A/N: Hi everyone! I know this is long over-due, but I've been busy with some things that are just now finally coming to fruition. I've been accepted to teacher's college for this upcoming September, so I'm going back to school to get my . in Primary/Junior. With going back to school my schedules will change again, but I should have a bit more time for writing.
Until that time I'm still going to continue working where I am now 40 hours a week, so I will do my best to write when I can.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Recap: Cecilia, Louis, Baxter, James, and Freddie went to a club in the last chapter and ran into Selene and her friends again who were celebrating Teagan getting a new job. Victoire and Teddy had a heart-to-heart about things they feel self-conscious about and are trying to make their relationship stronger. Malcolm is still really worried about becoming a Dad in less than nine months.
Life Changes
Saturday, May 4th 2024
9:42 AM
"So then," Louis announced in an excited tone as he paused for a second in his story to take a sip of tea, "Once we had the bloke in the interview room – which another younger officer once called the interrogation room and then immediately got chewed out by Agent Alesci – and then before we could even ask him if he wanted to see-"
"Shhhh!" Cecilia interrupted him harshly as she looked up from the parchment paper she was writing on and delivered the noise with a severe glare.
Louis rolled his eyes at Cecilia and reached for his wand so that he could cast a muffliato in her direction. Once it was done, he smarmily told her that he loved her; she just sent him another withering glare as all she could hear was a familiar buzzing noise. She called him a not-so-nice name in Gaelic, tossed a rude hand gesture at him, and then went back to her hurried writing.
On the exact opposite side of the flat from where Cecilia sat at the kitchen counter, Louis and Baxter were sat in the living-room area finishing up a late breakfast and conversing in what they had thought was a quiet enough tone as not to disrupt the quidditch writer.
"If she had a deadline coming up so quickly for a piece why did she go out with us last night? She's usually such a swot when it comes to her work," Baxter commented as he shot another glance in the direction of the dark-haired woman who was writing so furiously that ink had started to spatter onto her hand and wrist.
Louis shrugged, "She said she that she had it pretty much done last night, and that she didn't want to have to leave me to myself last night at the club to fend off all of the girls who would no doubt surround me."
He completed his sentence with a bit of an eyeroll and a tone of voice that made it clear that he didn't fully believe her words.
"Well despite the fact that we joke about her having to veto James, Freddie, and my dates for the wedding, I know that she does take that roll very seriously because she doesn't want to disappoint Vic or Ally," Baxter said.
Louis smirked a little over the rim of his tea mug, "It's mostly Freddie she worries about. In her head she's already got dates for you and James lined up."
"Of course she does," Baxter muttered irritated, "Bloody interfering woman."
"You think its hilarious when she does it to James," The blonde cousin pointed out.
Baxter frowned, "That's because I'm not James. And the last time she tried to interfere with my love life was the whole Eliza debacle."
"It was painful at the moment but I wouldn't call it a complete debacle considering that you're still really good friends with her and you can spend time with her now without it being weird," Louis pointed out.
"I'd still rather not go through the same scenario again."
Louis chuckled, "You're in luck then, because I don't think Bakery Girl has ever even met Benjamin let alone gotten impregnated by him."
Baxter grabbed a throw pillow and whacked Louis over the head with it, "Bugger off."
His cousin snickered and grabbed a different pillow to defend himself from Baxter's onslaught. Louis got to his feet and tried to put the coffee table between them, but Baxter was right on his heels slashing the pillow around him.
"Could you two act like adults for even twenty minutes? Some of us have work to do!" Cecilia yelled at them from where she sat at the kitchen counter.
"How can you hear us with the spell on?"
Cecilia scowled at her boyfriend, "Because you put barely any effort into that spell and when you do that your charms end up working like shite."
Baxter snorted with laughter and dropped his pillow onto the arm chair.
"You could do to be a bit more respectful as well," Cecilia snapped at Baxter, her head swiveling to look at him.
"And you could have gotten your work done last night instead of going out clubbing," Baxter retorted with a poorly hidden smirk. Sometimes he enjoyed riling Cecilia up.
Her eyes sparked, "For your information I did finish this last night, but I woke up with a really good idea of something to add and I needed to do that now before I have to head off to Chuddley."
"You could have always gone back to your house if we were being too disruptive for you," Baxter added more fuel to the fire.
Cecilia snorted derisively, "And hang out around my parents a few hours before a big game? No thanks."
"Then I guess we will just have to blame your editor then for giving you so many assignments in a row. You'll barely have time to finish his one before you go off to Chuddely tonight to do the next one," Baxter told Cecilia in a placating tone.
She didn't look up from her paper as she responded matter-of-factly, "Oh this isn't for my editor. It's a proposal I'm working on for The Charity."
The Charity was how Cecilia, and most of the people on The Charity's board, referred to their organization. At the moment its official name was Organizational Charity Venture for Youth in Sports number 121, but that was because when The Charity's board members had officially registered the corporation with the Ministry eight and a half month's previously, that was the banal name that it needed to be submitted under. After The Charity's two month probation period had ended they were given the appropriate papers to change it's name to something more reflective of their actual purpose, and all they needed to do was to pick something.
Just picking the name was a problem though. As the board members leaned heavily towards the Type A side of the personality spectrum, they were having trouble coming up with a name that they were confident enough in to use to permanently christen their organization. Cecilia and Ginny had each thrown around at least two dozen names over the past several months, only to be told by Katie and Gwenog Jones that they loved all of them, expect for just one or two little things, which ended with all four women picking apart all of the potential failings of those names until there was nothing left to the suggestions but two or three consonants. When those situations happened Clark Westin and Alejo Rodríguez would wind the ladies up even further by parodying them to the point of ridiculousness, and then it was left to poor Mark Doyle and Maksim Ignatiev to try to be the calm rationale voices that would center everyone and remind them why they were all there.
