A/N: Thanks for the reviews everyone :)
Iyssabun: I missed him too! Ah I love him so much
Toffeeloveryes: Lol his being married was literally the only reason I ended up making it so that you can't bring gold into an Incan temple. But yes I agree 100% that whoever has Ricardo is the luckiest person alive and I am insanely jealous of this yet-unknown character ;D
Purplestan: Thanks, I love him too! There were a few hints of his being married in his dialogue, i.e. 'I have a loyal heart', 'alas you've missed your chance', etc. but I figured most people would be surprised with that plot twist since it wasn't too obvious. I thought it would be fun for him to follow a more conventional path when he outwardly appears to be such an unconventional character.
Yuu Annoya Me: Thanks! It's been a lot of fun to connect this story with Vivicendium. There won't be anymore Vivian scenes in this story, but Josie will have further interactions with Vivicendium characters in the future. Also I can completely understand your love of Ricardo haha. I have a lot of things on my plate concerning my writing goals atm but it would definitely be fun to write a collection of scenes for him at some point, so I won't discount the possibility :)
IAmTheRedMaskHeWears: I missed him too :) It was so much fun to bring him back into the story. I would love to write more of him with Josie and Bill in the future. Maybe a short side story where they all go to some temple in Peru or Egypt and work together to break the curses again...this time Bill would be the one in charge and he's have his revenge on Ricardo...omg I think I'm onto something here ;D
Chrysanthemum: Thanks! Glad you're enjoying it! I actually do have a story started for Draco, which I haven't continued with because I got distracted writing other things. I do intend on continuing it though. It would come later in the VCU because it is a post-Hogwarts/post-war story. Forgot to include him in my list of proposed side stories so thanks for the reminder!
Mayflower: We'll see what happens with a potential Ricardo story, I don't have any concrete plans for one right now but if inspiration hits in the future, then it's possible :)
remifoster1313: I could definitely imagine them both at the wedding! That would be S3 material though, there won't be a wedding in this story so it would have to wait. Still, I'd love to write a scene with Ricardo and his sexy Peruvian teaming up and gossiping about Bill in Spanish right in front of him while Josie shakes her head lol. It's almost too easy to imagine.
PoppyRosaLawston: Don't worry, this happens a lot for some reason! I still saw your review via email even though the last few haven't shown up on the site yet. Also yes I can definitely picture Ricardo's significant other being completely immune to his charm and him falling head over heels for this very reason ;D Actually I do have to admit that it would be really fun to write this. As for your theory, I was going more along the lines of having Catalina use Josie to break into more ancient temples and become a rogue curse-breaker for Catalina's own financial benefit. I rather like your idea though and a part of me wishes I had thought of it myself ;) And yes, Bill and Josie's story is coming to an end but this is definitely not the last we'll see of them, they'll be back in the future!
This is the last full length chapter. I'll be posting the epilogue on Tuesday, which will include a sneak peak into the plot of Charlie's story. More info on that to come. In the meantime, hope you all enjoy the fluffy scenes you are about to read :)
Chapter Twenty One | Never Refuse Molly Weasley's Cooking
Josie wouldn't claim to be nervous about going to the Burrow for dinner. A few months ago, she would've been, but things have blown over since then. Molly is no longer upset about her having kept her distance from the family, and the rest of them have all heard Josie's reasons by now. Well, everyone except for Percy, who has disowned his parents and siblings in favor of climbing the ladder of the corporate world. Bill has loads to say about that, and none of it good, but he wouldn't dare bring it up around his mum. Molly has taken Percy's disownment in a manner that anyone would except, and oftentimes bursts into tears whenever his name is mentioned at all. Those tears aren't anything like these, though.
"Josie!"
"Er…hi, Molly," Josie says, patting her on the arm. She's not entirely sure if the action is meant as a form of affection or simply because she's trying to silently tell Molly that she can't breathe.
Bill clears his throat and smirks, but doesn't try to help her. She sends him a look over his mum's shoulder that he pretends not to see.
