#beerandcheese-princess

[chasholidays]

you're so awesome for doing this! one of the highlights of my holiday season. i would love a bellarke izombie au! thanks so much

“You know, I knew you were a stubborn asshole, but this is a lot even for you.”

Bellamy doesn’t look at her, too busy attempting to navigate through traffic to turn his attention away from the road. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I can’t believe you didn’t let me eat the brain.”

It’s still a little disconcerting to be able to just say it, to have her secret out in the open, or at least open to Bellamy. After years of hiding and lying, justifying erratic behavior and inexplicable hunches, she can just say what she’s doing and why, and he’ll believe her. And, even more miraculously, he’s accepted it, doesn’t seem to have let it change his opinion of her.

Except this one thing.

“It’s not fair.”

“Not fair?” she asks, incredulous.

“It’s cheating,” he grumbles.

“Cheating.”

“Look, it’s not like I don’t–appreciate it,” he says, delicate. “You’re a great resource. You do amazing work. But it’s not police work.”

“Who cares? You didn’t care when you thought I was a psychic–”

“I never thought you were a psychic,” he says. “Come on, Clarke. I knew that was bullshit. I knew there was another explanation, I figured it was like Psych or something. You were just really observant or something.”

“And you let that go, but now that you know I’m–”

“It’s like using magic.”

“Which you’d do, if you had it. Don’t pretend you wouldn’t.”

He sighs, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. “Look, this is hard for me, okay? Not–the zombie stuff, I’m dealing with. I get that. But I already felt like relying on you made me a shitty cop, and now it’s like finding out my lab partner did so well on homework because she had a copy of the answer key.”

“And that’s bad,” she says, mostly to fuck with him.

He takes his eyes off the road for a second to glare at her. “I don’t like cheating.”

“Okay, but–there’s no teacher. We’re catching murders, not doing assignments. Cheating doesn’t really apply. That’s not how it works. If it helps you do your job better–”

“Does it?” he asks, and from his tone, this is the real issue. The heart of the matter. “I’m not doing my job better. You are.”

“You’re doing it. I get–flashes. I don’t know everything. And even if I did, I don’t know how to make a conviction stick. I ate someone’s brain and gained their memories isn’t admissible evidence in court.”

“I just want to solve a case without–”

“Without me.”

He pulls into a parking spot and turns off the car, gives her a significant look. “If I wanted to do it without you, you wouldn’t be here. I think we’re a good team, but–it’s hard to be sure when you’ve been lying to me on every case.” She winces, and he sighs. “I get why, don’t get me wrong. I wouldn’t have believed you.”

“And I guess I get why it bothers you. But–you’re a great detective, Bellamy. Part of being a great detective is using all your resources.”

“Like my zombie partner who can see victims’ memories by eating their brains, yeah. I want to do this one right.”

“You’re such a Hufflepuff,” she teases.

“Shut up.”

“I’m just being thematic.”

“Don’t remind me.” He lets out a breath. “You ready?”

“Ready.”

Aside from her total lack of background memories from the victim, Clarke is excited for the job. If anyone had asked three years ago, she would have said she’d never be excited about investigating a murder, but people really can get used to anything. She has a good job that keeps her busy and satisfied, as well as providing her with a difficult-to-obtain and vital source of sustenance, all her friends are now aware of and accept her status as the undead, and she’s doing pretty well.

Besides, she’s bringing murderers to justice with one of her best friends, and this weekend they’re doing it at a Harry Potter convention. Who wouldn’t be excited about that?

Bellamy gets their bags out of the trunk with a sigh, which basically answers that question.

“I know you like Harry Potter, don’t pretend you don’t.”

“I like playing Hearthstone after work, that doesn’t mean I want to go to a tournament. Hardcore fans are scary. And it’s not just a Harry Potterconvention,” he adds. “That’s the fandom we’re representing, but there’s a lot more.”

