A/N: Hello everyone I know that this update is waaay overdue but real life has just been so hectic lately. I've had several family members become very sick recently, and between that and trying to find a new full time job I just haven't been in the right headspace to right anything, so this chapter was slow going.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Warning: There is some swearing in a few languages included in here.
Recap: It's presently Teddy's birthday and there will be a party at Ally and Xavier's for it. Jilly and Nadia both found out a few chapters ago that they are pregnant. Baxter, James, and Freddie need to find dates for Victoire and Ally's weddings, so Freddie's bright idea was to suggest that they go out to a club.
Soirées and Secrets
Saturday, April 20th 2024
7:14 PM
Victoire sprinted towards the front door of Ally and Xavier's house and didn't bother knocking before grabbing the handle and throwing the door wide open. Teddy was following behind her at a much more calm and collected pace, but his serene movements only further increased her own sense of anxiety as his slow pace was making them ever later for his birthday party.
"We know, we know! We're sorry, we're sorry!" Victoire repeated the words quickly in a strained apologetic tone as she slid into the house's living room where she spotted Xavier and Malcolm Wood.
Teddy was a few paces behind her and much less apologetic as he sauntered into the room and said in a cheery tone, "We apologize for being a smidgeon late."
Xavier just glanced at Malcolm and smirked, "Told you."
Malcolm shrugged and reached into his pocket to hand Xavier a silver sickle.
"Wait–did you bet on whether we'd be late or not?" Victoire asked as she glanced around the living room and noticed that the four of them were the only people visibly present.
It was odd considering that they were told that Teddy's birthday party was supposed to start at seven and they were already a quarter of an hour late.
"No," Malcolm scoffed as he pulled Teddy into a birthday hug and slapped him on the back, "We bet on how late you'd be to Teddy's own party. I thought you'd be at least another fifteen minutes."
"Hey!" Victoire pouted more than a little offended.
Xavier snickered, "That's why we told you guys that the party was going to start at seven when we actually told all the guests to be here by eight. It was Ally's idea, she figured you'd be running late. Again."
"Well sor-ry for losing track of time," Victoire said as she crossly folded her arms over her chest.
Malcolm smirked at her and then glanced at Teddy with a raised eyebrow, "Was it worth it?"
"One-hundred and ten percent," Teddy confessed with a proud smirk of his own.
Xavier made a face while Malcolm chuckled and clapped Teddy on the shoulder, "Excellent."
"So did you leave poor Nadia home all by herself?" Victoire asked Malcolm after she inspected the large living room once more.
Malcolm sighed, "No. She's in the loo. More morning sickness."
"And you've left her in the bathroom all by herself?" Victoire asked outraged.
"No," Malcolm repeated vehemently, "Ally's tending to her. I went to help and she threw a bar of soap at me and told me that I needed to stop being her shadow for an accidenti minute. Which means for a 'damn' minute by the way."
Victoire shrugged, muttered "fair enough", and then walked out of the living room and towards the closest bathroom. She pushed open the only partially closed door and found Nadia sitting on the floor with her head between her knees as she inhaled a few in deep, sucking breaths. Ally sat next to her and kindly rubbed her back.
"I see that you and Malcolm have discovered that morning sickness actually occurs during all hours of the day," Victoire observed as she stepped into the room and sat down on the floor across from the other two women.
Nadia lifted her head enough to look at Victoire and then groaned, "I honestly thought that my friend Annalisa was pulling my leg when she told me about it, but now I can see that it was just the awful, ugly truth."
"How're you faring besides the vomiting and nausea?" Victoire enquired.
Nadia and Malcolm had had their first official appointment with their obstetric healer the day before.
"Healer Jarvis said that the baby and I are doing well for now. He did say that if I find myself having a hard time keeping down all of my meals and my prenatal vitamins that he'd look into prescribing me a potion to help curb the nausea," Nadia explained.
Ally squeezed Nadia's shoulders comfortingly, "I'll brew it for you if you need one."
"Thanks," Nadia replied, her facing tinging a light green.
"Feeling any other symptoms?"
Nadia groaned, "Ugh my breasts are so sore. This is the first time I've worn a bra in the past forty-eight hours."
"Malcolm must being enjoying that at least," Victoire muttered with an eye roll.
"I gave him a nasty stinging hex earlier today when he grabbed by boob too hard," Nadia told them freely, "It hurt like a figlio di puttana."
Victoire snorted in amusement at the thought of what the expression on Malcolm's face would have looked like when Nadia cursed him, "Why in the world would he grab you like that?"
"Well to be fair he probably thought that it was okay because at the time I had my hand down his pants," Nadia admitted with a casual shrug of her shoulders.
"I see how that could have sent mixed messages," Ally muttered as she did her best not to laugh.
Nadia rubbed her hands down her face, "Which led to my third awful pregnancy symptom, wild mood swings."
"Katie had really bad mood swings each time she was pregnant too," Ally mused.
Victoire nodded, "True, I always thought that it was just her, but now I'm starting to wonder if it isn't the fault of all these Wood babies."
"You could always ask Malcolm's Mum if she had awful mood swings when she was pregnant," Ally suggested.
"She'd probably be very candid with me about her pregnancy symptoms too, she and Malcolm's Dad have been very supportive so far," Nadia remarked.
Victoire stretched her neck, "When did you tell them?"
"Yesterday evening after my appointment with Healer Jarvis, we didn't want to leave it too long since Katie told us that Oliver's bad at keeping secrets," Nadia explained, "We've got a meeting with the team's management and publicists on Tuesday to discuss officially announcing my pregnancy since the media will discover soon enough that I'm no longer playing quidditch, and then we're travelling straight to Italy to tell my parents and friends before the media outs us."
"How're you travelling to Italy?"
Nadia made a face and her skin turned greener, "Healer Jarvis said that it's still safe this early in my pregnancy to take a portkey."
"Did he explain that it would also probably make you vomit?" Victoire asked.
The pregnant woman nodded, causing her stomach to start to churn, "He did. I just figured that any type of travel would me want to vomit so we chose portkeys for simplicity's sake."
Victoire and Ally nodded at her reasoning, and then Nadia promptly began gagging. She crawled back to the toilet and vomited aggressively for several more minutes before transitioning to dry-heaving. The two younger women helped clean Nadia up, and then the three left the loo when Nadia decided that she didn't want to spend the rest of the evening cooped up in the bathroom.
They re-entered the living room just in time to greet the party's first arrivals. Kyle and Sandra and Colton and Anastasia were the first ones to arrive, but they were soon followed by some people Teddy knew from work including Hayden Summers and Kurt Williamson. The latter two forced Teddy to do a round of firewhisky shots, and then Teddy found himself back at the front door of Ally and Xavier's house greeting James, Freddie, Baxter, Louis, and Cecilia.
"Happy birthday big Bro!" James told Teddy as he gave his god-brother a big hug.
"Thanks for stopping by," Teddy told James just before letting the younger man out of the hug.
James smiled brightly at him, "We wouldn't miss it."
"Also, it's smart to pre-drink before hitting up the club, nobody cool shows up until ten at the earliest," Freddie added with a grin.
Louis rolled his eyes at his cousin and then gave his soon-to-be brother-in-law a hug of his own, "Well most of us are here because we wouldn't miss it."
When Teddy let go of Louis he turned to accept a kiss on the cheek from Cecilia.
"Happy Birthday Teddy! Oh, and this is from Rowan," Cecilia told Teddy as she pulled the card Eliza had given her out of an impossibly small pocket on the back of her skirt.
Teddy accepted it with a soft smile, "Thanks Cecilia."
The younger kids drifted away to find something to drink and snack on, while Teddy stood in the foyer with the envelope in his hand. He slowly opened it and found a store bought birthday card. When he opened the card he found the inside decorated with colourful marker scribbles and sparkly stickers, the beautiful abstract art was obviously the work of an imaginative toddler. Teddy smiled to himself when he saw that Eliza had signed her own name, Benjamin's name, and Rowan's name on the inside of the card below her neat handwritten wishes for him to have a wonderful day.