Since picking a name for their organization was proving to be more difficult than they had originally believed, the board members had given themselves nine months to come up with the name they were going to use. Clark and Alejo had argued that nine months was exorbitantly too long, but Mark and Gwenog had contended that The Charity was their baby and that most people had nine months to decided on their baby's name. That was how they were given their timeline of nine months, and that was also why that timeline had almost elapsed without them coming up with something suitable. They still had two weeks left to their deadline, but Cecilia wasn't entirely convinced that they'd be able to make it.
As it was, she had given up on coming up with a name for The Charity about a month prior, and was presently more focused on writing up a proposal for a new scion of their organization that she would like the board to undertake. The next meeting of their board was that next Wednesday, and even though she had the proposal pretty much finished, she wasn't lying when she said that something had come to her in her sleep that she wanted to add in.
"What's the proposal about? I thought you lot were starting small with raising money to fund quidditch scholarships for mini-league quidditch teams for underprivileged youth?" Baxter asked Cecilia, now genuinely interested in hearing about what she was working on.
"Well, it is our aim to stay small for the next little while, especially since we can't really start anything big without having a proper name, but what I'd like to start working on would take a lot of time to put into place so I thought it would be good to get it off the ground early as it will take quite a while until it is able to come to fruition," She explained.
Baxter sarcastically applauded her, "That was well done Cee-Cee, explaining the situation while still being horribly vague about it. Quite a feat really."
Cecilia rolled her brown eyes at him, "I just don't want to jinx it by talking about it okay?"
"That's fair," He agreed, finally putting an end to his teasing. He knew how serious she was when it came to The Charity.
Louis stepped up to his girlfriend and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, "Whatever it is you're proposing I'm sure they will love it. You are absolutely brilliant after all."
Cecilia snorted at his indiscriminate praise and patronizingly patted his forearm, "You don't need to lay it on so thick babe. I'm already sleeping with you."
"That's not-"
"I'm just teasing you Love," She told him as she stood up from her stool and reached for Louis's face so he could pat his cheek.
Baxter groaned at the pair and turned to refill his mug of tea, "Ugh, you two are so gross."
The pair chuckled and Louis wrapped his arms around Cecilia's waist so he could pull her into a hug, "If you found a girlfriend you could give Cecilia and I a taste of our own medicine with all of the lovey-doveyness."
Cecilia scoffed, "Really, all he'd need to do is find his Gryffindor courage and just ask Lia out on a date-"
"I wasn't sorted into Gryffindor!" Baxter reminded the pair exasperatedly.
"No, you weren't sorted into Gryffindor, you were sorted into Hufflepuff, which means that when you do finally make a move, you'll have a much better chance at not screwing everything up by acting all strong headed and self-important," Cecilia told him.
Louis frowned down at her, "Was that aimed at me?"
"No Babe, it was self-introspection," Cecilia moved her gaze from the part-veela to his cousin, "it's obvious she already fancies you Baxter, all you've got to do is give her just the smallest bit of encouragement and see where it leads."
Baxter sighed, "You know the fear of rejection is one of the most common fears out there, right?"
"You weren't worried about rejection when you were flirting with a woman who was impregnated by another man," She reminded him.
The redhead slumped onto a stool at the kitchen counter, "Obviously Louis's spell worked just a little bit if you missed the part of our conversation earlier about how my going after Eliza worked out so well for me the last time."
"You were the one who broke things off with her, remember?" Cecilia opposed.
"Because being with her didn't feel like it should have! If I couldn't feel the right thing with someone like Eliza who is the only person outside of my family that I've ever felt the pull to love, then what chance is there for me with anybody else?"
Louis looked sympathetically at his cousin, "Sometimes love takes time to grow."
"Like thirteen years," Cecilia muttered under her breath.
Louis ignored her and continued, "But when you finally feel it, it will be worth any pain you might have had to go through."
"Are you writing muggle romcoms now?" Baxter asked his cousin derisively.
Cecilia turned a laugh into a cough but Louis still sent her a frown.
"Fine, don't take this seriously," Louis said looking back at Baxter with a pout.
Baxter rolled his eyes but stepped up to Louis and tossed his arm around him, "I appreciate your concern and your advice cuz. I really do. And I love you, even when you're being interfering."
"I love you too," Louis replied hesitantly as he was still pouting over being laughed at.
"Hmmpf."
Both men turned to look at Cecilia.
"What is it?"
Cecilia glared at Baxter, "Eliza's the only person outside of your family that you love, huh?"
Baxter sighed, "You've always been family Cecilia, even if you don't have the Weasley last name yet."
She went from frowning at him to beaming at his words, but they had the opposite effect on Louis.
"Yet?" He asked aloud his voice a little strangled.
"Oh," Baxter replied as he took in Louis's expression, "You're right I shouldn't just assume that Cecilia will take your last name when you get married. My bad."
"Married?" Louis repeated in a high-pitched tone.
Cecilia rolled her eyes at Louis's shock and then narrowed her eyes at Baxter, "Way to go Bax. You're scaring him."
"Well I'm sorry, but it can't be a surprise to him that he'll end up married to you," Baxter retorted.
Cecilia put her hands on her hips and continued to talk about Louis as if he wasn't even there, "You know that witnessing everything going on with Victoire and Ally's wedding planning has been traumatizing for him. We're going to need to avoid mentioning the word marriage around him for another year at least."
"I didn't realize he was so sensitive," Baxter said with a wave of his hand.
"It's mostly Fleur he's terrified of," Cecilia explained.
Baxter nodded his head understandingly, "I'd be afraid of Auntie Fleur too."
"I'm not afraid of my mother," Louis finally spoke up.
Cecilia smirked at her boyfriend and slid her hands up the front of his chest, "Yes you are."
Louis pouted, "She's – she's just so damn nosy and insistent and-"
Cecilia kissed his mouth to put a stop to his babbling, "This has been an interesting experiment in the hypothetical, but we can put talk of marriage away on the shelf for quite awhile, I think. I'm not ready to get married, even to you Babe, sorry."
"That's alright Cee-Cee I never actually even proposed to you," He reminded her.
She giggled, "I know, Baxter sort of did it for you."
