***A/N*** Hey guys! If all goes according to plan, I'll have another chapter up later today so keep an eye on your notifications! Until then... enjoy! xx
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Some people hate holding hands with their partner. They think it's gross, sweaty, whatever the case may be.
I love it. Absolutely adore it when Theseus holds my hand as we walk around the streets of London.
I also think that if I wasn't holding his hand he would run off like a little kid and I'd never be able to find him again. He gets excitable like that, it's adorable.
"I think you'll really like this next one," Theseus says to me. He kisses my hand a few times, "It's great. Truly. I was talking with the person selling it and he said that it's one of the best places to live in the city."
We're looking at flats all day. It's a week till Freddie's wedding. A week and a day till Ophelia leaves. This is the third flat we've seen today. The others, according to Theseus, were 'far too basic' for his taste. I'm honestly a little nervous as to where he's taking me next.
"I liked the last one we looked at, the little one on top of that dumpling place?" I say to him, "It's right downtown and it's small and quaint... I could see us living there.
Theseus brings my hand up to his mouth and kisses my knuckles, "Here we are," he says before leading me up towards a huge red brick building... okay building is the wrong word for it... it looks more like a castle.
"This is an apartment building?" I ask him as he opens the big gold door.
He nods, "Trust me, you'll love it."
He leads me up the stairs, to the very top floor and opens an even bigger golden door into the flat.
Flat isn't the right word for where we are right now.
It's...
"A penthouse?" I look at him, "Theseus we're two eighteen-year-olds, we don't need..."
Theseus looks up at the huge crystal and gold chandelier in the entrance hall, "Eight bedrooms, nine bathrooms. The bathrooms are covered in gold and marble... the floors are solid wood..."
"Theseus!" I pull him to a stop and look at him head-on, "Eight bedrooms? Nine bathrooms? What – who is going to clean them all?"
"We'll get house elves!"
"We're not getting house elves!"
Theseus steps forward and turns to look at me, "Come on love, can't you see us here?"
I cross my arms over my chest and look around, "Honestly? No. It's huge, and so uninviting... how much does this place even cost?"
"A little over a million pounds a year?" Theseus says, slowly realizing that I'm not as into this place as he thought I was going to be.
"A million – I shouldn't even be breathing in here Theseus. I – absolutely not," I turn out of the... bloody mansion that we were standing in and I don't stop walking till I'm outside and Theseus grabs my arm.
"Cass! Cassiopeia!" Theseus tugs on my arm just a little to get me to turn around so I'm looking at him, "I'm sorry."
"Is that... is that really how you want to live? Big and fancy and uppity like that?" I look at him carefully, "Cause I thought we were on the same page. A small flat to start, and then a house that's not a mansion..."
"I'm used to living in what you call mansions. Sure the ones that I've lived in gives me PTSD but I want to make sure that I take care of you... Λυπάμαι που σε αναστάτωσα," (Translation- I'm sorry I upset you).
"I get that, but home to me is small, and packed full of things that you've found or collected along the way... I want that with you. I don't want cold marble bathrooms and gold plated doors or..."
Theseus pecks my lips, "Okay. μπορούμε να επιστρέψουμε στο δεύτερο διαμέρισμα αν θέλετε," (Translation- we can go back to the second apartment if you want).
"Είσαι σίγουρος? Θέλω να το λατρεύεις όσο κι εγώ ... θα είναι το σπίτι μας... not just mine," (Translation- Are you sure? I want you to love it as much as I do... it will be out home).
Theseus nods, "I'm happy when you're happy. Isn't the saying, happy wife..."
"I'm not your wife yet," I say to him as I pull him in for a hug.
Theseus kisses the top of my head, "Five years."
"Five years in that little flat above the dumpling shop," I laugh.
Theseus pulls away from me and cups my face in his hands, "I love it when you're happy. It's my favourite sight in the world."
"I'd be happier if we went to put a deposit on that flat," I say to him.
He hums and kisses me softly before taking a firm grip of my hand and apparating off.
"So the down payment is three-thousand pounds, then it will be fifteen hundred pounds a month, not including water and parking," The landlord says walking us around the flat once more, "Flat'll be ready in a week."
Theseus and I look at each other. I know he knows what I'm thinking,
In a week, Freddie and Evie are getting married.
In a week and a day, my twin sister is moving to a different country with her girlfriend.
"Sounds perfect," I say to the landlord, "If we could come back tomorrow with the payment?"
In a week, I'm moving out of my parent's house with Theseus.
