Author: Lucinda
rating: pg/pg 13
seventh in 'Take a Chance' series
pairing: Faith/Bill Weasley
disclaimer: I hold no legal rights to any characters from Buffy/Angel or to any characters from the Harry Potter books.
distribution: TNL, Twisting the Hellmouth, Paula, anyone else just ask.
notes: probably AU-ish for Faith, set roughly season 3 A:tS/s7 BtVS, post book 4 HP, not in England.
"Oh, you must be Faith. Welcome to England, dear. Bill's wrote a few things about you, it's good to meet the girl that he's gone sweet on at last." Molly Weasley's manner was at once take charge and at the same time, very mothering, nurturing. It was a sort of warm and caring thing that she'd only ever had from Joyce Summers and her original Watcher. The fact that the short, rounded woman with her bright red hair and slightly faded dress looked nothing like either of them didn't matter at all.
Faith couldn't help but smile. Bill's mom was just so... she was a great mom, Faith was certain of it already. She just hoped that his mom didn't decide that her precious boy could do better. "Hey, Mrs. Weasley. Bill's told me about you..."
She could feel Bill's hand in her own, rather reassuring. His words helped calm her nerves a bit as well. "Faith's never been to England before, Mum. We don't want to overwhelm her at once. She'll have plenty of time to meet everyone."
"I suppose that is reasonable enough, dear. Your father is waiting at the car. And, Faith, feel free to call me Molly or Mum, since you're practically family already." She was smiling, even as she managed to flock the pair of them out of the hall where they had arrived.
Faith chuckled, trying to figure out how one short woman could somehow surround her and Bill. Maybe it was magic, or something that she'd learned raising seven children. Faith couldn't quite picture any of Bill's brothers or his single sister being calm and easy to raise. "Bill, is your mom... Molly, is she always like this?"
He smiled at her, offering a quick wink. "No, sometimes she gets all worried and fusses over us."
And almost before Faith knew it, they were outside, approaching an old gray car, where a somewhat rounded man with slightly thinning red hair was inspecting a parking meter with a broad smile. That could only be Arthur Weasley, the father of the Weasley horde. He looked up with an almost guilty looking smile. He gave his wife a big hug and then gave Bill one as well. "Molly, dear! And Bill, good to see you looking so good, and this must be Faith."
That was all the warning Faith had before she was also hugged by this oddly cheerful man. She managed a few words through the surprise of it, feeling oddly unsettled by the Weasley's. With parents like this... wow. "Thanks... It's good to meet you. You're both just... great." To her embarrassment, her vision was a little blurry. Faith had the definite suspicion that it was from tears in her eyes.
She just sat in the back of the car, snuggled up against Bill, wondering how she'd not only managed to find a great guy, but one with great parents who seemed to like her even though they'd only just met. It was the sort of thing that she'd never expected to happen to her. Something wonderful and nice and just… like a fairy tale, complete with magic. Bill seemed to understand a little, and just held her, telling his parents some about his trip to Los Angeles and about Egypt, so that she didn't have to say anything unless she wanted to.
The Weasley family house, called the Burrow was… entirely unlike any building that Faith had ever seen. The paint was peeling, which she'd seen before, but the actual architecture of it was… well, impossible came to mind. A collection of chimney pipes emerged, sticking up in a multitude of places, and it looked to have had additions built on with no sense of order. Rooms edged over empty air as the second story loomed larger than the first, and parts of the roof looked thatched while other parts appeared to have shingles. A garden full of vegetables, some of which Faith recognized and others she didn't, and a pair of battered old picnic tables were beside the house, and the whole property appeared to be enclosed in hedges that looked just as mismatched and welcoming as the house.
"So this is what a wizard house looks like." Faith smiled at Bill, wondering if this was what he thought of as a normal house.
"Well, we've had to expand it several times to make more room. Mum and Dad have told me dozens of times that it used to look a bit more normal." Bill had one arm around her waist, holding her close to him.