"I'll do better the next time I propose for you," Baxter told them with a laugh, "I promise."
11:00 AM
Victoire was bouncing up and down on the toes of her patent leather black flats and reciting the twelve uses of dragon's blood in her head to stop herself from dwelling on thoughts that would only increase her anxiety. Beside her Teddy was a warm, strong presence as always. Where she was jumpy and full of nervous energy, he was steady and as expressionless as an auror playing poker.
On Victoire's other side, Dom was standing with her hand rested on a hip she'd popped out, and was imperiously surveying the expansive mansion that belonged to the long driveway that they were presently standing in the mouth of.
"I thought Maman said that she talked some sense into your real estate agent after our last house hunting fiasco?" Dom enquired as her eyes shrewdly counted the number of windows she could see on the front of the house and then mentally divided that by an average number to give her an estimate of how many rooms the building held.
"I think the fact that this mansion probably only has eight bathrooms and twelve bedrooms is our real estate agent trying to do better," Teddy explained to his soon-to-be sister-in-law
Dom rolled her eyes, "She's really hoping for a big commission, isn't she?"
"At this point I'd pay her just to leave us alone," Victoire muttered when she ran out of uses for dragon's blood and unfortunately had to focus on the conversation going on around her.
Teddy glanced at her sympathetically and grabbed her hand, "There's still the option to ditch her and try to find a new real estate agent."
"And potentially go through all of this hassle again? No thank you," Victoire replied determinately.
As anxious as house hunting with their ridiculous real estate agent made her, the idea of all of their time going to waste and having to start over from scratch was even more panic-provoking.
"At least we lost all of the dead weight from the last excursion," Dom announced airily.
After the epic failure that was the last time they went house-hunting, Victoire and Teddy were able to convince the majority of their family that in the first stages of looking for their future home, less was more when it came to an entourage. In fact, they had whittled the number down to just the two of them before Victoire had decided that it would be a good idea to keep Dom on the team. With everything she already had on her plate, plus all of the new additions that cropped up in the past week, having someone on their side that wouldn't be afraid to speak their mind and tell their real estate agent to shove it when she starts to overreach would be very useful; and if she was using her younger sister to intimidate her real estate agent and to hide behind her when the going gets tough, well what else was family for?
"It even seems as though we've lost our agent," Teddy remarked wryly as he glanced down at his watch and then back at the mansion. She was supposed to meet them there at eleven o'clock sharp.
Victoire glanced at the mansion as well, "Maybe she's trying to give us some time alone with the house so we can fall in love with it from the outside or something stupid like that?"
"Or maybe-"
There wasn't time for Dom's suggestion as their real estate agent popped into view and began to apologize for being three minutes late. She glazed over the issue with finesse and then went right into telling them the specs of the house. Listening in detail to all of the information about the seventeenth century wainscoting was almost as painful as the last time they'd endured it, but somehow it was a bit better than the last time as there were less family members around making snarky comments.
Once they'd almost completed a lap around the huge house, the real estate agent asked them in her peppy tone if they had any questions about it.
"Are there servants' quarters?" Dom asked in a suspiciously neutral tone.
The agent was shocked at hearing a question from Dom without any sass, but she jumped at the chance to answer it, "Of course, they're through the back kitchen and down the stairs."
Dom nodded and then glanced at the pair who was doing the purchasing, "I think that right there tells you what you need to know."
Victoire nodded sadly and she and Teddy told the relator that it was time to go to the next house. She frowned but then agreed to show them the next listing she had arranged for them to look at. The next house as well as the one after it were also better described as mansions, and when they were shown the equally ridiculous number of bathrooms and bedrooms Dom began teasing the couple about how they'd have enough rooms to be able to host all of their family for Christmas.
The last house they were shown though, actually looked like it had some potential. Victoire thought that it might be the stress and the time-crunch talking, but the house, while still a little too big for their tastes with eight bedrooms and eight bathrooms, had a bright and airy kitchen, no servants' quarters, and even though the house was several centuries old it had still been updated with each decade that had passed.
Just when Victoire and Teddy were about to voice their opinions that the house actually did have potential, the real estate agent showed them the last room in the house; the family parlor. The room was large with a black marble fireplace, wide windows that faced the spacious back yard, and an entire wall covered in colourful tapestry that displayed the family tree of the current owners of the house.
As Victoire and Teddy were both speechless, Dom did the talking for them.
"Uh . . . that's a magical family tree."
The real estate agent nodded with enthusiasm, "Indeed it is. The tapestry's magical ability goes back hundreds of years. It's a wonderful way to display a person's loving family."
Dom looked at her like she had two heads, "Don't you think it's a little odd to live in a house with someone else's family tree sprawled on the wall?"
The real estate agent started to laugh, "Ha ha, that would be very odd indeed. No, the sellers will of course include the spell that will change the family tree over to your own."
"There's a spell that can do that?" Dom enquired interestedly.
"The spell is specific to this house and this family tree, it wouldn't work on another one, not that you'd want it to. Who goes around enchanting other people's family trees?"
The question hung in the air and even though Victoire could have easily answered it, she held it in and instead asked another one, "Is there anyway to take the spell off completely?"
"Oh no dear, I'm sorry but that kind of magic is woven into the very bones of this house," The real estate agent replied.
Victoire glanced at Teddy, "Maybe we could just burn off all of the family members that are horrible? If Séraphine's on there I wouldn't mind scorching her off."
"And take a page from Walburga Black's playbook? No thank you," Teddy replied icily.
"Fair enough. I still don't like the number of rooms around here. Too many for me to have to keep clean."
"But there are just enough rooms for that quidditch team of kids you're supposed to have," Dom reminded them with a cheeky smirk.
Victoire and Teddy's eyes went wide, "We're leaving."
The last house the agent showed them was worse than all of the others, and it was quickly nixed by the engaged couple. The real estate agent didn't seem too deterred and she promised that the next time they were able to get together to look at houses she would find the perfect one for them.
The real estate agent had disapparated away, but instead of following her lead Victoire, Teddy, and Dom walked slowly down the laneway that the house was situated on.