The landlord makes us sign a bunch of different things, looks at the muggle identifications that Mum made sure we brought with us. And in under half an hour, Theseus and I walk down the stairs and out into the street, with the keys in my hand.
"Think your parents are going to have a heart attack by the end of the week?" Theseus says to me, "Two moves and a marriage all in one go?"
"They might just combust into flames," I laugh.
Theseus and I take the long way home, opting for a walk instead of apparating or anything.
By the time we get back into Diagon Alley, Mum and Dad are closing the shop.
"Hey, you two!" Mum says when we walk into the shop. She gives both of us a hug and a peck on the cheek, "How'd it go?"
Theseus and I look at each other.
"We found a place," I say to Mum, "It's what, an hour walk away from here?"
Theseus nods, "On top of a dumpling shop.
Mum smiles even bigger, "Oh that sounds adorable!"
"We have to go back tomorrow with three-thousand pounds for the uh..."
"Down payment," Dad calls from somewhere upstairs, "When are you two moving in?"
I laugh and rub the back of my neck, "Next week."
Dad laughs, "Next week is going to be the biggest week of our lives by the looks of things... We're taking Ophelia to Gringotts tomorrow, setting up her own vault, giving her the money that we have for her. You two can come along, two birds one stone."
"I've got to go to my things in order as well... at Gringotts," Theseus says, "I don't even know if mother gave me anything from father's vault or if she's kept it all, or knows that some of it is my fathers..."
Mum puts her hand on his shoulder, "I can help you with that. Don't worry about a thing love."
"Σας ευχαριστώ," Theseus says, "Er, thank you."
Mum nods, "And like we said to your sister... your father and I have talked, and we are giving you each twenty thousand galleons each. Enough for furniture and first months rent and things like that so you can get started without fuss."
"And that's more than we gave your brother so keep it hush, hush!" Dad calls from upstairs.
Mum laughs at Dad, "Looks like we've got to get more boxes if you're both packing."
"And where would we get those? It's not like we recycle hundreds of cardboard boxes each and every day!" Dad looks down at us, over the railing from the second floor, "Go, get packing!"
Theseus and I look at each other before racing up the stairs of the shop and into the flat.
Ophelia's boxes are everywhere. For someone with such a small room, she's got loads of stuff.
"Oi!" I call out, "Leah are you home?"
Ophelia comes out of her room with another box in her hands, "What?"
"We need boxes."
"I need boxes. I'm the one moving in a week."
"Not the only one."
Ophelia nearly drops the box she's holding, "You – you found a place?"
I nod, "Only like an hour walk, nothing like a three-hour flight or anything but..."
She laughs, "Fuck."
"I know..."
Theseus looks at me, then at Ophelia, "I'll be in your room love," he says kissing my temple before stepping over a couple boxes.
"It feels... weird, you know? Like I know I'm moving out but the fact that you're not going to be at home when I come to visit?"
"Well I can say the same thing about you," I say to her.
"Promise me that you're not suddenly going to get pregnant when you and Theseus move in together."
I scrunch up my nose, "And have my kid the same age as my brother? Not a chance."
Ophelia laughs, "Hey uh, promise me that you'll tell Hollis stories about me? I want him to know me as his sister and not some weirdo that comes around every so often."
"He's going to know you as a sister cause your face is plastered all over the flat," I say to her, "And it's not like Mum and Dad aren't going to tell him every day of his life that he has siblings."
"So where are you moving to?" She asks, finally putting the box down.
"A little flat above a dumpling shop... Theseus was really interested in a million-pound penthouse actually."
Ophelia laughs, "Bugger off."
"Honest and true, it had a gold plated door and everything. He wants a mansion, Leah. And he said he'd get house elves to clean it all and whatever... made me think of all the horror stories Mum told us about living in the Malfoy Manor, thirty rooms for four people and a house elf... I don't want a legacy, I don't want a Manor, I want a home and I thought he understood that till he showed me that penthouse."
"Who knows, maybe he plans on having seven kids to fill all those rooms with," Ophelia laughs, "Listen, mate, he's pureblood."
"We're pureblood."
"Yeah, but we don't live like them. The only thing we know that's even remotely related to a pureblood lifestyle is ballroom dancing. Mum didn't even bother trying to teach us Latin or French. Anyways, he's pureblood, and he was raised pureblood. He's used to living a posh lifestyle even if he's been bumming it with us for the past couple months. I thought you knew that."
I shrug my shoulders, "I thought I did too."
"It'll be fine," Ophelia says to me, reading my mind, "You two will be just fine."
