Marcus sighed as he watched the snow fall on his balcony in the coming twilight. It was a rare weekend he spent alone at his flat. Nora was in the U.S. on business and would be back Sunday night. She had taken a couple short trips since she moved there and Marcus found his life rather quiet and dull when she wasn't around. Even the nights he didn't spend with her, she was constantly calling or texting. But when she was gone on work assignments, she couldn't text as much.

She had been gone three days already. He felt like the weekend was going to go by painfully slow without her bright personality around. Which is why Adrian had insisted they have a guys night out in Diagon Alley. It had been quite awhile since Marcus had spent a night out in the Alley and figured he was due one. If anything it would make the weekend go by faster.

He walked over and pulled his thick winter coat on, then grabbed his wand, putting it in his pocket. He then closed his eyes and popped out of his flat, reappearing outside a newer pub. He walked in and looked around, seeing Adrian already there with Wood and Blaise.

"Flint! Get over here!" Adrian shouted, waiting him over. Marcus made his way through the crowd and then settled on a stool. "Nice of you to finally make it."

"I'm not late," Marcus said, scowling. "You just unusually early. Take it it's because you lot on are on break for the winter?"

"Thank Merlin for that. Chloe gets back in about a week and a half," Oliver said.

"Blimey, what are you going to do with a teenager for two weeks?" Marcus asked with a chuckle. He had to admit he had a hard time seeing his old nemesis as a father.

"Well, she'll no doubt spend most of the time either in her room reading or listening to music or out with her friends," he admitted.

"Isn't the point for her to spend time with you?" Blaise asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Have you had any children that I'm unaware of?" Oliver said, scowling at Blaise. "Sure we'll do some practice on the pitch at Puddlemere. But outside quidditch, we don't have much in common. She's more like her mother in that regard."

"There's a reason I don't have kids," Adrian said, taking a drink. "And thank Merlin you and Pansy didn't have any."

"Tell me about it," Marcus said. "I know she would have used them to bilk me for even more money."

"How much did you end up settling for?" Oliver asked.

"A lot less than I was expecting since we didn't have any kids and she was well off on her own before we married," he said, sipping from his whiskey. "The alimony's not that bad and I can cover it easily with what the practice is bringing in. She got a rather large inheritance from her grandfather shortly after and I was able to get the payments lowered."

"Just be glad you didn't have to pay for two," Oliver said. Marcus chuckled.

"And whose fault is that? Had I been friends with you at the time, I would have definitely warned you about the last one," he said. Wood scowled at him.

"Like you wouldn't have jumped at the chance to date a 20-something?" he retorted. Marcus pointed at Adrian.

"That's more his thing," he said, still chuckling.

"Besides, we all know you and Nor are going to end up tying the knot soon enough anyway," Adrian said. The guys all laughed as Marcus shrugged, decidedly nonplussed about the statement.

"You're not serious are you?" Wood asked, staring at the man.

"Possibly," he said. "Been thinking about it a bit more lately. Never met anyone like Nor."

"But… how d'you managed with the whole no magic stuff?" Blaise asked. Marcus sighed.

"Not using around her is easy enough. I don't make many slips anymore. But… It's hard sometimes. I want to tell her everything, but I can't," he said truthfully.

"Well, if you marry her, she's going to have to know," Wood said bluntly. "That or you're gonna have to go complete muggle." Marcus looked pointedly at Adrian, who sighed.

"I know, I know. I'm still working on her father," he said. "He can be a right old codger sometimes."

"She's an adult and she's at least part magical… shouldn't be any trouble with the law," Blaise pointed out.

"A bit more than part, I'd say. You could feel it when she played music," Wood commented. "Nothing big, mind you, but makes you feel things." Marcus let out the breath he had been holding and nodded. Truth be told, the more time he spent around Nora, the more he was convinced that had she been raised in the wizarding world, she might have had a bit more proclivities. Or not. Truth be told, there were still a lot of things he still didn't understand about magic.

"And that is another mystery," Adrian said, a slight grimace on his face. "Figuring out just what happened to Frederick Pucey's children and why none of them had magic."

"Nora's got siblings?" Blaise asked, his eyes lighting up.

"Younger sister. Eliza. She's 28. A nurse. And then David…" Adrian said. He stopped, staring down at his drink.