"So what do we think? A complete waste of time or an educational experience?" Dom asked her sister and soon-to-be brother.
They answered at the same time.
"A waste of an educational experience."
"Meaning?"
Teddy sighed tiredly, "I feel like there was the opportunity to learn a lot from this appointment. About what we want and don't want in our future home, but all we learned was what we knew from the first time, that we don't want anything with enough bedrooms to house an entire quidditch team."
"But where will Clark and Mark sleep when they visit?" Dom asked sarcastically.
Victoire snorted, "Well Mark can sleep on the couch, and I'm sure Clark would be all for sharing a room with you."
After the very awkward end to Dom's very short-term relationship with Clark Westin a year and a half ago, the pair had finally found themselves in a place where they could interact and be friends without either of them feeling weird, anxious, or guilty. While her family might continue to tease Dom every once and a while about said unsuccessful relationship with Clark, it was usually meant good-naturedly, especially since Clark seemed to have moved past his crush on Dom over the last several months.
"I'd be all for that," Dom replied with a wicked smirk, "Even though I know you'd never allow that. Once you become friends with a bloke you usually tell me that they're off limits and that I'm not allowed to flip my hair in their direction let alone talk to them."
Victoire seemed offended, "When have I ever told you that you can't flirt with someone?"
Teddy coughed to hide a snort of amusement while Dom's eyes sparked with perniciousness.
"Most recently? Greg Line."
"And did you listen to me? No. And how'd that work out for you again? Oh yeah, you're now trying to set him up with Spencer Green."
Dom put her hands on her hips, "You also told me not to flirt with Healer Jarvis."
"I was legitimately concerned about Donnie's safety if you tried to seduce him. He's an innocent, maidenly, thing."
Teddy raised an eyebrow at that one, "Donnie's in obstetrics and gynecology . . . how can you be worried about his innocence when he spends all day dealing with women's reproductive organs?"
Both women ignored him as Dom continued her list.
"Then there was the time you heavily suggested that I shouldn't even smile at Hayden Summers or Kurt Williamson because you didn't want me to encourage them."
"Teddy has to work in the same department with them for the rest of his life! I was doing all of us a favour."
"I know I appreciate it," Teddy replied although he knew both women were past listening to him.
Dom pursed her lips as she looked at her elder sister, "And the pièce de resistance: Konstantin Krum."
"Has anything good actually come out of your entanglement with him?" Victoire asked sardonically.
Dom knew it was rhetoric but she answered anyway, "The sex was more than good for your information."
"Then why don't you owl him right now and tell him that you're up for a long-distance relationship," Victoire said, calling her bluff.
Her younger sister pouted, "You know that I don't want any relationship right now."
"Hence why I warn you away from people who will want a relationship from you."
"Alright then, any other bloke you want to warn me away from while we're on the topic?"
Victoire glared at her sister's cheek, and didn't respond.
Teddy did instead, "Adam Westcott's a wanker."
"That I already knew," Dom said with a sympathetic tone as she looked at her sister.
Despite the fact that Victoire and Dom had had a blow out about the truth of her birthday just a few days ago, the pair were back to their normal sisterly relationship where they'd annoy the tar out of each other only to have the other's back when they needed it.
Teddy glanced down at his watch while the two women were embracing their unspoken truce, and noted the time.
"Lunch anyone?"
Victoire and Dom unequivocally agreed that they were hungry enough to eat a hippogriff, and the three of them apparated to one of their favourite muggle pubs after allowing Dom the chance to make a quick phone call that she suddenly remembered she needed to make.
Dom instructed the waitress at the pub to seat them at a spacious table, and they were left to their own devices after being handed large, vinyl-covered menus.
"What are we thinking?" Teddy asked idly as he and Victoire shared a menu.
"Probably bangers and mash or fish and chips," Dom replied as her gaze shifted between both options on the expansive menu.
Teddy wrapped his arm around Victoire's shoulder, "What about you Love?"
"Curry sounds really good, although if I get that I might regret not getting chips," Victoire mused.
He rolled his eyes affectionately at her, "If I got something with chips would you be able to help me finish them then?"
"I love you," Was all she said in reply as she pressed a quick kiss to Teddy's lips.
Along with her truce with Dom, Victoire and Teddy had come to an understanding the previous night about their insecurities and how they should each deal with them. They knew that it was just one in a series of conversations, but it was a starting point, and the first conversation was usually the hardest.
Before their waitress came back, the trio were suddenly joined at their large table by two familiar faces.
"So what's the best dish at this place?" Anastasia Knott asked as she and Colton sat down at the two empty chairs at the table.
Victoire smiled at the pair and then glanced at her sister, "Anastasia and Colton were that very important call you had to make fifteen minutes ago?"
"I thought they might enjoy joining us for lunch," Dom said with a casual shrug.
"Stasia heard the words 'pub food' and was all in," Colton explained as he picked up the menu on the table that had been intended for Teddy.
Anastasia frowned at her husband, "It wasn't me, it's the baby. It's making me crave something greasy."
"So pregnancy cravings are a real thing?" Dom asked idly.
"Yes, and this one wants chips and gravy," Anastasia insisted as she glanced at the menu to see if they had a serving size bigger than large, "And maybe a few pasties."
Dom nodded her head with interest, "Beef or pork?"
"I'm not allowed to have pork from restaurants," Anastasia pouted.
Dom looked confused, "Why not?"
"Pregnant women need to be cautious about eating minced pork products. Their propensity to be undercooked and/or possibly contaminated with organ meet can be very dangerous for the woman and the fetus if they end up containing salmonella, listeria, or another bacterium," Victoire explained.
Anastasia gave Dom a look, "According to Colton that's not a risk we're willing to take, so no pork for me unless he cooks it himself."
"It's for the best until the little one comes out," Victoire reassured her.
The waitress came by, took all of their orders, assured Anastasia that the largest serving of chips would be enough for her, and then left to get them all drinks. After she had come back with them and then left once more, Dom glanced curiously at Anastasia.