"Should I be jealous that you seem to be enjoying that birthday card more than the one I gave you earlier?" A familiar teasing voice asked from behind him.
Teddy turned around and grinned at his blonde fiancée, "Cecilia gave it to me. It's from Eliza and Rowan."
He turned it around so that Victoire could see the inside, and she smiled softly herself when she had a chance to look at it.
"That's sweet."
She stretched up onto her tiptoes and pressed a kiss against his lips, "How's your birthday so far?"
"Wonderful," He whispered before giving her a kiss in return.
Victoire smiled into the kiss and her hands slid themselves up his chest where one rested on his sternum, the other travelling to the back of his neck where she could run her fingers through his hair. Teddy deepened the kiss and wrapped his hands around her slim waist, one of his hands just slipping under the bottom hem of the back of her blouse so he could stroke the bare skin at the small of her back. She 'hummm'ed into the kiss and slipped her tongue into his mouth. He tasted spicy from the firewhisky shots his colleagues had foisted upon him earlier.
"The baby can't be a girl!"
Teddy and Victoire froze and slowly extricated their tongues and hands from each other's bodies. Their heads turned at the same time to look bewilderedly in the direction of the person who rudely interrupted them: Malcolm Wood.
Victoire glared at Malcolm for interrupting them, while Teddy sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, "And why can't the baby be a girl?"
"Because!" Malcolm announced in a rather loud decibel as he threw his hands up in the air, "I don't know what to do with girls!"
The engaged couple eyed the other man warily when they spotted the half-finished alcoholic beverage in his hand.
"What makes you say that?"
"I just told Cecilia that her skirt is too short and that her shirt is too tight and she told me bugger off, but much more obscenely and in Gaelic," Malcolm complained.
Victoire rolled her eyes, "Criticizing your twenty-year-old cousin's fashion choices is very different from raising a female child from scratch."
"But if I have a baby girl I'm gonna have to deal with her growing up and attracting boys and boys are the worst!" Malcolm continued to grumble, his voice slurring a little as the alcohol he drank started to hit him.
Teddy sighed and placed his hand on his best mate's shoulder, "You're kinda putting the carriage before the thestral there Mate."
Victoire nodded in agreement and skilfully grabbed the half-drained drink from Malcolm's hand and wandlessly vanished it, "Just take a minute to calm down, and maybe get some water. Nadia's going to be furious with you if you get drunk tonight when she has to stay sober for the next nine months."
"But if Cecilia bends over too far half the room will get a view of her knickers!"
Victoire pinched the bridge of her nose in irritation, "If I go talk to Cecilia about her outfit choice will you chill the Hell down for a hot sec?"
Malcolm started nodding hastily.
She glanced at Teddy, "Sober him up a bit? It's not even nine yet."
Teddy nodded his head and Victoire left the pair in the foyer, Teddy saying something to Malcolm in a calming tone of voice about how they should get Malcolm some water and heavy carbs.
It wasn't difficult to find Cecilia, even in Ally and Xavier's spacious living room. She was standing next to Louis and chatting with Sandra and Kyle. Victoire slowly walked up behind Cecilia and scrutinised her outfit. The younger girl was wearing a pair of black shoes with a gold buckle and a two-inch heel that she recognized as part of the gift Dom had given Cecilia for her birthday that year; a dark blue denim skirt that had brass buttons straight up the middle every inch or so from the bottom hem all the way up to the waistband; and a lacy burgundy coloured shirt with bell sleeves that showed patches of her pale skin around her waist, back, arms, and around the neckline. The shirt was skin tight, but the lace covered enough skin to seem proper enough. Malcolm's complaint about the skirt being very short was also mostly genuine, but Cecilia was rather short and petite to start with so even with the high-heels she didn't seem to be showing an inappropriate amount of skin.
Overall, Cecilia seemed comfortable in her outfit, and Louis also seemed to rather like it as he had his arm wrapped snuggly around her waist.
"I'm impressed Cee-Cee," Victoire said teasingly as she joined the group, "You sent Malcolm into a tailspin without even the slightest bit of effort on your part, bravo."
Cecilia rolled her eyes, "Is he off telling everyone that he thinks I'm dressed like a harlot?"
"Don't worry, he didn't get very far. Teddy's helping him sober up right now," Victoire assured her brother's girlfriend.
"He's just got a lot on is plate right now," Louis reminded his girlfriend in an attempt to comfort her.
Victoire nodded in agreement, "It's going to be quite the learning curve, that's for sure."
Sandra and Kyle sent the other three odd looks as they spoke about Malcolm, but Victoire assured them that she'd explain everything in a day or two.
"I just don't know why everyone's decided to take it upon themselves to comment about my outfit choice tonight," Cecilia grumbled with a rather adorable pout, "There are gonna be girls –and guys– at the club tonight with much more of their flesh hanging out than me."
Louis comfortingly rubbed her back, "I know Love."
"This outfit isn't even close to obscene, you can't see my cleavage or my arse or my-"
"We get the picture Cecilia thanks," Kyle interrupted her dryly. As Xavier's best mate since they met on their first day at Hogwarts, Kyle saw Cecilia as the younger sister he never had. And as such, like any big brother he did not want to hear about her bits.
Cecilia rolled her eyes at Kyle and then excused herself to flounce off and grab another drink. Louis followed after her quickly to make sure that she was drinking the same amount of water as alcohol, and once they were gone Victoire, Kyle, and Sandra broke into laughter at the expense of the pair.
"Ah, what I would give to be twenty again and to have my biggest worry be someone thinking that the clothes I was wearing were too revealing," Victoire replied in between bittersweet laughter.
Sandra sighed and nodded her head in agreement, "Yeah, that would be much more fun than worrying about whether we're on route to meet our new ambitious quarterly projections now that we're starting to prepare for actually breaking ground for the new projects in Spain-"
"Take a breath Honey," Kyle cut off his wife's rant as he placed his heavy hands onto her shoulders and started to massage them, "Everything will work out with the new project-"
"Easy for you to say," Sandra accused as she turned on her husband, "You're the head of marketing and public relations for the firm. Your only responsibility for this project is to keep our investment partners happy, which is pretty easy in this case since it's only Dimas Cabrera and his father that you need to keep happy."
Kyle shrugged, "Fair enough . . . but my job's also easier because you always do such a wonderful job with yours."
Sandra sent him a look and crossed her arms over her chest, he smiled even more brightly and wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled his wife into his chest, "You are the most amazing person in the world and I love you so much-"
"Alright that's enough," She told him with an eye roll, "You always get a little sappy when you drink."
Kyle just grinned at her and pressed a slightly sloppy kiss to her cheek.
"You two are gross," Victoire commented idly from where she was standing a few feet away from the couple.
"We're gross?" Kyle said with a sarcastic snort, "You and Teddy are the queen and king of inappropriate PDA."
Sandra chuckled, "Speaking of, where is the birthday boy?"
"He's trying to help sober up the other love of his life," Victoire replied mockingly.
Sandra raised an eyebrow in surprise, "Malcolm's already that drunk that he requires sobering up?"
"Just a smidge," Victoire explained as she held her forefinger and thumb out with just a few millimetres of space between them.
Before they could start chatting about something else, Kurt Williamson came up behind Victoire and cheerily announced that he needed a dancing partner. Victoire had no chance to either agree or disagree before Kurt wrapped his arms around her and picked her up and carried her a few feet to the middle of the room where there was space for dancing even if no one had actually started dancing yet. He set Victoire down on her feet unsteadily, grabbed her hand, and then started to spin her around and around in circles until she became dizzy and started to feel nauseous.
It was only a few minutes into their crazy revolving spins, which Kurt was insisting were his smoothest dance moves, when Victoire started begging Kurt to stop before her stomach decided to travel back up her throat. Her fiancé's colleague didn't listen to her though, instead choosing to continue to throw Victoire around until her normally pale skin started to turn green.
