CH 1

"I need a date for the holidays," I said as I walked in Rose's flat. Rose looked up from the paper she was reading on the couch.

"What are you talking about?" Rose tried to get up but I waved her back down. It was hard for her, she was seven months pregnant with her first child.

I sat on the couch next to her. "Everyone is going to be at Christmas with someone." I waved my hand in front of her. "You'll have Scorpius there."

"I hope so," Rose smiled, "He is my husband." I rolled my eyes. She laughed, "Why would you need someone?"

"To keep Mum and Grandmum off of me to get a boyfriend." Rose raised her eyebrow. "I was just over at the Burrow and Grandmum started talking about the holidays. She commented on how everyone was bringing someone expect me." Rose just continue to look at me like she wanted me to continue. "She didn't say it in so many words but you know Grandmum." Rose nodded. Of course she did she tried to get Rose and Scorpius together before.

"So you want to keep Grandmum off your back." Rose smiled.

"Yes," I said.

"I guess I can help you." Rose said, "But we are going to need reinforcements."

I narrow my eyes on her. "Who?"

"Lucy and Roxanne." Rose got up and went over to the desk that held papers and quills. I sighed there was no way getting out of this.

"Fine," Rose wrote to our cousins.

It didn't take long before they were here, "It's a good thing you wrote, Rose. My husband was annoying me," Roxanne said. She just announced that she was pregnant. We laughed, "He kept asking if everything was okay." She rolled her eyes.

"Come in the kitchen. We need to find Lily a date for Christmas." We followed her in the kitchen.

"Why do you need a date, Lily?" Lucy asked. She started to make some tea for everyone.

"One word," Roxanne and Lucy waited for me to say it. "Grandmum." They smiled. They also knew Grandmum.

"Well he'll need to find him fast." Lucy placed the tea service on the table. We all threw her questionable looks.

"Why?" I asked.

"Remember when I was dating Lorcan." Lorcan was Lucy's husband of all of two months. We nodded, "I told Grandmum I was going to bring him to Christmas dinner. She said no she wanted to meet him first even those she knew him since he was a baby."

"Yeah, she wouldn't let Louis' girlfriend come to Christmas because she didn't like her," Roxanne said, "I guess she was right they broke up two months later.

"I'm glad I didn't have to go through that with Scorpius. She knew him from Al."

"But didn't she question him what his attention was to you."

"Shut up, Lucy." Rose growled. Lucy laughed at her cousin expense.

"So Grandmum is going to have to meet him before Christmas." They nodded. "There's only four weeks until then." Again they nodded. "How are we going to do this?"

"We could put an ad in the paper." Roxanne volunteered.

"No, it could take too long." Rose said.

"So, it going to have to be someone we know but Grandmum doesn't." Lucy said.

"Yes," Rose got up to put the tea service away since no one was drinking it.

"That is going to be hard." I said, "We know a lot of men so does she." Rose went to get some paper and quill.

"Let's make a list of all the men we know that are single. Rose said as she took a seat again,

"There's Lysander." Roxanne said. Lucy shook her head.

"It won't work. He is out of town until the new year."

"What about…" Everyone started to give names. Either Grandmum met them or they weren't right for me so they wouldn't believe that we are together.

We heard the door open and a hello from Scorpius rang through the flat, He came to the kitchen. "Oh," He said. "I didn't know we had visitors."

Rose walked over to him and kissed him. "Sorry, we were working on something."

"We were just leaving." Roxanne got up. Lucy and I followed her.

"We'll talk later," Rose yelled after us. We waved her off and left.

I didn't want to go home and see my family so I went to the Leaky Cauldron. It was filled with people getting off from work and before heading home to the family. I made sure no one notice me as I went up to the bar. I found an empty stool. The person behind the bar smiled at me. "What can I get you?"

"Butterbeer," He left and came back with a butterbeer.

"Pay now or keep a tab."

"Keep a tab." I took a sip of the butterbeer. I sat there drinking my butterbeer, that I didn't notice someone tapping me on the shoulder.

"Miss," He said. I looked up into dark brown eyes. I smiled.

"Sorry," He smiled back. The smile takes his face to another level. He pushed his dark hair out of the way.

"Is this seat taken?" he pointed to the seat next to me.

"No, you can have it." He sits and catches the bartender. I take a good look at him. He was wearing a blue shirt with United written on it with a pair of jeans. I can't tell but he looks taller than six feet. He was broader in the shoulders and lean in the hips. His dark hair was at the shoulders, it looked good on him. He features were very strong. It made he seem masculine. I wanted to run my hands over his face.

"When you are done checking me out? Maybe I can find out why you are here." I looked up to see that he was looking at me.

I felt myself blush. "Sorry." He smiled.

"So what brings you here?" He asked.

"I don't want to go home to my family." He looked down at my hand and saw no ring.

He gave me a half-smile. "You must still live with your parents."

I narrowed my eyes. "There is nothing wrong with that." I crossed my arms. "I have my own wing."

"Wow." He pretend to be shocked. "Why don't I buy you dinner and you tell me about your problems."

I lifted my index finger. "One I don't have dinner with strange men I don't know. Two," I lifted my middle finger next to my index finger. "Do you use that on all the girls? And third," I put my ring finger up. "I only have one problem."

He put his hand out to shake. "Oliver Wood, Jr." He took a pause after Wood and before saying junior. It felt like he was walking in his father's shoe. I knew all about walking in a parent's shoe.

I shook his hand. "Lily Potter." If he recognize my name he didn't show it.

"I don't usually use that on women, it just you seem to need someone to talk too."

"Thank you. Why don't we move to that booth over there?" I saw an empty booth and didn't want the world to know all business. We grabbed our drinks and went to the booth. A waitress came over and took our orders after we looked at the menu. "So what is your problem that you don't want to go home for?" Oliver asked.

"Well Oliver," I started.

"Please don't call me Oliver. Either call me Wood or Junior." He asked.

I smiled. "Sure," I continue before I was interrupted. "I need a date for the holidays."

He frowned. "What the hell are you talking about?"

I laughed. I told him about my family and how everyone was in relationship and I was the only one who wasn't. How I needed someone to be my date.

After I was done, he smiled. "I think we can help each other out." Our food had arrived.

"How?" I asked.

"Well," He took a bit of his meat pie. "I just came from seeing my great-grandmother and she wants to see me with someone before she dies but I feel like she is going to outlive us all." There was a sparkle in his eye as he talked about his grandmother.

"That could work. What do we do after the new year?"

"We'll could just wait until my grandmother dies. It shouldn't be to long."

"Junior," I warned him.

"We'll say that it wasn't right so we brook it off."

"That could work." I said.

"Sure but we need to set some rules up." I said.

"Throw them at me."

"No kissing unless necessary. No yelling at each other if we forget something. And let's try to have fun."

"Okay," I was surprise that he agree right away.

"Alright. You are going to have to meet my grandmum first before Christmas," I said.

"Okay. You'll have to go Christmas shopping with me." I nodded. "We should plan a day to get together to get to know about our families. I have a big one."

"That sounds great because I do too and we want them to believe us." I nodded. "When should we do it?"

"How about Saturday?" He asked.

"That will work. Let's meet here at seven." I said. He nodded.

He got up. "I'll see you later." He went to pay and left. I got up and went home through the floo.

I wrote Rose and told her that I found the man I needed before going to bed that night.