help, and say hi to George for me!"

"You're welcome! Good luck, and don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

Fay giggled, and then hung up the phone. She sat back down on her bed and sighed, with a little smile on her face. 'A date with Lee. I'm not dreaming, am I?'

-oOo-

At precisely seven o'clock, a knock sounded on the front door of the Dunbar house. On the front step, a tall, handsome boy with dreadlocks and a mischievous smile on his face stood anxiously waiting to be greeted, and doing his best not to fiddle with the bouquet of daisies in his hand. 'Breathe, Jordan,' he thought to himself. 'It's just Fay. Pretend this is like any other day, where you're just hanging out.' As he calmed his nerves and began to relax a bit, a very large man opened the door. At 6'4" and built like a lumberjack, he was terribly imposing to the 17-year-old wizard.

"M-Mr. Dunbar? I'm Lee Jordan. I'm here to pick up Fay."

The man who we now know to be Fay's father stood stock still, sizing Lee up. What felt like ages later, he finally shifted and stuck out his hand to shake Lee's. "It's nice to meet you, Lee. I have to ask, what are your intentions with my daughter?"

Lee, who had let out a huge sigh of relief on the inside, felt a little more confident in his response. "I intend to take her for a nice dinner, and then a walk in the park. You see, I've recently developed feelings for her, sir, and I'd like to see if this date could lead to more in the future."

Mr. Dunbar, whose facial expression still hadn't changed from the serious look he had started with, continued his impromptu interview. "That's all? Just dinner and a walk?"

Lee nodded and smiled. "Yes sir. Fay is my friend, I respect her far too much to expect anything more than a lovely night out and hopefully talks of the future."

There was a long, awkward pause, and then a grin broke out on Robert Dunbar's face. He clapped Lee on the back as he responded to his last statement. "I like you, Lee. You seem like a good guy. Come on inside, Fay should be down in just a few minutes."

Lee grinned widely and followed Mr. Dunbar into the house. Motioning for him to take a seat on the couch, Mr. Dunbar walked over to the stairs and called up to Fay that her date had arrived. A few minutes later, she came down the stairs and eyed her father warily. "Daddy, you're not torturing the poor boy, are you?"

He let out a deep, booming laugh. "Of course not! I happen to like this one; good choice. And you look beautiful, sweetheart. Now get on out of here and enjoy your date. I expect you to bring her home at a reasonable hour, Jordan!"

Fay walked over to Lee and he stood and took her hand. "Of course, sir. No later than 11." Turning to his date, he gave her a warm smile. "You look lovely, Fay. That dress is perfect for you."

Fay blushed, and grinned at him. "Thank you, Lee." She turned to her father and gave him a wave. "Bye, daddy! I'll be home in a few hours." As he waved back at her, the two walked out the door and around to the side of the house where they couldn't be seen.

"Grab my arm, Fay, I'm going to side-along apparate you." She curled her hand around his bicep, and he apparated them to an alley in muggle London. She eased her grip on him and let her hand trail down his arm to his hand, and slipped hers into it. Turning to her, he smiled, and lightly squeezed her hand. "Shall we?" She nodded, and they stepped out of the alley and onto the street.

They walked for about ten minutes before Lee gently tugged on Fay's hand. "We're here. You like Italian, right?"

She felt a happy little bubble rise up inside of her as she grinned at him. "You remembered!"

He laughed. "Of course I did. Ready to go eat, then?"

He led them inside, and got a cosy table for two in a secluded corner of the restaurant. The next two hours went by in a blur of good food, lovely conversation, funny jokes, and surprisingly charming, gentlemanly manners on Lee's part. Fay could not have been happier, but she was sad that the date was ending. After paying the bill, Lee led Fay out of the restaurant and back onto the busy streets of London, heading in a different direction than the way they came.

"Lee?"

"Yes?"

"Aren't we going the wrong way? Or are you going to apparate us from a different alley?"

Lee laughed lightly as he responded. "You don't really think the date's over, do you? It's not even ten o'clock yet! I told your father we'd be home by eleven; he knew we had other plans than just dinner."

"We do?"

"Of course we do. The more time I get to spend with you, the better. We'll be there any minute."

A large grin spread across Fay's features as butterflies fluttered madly in her stomach, and she resumed walking alongside her date. A few minutes later, they arrived at a small park. Lee grinned mischievously at her. "I'll race ya to the swings!"