“I know.” She grins. “And I’ll protect you. That’s the point of our cover, right? I’m the fan, you’re my long-suffering boyfriend.”

“That’s the plan, yeah.” He shoulders his bag and then hers before she can object. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”

*

Even without her skipping out on the brains, Clarke thinks this case would have felt like a test. It’s their first major case since Bellamy found out about her, and one where it’s just the two of them, away from home. They’re sharing a hotel room too, and that means Bellamy is going to have firsthand interaction with, well, her. For all they spend time together, he’s been spared the day-to-day realities of being a zombie. They’re work friends, and this isn’t them becoming friend friends, but it is a new level of intimacy.

And Clarke’s not opposed to an increase in intimacy. It’s just that she knows she’s not exactly easy to live with these days.

“You have to eat brains?” She can’t read his tone, but if he’s disgusted, he shows no sign of it. He might even be curious.

“Zombie. It won’t interfere with the case, but I don’t want to go too long without eating and risk losing control.”

He nods. “Yeah, I’d appreciate if you didn’t try to eat me.” He watches her for a second, and then adds, “So, what personality are you going to get this time?”

“Oh, no. I shouldn’t get one from this.”

“You shouldn’t?”

“Monty and I did some experiments, when I first–when it happened. Just figuring out how the memories showed up, how long the personality changes lasted, stuff like that. This brain has been completely frozen and then thawed, so it won’t have any effect on me. It’s purely nutritional.”

“Huh.” He drums his fingers on the table. “How did you decide to tell Monty?”

She smiles a little. “I didn’t. He figured it out, and he’s Monty, so he’s basically prepared for an eventual zombie apocalypse. At first I’m pretty sure he was expecting me to turn on him any day, but he was hoping if I did it would give him good data on how to fight the outbreak.”

“And he’s working on a cure, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you want that?”

She stares. “Are you kidding? Of course I do.”

“Just checking. I didn’t want to–” He runs his hand through his hair. “It sounds shitty to me, but I figured maybe there were pros that outweighed the cons or something. I didn’t want to say I hoped he found one and then find out that you like being a zombie.”

“You don’t have to worry so much about saying something wrong,” she says, gentle. “I get that it’s fucked up. If you need to freak out.”

“It’s freaky, yeah. But I figure you’ve been a zombie the whole time I’ve known you, so–” He shrugs. “You’re the same person I’ve worked with for years. Except when you’re not.”

“Except when I’m not?”

He gestures to the tupperware she’s eating from, half a smile on his lips. “The wild mood swings.”

“I figured if you really thought I was a psychic, you’d write it off as eccentricity. It’s not my fault you don’t believe in psychics.”

“Good way to get the attention off the zombie thing.” He clucks his tongue. “Okay, I’m going to go grab some food for myself. I assume you’re set.”

“Yeah. But if you want company, I’ll come with you.”

His smile is warm, the kind she doesn’t get from him very often. Maybe, now that everything is out in the open, she’ll get more. “Yeah, company sounds nice.”

*

“Okay,” she says the next morning. They have an hour before the con opens, which means plenty of time to come up with a plan. “So, we know the victim was very involved in–what fandom again?”

“She’s a cosplayer,” he says. “So she’s a part of that community more than a single fandom. A lot of her friends and associates are here, and she was involved in founding and planning the con. I’ve already talked to her family and friends, but we’ve been having trouble finding her online contacts. Or connecting their online and offline identities, I guess. So we’re going to be asking about Tenshi, not about Angela.”

“Did you ask Monty about this one? If anyone knows how the internet works–”

“If this doesn’t work we will. But she’s pretty well known, and she was posting on social media about being here. So if you ask about it, it’s not going to be suspicious.”

“So basically she’s my favorite cosplayer and I want to find out about her.”

“Yeah. And I’ve got a list of other cosplayers we’re looking at. Honestly, I’m just expecting a lot of buzz about her not being here, so we should pay attention and see what we can find out. And I’m hoping that’s going to let us figure out which of the other attendees are her friends and which ones we should be talking to formally.”

