Love Lust

I always imagined you'd be by my side
Whether I'm hiding in the city or tearing through the wild
You're only an older noose on my throat
If your beauty is a fortress then my love will be the moat.
Oh, fall in love with her. Fall in love with you, I must.
-King Charles

"So." Albus began the next night, bouncing up on his heels as he met my gaze in the mirror. "What's your favorite food?"

I shot him a weird look. "What?"

"What is your favorite food?"

I stared at my boyfriend for a long moment, my hairbrush falling to my side in a limp hand. He was in his practice uniform; orange shorts, a t-shirt that had Cannons written across it. His socks were orange. His shoes were orange. I often lamented the fact that my boyfriend couldn't have chosen a team with better colours.

"Italian." I said after a beat. "I guess pasta. I don't know. Why?"

Albus made a hmming noise and turned to pass me; I side-stepped into his path, pressing a hand lightly to his chest and looking up at him from under my eyelashes. I sidled closer to him, pressing his hip into my stomach lightly, my leg sliding between his, my hip brushing him there and Al's pupils exploded in size. "Molly—"

"Why are you asking?" I said softly, barely above a whisper.

"I thought we could get dinner." He murmured. I studied him.

"We always get dinner. We live together. You don't need to schedule dinner." I murmured. He barely shrugged.

"I want to go to a place with a reservation." He murmured.

"So fancy." I murmured; Albus broke, ducking down to press his lips to mine, and I pulled away an inch, grinning when he made a growly noise. "Albus…" I weighed the possibilities here. I hadn't forgotten about our conversation immediately before the shitshow raid; Albus had said the ring, not a ring. Did this have to do with that? "Why do you want to go to a fancy dinner?"

"Because." He murmured. "Boyfriends and girlfriends do that sometimes."

"We never do that." I corrected. He reached to cup my cheek, pushing some hair out of my face, so gently that a shiver slid down my spine. Albus was always this tender but now I thought he was doing it as a distraction. Which was totally unfair.

Well, two could play at that game.

I slid closer yet to him, which just pressed my lower half against him, then slid my hand up to cup the back of his neck, sliding my fingers in the soft black hair there. I shifted against his hips and grinned when his shoulders twitched back instinctively. "Albus…" I breathed. "Please?"

"You are such a cheater." He whispered, and half of my mouth drew upward before my boyfriend ducked down to cover his lips with mine. His hands slid onto my back and he walked us back, one step, two steps, until my back was flush against the wall. I kissed him hungrily, my lungs collapsing on themselves as my heart jumped into my throat. I slid one hand down his back slipped it under his t-shirt and let my fingers slide up his spine; when he reached for the buttons of my shirt, though, I pulled back, catching my breath as I shot him a long look. "I have work." I murmured. "You have work. We can't show up with…" He pressed his lips to mine again, and I allowed it, my stomach twisting happily. Work. I reminded myself insistently as Albus successfully undid one of the buttons on my blouse and began to struggle with the next one, and I pushed him away finally; he fell back a step.

"Mol-ly." He dragged my name out. I grinned at him.

"You're the one who started it." I told him impertinently. Albus pouted down at me, my back still against the wall. Finally, he ducked down for a final kiss before turning back to the mirror, straightening his shirt. I watched him fondly, chewing on my bottom lip.

I loved this boy. And he had a ring and wanted to take me out to dinner, and I thought I knew what that meant. He loved my family, and I loved his. I could easily see myself spending my life with him. But getting engaged at 22?

I wasn't sure that was a good idea.

Albus met my gaze in the mirror and grinned childishly at me. I beamed back at him, my smile unfurling slowly across my face. The idea didn't leave my mind, though, even as happiness exploded in my stomach and provided a cover. I did love this boy. Being engaged to him would be okay.

I wasn't dumb; I knew that at least subconsciously, my fear of being engaged was my fear of repeating the past. My dad had gotten my mum pregnant with me at university. They'd gotten married because that was what people did. They'd had more children because that was what people did. Except Dad was a man of many stressors and having five children under nine was not unstressful, or inexpensive. So, Dad abused me, and hated himself, and me, and Mom. We spun out of control.

