I pull a face, taking in the room around me. "Can we at least take the banner down?"

"Absolutely not!" Alicia exclaims, sounding scandalized, as she looks up at the banner she'd had Colton and Erin make earlier this week, in order to get them out of her hair while preparing for this (unasked for) party. Happy Got Ya Carson is spelled out perfectly, with a few of the tails of the a's on the opposite sides, where Colton had mixed them up (and they'd forgotten the word "day", Erin had announced regretfully, once they'd already completed it and she'd added the appropriate amount of glitter).

"For the record, I was against the banner," Dad says, despite the fact that he is currently using his wand to fix the corners exactly how Alicia asked.

I snort. "Yeah, it looks like you put up a real fight for that one,"

"When you get married, you'll understand the need to pick your battles." Dad retorts.

Freddy snickers, from where he's arranging the silverware at the kitchen table. "We may be waiting a while on that one,"

Dad chuckles. "Let's see. Three days when a boy told her he liked her, four weeks for an I love you. You want to take bets for when one proposes?"

Freddy's eyes light up as I cry out, "Dad!"

"What? That was funny!"

"Alicia!" I whine.

"Oliver," She says exasperatedly, but Dad is blessedly saved by the arrival of Aunt Angelina, Uncle George, and Roxy.

"We come bearing cake!" Uncle George cries.

"There's nothing wrong with it," Aunt Ang immediately adds, which apparently is something that needs to be clarified, judging from the looks of relief on Dad, Alicia, and Freddy's faces.

"There wouldn't have been anything wrong with it!" Uncle George huffs. "I wanted to make Carson's Got-Ya Day special and put some fireworks on top, but noooo, that's a "fire hazard" and "dangerous to consume"!" His use of air quotes has me giggling. "When did you get your nose pierced?" He cries, when he turns around at my laugh.

"Spring break!"

He sighs dramatically. "See, Ang? We skip one Hogsmeade weekend and we don't see these kids for 4 months and suddenly she's a whole new person,"

"You should have seen me right when I came back from spring break!" I tell him. "I put a fake tattoo on my arm, so Dad would be less mad about the nose,"

"That's brilliant!" Roxy beams.

"You're a monster," Uncle George frowns.

"Finally!" Dad cries, thrilled that someone else is finally not charmed by my sass.

"Hey!" I protest, looking at Dad. "Don't talk that way about your new statistician!"

"You don't start work until Monday," He waves me off. "I'll talk shit about you until then,"

"Who are you kidding?" Freddy grins at him. "Like that's going to stop you?" They fist bump, so naturally I choose the mature response.

I flip them both off and go to find Alicia and Aunt Ang in the kitchen before everyone else arrives.

Somehow, I sense her coming before I even feel Meg jump on my back, so when her legs wrap around my waist, I merely grab them and keep walking, continuing on my trek through the backyard. "C-Dub!"

Alicia has, once again, outdone herself decorating the Country Estate and everything looks beautiful. It's a beautiful day for a barbeque and she's prepared accordingly.

"Meggie!" I return her enthusiasm, for once. It's been far too long since I've seen my best friend. "How goes the search?"

Freddy's announcement that he was going to ask Meg to move in together after graduation had come as a surprise to me, our friends, and everyone we knew. I'd cautioned him against it, yet for every reason I'd given him not to, he'd given me a flawless and airtight reason why they should.

"There are no surprises," He'd finished with, following up a statement about her being his best friend. "And I don't want to waste any more time,"

When he put it like that, there wasn't much more room to argue.

"Ugh," She groans, because best friend or not, their opinions on what constitutes a "good apartment" have vastly differed thus far. "Don't."

"That bad?"

"Could you please tell your best friend that we need an open floor plan in the apartment?" She slides off my back, falling in step with me. "He is totally fine with walls. Walls, Carson! Walls!"

I laugh, because I can see the look on Freddy's face as they fight about this in the middle of an empty room. "Where have you landed on island vs. peninsula?" The look on her face is enough to answer that. "Got it, don't bring it up,"

"I mean, if you could make some subtle mentions toward open floor plan andpeninsula, that'd be cool," Meg grins.

"Because that's a word that comes up so often. Peninsula,"

"Is she trying to get to you?" Freddy bangs his fists on the table in protest as we arrive, clearly having caught at least that last part. Either the motion or the noise catches the attention of both Lou and Maeve, who both look exhausted having started law and healing school respectively earlier in the summer.

It's been kicking both their asses so far

"I'm not trying to get to her! Carson's just on my side!" Meg exclaims.

"Sorry, what?" Freddy cries. "Since when?"

"Since she's my best friend!"

"She's my best friend!"

"You have James!" Meg tugs on my arm.

"Oi." Lou manages, half-heartedly.

"I get Carson, remember? We agreed!" Meg finishes, ignoring Lou completely, as usual.

"I do not remember!"

"Well you were drunk!"