“You know what else would let us figure that out?”

“Good, old-fashioned detective work,” he says, firm, and she smiles.

“That’s exactly what I was thinking.”

On the one hand, it is hard to ignore how much easier this would be if Bellamy wasn’t being stubborn about the whole brain-eating thing. On the other, Clarke will admit that real detective work really isn’t so bad. Not that they don’t do real detective work the rest of the time, but it is a different vibe than their usual. It hadn’t occurred to her that Bellamy would feel like he wasn’t really working, when he took advantage of her information, but it’s not a surprise either, not now that she’s thinking about it. He is that kind of stubborn.

Pretending to be his girlfriend isn’t so bad either. She’s not convinced it’s necessary, or that it would draw attention if she and Bellamy were just two people enjoying the con together. But she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t enjoying it, holding his hand and leaning in close to talk. It’s stupid too, of course, kind of unspeakably so, because she can’t date anyone right now, not with the whole zombie issue, and she’s been trying hard to ignore how much she likes him.

But she really, really does. And now he knows everything, and he still seems to like her as much as he ever did. She’d always thought his finding out would lose her a job and a valued relationship, and knowing she still has both, that he’s still happy to be around her and values her, is a little overwhelming.

It’s probably good she doesn’t have to deal with anyone else’s brain on top of all that. It’s a busy enough weekend as it is.

Still, the case isn’t too bad, as they go. Bellamy has done enough legwork that he figures out the major players quickly, and between the two of them they put together a list of suspects and come up with a pretty decent timeline of what would have happened. They even get to enjoy the con some, after they arrest their suspect.

“I feel like I missed out on eating this one,” she muses, in the hotel room, and his eyebrows shoot up.

“What?”

“I could have made us costumes! It would have been cute. You’d make a great James Potter.”

��Thanks, I think.” He pauses, watching her. “It’s mostly just–presentation, right?”

“Presentation?”

“When you eat someone. It doesn’t change that much of what you do, just speech patterns and hobbies, basically. You don’t become another person.”

“No, not really. Sometimes I get–impulses, I guess? Stuff I wouldn’t want to do if I was just myself. But, yeah, it’s more like hobbies. It’s hard to explain. It doesn’t usually–I’m still myself, but different aspects get emphasized.”

“I guess that makes sense.” He clears his throat. “That was, uh–that was the part that gave me the most trouble. Not that the whole zombie thing wasn’t–it was all a lot to take in. But I felt like I’d never actually met you.”

“Really?”

He shrugs one shoulder. “How was I supposed to know which parts were you?”

“That’s why you wanted to make sure the stuff I was eating this weekend wouldn’t affect me.”

“I wanted to make sure I knew the real you, yeah.”

“And?”

“And you’re how I hoped you’d be. Except for the zombie thing,” he adds, careful.

“Not a zombie fan?”

“It complicates this plan I had to ask you out, yeah.”

If not for that complication, she’d kiss him. As it is, she just smiles. “It’s a little complicated, yeah. But–this is me, if you want to try to figure it out.”

He smiles back, takes her hand to give it a quick squeeze. “Yeah. I’d like that.”

[keiraknighted]

This is probably dumb, but I finally made it to 800 followers, and I want y’all to know I am eternally grateful, though I have no idea why any of you follow me. I don’t know why I care about having followers on this dumb website but I do, probably because I’m superficial af, but what are you going to do. 

So anyway I thought I’d say some nice things about some of you guys cause I love you a lot (sorry to get all sappy and shit lmao). Happy September!

@agreytracksuit my irl sister. it’s probably pointless to include you in this seeing as you only follow me bc we’re related, but it’s nice that i know i can post whatever shit and you will support me even if no one else does

@argentsxarrow you are such a positive presence on my dash. you are my one remaining link to the teen wolf fandom, so thank you for reminding me how much i love allison argent and scott mccall. i admire you for being unapologetic for the things you love. 

