A Wizard Meets the Parents PV Simon Kincaid F

She listened with a sober mindset as Simon explained his thoughts on why he felt it was a necessary thing for the magical world to remain hidden from the muggle world and keep their magic, and all the good it could do, to themselves. She listened to him, but she just could not buy it. It was rare that they disagreed on things, but on this one they apparently did, at least for the moment. AngelFyre did not fret over it. They were both young and possibly such things would be made more clear to her as she further progressed in her History of Magic studies. But as it stood now, it all just irked her no end. From what she had seen of magic, it was the Muggles who should be worried. If the magical world felt muggles were so awful and dangerous, then why not benefit those suffering in secret? Do humanity some good and still hide away from them if they felt so all fired threatened. The balance just felt very off to her, and again, this is one of the things where her magic crossed swords with her faith. She was commanded to love her neighbor. Hiding and not using the very power to benefit them did not feel like love at all. It felt like cowardice. It felt like selfishness. It felt self-serving. It felt... not Christ-like.

Criminy what a day for big thoughts. She did not want her troubled thoughts to in any way spoil her oh so precious time with him, so she grinned at him as he asked if he could get freshened up while she ate lunch. "Of course, love. I want you to be comfortable here. You never have to ask to be able to do such things, but first things first," and she leaned over, stopping half-way to him, looking, not at his eyes, but at his delicious bottom lip, telling him in a low tone that she was now going to kiss him, long and slow. It was predatory. Her focus was solely on his lips. She had long had a fixation with his lips, especially his bottom one, so she was unaware in that moment if his eyes flickered with even the slightest distress over whether this was a wise move or not. Just in case he was even a little nervous, she growl-whispered because she was now close enough he could easily hear her, "Trust me. We have Hillary," and she noted with a great deal of satisfaction that he put up no resistance as she first gently tugged his bottom lip with both of hers, and only then did she look into his gorgeous, golden brown eyes. His eyes told her a story in that moment, and it was definitely not one of worry. She could feel him begin to smile, and she released his lip, smiling now with him, as the kiss finally took hold. Holding his hand was always wonderful, but nothing could beat kissing him. Kissing Simon always made her feel better....about everything.

***************
About half way back to the house, they saw her parents driving off, waving to both of them. They waved back, and then AngelFyre had a thought that really tickled her her funny bone. "I have been saying this to you a lot today, but I need to say it again," and she started giggling. And then the giggling turned into all out laughter. Simon stood beside her and did what most people did in such situations and that was to wonder if she had lost her mind and then he started to kind of laugh along with her, not even knowing what it was they were laughing about. When she finally came out of it, she looked at him, holding her side which now had a stitch in it from the laughing.

"You know I have an impish sense of humor, so I am going to have to ask you to trust me tonight at dinner. I am going to tease my parents about my birthday present, and that is all I can tell you about it because I want your reaction to be natural and I want them to see it. What you need to trust me about is that you may be a little shocked, but believe that I know what I am doing and I know my parents. Whatever your first reaction is.... go with that, okay?" And unbelievably, she felt another fit of laughter coming on, though it did not last nearly as long as the first round. "You will have a part to play at the end though, when we leave the dinner table. I will ask if we can be excused, and they will say 'yes'. You and I will begin to gather our dishes up and as we do, I am going to start humming. When I stop and look at you, I want us to sing, and yeah, I am sorry about that my love, I will be singing, but just a few short lines," and she looked at him, grinning like an idiot no doubt. "It may be longer than a few short lines, but I swear it will not be long enough that you will sustain any hearing damage....trust me."

As they continued their walk up to the house, AngelFyre told him her plan and the name of the song they would sing, which she thought was freaking brilliant. Simon did laugh, but seemed a little hesitant. This is the kind of thing he would have been all over at any other time, as he was anything but shy, but she knew he was concerned, and rightly so, about the impression this would make on her parental units. His concern about the impression he would leave with them was the very reason she knew it was a great plan. But telling him that would never make the impact of his seeing it for himself on their faces.