"So, have you changed your mind about not finding out the baby's sex before it's born?"
"No Dominique," Colton replied in a tone that implied that they'd had that conversation several times already, "As I said before we want to keep it a surprise until the baby's born."
Victoire smiled at the expecting couple, "It's nice to keep it a surprise."
"It's mostly so that my parents can't be potentially disappointed in it before it's born," Colton explained, implying that his parents would prefer their first grandchild to be a boy.
Dom muttered something insulting about Creighton Knott in French under her breath and then said more loudly, "How many more years until Creighton retires again?"
"He's hinted that once I ensure his legacy will be carried on that that's when he'll agree to step down," Colton said with an eyeroll.
Stasia took a sip of her water, "So when are you going to tell him that you're going to groom Dom as your second-in-command?"
"Whenever I decided that he's due for a heart attack," Colton replied succinctly.
Their food arrived quickly, and while Victoire stole a few chips from Teddy's plate, Anastasia began asking the engaged couple how the house hunting had gone.
Victoire and Teddy launched into a tag-team complaint against their real estate agent and all of the horrid houses she had showed them, and it wasn't until they ran out of steam that Colton asked them if they even knew how many bedrooms they wanted in their future house.
"In all honesty, four bedrooms would be plenty, I have no idea how we went from that to these twelve-bedroom mansions we're being shown, but we did."
"It's because your real estate agent knows that on one of your salaries alone you could afford at least a six-bedroom house."
Victoire shoved a forkful of curry into her mouth and then complained, "And who shared that information with her?"
"It's kinda necessary if she's going to find us a home," Teddy remined Victoire.
Victoire sighed and looked at Colton and Anastasia, "I'll just be glad when this is all over."
"I don't blame you," Anastasia told her sympathetically, "Can I try your curry?"
"Sure," Victoire replied as she moved her plate closer to Anastasia's direction.
Colton threw his hand down on the table to stop the transaction, "No. Spicy food can induce labour."
Anastasia gave her husband a glare so deadly that it made Victoire fear for his safety.
"That's actually yet to be clinically proven," The healer told the overly anxious father-to-be.
Anastasia smirked victoriously at Colton and then stuck a fork into the curry on Victoire's plate.
As she took a bite of it, Colton still looked worried.
"Even if spicy food did induce labour, that curry's the lowest level of spice they've got here. I am still recovering from an ulcer after all," Victoire explained.
Colton looked at Victoire anxiously, "Please tell me that once the baby's born I'll be back to normal and I'll stop trying to micromanage."
"Please tell me that too!" Anastasia agreed in-between mouthfuls of curry and rice.
Victoire shook her head, "Sorry folks, gestation's just the beginning. Once the baby pops out, you'll be worried about every little thing it comes into contact with on a daily basis."
Anastasia picked up a chip from her extra-large serving and eyed Teddy, "Be prepared to give us a crash course on protection spells then."
4:45 PM
"And if the left and centre wing chasers come at you on a 43 and begin to cherry-pick-"
"I'll drop my altitude, pick up my speed, and backwards pass to Okonkwo at the first opportunity," James finished Nadia's sentence as he tightened the Velcro on his chaser's gloves.
Nadia put her hands on her hips and wagged her finger at James, "Remember, being cheeky is only allowable if you have the skills to back it up."
"Have I not proven my skills yet?" James asked her in an even cheekier tone.
The pregnant chaser rolled her eyes at him, "Two weeks is not enough to prove your worth. Even if you are the great James Potter."
"Understandable," James agreed as he bent over from his seated spot on the bench to ensure that his shoes were tied tight enough, "So how long is enough to prove my worth? Three weeks?"
Nadia rolled her eyes and reached over to ruffle James's dark hair, "I see Clark's already rubbing off on you."
"Oi!" Clark called from his spot over near his locker.
Mark and Xavier both chuckled as they continued to straighten their protective pads under their Puddlemere kits.
When the rest of the starting team had seemed to catch up to James's level of readiness, Oliver walked into the team's locker room along with a few of their other coaches and the head of Puddlemere's PR department.
The head of their PR department glanced around the room at the players and nodded, "Excellent you're all dressed, we need to have a brief team meeting so I'll just send for Cassano and-"
"Already here Mr. Webb," Nadia called from her spot on the bench next to James. She moved forward a bit as James's bulk had obviously obstructed her from the publicist's view.
Instead of being glad to see her Mr. Webb sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Cassano, we've talked before about you being in the men's locker room without being invited in by the coaches."
Nadia snorted derisively, "And what exactly are you worried is going to happen to me in the men's locker room? That I'm going to see my half-naked teammates and somehow end up double-pregnant?"
Clark and Mark started to snicker at the term 'double-pregnant' while Mr. Webb ignored Nadia and called the rest of the starting team to attention. The aforementioned beaters, Xavier, Okonkwo, and Knopp all settled onto benches close to James and Nadia, while Christopher Mullin, Puddlemere's starting seeker, chose to stand a few feet away from where the rest of the team was congregated.
Once Mr. Webb saw that he had all of their attention he nodded his head to the other member of Puddlemere's PR team that had followed him into the locker room. The other man nodded in return and left the locker room.
"We're going to keep this meeting short as I'm well aware that you have a game to play tonight, so I just wanted to take the opportunity to introduce you all to the newest member of our PR team," Mr. Webb announced to the team as he waved his hand in the direction of the locker room's door.
It opened a second later and, to James's complete shock, in walked a very professionally dressed Teagan Childs.
While James stared incredulously at his Gryffindor classmate, Mr. Webb continued to introduce Teagan, "This is Ms. Childs, she is the newest member of our Public Relations team here at Puddlemere and we are all very pleased that she has joined our team. Since she is new to us Ms. Childs will be working in conjunction with myself or another more senior member of our PR team for the next little while, but don't feel shy about coming to her if there's anything you need help with, every opportunity for growth is a good opportunity."
James could almost hear Nadia rolling her eyes from her seat next to him as Mr. Webb continued.