@bobnorley your gifs are so beautiful. i think i’ve told you this before but this is probably my fave gifset on this site. like just.... wow. hits me right in the feels every time.

@callitwhatyouwnt thank you for being one of the only people on this site who understands how good women in country music are. i love hearing what you think about new music from kacey or carrie or maren. and thank you for being my source on all things taylor swift. you are such a sweet person!

@galahad-jnr similar to ashleigh, thank you for liking my posts when no one else will. and thank you for thinking i’m hilarious even though no one else does. you’re the best housemate/tumblr mutual a girl could have. 

@gilcuthberts  you’re the person i talk to the most on here. i love talking to you about survivor or anne with an e or books just whatever other stuff we talk about, and i value your opinion on all things. you are such an amazing person.

@harveysbagel i started following you for your barchie fanfiction, which i really loved. now i just think you’re a wonderful person,. i love chatting to you about shit and being salty about fandom lmao

@kinselllas you are such a brilliant writer, and i am in awe of your prose. when i first put it out there that i needed other writers to help with @barchiefanfiction i knew there was really only one person who i wanted to join me, but i never thought you would actually want to do it, so i feel so lucky that you did.

@livinladolcevita you are such a positive person, and i love that you never seem to let the haters ruin your passion for the things you love. i can always count on you to include me in things like tag games and selfie days. also i’m pretty sure you’re the reason i started watching superstore, so forever grateful for that!!!

@madigriffen we haven’t been following each other that long but i wanted to tell you about the reason i followed you in the first place. i was feeling super petty that day and i was thinking SURELY there must be one other person in this fandom who doesn’t ship raven and shaw, so i searched “anti zaven” and you had a post (i can’t remember what now) and at the time you had a dorothy gale icon i think, so i instantly knew you were cool. also thank you for reading all my fics and making me feel validated.

@quintincoldwater i know we don’t talk that often, but i love reading your updates on your life, and i’m so happy for you that things are going well in the job department! and thank you for putting great content on my dash always. 

@thewickedandthehufflepuff i think you’re the oldest mutual i have on this site. we don’t interact that much but i wanted to remind you of this, in case you’d forgotten. it still makes me laugh.

@totouchthefiretwice you makes such beautiful edits and gifs. your work is so underrated, and you are such a lovely person. i loved your song aesthetic edits so much!

And there are so many others I love following, but I can’t think of anything specific to say because we don’t interact that much, but know that I love seeing you guys on my dash, and y’all brighten my day.

@all-things-sydney @archiesbetty @beerandcheese-princess @bettyandarchie @bilexualclarke @bivalkyrie @blackvaldesjackson @clrkesbellamy @cosmicclarke @dianaprincxe @doloresbernard @eizagonzalezs @elslehughes @fleamxntpxtter @foreveinthestars @jasperjoordan @jolomez @mattsantos @mistressxamerica  @peterqamora@rashaka @reyknobi @starlight-blossoms @supremequeenofthenerds @timetrick @themaidenofthetree @yer-a-wizard-chani

[chasholidays]

hi i really loved 'when the moon explodes or floats away'! could you do a timestamp with the prompt: Christmas ?! thanks so much ! i love all your work

Original fic! Also, just FYI, there’s no 4 pm fill today; last fill goes up tomorrow at noon.

One.

Fifth year, Clarke invites everyone over for Christmas.

“Nate is already coming,” she says. “The two of you might as well come too.”

“Yeah, no,” says Bellamy. “That’s a fucking terrible idea.”

“I can come,” Raven says. “We live in the same town anyway, I can stop by and hang out.”

“There’s a full moon,” Bellamy says, when Clarke looks at him hopefully. “I have stuff to deal with it at home. I don’t have stuff to deal with it at your place. And your mother considers me a subhuman,” he adds, for good measure.