Kurt finally noticed her change in skin colour on one of his glances up at her face, and he unceremoniously let go of her before she could vomit on him. Victoire staggered several feet after Kurt abruptly let go of her, and she felt herself swiftly falling backwards, and was certain that she was going to crash to the floor when she felt a strong arm reach out and wrap itself around her waist to help steady her.
Victoire turned her head slowly, her stomach was logged somewhere near her sternum instead of where it should have been underneath her diaphragm and above her intestines, and her eyes widened in surprise when she saw the nearest close-up of Colton Knott's face that she had ever wanted to see. She had opened her mouth so say something to him when he hastily pushed her into a somewhat steady standing position and then extracted his arm from around her waist.
"Please don't vomit on me Weasley," Colton told her with a scared flash in his eyes as he took a bit of a step away from her.
Victoire swallowed thickly and waited a moment for her stomach to slowly slide back down to where it was physically meant to be located, before she pursed her lips and glanced at Colton, "Are you still going to refer to me as Weasley when I marry Teddy?"
"Well I normally call Ted by his real name because I like him, so I guess I'll just graduate to calling you Lupin."
Just hearing her soon-to-be last name put some proper colour into her previously green-tinted face, "I'd be okay with that."
Colton sent Victoire a hesitantly kind smile in response, and Victoire started counting in her head to see how long their period of relative ease would last before one of them would do something to purposely annoy the other.
"Porca miseria! Whose bright idea was it to invite Clark and Mark here anyway?" Nadia Cassano grumbled as she stomped by where Victoire and Colton were enjoying their moment of relative peace.
Victoire turned away from Colton and glanced at Nadia, "What did those two do now?"
Nadia's face was red and furious and it seemed to Victoire that she was in the middle of one of her pregnancy-hormone motivated mood-swings, "Clark walked by and saw me eating something and told me that I should take it easy because my pants look tight and that I need to stay in quidditch shape for at least a few more months; Brutto figlio di puttana bastardo."
Victoire sighed, "And what did Mark do?"
"He let him say it!"
Victoire raised an eyebrow at Nadia, "Contrary to popular opinion you know that those two don't actually share a brain. It's not fair to be angry at Mark for something Clark said."
"But it's easier," Nadia continued to grumble, her anger seeming to fade just slightly.
As of yet, Xavier was the only member of Puddlemere United's team who knew that Nadia was pregnant. Nadia and Malcolm still needed to speak with the team's publicists about how they were going to handle their announcement, and until that was decided the organization wanted to limit the chances that something might leak the information before a formal announcement could happen. Malcolm and Nadia had made the decision to tell Xavier –and in turn Ally– because Xavier was family and they knew that Malcolm would like his support going forward and before they had to make bigger decisions about how they were going to announce it. Cecilia and Louis had also found out about the pregnancy because Oliver was awful at keeping secrets, and as such Katie had to stick by his side for the past few days at work to make sure that he didn't actually spill the beans. The rest of Puddlemere's team was under the impression that Nadia had been ill and that the healer's advice was that she take it easy for the next few days to recuperate.
"I can hex him if you'd like," Victoire offered with a bright smile.
Nadia let out a long breath and then began nodding, "That sounds goo-" She stopped halfway through the word 'good' and sprinted away from the other woman as her face turned white.
Victoire excused herself from Colton and then dashed after Nadia, following her right towards the bathroom. The door to the bathroom was slightly ajar and when Nadia pushed it open, Victoire on her heels, she stopped in her tracks because the toilet was already occupied with another pregnant woman who was dry-heaving over top of it.
Caleb Cooke was standing just beside Jilly Donaldson, who was too busy coughing up bile to notice that two more people had barged into the bathroom, and he was trying to offer whatever comfort he could even though he wasn't quite sure what he should do in the present situation.
Victoire's gaze wandered to Jilly worriedly, "Is she alright?"
"We just got here . . . I think the apparation might have made her nauseas," Caleb explained, he then glanced from Victoire over to Nadia, "What are you-"
Before he could finish his sentence Nadia's face went from white to tingeing Slytherin green, and Victoire automatically wandlessly conjured a small empty rubbish bin and handed it to Nadia just in time for Nadia to vomit into it.
That noise caught Jilly's attention, and she turned from the toilet and noticed Nadia vomiting into the rubbish bin.
Jilly let out a deep breath and swallowed thickly, "Do I need to-" Another wave of nausea hit her before she could finish her offer to give up her spot on the floor in front of the toilet for Nadia, and she found herself coughing up more bile. She finished vomiting around the same time that Nadia's own bout of sickness started to slow, and both women groaned distastefully once their stomachs had started to settle down.
Even though there were more than enough people in the bathroom, it seemed that Ally and Xavier's first floor bathroom could squeeze in one more person, which Malcolm proved a moment later when he came sliding into the bathroom, obviously having heard from someone that Nadia had been spotted running towards it. He stopped just over the threshold of the room when he saw the larger than expected assortment of people in the bathroom, and his eyes widened in surprise at the tableau before him as he muttered, "What's going on in here?"
Jilly groaned again, and even though Malcolm hadn't really addressed the question to her, she answered with a moan, "Apparently morning sickness is a bitch."
"Oh, it is," Nadia assured the other woman as she rubbed her hand tiredly across her eyebrow.
Both couples shared a surprised glance as they grasped what each woman was saying, but Jilly's gaze quickly turned to Victoire, "I thought you said that morning sickness doesn't usually occur much past the three month mark?"
"You mean I have another two months of this?" Nadia rounded on Victoire before the healer could reply to Jilly's question.
Victoire eyed both pregnant women warily, "Most women find that their morning sickness and nausea abates after the first trimester is over. However, some women still feel nauseas at other times during their pregnancy, and if a women is having problems with dizziness that may also trigger nausea." She glanced at Jilly specifically, "You haven't had many of the regular symptoms so far, so I can't exactly predict what you'll be feeling or when."
Nadia glanced at Jilly, "You have any mood swings yet?"
Jilly frowned, "No."
"They're not fun," Nadia explained with a loud sigh.
Malcolm glanced at Caleb and nodded his head in agreement, "They're really not."
A moment later, perhaps hoping to test the bathroom's total occupancy limit, Teddy came wandering into the bathroom only to stop right next to Malcolm as he stared wide eyed at the assembly of people, specifically at Jilly near the toilet and Nadia with a rubbish bin in her hand.
"Hey, what's going on in h-" He figured out pretty quickly what was going on, and immediately started to back out of the bathroom, "Never mind, I'm not touching this."
The metamorphmagus backed out of the room almost as quickly as he came and Victoire almost wished that she could have left with him, but she knew that she needed to stay long enough to make sure that both pregnant women were okay. Once both women had assured themselves that they were no longer in danger of vomiting, they started to discuss and compare due dates.
10:17 PM
"And you thought this would be a good place to find appropriate dates for Vic and Ally's weddings because . . .?" Cecilia asked Freddie with a scoff as she waved her hand around the air that was pulsing with the beat of the loud music that was playing through hidden speakers.
The flashy new muggle-wizard mix night club that Freddie has insisted they go to was filled to capacity with young muggles, witches, and wizards all wearing clothing that displayed varying parts and amounts of their body. If Malcolm had gone there he would have spent the rest of the night telling people of both genders to wear less revealing clothing. The main part of the club consisted of a large room that was dark except for the intermittent flashing of bright lights, that were most definitely caused by some sort of intricate spell that Louis would never ever be able to cast, and contained a large completely translucent glass bar on the far side of the room, and small but tall circular tables with tall stools that were scattered around the outer edge of the room. The largest space of the club was designated for dancing, though the actions taking place on the crowded dance floor definitely appeared to be much more like rhythmic grinding and gyrating instead of anything remotely artistic.
Freddie squinted at Cecilia and frowned, "I didn't say that we could find appropriate dates for their weddings. Just that we could find someone single here."
Baxter rolled his eyes and then pointed in Freddie direction, "He has a point. He didn't promise that anything here would be appropriate."
"Sometimes a little impropriety can be fun!" Freddie explained excitedly as he twirled his hands around in the air.