"Ms. Childs, this is our starting team: Mullin, Okonkwo, Knopp, Wood, Westin, Doyle, Cassano, and our newest edition to our starting roster, Potter."
"Do you really need to introduce us Webb? I'm sure Ms. Childs is well aware of who we are," Clark interrupted with mischievous smirk.
Teagan chuckled, "Indeed I do Mr. Westin, in fact Mr. Webb already gave me dossiers on all of you this morning so that I could get up to speed."
Clark frowned and furiously began whispering to Mark about what could have been in his dossier.
"Westin, we haven't had a female publicist on our team for four years now, please don't scare this one away like you did the last one," One of the Puddlemere coaches told Clark seriously.
"It'll take more than Clark to scare Teagan away, she used to date Nolan Finnegan," James whispered to Xavier.
"Now," Mr. Webb began, "Everyone please greet Ms. Childs and then we will be on our way to allow you time to prepare for the game."
Mullin, Okonkwo, and Knopp all gave Teagan brief nods of greeting; Clark and Mark smiled charmingly at her; Nadia said something succinct about welcoming her to the Puddlemere family; and Xavier teased Teagan about how the last time he saw her she was a second-year who'd gotten stuck on one of the many moving staircases at Hogwarts.
After Teagan laughed and thanked her old Head Boy once more for helping her maneuver the enchanted staircases so she could make it to potions class on time, Teagan turned and met James's gaze.
"Hey Teagan," James greeted her wryly.
"Hi James," Teagan replied brightly.
"So, this is the new job you were celebrating last night?" He asked her with a raised eyebrow.
She nodded enthusiastically, "Yup."
"Why didn't you tell me last night?" He asked her curiously.
Teagan rolled her eyes at him, "I signed a non-disclosure agreement dummy."
"I don't think you're allowed to call me names," He rebutted.
His old Gryffindor classmate smirked at him, "Actually, one of the reasons why I got the job is because I don't give a damn about your super-star status."
"You told them that in the interview and they still hired you?" James shot back.
"They were very concerned about whether, as a young impressionable woman, I would end up falling for you, the handsome and charming rookie player," Teagan explained with another roll of her eyes, "I assured them that not only are you over-rated, but that after that time in fourth-year where you and Freddie dressed like Headmistress McGonagall for a week, there is no danger of my fancying you."
James pretended to be offended, "Over-rated? Me?"
"Yes, tall, dark-haired, and handsome is so over-rated," Teagan replied with another wicked smirk, "I also explained to them that I already had enough dirt on you from seven years of being in the same house at Hogwarts that I'd have no reason to leak any other sensitive information that I might learn about you here while on the job."
"I'm glad that you knowing me has aided you in your job prospects," James told her sarcastically.
Teagan smiled, "It did, although we should probably stop bantering. Mr. Webb's been watching us like a hawk and he's probably doubting my assertation right now that I don't give a fig for you."
"Good luck with your new position," James said with a small wave goodbye.
"And good luck with the game tonight," Teagan replied before she bounced away to join Mr. Webb at the locker room door.
7:02 PM
"Why's he doing that?" Brogan Wood asked his older cousin Malcolm curiously as he watched Knopp seemingly throw the quaffle into nowhere only for James to zoom in from nowhere, catch it, and then make a mad drive for the opposite end of the pitch.
"He did that because he knew James was going to catch it," Malcolm explained, only giving Brogan a slight glance to make sure that he was still sitting in the seat and not trying to climb halfway up a wall.
"How'd he know?"
"Because they planned it."
"Why'd they plan it?"
"Because that's part of their job."
"But why?" Brogan asked again, his tone still curious even though he'd been asking Malcolm questions for the past twenty minutes at least.
Malcolm turned to look more clearly at Brogan and felt a vein in his head throb as he stared at the five-year-old. He'd been regulated to Brogan-sitting duty by his Uncle Oliver and Aunt Katie until further notice. They didn't say it aloud, but he was pretty sure that the intention behind their order was to give him more practice with young kids, especially since he had a baby on the way. Malcolm took a deep breath and centered himself as he began to answer yet another question from the child with what had to be the shortest attention span in the world.
"Because when it comes to quidditch all of the players work very hard on their plays and strategies so that they can score goals," Malcolm explained slowly and clearly.
Brogan nodded his head and then pursed his lips, "Why is the sky blue?"
Malcolm felt the vein in his head throb again and he felt like he wanted to scream.
"It's alright to tag out man," Teddy informed his best mate from the seat next to him as he watched how red Malcolm's face was turning.
Malcolm exhaled heavily and reached across Teddy to tap Victoire, who was on the other side of Teddy, on the knee. Victoire, who had only been half-listening to Malcom and Brogan's interaction, turned away from her conversation with the wife of one of the other Puddlemere chasers, and glanced expectantly at the Woods.
"Yes?"
Malcolm gestured to Brogan who, when he realized that Malcolm had not yet replied to his question, decided to repeat it on a loop in case his older cousin just hadn't heard him properly. Victoire snorted in amusement and then clapped her hands together to interrupt Brogan and asked him if he wanted to sit with her. Brogan shot up out of his chair quicker than if he'd been offered a soft pretzel, and make quick work of walking over two sets of male feet to throw himself into Victoire's lap.
The little boy wrapped an arm around her neck and looked her deep in the eyes, "Why is the sky blue?"
"The sky is blue due to a phenomenon called Raleigh scattering. This scattering refers to the scattering of electromagnetic radiation by particles of a much smaller wavelength. Sunlight is scattered by the particles of the atmosphere-"
"Can I go sit with Zach?" Brogan interrupted Victoire when he realized that Victoire's explanation was going to last longer and contain even more words he didn't understand.
Victoire smirked and ruffled his short hair, "Of course Baby Boy."