As he reached to open the door, she quickly kissed his cheek and whispered one final time, "Just trust me, love. I would never do anything that would put us at risk of losing each other or put you in a bad light. You must know that. Now, you go freshen up, and I am going to eat. I will take an opportunity to freshen up as well. If you get done before I do, go browse in the Library or play your guitar or chat up Grandma Ruth. She thinks you are the bees knees! I will try to hurry, and then I will show you my room."

OOC NOTE: This is a long post. You will learn a lot about AngelFyre, and probably a lot more than you ever wanted to know. You have been warned.

AngelFyre stepped from her bathroom and felt 1000% better. The swim had been fun, but getting cleaned up and refreshed had made a world of difference. She automatically reached for her bottle of scented body lotion, 'Moonlight Path', given to her by Grandma Ruth over Christmas break. AngelFyre really never used perfumes, or scented oils, or even scented body lotions or soaps when she was at school. One of the things her mother cautioned her about was such things might affect people with allergies in a communal workspace or study space, so it was considered a politeness to minimize their uses in such situations. Of all the things she knew about Simon, she did not know anything about what, if any, smells he favored, or which ones in particular upset him. She was about to place a small amount on the pulse point at her neck and stopped halfway there. Hmmmmmm.... what if this is something he would just loathe? Deciding that possibly the best way to find out would be to strategically place it instead on her wrists and just behind her knees. A little would go a long way, and her body heat would help diffuse it, but one would have to be very close in order to detect it. Unless dhampirs had super olfactory senses as well. Did they? How could she be with Simon all this time and not know such things about him? Guess she was going to find out soon enough. If he hated it, it would be easy enough to wash off.

She took one last step in front of the mirror to check her hair the the very lightest application of a blush tinted lip moisturizer, but no sticky lip gloss. She smiled as she thought of the times, light though they were, that she had sent him off to his dormitory with his cheeks, or his neck, or his own lips bearing her subtle lip prints. sigh When she broke from her reverie and looked in the mirror once again, she caught sight of the smile on her face. How many times a day did that very expression cross her face just by thinking of him? She liked looking at that AngelFyre. That was a Simon-made version of her happiest self. She wondered if he ever saw it and knew he was the reason for it?

A couple of passes of Argan oil through her long locks to keep them shiny and frizz free and she was ready to go grab her fellow and let him dive into whatever wellsprings of knowledge he felt he could get from looking over her room. Her room was lovely, but it was not exactly what AngelFyre would have it be had she been given the freedom to make it entirely her own. This was her mother's doing pretty much. Many of the accessories were not even hers. She had no real attachment to them. It was all simply put together like one of her mother's photo shoots. That was okay, mostly. She was happier to be running around outside climbing trees, digging in the sandbar of the river, riding her horse.... anything other than being cooped up in a too prissy room. AngelFyre was curious to know if Simon would be able to detect that or not. A good number of things he would certainly know were hers by purposeful design, and it was those things that made her love her room more and more.

"Come on, Hillary. Go find Simon! Go get him, girl!" Hillary lifted her head immediately upon hearing her name and barked once in compliance, wagging her tail with thunderous thumps before running to the door and looking to AngelFyre to hurry and open it up. She laughed as she opened the door and Hillary took off. "No jumping, girl. Best behavior," she called after her as Hillary was already halfway down the staircase in search of her newest pal.

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When she caught up to Hillary, she was happy to see that she had, indeed, located Simon, and she was behaving herself as she had been instructed to do, sitting quietly in the grass and watching the goings on very patiently. Grandma Ruth had Simon doing Tai Chi with her. AngelFyre held back a moment and just watched them. Grandma Ruth was in her late eighties and had the energy and physique and mental capacity of a much younger woman. She was AngelFyre's ideal model of growing older with dignity, beauty, grace, and good health.

She walked out and greeted them. "I am going to go out on a limb here and guess that the Peaceful Dragon pose would rank as one of Mr. Kincaid's favorite poses," and she smiled quite smugly. He had never mentioned ever having done Tai Chi before, but he clearly had the natural grace to do it beautifully. Grandma Ruth looked over at her and put her finger up to her lips, signalling AngelFyre to be silent so as not to disturb the peace they were seeking. She sat for the next few minutes and watched as Grandma Ruth walked Simon through her whole routine. It really was lovely and calming to watch. She knew from experience it was even more calming to do.

