21 Sep 2025, 15:06
More Than a Dance
Asking @AngelFyre McCubbin to the Autumn Ball
26 September 2025.
Meet me at the Great Lake
as the stars sprinkle the sky
at this day's end.
- Simon
Sometimes there's an end. Sometimes there's a beginning. And sometimes - there's the in-betweens.
Simon and AngelFyre's story's beginning came quietly in early 2022 after returning from Christmas Break in the Hufflepufff Common Room one chilly evening. The very first time their paths crossed he noticed her presence - stopped what he was doing and observed her.
Simon had then taken their interaction further and initiated conversation. "Lot colder today than it was yesterday, so I heard," he had said. No, no romantic gesture, but he wasn't just making a simple comment in passing, he was trying to start a conversation. It was small talk but it was purposeful small talk.
As the beginning of them continued, if one could go back, they'd see that the attraction eventually became a little more clear. Yes he was friendly but this wasn't your typical friendly Simon. There were compliments, curiosity about her name and where she was from, and some personal space-sharing. Within their first conversation, Simon was striving toward knowing small details about her. He was intrigued.
In that first conversation, there was the early stages of emotional intimacy. Simon demonstrated that he wasn't just interested in talking to her but he was interested in knowing her.
And he'd never forget the twirling of her hair. It was undeniable at that point and he had been captivated, even if he had yet to know it. Her words already had his attention, the way she so elloquently spoke, but the hair twirling had caught his full attention and he noticed that it was long and beautiful and framed her face; and then continued to notice her physical beauty.
In their beginning, he had begun quickly to admire the whole person she was revealing to him, but the hair twirling brought out his appreciation for what he saw as well.
One chance meeting in the Hufflepuff Common Room brought them to the beginning of a romantic connection and it led him to actively make plans to see her again.
That had been their beginning.
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And then came the in-betweens.
There were transitions. Moments when they saw each other as more than friends.Brief brushes of hands on piano keys, a breath held too long, false starts and fleeting hopes. Too soon. Not yet.
There were pauses.
A girlfriend. Stillness. Reflection. Indecision.
But within those moments, there were loops. Cycles of emotion that didn't fade. Thoughts that wouldn't stop.
It was her.
It had been her since that very first night they met.
Echoes of moments with her would repeat. The truth became harder to ignore. Eventually, it came to be quite evident that AngelFyre Afton McCubbin wasn't merely someone important to him, but someone he needed in his life.
There was a break.
No more girlfriend.
That opened up the window to a moment of hope where all obstacles were behind them and the in-betweens could vanish and they could just be.
But no. Another pause. It was still too soon.
And that was okay.
What followed was a transformation - one of many to come. A quiet space in time, free of labels or expectations where they could simpmly exist. They could breathe, they could listen, they could follow the quiet pull of something deeper.
And as it had from the very beginning, that pull brought them back together by design. Some hearts aren't just drawn together, some hearts are meant to find one another.
Where you go, I will go; as long as I go with you.
My hand always to your heart...
There would still be middles. Still pauses. Still moments of change. But there were no longer the in-betweens of false starts and echoes.
Simon discovered somoething rare. They were a continuum - fluid and unbroken. They were timeless - untouched by the chaos of the world.
They weren't just two people who crossed paths one day in the Hufflepuff Common Room, they were a force that was connected together by something deeper than chance.
They were timeless - beyond the reach of time itself, untouched by anything the wrold could throw at them. They were two souls that were bound to one another; meant to meet, to love, to remain - in this life and all the ones beyond.
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The night was cool - just cool enough to comfortably wear their Hufflepuff robes and Simon listened as the small waves brought up water to splash upon the small wooden rowboat that the two sat in as they moved out further into the Great Lake. He rowed again and looked forward toward the direction of the castle but he wasn't looking at the castle, he was watching her.
The gentle breeze tugged gently at her hair and he smiled. In some ways, it was the same Scottish Highland wind that brought her to him upon their very first meeting - although he knew it wasn't really the wind, it was Him. - And he thanked God every day for her.
He smiled to her and pushed back the oars again. This wasn't just a boat ride, it was a return.
It was a return from the agonizing pause of an in-between they had that summer. They were an entire summer apart, months apart. So much had happened. So much needed to be mended for each of them and yet nothing needed to be mended for them together.
Simon brought his hands off the oars so he could take out his wand. He was determined this year to name it - jealous that AngelFyre had a cool nickname for her own wand and his had merely been "his wand." He pointed it high toward the stars above them and fired the red sparks charm, steading it, keeping it, and moving his wand in certain directions. Red sparks were sent into the air and formed themselves into the shape of a heart.