Brogan bounced off Victoire's lap and then began his journey to get to where Zach Westin was currently sitting next to his mother Tabitha. Brogan deftly climbed over the seats in front of him, landing on top of Ginny Potter who let out a good-natured chuckle as she helped him to his feet, and then he ran across three more pairs of feet until he got to the aisle which allowed him to go the rest of the way to Zach without inconveniencing anymore of the people in the Puddlemere box. Brogan immediately began chatting with the older eight-year-old, and once Victoire had caught the eye of Ally, who was sitting next to Tabitha, she mouthed the words 'your turn' to let her cousin know that she was in charge of Brogan now.
Ally sent Victoire a thumbs up and then went back to talking to Tabitha, "So between Victoire and Grace I could probably check out completely until the wedding and everything else would still probably get done."
"You're lucky to have such helpful bridesmaids, I was a bridesmaid for a friend of mine a few years ago when Zach was three, and there was one girl who told the bride that she'd probably be an hour late to the ceremony because she hired her own photographer to take pictures of her and her boyfriend before the wedding since they'd be dressed up all nice," Tabitha told Ally.
"That sounds awful. Is it possible to fire your own bridesmaid?"
"It should be."
"I feel like there are some people who wouldn't accept being fired, like Dom would never allow Vic to do tha–BROGAN KIRKLAND WOOD DO NOT PUT THAT IN YOUR MOUTH!"
Brogan jerked in shock at the volume of Ally's yell and immediately dropped the half-eaten soft pretzel that he seemed to have picked up off the ground.
"But Ally-"
"We do not eat food that we find on the floor," Ally lectured Brogan now that she had his undivided attention.
"But it's a-"
"I do not care what food it is. No eating food off the ground," Ally repeated firmly.
Tabitha reached into the pocket of her jacket pocket and pulled out her wand, "Come here Brogan, I'll disinfect your hands."
Brogan pouted but stumbled over to Tabitha with his hands held out. She said the spell aloud and waved her wand over his open hands before tapping each of his palms.
"Zach you're next."
"But I didn't touch it Mum."
"Zachary Clark Westin," Tabitha reprimanded him in her 'mom' voice.
Zach frowned as well but listened to his mother. Tabitha used the same disinfecting spell on Zach's hands, and then after a second thought she used the same spell to disinfect the rest of Zach's body.
"Mum!" Zach complained when Tabitha spun him around so that she could disinfect the areas behind his ears.
"I can't trust you not to touch something dirty and then use that same hand to touch your face somewhere," Tabitha told him in a tone of voice that held an undercurrent of anxiety.
Zach sighed, "I know not to do that Mum."
As if she couldn't hear him, Tabitha waved her wand one more time over Zach's hands a pair of disposable gloves appeared on them.
"There you go."
Zach looked like he wanted to roll his eyes, but instead he muttered something unintelligible under his breath and then quickly moved back to where he and Brogan had been sitting a few minutes prior so that he was just out of range of his mother.
"Um, Tab, don't you think that was a little extreme?" Ally asked Tabitha
Tabitha let out a forced chuckle that sounded more than a little strained to Ally, "There's bacteria everywhere Ally."
"Yes, that's true," Ally said in as non-judgmental of a tone as possible, "But he's got a strong immune system now. Right? You said his last healer's appointment went great."
"It did, but just because the healer said that he's good to go back to normal activity now that he's a year post-surgery doesn't mean that we shouldn't still be careful."
Ally held in her first reaction, which would have been to say 'yes, that is what being a year post-surgery means', and instead just nodded sympathetically. She knew better than to argue with Tabitha when it came to Zach's health. Ever since he'd been diagnosed with an atrial septal defect two January's ago, the single-mother had been determinately obsessed with just one thing, her son's health.
Zach had been at a friend's house for a sleepover when Tabitha had been contacted by the mother of Zach's friend, saying that Zach's pallor was looking grey and that he was having trouble breathing. Tabitha immediately collected Zach and took him to St. Mungo's where they diagnosed him with a virus and then recommend some chest diagnostic imaging to see if there was anything pre-existing that could be causing the difficulty in breathing like restricted airways. After the images were taken, the main healer on Zach's case explained to Tabitha that they spotted a suspicious shading on the heart and that they wanted to run more tests. It only took a few more hours for the healers to diagnose Zach with an atrial septal defect, otherwise known as a hole in his heart.
Fortunately, Tabitha had a good support system with Clark and the rest of her friends as she was about to deal with the long and lengthy healing process Zach would have to go through. The first step in Zach treatment plan began with weeks of testing and then more weeks of prep as they got Zach ready for surgery, which occurred two Aprils' ago. After his surgery he had two months of isolation at home while he recovered, and when he got the okay to go back to school the past September, he was pretty much back to normal with the exception of the post-surgery potions and medications he had to take.
At his one-year post-surgery healer's appointment a week ago, the healer had told Tabitha that Zach would be able to function perfectly normally and that they had no concerns about Zach's heart at present or in the future. This information was a welcome relief to Clark and Zach himself, although Tabitha received the information with mixed results. While she was grateful that the healers said that Zach would be fine, she was still anxious that he would inexplicably become ill. The nervous habit of trying to keep Zach in a bubble within her eye sight that Tabitha had developed while he was immunocompromised pre- and post-surgery was hard for her to shed. For the past year she had been treating Zach with kid gloves and had been in her, understandably, overprotective-mommy mode since she first received his diagnosis.
The scene of Tabitha disinfecting the entirety of Zach's body was unfortunately not new to Ally, who along with Victoire, had become an integral part of Tabitha's support system over the past year since Zach's diagnosis.
"I wouldn't worry too much about Zach, he knows better than to eat food he finds laying on the ground. Brogan usually does too, he just has a soft spot for soft pretzels," Ally told Tabitha.
"I know, I just . . ." Tabitha's defense trailed off as she struggled to come up with the words to describe the overwhelming anxiety she felt when it came to anything concerns Zach's health.
"You worry, which is what parents are supposed to do," Ally reassured her.
Instead of continuing to spiral into her apprehensions, Ally decided to change the subject to something that didn't concern Zach's health.
"Have you decided who's you're going to take Victoire's wedding yet?"
"Zach."
Ally snorted, "Obviously you're going to bring Zach with you, but who's going to be your date?"