Cecilia muttered something under her breath at that point, but it sounded like she was more surprised that Freddie knew the word impropriety than anything else.
James suggested that they make their way over to the bar to get drinks and leave the topic of finding inappropriate dates for their cousins' weddings for later. Cecilia and Baxter decided to snag a table off to the side of the room so that they'd have a place to set their drinks on, while James, Freddie, and Louis went to purchase some alcoholic beverages.
Once at the bar, Louis quickly flashed a charming smile at the female bartender in the hope that she'd get to them next and that they wouldn't have to wait forever to order their drinks. The bartender eyed him speculatively with a small smile on her lips, but her gaze quickly skipped over Louis and her smile became blinding when it landed on the person to his right.
"Oh my goodness, you're James Potter!" The bartender exclaimed loudly in a tone of surprise that would have carried much farther if the room wasn't already filled with loud thumping music.
James's shoulders dropped a little and Louis noted that his cousin had slightly curled in on himself in embarrassment as he rubbed awkwardly at the back of his neck, "Well . . . yeah."
The bartender gave him a blinding smile and she fluttered her long eyelashes quickly, "You were brilliant in your game last week. I-"
"Thanks," James said quickly, only belatedly realizing that he'd cut her off, "Uh, is this an okay time to order a few drinks?"
The bartender nodded her head hastily, her long red curls of hair bouncing around her head with the motion, and she quickly began summoning and mixing the drinks that James, Louis, and Freddie listed off. She sent James enticing smiles as she collected their drinks together, in the meanwhile Louis bit his cheek to keep in a laugh and Freddie did nothing to hide his open snickering. When she was finished James slyly handed over a few galleons to pay for the drinks before the bartender could further emphasize that she was available for anything else he may need.
Freddie was still taking the mickey out of James a few minutes later when they made it back to the table Cecilia and Baxter had commandeered, with their drinks.
"I think you should give her a chance," Freddie was saying to James as he handed off a non-alcoholic beverage to Baxter who still chose to keep his drinking to a minimum even though it had been quite a while since he had overindulged.
James sighed heavily, "No thank you, just drop it Freddie."
"But she could get us free drinks-"
"I can afford a few drinks," James argued.
"And she's your type."
Cecilia took a sip of her drink and eyed the arguing cousins curiously, "How exactly is the bartender James's type?"
"She apparently watches quidditch and she has red hair," Freddie explained.
Baxter and Cecilia nodded in understanding, while James groaned, "Because you're such an expert on romance Freddie. If I did want to ask the bartender out how would you even expect me to go about it? Say 'hey there I have no idea who you are but you apparently know who I am, how would you like to go out some time?'."
"You could try something a bit smoother," Freddie explained with a roll of his eyes.
"What would you suggest then Freddie?" Louis asked with a snort.
Freddie glanced around them at the crowd of people that were slowly moving either further into the club or towards the bar, and then smirked at his cousins and Cecilia, "Just watch and learn."
Freddie took two steps away from their table into the stream of people moving around the room, he was still within hearing distance of his friends as they would be able to hear what he was about to say, when Freddie stepped up to a girl wearing a tight white leather skirt and said to her back, "So, aside from being sexy, what do you do for a living?"
The woman he spoke to turned around slowly and asked acerbically, "Has that ever actually worked for you Weasley?"
Freddie's smarmy smirk transformed to a bright grin when he finally saw the woman's face. He hadn't recognized her voice right away, but even with the heavy make-up on her face he was able recognized her after a few more seconds.
"Oh hey Teagan, what's up girl?"
Teagan Childs, a former Gryffindor classmate of theirs from Hogwarts who had been in the same year as Freddie and James, snorted at Freddie's expression and crossed her arms over her chest, pulling her tight shirt even tighter against her chest, which Freddie did his best to pretend that he didn't notice.
"Thought I'd come out and have a good time tonight without getting harassed by strange men," Teagan replied as she popped out a hip.
Freddie nodded his head seriously, "Preach! Well it's a good thing you ran into me because I can help keep all of those strange men away from you."
"You're honestly the first one I've encountered yet," Teagan told him with a roll of her eyes.
The table closest to the pair broke out in snickers as the insult registered with them. Freddie sent the laughing group of Baxter, Louis, Cecilia, and James a quick scowl before plastering a faux heart-broken expression on his face and directing it at Teagan.
"Uh, thy words wound me milady."
Teagan rolled her eyes again, but there was a hint of irrepressible fondness in her expression, "Please tell me that there's someone around here giving you proper adult supervision."
"That'd be my job," Louis announced in a loud enough tone to carry to where Freddie and Teagan stood a little ways away from the table.
Teagan turned towards the voice and smiled brightly when she saw the familiar Gryffindors and Hufflepuff sitting at the table. She stepped towards them, Freddie following behind her, and cheerily greeted her old Hogwarts house mates. Both Cecilia and James even got a quick hug from the newcomer, Freddie sending James a jealous look from behind Teagan's back because James got a hug from her even though he hadn't even bothered to lavish her with outrageous compliments.
"You're not here by yourself are you Teagan?" Cecilia asked her curiously as she played with the straw in the drink James had gotten for her.
Teagan shook her head, "No, my entourage is around here somewhere. I was on my way to get a drink when Freddie accosted me."
"I was just giving Baxter and James a lesson on picking up birds at a club," Freddie defended himself.
Teagan raised an eyebrow at the redhead, "Ah, so you were showing them what not to do. I get it now."
Freddie frowned at her, but before he could retort the sound of Teagan's name being called broke through the loud music and noise of the club and reached the group where they were still amalgamated around the table.
"That'd be my mother-hen," Teagan said with a hint of exasperated fondness. She then raised her hand above her head and waved it around in the direction that her name was being called from.
A few seconds later a figure broke through the crowd of people closest to their table, "Teagan where have-"
The woman stopped whatever she was going to say to Teagan when her gaze quickly took in the other people clustered near her friend, "Oh, hello everyone."
Jordan Simpson, another Gryffindor alumnus who had also been in the same year as James and Freddie at Hogwarts, and who was best friends with Teagan Childs, seemed to calm down a little when she saw that Teagan was in the company of people she knew instead of a few indiscriminate and tipsy strangers.
"Hey Jordan," Cecilia greeted the woman who had been a year below her at school, "We apologize for keeping Teagan so long. I hope you weren't too worried."
"I was just worried that she might have gotten waylaid by an unsavoury character," Jordan said with a bit of a heavy exhale.
From what James knew of Jordan Simpson she was perceptive, controlled, and fiercely loyal to her friends, so Teagan's assessment of her being a mother-hen was rather accurate. It was also rather obvious to James that being in a club full of rowdy people and potentially predatory men was frazzling Jordan's poor nerves.
"Well she did," James admitted as he unashamedly pointed at Freddie, "But she handled him well and then he backed down."
Jordan automatically sent Freddie an unimpressed frown, but it was nothing compared to the heated glare she sent James a few moments later when Teagan said something that distracted everyone else at the table. James pretended that he couldn't see and didn't know why Jordan was glaring at him (even though he was fairly certain that he did know the why) and he attempted to pay attention to what Teagan was saying, which turned out to be a mild harassment of Freddie's ability to dish out lame pick-up lines.
James forced out a small chuckle to go along with everyone else's genuine laughter at Teagan's words, and he did his best to ignore the almost physical feeling of Jordan's stare on his face.
"Wait," Teagan said suddenly as she turned to glance at Jordan.
Jordan automatically orientated herself to seem like she hadn't been glaring at James over the past few minutes, "Yes?"
"Did you come looking for me by yourself?"
Jordan's eyes widened and she glanced behind herself worriedly, "No."
Teagan rolled her eyes, "And you were worried about losing me?"
Jordan stood on her tiptoes to try to see over the crowd of people closest to her, but since she was only about five-feet four she just gave herself a better view of a few people's backs and necks.
"Who else did you bring with you?" Louis asked the pair curiously as he stood up from his stool to become another set of –much taller– eyes and help Jordan spot whoever she was now looking for.