"I've been trying to get Bill to bring you over for months now!" Molly exclaims, and shoots her son a look as well (which he also pretends not to see). She shepherds Josie into the sitting room and says, "It's lovely to see you again, dear. I'm making your favorite – roast beef and yorkshire pudding." Then, beaming, she pats Josie's hand and opens her mouth to say something more, but a loud clattering sound interrupts her and she bustles back into the kitchen to check on everything.
Josie lifts her eyebrows at the other Weasleys, who are lounging around the sitting room. Fred and George are playing a game of Exploding Snap by the fireplace. Ginny is sitting beside a bushy-haired girl on the couch, who has a book propped up in her lap and is looking at Josie curiously. Ron is watching the twins' game with another boy, who Josie immediately recognizes despite never having met him before.
"You must be Harry," Josie greets. "Bill's told me all about you – and you, Hermione I take it?" She glances at the bushy-haired girl and sends her a smile.
Hermione sends her a polite smile, eyes still blazing with curiosity, and replies, "Yes, we've heard about you, too. It's Josie, right?"
Josie nods and sits down beside Bill, who has taken up residence on the other couch and has made himself quite comfortable. "I hope he hasn't told you anything bad," she mutters, mainly at Bill, who sends her an innocent look.
"Bad? Never," he responds, grinning crookedly.
She narrows her eyes at him suspiciously. They've been friends for so long that he'd got plenty of embarrassing stories about her, and vice versa. She wouldn't put it past him to dredge up a story she'd rather forget.
"If you want bad, we've got loads of stories too," Fred reminds her from across the room. "Like that time we locked you in the shed and you tried to hex us, but it backfired on you – "
"Okay, okay," Josie sits up, "let's not relive the past!"
Bill laughs and sighs nostalgically. "That was the highlight of my summer."
She elbows him in retribution, then turns back to the twins and sends them a dangerous smile. They see it, and pause in the middle of their game to eye her cautiously.
"Now Josie," Fred (she thinks) begins.
"You know how our mum is," George (she assumes) continues.
"She's like a bloodhound, sniffing out the truth – "
"We were powerless, see? She just knew, the moment she saw us – "
"That you two were rolling around on the couch like randy teenagers – "
Bill coughs, Josie blushes, and Ginny rolls her eyes.
In a very to-the-point voice, Ginny declares, "That's not true. The moment you stepped through the door, you couldn't wait to tell us."
Fred and George promptly exclaim, "Oi, that's a lie!"
"Well sort of," George says.
"Yeah, I mean, if you'd paid us to keep our silence, we would've tried harder," Fred adds with a shrug.
Josie glowers at them and stands up, pulling her leather jacket about her frame and exuding a dangerous aura that has the twins backing towards the sitting room door. They don't look afraid of her, of course – there's hardly anything in the world that makes the twins second-guess themselves. No, instead, they're wearing huge, wicked grins, as if the sight of her annoyance is highly amusing to them.
"You know, there's an Incan curse that I discovered a few years back. It makes your organs shrivel up inside your body," Josie says, advancing towards them.
Hermione, Ron, and Harry watch with growing smirks, clearly amused. Meanwhile, Bill puts his hands behind his head and leans back.
"At first, you're perfectly fine, and then," Josie snaps her fingers, "your lungs collapse and turn into dust. Do you want to see how it works?"
Fred hums, "Now that you mention it, Josie, you could have some interesting ideas for new products."
"Shriveling Organs," George muses, rubbing his jaw, "that does have a nice ring to it."
Josie smirks, "And you always test your products on yourselves first, am I right? Come here, then, I'll show you how it works – "
The twins back out of the room wearing matching expressions of amusement, not appearing to be very concerned. Josie makes quick work of that, though, when she disappears after them. Soon, the occupants of the sitting room can hear them loudly clamoring up the stairs to the sound of Fred and George yelping as Josie presumably gets them back for telling their mother about her and Bill.