"Our boy catches on quick. The swimmer in him already gave him his long, lean muscles, I suspect, but his focus was remarkable, indeed," she told AngelFyre as she and Simon headed over to the table, a broad smile plastered on her face. Then turning to Simon, whom she had linked arms with as they drew closer, she patted his forearm and apologized for speaking about him as if he were not there. "You are a very quick study, young man. You are welcome to join me in my Tai Chi sessions any time you so desire. Your presence was very calming.".

AngelFyre's heart quickened when Grandma Ruth referred to Simon as 'our boy'. Yes. Yes he is, Grandma. Smiling at them both, she asked the loaded question.

"So, Mr. Kincaid. Are you ready for the grand tour, culminating at the destination I like to call, 'My Room With A View' " She knew it was a rhetorical question. He was most definitely beyond ready. "Iain calls it her shrine to -....," and Grandma Ruth silenced herself when AngelFyre shot her a wide-eyed look, shaking her head vigorously, trying to hold back a little smile. Grandma Ruth sat down and said, "You are so right. I am so sorry. Loose lips and all that," and with her head bobbing slightly with her constant tremors, Grandma Ruth smiled once again and pantomimed locking up her mouth and throwing away the key behind her. AngelFyre just laughed and got up to give her a quick hug. "I adore you."

Then, looking towards Simon, she exclaimed, "McCubbin Manor Home Tour for One, leaving now. Line starts right here," and she reached her hand out for his. Then putting on her best knowledgeable but interesting docent-sounding voice, she began, "We shall begin with the patio as the patio is a very nice place to begin. Famous for breakfasts with one Grandma Ruth Godshall as well as Tai Chi sessions with the afore-mentioned Grandma Ruth. Next we move into the room that Grandma Ruth designed and calls her Arizona Room. It is actually one of my very favorite rooms, and the temperature remains fairly constant in there no matter the weather outside. On snowy days it is just stunningly beautiful. Moving along, I believe you are, unfortunately, familiar with the large family room. I think nothing more need be said about this space and it has only recently become my least favorite space in the house. I hope you have perhaps had a chance to explore the home library, but if not, it is pretty impressive. Also one of my very favorite rooms in this house. I spend an inordinate amount of my time in here, when I am inside, that is," and she looked over at him and smiled and winked.

"Daddy taught me to play chess while sitting at that table right over there. And he did so by piling a number of books into the chair for me to sit upon so that I could see the chess board," and she laughed at that memory. "Through the back of the home library is my father's home office. The best view of the river we swam in today is viewed from his office window. He just loves that view. It is his favorite thing about the whole house."

Backtracking through the home Library, they went back into the wide hallway. "Of course, directly across from the library you will recognize your guest suite, which I do hope you have found to be comfortable. Be sure to let the management know if anything does not meet with your approval. We aim to please, donchaknow?" and she clicked her heels together sharply while giving a quarter bow and nodding her head ever so slightly. "Continuing on we move through the kitchen and dining room. Next we come to a room I think will interest you quite a bit and that is the small music room. The large music room, if you are wondering, is also the large family room. When we have parties or gatherings, friends of the family will bring their cellos, violins, flutes, once even a harp and that all happens in that room. This small room is where I practiced for years." She turned to him and squeezed his hand. "Since knowing you, I have started playing more again, which makes my mother very happy. I may not sing well, but I can play. And I can dance. Two out of three... I am okay with that for now.

Leading him now to the entrance of the house, seen from the inside, they first came to the foyer. "This is the one area, other than his office, that my mother allowed gave over to my father to express his particular aesthetic. It is....uhmmmm.... very male, hunting lodge Scottish, I would say," and she shrugged her shoulders and laughed. "Honestly, there is no one through-line designer aesthetic that I can pick up in the decorating of this place, but it all feels like home to me. This entry though, makes me very sad. I do not like the taxidermied heads, so I avoid this space as often as I am able. Mom regretted giving Dad the say here because it is the space that most people see first when they come, and I know she cringes deep down inside whenever it is seen." AngelFyre got quiet for a minute. When she spoke again, she was looking at Simon. "I guess, silly as this may sound, this room was actually one of my first lessons in love and sacrifice. Daddy loves it. Mom hates it, but I am not even certain that Daddy knows my mother hates it, because I think if he did, it would not look as it does now. But she had the whole house to do with as she wanted. To take that away from him would have been mean. I love that she kept her feelings about it away from him. He would not be able to enjoy it otherwise."