He feels a little bad when her smile dims; she was excited, and it’s not her fault he’s a werewolf. It’s not even her fault her mother is a bigoted asshole. She can’t help her family.

“You guys can call me,” he says. “Raven has a phone.”

But Clarke doesn’t let it go. Instead, she retreats, regroups, and comes back with a strengthened argument.

He doesn’t know how he ever wasn’t friends with her, honestly.

“Okay, so the full moon is on the 18th,” she says. “It’s not like it’s on Christmas.”

“Thanks for clearing that up.”

“I’m just saying,” she says. “You don’t have to stay the whole time. But you could stop by for a few days. Is your house on the floo network?”

“No. And I have my sister.”

She worries her lip, and then nods. “Okay, I get it. I just–I don’t want you to think we don’t want you, okay? We can come visit you. There’s no way we’re going to go without seeing you for the whole break.”

“Gonna miss me that much?” he teases, mostly because he doesn’t want her to know about the lump in his throat, the way emotion practically chokes him. She hasn’t been his friend for that long. She was his enemy before. In the last few months, she’s found out his secret and it hasn’t made any difference. He’s found out Raven and Miller knew too, and it hasn’t made any difference with them either.

He doesn’t know what to say about that, so he’s going to stick to pretending he doesn’t have feelings. It’s a lot easier.

“Raven’s going to bring video games,” she shoots back. “Those are more fun with more people.”

“I’ll come when I can,” he says, and does. He stops by every few days, and they play video games and trash talk, and he gets to practice flying and use his magic, which he usually can’t on breaks.

He spends Christmas Day with his family, but he goes to Clarke’s the day after to do gifts with his friends.

She gives him a bone and a bag of dog treats, and he flips her off, like it’s not hilarious.

“I got you this too,” she says, and hands him another gift, a book called Sub and Superhuman: A History of Magical Sentients in Britain, and he tries not to get emotional. Again. “In case the treats don’t taste good. It’s not like I could try them.”

“Of course you could. They’re not poisonous.” His fingers trace the letters on the book cover. “Did you read this?”

“Yeah. It’s really fascinating.”

He gives her a real smile. “This is awesome, Clarke. Thanks.”

“Merry Christmas,” she says.

“Yeah. Merry Christmas to you too.”

Two.

Clarke’s never spent Christmas at Hogwarts before, but Bellamy is staying, and Clarke doesn’t like the idea of him being here alone. Not that he’ll be alone–part of why he’s staying is that his sister wanted to–but most of the Slytherins will be gone.

“You’ll be back for the full moon anyway,” he points out. “Even if you weren’t, I could handle one alone. I’ve handled a lot of those alone.”

“You know when you say that it doesn’t make me feel better, right?” Clarke asks.

“It’s almost like my life doesn’t exist to make you feel better,” he teases.

“I’m not staying because of the full moon,” she says. “I’ve never been at Hogwarts for Christmas before. I’m excited to see what it’s like.”

“I haven’t either,” he points out. “So if it sucks, you’re going to blame me.”

“That does sound like me.” She nudges her shoulder against his. “You really think I want to go home and hang out with my mom?”

Apparently that’s all she needs to say. “Oh, fuck, yeah.” Then he frowns. “Wait, what are you going to tell her? She’s not just going to let you hang out at school, is she?”

“I’ll tell her I’m working on a project. We can say Nate is too,” she realizes, brightening at the prospect. “And I bet Raven would stay too. It’s not like she likes being home.”

“So you’re just going to keep everyone from having a nice Christmas with their families for me?” he teases.

“Yeah, so don’t expect me to get you anything else.”

Hogwarts is different, over Christmas. There are never a ton of students, but they’re the only four Slytherins who haven’t gone home, and aside from them it’s just a handful of kids from other houses. Clarke’s never really bonded with anyone outside of Slytherin, although she’s not particularly unpopular. She’s just the kind of person who has a few close friends and then a lot of acquaintances, and all her close friends are right here.