Teagan stretched up onto her tiptoes as well and began looking around the club as she supplied the answer, "Selene."
James felt Jordan's gaze on his face for a half second before she went back to searching for her friend's head in the crowd.
Selene Spiros was the third member of Teagan and Jordan's trio of friends, and all three girls were practically inseparable during their years together at Hogwarts, and apparently still very close even though they graduated almost a year ago and were now well into their first year as adults out of the safety and routine of Hogwarts castle.
James shifted a little away from the table and when he stretched up onto his tiptoes to look around the club he quickly spotted the familiar dark haired woman that he had attended Hogwarts with for seven years. He caught Jordan's gaze and nodded his head in the direction of where her friend seemed to be stuck within the crowd a few metres away.
Jordan forewent giving James another glare in favour of following his gaze to spot where her friend seemed to be trapped on the dancefloor. There seemed to be a rather burly man standing in Selene Spiros's path who was speaking energetically with his hands.
Teagan and Louis spotted Selene a few seconds after James and Jordan did.
"Uh-oh."
Jordan sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "She's never going to agree to even go out and grab a bite to eat with us again if this keeps happening."
"Has she also been getting random public recognition as a reserve chaser for a professional quidditch team?" Louis questioned the other two girls as he jerked his thumb towards his darker haired cousin to illustrate that they commonly dealt with the same issue with James.
"Yes," Jordan grumbled as she crossed her arms over her chest, "It's usually not too bad, but there have been a few weirdos . . . we assumed because this club was both magical and muggle that people would be less likely to single her out because they can't publicly say the word quidditch."
"Really?" Freddie asked surprised, "I mean part of James's problem is that he is extra recognizable being Harry Potter's son and all. Selene doesn't have that issue at all."
"Selene did score forty points two weeks ago in the last game she played up though," James added helpfully.
Nobody questioned why James knew this specific statistic, and the only reaction he really got was another look from Jordan, but instead of a heated glare it was more of a suspicious frown.
Tegan shrugged her shoulders and glanced at Jordan, "Try to be positive, maybe that's a muggle who just thinks she's really cute."
James was the one to automatically frown at her words, but no one was paying him any attention because Cecilia chose that moment to kneel on her stool –both Louis and Baxter's hands automatically shooting out to steady her around the waist so that she wouldn't fall off– and searched for Selene in the crowd herself via her better vantage point.
"Well either way she doesn't seem to be enjoying that man's attention," Cecilia announced as she watched Selene try to step away from the man speaking to her several times only to be stopped by the man stepping back into her way.
Jordan groaned in annoyance, but before she could go to her friend's aid Baxter offered to do it for her and quickly stepped away from the table. It was easy for the taller members of the group to watch Baxter's tall redheaded form push through the crowd of club goers and cover the short distance between himself and the dark haired second-string professional quidditch chaser.
James watched Baxter approach Selene and the apparently unwelcome stranger from the side. Whatever he said to her as he got closer captured her attention immediately and her dark head whipped towards Baxter's direction. He couldn't see her face too clearly because it was dark and there was a rather thick crowd of people between them, but James could see Selene's shoulders relax slightly upon recognizing Baxter. Baxter faced the troublesome stranger for no more than five seconds before he turned his back to the stranger and held his hand out to Selene. She grabbed it quickly and Baxter smoothly pulled her away from the stranger and through the crowd towards where his friends and hers were waiting.
Once Baxter and Selene broke through the closest wall of club goers, James could hear Selene's warm almost musical laughter mixed with Baxter's deeper and familiar chuckle, along with visually witnessing Selene's slender fingers being grasped by Baxter's larger freckled hand.
Selene reined in her laughter and thanked Baxter, for what did not seem to be the first time, and then raised a dark eyebrow at Jordan and teased her friend good-naturedly about accidentally leaving her behind. Jordan and Teagan both rolled their eyes instead of apologizing, and then Selene moved her gaze around to get a better look at who else was present. She smiled sweetly and said hello to the familiar faces of Freddie, Louis, and Cecilia, her gaze ending on James.
The eldest Potter child noted how Selene's smile dropped a little when her grey eyes met his, and even though her eyes had seemed to lock him into their silvery stare, James's peripheral vision noted that Selene's hand slowly dropped out of Baxter's grip.
"Hi James."
"Hi Selene."
"So Selene," Cecilia declared, stealing Selene's attention and relieving James from the trap of her gaze, "We hear from Jordan and Teagan that you're starting to get more and more recognizable as time goes on."
Selene's cheeks went red and she embarrassedly tried to down-play her apparent fame, "Just a little . . . and it's only really among die-hard Harpies fans . . ."
Upon graduating from Hogwarts almost a year ago when James had went from finishing school straight to joining Puddlemere United's reserve team as a right wing chaser, his Gryffindor quidditch teammate Selene Spiros also went straight from graduation to joining Holyhead Harpies' reserve team as a centre chaser. Since she was only on the second-string squad of her professional quidditch team, like James she only received a few chances every now and then to play in place of their respective first-string chasers during an actual game.
"Well get used to it because I'm sure it will happen more often than not as you get more chances to play," Cecilia offered both teasingly and sincerely.
Selene, whose cheeks were still red and who seemed to prefer not to be the centre of attention, quickly changed the topic and asked Cecilia how she was doing. Despite the fact that Cecilia could tell that Selene was changing the topic, the older but shorter woman allowed it and went on to complain about how crazy everything had been lately with planning and organizing for Ally and Xavier's wedding in August.
Her complaints were barely out of her mouth before Louis started one up-ing her by reminding her that Victoire and Teddy's wedding was scheduled first and as such he was dealing with more immediate stress than she was.
"You're both talking as if both Victoire and Ally aren't type A individuals who don't already have everything planned to excruciating detail," Baxter reminded his cousin and friend with a roll of his eyes.
Teagan started snickering and pointed between Freddie and Cecilia, "I just realized that you two are about to become each other's in-laws."
Freddie and Cecilia both made faces, "Don't remind us."
"So what brought you three ladies here tonight?" Louis enquired of the other girls.
"Jordan decided that we needed a night out to have fun, and for some reason Teagan thought that translated to coming to a crowded new club where you can't move a foot without getting rubbed up against by a stranger," Selene explained while she sent Teagan a specific look.
Teagan folded her arms across her chest and held her ground, "It's been at least six months since you did something that wasn't quidditch practice, eating healthy food, or sleeping."
Selene frowned at her friend but then self-consciously glanced down at her feet, "That's not exactly fair, or correct-"
"No, you're right," Teagan interrupted Selene's defense, "You did spend the Harpies' by-week a few weeks ago in Greece where you spent the majority of your time bouncing between both of your grandparents's homes and allowing them to both deride your choice of occupation while at the same time ignoring their offers to pull strings to move you up in the profession."
Jordan, who had already heard this argument between her two friends at least three times already before Selene had even agreed to go out with them that night, interrupted what she was sure to be Selene's cross retort by asking the group of Weasleys, Potter, and Wood what brought them to the club.
Baxter, ever the Hufflepuff who didn't like confrontation, answered for the larger group, "Well with so many family weddings coming up, some of us have been threatened with some sort of unspecified physical harm if we don't show up to said weddings with appropriate wedding dates."
"So it's rather obvious that we ended up here because Freddie has no idea what the word appropriate even means," Cecilia added with a roll of her eyes.
Freddie stuck his tongue out at Cecilia, "Excuse me Miss Wood, but I'll have you know that I inadvertently found three very nice and appropriate young ladies at this club tonight." He emphasized his words by gesturing towards Selene, Jordan, and Teagan.
Selene momentarily forgot about her disagreement with Teagan and snorted at Freddie words, "Nice try Freddie, but none of us are dim enough to agree to go on a date with you."
"Well I wasn't going to ask you anyway Spiros," Freddie told her as he pretended to be affronted, "Why would I want to go on a date with a woman who gave me a week of lunch time detention for no good reason?"