A little embarrassed by her "sharing" and probably boring him to death, she continued out the front door. "I collect rocks, but only heart shaped rocks. I have done it since I was three or so. If you look around our property, you will see my displays of them here and there. One such heart rocks display is near the front entry. Once I started, I was amazed at how many rocks there are that are heart shaped. My collection even got my mother interested in the shape as it appears in nature, and she had fabulous gallery showings of her beautiful heart photographs in Edinburgh, London, and New York about three years ago. We were, and still are, so proud of her."

As they started to climb the sweeping staircase, AngelFyre told Simon, "I am going to skip the family bedrooms because I did not exactly ask permission to to show those off, so that just leaves the big reveal for you. I now present my room. Tada! If you look closely, you will see a familiar face I get to kiss every night before I lay down and pray to go to sleep. Above me that same familiar face is always nearby. Across from my bed is the window with the bed I told you about that I slept in when I had the chicken pox and Ainz and Kendric would go to my tree house and we would talk for hours on the soup can line. It is where I watched you from last night as you made your way to the tree house to play your lullaby to me. I loved that by the way."

Then moving back around the corner, she took him to her desk area. "You will recognize the mask you made for me, and there is a large photograph my mom took of me and Hillary when she was just about a year old. I was 9 then, and small for my age. I hit a growth spurt about a year and a half ago. Still growing. Maybe one day I will be as tall as you," and she winked at him. "There is another of my heart rock collections, but I designed that one and framed it as one big heart. And last in this room, but not least, is an early birthday present from Ainsley because she will not be here for my birthday, and she did not want me to wait one day more than I had to to get it. It is my shadowbox kiss."

And signalling the blessed end to this overly long tour, AngelFyre gave out a dramatic sigh and told him, "The tour ends with the lavatory, as all tours should, especially this one."

"Be honest. Is this what you sort of imagined or is it far afield of what you thought it would be? When I started the tour, I referred to it as "My Room with a View". The view, was actually what Daddy refers to as my shrine," and she started to laugh. "He has a point, I suppose, but I maintain it is simply the best view in the whole house," and she looked at the shrine, still with a bit of awe and satisfaction in her eyes.

"Mom redecorated my room while I was away at school. She wanted it to reflect the young woman she felt I am becoming. I know she put a lot of effort into it, but it is just not me, I guess. This feels like something for an uber prissy girl, and I think we both know that is not me. But it is not all bad. I suppose, like any girl, I can have my prissy moments. I think my mother wishes I was a little doll she could dress up sometimes. I love her to death, you know I really do, but I am so much more like my Grandma Ruth or my father," and she grinned, "... my accent notwithstanding," and she playfully rolled her eyes.

"I hinted at it earlier this morning, but did you and Grandma Ruth get to talk about her pilot skills? I was not kidding when I said she used to buzz the neighboring ranch's cattle. Grandpa Ezra was an attorney and a rancher, and he apparently used to get so furious with her for doing it because it was... well, it was illegal for one thing... and dangerous for the cattle for another. She is a spitfire, that is for sure. She was going to teach both me, when I was old enough, and my father how to fly, but her deteriorating vision betrayed that dream."

AngelFyre looked at her fellow and wondered, not for the first time, how she ended up in Hufflepuff. She knew nothing of the houses when she first walked into the Great Hall last September, but knowing them as she does now, it made some sense to her that the Sorting Hat was not quick to place her. It wavered between Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor for a good bit of time, but she supposed it knew what it was doing. Still, had she chosen for herself, the toss up would have been between the lions and the eagles, and she would have probably chosen the eagles. That answer always surprised her, and strangely felt like an odd betrayal of how she actually thought she saw herself. Maybe because it felt like it was leaving a bit of her childhood behind. Simon, too, could have easily been placed in those two houses as well, but there was a feeling that just radiated out from him to others that screamed Hufflepuff. Her Hufflepuffness was so much less evident to herself. Then she recalled a snippet of what it had said when deciding, thinking now that the Sorting Hat sounded as if it were channeling Dr. Suess' Cat in the Hat:

... The things you think and things you know
the things you do and places you go
are second forever and always to
the fallow fields where your heart does sow...