That was when a slender figure in a skirt with a pair of red braids burst out of the house, running towards them with an unhappy plaint. "Mum! Fred is trying to stick my door shut with insoluble glue again! Can you make him… oh! Who's this?"
Faith blinked, looking at the flustered red haired girl. She figured that she was maybe fourteen or fifteen, so she must be… "Ginny? Bill's one and only sister? I'm Faith."
Bill grinned, and reached out to tug gently on one red braid. "Little sis, I'd like you to meet Faith, my girlfriend."
The red haired girl's eyes got very wide, and she made a sort of silent 'oh'. For a few moments, she looked from Bill to Faith, her eyes noting the leather pants, the hint of tattoo peeking from under Faith's sleeve, and the way that Bill's arm was around her waist. It looked like Ginny wasn't quite certain what to think about Faith. "Umm... hi?"
"Let's just go make certain that Fred and George haven't done something that they would call amusing to the guest room." Arthur Weasley looked a bit worried, his words causing Faith to recall that the twins were the pranksters of the lot, always getting into trouble for things like stink bombs and transforming candies.
"If they did anything too dreadful, we can let Faith toss them into the fishpond." Bill's teasing words made Faith smile, and Molly just sort of tsked.
"Nonsense. If they've made a mess, they'll just have to clean it up. Tossing them into the pond would only make a bigger mess." She made this little sigh, one that spoke of years of experience with these pranks.
Of course, when they made it to the house, there was this… smell. Like a combination of rubber cement, boiled cabbage, and sulfur. Faith coughed several times, her eyes watering from the smell. "Ughhh… what did they do?"
Molly and Arthur both pulled little wands, and started muttering incantations, the result being that the air started to clear up, becoming more breathable. Molly looked over, her own eyes now red and watery. "On second thought, maybe you should toss them into the fishpond."
Ginny just made a few choking giggles, and in a low whisper asked the question that told Faith she wouldn't be objecting to her possible sister-in-law. "Can I watch?"
Faith winked at her as she answered. "Of course."
Arthur Weasley went upstairs, officially to find his boys and give them a few words, but privately agreeing that it was fairly likely that they'd try to slip out the window. Ginny would be able to show Faith where they would come down, naturally… And the pair of them grinned, partly in anticipation, and partly out of laughter. Bill just waved them off, with the explanation that 'I'll just be over here with Mum, explaining all about how I met you, in more detail than we could go into in the car.'
Ginny had waved for Faith to follow, and led her around to the back of the house, where there was a slender rope ladder dangling from what looked to be a tiny wooden room just barely clinging to the side of the house. A pair of booted feet had just emerged from the window, finding the rungs of the ladder and moving almost soundlessly towards the bottom.
Ginny looked at the first red-haired boy, looking maybe seventeen or eighteen, and the second pair of feet now descending the ladder. In a soft whisper that barely carried, she gestured with her thumb. "My brothers – be careful, they're really good at trying to wiggle out of trouble."
Faith winked at her. She'd been slaying vampires and demons, she should be easily capable of grabbing a pair of teenage boys. "Just wait – it's the pond for them both."
In the end, one of them almost managed to get away, and she'd had to lunge and grab him by his ankle, the other brother having the bad luck to cushion her fall before she tossed both of them into the water, literally. The shocked looks on their faces as they were suddenly airborne… Well, those were easily worth the possible bruises from grabbing them.
Two heads, with soaked red hair and a line of weeds trailing over the ear of the twin on the left, popped back out of the water, sputtering and indignant. "Who the… what was that for? We don't even know you!"
"I'm Faith, and I'm Bill's girlfriend." She grinned at the pair of them, enjoying their indignant shock.
Ginny peeked around Faith, giggling slightly. "You filled up what's supposed to be her room with that vile stench. Naturally, she wasn't very happy. You could have just been lectured by Dad about setting off dung-bombs in the house…"
"Ummm… welcome to the family?" This was from the twin on the right, and he looked like he really wasn't certain that 'welcome' was the right word.
Faith grinned. "Yeah… I think this is going to be pretty good. Family."