Selene put her hands on her hips and raised a dark eyebrow at him, "So you don't think that someone nicking a confiscated magic carpet from Filch's office and using said stolen magical flying apparatus along with an invisibility cloak to try to gain access to Norah Summers's dormitory is a good enough reason for detention?"
"No I don't," Freddie argued, "I fully intended to return the carpet when I was finished with it, and Norah had absolutely no problem with my sneaking up to her dorm room-"
"Her five other roommates did," Selene interrupted Freddie to remind him of that specific detail of his crime.
Freddie waved off her concerns, "Those girls were just jealous that none of their boyfriends were smart enough to come up with something like that."
Selene rolled her eyes in exasperation, and James decided to end the discussion, "Freddie, you should just be grateful that Selene didn't give Neville the invisibility cloak to keep for the rest of the year, and that she gave you detention during lunch instead of after school during quidditch practice. I'm sure she got enough flak for that from other people let alone your many complaints before, during, and after it occurred."
"Bloody Will Dyson," Selene muttered angrily when James mentioned the flak she got from players on opposing house quidditch teams who claimed that she was favouring her quidditch teammate by timing Freddie's detention for when she did.
"Whatever," Freddie said with a careless shrug, "The moral of the story Spiros, is that I don't fancy people who like to snitch."
"I was Gryffindor's Head Girl!" Selene argued, her exasperated expression taking on just a hint of fondness which made it seem as though she had missed hopelessly arguing with Freddie over the past year.
Jordan gave Selene a look, "You should probably stop now before it starts to sound like you're trying to convince Freddie to ask you out on a date."
Selene sighed, pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation, and muttered something in Greek before taking Jordan's advice.
"Well now that we've established that, Teagan, Jordan, would either of you like to join me at the bar for a drink?" Freddie asked in a tone that he thought was charming.
"No," Both girls answered at the exact same time.
Freddie let the rejection bounce right off of him, "What if I promised to pay for your drinks and threw Baxter into the deal to ensure that I don't do anything too inappropriate?"
"I'll take it," Teagan announced with a bright smile as she linked one arm around Freddie's arm and her other around Baxter's. Freddie began to move their chain of people in the direction of the bar while Teagan called out to Jordan and asked her if she was coming.
Jordan sent a worried glance in Selene's direction, but Selene waved it off and gestured to James, Cecilia, and Louis who were still around to keep her company. Jordan still didn't seem fully convinced, but Teagan yelled her name once more and Jordan didn't really have any other choice but to follow after the friend that was most likely to do something stupid once she had some alcohol in her. She made sure to give James a parting heated glare before leaving though, which yet again no one else saw because Cecilia had captured Selene's attention once more by complimenting her on her quidditch record so far.
After the four who were headed towards the bar had left the other four's sight, Cecilia and Selene had a comfortable conversation about quidditch that was punctuated every once in a while by James and Louis. Cecilia had just finished explaining her complicated opinion on a relative 'scandal' that was sweeping the Tutshill Tornadoes reserve team when she suddenly announced to Louis that it was imperative that he dance with her right away. Her boyfriend smiled indulgently at her and allowed her to pull him away towards the thickly crowded dancefloor.
Selene watched them go with a slightly shocked and somewhat confused look on her face, and even though James thought that her expression was decidedly adorable, he decided to try to explain Cecilia's odd behaviour.
"Cecilia's not exactly the best at handling her alcohol, so I think it's kinda caught up to her," James explained and he shifted a little closer to Selene so that she'd be able to hear his voice over the loud thumping of the music.
She glanced up at him with a concerned look in her grey eyes, "Should we be worried about her?"
"Nah, Louis has it all under control. He on the other hand can handle his alcohol like a champ, something about veela and werewolf genes and quick metabolic-somethings."
"Metabolism," Selene supplied for him helpfully, "He metabolizes the alcohol faster which makes it more difficult for its depressive properties to affect him."
James eyed her shrewdly, "Yeah, that definitely sounds like something Victoire's explained to me more than once that I've still forgotten."
Selene smiled sweetly at him, her cheeks reddening for a reason that James didn't understand, but that he oddly found himself grateful for.
"So," James continued, feeling his own cheeks starting to warm, "How're you doing? Really?"
She swallowed thickly, "Well usually I just tell people that being a member of the Harpies' reserve squad is wonderful – which it is– but it's also . . ."
"Demanding, challenging, and the most difficult thing you've ever done?" He supplied for her when she paused in her explanation.
Her eyes, which gleamed silver every few minutes when the lights of the club swept past them, were shinning with appreciation, "I figured you'd understand."
He nodded his head, his brown eyes never leaving hers, "I do."
And he did. James was grateful for the opportunity he had been given and he loved his job with a fierce passion, but he knew exactly what Selene was telling him. Just because he'd achieved his dream of playing quidditch professionally didn't mean that everything else was now easy.
"You did a wonderful job filling in for Cassano the other day," Selene told James frankly, her voice ringing with sincerity, "I know that playing centre doesn't come naturally to you being a right wing chaser, but you still did a great job filling in. Especially since you didn't have any time to practice in that position before the game began."
James put on a faux-affronted expression on his face, "What makes you think that I haven't been practicing that position for the past four weeks?"
Selene sent him a mischievous smile that made James's insides warm, "The fact that you almost dropped the quaffle seven separate times when the right wing chaser passed it to you."
"I thought you said I did a wonderful job?" James reminded her in a teasing tone of his own.
"You did, for someone who's not used to catching on the right side of their body. Doesn't mean that there's not room for improvement though. And more to the point, if you'd been practicing that position for four weeks the first thing Katie Bell would have had you work on was your ability to catch a quaffle from both sides of your midline without fumbling."
He didn't even bother to try to curb the bright smile that slipped onto his face upon hearing Selene critique his quidditch technique. She was the person who had played centre chaser on their Gryffindor team and who was presently playing the position of centre chaser for Holyhead Harpies's second-string team after all, and she knew her stuff. The fact that she had sincerely praised him while also constructively criticizing him within the exact same breath made his heart beat speed up for some reason, and he wondered why he was reacting to her criticism the same way he would to a compliment.
"Well if we're sharing helpful advice between old quidditch teammates," James began in an attempt to calm his own heart down and put everything back into painfully platonic perspective for himself, "The last time you played you fell back into your old bad habit of over-extending your elbow when you threw towards the hoop. It caused three of your otherwise flawless shots to go wide to the left, costing you the addition of those shots to the score."
Selene frowned at him as she took a minute to concentrate on his words and quickly replay the last time she played up with the first-string team a few weeks previously, and James quietly watched her as he was entranced by how her expression changed as she realized that his critique was valid.
"Éla," She cursed in Greek, her expression registering in James's mind as undeniably cute instead of properly cross, "My coach is going to be so pissed with me when she re-watches that game and figures that out. I thought I finally fixed that like three months ago."
James reached out and squeezed Selene's hand in reassurance before he realized what he was doing. Despite the fact that his skin started to buzz with energy upon touching her warm skin, he continued on his course, "Don't worry too much about it. It only happened four times throughout the entire game, and all the other times you threw the quaffle at the hoop you extended just the right amount. Overall, you were brilliant, which isn't surprising considering how naturally gifted you are."
She smiled upon hearing his words, but quickly waved him off when his praise became more heavy-handed, "Now you're just trying to make up for worrying me."
"Selene, have I ever lied to you about anything relating to quidditch or your skills in said sport?" James asked her seriously.
He didn't use the much simpler phrase of 'have I ever lied to you' because they both instinctively knew that the answer to that question would have been much more difficult to answer.
"No," Selene replied, her eyes glancing down to where James's hand still rested on hers. She gave his hand a light squeeze in return and then met his gaze as he felt another rush of heat and electricity through his body.
His mouth suddenly went dry and he continued to gaze into her eyes as his heartbeat began thumping behind his ears, apparently working with the loud music pumping through the club to momentarily deafen him to the sounds around him.