"I would like to be drunk," Lou mutters, managing to stand. "I killed myself with homework so I could be trashed today; I am not about to waste this afternoon listening to you two bicker when you're both wrong. Open floor and island is obviously the only way to go,"

As Meg and Freddy look ready to comment and continue their discussion about the open floor plan, the decision to follow him and Maeve to the drinks table is an easy one.

It turns out to be an exciting one, since that's where we find Lizzie, Vero, Dan, and Liam.

"Happy Got Ya Day!" Dan cries, lifting and twirling me.

"Put me down, please,"

"But this is so much more fun!" He pouts.

"Can we throw her in the lake later?" Liam asks excitedly.

Dan nods. "Let's do it!"

"Her is right here!" I point at myself, even more annoyed when they continue making plans to throw me in the lake later like I'm not standing directly in front of them.

Assholes.

Vero's eyes narrow at me as I turn my gaze over to her and Lizzie. "You left me alone with the creepy neighbors,"

I grin over at my new roommate. "Terribly sorry," I'm not. "I had to come help get ready for the party,"

"What did you do to help get ready for this?" Lou asks skeptically.

"I mixed the sangria!"

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Liam snickers.

"Ok, but have you tried it?" Lizzie giggles. Flushed cheeks, happy smile, but no slurred speech yet-she's on her third glass. "Because she did amazing! You could do this professionally!"

"People do," Liam says cheekily. "It's called bartending, love,"

The following giggle is a little louder. "Nope," Lou says, pulling the cup out of her hand. "Cut off,"

"Unfair," Lizzie protests.

"It's for the good of everyone," Maeve agrees.

"I'm staying with Carson and V tonight, so it's not like I have to worry about waking anyone up when I go home,"

Vero snickers. "I'm going to go with Maeve on this one about the 'good of everyone,'" Lizzie pouts. "We're barely unpacked; it's hard enough to get to the bathroom sober!"

"That is a true statement; I tripped three times last night," I nod in agreement, fighting back laughter at the memory of V coming out of her room with her wand in one hand and a high heel in the other, ready to attack the potential intruder.

She'd fallen on the floor in tears, unable to fight back her howls, at the site of me tangled up in boxes of clothes we had only half unpacked.

It was honestly such a sight that it was barely a minute of me glaring at her before I'd joined in.

"Ugh," Lizzie groans, before declaring, "I'm going just to sleep in the bathtub tonight,"

The look on Lou's face when she says so is probably the greatest thing I've ever seen, until...

"Like you've never slept in a bathtub before," Vero scoffs.

Until then, when Dan and Liam are suddenly making the same face as Lou.

"You've all slept in the bathtub."

Vero, Lizzie, and I all nod. "It's not bad," Vero shrugs.

"Very comfortable if you do it up right," Lizzie adds.

"I did it like three times a week the entire month of February in my Sixth Year," I nod.

"You know, that actually doesn't surprise me at all," Dan says.

"I keep forgetting we didn't know you then," Liam blinks. "So when you drop weird things like that, I start wondering what kind of shit we got up to that I forgot about before I remember that we didn't; just you,"

"It snowed a lot that month!" I protest. "What else do you do besides drink and sleep in a blizzard?"

"Evidently, Ilvermorny has a much more lax policy on snow than Hogwarts," Lou snickers.

"Oh yeah," I nod. "Absolutely they do," For as I'd discovered last year, Hogwarts continued classes through rain, wind, or snow (whether it be one inch or twenty), while Ilvermorny cancelled their classes when the snow got too high because of the layout of the school (and the nature of the walking between buildings).

It had been a shock, to say the least, having to continue to go to classes when there was three feet of snow on the ground.

I'd been ready to sit by the fire and drink all day until James and Freddy told me we still had school.

"America seems to have a much more lax policy on everything," Liam laughs.

"Well," I hem.

"Actually," Lou starts, and I'm sure he's ready to go off on this tangent about some of the laws MACUSA has in place right now (but only sure of it because we've talked about it a lot recently).

"Their vaccine rate-" Maeve starts.

"You know, I see Sofia just got here with the kids so I should go say hi to them before Uncle Justin can call me out on it," I grab another glass of sangria and make my leave before those two can get going.

Gee, those two start grad school and suddenly they're soooo smart.

The second time a pair of arms wrap around me, it's entirely unexpected. I'm talking with Katie and Alicia when they suddenly slip around me, but I recognize them instantly, turning around and returning the hug.

"You smell good," I curl into his hug.

James laughs, the vibrations through his chest a comforting sensation against my cheek. "I showered after training,"

"Good choice. "I sniff again, enjoying the combination of fresh sandalwood and James, before switching gears. "Good session? Dead yet?"

"Obviously not," He huffs, definitely over my enjoyment at how hard this new strength and conditioning trainer works him.

Freddy and I had howled with laughter when he had gotten home from the first one and barely been able to move. Howled. For probably a full hour.

I truly think James would have walked away from us, if he could have mustered up the strength to walk.