"Cheers," I say to her before going into my room with Theseus.
He's lying on my bed, staring up at the ceiling when I walk in. I cross my room and crawl into bed and over top of him. Straddling his waist and drumming my fingers onto his chest.
"I heard you with Ophelia," he says to me, not bothering to look me in the eye when he talks, "Are you worried that we aren't going to be as okay as we think we are just because I got excited over an expensive flat?"
I reach up to his face and softly caress his left cheek with my hand, "I'm worried that you'll get bored of me. I don't ever want to live a life in that way, somewhere as posh as that. It's not who I am."
Theseus looks at me, "When I first met you, you were practicing dark arts to the point where the ministry started tracking your movements cause they were scared. You are the least boring person I've ever met."
"Are you sure?" I whisper.
This time, Theseus sits up before responding. He presses his forehead against mine and his hands take their usual spot on my arse, holding me in his lap, "είμαι θετικός," (Translation- I'm positive).
He nudges my nose with his to get me to smile before he kisses me on the lips. Before it can get too heated, my door bangs open and Dad clears his throat.
I slide off of Theseus' lap and look down at my hands, pretending to be interested in a hangnail.
"Just because you two are moving out soon and starting a life together doesn't mean that me and Mum's rules have changed. Doors stay open please and thank you," he says.
Theseus and I both nod and he smiles, "I'm thinking take away for dinner given we're all a little too stressed to be making anything. Have any requests?"
"Burrito bowls?" I ask and Dad nods, "Theseus? Any ideas?"
"Burrito bowls sounds okay," he says, not meeting Dad's eyes when he talks.
This isn't the first time that someone has walked in on me and Theseus. With a family as big as mine it's bound to happen countless amount of times. I've learned not to be ashamed of it, or embarrassed when someone walks in on us together when we are just snogging. Mum and Dad kiss all the time.
Theseus on the other hand, still gets all weird about it. But I guess the dynamic is different when it's your girlfriend's parents walking in or something.
Dad leaves, making sure that the door is open before he does and I look at Theseus, "I can't wait to be with you in that flat," I say to him, "We won't have to worry about my parents or my siblings walking in on us."
Theseus smiles and shakes his head, "What? You've got plans or something?"
"Course I do," I drum my fingers on his knee, "First night at the new flat? I want you to fuck me in every corner of the place."
His eyes go wide and he looks the other way as I laugh, "I've created a monster," he says, "I've created a bloody monster."
I laugh and keep going, just to see how far I can push before he snogs me again, despite the door being open, "Think about it darling, Every morning in the kitchen, every night in the shower... in the middle of the night even when neither of us can sleep... we can be as loud as we want, as naked as we want... as..." I look him up and down and bite my bottom lip just to get a rise out of him, "experimental as we want..."
"I know what you're trying to do Cassiopeia," He says with a small smirk on his face.
I move my hand slowly up his leg, "Do you?" I say softly, "And what's that?" I lean closer to him and brush my lips against his jawline.
"Cass! Post is here and you've got a letter!" Annie calls.
Theseus sighs out of relief, "I'm not going to have sex with you till we move out," he says as I get up from the bed, "But I'll make it worth your while. Promise."
I smile and roll my eyes before walking out of my room and into the living room where the rest of my family is. Theo is walking back and forth in pretty tall burgundy high heel shoes. No doubt practicing for the wedding and making sure that they fit their feet properly
"Holy shit!" Ophelia shouts going over to the huge box that several owls dropped off for her, "It's from the Kestrels!"
"Language, Ophelia," Mum sighs as she sorts through the smaller letters. She hands one to me, then one to Theseus who followed me out into the living room.
Ophelia tears through the package she got. Practice robes, game robes, shirts, jumpers, sweatpants, trainers, notebooks, water bottles, hats, scarves, gloves, you name it she got it. Each and every item in the package is the same green and yellow the team logo on it as well as 'WEASLEY' in big yellow block letter, "I might cry," she wails, "I seriously might just cry!"
Annie reaches into the box and pulls out a pair of keepers goggles and pulls them over her eyes, "How do you see out of these!? It's moving and it's all dark!"
Dad laughs and takes the goggles off of Annie's head, "Top of the line," he says, "They zoom in and out when you focus your eyes on different things. It makes it easier for the keeper wearing them."
"Dragonhide keepers gloves!" Ophelia screams before tugging them onto her hands, "These aren't even released to the public yet! And look!" She pulls out a helmet and shoves it onto her head, "It's even got a hole to string my ponytail through!"