They both took off running, laughing along the way, until they reached the swings. They took two that were next to each other and started to swing, trying to see who could go the highest. After about fifteen minutes, they were both out of breath and their faces hurt from laughing. Lee got up from his swing after catching his breath and went to stand behind Fay. "I'm going to push you, is that alright?" She nodded, and he started gently pushing her forward on her swing. They started talking again, a lot calmer than before, and eventually fell into a comfortable lull in conversation. After a few moments of silence, Fay spoke up.

"Lee?" she said, quietly.

"Hmm?" he replied, seeming a little dazed.

"Thank you. This has been the perfect date, I couldn't be any happier with how tonight turned out."

"Nothing could make you happier?" he asked, stilling her swing and coming around to stand by the side of it, then reaching up to brush her cheek with a few of his fingers. "What if I were to kiss you?"

She turned to look at him, and could see affection shining in his brown eyes. He leaned his head towards her, and she reached up and placed her hand on his collar. He suddenly stopped moving, his lips a hair's breadth away from hers and his hand lightly resting on her cheek, and she knew she had to make the final move. She closed the distance between their mouths, and kissed him. He was slow and gentle with their first kiss, just the way she thought it ought to be.

They broke apart, and he beamed at her. "I've wanted to do that for so bloody long, you have no idea," he said with a happy air.

"Me too," she replied, and slid her hand up a little higher on his neck as she kissed him again.

-oOo-

FOUR AND A HALF YEARS LATER

Lee Jordan walked back into the hospital room, having just gone into the waiting room to announce the birth of his son to his family and friends. George and Hermione Weasley trailed behind him, anxious to meet their new 'nephew.' He stopped in the doorway, his attention captured by the image of his little boy being held tenderly in his mother's arms, a look of pure awe on her face as she gazed lovingly down at him. "Fay," he spoke quietly, getting the attention of his young wife. "Love, George and Hermione are here."

"Come on in," she responded, waving them over with her free hand. "Come meet your godson."

"G-godson?" George stuttered, an expression of shock coming across his features as his wife grinned broadly and made her way over to her friend's bedside.

"Yes, godson," Lee replied. "If you'll accept, that is."

"Of course we will!" Hermione exclaimed. "I'm flattered, really! I can't believe I'm a godmother."

"Did you honestly think we'd ask anyone else?" Fay asked, lifting the child up in her arms for her friend to take. "Besides; it'll be great practice for when your little ones arrive."

Placing her hand on her stomach, Hermione looked down at her barely-protruding baby bump and smiled. Taking the baby from Fay's arms, she cuddled him close, admiring his features, and then placed a kiss on his nose as she held her finger to him for his little hand to grab. "That's true...oh, Andy, you're perfect. I can't wait for you to meet my little boys." She looked up at Fay. "Twins! TWINS! Honestly. Can you believe that?"

Fay smiled at the picture of Hermione cradling her child and then responded. "I can hardly believe that Andy's mine, Hermione, let alone the idea of you with two children. But I'm sure we'll get used to the idea as soon as we get this little guy home. I imagine the idea of parenthood sinks in pretty quickly."

"I'm sure it will." She handed the baby back to Fay, and went to stand beside her husband. "Come on, George, let's go let the others come in and meet Andy." She and George said their goodbyes and returned to the waiting room, calling over Fred and Angelina to go in next.

Friends and family came and went for the next hour and a half, and Fay was exhausted. Finally, the last visitor left the room, leaving the small family to themselves.

Lee sat himself up on the bed beside Fay, wrapping an arm around his wife and playing with his son's tiny fingers with his free hand. Tearing his eyes away from their perfect child, he looked up at his wife with an expression of adoration and love. "Would you have ever guessed at that party in my dorm five years ago, the one where Hermione introduced us, that we'd end up here? You and me, married and with a child?"

"No, I wouldn't, but I'm so glad we did. I silently thank Hermione every time I look at you that she brought me to you. Andy just makes it all that much more perfect."

"And to think," Lee said, "all it took was dinner and a walk in the park to win your heart forever."

Fay just smiled at him, tracing her fingers along his face and giving him a soft kiss. "Forever and always."

Posted: 4 November 2011
Word Count: 2,811