While he was entranced by her eyes and the task of trying to identify the emotions filling them, he didn't realize that someone was calling out Selene's name until said person was right next to Selene, trying to capture her otherwise distracted attention. Because of this he reacted just a little too slowly when Selene finally took note of the man standing next to her, and he didn't get the chance to pull his hand away from hers before the newcomer had a chance to take note of the action and the situation prior to it.
"Selene, what are you doing here?" A tall, thin man asked her without preamble as he authoritatively crossed his arms over his chest.
The newcomer looked as though he couldn't be more than a few years older than James and Selene themselves, and even though he was a few inches taller than James, the man's thin frame made him seem smaller as he stood so close to a much thicker and more muscular James, who was a professional quidditch player after all.
Selene's previously open expression automatically slipped into a curt mask and she straightened her shoulders, "I thought I'd enjoy myself for once and spend some time with my friends tonight."
At the word 'friends' the man's scrutinizing gaze shifted to James for a few seconds before he glanced back to Selene. Even though it was only a few seconds James had the feeling that he had just been effectively judged and found lacking.
"It's interesting that you were able to say all of that without realizing exactly how ridiculous your own words sounded. I thought you were smarter than that."
James's eyes widened as he listened to the man practically taunt Selene with his words, and he would have vehemently come to his old teammate's defense if Selene hadn't shot him a quick glance that clearly said 'stay out of it'.
Instead of getting angry, an emotion that James knew Selene had in her repertoire despite the fact that she was normally nice and amiable enough to give most Hufflepuffs a run for their money, Selene placed her hands on her hips and moved her body just slightly to put herself between James and the newcomer, slightly obscuring the other man's ability to see James.
"And I thought that you had more autonomy and the ability to think for yourself, but I guess I was wrong too. Obviously you prefer to be other people's puppets because you're unable to make decisions for yourself," Selene shot back in a tone that James had heard on more than one occasion back at Hogwarts when Selene was Head Girl and in charge of disciplining other students.
The taller man obviously didn't enjoy listening to Selene's concise assassination of his character, and his face went red as he began to retort, "Listen Spiros-"
Before James and Selene could hear any more of what they both knew was most likely to be a threat, Louis and Cecilia popped out of the crowd and pretended that they couldn't feel the tension around the other three that could easily be cut with a severing charm.
"Selene, come dance with me Beautiful," Louis suggested in his most charming tone as he grabbed Selene's hand and pulled her towards the dancefloor without actually giving her the chance to agree or refuse. She did allow Louis to drag her with him though, which was agreement enough for Louis as they quickly got lost in the crowd around them.
The tall man seemed as though he was still trying to figure out what just happened, but James didn't have a chance to even try to defend Selene's honour before Cecilia had grabbed James's hand and begun pulling him in the direction of the dancefloor as well, also chirping about how he owed her a dance.
Once on the dancefloor Cecilia put her hands loosely on James's shoulders and began to move him around in lazy, somewhat awkward slow-dancing circles even though the song currently blasting through the air was of a much faster pace. James placed his hands lightly on Cecilia's waist and allowed her to lead him around in circles as he looked around the crowd for any sign of Selene and Louis. All the couples within James's eye line were very closely dancing and grinding upon each other, so he was slightly relieved when he couldn't spot the familiar faces of his cousin and his old teammate within the sweaty mass of bodies circled around his every side.
"You're welcome," Cecilia yelled into James's ear when his head finally stopped moving on a swivel.
James glanced at her in surprise, "For what?"
"For putting an end to whatever was about to happen," Cecilia replied flippantly.
James pursed his lips at her, "And what did you think was about to happen?"
The short dark haired woman shrugged her shoulders, "Not quite sure, but judging from the look on Selene's face it didn't seem like fun."
James nodded his head and then continued to allow Cecilia to move him around in slow circles until the song changed to one that was just as loud, but with a slightly slower pace. He dropped his arms from Cecilia's waist and shoved his hands in his pockets. His next intention was to tell Cecilia that they should find where Louis and Selene had gotten off to, but before he could make the words come out of his mouth Louis and Selene materialized next to them.
"Partner trade," Louis announced loudly as he simultaneously pushed Selene in James's direction while also grabbing Cecilia around the waist and pulling her towards him. James's part veela blonde cousin then whisked his girlfriend further onto the dancefloor and the pair disappeared in the crush of gyrating bodies.
Before leaving their sight, Louis had pushed Selene towards James with a little more force than necessary, causing Selene to stumble a little and physically collide with James's hard chest.
As a professional quidditch chaser, James's reflexes were sometimes quicker than his head and he found himself standing with his arms wrapped around Selene's waist and her body pressed softly against his before he was able to comprehend that Louis and Cecilia had effectively vanished.
"Uh," James said still in a little shock as he looked down at the dark haired woman he held in his arms.
Selene looked up at him her cheeks quickly turning as red as the strips of scarlet dyed hair that was streaked through her long mass of black tresses. She was also speechless for a moment before she realized that her entire body was essentially pushed up against James's and that her hands were clutching at his shirt in an attempt to keep herself vertical.
After a moment they dropped their hands from each other's bodies, muttered 'sorry' at the same time, and took a few steps away from each other to give the other person back their personal space.
Unfortunately, the pair seemed to have forgotten that they were presently on a dance floor in the middle of a crowded club, and they were soon pushed back against each other with the crush of bodies around them.
"Umm-" James began only to stop when he noticed Selene stretch up onto her tiptoes and lean towards him so that she could speak into his ear.
"It might be easier if we try dancing off the dance floor," She suggested in a tone that was both loud enough for James to comprehend in the noisy atmosphere of the club, yet still seemed intimate enough to keep the sounds between the two of them.
James nodded his head a little woodenly in agreement and he gingerly wrapped his arms around her waist, his hands coming to a rest on her back, while Selene moved her arms to rest lightly around his neck.
Once James's hands made contact with Selene's back he swallowed thickly. He hadn't paid specific attention early in the evening to what Selene was wearing, but there was no way he could ignore it now.
She wore a pair of high-waisted white lace shorts that didn't initially look too short, but which did show off a lot of skin from Selene's admittedly rather long legs. She also wore flat shoes which kept her about a half a foot shorter than James, and her loose hair was slightly wavy as if she had been wearing her hair in a braid earlier in the day.
James blamed her long hair falling freely down her back for obscuring an important fact that he hadn't noticed until he got his hands physically on her body. The simple black off-the-shoulder long-sleeve top Selene was wearing had a very low back and when James had placed his hands at the middle of her back he found his palms pressed against smooth skin that was pulled tightly over the defined muscles of her back and spine. He kept one hand on the bare skin of her back while the other slowly slid down to where the fabric of her shorts and shirt met to make it seem like he wasn't trying to take advantage of her choice in clothing.
He kept his gaze on hers and found that they both pressed their bodies just a little closer to each other's to make it easier hear each other when they spoke.
"So," James began, "What was that all about?"
"Honestly I'm not sure, Louis did try to explain it to me but the music was kinda loud," Selene explained as she nibbled slightly on her bottom lip.
James swallowed thickly as he watched her teeth dig into the flesh of her lips, but he pushed on, "No –I meant what was going on with that guy back there?"
"Oh," Selene replied, her blush spreading from her cheeks down to her neck and visible collar bone, "That was Tate. He's actually my one of my mother's assistants at work and it seems as though we unfortunately ended up at the same club tonight. He's no doubt already left the place to go owl my mother and tell her that I dared to leave my flat tonight and that I'm currently wasting my time."
James's eyebrows lowered over his eyes, "Why would your mother care so much about what you do at night that she has her assistant ready to report to her at any moment?"
"Well, do you remember how Teagan mentioned something about my manic schedule of fitting in sleeping and eating around quidditch practice?"
He frowned at her, "I don't recall the word manic being used."
Selene's eyes widened, "Oh, well then forget I said that part."
James started to get worried, but before he could voice his concern Selene continued her explanation.