"Well, if you ask me, they deserve to be knocked around a bit," Hermione sniffs, recalling all too well the many evenings she had caught them testing their products out on the first year students over the course of this past year. Harry and Ron exchange a look but remain silent, and Ginny snorts to herself.
"Seeing as she initially threatened to feed them to the gnomes, I'd say they're getting off lightly," Bill shrugs, then stands up and heads into the kitchen to see if his mum needs any help.
Harry grimaces a bit and mumbles, "So…we shouldn't get on Josie's bad side, then, I take it?" He glances over at Ron with a lifted brow.
Ron grins. His only response is, "Well she is a curse-breaker. I'll bet she wasn't lying about that organ-shriveling curse."
Mr. Weasley comes home from work soon after. After a quick greeting, he heads upstairs to change his robes and then everyone sits down for dinner. Fred and George are looking marginally less amused – they keep shooting affronted glances at Josie, who smiles sweetly at them whenever she catches them at it. Arthur looks a bit confused at this, but he doesn't comment and instead turns to Josie and smiles, "So, welcome to the family, Josie."
The twins cackle to themselves at what they apparently deem to be 'justice' as Josie's face reddens.
"Er…thanks," she responds, then shoots Fred and George sharp looks and assumingly kicks them under the table, because they both wince and shut up.
Molly appears to be on her best behavior, though she keeps sending Bill and Josie wide grins as the food is passed around and everyone loads their plates up. She looks like she's about to burst when Bill hands Josie the bowl of peas – a truly romantic gesture, to be sure. It's a good thing that Bill doesn't try filling Josie's plate for her, or Molly might've exploded.
"So you're a curse-breaker too, then?" Harry asks Josie as they all start eating.
Ron, who is sitting beside him, says, "She works in South America, mainly. It's way cooler than what Bill does. I mean, there're only so many tombs you can go through, right?"
Bill rolls his eyes at his younger brother and mutters to Josie, "After he came to Egypt a few years back, he's decided that he's seen all there is to see."
Josie smirks at him and breezily responds, "You're absolutely right, Ron. My job is much cooler than Bill's." She looks rather smug, which only makes Bill roll his eyes at her, this time.
"Might want to watch your back, Josephine," Bill murmurs to her as Ron starts explaining more about what a curse-breaker does to a curious Harry. He catches her eye and raises an eyebrow at her.
Josie raises one right back and turns to face him. She drawls, "Or what, William?"
He doesn't respond in words, though. His eyes flash at her just so, and heat crowds through her at the look he sends her. Or what, indeed.
"Mum, how many grandkids did you say you wanted?" George innocently wonders, catching sight of the way Bill is looking at Josie.
Fred smirks and explains, "She was just talking about it this afternoon. How'd she phrase it?"
In a high-pitched voice, George gushes, "I'll finally be a grandmother! I want no less than a dozen grandchildren!"
Bill promptly starts coughing. Josie, reddening again, huffs at the twins but remains silent. As for Molly, she snaps, "I did not say that – Josie dear, there's no need to hurry on my account."
It's Josie's turn to start coughing.
After that, thankfully, the conversation turns to Arthur's work. Molly asks him how his day had gone and, as he responds, Josie turns to Hermione and gets to know her a bit better. Upon learning that Hermione is a muggleborn like herself, they both hit it off. The only one who is missing, besides Percy (Bill had reminded her not to mention him), is Charlie.
"Oh, we met Charlie the summer before fourth year," Hermione tells her. "He brought the dragons over from Romania for the first task."
Josie remembers hearing about Charlie's part to play in the Triwizard Tournament, though she unfortunately hadn't been able to take time off to see any of it herself, or to see Charlie, for that matter. It's been several years since she last saw him actually.
"I heard he was here a few months ago," Josie says.
Arthur nods. "He tries to visit every once in a while – more so lately, what with him being in the Order."