Once in place, he smiled widely, glad that it had worked. "AngelFyre? Will you go to the dance with me? I know it's just a dance....and they're often not what we expect, but.... this is more than just a dance; this is our way of getting back to normal after everything we've been through recently."
He knew her answer; he really didn't need to even ask - but it had been a tradition of his since their first school dance and one that he continued.
"We had a beginning, just as everything does. But we've been through so much - transitions where everything chanced and pauses where we needed to catch our breath. We had loops where we found ourselves surrounded in the same feelings. We had transformations and had the biggest cliffhanger this summer that made us wonder what would come next," he tried to express all that he had been thinking.
His eyes remained up on the heart. "In all those in-betweens you've had my heart. Always. Truly - since that very first night we met in the Common Room. We have found something that doesn't fade, that doesn't end. What we have is forever. And the pauses and the transformations and anything the world wants to negatively throw at us isn't going to break us. It didn't. It won't. It can't."
"We might still have ehoes of the reminance of this summer's awful events, but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy the here and the now...that we can't be Simon Kincaid and AngelFyre McCubbin, two Hufflepuffs crazy about each other and going to their school dance together. We've a lifetime and beyond and let's not let this negative in-betwen of summer impact our in-betweens now. Let's focus on the celebrations, the progress, the milestones, the personal breathroughs and the overcoming of challenges. Let's focus on the acts of kidness and the achievements and the moments of joy."
Last edited by Simon Kincaid on 11 Jan 2026, 01:01, edited 1 time in total.
Be kind to one another. (*iNPC is Miles Thatcher)
8 Oct 2025, 12:21
More Than a Dance
The Red Line @Simon Kincaid
26 September 2025
Meet me at the Great Lake
as the stars sprinkle the sky
at this day’s end.
- Simon
AngelFyre clutched Simon’s note in her hands, her pulse quickening with unbridled curiosity. Her eyes traced the neat handwriting, lingering on the final flourish of his signature. No one would ever guess the boy wanted to be a Healer given how neat his penmanship was. That made her chuckle as she sprinted off to meet him, a mixture of giddy excitement and warm anticipation bubbling up inside her. This was not merely a summons; it was a whisper of wonder and a hint at how his beautiful mind worked.
She allowed herself the luxury to imagine. Given the time of year, the location where she was to meet him, and the recent announcement about the Fall Ball’s Enchanted Depths theme, it did not seem like a stretch to believe a promposal was in her immediate future. Oh, how she loved that boy! He knew he had a standing yes from her, but she adored the thought and effort he put into these little rituals. Would it be simple or elaborate? Would he be waiting, patient as ever, or scheming some playful mischief?
Her mind landed on his most scandalously adorable promposal, his Hufflepuff in the Buff tour de force, and she had to wonder if he would be dressed this time?!? The possibilities of a skinny-dipping ask did not seem completely out of the question… or even unwelcome… and her thoughts twined through her mind like the ribbons of a spell, each one more delightful than the last. His timing was perfect, as usual. The tensions in the aftermath of the past month — her abduction and the demise of his father and his father’s coven — faded slightly in the glow of what this encounter might hold.
By the time she arrived at the pebbled shore near the Great Lake, the evening was settling in like a silken cloak. The water shimmered beneath the last touch of daylight, cool and dark, reflecting a sky that promised stars. Simon was already there, standing calmly, waiting. Her breath caught at the sight of him, illuminated by moonlight. Her drum beat pulse quickened just as her pace nearly stalled. When she came into view, she expected to be greeted immediately with his should-be-patented smile, but it was not present. That unsettled her for a moment, until she recognized the same appreciative look she cast upon him was also being mirrored back at her in Simon’s expression.
Still rooted in place, he broke eye contact first and looked up to the sky. “I’ve been waiting here, enjoying watching the stars blink and twinkle into view,” and then he turned back, locking his gaze once again to hers, “but none of them, AngelFyre, shine nearly as brightly as you coming into view.”
He then reached out to her, his fingers beckoning her to move towards him, never releasing her from his tractor beam gaze. She quickly obliged, feeling oddly calmed and stirred at the same time, and even a little flushed as his compliment seeded itself in her garden of memory. When she reached him, she said nothing at first, but tippy-toed just a bit, and kissed him tenderly. “Thank you, love. You truly overwhelm me at times,” and she brushed the back of her hand across his cheek as his smile finally made its first appearance that evening.