And I can just imagine, that in another world, my parents had a fling at school and separated as so many do. Mum never got pregnant with me, married another man who never hit her or her children; Dad got a better education, finished up school properly. Waited a few years to have maybe one kid. Maybe that kid wouldn't have had magic. There was an alternate universe where my parents were happy. And that meant, by definition, I didn't exist.

I loved my siblings, and I loved my life now, but if I had a choice, I would have diverted everyone from the impending disaster back in their years at university.

But Albus wasn't Dad. I wasn't Mum. We were different. We were in love. So were they. I reminded myself. My family's horror story had begun innocuously. They all did. A pregnant girl at university, and a well-meaning boy. My dad wasn't a sociopath. He didn't enjoy hitting us. He hadn't meant to destroy us. There were so many stories like ours, so many other parents and kids out there, because it was the easiest trap in the world to fall into. The first time was the cracking of the dam. Because that first time had been an accident, and the tenth time hadn't. The Gales weren't the exception. We were the rule.

I just had to make sure I was the exception, this time.

"I am really bored." Will offered me irritably that afternoon, lying down on the wall we had been lounging on for an hour. I rolled my eyes. I'd spent a lot of time with Will in the four days since Liam's little outburst, which was what I had been sarcastically calling it. To myself. Since I couldn't bring myself to report him, or Will.

Liam had already been to the therapist twice, which was something, kind of. It hadn't helped yet, but that wasn't really how therapy worked, was it? Liam still couldn't stand Will, however, so I'd elected to separate them whenever possible.

Which, unfortunately, meant that, in an effort to keep the peace, I had to take Will to find sources with me, and Liam had taken Jessie and Ryan. Both Jess and Ryan had shot me dirty looks but gone along with it. And Liam had shot me the dirtiest look of all. Because his being alone with Jessie and Ryan meant being the third wheel to a party of sexual tension.

"Molly…" Will dragged out my name.

"What?" I snapped, glancing at him over the latte I'd been nursing. It was cold but not horribly so in Bishop Auckland, a town south of Durham that my source was meeting us in. Will and I were pretending to be on a date, so I'd donned a pair of sunglasses and pulled my hair back in an effort to be less obviously Molly Gale. It was one thing when we were in the field; truly, context saved me from a lot of recognition. For all that everyone knew I was an auror, criminals were still too busy getting their asses kicked to notice my identity.

"I'm bored." Will offered again.

"That is not my responsibility." I muttered irritably, my gaze sweeping the street—there was a café about ten meters to our left, which had supplied my coffee. "Where is Basil?" I murmured. He was only ten minutes late, but even that was surprising for Basil.

Basil Nejem had been the clincher for the raid. He was the antiques/illegal goods dealer who had promised me that he had personally seen the illegal goods in the crates. He'd promised that was the pick up night. And I wanted to know if he had been lying to trap us or if he had been just as misled as we had.

"Basil isn't coming." Will said flatly.

"He has to." I muttered.

"He would be here by now." Will reasoned. "Your write up on him said he was a businessman. He does illegal shit but he still needs to be on time or else no one's going to trust him with their stuff. Illegal goods-havers are probably more picky than legal ones. Given the need to stay quiet and all that." I glanced at him, surprised. I had known all that—because I wrote it in the case file. Will had actually read the case file? And analyzed it? What new world was this?

"Well then where is he?" I asked quietly.

"We could check his flat." Will offered.

"Until we get a warrant, all we can do is knock, and he's definitely not answering the door if he's not showing up to the meet." I reminded him tiredly, leaning my head back and looking up at the sky, contemplating the life choices that had gotten me here, to this incredibly annoying conversation.

"We don't have enough reason for a warrant." Will informed me.

"Well then, we aren't going in." I informed him shortly, rolling my head to one side to look down at him, cocking my eyebrow above my sunglasses. He lifted his head slightly and squinted at me in the bright sunlight.

"We won't find him, then." Will noted, and I exhaled. Oh, Will. And I had thought he was doing so well.