"He died about four years ago," Marcus added quietly. "When he was 17." The men shifted uncomfortably on their stools.

"And all… no magic?" Wood asked quietly. Adrian grimaced again, obviously lost in his thoughts.

"As far as we know," he said finally. "There could have been… dunno… maybe it showed up in other ways. Like with Nora and her music. Maybe the reason Eliza's so good with her work is that it manifested as healing hands. I don't think we'll ever know."

They all sat quietly for a moment, the noise of the pub carrying on around them. Marcus had wondered if there was more to the Puceys than he originally thought.

Either way, it seemed as though they were all still sworn to secrecy for the time being - something he was going to have to continue to live with.

"So who are we waiting on?" Adrian shouted towards the kitchen where Nora was pouring some freshly made queso into a bowl. It was a week before Christmas and Nora decided to invite Adrian, Laura, Oliver and Katie over for an impromptu game night before the holidays. Oliver's daughter was at a sleepover while Katie's sons were with their grandparents.

Marcus glanced at her from where he sat on the sofa, watching as she made her way over to the living room.

"Just Oliver and Katie," she said, placing it next to a large bowl of chips. "What should we play tonight? We haven't tried Monopoly yet."

"Ah, maybe not that one," Adrian said, grabbing a chip. Marcus chuckled, remembering Adrian try to explain it to him and Blaise one night in case Nora ever made them play. After about an hour, he gave up and swore he'd talk Nora out of it if she tried.

"Trivial Pursuit?" she offered next.

"You're the only one who's good at that one," Adrian countered.

"It's not that hard," Nora shot back.

"Says the walking encyclopaedia of useless information," Laura retorted as she winked at Marcus. He didn't think that one would go over with the others either, seeing as they knew barely anything about muggle pop culture or history.

"Catch Phrase, then?" Nora asked next. Laura and Adrian silently conferred with each other. "At this point, it's that or Charades."

"We could always do Pictionary. That went over well last time," Adrian said with a grin. Nora burst out laughing.

"I must admit, Oliver had a pretty interesting interpretation of the Eiffel Tower," she said.

"I'm curious to see what sort of masterpiece he comes up with tonight," Marcus said with a chuckle.

"I tried to invite Angelina and her husband," Nora said suddenly, causing Adrian to whip his head around to her. Marcus caught his shocked expression before he quickly rearranged it into something more casual. From next to him Laura stifled a few giggles, no doubt entertained by the notion of George Weasley in Nora's flat attempting to pass off as muggle.

"Oh really? But they aren't coming?" Adrian asked. Nora shook her head.

"Angelina said they were busy. Apparently he's got a massive family which makes the holidays pretty crazy," she said, reaching for something off a veggie tray.

"I bet," Adrian said, settling back into the loveseat.

"Didn't you guys go to school with him too?" Nora asked.

"Yea, he was a couple years below us," Marcus said. Nora laughed.

"I seriously don't get it. It's like you all refuse to make friends with anyone outside of school. I rarely - if ever - talk to people I went to high school with," she said. Laura shrugged.

"It's a bit of an exclusive school," she said. "Tight knit and all."

"You think I would have gone there if Mom and Dad stayed here?" Nora asked, suddenly.

"Possibly…." Adrian said. "Though the whole part of moving to the States was to get away from that whole posh scene." Nora shrugged as the door chimed.

"DOORS OPEN!" Adrian shouted. Nora rolled her eyes.

"Lazy much," she said as they heard the door open and the couple walk in.

"Ah good, you haven't gotten started yet," Oliver said, smiling.

"Nope! Waiting on you two!" Nora said with a grin. "Chloe get settled in?"

"Suppose so. She barely talks. Mostly just glares at me," he said, settling next to Adrian as Katie moved to sit next to Nora.

"Suppose it's that age. I didn't talk to Mom and Dad around then either. I think you're just dealing with run-of-the-mill sullen teenager," Nora said. Oliver shook his head slightly.

"What I am going to do with a 16 year old for two weeks…" he muttered, causing the others to chuckle.

"What are we playing tonight?" Katie asked as Nora got up to fix her a glass of wine.

"Adey thinks we should do Pictionary again," she called over. "See what new masterpiece Oliver has in store for us." Oliver frowned as he looked over at her.

