Stars

August 10th, 1995
Seventh Year
-

Leilani had invited Fred over to meet her parents for the first time and she was nervous. She'd never had a boy over before—at least not like this. Her parents had given strict ground rules: doors open, no snogging, and he had to stay for dinner.

Leili called Jo, who knew Fred was expected in an hour. "What's up?" Jo's voice crackled over the line.

"I'm in trouble. Deep, deep trouble. Help?"

"What's the matter?" Jo asked, instantly concerned.

"I don't have a thing to wear!" Jo laughed. "It's not funny, Jo!" Leili chided, but she smiled all the same.

"Oh, yes it is! I've seen your closet; you have some of the cutest things, ever. I wish I could wear some of your dresses, and your shoes! Oh, my god, you have what, a dozen pairs of shoes?"

"I do not! I have, one, two, three… Oh wow, I really do have a dozen pairs of shoes…"

"Told ya!" Jo laughed.

"Some of those shoes are sneakers!"

"Yeah-huh. So, dresses, remind me."

"Well, there's the orange and red dress I inherited from Kanani, the sparkly black dress that I stole from Kanani. There's the dress with the white lace bodice and the royal blue skirt, or the purple and silver Chinese dress; I have that black dress with the ¾ sleeves, red sash and yellow skirt, and then of course I have the corset tops, which I can pair with jeans. …I have too many clothes."

Jo was silent for a moment as she tried to visualize Leili's closet, "The red and orange dress, with the ruffled sleeves, that one's cute."

"It's also way low cut," Leili hesitated, holding it up. It was; it dipped all the way down to the top of her bra's center panel.

"Exactly!"

"Jo!"

"What? I'm trying to help!" Jo grinned.

"No, you are being deliberately unhelpful."

"So the orange dress is a no? How about that black and yellow one with the red sash?"

"Too fancy."

"Ok, ok, what did you tell Fred was the dress code?"

"Comfortable. I told him I wanted him to be wearing something comfortable when he met my parents because this is most certainly going to be awkward."

"So follow your own advice, wear something comfortable. Cute, but comfy."

"So jeans, yeah?"

"Yeah. But you need a top to go with, you can't just greet him in your bra. Well, you could and I'm sure he'd enjoy it but I think your parents would have something of a problem with that."

"I'm not even allowed to have my door closed with him in my room, you bet my parents would have a problem with that!" Leili laughed.

"Let's see, tops. You have t-shirts and tank tops and corset tops, there's also that cute pink and black Chinese top."

"You know, it's scary that you have my closet so memorized. What about that blue floral corset over that black lace halter-top? Too much?" Leili asked, holding the phone to her ear with her shoulder as she held up the pair in question.

"Mm, a bit. How about just the black halter? The only lace is the halter part, right?"

"Ok, that works."

"Shoes?"

"Barefoot," Leili shrugged.

"You'll be short," Jo warned.

"But comfy!" Leili reminded.

"Make-up?"

"You forget, all I have is Halloween makeup," Leili grinned. She'd thrown away or given away all the makeup she'd bought while dating Oliver, she had also given away the velvet dress he'd insisted she buy. She didn't want anything to do with that stuff, not with the memories they brought back.

"Right. You good now?"

"I'm good now. Thank you so, so much!"

"Call me tonight, after he leaves. Tell me how it went!"

"I will, Bye!"

"Buh-bye!"

Leili dressed and brushed her hair and her teeth; tried on almost every pair of shoes in her closet before deciding she'd been right, barefoot was better—she amended that slightly to stocking-ed as she pulled on a stripey pair of socks. She cleaned her room and tried to braid her hair before giving it up as a bad idea and just pulling it into a ponytail.

One minute to Fred's ETA Leili hurried downstairs and parked herself on the arm of the couch, facing the hearth. And in one minute 30 seconds in a whoosh! of green flames, Fred arrived.

He brushed a bit of powder from his coat sleeve.

"Don't forget to duck, then step!"

He did as instructed and felt her take his free hand as he exited the fireplace.

"Are those for me?" she asked, pointing at the flowers bunched in his other hand.

"Your mom."

"Aww. She's gonna love 'em. C'mon, let's fix your face before you see them." She guided him to the bathroom and wet a washcloth. She sat on the counter to be eyelevel with him and proceeded to wipe off the soot on his nose and forehead. There was a knock on the door. "Yeah?" she called.

"Hon, when is he supposed to get here? Oh. Hello," her mom said, opening the door to find Fred's hips between her youngest daughter's knees.

They were only just touching, and there was certainly nothing kinky happening, not with the foot of space between his body and the edge of the counter but it still looked compromising at first glance. They realized why she was staring. Leili rolled her eyes and scooted back until her calves hit the drawer.

"Uh-huh, you'd better scoot back, young lady," her mom teased.

Leili stuck out her tongue. She turned back to Fred and lightly tapped his arm, pointing from the flowers to her mom.

"These are for you," he said, holding them out.

"Oh that's sweet of you! …No dynamite in them, right?" Leilani had mentioned he was a trickster.

Fred grinned, "No, but they might bite."

They were Wizarding Dogwoods. Very pretty pink and white flowers that were shaped like dogs faces. Wizarding Dogwoods were prone to digging up your garden if you weren't careful, since they would bury their puppy faces in the dirt, especially after rain. This served two purposes, one, it made them dirty, and two, it helped sow new seeds.

The evening passed smoothly after that, dinner was Cajun spiced chicken sandwiches, Fred was a perfect gentleman and her parents spared them any too embarrassing questions.

Leili showed off her bedroom ceiling, enchanted to reflect the night sky, much like Hogwarts. He'd noticed it last time but hadn't had the time to really look at it. She explained that she'd gotten the idea after her first year at school. She'd needed help with her summer Astronomy homework and her dad had enchanted the ceiling to better help her visualize. Together Leilani and Fred lay on their backs on the floor staring up at constellations they couldn't normally see in the city.

"Hey, Lei?" Fred asked, staring at her ceiling.

"Huh?"

"What's with all the dream catchers?" There were several hanging in the corners of the room and others draped over her bedside table, her bookshelves, hanging on the doorknob. He hadn't noticed them last time; he'd been too focused on her teddy bear.

"Oh, I make 'em." She shrugged. "I've had nightmare trouble recently so I learned how to make dream catchers. They don't stop them, but I think they help, a little. Plus they're pretty fun to make."

She was nonchalant but Fred's fingers twined around hers and he lifted their clasped hands to press a kiss to the back of hers. No offers of protection from imaginary or real demons, just silent comfort for which she was grateful. Still clasped, their hands fell back to the carpet, hidden from the door and any passersby. Her cheeks warmed and her heart seemed to swell and she knew right then and there that she was never going to let Fred go.