End Fall of the Cards.
rating: pg/pg 13
seventh in 'Take a Chance' series
pairing: Faith/Bill Weasley
disclaimer: I hold no legal rights to any characters from Buffy/Angel or to any characters from the Harry Potter books.
distribution: TNL, Twisting the Hellmouth, Paula, anyone else just ask.
notes: probably AU-ish for Faith, set roughly season 3 A:tS/s7 BtVS, post book 4 HP, not in England.
"Oh, you must be Faith. Welcome to England, dear. Bill's wrote a few things about you, it's good to meet the girl that he's gone sweet on at last." Molly Weasley's manner was at once take charge and at the same time, very mothering, nurturing. It was a sort of warm and caring thing that she'd only ever had from Joyce Summers and her original Watcher. The fact that the short, rounded woman with her bright red hair and slightly faded dress looked nothing like either of them didn't matter at all.
Faith couldn't help but smile. Bill's mom was just so... she was a great mom, Faith was certain of it already. She just hoped that his mom didn't decide that her precious boy could do better. "Hey, Mrs. Weasley. Bill's told me about you..."
She could feel Bill's hand in her own, rather reassuring. His words helped calm her nerves a bit as well. "Faith's never been to England before, Mum. We don't want to overwhelm her at once. She'll have plenty of time to meet everyone."
"I suppose that is reasonable enough, dear. Your father is waiting at the car. And, Faith, feel free to call me Molly or Mum, since you're practically family already." She was smiling, even as she managed to flock the pair of them out of the hall where they had arrived.
Faith chuckled, trying to figure out how one short woman could somehow surround her and Bill. Maybe it was magic, or something that she'd learned raising seven children. Faith couldn't quite picture any of Bill's brothers or his single sister being calm and easy to raise. "Bill, is your mom... Molly, is she always like this?"
He smiled at her, offering a quick wink. "No, sometimes she gets all worried and fusses over us."
And almost before Faith knew it, they were outside, approaching an old gray car, where a somewhat rounded man with slightly thinning red hair was inspecting a parking meter with a broad smile. That could only be Arthur Weasley, the father of the Weasley horde. He looked up with an almost guilty looking smile. He gave his wife a big hug and then gave Bill one as well. "Molly, dear! And Bill, good to see you looking so good, and this must be Faith."
That was all the warning Faith had before she was also hugged by this oddly cheerful man. She managed a few words through the surprise of it, feeling oddly unsettled by the Weasley's. With parents like this... wow. "Thanks... It's good to meet you. You're both just... great." To her embarrassment, her vision was a little blurry. Faith had the definite suspicion that it was from tears in her eyes.
She just sat in the back of the car, snuggled up against Bill, wondering how she'd not only managed to find a great guy, but one with great parents who seemed to like her even though they'd only just met. It was the sort of thing that she'd never expected to happen to her. Something wonderful and nice and just… like a fairy tale, complete with magic. Bill seemed to understand a little, and just held her, telling his parents some about his trip to Los Angeles and about Egypt, so that she didn't have to say anything unless she wanted to.
The Weasley family house, called the Burrow was… entirely unlike any building that Faith had ever seen. The paint was peeling, which she'd seen before, but the actual architecture of it was… well, impossible came to mind. A collection of chimney pipes emerged, sticking up in a multitude of places, and it looked to have had additions built on with no sense of order. Rooms edged over empty air as the second story loomed larger than the first, and parts of the roof looked thatched while other parts appeared to have shingles. A garden full of vegetables, some of which Faith recognized and others she didn't, and a pair of battered old picnic tables were beside the house, and the whole property appeared to be enclosed in hedges that looked just as mismatched and welcoming as the house.
"So this is what a wizard house looks like." Faith smiled at Bill, wondering if this was what he thought of as a normal house.
"Well, we've had to expand it several times to make more room. Mum and Dad have told me dozens of times that it used to look a bit more normal." Bill had one arm around her waist, holding her close to him.