"We can check a few other places. I'm just not really in the mood for a manhunt." I told him. He laid his head back down and bared his teeth at me in a wolfish grin.

"I definitely am." Will informed me smugly. I shook my head, shoving down the flare of irritation that came at his words. "What! I'm not good at all the office-y stuff but I think I could kill it in the field if we ever did anything properly in the field…" I made a face.

"Yes, Will, but that's because you live alone and I live with my boyfriend who has been on the verge of asking me to quit this job for about two weeks, now. So." I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I don't live alone." Will protested, then grinned in a way that meant he was going to say something gross. "There's always a girl in bed with me, and how can you feel alone like that, Gale?"

"You need to stop talking." I said shortly to Will.

"Sex is natural." He contended.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I will talk about literally any other topic with you."

Will's evil grin dropped to a calculating stare; he pushed himself up properly. "When are you going to report Liam?" He asked.

I froze, staring at my probationary auror. I had made the unilateral decision to not report Liam. It had not—though it should have, I was realizing as I sat on this wall—occurred to me, that everyone else would want me to. "I'm not." I said levelly to him, keeping my gaze on him.

Will made a face, cupping his hand over his eyes like a visor and looking down the street. "He would have hit me if you weren't there."

"Then you won't be alone with him." I said firmly.

"You think it's just a me thing?" Will asked, looking sharply at me. "This time, it was me. Next time, it will be Ryan. Or, worse, it will be Jessie. Which, I realize, genders are equal and all that, shouldn't be worse, but Jessie is a younger girl on the team. If he gives her a black eye, that shit will get him fired, not suspended." He shook his head. "I thought you of all people would know that, Molly."

I stared at him, pain and anger tearing through me. I considered him coldly, my gaze turning steely. "Don't you fucking dare say that to me." I enunciated carefully, saying the words slowly. Will didn't shrink, but also didn't continue. I stared at him. "Liam doesn't need to be reported. I handled it. That's all you need to know."

Will shook his head tightly. "Molly. He almost hit me. I don't stand for that."

The anger that had been tearing at me evaporated, leaving cool panic in its place. I don't stand for that. This was the problem. Will shouldn't stand for that. I wouldn't stand for that. Had it been anyone but Liam, I would have reported it. But I liked Liam. Liam had been my friend since fourth year at Hogwarts. Liam had come up through the Auror Department with me. Liam and I had requested each other as partners. Liam had been at all of my birthdays, was muggleborn with me, had my little brother's cell phone number. Liam was one of my best friends.

But covering for people who punched people was not something that I did.

Fuck.

I reached up, scratching my forehead once before letting my hands drop to my sides. Will got to know the deal I made. He deserved to know how this was being handled. I had to be nice to him. "Liam's going to therapy. Twice a week. I get a note from the woman that he's going to. If he doesn't go, he knows I'll report him. If it happens again—if anything happens again," I elaborated after a beat, "I'll report him."

"You need to report him now." Will said lowly. My new-found patience was already wearing thin.

"I'm not doing that." I said firmly, making sure I didn't sound too sharp.

"Well, I'll do it." Will said shortly. My patience dried up entirely. It was not common for underlings to write up superiors. However, there was a procedure for it. And I was pretty sure this was exactly the situation that it had been created for.

"It'll be your word against his." I said sharply.

"And yours?" Will asked darkly. I glared pointedly at him. Will shook his head, looking away from me. "Considering what happened with your dad—"

"Shut up, or I'll report you." I snapped at him. His head spun to face me. "I mean it, Will. My family has nothing to do with this. This is a problem you have with Liam that I am trying to solve with as little collateral damage as possible."

Will shook his head again. "Fine." He muttered angrily. I smiled sarcastically.

"Great talk." I turned away from him. Silence sank in around us as I tried not to think about what Will had said to me. I hated when I had to argue with someone who wasn't wrong.

I didn't think Liam would hurt anyone again.

But I had a bad track record with making that call.