“Please, allow me,” he offered, that smile growing even wider as he made a grand sweeping gesture with one arm while he continued to hold her hand with the other, helping her into the boat. She giggled and responded with an equally dramatic curtsy before stepping in. “Why, thank you, kind, sir.” He did not release his grip until she was safely seated. Then he shoved the boat into the calm, dark waters and deftly jumped aboard, seating himself at the helm across from her. He confidently took the oars in hand, and she felt herself truly begin to relax.
The boat sliced cleanly through the water, propelling them towards the lake’s center. AngelFyre leaned over the hull, letting her fingers drift in the cool water, delighting in the simple resistance it created. She turned to watch him row, each movement precise and graceful, the oars dipping and lifting almost silently. Her pride swelled, not just at his mastery, but at the calm power he carried in every gesture. Simon Kincaid was not merely strong; he seemed unshakable, and she had a faith in him that ran deeper than the lake beneath them.
But seeming to be a thing, and being it, were two different things entirely.
As she observed him row, the memory sprang vividly to life… the first time they had been in a rowboat together had been at her home, and she had puppy-paddle-splashed his perfectly styled hair into wet oblivion. She had laughed until her sides ached while he protested in mock-annoyance, his hair dripping and plastered to his head. Yet even then he still looked perfect to her eyes. The memory sent a wave of warmth through her, and she could not resist the impulse to dip her fingers into the lake again and flick only a few droplets at him.
“Does that remind you of anything, handsome?” she teased. She caught just the merest flash of a ‘She wouldn’t, would she?’ look in his eyes, and she laughed softly at her own impishness while relieving his angst by shaking her head no at the same time. “I thought it then and still think it now. You are truly eye candy and absolutely nothing is beyond your ability... even rowing a straight line,” and her joyful laugh reverberated across the lake. "Do not discount that skill. Kendric still rows himself in circles to this day, and he grew up on the river."
Simon shot her a glance and a crooked grin of relief that he was not about to be puppy-paddled all over again. He had always welcomed her playfulness and had matched it with a gentle balance of humor and care. That was one of the many reasons her heart had never stopped yearning to love him. But she knew he had plans tonight, and being water-logged was definitely not on his agenda. Still, he was only human, and AngelFyre also detected a rare hint of his suitor-pride rearing its head at besting Kendric, yet again, as his grin only widened. “Rowing in circles? Really? Why does that not surprise me?” Then laughter from both of them danced across the lake.
It was not long thereafter that he drew the oars in and simply allowed the lake to navigate their course as they just drifted. Without fanfare, Simon raised his wand, and knowing it had to have hurt his dhampir eyes more than a little, her fellow cast the red sparks spell into the night sky. The sparks traced themselves upward, forming a perfect heart that hovered above their heads, glowing brightly against the darkening heavens. She gasped softly, marveling at his casting. As a dhampir, with all the limitations she knew he sometimes faced when casting, he had mastered this spell with elegance. Her pride in him swelled, but as beautiful as that heart was, it paled in comparison to the words that spilled from his own heart to hers.
Her heart clutched in her throat listening to him. Every nuance in his words spoke to the way he had thought of her…of them… and of the weight and wonder of their shared time.
Her gaze lingered up in the sky as his had while he spoke, and she knew the heart was reflecting in her own watery pools as surely as it was upon the ripples of the lake’s surface. All her thoughts turned inward, chasing after the beginnings, endings, and the spaces in between that he brought forward. They were the framework for her own recent realization and the long-simmering truth she had carried in silence these past weeks.
“Oh, Simon.” She moved forward to sit next to him, causing the boat to list from side to side and the water to splash up a little more forcefully. He reached out to steady her and their fingers entwined as she found her place next to him. She could not say ‘Yes’ right then as the most recent in-betweens were now swirling in her conscience. She knew very well this would bring back the memory of another time he had not gotten an expected ‘Yes’ from her, but she hoped the comfort of their interlocked fingers AND their history would reassure him as she confessed.
“That was beautiful, love. I know you know I feel the same. But - … but I have to address something with you first, and I am sorry it is coming out now, but given all that you just said, it feels like the moment to express it.”
She heard his breath hitch, and a look of confusion and unease accompanied it. That quickly softened to a nod of trust as she squeezed his hand three times, signaling their silent ‘I love you’.
“Something I said to you the night I met your fath- … the night I met Adrian has been weighing on me recently.” She began cautiously and with more than a little shame tinging her voice. “Your beautiful thoughts on the in-betweens just now has given me the opening to say what I did not realize even needed to be said until a few weeks ago.” Her thumb reflexively traced an infinity sign on the back of his hand, grounding her courage as she spoke.