James' decision about which team to sign with had come after an agonizing week of pros and cons. He'd hit some highs and lows that week emotionally, trying to decide where to go (and then again, with me, trying to get me to change my mind about not telling him anything until he'd made his own decision).

It was only after he'd settled on Puddlemere that I told him about the stats position, only to be immediately tackled onto his bed in all his excitement.

"Just really sore?" I tease, feeling the tenseness in his arms. The conditioning coach had been a suggestion of my dad's, not as a coach, he'd claimed, but something he wished he had started earlier in his career-and it would certainly help make the transition from Hogwarts level to professional easier and smoother.

"We did this rope thing today!" He whines. "Keep my arm on your shoulders; it's the only way I'll be able to lift a beer anywhere close to my mouth today,"

"Poor baby," My gentle rub on his back is a huge contrast from my mocking tone. "Living your dream,"

"Fuck off," He protests into my hair. "You're living yours too,"

Since he's technically right, I don't push the issue any further. "Want to go sit down with our friends and make fun of the bags under Lou's eyes?"

He blinks, pulling away. "Yes, that would be wonderful!"

When it's late, and everyone has left, and Dad has finally convinced Alicia to come sit down and join us, rather than cleaning up, that's when I finally have a chance to reflect back on this day. Dad's got one of his arms around Alicia's shoulders as she leans into him on the one couch while I sit with my legs draped over James' lap in the large, comfy chair across from them. Erin and Parker are, for once, not fighting, and Colton is perfectly happy to lie with James and me.

And as I sit leaning with my head against James' shoulder and Colton's resting against my knee, the feelings of happiness and contentness are coming in waves. Despite my initial resistance to having this party, it was a great excuse to see everyone and there's certainly no denying that Alicia knows how to put on a good party.

"We got you a gift," Dad pulls me back to the present and his words remind me that aside from everything I may feel about having this party, he and Alicia are just so happy I'm here and proud to have me. I could not have imagined them or this move being so wonderful when I'd come here and they're both a huge part of it.

I reach out to accept Dad's offering. "Is it the beach house?" I ask hopefully. The joke had been one I'd started making the day I came home from school, hoping he'd just turn it over to me so I'd have a shorter commute to work. It'd been thus far unsuccessful.

"Haha, nice try," He says. And another bust, apparently.

"Well you've already adopted me," I grin, ripping into the envelope. "So what could it-oh Merlin!"

"Shit!" James grins, reading over my shoulder.

"We're not buying you a house," Dad gives me a look. "You're going to need to put some money down for that on your own. But we did think it would be nice for you to put some roots down here." I look back down at the parchment, detailing the ownership of some shares in James' new brewing company-his other post-graduate venture.

"For James' side hoe?" I grin, not really surprised that this is the business Dad had decided to support when gifting me stock shares-both due to the business' mission and its ownership group.

"What's a side hoe?" Erin asks innocently, looking between us.

James freezes underneath me and Dad glares over, but I respond, without hesitation. "Sido, it's the name of his brewing company,"

"Smooth," He mutters.

"That's a stupid name," Erin tells him, amongst all our laughter. "Keep looking,"

"Will do," He reassures her.

"Erin is a great name," She continues sassily.

"I'll keep that in mind," James nods seriously, as we all fight back laughter.

"I'm serious!"

"I think," Alicia interrupts, before she can push that issue any further. "It's time for bed,"

"What?" She wails.

"Why?" Colton whines. "I want to see James more,"

"He'll still be here tomorrow!" Alicia stands up, ready to herd them all inside.

"He will?" Erin asks excitedly.

"Can he sleep in my room?" Colton begs.

"Absolutely," Dad nods, while Alicia answers at the same time. "He has a place to sleep already,"

"Dad!" I cry in protest.

He laughs, standing up to help Alicia get my siblings ready for bed. "Had to try,"

"Rude," I flip him off and James laughs when he ignores me completely.

"You guys up for some beer pong after we get them to bed?" James and I don't even have to look at each other to nod-we're always in for games and competition-so Dad beams at them and says, "Excellent. James and I are going to crush you guys, Carson!"

"Screw that! You don't know any of each other's moves. You're going to bonk heads before we combine for ten," I declare.

"Guess we'll see," Dad says, sounding much cooler that I know he feels. I can tell from the slight bounce as he speaks that the adrenaline is building; he's getting amped. "Go set up downstairs; we'll meet you down there soon."

The feeling hits me once, as James and I are making flirty comments to each other while we set up the game in the basement. It hits me again, as Dad and Alicia arrive, shoving each other to get down the stairs faster. And it hits me yet again (repeatedly actually) once we start playing and the four of us just start talking shit and making dives to get the ball, in the most absurdly competitive game of beer pong between four adults that anyone has ever seen.

This is the happiest I've ever been and I'm so lucky to be home with these amazing people.

The end! Holy hell, I can't believe we're actually here. I just want to tell you all how amazing you are and how much all the support throughout this has meant! Thank you all for reading and/or reviewing; they are all so so appreciated!