They spend most of their time in the common room or the room of requirement, playing video games or reading. Ever since they became animagi, personal space basically stopped existing, so she gets to curl into Bellamy’s side whenever she wants to, and no one even makes fun of her that much. It’s just part of who they are, the four of them. They cuddle now. They’re cuddlers.

On Christmas Eve, Nate and Raven go to bed before her and Bellamy, and she can’t decide if giving they’re giving her and Bellamy privacy as some weird Christmas present, or genuinely tired, or hoping she’ll finally lose it and jump him so Raven stops having to deal with her sexual frustration.

Whatever the reason, it’s nice.

“This is probably my best Christmas ever,” Bellamy admits, soft.

“It’s only been Christmas for twenty minutes.”

“Which tells you just how sad my previous Christmases have been.”

“They have not,” she says.

He leans his head against hers. “No, they haven’t. But they were always more stressful than relaxing. Like–it’s hard being around my mom, and my sister is just more and more of a handful. This feels like how it’s supposed to be, I guess. Friends and a fireplace and way too much food.”

“That is how it’s supposed to be.” She thinks it over. “It might be my best Christmas too. But I bet we can do better.”

“You think?”

“Well, the present I got you wasn’t very good.”

She feels the press of his lips in her hair. “Yeah, last year you got me dog treats. My expectations are low.” He pauses. “But I bet I’ll love it.”

She’s going to tell him how she feels soon. Really, she is. But this is so nice, just this. “I’m going to hold you to that,” she says, and they fall asleep in front of the fire together.

Three.

Their last year at Hogwarts, everyone decides to spend Christmas with their significant others. Raven follows Roan back to wherever Roan comes from–Bellamy honestly has no clue–and Miller goes to meet Monty’s family, leaving him and Clarke to celebrate at Hogwarts alone.

Or, well, mostly alone.

“Maybe we should have put up a sign,” he says. “Warning: Bellamy and Clarke are staying.”

“We signed up before he did,” she retorts. “He knew.”

“You think we’re not scary enough? I could tell him I’m a werewolf.”

It’s been more than two years, but he still can’t quite believe it’s something he jokes about. With his girlfriend. He doesn’t actually want to spread it around, but it doesn’t feel like this unthinkable thing, not like it used to. If everyone found out, the worst thing he’d be worried about would be someone realizing that his friends had become animagi, but that’s a new fear, less sharp. He thinks that would turn out all right for them, and he knows he wouldn’t lose them.

“Too late,” Clarke says, with a sigh. “I think we’re stuck.”

Myles Crenwick is a second year who has, from what Bellamy can tell, no reason to be in Slytherin except that he thinks Slytherins are cool. Which probably works pretty well if you’re a Gryffindor, but for Slytherins, it’s really not a selling point. Nothing turns off a Slytherin like an obvious desperation to be one of the cool kids.

And as the official–well, Bellamy has trouble considering the four of them the least dickish Slytherins, but they’re the ones most inclined to be polite to people they don’t know, so Myles seems to believe they sort of like him.

Which Bellamy kind of does, in the way you like a puppy who keeps running into walls and peeing on everything. It’s kind of cute, and you’ll be sad when its stupidity gets it seriously injured.

None of which means Bellamy is looking forward to spending Christmas with him, but it’s still probably an improvement on going to either his place or Clarke’s place. And the risk of anything bad happening is low. The full moon comes a few weeks before the holiday, so they can follow their normal routine, and then it’s two weeks of stress-free relaxation with his girlfriend.

And Myles.

Bellamy’s not sure he’s ever met anyone as bad at reading the mood as Myles Crenshaw. He and Clarke will be sitting in the common room in silence, reading or sketching or playing exploding snap, and Myles will come in and start chattering. He’s very friendly and enthusiastic and cheerful, and within forty-eight hours, Bellamy wants to strangle him.

