Disclaimer: All canon characters, scenery and plot references are the property of J.K. Rowling. I do not own or profit from this story in any way.
Rating: M for language and eventual sexual content
Summary: Dani and Bill have been best friends for as long as anyone can remember. They've also butted heads for as long as anyone can remember. Throw in a lost king, a team of curse breakers and a good mystery, and you've got yourself a story.
Author's Note: I don't have it in me to kill of either of the Weasley twins, Sirius Black, or Remus Lupin. I love them too much. Therefore they are alive in this story, even if Sirius and Remus don't play an active role. It's already AU, you know, conveniently forgetting about canon character deaths it just a fringe benefit!
Thanks for reading!
Under the Desert Sun
Chapter Four: Mind, Control.
I know a time is coming,
All words will lose their meaning
Please show me something that isn't mine
But mine is the only kid that I can relate to..
Black Mirror – The Arcade Fire
"You look lovely," Shawn pulled her chair out for her, a warm smile on his face. He'd dressed down tonight from the last time that she'd seen him, now wearing a pair of fitted muggle jeans and button up shirt, a smile playing at his features. He certainly looked less tense than he had the night before, and there was a warm smile playing at his lips.
"Thank you," She nodded her thanks for both the chair and the compliment, "So do you, by the way," She offered. She'd dressed down too, a black denim skirt and a lacy tank top with a black cardigan over it and black flats on her feet. She'd be a sadist to wear heels two days in a row. Still, Bill had told her that she looked 'good' before she left from where he'd been sprawled out on the leather sofa reading a book on ancient runes.
"And by lovely, you mean ruggishly handsome, right?" Shawn implored, sitting down in his own chair and earning a laugh from his date.
"Yeah, that's exactly what I meant," She assured him with a smile, eyes sparkling in the dim light of the restaurant.
"Listen?" He hesitated, "There's something that I want to say before we continue," He bit his lip, looking nervous for a second.
"Oh?" Dani couldn't help but hide her curiosity, she took a sip of the ice water ahead of her, and ran her fingers along the cool condensation of the glass.
"I don't intend to flatter myself….but…" He took a breath, fingers drumming on the tablecloth ahead of him. "I'm not looking for anything serious right now; I've just gotten out of a bad relationship…and well…" His face turned red.
"I understand, thanks for telling," She mirrored his actions, biting her lip as well. "May I clear the air as well?"
"By all means," Shawn smiled warmly, leaning back against the back of his chair.
"I don't know you well enough to ascertain your intentions, but I know that you've spent a considerable amount of time with a team that I am in close competition with," She nodded, pausing to take another sip of her water. "My job is very important to me, and my team is my family," She added, "I don't want to come across as an arse, but I'm really very protective of both of those things."
"Fair enough," Shawn smiled, "I assure you that my intentions are honorable, for what it's worth," He took a sip of his own water glass. "And may I suggest, that we take things slowly, and see how things go?" The red tinge returned to his cheeks and Dani found herself grinning.
"Deal," She stuck out her hand for him to shake, and they both laughed when he accepted it.
"I'm going to point out," Shawn was grinning too, "How refreshing it is to have someone be straight with you from the get go?"
Dani had a good time with Shawn. They enjoyed each other's company, and he was easy to get along with. They talked about nearly everything, from where they'd gone to school, Hogwarts for her, and a small private academy in Italy for Shawn. They even talked about family, which, inch the past was a subject that Dani tended to avoid like the plague.
Her dad had been a wizard, and hadn't told her mum until she was far along in her pregnancy with Danielle. And they had fought about it, and her mum had left, unaware that her offspring would carry the same traits. She'd cut off all ties with Dani's father, to the extremity that Dani had no idea who the man was.
When Dani had started showing signs of magic, her mum had tried to stomp it out of her at first. She'd been in vehement denial, claiming that it was just a phase, one which her daughter would grow out of. When she'd gotten her Hogwarts letter, and a school official had come to explain things, her mum had taken it all in, and immediately sunk into a state of depression.