"Bloody expensive equipment," Mum says.
Ophelia looks at her, she's wearing a bit of everything from her package, elbow guards, chest plate, helmet, goggles, gloves, scarf, trainers, she looks like an idiot, "I'll be famous in a month Mummy. I've got to look the part."
Freddie looks into the box too. I can tell that he's a bit jealous of her right now. He loves quidditch and probably would have given up his monster dream if he was scouted when he was in Hogwarts, "There's a broom in here mate," he says.
Ophelia drops everything she's holding, which is quite a bit of Kestrels merchandise before pulling the broom out of the bottom of the box and ripping off the protective cloth, "No fucking way,"
"Ophelia..." Mum says in a warning tone but she's not listening.
"It's a Yajirushi!" She jumps up to her feet and holds it out in front of her like it is the most precious thing in the world.
Theseus makes an ungodly sound beside me, "You're joking." He says.
Ophelia turns around to show him. Freddie, Dad, and Theseus are all drooling over the broom. Mum gives me a look and shrugs her shoulders, clearly just as lost as I am.
"The Japanese quidditch team had these patented last year but they lost it after they lost their qualifying match. The Kestrels bought the patent for this upcoming year," Ophelia explains still looking at the broom like it is the best thing she's ever seen in her entire life, "It's the fastest broom in the world! Going two-hundred kilometres an hour at its fastest!"
"I've never seen one in real life," Freddie says staring at it, "Can I touch it?"
Ophelia screams and trips over a few boxes as she tries to get away from Freddie, "You're not going anywhere near this thing! You can have my Thunderbolt if you want."
"I've got one of those," Freddie sticks out his tongue at her.
Ophelia laughs, "This one won't break when a bludger hits it. And it can go thirty kilometres faster."
As Freddie and Ophelia bicker, and Dad picks through Ophelia's new merchandise, I open the letter I received. It's marked with the Ministry stamp which can only mean a few things, and because I haven't broken any laws recently,
Dear Miss Weasley,
Thank you for your interest in joining the Department of Magical History. After reviewing your application as well as your Hogwarts transcripts, we are pleased to announce you as the newest member of our team. Our team is small made up of six people, and filled with only the best and brightest magical folk from across the world. You will be working long hours beside your team to document and fill in the blanks of our history.
You will start on Monday, in two weeks' time as your application requested. Each shift begins at nine in the morning from Monday to Friday and ends at six in the evening. Pay is four hundred and nineteen galleons every two weeks.
We cannot wait to start working with you. Wishing you well,
Jules Thorne
I read the letter over and over again just to make sure that what I'm reading is correct. I got in. I got into one of the most exclusive branches in the Ministry of Magic.
I have a job.
And it pays well.
"Cassie?" Mum asks me, snapping back into the present, "What is it darling, your face got all shocked."
Freddie and Ophelia stop bickering and Annie pulls a hat with a bobble on it over her head.
"I got the position," I say to them, a smile breaking out across my face, "I got the position in the Department of Magical History."
Mum nearly kills herself on all of Ophelia's crap to come give me a hug, "Oh darling I'm so proud of you," she whispers into my ear before everyone else can come to give me a hug and a congratulations.
I look at Theseus who is reading over his letter, "Hey," I say to him, "Good news?"
"Just call me Theseus Avery, Auror from now on," He says breaking out into the biggest smile. After another round of cheers and all-around good vibes, Ophelia decides to open her mouth.
"How much are you lot making?"
"Four hundred and nineteen galleons every two weeks," I say.
"Two hundred and twenty-eight galleons every two weeks," Theseus answers.
Dad looks at Mum, "And that's enough for them to live off of right? Like when it's converted to muggle money? That's good?"
Mum laughs and nods, "That's good G."
Ophelia slowly claps her hands together, "Wow, four hundred and nineteen galleons Cass. That's good... real good."
I scrunch up my face, "What are you going to be making?"
"Oh not much, just a hundred thousand galleons for my first season. It goes up a hundred thousand each season I play. Course that doesn't include when they see how good I am and up it when they're scared I might leave them for a better offer," Ophelia winks at Freddie who's bottom jaw has falling nearly clean off his face, "They were going to offer me more, given more teams were interested in me, but I didn't want to be selfish."
"Fuck all of you," Freddie grumbles.
"Language," Mum says lazily.
"I make bloody three hundred galleons a month."
Dad furrows his eyebrows together, "But the company you work for pays for your travel expenses, medical bills, rooms to stay in, and food, right?"