Sitting on the end of her bed and patting the spot next to her, mindful of keeping her feet on the floor, she fell back onto the mattress, looking up at the white ceiling. "Simon, knowing what you know of the Hogwarts houses now, if you had chosen for yourself, would you have placed yourself in Hufflepuff or in another house?" When he joined her, she took his hand as she eagerly listened to his answer. She anticipated him telling her Gryffindor, and he was adventurous, no doubt about it, but AngelFyre would still most definitely place him in Hufflepuff, with Ravenclaw a close second. Simon was generally self-deprecating when it it came to his smarts, but he was actually one of the smartest people she knew, and that was not coming from a doe-eyed girlfriend. She often wondered if he recognized just how brilliant he was, and her answer always came up, 'No', which, of course, was part of his charm. In a school where accurate casting seemed to be one of the guiding metrics for perceived smarts, Simon did have some issues, but they had learned through their research on dhampirs that casting was a weakness for all dhampirs, not just Simon. He never reacted to that golden nugget of info verbally, but she knew it must have been some relief to him. Yeah, her guy was so much more than a pretty face. He was a perfect combination of curiosity, street smarts, and book smarts.

When he had finished his answer, she looked around, thinking this room generally bored her so it must be especially boring for him. Besides, she really wanted to kiss him some more, but she knew that would be severely frowned upon by her parents in this setting. Then she turned her gaze back to him as another thought distracted her, and she smiled excitedly. "Oh! My parents were heading out to get birthday party supplies when we saw them leaving earlier, but Mom left me a note saying she was able to get those tickets for the Rat Pack cover band for tomorrow night," and she sat up a bit, resting on her elbows while hooking her ankle around his. "There is a restaurant that Mom and Dad like to go to whenever they get the chance in Edinburgh, but I was thinking you and I could take one of the night tours of Edinburgh before the cover band started. I can just grab a quick bite of something anywhere along the way for myself since I imagine you will likely not be hun-- uhhhmm, will likely not want to eat," and she smiled at him as she corrected herself. "I figured that would be one less food obstacle you would have to face in front of my folks if we took the tour, but I am happy to do something different if that does not sound agreeable to you. Honestly, love, I do not care what we do. I just want to do it with you.'

Then she told him, "I am really glad you are here, Simon. I know I have told you that already, a few times, but it is so true. And to be clear, by here, I mean here at my home, yes, but mostly I mean here, by my side," and she leaned over and kissed his cheek, then his nose, and leaned way over him to kiss his other cheek, laughing as she did.

"Come on, handsome. How about we go back to the small music room? When my parents get back, we can help with dinner, but until then, I want to hear the progress you have made on your composition, if you would not mind playing it for me, that is. Orrrrr, maybe we can practice the song we are going to sing after dinner tonight. We cannot have you hitting any sour notes after all," and she laughed delightedly at the momentary horror that flashed in his eyes at the thought of being subjected to the caterwauling that passed for AngelFyre "singing".

"As Simon played his composition, AngelFyre sat next to him on the piano bench. It was too crowded for him to really be able to have the freedom of movement he needed to play his piece with all of the feeling that she knew was probably bursting to come out as the music overtook him, but being next to him was very comforting to her right then. When he had finished, they were both silent. They each turned to look at the other and the moments passed easily as her darkening, ocean blues met the softening embers of his coppery golden browns... at a distant horizon where they would escape to together... away from everyone and everything. "I have always loved this piece more than any other I've heard you play. What are you thinking when you play it? When composing it? Where do you go, I wonder, because you are here, but not?" She had first heard him play the haunting tune the night he had asked her to be his girlfriend and she had said no. To AngelFyre, it looked as if he had poured everything of himself into that piece that night. She had never seen or heard anything like it.