"Anyway, you've met my mum and you know that she wasn't the happiest last year when I told her that I wanted to pursue quidditch as my career. I wouldn't say that she's exactly come around to it . . . but she is of the opinion that if I'm going to do this then I should give one-hundred and fifty percent and that I need to be the best, period. Which means that she sees anytime spent not preparing for quidditch a waste of time."
"So what you're saying is that your mother most definitely wouldn't approve of you going out for the night to a club with Jordan and Teagan?" James clarified.
Selene shook her head sadly, "No. And I know that I'm an adult and everything . . . but arguing with her just gets annoying and exhausting and I just usually try to avoid it all together."
"And she didn't know that you were going out tonight?" He asked.
James could feel her heavy exhale through the movement of the muscles of her bare back that was under the palm of his right hand, "She knew about me spending some time with Teagan and Jordan tonight, but I kept that fact that we were going somewhere with alcohol, loud music, and men a secret."
"What are the chances that your mother's assistant recognized me?" James questioned.
Selene let out another sigh and sent him an apologetic glance, "Well he does work for the Ministry of Magic, so about one-hundred percent."
James forced a comforting smile onto his face, "Well if he tells your mother about seeing me with you maybe she'll just be grateful that you were with someone you know instead of at the mercy of some other sketchy bloke."
Instead of making her feel optimistic, his words seemed to have the opposite effect and her body froze and they stopped the slow swaying movement they had taken up when they realized it would be easier to dance off the floor instead of trying to walk through it.
"That might have made her feel better . . . if it wasn't for the fact that Mum knows about what happened last year . . . with you and me and–and Mélanie," Selene admitted through a clenched jaw as she stared James right in the eyes.
James felt his own body go cold at the mention of the incident from a year ago when they were still in their last year at Hogwarts. He had only actually interacted with Selene a few times since their graduation from school a little less than a year ago, and each time they had come to a nonverbal understanding that they were never again going to even acknowledge the incident.
"You told her about that?" James asked, his voice taking on a bit of a hysterical edge. He'd never even uttered Selene's name in conjunction with any conversation relating to his and his ex-girlfriend Mélanie's break-up in the presence of his parents, or anyone really who hadn't heard of the incident first hand when it happened back at Hogwarts.
"Of course not," Selene retorted, her eyes lighting up with silver flames when she realized what James was implying. Her ridged posture relaxed a few seconds later and her eyes changed from fiery to apologetic, "She overheard Teagan whispering something about it to Jordan one day when they were at my flat and she wouldn't let the issue drop until Teagan told her everything she knew about it."
James had met Selene's mother before and he knew first hand that she wasn't someone that you'd want to mess around with, so he was only slightly annoyed with Teagan for allowing Selene's mother to bully it out of her.
When it came to the incident he was only really still angry with himself for it.
Well, himself and Will Dyson.
"So your mother only knows what Teagan told her about it?" James repeated looking for verification.
Selene nodded and James let out a sigh of relief. Not that he would have begrudged Selene talking to her mother about the whole thing, but he was rather glad that all her mother knew for sure was the same gossip that had travelled around the castle for the last few weeks of school before their graduation.
"I take it you were able to keep it a secret from your parents back then?" Selene asked James in a tone of voice only just loud enough for him to hear over the bass of the song playing around them.
James hastily began nodding his head in the affirmative, "I didn't mention a word about you or it . . . and thankfully Al, Rose, Lily, Hugo, and yes, even Freddie, respected you enough not believe the rumours they heard about it."
Selene let out a breath he hadn't realized she was holding, "Thank you. I–I don't think I would ever be able to face your mum again if I knew that she knew about it."
James nodded his head in understanding. His parents were the last people he had wanted to discuss the incident with, so he was quite glad to keep it a secret when he realized that his siblings and cousins who had heard about it at Hogwarts were also going to stay mum about it. With his mother, Ginny, still working so closely with the Holyhead Harpies –her old professional quidditch team– he had tried especially hard to keep it from her so that she wouldn't have any reason to think poorly of Selene. Not that he thought that Ginny would treat Selene poorly if she ever did find out about it, it was just better to keep rumours like that locked up if at all possible.
"So your mother hates my guts then?" James asked Selene as he circled back to the main point at hand.
At first she looked as though she was going to lie to him, but then she went ahead with the truth, "Well, yeah. Kinda."
"Brilliant," James muttered with a dejected frown.
His pout must have been more endearing than he meant it to be, because Selene spent a long moment looking at him before she leaned closely towards him and placed her mouth right next to his ear so that she could whisper to him.
He felt the soft exhale of her words against his skin as she gently murmured, "But I don't."
James turned his head slowly to look at her, their faces ending up being only a few inches away from each other's as they stared into the other person's eyes. He could feel the movement of Selene's chest pressed against his as she took in shallow breaths of air, and he tightened his hands on the small of her back and on the bare skin that covered her spine.
He didn't know what to say.
He knew what he wanted to say.
He knew what he shouldn't say.
He knew what he shouldn't want to say, but he didn't know which one was actually the right thing to say.
Wrong or right, James didn't actually get the chance to say anything. Instead, a few moments later both he and Selene's heads whipped around towards the sound of two very inebriated people calling their names. Teagan and Freddie were the first to finally break through the crowd of people around them, and they each grabbed one of Selene's hands to pull her away from James and further down the dancefloor to a spot where they, presumably, wanted her to dance with them.
Just as Selene disappeared from James's immediate view, Jordan came up beside him, and unfortunately for James she was nowhere near as intoxicated as Teagan and Freddie had been.
Jordan glanced towards the direction in which Selene had disappeared before turning to glare once more at James. She pointed her finger at him, poked him hard in the chest, and authoritatively and firmly dictated to him her entire feelings on that matter of him and Selene with one word.
"Don't."
A/N: Look at that! We only had to wait seven chapters for Selene to come back!
Next Update: The minute I get it finished, I promise. It may take some time but I'm not abandoning this story.
Next Chapter: Victoire and Teddy go house hunting, and then we have a nice big Weasley family dinner to get a chance to see what's going on with some other members of the family.
I want to thank everyone who has stayed with me throughout this entire process, especially those who leave me their thoughts on the story and who leave me reviews. Having feedback like that really helps and it gives me more encouragement to write.
Thank you as always to everyone who has followed, favoruited, read, and reviewed!
BIG thank yous as always to:
rosesnlilies, Guest (1), saagarika, kit94, Dthea33, pointe15, no cure for crazy, bookstar97, Guest (2), Guest (3), Guest (4), Jily71102, Break This Spell626, Guest (5), Guest (6), and Elisa.
rosesnlilies: Yup, I know that party didn't last too long, but those darn younger kids had a lot of antics to squeeze into the chapter.
Guest (1): I hope this chapter answers that question of whether Selene is 'in this story'. As for the rest, I guess we'll have to wait and see.
kit94: Kingsley is busy enough with being head of the auror department, and as the years went by Hermione slowly distanced herself from the ministry so she could work on some of her own projects.
Dthea33: Unfortunately, Martell still plays quidditch professionally, so there's a chance he might pop up again sometime.
no cure for crazy: I'm glad that you're open to listening to Benjamin's reasingin at least, romantic idealism is fun, but in the 'real world' with a child to help take care of Benjamin has to be more cautious about the choices he makes because they don't just affect him anymore.
Jily71102: I'm sure as you can tell from this chapter, James break up with Melanie is a bit of a mystery that will take a bit more time to unravel. We saw some Selene and a bit of their Hogwarts acquaintances (minus Nolan Finnegan), and according to my schedule we should be back at Hogwarts with the youngest of the kids within the next 3-4 chapters.
Elisa: Well I know this is a little late, but welcome to my wizarding world and I hope you enjoy the ride! And I'm sure as the date to the wedding gets closer we'll see more of Bill and Fleur involving themselves in their eldest daughter's life. I'm honoured that you like my story so much, and I can promise you that I have no intention of dropping this story for good. Thank you for your lovely review!
I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter,
I would REALLY appreciate hearing some feedback to let me know if everyone's still hanging in there or not,
Take care until next time everyone,
And DFTBA!