I stood up after a minute and brushed my hands on my pants. I turned back to Will. I didn't get to be pouty with people on my team. This was our job. "Want anything from the shop?" I asked Will in a calm voice.

Will squinted at me, and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at him. "You can't bribe me." He said in a suspicious voice. I glared at him, unable to stop myself now.

"I'm trying to be nice to you, idiot." I snapped.

"By calling me idiot?" Will demanded. The kid just did not know when to stop.

"Do you want anything or not, you ungrateful imbecile?" I hissed lethally, taking a step towards him. He leaned back, terror playing over his features, and I let the corners of my mouth pull up in a way that I knew would scare him.

"Coffee." He mumbled. "Black. With sugar. A lot of sugar."

"That sounds disgusting. Keep an eye out for Basil." I muttered, but I turned away, stomping angrily towards the coffee shop. I passed an older woman sitting at the only table outside the shop who met my gaze sympathetically through the sunglasses I was depending on to conceal my identity.

"Keep looking for the right one, honey." She told me gently. I flushed. Apparently Will and I had done a good job of pretending to be a date. Just, a bad one.

"Gonna keep trying with this one, I think." I said to the woman with a false, embarrassed smile, hoping that would end it there. It did not.

"Oh, honey, you can't fix 'em." She told me with big, sincere eyes as she reached out to grab my hand with one hand and pat it with the other. She was clearly a muggle, if she was basically holding my hand and not recognizing me. The wizarding world's level of obsession with the Potter family had leaked so severely into my life that there was no chance that I would have gotten away with this. "You're still young, you can't be more than thirty." She winked conspiratorily at me as I blinked, open-mouthed at her, like a fish. "Find yourself a man who doesn't make you crazy. Take it from an old woman." She got up, picking up her paper cup of coffee and turning to walk away, leaving a crumpled napkin and a dirty stirrer on the table. I stared down at it.

Will appeared at my elbow as soon as she was out of earshot. "What'd she say to you?" He demanded in a whisper. "Did she say something about Basil? You look like you saw a ghost—"

"Shut up." I muttered grumpily, turning away from him and walking into the shop. "Go back to the wall. Wait for him." I shook my head with a frown, looking at myself in the mirror that was on the wall behind the cashier's head.

I looked thirty?

"We are late." Fred's voice declared loudly as I stepped out of the floo into the auror office, four hours later; my best friend was standing in front of it, looking like he was enjoying the opportunity to scold me a little too much. I flapped a distracted hand at him as I shoved my sunglasses at him. "I do not want women's sunglasses, Miss Molly—"

"They're not a gift." I told him hurriedly, passing him. We were very late; that much, he was correct about. Basil had never shown up. We'd called back Liam and Jessie and Ryan to help us search, but it hadn't helped; we'd come up empty. At this point, we were following up the dumbest leads, but I had wanted to follow up the last one before I went to Albus's quidditch game, which was where we were headed now.

Fred turned to face me as I sprinted to my desk, tugging my chair out and reaching down to pull my bag out from beneath it. I heaved it up onto my desk and rifled through it, looking for the obnoxiously orange shirt I'd packed this morning. I pulled it out, finally, dropping it on my desk, before I reached for the hem of my shirt and hauled it up.

"Molly!" Fred exclaimed.

"I'm wearing a sports bra, not lingerie. What kind of working woman do you think I am?" I demanded of the boy, twisting to frown at him; he had clapped a hand over his eyes. He opened two of his fingers and peeked between them. I stuck my tongue out at him before I tugged my t-shirt over my head, then I turned back to my desk, reaching up with one hand to remove my hair tie while I grabbed my bag with the other.

"Albus would not like this." Fred informed.

"Albus posed in his boxers and a pair of orange knee-high socks for a cover of Seeker's World last year." I retorted. "I get to wear just a sports bra in the office sometimes." I told him, swinging back to face him with a big grin.

"It was uncomfortable seeing all the little warts fawning over my cousin's body." Fred admitted. I laughed. Little warts was what Fred called the Hogwarts students who constantly flooded his father's store. I loved it. Especially because it had inspired me to call Cal and Ellie little warts, which they predictably hated.

