AN: Sorry for the delay. College is exhausting (and I've been discovering more of Brandon Sanderson's writings—Alloy of Law had me cackling with joy) but I've been writing more fics (more for Agent Carter and Percy Jackson), but for now it's the return of everyone's favorite bookworm!

If you guys check over to my AO3 account, I have something called Ficlets, a collection of prompts from tumblr. There are some Valentine's Day ficlets there that you may enjoy.

I've also noticed that this has been getting more views such. Don't be afraid to leave a review, I'm always interested in hearing what people are enjoying so far.

Thanks to TatterdemalionDandelion, Our Love is God, and FANTSYbookworm for leaving reviews.

Disclaimer: I sound too Yankee-Doodle-Dandy to be JK Rowling.

Title: Meeting the Parents

Word Count: 1846

Summary: Reboot! The hardest thing to do after a war is to wake up. 101 one-shots in a gender-bended universe of people getting better.

"You're here!"

Hector laughed even when suddenly landing on his back, with his girlfriend in his arms, being surrounded by her sweet-smelling hair. "I'm here!" he agreed, staring in a daze when seeing her freckled face split into a glowing smile.

His father coughed.

"Right." He could feel his face heating, but it was nothing compared to the full-on blush that Rory was now wearing. She scrambled off him, the color of her face now rivaling that of her hair. "Mum, Dad." Hector knotted his fingers with Rory's, well aware of the snickering in the background from the others. "You've met her before, but this is my girlfriend that I've been telling you about."

Ever since Australia, it had become harder to read her parents' faces. This was one of those times. Every time he mentioned the slightest hint to magic, their faces would become suddenly impassive. That fact gnawed at his insides, wondering how bad he had ruined his relationship with them.

Rory rubbed the back of her neck with one hand, and reached out to shake with the other. "Uh, hi, Mr and Mrs Grange. It's nice to see you again and, uh, welcome?"

Mum's face cracked into a tepid smile. She took Rory's trembling hand. "It's nice to meet you again. Hector has been telling us such wonderful things about you."

Rory made a small 'eep'.

Hector looked down at his feet, feeling painfully warm outside. The letters that he had sent them over the years flashed through his mind, the long paragraphs about how frustrating she was, or about a particularly funny joke that he had a hard time explaining, and now to just a week ago and he couldn't stop talking about her ("Mum, Dad," he had more or less said. "You know how I used to write longwinded paragraphs about Rory? I'm sort of dating her now after kissing her in the middle of this final battle. You'll like her, honest. And her parents want to invite us all over for brunch and…")

"Ruford and Jeanette Granger," Mrs Weasley greeted warmly. Her weary face became less so when smiling at his parents. "Why don't you come inside before the food becomes cold? Oh, it's a pleasure to see you again…"

Hector followed them, catching the faces of Halley and Gid who were sitting on the porch and stifling their laughter.

He was going to say something to them, but Halley's parents were dead and Gid's parents adored her.

Rory stuck her tongue out.

"That's it," said Halley, struggling to keep a straight face. "You go create an even better impression."

"I also wrote to them about the two of you," Hector said slowly. He narrowed his eyes and watched their reactions. "A lot over the years, actually." It was true. While his friends would come to him for advice, he in turn would send lengthy letters to his parents, asking more reassurance that he was doing the right thing. That meant his parents knew perhaps too much about everyone's romantic relationships.

Gid's face paled. "How incriminating are we talking about?"

Halley tugged on his elbow. "Let's go inside," she said.

That left Hector and Rory standing outside.

She looked at the door, her arms crossed under her chest and chewed on her bottom lip. "What are the wonderful things you've been telling your parents about?" she asked. He noticed the worried tension the laced her words.

Hector leaned back on the porch railings, admiring how she looked in the sunlight. Her hair reminded him of fire, and the color of the Muggle dress matched her eyes. "I told them that there was this amazingly frustrating witch in my class that I became friends with, and I haven't been able to get her out of my mind since. "

Rory's fingers squeezed his and she smiled.

"Come on." Hector leaned over to give her a soft kiss. "They're all waiting for us inside."

"They can wait a bit longer," Rory muttered against his mouth. He felt her hands curled in his hair, and she kissed him again. "Love you."

"I love you, too."

The kitchen was bustling with many people and the mouthwatering smell of freshly-made food. Hector saw his dad being cornered by Mr Weasley, obviously in an animated discussion about aeroplanes ("You say those are the forces that can make them fly? Brilliant. I wonder with the fusion of certain charms…"). Various Weasley siblings were sitting at the table, plates full of food and were loudly giving suggestions to Charlotte who was part of the team that was rebuilding Hogwarts ("We need a secret passage that can lead someone to—" "Beatrice, stop telling me to build secret tunnels." "I'm pretty sure that tunnel already exists." "How do you keep knowing these things, Georgia? How?!"). His mum sat by them, more worried by the conversation than bemused ("What is in the forest? I don't remember Hector mentioning any of this!"). Hector felt a second of pure fear at seeing Andromeda, almost mistaking her for her dead sister again, but Bellatrix would never be seen laughing with Mrs Weasley.