She'd wordlessly taken Dani to get her school supplies, hardly noticing the magic of Diagon Alley, or that her daughter was dancing for job for the first time in her life. She'd loved everything about Diagon Alley, from the cauldrons to the owls and bookstore and potion ingredients to the Quidditch store. She'd wanted to spend the whole day, the rest of her life exploring the shops, but her mother had been surprisingly taciturn for a woman who'd barely spoken two words to her daughter since the owl had arrived.
When Dani had said goodbye to her mother at King's Cross station at the start of her first term, her mother had hugged her tightly, said something that sounded like "I'll never be free of him, will I," and turned away. To this day, Dani couldn't describe the look in her mother's eyes at that moment; it was as if she'd been crushed, spirit and soul, and what was left was a shell of a person, nothing like the mother who'd been overbearing and controlling until then.
It was the last time Dani had seen her mother. She was called out of class in early December by her head of house, and blamed herself for the better part of the next few years. Maybe she should have said no to Hogwarts, maybe a hundred things, either way, it changed her life.
From then on, Dani had gone to live with her Gran, her mother's mother, who was a very practical woman who would not be the slightest bit okay that her only grandchild was practicing magic. And so, Dani had kept it from her, making up extravagant lies about her time spent at St. Augustine's, a boarding school in the South of France. Her grandmother would never know the truth, and Dani preferred it that way. She was too much like her own mother in that sense. To anyone else but Bill, she'd been 'raised by her gran'- they didn't need the whole story.
She found a second family in the Weasley's. Bill had been a year older than her in school, and yet somehow, he'd become her best friend. Charlie had been in her year, and the two of them had been close as well, and so, she shouldn't have been surprised as she had been when, that first year when she'd informed them of her plans to stay the holiday's at the castle, they'd taken her home instead.
Molly Weasley, and her gaggle of 5 underage children at home, had informed her that she'd hardly notice having another child underfoot, and invited Dani into her family with open arms in a way that still made Dani tear up when she though too much on it. Dani had tried to thank them with gifts and emphatic letters over the years, but Molly had waved it off and knit her a yearly Christmas sweater.
Shawn, on the other hand, was very open about his family, he had loving parents and a younger sister, all of which he spoke very highly of. They discussed their perspective jobs, Dani only briefly going over some of their site details, though she did let on that they were, in fact, after the lost King.
Shawn worked as a producer for a Wizarding Wireless Station, which was responsible for news, weather, music and reporting Quidditch scores, even a few story-telling programs on Saturdays. It was immediately clear that he loved his job. He regaled her with stories of his co-workers and friends, news that they'd covered, funny moments with celebrities, and by the time they left the restaurant, it was near closing. They made plans to see each other again soon.
Bill wasn't around when she got in again, and she hoped that he wasn't rushing into things with this new girl of his. She, of course, couldn't suggest this, because they had dated once upon a time, and she didn't want to start another argument, which it would likely result in. No, she'd have to keep her mouth shut, and play the supportive roll of best friend.
With Bill gone, she read, caught up on some work with a nightcap of elfin wine, and then resigned herself to bed, scowling at Bill's open bedroom door as she retreated into her own. But, no sooner than she shut the lights off, Bill arrived home, and peeked his head into her room to see if she was sleeping.
"I'm awake," She supplied, causing him to jump, crash into something, and curse wildly. "Lumos," She grasped her wand off the end table, "Are you okay?"
"Merlin Dani," Bill stumbled into her room and flopped down on the bed next to her, "Don't do that!"
"Don't do what?" Dani sat up, a grin on her face, "Claim to be awake?" She teased, "I wonder why else you'd have stopped in the room then," She rolled her eyes, "Alright then, I'll never claim to be awake again."
"Oh shut up," Bill said with a yawn, stealing a pillow from the head of her bed and pulling it down to his head.
"Very mature of you Mr. Weasley," Dani stuck out her tongue at her friend.
"If that's not the kettle calling the cauldron black," He poked her in the side, the grin back on his face, "I don't know what is."
"It's what you love about me, I know," Dani giggle, thwacking him with one of her pillows.
"Something like that, yeah," Bill snatched the pillow, stuffing that one behind his head too, so that he was properly lying next to her now.
"How was that girl?" She asked, rolling her side to face him.
"What makes you think that I was with her?"
"That grin on your face, for one," Dani shot back.