"OMG Molly's smiling." Will said, stopping as he stepped out of the floo; Liam bumped into him but just shoved past him rather than threaten to kill him. Progress.

"Yes, she does that when she sees her boyfriend." Liam snapped

"Did you just say OMG out loud?" Fred asked Will, a slow, mocking smile growing on his face. I sighed. I would have loved to let Fred tear Will apart. It probably would have done Will good. But I was too eager to see Al to let Fred occupy

"Yeah, he does that." Liam muttered grumpily as he came up to his desk.

"Still so fun-loving." Fred said happily; Liam turned around to frown at him, and Fred beamed at him. "I haven't seen you in so long, man." He held out a hand and Liam accepted it, shaking it once, and Fred bro-hugged Liam, which Liam returned enthusiastically.

"Ever think that was intentional?" Liam snarked, pulling away.

Fred held a hand over his heart. "Never ever." He promised. Liam chuckled despite himself, shaking his head and turning back to the desk. I watched him after a moment, warmth for the boy welling in my chest.

"Come with us." I urged Liam in a sudden fit of generosity. "We have extra space in the box—"

"You have a fucking box?" Liam demanded, staring at me, his eyes burning with jealousy.

"Come! You need to relax." I urged. "This will be fun. Like old times. You and me and Fred and Al—"

"Did you have girl friends?" Will asked. I shot him a nasty look, and Will pointed accusingly at me, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. "See! That's the face you usually make." I weighed the possibility of killing him against how much time we had to get to the game before it began, then made a growly noise as I spun back to Liam.

"Li, if you're coming, you gotta move fast. We're leaving now." I told my partner. Liam narrowed his eyes calculatingly.

"I'll come." Will volunteered.

"We don't have enough seats." I informed him coolly, not even glancing at him. I had not yet forgiven him for the threat to report Liam. Even if he was right, I didn't like it.

"You have a box." Will retorted. I snorted, finally glancing at him with a cruel smile.

"Then I guess you're just not invited." I murmured coldly.

"I'm coming." Liam said, flashing a smug grin at Will, who was watching me with wide eyes. Liam grabbed his wand and his jacket from the back of his chair, grinning at Will. "And, since you're so eager to fill your time tonight, have fun with the paperwork from today."

Will looked from me to Liam, and then back to me. I kept up my scary Molly smile, and he finally pouted childishly. "I hate you guys." He grumbled.

Fred laughed as Liam grinned wolfishly at his probationary agent. "I'll have a beer for you." He informed the boy. Will rolled his eyes, turning away, and I laughed, starting for the floo. I heard Liam and Fred catch up to me, Fred chatting amicably with Liam—they weren't best friends, but had been roommates for 7 years—and grinned to myself as I reached for the green floo powder. I needed his night off.

Ten minutes later, we were stepping onto the club level of the quidditch stadium, having navigated the ticket situation. Fred held open the door to the Potter family's box for me with a sweeping arm, and I rolled my eyes but grinned as I passed him, stepping into the warm room.

James Potter and Sera Finnigan were here, as were my brothers Cory and Nate. Victoire Weasley-Lupin was there with her youngest daughter, Daley—she had married Al's godbrother Teddy when I was in fifth year, and they'd had their first daughter a year later, and their second just a year and a half ago. I liked the older one fine, but Daley was my favorite of the babies in the family by far.

"Hey baby girl!" I cheered as I made a beeline for Vicky and her daughter; Daley twisted to look at me from her mother's arms and then beamed.

"Moll!" She said happily, releasing her mother and reaching out for me. Vicky readjusted her hold on her daughter, smiling wryly at me.

"Her name is Molly, sweets." She said to her daughter. I ducked down to press a kiss to the little girl's soft blond hair, and she giggled as I did. I squeezed her arm lightly, grinning at her, before I realized I felt the gazes of the rest of the room on me. Nate had stayed seated but Cory had stood up, and was watching me wearily, as was James Potter. Sera was watching me with open concern. What?