She leaned her head on his shoulder and just closed her eyes, perfectly content with everything in the moment. They were both brought to attention, however, when her parents could be heard moving around in the kitchen and laughing. They did that a lot. They laughed together. It was one of AngelFyre's favorite things in the whole world "Come on. Maybe we can help out in the kitchen or help set the table on the patio. The patio is even lovelier in the evening, I think," and she smiled at him as she stood and reached for his hand.

"The note they left earlier also said Daddy would be grilling tonight. We will just have to dazzle them with our sparkling wit and conversational prowess to the point they will little notice if you do not have an appetite. If you do, that is great, but I have you covered if not," and she reached up and kissed his cheek, putting just a little suctioning action into it so that it would make a satisfyingly loud... well loud only to the two of them in the room.... smacking sound upon the release of her lips, and she burst into laughter. How Simon put up with her she did not know, but she was sure glad he did.

When they went into the kitchen, the two caught her parents in their own liplock. AngelFyre was used to it, but she could feel Simon immediately tense up. She squeezed his hand reassuringly and cleared her throat. Her parents did not cease and desist instantaneously, but it was a decently quick ending followed by a few quick pecks. When they both turned to Simon and herself, AngelFyre arched her brow, gazing directly at her father. Normally she would have been suppressing a smile, but given the lectures she and Simon had received earlier that day, there was no smile in her to suppress on the subject.

Her father caught sight of the arched brow and shook his head and waved a finger at her. "No, lass. There will be none of that, now. That..." and he motioned between her mother and himself, "... was a completely proper expression of affection between two adults who also happen to be husband and wife." She watched him turn from his mother and turn 90 degrees, facing her, placing both hands on the counter in front of him, meeting her even gaze. He was not smiling either, but his posture and tone were relaxed, not in any way challenging. His emphasis on the word 'adult' had not escaped her notice. She momentarily considered saying something more, something she never would have thought of doing even the day before, but she, very wisely, thought better of it. It surprised her how salty she still was over the whole thing.

She broke eye contact first and stepped forward with Simon, still holding his hand. If adults get to kiss, she reasoned kids get to hold hands, so holding hands it would be.... for now. "What can we do to help? We had a pretty late lunch, but I feel famished," and then her smile surfaced.... an honest smile... and the cord of tension that had been present just moments before had suddenly evaporated.

"That is my good lass. Glad to hear it! I will be grilling steaks. Your mother is in charge of the the sides." Turning his gaze back to his wife, she piped in fairly quickly to say, "There will also be baked potatoes with all the fixings, garden salad, sauteed mushrooms, all of which shall be followed by peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream for dessert," and she smiled broadly at the two of them. "AF, why don't you and Simon go set the table, and when that is done, we will see what still needs to be done. Fair? Oh, and don't forget to feed Miss Hillary."
At the sound of her name, Hillary's tail started thumping loudly and she could be heard licking her lips just as loudly. The gentle giant, much like her person, could be so dramatic.

"Fear not. We are on it," she said cheerfully. She headed off towards the pantry and brought Simon along with her. AngelFyre's eyes were gleaming as she told him of yet another of her grand schemes plans for dinner. As she asked him to hold his arms out, which he did without question, she piled them full of the tablecloth, the table runners, the napkins, the plate chargers, and the napkin rings. As she loaded him up, she relayed that it had taken forever to convince her mother that she really was a vegetarian. Hillary, as it turned out, happened to be the very happy beneficiary of such disbelief on her mother's part, and could be again this evening, or the rest of Simon's visit if necessary. "If you are just not hungry, love, do not feel like you need to force yourself. I do not want you to be uncomfortable, physically or emotionally. That really is important to me, Simon. It just is," and she brushed her hand gently across his cheek. "Just cut your steak into pieces and casually drop them into your napkin when you reach your limit. I am going to give you three, maybe four napkins, so that nothing soaks through to your jeans," and she chortled while rolling her eyes. "Believe me, that bit of precaution comes to you from the voice of experience. You are welcome," and she winked most exaggeratedly at him and then she just outright laughed.

