The Burrow

James pushed his trunk onto the overhead space and took back his seat. The compartment was crowded with the Potter-Weasley clan members and honorary family members. On one side of the compartment, Rose, Fred, Scorpius, and James were squeezed on the soft seats, and on the other side, Roxanne, Albus, Dominique, and Molly. Lucy, Lily, and Hugo were sitting on the ground playing a game of exploding snap.

"I can't wait for the wedding!" Roxanne exclaimed once more.

"We know, Rox. You've only said it like fifty times," Fred sighed.

"Hey, be nice," Rose said, not looking up from her book.

"Yes, mom," the boy mockingly answered.

Usually, James was the first one to engage in teasing and other antics, but he was deep in thoughts. He couldn't even hear his cousins and siblings, instead thinking of the next few days. Since the day in Hogsmeade, about a week and a half ago, he had been thinking of big brown eyes with gold spots non-stop. Every time he closed his eyes, he could see Moire's face, framed with her auburn hair, and the bright smile he had gotten to see more in the past few months. He was restless, his fingers tapping on his thigh, and he knew he would be until later that evening after she arrived at the Burrow.

The plan agreed upon was that she would head home to the Isle of Skye first. Once at the Manor, she would pick up a few things, including her present to Victoire and Teddy, and she had also hinted at some of her mother's shortbread, which James had dreamed about since the last one had been eaten that summer. She then would come to the Burrow at about four o'clock via Floo network. And by "about four o'clock", it meant that she would be in their chimney at exactly three fifty-nine. Moire McLeoch hated being late. The wedding would happen five days from now, on December 22nd, and she would spend Christmas with them. Then on Christmas evening, James, Albus, Scorpius, Lily, Fred, Roxy, Hugo, and Rose would head to the McLeoch Manor. It was just them, as Molly and Lucy were going to Boston with Uncle Percy and Aunt Audrey, and as for Dom, her and Louis would be heading to France to see their grandparents while Fleur and Bill enjoyed a quiet romantic vacation. From what James understood, only McKenzie was coming out of Moire's other friends.

"James. Jaaaaaames." He only realized Fred was calling him when he had yelled in his ear.

"Leave him alone, he's day-dreaming," Roxanne chastised, shaking her head.

"Yeah, he's been doing a lot of that lately," her brother mumbled.

"Yeah, let him think of his darling, will you?" Albus teased, making Scorpius snort.

"I don't know what you're talking about," James said, raising an eyebrow.

"Sure, it's not like there's still rumors that you and Moire McLeoch are shagging," Molly replied, a small grin on her face.

"YOU'RE WITH MOIRE?" Lily exclaimed, her head snapping up.

One thing Lily was notoriously terrible at was following gossip. She was constantly clueless, and it occurred to James that it was the first she had heard of it.

"No, Lily," he sighed, throwing a brief glare at Molly, who innocently smiled at him. "It was a few weeks ago, I took her to the Hospital Wing after a bad Quidditch practice and half of Hogwarts decided we were dating. We're just mates. And that is still the case."

"Aww," his sister responded, clearly disappointed.

"Don't lose hope, Lily, it seems James is crushing," Scorpius fake-whispered, drawing a laugh from most of the people in the compartment.

"I'll kill you in your sleep, Malfoy," the only person not laughing threatened, his cheeks red.

The teasing continued until the train pulled into King's Cross station, where their parents were waiting. James must have looked a mess because his father immediately raised an eyebrow upon seeing him. While Albus looked the most like Harry, James dealt with emotions the same way he did, and it was generally easy for him to see when his eldest was upset.

"Are you okay?" He asked quietly after a hug while Ginny made a fuss about Lily, Albus, and Scorpius.

"I'm fine," James muttered before giving a hug to his mom.

"Didn't get into too much trouble, I hope?" She asked him fondly.

"Oh, no, he's been upstanding," Albus answered for him. "Such a helpful person."

"Shut up," James hissed back.

"Look, it's Moire!" Ginny exclaimed, her face breaking into a large smile as she waved at the girl.

Moire seemed to have heard her name and looked towards them. Her hair was up in a slightly lopsided ponytail and she was wearing muggle clothes. She smiled brightly back at them until she met his gaze and her smile softened. He mirrored her expression, trying not to make it obvious at how the wind seemed to be knocked off his lungs for a second. Hesitating for just a little bit, she grabbed her trunk and headed towards them.

"Hi Mr. and Mrs. Potter!" She greeted.

"How many times have I asked you to call us Ginny and Harry, sweetheart?" Ginny replied, giving her a Molly Weasley trademark hug.

"Countless times, but I physically cannot do that, Mrs. Potter," the Slytherin cheerfully answered.