I swung my gaze to my boyfriend's cousin, smiling ruefully at the older woman. "Hey Vic."

"You look all healed." She said warmly. Oh. That was why everyone was staring at me. Because this was the first time anyone (other than Nate and Fred) had seen me. Shit. Yeah.

"Oh—yeah, I am." My smile faded, and I felt Liam tense behind me. "I'm sorry, I guess I haven't seen you since."

"You're okay, though?" Sera asked, behind me, and I twisted around to see her. She looked from me to Liam, then looked back to me anxiously. I nodded once.

"All healed." I said with a smile. "Wes took care of it." I reached up, running a hand through my hair nervously. Fred came up behind me and slipped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me against him lightly.

"Takes more than that to get Miss Molly!" He said cheerfully; Cory chuckled lightly, and I saw Nate cast a suspicious glance up at our little brother. "Isn't Albus's game beginning?"

I nodded, glancing up at him gratefully before Liam crossed in front of me, muttering something about needing a drink, and Fred dropped his arm to follow him. I crossed to the glass wall that separated the outside and inside of the box—the whole thing could fit 30 people on a good day, but the Potters and Weasleys never showed up in numbers like that. Mostly, it was James, Fred and I who came to these things.

I slid through the door, closing it lightly behind me as the dull roar of the quidditch stadium rose around me. The stands were really not full, but the boxes were at a good height, which meant that seats above and below me were definitely occupied. I sank into one of the seats, pulling my legs up and resting my ankles on the back of the seat in front of me. I loved the sound of the quidditch stadium—all of this anonymous noise to get lost in.

Before I could, though, I heard the door behind me open and close, and then quiet footsteps. My younger brother sank silently down in the seat beside me, baby Daley in his arms. He settled her easily so she was on his lap, facing forward, his arms around her protectively even as he sank back comfortably in the seat.

"I do not like 90% of the crazy people your boyfriend is related to," Nate murmured, "but this one's cute."

"Moll Moll Moll Moll." Daley chanted happily, twisting to grin at me, two teeth visible.

"Hey Miss Daley." I grinned back at her, looking back up at Nate. "Of course you like this one. She reminds you of Ellie. Who, despite your protests, we all know is your favorite."

Nate just grinned silently at me. I wasn't wrong; he and Ellie were an inseparable pair. It had been adorable when Ellie was little, and now that she was older, Ellie did a good job of making Nate a part of her Hogwarts life, which was thoughtful of her. Ellie was so much better at all that stuff than I had been; she took care of Cal at school, and made sure Nate got to feel like her big brother even though I knew it had to annoy her sometimes.

"So. Molls." Nate glanced at me. "Speaking of Ellie." He hesitated. "She asked me to talk to you."

I shot Nate a look. This, unfortunately, was the flip side of Nate and Ellie being very close. Sometimes they were co-conspirators. "What?"

"She wants to join dueling club." Nate said after a beat. I shot him a dark look. I'd jointed dueling club late—sixth year—but had been captain by seventh. I'd loved it. Cormac had followed me into it and loved it too. We'd both gotten a few injuries—even with Professors around, it wasn't a perfect system—but we'd both needed it because dueling club made sure you knew how to protect yourself, and Cory and I needed to feel safe. Ellie didn't.

One of the few blessings the Gales had managed to swing was that, while my father had been an asshole of unparalleled proportions, Ellie and Cal didn't remember it. We'd left when they were seven. And so they knew all the stories, and they remembered Nate and Dad getting into a fight, in the final throe of the whole debacle. But they had never feared for their safety, or they didn't remember doing so. They didn't need this.

"Why didn't she ask me?" I asked a little sharply.

Nate groaned, bouncing baby Daley a little when she looked up at him, concerned. "Don't use that voice." He begged. "She's just trying not to piss you off."

"Well, it pisses me off that she went behind my back to—"

"She didn't do that." Nate asserted, and I met his gaze irritably. "She didn't. She asked me to talk to you. Not to suck up."

I shook my head. "Tell her I said no."