"Well yeah but –"
Ophelia sighs, cutting Freddie off, "The Kestrels pay for all that stuff for me too. And just wait till the advertisement companies see me, I'll have deals with them faster than you can say, 'Ophelia's the richest one in the family,"
Mum sighs, "Who raised you to be so money-driven when I wasn't looking?"
Ophelia stops talking about money pretty quickly after that.
It's not long after that Freddie heads over to Evie's for wedding stuff and everyone breaks off back into their own little activities. I manage to snatch a few boxes from Ophelia's room before going back into mine.
Theseus watches me from my piano bench as I drop the boxes on the middle of the floor and look around, "We've got to go shopping for new furniture," I say to him.
He nods, "When do you want to do that?"
I shrug my shoulders, "Sometime soon, I mean I don't want to live in an empty flat."
He stares at me a little longer, "We don't have to start packing right away if you don't feel comfortable. I get not wanting to leave home... actually I don't get it, like at all cause well..."
I smile and look the other way and Theseus laughs, "Υπάρχει αυτό το χαμόγελο που αγαπώ τόσο πολύ," (Translation- There's that smile that I love so much).
"I love you," I say to him.
He smiles, "I love you too."
By Thursday evening, both Ophelia and I are nearly fully packed and ready to leave home. Mum and Dad gave us both twenty thousand galleons and helped us get out own vaults at Gringotts. Theseus also learned that he has about a million galleons in his vault thanks to his father. Got to love that old-money pureblood status.
Freddie's wedding is tomorrow, then Ophelia and I leave to our respective homes.
Mum made a roast even though we don't normally have one till Sunday, "Special occasion," She says as she adds a bowl of mash to the middle of the table.
"Last supper we have together," Dad sighs, "Soon you'll all have families of your own to have roast with."
Freddie, Ophelia, and I all look at each other. Theo scoops themselves a bunch of potatoes, "I can't wait," they say, "I'll actually have elbow room at the table for the first time in my life."
Freddie laughs and nudges them with his elbow, "And a screaming baby to deal with. Trust me, it's not all that it's cracked up to be."
"And more chores down in the shop," Ophelia says.
"And more one-on-one time with Mum and Dad," I add.
Annie screeches, "I'm still going to be here you know!"
Everyone at the table laughs and Theseus pokes at his roast with the tip of his knife, "Thank you for letting me stay here as long as you have," he says to Mum and Dad, "I'll never be able to repay you, but I'll try my best."
Mum reaches across the table and squeezes his hand, "You don't owe us a single thing."
"Yeah, we'll be happy to kill for you again," Dad jokes.
Mum turns to look at him with eyes as big as dining plates, "George!"
Theseus laughs, a proper belly laugh, "I appreciate the offer, sir. Hopefully, we won't have to do that again."
Dad pecks Mum on the cheek, "See? He's fine with it!"
"How I've managed to be married to you for twenty years I'll never know," Mum sighs. She looks at Dad and smiles before pecking his lips.
"Can we not?" Freddie groans, "Don't ruin our last dinner together by snogging each other."
"If you think that that was a snog, I feel bad for Evie," Ophelia says.
Dad smiles, "We could snog if you wanted," he says right before pulling Mum close to him and kissing all over Mum's face as she laughs.
"I can't wait to get out of here," Freddie sighs looking at his food.
"Tomorrow morning, we're getting up at five so we can be at Nan and Pops at eight," Mum says as we eat dinner, "Ceremony starts at, what time Freddie?"
"Three," he nods, "Then it's all over."
I kick him under the table, "You're getting married Fred, it's not like you're dying or something."
"And last time I checked, you were the one that proposed," Ophelia says with an arched eyebrow.
"Yeah, don't blame her for the marriage when you were the simp that suggested it," Theo adds.
Dad looks around the table, "Simp? What is simp?"
"You're a simp for Mum," Annie says.
Dad looks at her funny, "What does that mean?"
"Oh you're totally a simp," Ophelia nods, "Like the definition."
Theseus leans over to me, "Simp?" he whispers into my ear.
"A man who is willing to do anything and everything to please a woman," I whisper back to him. Dad is to busy trying to get a proper answer out of my siblings to notice that I just explained it, "Like you."
Theseus coughs and brushes the tip of his nose with his thumb, "Fuck you," he whispers, making sure that no one else at the table can hear him.
"Later darling, we're at dinner with my parents," I say with a wink.
Mum laughs loudly and interrupts our little conversation, "Georgie it's just a word, leave it be."
"I want to know what it means!"