"Now the question is, are you bringing any of that shortbread later," Harry joked.

"Of course, Mr. Potter! It's probably already packed and waiting on the kitchen table."

James cleared his throat.

"How about we let Moire get back to her family?" He suggested.

"You're probably right," Moire agreed, looking back at an incredibly beautiful woman with a gentle smile and the same dark auburn hair held back in a bun, standing to a much taller and more imposing man in a kilt, with a full head of dark hair and a thick beard, all impeccably combed. The Laird and his wife both noticed the family and politely waved, which was returned by the Potters.

Moire picked up her trunk before she started heading over and James felt his legs follow her. She didn't seem fazed by it. Instead, her smile remained, and they stopped walking halfway between the two families.

"I guess I'll see you later, then," James said, managing to not trip over his words. For some reason, the blood was pounding in his ear, and he was ignoring the way his stomach knotted.

"I'm looking forward to it," she answered.

Moire seemed to hesitate a moment before she gently put her trunk on the ground, stood on the tip of her toes, and put his arms around him. He was frozen for about a half a second before he returned the embrace. They quickly separated, the oh-so-familiar musky, but yet still floral, smell of her clinging to his nose, and it seemed to James like the young girl's cheeks were turning a light shade of pink. She grabbed her trunk and walked over to her parents.

James returned to his family, a little lightheaded. His entire body seemed to be buzzing but he put on a nonchalant face. He realized that they had been watching him, as Lily was positively beaming, Albus and Scorpius were pretending to throw up, Harry was blinking like he couldn't quite believe what he had seen, and Ginny's eyebrows were both raised quite high up her forehead. He cleared his throat to make sure whatever came out of his mouth wasn't a shaking mess.

"So, we're going?"

oOo

The drive was a nightmare. Ginny kept throwing him not-so-subtle looks accompanied with even less discreet commentary about his display from earlier. Thankfully, the Potters car was too small for six passengers while Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione's car had an extra seat, so Scorpius and Albus were separated for the ride, and while his little brother was snickering at every one of their mom's side comment, he seemed a bit sad to be away from his partner in crime. Lily, who had previously been chattering about her excitement at seeing Moire all break, had thankfully fallen asleep. As they left London and got closer to Godric's Hollow, the busy town and crowded buildings changed to make place to smaller roads and vast snow-covered scenery. A little later, their, followed by the Weasleys', pulled into the Potter cottage's driveway. Both families would leave from there so they could arrive at the same time.

"C'mon, everybody out!" Harry called, unlocking the doors.

All of them took their trunks inside the house and they were sent to the Burrow with a flick of Hermione's wand.

"Line up by the fireplace, kids!"

James was the first one to go. He grabbed a handful of glittery green powder from the clay vase over the mantle and threw it in the chimney.

"Burrow," he clearly and loudly announced.

Next thing he knew, he was being crushed by his Grandmother.

"Gran, I'm all sooty!" He protested, a huge smile on his face, nonetheless returning the hug to the best of his ability.

His siblings and cousins received the same treatment before everything was cleaned up with a quick spell. He noticed that all of his Uncles and Aunts had arrived along with his cousins and that the only ones left were George, Angelina, Fred, and Roxanne. They all greeted each other with hugs and his uncle Charlie almost dislocated his shoulder as he gave him a not-so-gentle pat on the back for being taller than he was, and in the meantime, the remainder of their little clan had stepped through the chimney.

"Does anyone know when Moire is supposed to arrive?" His Gran asked after finally squeezed the life out of every single one of her children, in-laws, and grandkids.

"Yeah, James, when is Moire supposed to arrive?" Fred muttered. Thankfully, their Gran had not heard that. Which could not be said about other family members.

"She said four o'clock, I believe," he answered through gritted teeth as his father hid his knowing smirk behind a glass of water. The clock showed it just about three fifteen.

"Such a darling girl," Molly praised, unaware of the inside joke her family seemed to have.

"Have you seen Grandad?" James hurriedly asked.

"Oh, he's in the garage tinkering with something or the other," she answered, walking to the kitchen to check on the food that was starting to smell quite amazing from there.

The next forty-five minutes were the longest of James' life. He had gone to the garage with his cousins to say hello to their grandfather, gone upstairs to drop off his stuff in the room he was sharing with Al, Scorpius, and Fred, and even asked his Gran for anything to do. When he was ushered out of the kitchen and told to rest up, the only thing he could do was go back to the room. As he decided to go for a little flying session, he heard a squeal coming from the room next door. He hurried to the room to find Rose sitting on her bed, Albus making himself comfortable on the rug, and Scorpius perched on the desk chair, all of them looking at an overly excited Lily, amused, as a third trunk had appeared in the middle of the room.