Nate blew out a breath, and I shot him a warning look—don't argue with me—but he didn't heed it. "Why?"

"Do you know what you learn in Dueling Club?" I asked lowly. Nate glanced at me. "How to defend yourself. Ellie doesn't need to know that."

"Okay, yes she does." Nate corrected, shooting me an irritated look. "What if she gets a bad boyfriend? What if some asshole tries something? What if she decides to be an auror like her big sister?"

"She is not being an auror." I said flatly.

"Because it's too dangerous?" Nate asked, and when I turned to face him, he smiled humorlessly at me over Daley's head. "Hypocrite."

I glared at him. "You're telling me you want her out in the field with me?" I demanded angrily. "I almost got killed last week. Ellie is not going to be an auror."

Nate's face sombered, the humorless smile dropping as he stared at me. "You almost got killed?" He asked me after a beat, his voice low and dangerous; in his lap, Daley, who had mostly been silent, shifted at his tone. She made a whiny noise so I reached out and grabbed her, shifting her onto my lap, where I bounced her lightly. I watched her for a long moment.

"Yeah."

Nate blew out a breath. "Fuck." He muttered, turning to look at the stadium before he pushed himself to his feet, walking to the edge of our box. I hoisted Daley up on my hip and followed him down the stairs, moving to stand almost a foot away from Nate, my hip bumping the fence.

"I'm sorry." I murmured. "I shouldn't have said that."

Nate said nothing. I looked down at Daley, smiling at her and smoothing down her hair; she reached up and grabbed my hand, looking up at me seriously. "What's up Miss Daley?" I asked her.

She looked at my fingers. "One," she tugged on my index finger, "two, three," She kept one hand on my ring finger and reached back for my thumb. "Forgot! Four." She released my ring finger for my pinkie. "Five."

"Good job, Day!" I cheered, and she clapped one of her hands on mine.

"Six, seven, eight, nine, ten." She chanted proudly up at me.

"Wow!" I mirrored her smile. "What a smartypants."

"I'll take her. I'm going back in." Nate murmured abruptly, reaching out; I passed the toddler to him, and Nate bounced her easily, before he lifted his gaze to me. "Be careful, alright? I know you can't talk about what happened, but you say you were almost killed, Liam's wound tight as a drum, and I was there when you showed up, bleeding, like 30 minutes after it happened which my loose medical knowledge tells me is shitty. And then there's your boyfriend, who cried last week, when all we knew was that your team was in enough trouble to make Mr. Potter disapparate from dinner. So." He stared at me. "Be careful."

"I am." I promised. Nate rolled his eyes, but before he could berate me, the whole stadium went dark, the glow of the lights dimming and the huge glowing orbs around the field brightening until the field was thrown into high relief. The door to the rest of the box opened and James, Sera, Cory, Liam, Fred, and Vicky filed out. Fred pushed Liam out of the way, skidding to my side, and Liam shoved Fred into me, shooting him an irritated look as I just held onto the fence, trying not to bump into Nate and Daley.

"Idiots." I grumbled. And then the noise overtook us.

"Our guests, the Falmouth Falcons!" The Announcer's voice boomed across the stadium; a set of two-story double doors opened at the end of the field, and the team swept out to a low roar of anger from the truly dedicated Cannons fans. "Ariane Schilling, Keeper and Team Captain; Kingston Jeffries, Ralf Torin and Carolina Cardona as Chasers; Cairbre and Fiona MacOlin as Beaters; and Maeve Wallis as Seeker." They swept around the field, not too fast so as to see some of the fan, and Cairbre MacOlin slowed in front of our box long enough to flash me a grin and wink at me. I stared at him, shocked at his audacity, while Fred straight-up cackled beside me. I turned to him, beginning to glare, and Fred pointed to the curtain that would pull back to reveal the cannons; it fluttered shut. Albus had definitely seen.

Ugh.

"Fucking MacOlin—" I muttered, reaching up to push my hair out of my face. The Falcons settled on their side of the filed.

