A/N: According to my stats page, in the month of March this story had precisely 666 visitors. Awesome!

Chapter Twenty-One

When Gwen arrived back home her mother was, thankfully, still out on her shopping trip. Her father, however, was sat in the living room reading his book. He greeted her as she entered the room and set down her shopping by the coffee table. "Interesting article I read about you and Crouch in the paper, Gwen."

She froze just as she was taking her grandmother's present out of its bag. "You read that?"

He shrugged. "Sure, I saw it after you'd gone out. Made everything make a lot more sense, actually. I take it you went to see him?"

She shook her head, "He wasn't in."

He didn't seem too bothered. "Not to worry, I'm sure it won't cause much of a fuss anyway."

"You think it won't?"

He shrugged again. "Anybody who values anything Rita Skeeter writes isn't worth worrying about. And don't tell your mother I said that."

She sat down on the sofa, feeling slightly better now she knew her father wasn't bothered by it, but still rather worried. "But I don't think he's told his parents about me. What if his father doesn't approve?"

John set down his book to look at his daughter properly. "Gwen, I know Barty Crouch Sr. personally, and trust me, he won't mind you dating his son in the slightest."

That definitely made her feel better. "Really?"

"Really. As girlfriends go I think you'd get his gold seal of approval. Not that that's what matters, of course. What matters is that you're happy with Barty."

"I am," Gwen replied rather quickly. Or at least I think I am.

Her father nodded. "Good. Then don't let Rita Skeeter spoil things for you."

"I won't."

He smiled. "And don't let your mother put any daft ideas into your head either. She'll spend ages getting all excited about it before she realises how much of that article is complete drivel. He hasn't asked you to marry him, has he?"

Recalling that particularly absurd line of speculation in the article, Gwen laughed, "No, Dad, he hasn't."

"Glad to hear it, otherwise I might actually think things were moving too fast." He watched as she continued to carefully take the present out of its bag. It was a tall cylindrical object that had several branches coming out of it at the top, each with a little cup attached to the end of it by a chain. John didn't think he recognised it. "That for your mother?"

Gwen shook her head. "It's for grandma. It's a set of Brewer's Scales. Lets you can way multiple ingredients at the same time in the right proportions for a potion."

John nodded. "My mother will love that. So what did you get your mum?"

"Nothing yet. I was going to get her a foe glass, but I had a better idea."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yeah, well, I'm still going to get her a dark detector, but it's going to be an even better one. It's, well…just wait and see."

He looked thoughtful as he tried to guess what it might be. "Intriguing. If I have to wait to find out then I'm looking forward to your mother's birthday."

"Not half as much as she is."

He laughed. "Indeed." He picked up his book again and went back to reading while Gwen searched for a blank piece of parchment and some ink and a quill. Once she'd found some in a drawer in the kitchen she sat down at the table to write her letter. It had actually been a good idea, she thought. Even as she'd been trawling through the shops in Diagon Alley she knew her mother would enjoy getting a present that was just a little more exclusive. She just hoped she wasn't being too cheeky by asking for it.

Gwen set the dipped the quill in the ink and began to write.

Dear Sander,

It's Gwen. I'm not writing about work (although that is going fine too) but I would like to ask you for a favour. Would I be able to buy a foe glass off you? My mother works in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and I thought it would be a good present for her birthday. I know you haven't officially opened any stores in the UK yet, but I'd really appreciate it if you could let me buy one.

Many thanks,

Gwen

She read the letter back to herself and frowned slightly, wondering if it was appropriate to be this informal when she'd only met him once. Honestly though, she didn't think he would mind. He was the one who'd invited her to go for an ice cream and had given her his pocket auroscope.

She folded up the letter and gave it to Eric, who she instructed to deliver it to the address she'd been given for DDD's London HQ. She hoped that was where Sander was, as she didn't much fancy sending the poor owl all the way over the North Sea.

She hadn't been expecting a response for a couple of days, and so was immensely surprised when Eric showed up again only a couple of hours later clutching a letter in his beak. She gave him a cockroach cluster for his efforts and eagerly unfolded the letter to read:

Dear Gwen,

Sure, that's no problem. I'll call round and bring you one on Monday.

Sander

She was pretty shocked at his response. He was going to call round on Monday? That was…well, it was astounding. She thought that she must surely be inconveniencing him for him to come round at such short notice, but since he had offered she thought it would be rude if she wrote back now telling him not to. For some reason, the thought that she was going to see Sander again on Monday made her immensely happy, and even when her mother showed up again later and started trying to get her to dish the dirt on that Daily Prophet article, that still did nothing to make her feel any less elated.

A/N: So Sander is visiting Gwen on Monday. And Barty is visiting Gwen on Monday. I am going to have so much fun writing that :) I'm going to cover Sunday in the Crouch household first though, so I hope you don't mind waiting just that little bit longer for them to finally meet. Thanks to my two great reviewers, Musicunderground and sara253xxx. I'd really appreciate it if anybody else wanted to review as well.