"And, that would be Moire's stuff," the Gryffindor Prefect said, grinning.

"What the hell is all of this?" They heard from downstairs.

The teens all hurried down to the living room, where Ginny was looking at five wooden crates stacked on top of each other, dumbfounded.

"What's going on, Mum?" Albus asked.

"Not a clue. These just… appeared."

James checked the time, but as he did so, the flames in the chimney burned higher and turned emerald green and a small silhouette started forming through them. As expected, it was three fifty-nine, and Moire McLeoch was in the Burrow. She emerged, holding a large box in her arms, cleaned herself up with her wand, and looked up at the five teens and Ginny. Immediately, Lily had rushed to her and embraced her in a hug.

"Hi, Lil's," she laughed.

She seemed to have freshened up and changed from the clothes she was wearing earlier. She was now sporting a pair of dark grey leggings, and a green, soft looking hoodie. James took a second to note that her muggle clothes collection seemed rather large for a Pure-blood wizard with seemingly no ties to the muggle world. Wordlessly, he watched her put the box on the coffee table and hug the rest of the people present in the room before she headed to him.

"McLeoch."

"Potter."

She couldn't keep a straight face, however, and smiled as she put her arms around his torso. It seemed she was too short to reach his shoulders without tip toeing and with a pang in his insides, he returned it. His whole body was alert again as her perfume reached him, and before he could look at the other people present in the room, the rest of his family walked in. He thought he heard a crack as his Gran gave her a trademark Molly Weasley embrace, but it was so unreal how well she seemed to blend in with his family. Sure, her hair was quite a few shades of red darker than the bright ginger hue most of the Weasleys sported, and there was a distinctly noble air to her, but it seemed like she was a member of the family, casually exchanging a joke with an Uncle or a cousin. The noise eventually settled down and everyone sat down somewhere in the crowded, yet cozy, living room.

"My mother sends some shortbread, she's glad you all liked it last time," she said, handing the box that was on the coffee table to the matriarch of the family. His Gran gave her a gentle pat on the cheek before taking the box to the kitchen. "As for Victoire and Professor Lupin, the Laird would like to send along a few bottles of Firewhiskey from his personal batch as a gift from the McLeoch Clan."

"Don't tell me this is a few bottles, McLeoch," James laughed, pointing at the superposed crates.

"The Laird wishes he could have sent more," she answered, shrugging.

"You really should not have, Moire," Victoire exclaimed, her eyes wide as saucers.

"Nonsense, we make more bottles than necessary every year. Congratulations on your wedding."

"This is probably enough to toast at the wedding," Bill mused. "With a lot left over. Truly, Moire, this is too much."

After a few more rounds of her assuring that this was the least she could do, and that no, this was not too much, the noise just melted into separate conversations. James was too distracted to pay attention to his Gran and his Uncle Bill, as his eyes kept darting to Moire's face lighting up as his Uncle Charlie told her about the reserve and his job as Head Dragonologist. Her smile shone so bright he couldn't look away and once again, the image of her in the green dress came to his mind. He almost wished he had stayed near the shop until she came back so he could see her in it as she tried it on, just to see if she would look as surreal as he imagined she would.

"Did you hear me, James?"

His head violently turned back to his eldest Uncle, who was watching him with a raised eyebrow. He looked in the direction James was looking in just a moment before and an earnest laugh came out of his mouth before he held it back, an amused smile still on his lips.

"I see," was all he said, and no matter how many times James had asked him to, he refused to elaborate further.

The comment had stuck with him until later that evening, when he was setting the dinner table with Moire and Dominique. Then, Dom left the kitchen after setting down her last plate and they were alone. Her perfume reached him before he could feel her behind him.

"Fancy a little flying session, later? We haven't had one in quite a while," she said in his ear so no one else would hear.

While she meant to be discreet, the feeling of her breath tickling his skin made the hair on the back of his neck stand. While Moire McLeoch was an expert at driving boys insane, he wasn't sure she really knew the effect she had on him. Even he wasn't sure what it was, and all he could really do was not make it obvious just how much she got under his skin and she had for quite a while now.

"When they all fall asleep," he agreed.

She smiled and it occurred to him that at the same time last year, they would try their best to piss each other off royally and the possibility of leaving them alone with anything possibly breakable was out of the question. His Gran had even checked up on them a couple of times, only to stop when she had realized they were joking around and smiling. Dinner had been a lively affair, as it generally was, and James looked around at his family, all squished around the dinner table. He marveled again at how well Moire, who was sitting across from him, seemed to blend in with his family, talking to his father about his job, to his Gran about her secret ingredient to the most efficient Pepper-Up potion there was, and joking around with his Uncles Ron and George about what kind of products they should sell at their shop.