"And the home team, the one, the only, Chudley Cannons! Blaise Blagoyevich as keeper; Ani Narang, Noemi Alders, and Liese Hooben as chasers; Patrick Bland and Rob Offerman as beaters; and Albus Potter, seeker and Team Captain!" There was a roar and even I joined in this time. The curtain slid open elegantly and the Cannons flew out, sweeping around the field in a counterclockwise motion, and I watched Albus move around the other side before he came around to my side.

Albus slowed down as the team approached our box and then stopped in front of us, hovering in front of me. I stared at him speechlessly.

Oh my god.

"Hey Miss Molly." He said charmingly. I felt my face heat up as everyone in the stadium stared at us.

"What would you say you're doing?" I asked him carefully.

"Hoping to get a well-wish from the lady before the match." He beamed at me. Despite myself, I felt the corner of my mouth pull up into a half smile. He loved using that idiotic old-timey voice.

"Albus, you have to go play quidditch." I reminded him, trying desperately to wrestle the smile back and failing. He beamed at me, tilting his broom forward just enough that he slid up to the other side of the fence, turning his broom so he was yet closer. I slid forward, my hips pressing against the fence, and Al reached forward, his hand slipping around the back of my neck and pulling me forward just enough that his lips hit mine.

I grinned as he did, reaching forward with my arms to sling them around his neck loosely, tugging me towards him. He grinned against my lips, and happiness exploded in my chest. Albus and I had been together since we were fifteen and sixteen. Now we were 22 and 21.

We'd been really lucky to get away with this for so long.

"You are such a show off," I whispered when he pulled back after a second.

"Like I'm gonna let that idiot get away with winking at you." He murmured to me. He kissed me again, for only a second, before he pulled away carefully, making sure not to pull me over the fence. I released him reluctantly and tilted my head to grin at him.

"Be careful. He's got a bat." I chided him. Albus laughed, and I shook my head at my heedless boyfriend. "Y'know, we're going to be all over the tabloids?"

"Because you look so good in orange?" Albus asked innocently, and I laughed a little at that one; he pulled back on his broom and then took off, full speed, whooping as he did. The stadium exploded in cheers as he went to hover with his team, grinning at his teammates.

"Oh, for the love of God." James muttered.

"You guys are really gross." Cormac said in an unhappy voice. I turned back to Cormac, and he made a face. I was unable to keep down the brilliant smile on my face, though, and Cory's disgust faded as I reached up to pull my hair back from my face, feeling like I was back at Hogwarts, flirting with Albus in the seemingly endless sexual tension we'd tried (or, rather, I'd tried) to postpone for months, before finally giving in.

"Shush." I reached up to rub a hand over my mouth, hoping that getting rid of what I was sure was smudged lipgloss would help my case. It did not.

There were moments of doubt with Albus. But then there were moments like this—where we were kids again, and I forgot I was an auror and he was a big quidditch guy and we were just those two idiots in fifth year, and I was kissing him in Gryffindor tower for the first time. He'd asked me where I stood, and I had said I stand with you. It had been so simple then. I had thought I could have a boyfriend who would just be a boyfriend. And then Albus had become my whole world, endlessly complicating the decision.

But the best decisions were the hard ones. And, Lord knows, I'd made harder ones.

I locked eyes with Cormac. This decision was nothing. This one was about me, not the kids, not the junior aurors. I didn't matter. But Albus did.

I blew out a breath, shaking my head, turning back to the fence and looking up at my boyfriend. He caught my gaze and waved, smiling sweetly. I waved back, pushing away thoughts. I didn't have to decide this right now.

Besides, I was worried I already had.

A/N: this one is a touch more light-hearted, y'all. So everyone can stop cruising on adrenaline. :)

Sorry for the delay. Life things got in the way, as they so often do. Dumb life things. But the Philadelphia Eagles won their first preseason game against the Steelers. So. Yay!

Shout out to the ten (wow!) reviewers from the last chapter:

Fionamoi

ink2parchment

bythesea232

I'mSiriuslyAmazing

Lucy Greenhill

Molivline

Alayathereader

potterblacklupin-4ever

Kaylee13133

nuts4nargles