2.| ✮𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓮, 𝓑𝓲𝓵𝓵. ✮ {𝓑. 𝓦𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓵𝓮𝔂}

\𝓉𝓌ℯ𝓃𝓉𝓎\

~

Bill's mother always taught him that when you take a girl on a date, you pull her chair out for her and you compliment her on what she's wearing. He'd taken enough girls out by now to know the drill, so it was no different with Addilyn from the market in town. When he told Mrs. Weasley he'd asked Addylin on a date, she'd practically jumped for joy. Bill wasn't quite as thrilled. Addilyn was pretty and she seemed nice enough, but Bill just wasn't interested. And besides, she was a muggle and Bill wasn't in the habit of hiding his magical abilities.

"Oh, thank you," Addilyn said when Bill pulled her chair out for her. He was dressed in a nice muggle suit, but the restaurant still felt too fancy. Mrs. Weasley had talked him out of wearing his dragon-hide boots and his fang earring, and had even managed to trim his hair before he squirmed out of her grasp. He didn't feel like himself.

"How long has your family lived up on the hill?" Addilyn asked politely.

"My whole life. My parents moved here just before I was born." Bill ran his fingers through his hair, feeling out the new length. There was only an inch or two off, but it felt too short.

"Hmmm. We moved here about a year ago."

"From where?"

"Colchester."

There was a long silence. Bill tapped his foot nervously. Addilyn occupied herself with the menu, running her finger over the lines absentmindedly as she read.

"What're you getting?"

"Ummm, dunno." He picked up his own menu. "Have you been here before?"

"No."

Another silence. Bill was almost relieved when the waiter came over to take their drink order. Addilyn chose the most expensive bottle of wine and then turned back to her menu. Bill brushed his hair behind his ears and decided to have another shot at conversation.

"So... what do you like to do? I mean, aside from work."

Addilyn shrugged. "I don't do much. Sometimes I volunteer at the animal shelter."

"That's great!" His face lit up. Finally, something he could talk about. "One of my brothers is a huge animal rights activist. If he went to a shelter, he'd probably end up adopting all of the pets."

"He's the really muscular guy that comes into town with your Mum, isn't he?" Addilyn asked, suddenly interested.

"He's- yeah. That's him."

"He's always very nice... what does he do?"

Bill didn't know how to answer this. "He works with fire-breathing dragons in Romania," just didn't seem like the type of thing you bring up on a first date with a muggle.

"He- ah... works with exotic animals overseas," Bill said, hoping Addilyn wouldn't ask any further questions about it. No such luck. Her face lit up.

"What kinds of exotic animals? Oh, that seems like such a fitting career for him. He always looks so... mysterious..."

~

"What- on earth- were you thinking?" Snape towered over the Gryffindor students in the hazy air of the common room. The entire place smelled of smoke.

"We were just celebrating, Professor!" Eleanora said, a smile still lingering on her face.

"Celebrating what?"

"The beginning of the tournament!" She took a step forward, but stumbled slightly and was caught by Lee. Her smile didn't waver. "Come on, aren't you excited?"