Even after they had finished eating, and she had gracefully accepted all three servings of roasted potatoes Molly forced on her plate, they all remained around the table for quite a while and enjoyed everyone's stories from Hogwarts.

"… and them Moire deflected a Quaffle with her broom so hard it crossed the entire field!" Albus exclaimed.

"More like two thirds of the field, but still quite impressive," James corrected, amused.

"I remember getting mad at the commentators," Ginny laughed.

"Well, if I remember correctly, the commentator made a sexist comment and you threw the Quaffle so hard at the Keeper that he went through the goals, and that's how you scored your first professional goal," Harry laughed.

"What exactly did the commentator say to get you in such a bad mood?" The former professional Quidditch player asked.

James positively choked on his water while Albus and Scorpius burst in cackles. Moire cleared her throat and tucked an auburn strand behind his ear, and he imagined how her hair felt if he ever dared to run a hand through it. Of course, she would chop it off immediately after, but it could be worth it.

"Well…," Moire said, fidgeting with a thread on her jumper. "These two airheads were quite distracted at practice, which resulted in quite a few injuries on my part. So, when James helped me drag myself to the Hospital Wing, the Hogwarts rumor mill had quite some fun with it."

It took James a second to realize that she had said his name. She had always called him Potter, but he realized he liked the way his name rolled off her tongue. His stomach twisted in a knot he didn't really mind.

"Oh, well, that quite explains it," Charlie snickered.

"My question to this day is, where did James find you?" The ever so inquisitive Rose asked, to which Hermione nodded along.

James remembered how he had found her in quite a state of undress in the Prefects' bathroom, and how she had blushed, her eyes a bit hazy from the pain. Their eyes met, and a silent agreement passed between them.

"Some details," he said, not breaking eye contact, "we'd probably better keep to ourselves."

oOo

Sitting at the empty table in the middle of the dark kitchen, James fidgeted with the handle of his Nimbus 3001. Their dinner party had eventually moved to the living room, and they had broken it up at about half past twelve. James waited for about a half hour until he heard snores from Fred and mumbling from Albus before he left the room. As he walked past the girls' room, he had heard hushed conversation and giggling. He had been sitting for a little while, and was starting to doubt she would show up, and as he was about to go back upstairs and check if they were still up, but heard footsteps coming in the kitchen. Moire walked in, wearing a thick jumper, a hat, and a Slytherin scarf. It occurred to him he was only wearing his pajamas. She was holding a dark bottle in one hand and her broom in the other.

"Took you long enough," he smirked, getting up and opening the door to the backyard. He motioned for her to go first.

"Rose and Lily were quite… energized. They fell asleep about ten minutes ago," she answered, following his direction.

"How many bottles did you take from your cellar, McLeoch?"

"Please, the Laird sent over seventy bottles, do you think he'll notice an extra one missing? We make hundreds of these per month."

"I didn't realize it was a business, I thought it was the Laird's private collection."

James cleaned up a bench with his wand before they sat down.

"Well, he keeps some of it. But most goes out for consumption. A few high-end wizarding restaurants and bars. Some high society wizard clubs. And, of course, a lot of aristocratic Pure-blood families. I believe Draco Malfoy buys a few bottles every now and then but keeps them locked in his study, so Scorpius doesn't get the idea to rummage through his reserves. Here, try it."

She uncapped the bottle and handed it to him. James took a swig and realized immediately why the market for the Laird's Firewhiskey was so small, and why he had never encountered it before. It wasn't because it was a particularly small business, but because it was the kind of stuff not everyone could afford. It tasted of honey and spices and it warmed his esophagus as it descended to his stomach, before exploding into an intense heat in his gut. He knew the McLeoch clan weren't exactly poor, but it occurred to him just then the kind of old Pure-blood money Moire came from. He took a second mouthful and it somehow tasted even better the second time. He passed her the bottle and she took a sip. A small shiver ran through James, as he regretted not dressing warmer.

"You really didn't pick the right outfit for a flying session in winter, did you?" Moire chuckled. She took her scarf off and wrapped it around his neck, and the musky and floral smell of her enveloped him entirely.

Moire had some more Firewhiskey before standing up and grabbing her broom. She looked back, threw him a bright smile, and hopped on Nimbus 3001. All he could do was follow.


Hi all! Sorry about the delay. This one is a little shorter than the last one but we're finally getting to the part I've been waiting to write for quite a while!

For Ginny's first professional goal as a Quidditch player, I got this from a Tumblr headcanon so I just used it because it sounds exactly like something Ginny Weasley would do.

Enjoy, and stay safe!

Leave a little review to let me know what you guys thought!