"I thought it was rather good," he shouted, his cheeks turning slightly pink.

"Rather good for the Eiffel Tower or rather good for a-"

"Nor!" Marcus shouted, cutting her off. Nora just laughed.

"Not my fault you have the mind of a 12-year-old boy," Oliver muttered.

"Sure," Katie said with a giggle and a slight roll of her eyes. Nora walked back over, holding out a glass of wine to Katie and a glass of whisky to Oliver. "Oh, Alicia said to tell you thank you for the invitation but she and her husband have some family thing." Adrian and Marcus shared a look.

"The Jordans too, Nor?" Adrian asked. Nora shrugged as she sat down.

"Just making friends," she said, as she reached for her glass of wine.

"With all our old schoolmates?" Oliver asked.

"You got me. I wanted to hang out so I could dig up fresh dirt on Adrian and Marcus," Nora said, grinning mischievously. "You have to remember, it's the first time I'm meeting all these folks."

"Doubt you would have found much on me. Though I'm certain that George Weasley would have a mouthful to say about Marcus," Adrian replied with a chuckle. Nora looked over at her boyfriend, an amused look on her face.

"Just how hated were you?" she asked. Oliver snorted.

"Everyone in Gryf- I mean… most of my friends in my dorms weren't so keen on him," he said, nearly catching himself. Katie glared at him slightly as Laura giggled. Being much younger than them - and muggleborn - not to mention used to hanging around Nora, she didn't fight nearly so hard to cover her magical tracks.

"I really don't understand this boarding school of yours," Nora said. "Insane dorm loyalty. Rarely making friends outside of school. Sounds like some sort of cult, to be honest."

"In some ways, it was," Laura said, garnering scowls from most of the group. Except Marcus, who was laughing softly. And Adrian. Marcus figured it was their bond as Slytherins that often had them siding against Wood and Katie.

"It was not!" Oliver shouted indignantly.

"Tell me, Oliver, how many of your friends went somewhere besides this boarding school?" Laura asked.

"Plenty! There's, ah, well… for starters, I know…"

"Precisely my point. Too many of our classmates only ever associate with others who went to our school - much worse, only those in their same dorm. It's about time that everyone broaden their horizons," she said, taking a sip of her wine.

"I'm happy to say that I've got a fair amount of friends outside school," Adrian said, puffing his chest slightly. Nora snorted.

"How many of them did I introduce you to?" she asked. Adrian scowled at her slightly.

"I've met some of them all on my own," he said. "The blokes that live down the hall from me, for one."

"You mean the ones that I ran into one time when I came over and they only showed up at your next house party because one offered to help me carry my bags?" Nora asked, an eyebrow raised.

"I would have met them on my own eventually," Adrian whined slightly.

"So, you all went to school together… there must be some fun stories there," Nora said, her eyes lighting up. Marcus shifted in his seat slightly, wondering how they were going to pull that off without talking about magic. Laura looked at the silent group.

"Yes, please do tell us some of these stories," she urged, grinning. "I wasn't there at the same time so I'm dying to hear about your mischief."

"Well, for starters, that one had a pretty awful mug back in the day. What did they call you? Troll?" Adrian said, looking at Marcus. Nora looked over at him, her eyes wide.

"Troll? Really?" she said. Marcus chuckled.

"Yea, puberty was an interesting time," he said.

"I will say you do look much better since you've had your teeth fixed and started wearing your hair different," Katie said. "In fact, I probably wouldn't have recognized you if Oliver here hadn't said it was you."

"Wood, on the other hand, looks exactly the same," Adrian said.

"I do not!" Wood said, glaring at Adrian. "I look much better!"

"Come on, you were one of the most popular blokes back then," Katie said, rolling her eyes. "Everyone wanted to date The Ever Handsome Oliver Wood." Oliver looked over at her.

"Including you?" he asked, starting to smile. Katie blushed slightly.

"Maybe…," she said.

"If you want to see a true ugly duckling story, you should see Nor's old photos," Adrian said, grinning.

"Nope. I burned them all," she said quickly. Adrian looked over at Marcus.

"Really, then what's in those photo albums on the bottom shelf of your bookcase?" Marcus said looking down at her. She whipped her head over to him and then back just in time to see Adrian leap over the back of the loveseat and dash for her office.