Hector sat down and began piling his plate. Dear Merlin, he had missed Mrs Weasley's cooking. His mouth immediately began to water at seeing brisket in front of him.

"You would think you haven't eaten in weeks," said Rory with a laugh.

"Hypocrite," he said, seeing the potatoes that threatened to fall off her plate. He gave her a slice of the brisket before placing one for himself. "We had to survive a year on our own horrible concoctions and mushrooms. I would dream about your mother's cooking those nights."

"I'm glad that you think so highly of my work, dear," Mrs Weasley said. She smiled warmly and went back to talking to Andromeda.

"This one only wants my attention," Halley grumbled as Teddy cooed her arms, squirming and grabbing onto her with his pudgy fingers. His skin was dusky, spotting freckles and brilliant green eyes with dark red hair. "I need to eat. Want to hold him?" she asked. Without waiting for an answer, she dumped the baby in Hector's arms and went to go sit next to Gid.

"Uh, hello?" said Hector. He held Teddy at an arm's reach, still apprehensive at what he was capable of. He had no previous experiences with babies before Teddy's birth. Being an only child and having distant, older cousins, all that Hector knew were from the telly and books.

But holding an actual baby was terrifying. Teddy was so small and fragile, looking so innocent with his large eyes that Hector was afraid the slightest wrong would cause something horrible to happen.

His mum frowned briefly, her eyes turning from Halley to Gid, and then to Teddy. "Strange, I remember you mentioning the two of them dating, but not about the baby."

"Teddy is Halley's…" Hector started to say without thinking. He stopped and realized what Mum had meant. "Mum, no. He's her godson."

"But he looks so much like them?"

"And now he looks a lot like me." Hector showed her how Teddy's skin became darker, his hair curling and changing texture.

Rory leaned over to wipe the baby's face. Even darker freckles appeared on his skin where she touched him. "Andromeda says she's been really impressed with his abilities. Now he's been changing his looks to match whoever he wants to hold him. It gets to be something of a mess when his hair turns red; we all have to take turns of holding him."

Teddy giggled and tried to stuff his fingers in Hector's open mouth.

"But are they dating?" Mum asked.

Halley laughed at something Gid said, her chair angled close to his.

Hector removed Teddy's fingers, now sadly knowing what the taste of baby food was like. He nudged Rory for an answer. Her letters would sometimes say things about the relationship, how they could often be found in the hammock together, talking for long hours. Or on one notable occasion, Rory had caught them in Halley's room, but claimed that nothing had happened.

"They're not," Rory answered. "Kind of. I think they're both confused."

"It's not like we would know what that feeling is like," Hector said dryly.

"Very well." Mum poured herself another cup of tea. "Now tell me about this job as an Auror. According to what Hector's been telling me, it sounds like an adventurous job."

Rory blushed heavily. "Oh, it's, uh, yeah. It is." She took a long draught of tea. "Can't be anything new compared to what we've been through over the years, yeah?"

"Think you'll be up against any Mountain Trolls?" Hector joked. He managed to balance Teddy in his lap, free to reach for Rory's hand. "Remember, it's Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long."

Rory laughed as his mum grew more confused. "I take it there's a joke in there somewhere?"

"It's what started it all for them," Halley piped up from the other side of the table. "They haven't stopped bickering since that lesson in Charms."

Rory shook her head. "Nah, it's earlier than that." She turned to Mum. "You see, Mrs Granger, Halley and I were happily eating sweets in our compartment when all of a sudden someone—" she jutted a thumb at Hector "—barged in and asked if we saw a toad. We said no and he came back later because he missed our charming presence very much."

Hector removed a stolen fork from Teddy's hands. "That's not how I remember it."

Rory propped a chin on her hand. "Hush, I'm telling this grand and wonderful story. As I was saying, he came in a second time and was about to see me preform a brilliant piece of magic—"

"Brilliant my arse," Georgia scoffed suddenly. "That spell was a dud and you were too thick to realize it."

"I'm telling the story here!" Rory said, raising her head. "And then he starts going on how he already read the books and practiced some spells to perfection, and Halley and I were feeling sick with worry by that point."

"You had dirt on your nose," Hector remembered, imagining his girlfriend as her younger self easily. He could still picture her in the large robes and the simple plait that went over one shoulder.

"I thought you were a nightmare."

"I thought you were being terribly rude."

Story forgotten, they stared into each other's eyes, lost until interrupted by Georgia's loud voice.

"Isn't that when ickle Gid saw Halley for the first time?" Her smile was faded, but had the same mischievous spark. "You woulda thought he was hit over the head with a Beater's Bat by the way he was staring at her," she said in a conspiring whisper to Hector's dad. "Poor thing's been holding a torch since. See? He's blushing all the way to his ears now."

Gid let out a pained moan and dropped his head in his hands.

Halley patted his shoulder. "Don't worry, I thought you were adorable."