That was when a slender figure in a skirt with a pair of red braids burst out of the house, running towards them with an unhappy plaint. "Mum! Fred is trying to stick my door shut with insoluble glue again! Can you make him… oh! Who's this?"
Faith blinked, looking at the flustered red haired girl. She figured that she was maybe fourteen or fifteen, so she must be… "Ginny? Bill's one and only sister? I'm Faith."
Bill grinned, and reached out to tug gently on one red braid. "Little sis, I'd like you to meet Faith, my girlfriend."
The red haired girl's eyes got very wide, and she made a sort of silent 'oh'. For a few moments, she looked from Bill to Faith, her eyes noting the leather pants, the hint of tattoo peeking from under Faith's sleeve, and the way that Bill's arm was around her waist. It looked like Ginny wasn't quite certain what to think about Faith. "Umm... hi?"
"Let's just go make certain that Fred and George haven't done something that they would call amusing to the guest room." Arthur Weasley looked a bit worried, his words causing Faith to recall that the twins were the pranksters of the lot, always getting into trouble for things like stink bombs and transforming candies.
"If they did anything too dreadful, we can let Faith toss them into the fishpond." Bill's teasing words made Faith smile, and Molly just sort of tsked.
"Nonsense. If they've made a mess, they'll just have to clean it up. Tossing them into the pond would only make a bigger mess." She made this little sigh, one that spoke of years of experience with these pranks.
Of course, when they made it to the house, there was this… smell. Like a combination of rubber cement, boiled cabbage, and sulfur. Faith coughed several times, her eyes watering from the smell. "Ughhh… what did they do?"
Molly and Arthur both pulled little wands, and started muttering incantations, the result being that the air started to clear up, becoming more breathable. Molly looked over, her own eyes now red and watery. "On second thought, maybe you should toss them into the fishpond."
Ginny just made a few choking giggles, and in a low whisper asked the question that told Faith she wouldn't be objecting to her possible sister-in-law. "Can I watch?"
Faith winked at her as she answered. "Of course."
Arthur Weasley went upstairs, officially to find his boys and give them a few words, but privately agreeing that it was fairly likely that they'd try to slip out the window. Ginny would be able to show Faith where they would come down, naturally… And the pair of them grinned, partly in anticipation, and partly out of laughter. Bill just waved them off, with the explanation that 'I'll just be over here with Mum, explaining all about how I met you, in more detail than we could go into in the car.'
Ginny had waved for Faith to follow, and led her around to the back of the house, where there was a slender rope ladder dangling from what looked to be a tiny wooden room just barely clinging to the side of the house. A pair of booted feet had just emerged from the window, finding the rungs of the ladder and moving almost soundlessly towards the bottom.
Ginny looked at the first red-haired boy, looking maybe seventeen or eighteen, and the second pair of feet now descending the ladder. In a soft whisper that barely carried, she gestured with her thumb. "My brothers – be careful, they're really good at trying to wiggle out of trouble."
Faith winked at her. She'd been slaying vampires and demons, she should be easily capable of grabbing a pair of teenage boys. "Just wait – it's the pond for them both."
In the end, one of them almost managed to get away, and she'd had to lunge and grab him by his ankle, the other brother having the bad luck to cushion her fall before she tossed both of them into the water, literally. The shocked looks on their faces as they were suddenly airborne… Well, those were easily worth the possible bruises from grabbing them.
Two heads, with soaked red hair and a line of weeds trailing over the ear of the twin on the left, popped back out of the water, sputtering and indignant. "Who the… what was that for? We don't even know you!"
"I'm Faith, and I'm Bill's girlfriend." She grinned at the pair of them, enjoying their indignant shock.
Ginny peeked around Faith, giggling slightly. "You filled up what's supposed to be her room with that vile stench. Naturally, she wasn't very happy. You could have just been lectured by Dad about setting off dung-bombs in the house…"
"Ummm… welcome to the family?" This was from the twin on the right, and he looked like he really wasn't certain that 'welcome' was the right word.
Faith grinned. "Yeah… I think this is going to be pretty good. Family."
End Fall of the Cards.