5 YEARS LATER

Beatrice was in love.

Theseus had been horrified to discover that not only was Beatrice beginning to think of men in that way, but that she was certain that she was in love. Not just in love but considering a future with this so-called wizard. At first, Theseus had refused to acknowledge it and completely ignored any mention of Beatrice's wizard. But that soon faded until he was completely openly against it.

It made the atmosphere at home, a little tenser but not by much. Bea was not going to allow herself to be cowed and was steamrolling all over Theseus's attempts to make her change her mind.

"He is not allowed to step foot in this house," Theseus warned as he looked across the breakfast table towards Beatrice.

Beatrice rolled her eyes as she cut through her toast. Theseus made a sound of disapproval and I found myself casting an amused glance between the pair of them before sharing a look with Lucille who was quickly growing sick of this argument. "And why not?"

"You are only 16," Theseus protested, looking to me for support. I simply shrugged and averted my eyes, deciding to be the neutral party. It was strange; usually Theseus was the neutral party and I was the person disciplining my sisters. "You are far too young to be dating, let alone to be considering a future with this brat."

"You don't even know him!"

"I don't need to know him!" he shot back, before picking up his tea cup as if he thought the conversation was dismissed. But of course, Beatrice had no intention of allowing things to finish so quickly and especially, not in her favour.

"You of all people cannot use age as an excuse, Theseus!" Beatrice gestured over the table towards me, "I mean, you married my sister when she was 17. Barely a year older than I am now!"

"I actually turned 18 weeks after we married," I piped up only to fall silent when Bea looked at me with obvious betrayal in her eyes.

Beatrice was never happy when I spoke up just a little in favour of Theseus's opinion. But really, how was I supposed to get her to understand that he did have a point? She was far too young to be considering this, to be contemplating marriage. Merlin, she was not even in her last year of Hogwarts. No matter how I thought about it, she was too young. And it wasn't as if she could use my example as a reason for us to consent to this foolish idea. Our situations were miles apart. Perhaps I would not have married so young if I had any other choice. Not that I regretted that decision now.

"Regardless Beatrice, I was 21 when I married your sister," Theseus dismissed with a scoff. "I had a job – a good job, I owned an apartment – a house as well. I was well prepared to get married."

"You're speaking as if Charles has no plans," she protested looking to me again for support and this time, I was forced to intercede.

"He has plans," I said with polite curiosity. When Theseus begun to grumble under his breath, I swatted his hands as I leaned forward in my chair. "What is he planning to do after Hogwarts?"

"Well," she said with a smile, pleased that things were beginning to look up, "Charles is an artist."

"Oh, dear Godric," Theseus scoffed, cutting her off before she could say something else. "He is an artist meaning you will have to spend the rest of your life supporting him or scraping by. He wants to get married so young and yet is willing to be so immature and irresponsible so why –"

He cut himself off with a hiss when I reached out to roughly pinch his side. When he glanced towards me, Theseus met my disapproving gaze and smiled apologetically, knowing how testy our son got whenever I got annoyed. And I was becoming very annoyed Reaching out to rub a soothing hand over my bump as if to calm his child, he shook his head when I silently gestured for him to apologise.

Well, this certainly couldn't keep going on for much longer. If we continued to put up this front against Beatrice and her wizard, I didn't doubt that she would do something drastic and elope. If we continued to express interest as well as giving her some sort of reality check every now and then, we would be fine. Even if she wound up marrying Charles, perhaps we had enough time to delay things for a few years and until they both had a realistic plan for the future.

"Bea," I called out and making her stop her glaring at Theseus. "Why don't you invite Charles around for dinner next weekend?"

"Really?" she asked doubtfully and when I nodded, silently daring Thee to disagree she let out an excited screech.

Pushing roughly away from the table, she ran up to her room to no doubt write to Charles. Theseus watched as she retreated from the room before turning his eyes towards me.

"We almost had her convinced."

"We really didn't," I insisted with a shake of my head.

"You didn't," Lucille piped up suddenly, taking a bite of her toast.

She looked to her brother-in-law who was no doubt already thinking of ways that he would intimidate Charles when he got here. When you were a renowned Auror – a war hero at that, people were very easily intimidated by you. And when you were hoping to intimidate a school boy at that, well it really was just too easy.

"At least you have me," Lucille said with a shrug, trying to appease Theseus who, at her words, squeezed her hand.

"I think I may truly go insane if you talk about bringing boys home too," he confessed and I hid my smile behind my tea cup.

"You've got another 10 years," Lucille agreed, just to see the way Theseus reacted.

He didn't disappoint. Sighing to himself, Theseus pressed his forehead to my shoulder as he grumbled about why my sisters could not remain as children for much longer. Merlin, I could already imagine having to go through all of this all over again with Lucille who was, overwhelmingly, Theseus's favourite sister-in-law.

"You have 10 years to prepare yourself," I suggested which didn't help. If anything, it had Theseus whimpering a little.