"Adey, don't you dare!" she shouted as Marcus held her down, laughing.

"Oh, these are brilliant, Nor," Adrian said, walking back in and flipping through a large blue book.

"I'll never forgive you," Nora said while laughing as she tried to elbow her way out of Marcus' arms. He just chuckled.

"I've already been through the whole lot. Really, Nor, they aren't that bad," Marcus said. "Your junior high and high school ones are fine. You look better in them than I did at that age."

"Oh, the ones from primary school most definitely are bad," Adrian said, pushing passed Wood and sitting down. Immediately, Wood and Katie were leaning over, looking at the pages. Katie looked up at Nora.

"That's you?" she asked. Nora sighed and nodded. "With those wonky glasses, chubby cheeks and buck teeth?"

"Two rounds of braces," Nora said, settling back into Marcus' arms. "And I finally started to grow out of my baby fat after starting dance classes."

"What the bloody hell is that?" Oliver asked, pointing at a photo of Nora in some sort of uniform with fluffy balls of something in her hands.

"Nora here had the all-American upbringing. She was a cheerleader," Adrian said, grinning. He flipped the page to show more photos of her in the same uniform, one of her in a splits.

"You still do that?" Oliver asked, pointing at the photo. Nora sat up to see what he was talking about.

"Ah, that would be a no," she said. "I haven't been able to do a split since college."

"Shame," Marcus commented, earning him an elbow to the ribs as the others laughed.

"Blimey, what's going on there?" Katie asked, pointing at another photo of a young, blonde Nora mid-shriek, braces glinting off her teeth.

"That would be when I got her a copy of 'Titanic' for her 15th birthday," Adrian said. "You were rather obsessed with that one." Nora nodded.

"I was convinced I'd marry Leonardo Dicaprio for a few years," she said. "Covered my locker in photos of him."

"Didn't you end up meeting him finally?" Laura asked. Nora grinned.

"Yea, at a Grammy after party the one year I managed to go. He was every bit as handsome as I had hoped," she said with a dreamy sigh. "And such a gentleman." Marcus chuckled.

"Should I be worried?" he asked. Nora glanced at him.

"No… I highly doubt a world famous actor would ever be interested in dating me," she said with a snort.

"Didn't you act a bit as well?" Laura asked. Nora rolled her eyes.

"That was high school and I regret telling you," she shot back. Adrian grinned.

"I still have that DVD," he said. Nora's eyes widened as she sat up.

"Tell me you do not!" she shouted. Oliver and Katie looked back and forth between the cousins.

"Nora was the star of a melodrama one year," he said, grinning.

"I was not the star," Nora said. "I played someone's aunt. I was the comic relief."

"Had this hilarious laugh and chased the villain throughout the entire thing. The makeup alone was brilliant but every time you heard that laugh of hers from off stage-" Adrian dissolved into laughter.

"Let's hear it then," Laura said, grinning.

"No. My acting days are behind me," Nora said, leaning back into Marcus.

"Not even for me?" he whispered in her ear. Nora shivered slightly.

"No. Not even for you," she said, talking a large gulp of her wine. Adrian winked across the room at Marcus.

"Don't worry. I'll dig it out next time you're over," he said. Nora glared at him.

"I hate you," she stated.

"Come on then, we've put it off long enough. Time for Wood to show off more of his amazing drawing skills," Laura said, standing to walk to the office.

"You know Marcus and I are just going to win again," Nora said with a grin.

"It's like you two share a brain," Oliver said, glancing over at them as Adrian flipped through more pages in the photo book.

"Someone's jealous," Nora sang.

"Go easy on him, Nor," Marcus chided. "Not everyone gets as competitive as you." She snorted and glanced at him.

"Except for you," she said.

"Which is why I'm always on your team," he replied.

"Grossing me out again, you two," Adrian muttered. Laura laughed as she sat back down and started handing out cards and pens.

"Start writing, folks, lest we be here all night."

"Nora, do we really need this much food?" Marcus asked as he trudged next to her, carrying two bags. They were walking from the shops nearest her apartment a couple days before Christmas, trying to miss most of the rush. She looked over at him, her pink curls spilling out under a knit cap.