She inhaled deeply, and the words tumbled forward, deliberate but unforced. “I told you that night, in no uncertain terms, that I did not want our children to ever be in his presence. I said it amidst grief, exhaustion, spiritual doubt, but mostly out of fear. I cannot apologize for feeling the way I did, but Simon, I do sincerely apologize to you for not realizing at the time the hurt that such a comment must have inflicted. You know, I hope, I would never have left that wound untended had I known I had made it. I have no excuse for not seeing it or for not realizing it much earlier than I did.”
Her gaze flicked to the side as she gathered her thoughts and then returned, finding his soft, doe brown eyes still willing to meet her cornflower blue ones. “My mind was just so consumed by the danger Adrian posed. I never meant to suggest, nor did I ever I doubt your ability to protect our future family.” She halted there and raised both of his hands, kissing each of his palms before gently releasing them and placing her own palms on either side of his face.
“For years I carried with me the real threat and belief that I could lose you. I wanted so badly to be wrong about him, Simon, I truly did. I hope you know that. I really need you to believe that. I wanted… even prayed… for you to find in him what you most needed to find, and instead, I feel like we both let you down. I see it clearly more now, what my words may have cost you… how they may have wounded you, even though you never gave me a sign of such. Never once did you lash out at me for laying down a red line about our future as if I had the only say on the matter. You nursed that indignity silently, without blame and without reproach. And I… ” her voice faltered slightly, the weight of the realization pressing down upon her, “…I am just so sorry, mo chridhe (my heart). I am a seer, yet even I was blinded by the in-betweens.”
Her gaze remained steady as her hands dropped and found his. “I am constantly in awe of the strength it takes to love as you do and to forgive as you have forgiven. I have watched you, and I have seen what you endured to save yourself, to save Clara… to save me. My faith and belief and trust in you is absolute. I would never have let this linger had I understood it sooner, but now I do. I see what you carried, and it hurts me to know that I caused even a fraction of it. I could never be anything but proud of you, and I have never felt anything but completely safe with you.”
Her words hung in the cool night air, leaving space for Simon to respond. Her heart raced, not with fear, because she knew he had forgiven her miserable transgression against him years ago. No, it raced with the anticipation that maybe he might crack just a little here, too, and open up and process some of his thoughts and feelings about the utter hell they had just lived through a month prior. AngelFyre knew her poker-faced boyfriend could win an academy award for appearing to be unshakable, but he was half-human, and she knew better. Even if he did not choose to deal with any of it now, perhaps he might later.
She believed he was on the right track with his beginnings and in-betweens, but they had both suffered immeasurable trauma, and they had not really spoken of it. Moving on as he was requesting they do felt premature to her right now, and she did not want to drag a garbage barge’s load of Adrian Hawthorne issues behind them for the rest of their lives. No time like the present to begin to deal with it, even if it was in the midst of the most beautiful promposal ever.
She finally rested her head on his shoulder and her body shuddered in soft hiccups as she tried not to cry. The currents held their gentle rhythm while the boat bobbed softly beneath them. Her in-betweens had been named, the past acknowledged, and the space had been given to honor their truths before any lighter, joyous act could follow.
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Reducio
Simon and AngelFyre have longstanding permission to godmod one another's characters. 
The magic is real.
13 Oct 2025, 03:00
More Than a Dance
Apologies turned to @AngelFyre McCubbin
Simon shook his head, almost immediately as she began her apology and he just kept looking at her as she spoke, exploring her eyes with his and his mind searched over the vocal tonality in which she said the words that she was saying.
"I appreciate your thoughts, my love, but I never took it to be anything negative," nor did he think that if he gave it more thought, perhaps she was right. "If anything, I was the reason that you were in danger. Granted, Clara, the villagers......who knows who else in the decades and centuries and eons to follow were saved from my connection with my father but you warned me that no good would come of this and I didn't heed your words. I dismissed them for my own selfishness and I apologize to you. If anything would have happened to you...." especially because of that father of his, but even if something were to happen to her..... His voice faltered and his words broke off because it was just too much to bear.
Simon would be so lost.
"It is I that should be apologizing to you, every day, every way." Simon reached out, gently placing his hand to cup against the side of her face. How lucky he was that she was still there right beside him despite his lack of listening. To think that she still held him in high regard after such ignorance. He was grateful for this second chance, this continuation of them - so that he could work on proving that what she said did hold merit to him and that he valued her more than anything else that graced this Earth.
"I love you, AngelFyre McCubbin. Forever and Always," he whispered before leaning to allow their lips to touch, just softly. But a kiss was rarely a soft peck with them and this one too melted into deepness and he brought her closer into him.