She quickly turned and gathered onto a large tray the candle lantern, a thick pillar candle, and the the votive candles and holders that would be sprinkled around the table. AngelFyre adored candlelight, so there was going to be a lot of it. She also grabbed the vase with the styrofoam frog. Grandma Ruth loved flowers at the table, so AngelFyre knew she would be picking some and would happily arrange them for everyone to enjoy. She made a mental note to fill the vase with some water as they would head through the kitchen so that the frog would be moist and would keep the flowers fresher for longer. "Hillary is a well trained girl, her excited lapse when jumping in the middle of your bed this morning notwithstanding. Ahem. Annnnyway, she will not be begging or pestering you for anything, so no one will know of this harmless little deception. And it is harmless, love. No one will be the wiser and Hillary will love you even more. When we clear our plates, we will simply give Hillary her dessert out of sight of everyone. Easy peasy..." and with a nod to him and a flousrish of her wrist, she left the rest for him to say, because, after all, her guy was all about lemons...sort of.

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Dinner was delicious. The table setting was gorgeous, punctuated by even more candlelight from the hanging lanterns above their heads. Simon's steak had been prepared just a little more done than he had requested, but everyone was laughing and having fun. Simon got a first hand account of Grandma Ruth's adventures in the cockpit while buzzing the cattle. She told him how she was one of the first women to seek her commercial pilot's license in the States because she had dreamed of piloting for the airlines. Her gender was a hard no to that dream at that time. Simon then regaled them with his harrowing... and heroic... story of his first broom race. Modesty prevented him from adding in everything, so AngelFyre was more than happy to add the finer details, bragging on him as often as she could.

Her father hung on every word Simon was saying as he described what it felt like to be on his broom, zipping through the sky. "My, that must really be something," he exclaimed. "I recognize it will not quite offer the thrills of this broom racing you both describe, but how would you two like to go dirt bike riding tomorrow morning while it is a bit cooler?" With great enthusiasm, both accepted, smiling from ear to ear. "Good. I look forward to it."

As AngelFyre felt like everyone was in a happy frame of mind and relaxed, she turned to Simon and gave him her 'It is go time' look. She reached over and took his hand while looking at both of her parents. Speaking up quite confidently, her voice and manner gave absolutely nothing away. "You know, I have been thinking. My timing is probably a little off as I have spent the better part of a month begging the two of you for a cell phone for my birthday, but another thought occurred to me this afternoon, and I truly think it would serve me better than the cell phone ever could." Without skipping a beat she told both of them quite earnestly, "I think I would like a chastity belt instead."

Crickets.

Literally and figuratively, all that could be heard was crickets. She did feel Simon tense up, but she could not look at him. If she did, she would laugh and that would blow everything. They needed to see his genuine response to her little proclamation. Instead she spooned a bit of cobbler into her mouth, swallowed, and began to slowly lick first one side and then the other of her spoon while looking to her parents. Actually, she was looking at her father. At the time AngelFyre mentioned the phrase 'chastity belt', Iain McCubbin had a spoonful of cobbler halfway between his plate and his mouth. The momentum stopped entirely and a second later his spoon could be heard clanking back down onto his plate. For the first time she could ever remember, her father sat there with his mouth somewhat agape, and when sound did emanate forth, it was merely, "Errrmm... ermmm...".

Then out of nowhere, Grandma Ruth started laughing most heartily and clapping her hands together. As her laughter built, the sound of it became infectious. "Touché, my darling girl. Touché." Her mother retained her presence of mind and was able to set her spoon down. She picked up her napkin from her lap and after wiping the corner of her mouth in a most lady-like fashion, she looked down with the napkin covering her mouth. AngelFyre, for a nanosecond, had the terrifying thought that she had actually miscalculated here; that her mother was sobbing into her napkin. It soon became evident, however, that she was not sobbing. She, too, was laughing. It was her mother's laughter that finally penetrated her father's still dumbstruck look and mumblings. He cocked his head to the side, still looking at his daughter and asked, "What did...I... I... why would... Annene, did you....?" and when he turned to look at his wife and saw her laughing, he bellowed out a flustered, "What is the matter with you?" Because he was looking between his wife and his daughter, it was hard to ascertain just who his question was directed to exactly, so he fell back into his chair, looking confused.... but then.