“I really wasn’t planning to spend the whole break in here,” he says, flopping face-down onto the couch in the room of requirement. He likes the common room when it’s empty. If nothing else, it’s way less trouble to get to.

Clarke sits down next to him and scratches his head. “We won’t spend the whole time here. Just half. I’d feel bad totally abandoning Myles.”

“Don’t say that, they’re going to resort you into Hufflepuff.”

“And then you’d dump me,” she teases.

“Yeah, I’m only dating you because you’re a Slytherin, definitely. I have very high standards.”

“Very high.”

He sighs, shifts so his head is in her lap. “Is it sad if I was looking forward to having Christmas with you? Just you.”

“Not sad, but–maybe a little silly. Not that you want it,” she adds quickly. “Just–we’re going to get plenty of Christmases together, Bellamy. This isn’t your last chance.”

“No?”

She leans down for a kiss. “We’re going to be dealing with awkward holidays with people we don’t want to talk to for years to come. I promise.”

“You make it sound so good,” he says, and makes it sound like a joke. But–she does. The two of them together, for years to come. “Does that mean you want to go make sure Myles isn’t going to get killed for trying to bond with the Bloody Baron?”

“Five more minutes,” she says. “Then we can go.”

He smiles. “Take your time.”

Four.

“You think Hogwarts rents rooms for the holidays?” Bellamy asks, frowning at the mirror as he tries to get his hair in some sort of order without magical assistance. “That sounds great.”

“You want to go back to school for Christmas?” she teases. “Stop fidgeting, you look great.”

“You always think I look great. Your mother always thinks I look like the asshole werewolf who isn’t good enough to breathe the same air she does.”

“She doesn’t know you’re a werewolf.”

“No other objections, though.”

“Yeah, the rest is accurate,” she agrees, and leans up for a kiss. “It’ll be two hours of our lives, and then we don’t have to see my mom again until New Year’s. We still get Christmas Eve just for us.”

That makes him smile, and the sight of it warms her down to her toes. It still feels new and a little bit scary, living with him. They have their own place and their own jobs and her mother has been asking when they’re going to get married. Which is one of those questions that doesn’t have a good answer. She assumes she’ll marry Bellamy because she loves him, and marriage is the next logical step for them. But there isn’t any rush, as far as she’s concerned. They don’t want kids yet, and they’re already living together. She’s getting everything she wants out of this relationship.

“But then we have to host people on Christmas,” he points out.

“Not people. Friends. It’s going to be nice.”

“It is,” he grants. “I miss Raven.”

She and Roan are both teaching at Hogwarts now, which means she’s busy and stays on school grounds, most of the time. They write often and play video games long-distance, but it’s not the same.

“See? It’s going to be fun.”

“Yeah, but if we rented room at Hogwarts, we could still see Raven. And avoid your family. And my family. Basically everyone we’re related to except Octavia.”

“Or we could just go somewhere next year. Somewhere warm. A real holiday. I bet Raven and Nate would be into that.” She brushes his hair out of his eyes with a smile. It’s never going to stay put, but she wouldn’t want it too. “But let’s get through this year before we start worrying about next year.”

“I knew you weren’t looking forward to this party,” he says, triumphant.

“No,” she says. “Of course I’m not. But it could be worse.”

“It could be the full moon.”

“If you turned into a wolf during my mother’s holiday party, we’d never get invited back,” she observes. “So if you ever get really tired of them, that’s an option.”

“Merry Christmas, Mom, I’m dating a werewolf,” he says, and she laughs.

“If I’m ever out of gift ideas.” She pauses, worrying her lip. “We honestly don’t have to go. I can pretend I caught something at work.”

“No, it’s fine, I’ll survive,” he says, with an over-dramatic sigh. “But you better make it up to me next year.”

She smiles. “I think I can do that.”

“Yeah, I’m not worried.” He offers his arm, and she takes it, leaning her head on his shoulder, just for a second. “I know you’re good for it.”