"Please know," he whispered breathlessly as he pulled away just so his words could be heard but not so much that he broke the closness between them, "that I always see you for who you truly are - strong, beautiful, kind, and worth more than words can say. I never mean to take you for granted and I always intend to respect you. I'll keep on reminding myself, today and every day how lucky I am to have you and I'll always strive to treat you the way you deserve with care, honesty, and love."
Sometimes when speaking to AngelFyre, and his feelings for this special girl, he felt as though he could be speaking wedding vows. One day. One day.... in years to come. While he knew they could be wed as early as 16 in the wizarding world, he didn't see Iain McCubbin being too open to the idea of marrying off his daughter in around a year's time.
Maybe perhaps he would remember some of these words and phrases and use them in his wedding vows. Perhaps he would come up with something more romantic and more profound. He knew whatever he said would still fail to state exactly how much she meant to him but he could try. Luckily, he truly felt as though he had a lifetime to keep trying and show her in every small act, every quiet moment, every spoken word just how deeply he loved her.
Be kind to one another. (*iNPC is Miles Thatcher)
28 Oct 2025, 14:50
More Than a Dance
A Thousand Times, Yes @Simon Kincaid
26 September 2025
The silence after his words was laden, not heavy exactly, but full — full of everything she wanted to say and could not yet trust her voice to hold. Somewhere across the water, a ripple broke the moon’s reflection, leaving moonlight mingling with the faint crimson shimmer of his heart above, a soft breath of movement on its surface, as if the lake itself had sighed for them. The tension that had bound her chest eased, and in a rare moment since summer’s end, AngelFyre took a relaxed breath.
She brushed her tears away delicately and nodded to herself, as much as to Simon, in acknowledgement of all that he had spoken. Her hand rose slowly, yet with no hesitation, and rested over the binding mark on his chest, feeling the slow rhythm of his heart beneath it. A whisper of thought passed between them, unspoken yet fully heard: "I hear you… I see you, love… and I know you have always seen me. Thank you for that and for always forgiving me. I do not deserve you, but I love you with my whole heart… and pray to always honor the love… and grace… you show me… always… always… always.” She closed her eyes just a moment, letting the gesture carry what her words could not. The warmth of their connection spread through her, grounding her in the immensity of all he had poured out to her.
Her eyes, glistening in the reflection of starlight on water, lifted back to his. She could see him... really see him... so clearly. The poised steadiness she had always known in him was there, yet beneath it, the burdens he still carried flickered faintly, subtle and silent, visible only to her. And there it was again, the unspoken: he had faced horrors and nearly lost everything, and she had not yet had a space to process it with him. Even now, his stoicism held firm, a quiet fortress against the ghosts still trailing behind them.
Inhaling deeply as the crisp night air filled her lungs, the fleeting shadows circling her mind were brushed away. They carried the briefest touch of disappointment that Simon had not opened up about the night that had nearly destroyed them both. Yet she recognized that he had not brought her here for that reckoning, and in truth, she did not begrudge him the reprieve. They would face those ghosts in time, but for now, this moment was theirs… a reclamation of sorts.
“You are here,” she whispered, letting each word settle into the space between them as she squeezed his hand. “I am here,” she said, and her voice pitched with quiet certainty, hinting at what was still to come.
Her hand lifted, and with Godhshall in her palm, AngelFyre began mimicking Simon’s earlier movements and utterances, tracing in the air as if drawing out a shape from her very soul. A crimson glow coalesced at the end of her wand, soft and luminous against the night. With practiced precision, she sent her magic soaring, and another radiant heart was inscribed onto the star-scaped sky.
The lake stilled and hushed. The moonlight shimmered imperceptibly across the waters, and then her heart joined his already fading crimson emblem. But Simon's heart suddenly radiated more brightly with hers next to it.
Her truly grand flourish came with a beautiful “Flagrate!" followed by a whispered, “And we will soon be there... together... at the Ball.”
In the instant after her last cast, the word Yes! blazed luminous and unwavering in the center of her night-sky heart, now conjoined to his. But silently, in a way only Simon could hear, AngelFyre softly repeated, as if in fervent prayer, “Yes! Yes! Yes! Always and forever yes, mo chridhe.” (my heart)
They looked up, their heads resting against one another, bearing witness to how their magical hearts, in their celestial union, seemed to shine brighter than anything in the night sky right then. For a moment, hers blazed brighter, but that was temporary and only because his had been up there for longer... and alone.
But they both knew the truth.
They shone brightest... always... when together.
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The magic is real.