"There'll be no discussing that right now, though," Molly says with a glance towards Ginny, who looks a bit frustrated. Molly doesn't say anything further though, and just clears away the dinner dishes. She retrieves the large chocolate cake she had baked that afternoon and the topic moves to other things, though it doesn't stray very far from current events.
When they've finished eating, Molly seems to realize what time it is. In a worried voice, she murmurs, "It's starting to get dark. You should both head back – you too, Fred, George. I don't want any of you caught outside once the sun goes down."
Arthur gives Josie a one-armed hug as Molly rushes to dish out a few plates of leftovers. "You'll come back for dinner soon, I hope," she says warmly. "Oh it's so good to see you, Josie. I'm so glad everything is working out now…" Then, pulling Josie aside, she hugs her tightly and gushes, "I always knew you'd be a part of the family, dear."
Josie's cheeks heat up at that. So does Bill's, who had heard his mum's words and is once again pretending that he hadn't. They take their leave quickly after that, saying goodbye to the others before stepping outside. Josie hooks her arm around his arm in preparation for side-apparation, and Bill pulls her a bit closer even though it isn't necessary. They make no mention of his mum's last words, though they do send each other quiet smiles before vanishing with a crack.
"Want a beer?" Bill wonders after they step into his flat. He strides across the small sitting room and into the kitchen, shucking off his jacket as he goes.
"Sure," Josie replies, pulling herself onto the counter as he opens the fridge. She watches him wave his wand at the bottles. The caps shoot off and he makes a show of catching them. She shakes her head at him. "You're such a despicable show-off," she informs him as he hands her a bottle.
Bill laughs at her and taps the lip of his beer bottle against hers. "Why thank you," he responds, sending her a smirk. After he takes a sip, sighs, and says, "I'm glad that's over with."
Then, setting his beer bottle onto the counter, Bill crowds closer to her to sweep his arms around her and murmur, "So how many times did my mum gush at you? I counted about a dozen."
Josie laughs. She reaches up to run her hands through his hair, loosening the tie and tangling her fingers into the fiery strands. In a musing tone, Josie hums, "Mmm…I'm sure it was more than a dozen…are we counting before dinner as well?"
It takes Bill a moment to respond to her, mainly because he's a bit overcome with the way she's scratching her nails gently over his scalp. "…We definitely are," he murmurs, trying to keep his voice steady but failing somewhat.
Josie catches his eye. The emotion she sees therein has her heart thudding in her chest.
"Bill…" she begins, "remember when I said I wanted to take things slow?"
He pauses. Lifting an eyebrow at her, he murmurs, "Yeah…?" There's a look in his eye that tells her he knows what she's about to say. The corner of his mouth edges up.
So does hers. Josie clears her throat and admits, "I'm not really sure why I said that."
Bill grins at her. With a low chuckle, he reminds her, "I'm okay with going at whatever pace you want, Josie."
Their eyes meet, and she nudges closer to him. His breath wavers against her lips, which part just so as she breathes, "It's just that I've wanted you for so long, and now that I actually have you, it feels so surreal."
She looks down at his mouth and wets her lips. Bill exhales slowly. It would be a lie to say that he isn't slightly overwhelmed by her. Perhaps more than slightly. His fingers slide up her back, moving closer to murmur, "Josie, we've got plenty of time to figure this out. There's no need to rush into anything." He pauses, reaching up to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear and adding, "You've waited for me for years. I think I can wait a little bit longer for you."
She rests her forehead against his and smiles.
"…Sometimes I think you're too good to be true, Billy," she whispers, her breath fanning out over his mouth.
He swallows slightly, but then chuckles, "Sometimes I think the same thing, Jos."
And just like that, the moment drops away and Josie is laughingly shoving him back, only he doesn't really want to go and merely shuffles back into her, chuckling as his arms spin around her waist and he buries his face against her neck.
"…D'you think the twins would interrupt us again if I kissed you?" he murmurs hopefully. Even as he asks, his lips brush against her neck, placing brief kisses along the line of her throat.