"I don't have time to date."
She should have seen Tabitha's answer coming. Since Tabitha had first been told of Zach's heart problems, she had eschewed any activity that did not include looking after Zach or working to earn money to look after her son. Before Zach fell ill, Mark Doyle had finally worked up the courage to ask Tabitha out on a date. They were actually out on their first date when Tabitha was contacted by the mother of Zach's friend to tell her that he was having trouble breathing. She cut the date early to pick up Zach and take him to the hospital, and after that she got caught up in the whirlwind of Zach's illness.
Ever since his diagnosis, Tabitha had been insistent that she was too caught up with Zach to even consider dating. Mark had stood by Tabitha and Zach's side during his illness and had helped support them without even so much as mentioning the word 'date' around Tabitha since she had told him about her decision to focus on her son. Now that Zach was undeniably better though, Mark had been carefully watching Tabitha for any signs that she was ready to try dating again.
Ally knew all of this because Mark had broken down several months ago and had gone to Ally to voice his feelings and his concerns. Usually, Clark would have been Mark's go-to to decompress, but since Clark was still in the dark about his best friend's feelings for his sister, Ally was his next best option. Mark had already told Ally weeks ago about his plans to ask Tabitha out on a date again, but ever since Zach's health was officially cleared by the healer, Tabitha had been avoiding contact with Mark even more than she had before. Ally had her own theory on why Tabitha was avoiding Mark now that Zach was healthy, but she needed to observe Tabitha for a little longer before she could decide if she was going to do meddle in the not-a-couple's business.
"There are a lot of different ways to 'date' Tab. I'm sure any guy who really liked you and was really worthy of you would agree to go at whatever speed you're ready for," Ally stated.
Tabitha folded her arms across her chest and looked away from Ally to glance at the quidditch game still in progress in front of them. At the moment, the action of the play was centred around both of Puddlemere's beaters, and when Tabitha's eyes reflexively moved to Mark, she shifted her gaze again as quickly as she could to look at her feet.
"I don't need to date. I've got everything I need with Zach, and Clark, and you-"
"Everything?" Ally asked Tabitha with a raised eyebrow.
Tabitha's face went red but she squared her shoulders, "Everything I need. I have support, kindness, love . . ."
"How long has it been since you had physical affection from someone that you're sexually interested in?"
"Ally!" Tabitha whispered shocked as she glanced at the two younger boys to make sure that they hadn't heard her.
Ally rolled her eyes, before she had said it, she made sure that the boys weren't paying them any attention, and then she continued, "You're still young Tab, and according to Clark you haven't dated anyone since Zach's father, you shouldn't shut-out everyone just because of a bad experience."
"I'm not, I've been over that Prat since before Zach was actually born," Tabitha told Ally in a tone that sounded more sincere than anything else she had said in their previous conversation.
This just confused Ally, "Than what are you-"
Her question was cut-off by the approach of the younger boys. It seemed that Brogan had decided that since Ally wouldn't let him eat soft pretzels he found laying around on the ground, he came to the conclusion that he deserved a real one from the closest vendor. The littlest Wood had Ally pulled out of her seat and starting towards the box's exit before Ally had the chance to realize that she had just lost her best chance to convince Tabitha to get back into the dating pool for the rest of the night.
A/N: Well here it is! I know that we didn't see a lot of action in this chapter, but a lot of you were asking about what's going with Cecilia's charity and with Mark and Tabitha, so here it is. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please remember to let me know what you think about it.
Help!: Since Cecilia's charity is still yet un-named this means that there's an opportunity for one of you to name it! Leave me any name suggestions you have for their charity in a review or a PM and if there's a really good one I might use it! (And give you credit of course.)
Good News: Not only have I recently been accepted to teacher's college for next year as mentioned above, I also received my first dose of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine this past week! I work with young vulnerable children who are too little to wear masks or physically distant, but even though we all wear the appropriate PPE it's nice to have the knowledge that I've got everything I can now to keep myself safe and to stop spreading it to others. Obviously the choice to receive a vaccine is a personal choice, but I would encourage everyone who has the opportunity to receive one to speak with their primary care practitioner to decide if the vaccine is right for them.
I want to thank everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed this story!
BIG thank yous as always to:
carbo21, rosesnlilies, Katie2001, CrackHeadBlonde, Nobothersgiventoday, Saagarika, Ginevra Hope, Guest (1), J, jelly-hoppers, Gnool, Inthemiddle2, Guest (2), Durandoe, NicoleTheSmith, TeeChamblissful, Manydifferentfandoms, blue14x, Guest (3), Izzy, iceangel360, Emily G, KEL, Break This Spell626, HippogriffHealer, Kunaal Gautam, liverpoolss, Guest (4), Ikizuko, and Guest (5).
carbo21: Don't worry, I've grown attached to Selene myself.
rosesnlilies: Thank you! I'm sorry this new chapter had to wait so long.
CrackHeadBlonde: Don't worry, I doubt this will be the last time we see them together.
Saagarika: Thank you, I know it seems like the wedding is forever away, but there's a little more plot that needs to plot before we get there.
Gnool: Sorry, sometimes I like to tease.
Durandoe: Hello, this is a little late, I know, but welcome to my wizarding world and I hope you enjoy the ride!
blue14x: Don't worry I enjoy complex reviews as well. I intentionally designed Victoire and Teddy's relationship the way it is, so I'm glad to see that people can see the differences in the perceived and actual power structures in their relationship.
Izzy: Don't worry, I still haven't fully ruled out a fireball being thrown at Martell yet ;)
KEL: I lol'd at you review. Thanks for the laugh.
HippogriffHealer: Excellent question about Charlie and Daria. Would you believe me if I said we'll find out next chapter?
Kunaal Gautam: Hello! Welcome to my wizarding world, I hope you enjoy the ride.
I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter,
Please leave me any questions or comments you have in a review or a PM,
Drop your suggestions for what Cecilia should name 'The Charity',
Please stay safe and help slow the spread,
Until next time, DFTBA!