"You remember how much was left over from Thanksgiving? Barely anything. And we've got more people coming this time," she said, carrying two bags of groceries of her own. Marcus chuckled as they made their way down the frozen sidewalk.

"Marcus Flint?" a nasally voice said from behind them. Marcus stopped, his eyes widening as he immediately recognized the voice. He sighed and turned around, not expecting to run into a Malfoy in the muggle world.

"Narcissa," he said with a slight nod of his head. Nora turned and looked from Marcus to the smartly dressed older woman. She coolly took in the young woman at Marcus' side.

"So this is why we haven't seen you around at events lately," she said. Marcus took a deep breath.

"Well, to be fair, I hadn't been coming around to those for some time," he said. "Not since…"

"Ah, yes. The divorce," she said bluntly. Nora cleared her throat and glanced up at Marcus.

"Right. This is my girlfriend, Nora Pucey," he said, straightening his back. Narcissa's eyes widened.

"Nora? Pucey?" she said, taking in her pink hair. "So this is Frederick's daughter. I've been eager to meet you." Nora glanced up at Marcus, confused as to how a perfect stranger had heard of her.

"Pleasure to meet you, Ms…."

"Narcissa Malfoy," she said, nodding to the younger woman whose arms were too full to offer a handshake.

"I'm curious, how do you know me?" Nora asked bluntly. Narcissa laughed softly.

"Dare say a lot of people know about your family," she said replied. Nora's eyes widened.

"Well that's news to me. We've been in the States since before I was born," she replied. "You know my father, I take it?"

"Yes, we were old school friends," she said, glancing at Marcus. "At Hogwarts."

"Hogwarts? That's an odd name for a school," Nora said with a laugh. Marcus scowled at the woman, willing her with his eyes to not say anything more. Narcissa for her part seemed confused as to how Nora hadn't heard of Hogwarts.

"Also… well, we're cousins," she said. Nora stood dumbstruck a moment before taking in the woman's cool demeanor and fancy dress. This must be some of the family that her father had cut himself off from.

"We're family?" she asked. "Dad said he cut himself off from everyone when he left." Narcissa nodded and looked down at the street.

"Well, some of us were… a bit foolish back then. With the war and everything," she started.

"The war?" Nora asked. "What war?" Narcissa dropped part of her polite exterior, now staring at her in full-on astonishment. It appeared that Marcus' mother hadn't shared with the rest of the world that Frederick Pucey's daughter was without magic and by all means completely unaware that it existed. Though knowing her, he wasn't completely surprised.

Nor had Draco shared with his mother what Marcus told him on the street.

"You don't know…" Narcissa said, taking a step towards her.

"I think that's been enough for now. Awfully sorry, but we're late. Good to see you, Narcissa," Marcus said, starting to lead Nora off. Nora scowled at him and then glanced back at the woman.

"What was that about? That… I'm related to her?" Nora asked. Marcus took a deep breath.

"She's… uh, Narcissa is… unwell," he said, saying the first thing that came into his mind. To be honest, he had no clue how he was supposed handle this. He hadn't expected to run into anyone from the wizarding world out here. Least of all, Narcissa Malfoy. The Malfoys more often than not stayed comfortably within the wizarding world.

"What war was she talking about? I don't remember there being any war in the 80s," she said.

"She, ah, well like I said, she's unwell. She gets confused sometimes," he said. Nora chuckled.

"Well, that's interesting. I'll have to ask Dad about it," she said. Marcus cleared his throat.

"I'm sure he'll having some things to say about the Malfoys," he muttered.

Trying to get up to the Christmas chapter (which is next) so double posting again today (it's currently morning my time). I may end up posting two more chapters before my friend gets here as her flight arrives at 6 am tomorrow and I very well could end up just staying up all night...

I'll admit, I ended up going back and adding/fleshing this one out. I had the two parts at the bar and shopping written, but it wasn't quite long enough for a chapter, so I tossed in the house party after the fact. Which was fun to write. I love flirting Nora and Marcus. And impromptu house parties. Plus the awkward "How do we talk about Hogwarts without mentioning Hogwarts" moments.

But coming up next is Christmas with some revelations... Hope you all are looking forward to that. I still actually have A LOT left to post on this story. Though I haven't touched The Calm Before the Storm in quite awhile. I should get to work on that one...

As always, thanks for reading, writing and reviewing!