Then Iain McCubbin started to laugh. And he laughed hard.

AngelFyre smiled and turned her gaze upon a relieved-looking Simon. She shrugged her shoulders and then she burst out into peals of laughter herself, speaking to him in halted, laughing breaths. "Just so you know -- I definitely still want that cell phone," and then she laughed some more.

When she looked over to Simon and saw that the redness was leaving his face while his smile was ever growing, AngelFyre relaxed a little. She leaned over to him once again, but this time she whispered to him. "I am sorry I could not tell you, but now I think you can see why," and she cocked her head and whispered again. "Just look at them, Simon. We are all laughing about something now where there was no room for laughter this morning. And it was not just for them. It was for me, too. I have never been as angry at them or as embarrassed by them as I was this morning." She sighed deeply and turned back to her favorite face in all the world, stealing his signature move of resting her forehead gently against his for just long enough to tell him, "You are my hero, you know? Thank you for being such a good sport and going along with my nonsense. And I am sorry I embarrassed you." Then she pulled away, still looking at him and squeezing his hand. "Not surprisingly, you still looked ridiculously handsome when red as a beet, in case you were wondering" and she laughed some more.

As they all sat there and the tension had been broken, AngelFyre felt like a weight had been lifted. There was still one more main phase to her master plan, and this one Simon would get to take part in as well. It was unfortunate that the first time they would ever hear his lovely singing voice would be alongside the banshee shrieks that passed for AngelFyre "singing", but them was the breaks. It was not quite time yet, but it was approaching.

"Mom, guess what? Before we left Hogwarts, Simon threw a little birthday party for me. It was fabulous, and I do not think I have ever laughed so hard. We both love to dance and we tried to Jitterbug, which came to less than stellar results," and AngelFyre started laughing again when thinking about how she had gotten stalled on his back during a roll and they were laughing so hard that they both fell to the ground, where they ended up laughing even more. "But oh it was so much fun!" Then looking at her mother, she asked," "Do you think you could show Simon some moves? I know you love the Jittterbug and this gives you a chance to dance with someone who does not have five left feet," and she looked over at her father and winked. "Simon is a great dance partner, I promise, and you will have a ton of fun. I can go turn on the sound system now so you will have music, if you are interested?"

Without even waiting for an answer, she was up and running to turn on the music. This was, very tangentially, also a part of her master plan. Her mission was to have her parents not only like Simon... but love him. Seeing first hand the wonders the boy was capable of was only a little of it. There were plenty of talented people in the world, granted, not many as talented as her fellow, but still, there were plenty out there. As talented as he was, that was not what made Simon golden. What she most wanted them to see was his adaptability and friendly, caring, Hufflepuff self. She wanted a vision of him in their minds that was something other than, or in addition to, the two of them glued together. Then maybe they could begin to understand exactly why she was head over cocopuffs and cuckoo for heels about this most remarkable boy.

When she got back outside, her mother already had Simon up and was showing him some of the basic steps. It was fun watching them. When she thought about it, she had never seen Simon dance with anyone else. And it struck her then just how tall he actually was. He was as tall as her mother, so they did not look like a weird little pairing of a small kid dancing with a taller woman. They looked good together. And her mother was having the time of her life. When AngelFyre looked over at her father, his eyes were crinkling and smiling. He was enjoying watching them dance as well. Annene McCubbin had tried and tried to teach her husband how to Jitterbug for years, but the man just did not have it in him. He could do a mean waltz though. Looking over to Grandma Ruth, he stood and offered his hand. "Care to trip the light fantastic with your favorite son-in-law, Ruth? Never mind those young whipper snappers dancing their devil dance. We shall show them what a real dance is and how it is done."

As AngelFyre sat at the table watching her Fab Four laughing and dancing together and having and all around good time, her heart felt a peace wash over it. Everything was going to be fine. It may not happen overnight, but it was going to be fine. She looked up into the starry night sky and whispered a short prayer of thanks. She got up and walked over to Hillary and plopped down next to her, surreptitiously slipping her the pieces of steak that Simon had not eaten.

All was absolutely perfect in those moments.