"You really shouldn't know me so well," Bill complained with a dramatic sigh, folding his hands behind his head.
"I like to think that I know you better than anyone else in the world," Dani propped her wand up on the bed, smiling at him.
"You do," Bill smiled too, "Can never get anything by you…hmm?"
"You're more than welcome to try," Dani laughed. "I like a challenge."
"We got a late dinner," Bill replied, shooting her a knowing look, he looked happy, at least, and she couldn't fault him for that. "I think I really like this one Dani."
"Bill Weasley, serious about a girl?" She laughed in response, "What would your mum say?"
"She'd probably die of shock," Bill laughed too, "That, or start planning our wedding."
"Or a combination of the two," Dani added.
"Definitely that one," He smirked.
"So…got a girlfriend now, have you?" Dani scanned over her friend's face, he was wearing a dazed smile.
"We've been on two dates," He defended, trying, and failing to school his thoughts into an impassive one. Dani knew him far too well for that.
"But I haven't seen you this excited about a girl since…" Dani considered, since the last time that they dated probably, but she couldn't say that. "School I think," She said instead.
"She's brilliant Dani-" Bill's smile widened. "She's bloody gorgeous, sexy as hell, and smart, and funny….and just perfect," He gushed.
"Oh really?" Dani stared at him, stomach dropping, she licked her lips, considering the ramifications of her reaction. She should be happy for her best friend for being so smitten, shouldn't she? She shot him a weak smile and took on a teasing attitude instead. "Who are you and what have you done with my best friend," She asked, "And what the hell is up with the girl talk? Do you want me to paint your nails and braid your hair too?"
Bill laughed, smacking her in the arm, "Oh shut up you," He pushed a hand into his hair. "I just…want you to like her."
"If you like her, love, that I'm sure that I will too," Dani poked Bill in the side. "But don't expect me not to tease you about having a girlfriend," She added with a smirk.
"Fair enough," A warm smile crossed Bill's face, "Speaking of, how are things with that Mark bloke?"
"Mike?" Dani blinked, furrowing her brow. "Um…you know that we broke up a good two weeks ago, yeah?" She laughed.
"What, really?" Bill looked floored. "Why? I thought you liked him."
"I don't know," Dani shrugged, "It just… it wasn't working, not for me anyway, he was a bit more keen," She shook her head. "We wanted different things out of life, and relationships, and didn't agree on a few vital things," She added thoughtfully. "It wouldn't have been fair to keep dating him and expect anything different, or expect a sacrifice from either to us, so I gave him the opportunity to find what he wanted with someone else. I think it ended pretty amicably at least," She added thoughtfully.
"That's very…mature of you," Bill rolled to face her, propping himself up on an elbow. "And you're alright? Why didn't you tell me?"
"Dunno," She shrugged again, "It never came up?"
Bill sighed, "For me not being able to get anything by you, you can sure get a hell of a lot by me," He shook his head, meeting her eyes.
"My wit and cunning are two of the traits that I'm the most proud of," She smirked in response.
"How positively snake-like of you," Bill teased, but his smile fell after a few seconds. "We seriously haven't hung out in a while," He said gently, thinking that he probably should have known about her breakup. They hadn't talked like this in a while, come to think of it, usually conversation steering to work, and other innocuous things.
"We went out a few nights ago," Dani argued "And I see you every day at work!"
"I mean… we haven't hung out just the two of us, and just….talked or…" Bill scowled.
"What do you reckon we're doing now?" She sent him a curious glance.
"Just…I dunno, forget it," Bill looked younger than his years for just a second, and she was suddenly reminded of a 12 year old Bill, or Bill when he looked sad or upset. Few people saw him like this, not even among his own family or close friends, and suddenly she wanted to hug him, to cuddle into his side and tell him that everything would be alright. That, undoubtedly would send the wrong message.
"Well, what are you doing tomorrow?" She asked gently, reaching out and squeezing his hand with hers instead.
"I dunno," Bill's face lit up, "Something with you, I reckon." He beamed at her, lacing their fingers together on the covers.
"Yeah," She smiled warmly in response, "I'm yours the whole day, if you want me."
"Sounds perfect to me," He grinned, letting go of her hand and rolling back onto his back.