Josie draws back, catches his eye, and mutters, "If they do, I really will feed them to the gnomes."
Then she twists her fingers into his hair and pulls his head back just so, and Bill's eyes flutter closed as her mouth descends on his. She tangles her fingers into his hair and heaves him closer, hooking her legs around his waist as she sits on top of the counter. His response to her move is to heave her closer to the edge of it. He tilts his head to kiss her deeper, breathing out with a low hum when her fingernails scratch against his scalp.
"Does this count as going too fast?" he wonders, though he seems quite distracted and doesn't appear to care if she answers him or not. His voice has a breathy quality to it, shallow and low.
Josie exhales slowly and tightens her legs around him. In an equally breathy voice, she mumbles, "To be honest Bill, I'm not really sure I care one way or the other right now…"
He grins against her and chuckles, "Yeah, neither do I."
She grins too. A slow, blissful fire burns through her, spreading beneath her skin and growing with each pass of his lips. It is low and warm and sets some integral part of her into a restless frenzy. She feels it in every corner of her; every edge and angle. He must, too, because before she's quite prepared for it, Bill is suddenly grasping her hips and pulling her off the counter, taking her weight against him and walking them into the sitting room. Josie, at first rather taken aback by his move and the boldness behind it, lets out a shaky breath. But Bill doesn't let her fall, and she quickly hooks her legs around his waist to keep her balance as the fire thuds hotter.
Perhaps they are moving a bit fast, but the thought doesn't have time to sink in before Bill is collapsing onto the couch and pulling Josie into his lap. His hands dart over her waist, pushing beneath the fabric of her shirt to trace over the skin beneath it. His head tilts back just so as her mouth converges on his, and the combination of his touch and the way he kisses her quickly makes her forget that she had wanted to take things slow at all.
She is too swept up in him to care. Her heart is beating dizzyingly and her thoughts have become molten and slow, unable to linger on any one thing. Well, anything but this:
The feeling of his hands against the small of her back, his fingertips warm, his hold firm. The way he can't seem to decide whether to keep his hands where they are or to move them, which he does every so often, smoothing his palms over her thighs and lifting a hand to drag it through her hair. The sound of his breath shuddering, hot and shaky, against her lips. The searing gleam of his eyes when they occasionally open, full of heat and quiet fire.
The fast, hungry movement of their kiss slows somewhat after a while, and transforms into something almost too delicate to put into words. It becomes composed of a sort of tender fluency that has them sighing out and smiling at each other. When their eyes clash again, the fire has transformed to a banked state, as one that is still burning but not quite as intense, and Josie presses her forehead against his with a soft, breathy laugh.
"This is starting to get a bit difficult, really," he informs her as she slips off his lap and stands up.
Confused, Josie glances over at him to ask, "What is?"
Bill's eyes flash. "Living together and trying to keep my hands to myself."
His admission does several things to her. It makes heat crowd through her again, filling her with the temptation to drag him close once more. She can tell that he wouldn't complain if she did. There's something in his expression that seems hungry and wanting. However – and perhaps it's because of the tone his voice takes on, all petulant and sullen – it also makes Josie snicker a bit as she eyes him.
"So now you understand why I didn't want to move in with you before," she smugly responds, sounding annoyingly pleased that the tables have been turned. Serves him right, really. She is entirely unapologetic to his plight.
Bill's mouth drops open slightly. Then, just as fast, a mischievous smile lifts his mouth, and he murmurs, "Josephine Devonport, how scandalous of you, lusting after me…"
It's Josie's turn to drop her mouth. She splutters at him for several moments before repeating, "Lusting? I never said anything about – Bill, don't you dare – "
"Infringing upon my innocent nature – "
"Please, there's nothing innocent about you!"
" – And in my own flat, too – "
"Maybe I should feed you to the gnomes!"
Bill breaks out into loud laughter, and after a moment of indignant silence, Josie joins in.