EPILOGUE: Two Years Later
"Shit, George, where is it?!" Fred yelled desperately, and he began tearing cushions off the sofa, looking beneath furniture, upending what he could.
"Would you stop ripping up our flat?" Lee yelled. "It's right here, you idiot."
"Where?" said Fred, leaping up from the floor, where he'd been down on all fours searching for the missing item under a chair.
"Here," said Lee, holding up the small velvet box.
"Thank god," said Fred, crossing to the kitchen and taking the box from Lee.
"Nervous, are you?" said George, entering the living room. "Jesus, Fred, this place is a disaster."
"Yeah, I'm nervous!" said Fred defensively. "We are talking eternity here, you know."
"For god's sake," said Lee. "Look, Fred, she's going to say yes, okay? You've got this one in the bag. What are you going mad about?"
"I'm not going mad," Fred mumbled. "I'm just...agitated."
"Yes, and the evidence of your agitation is shown by the disaster you've made out of our living room," George said dryly. "You know, Fred, it's not THAT hard to do."
"Says the man who's already done it," said Lee. "God. Everyone's getting so bloody domestic on me."
"I'm not domestic yet," said George defensively. "I have three more months before I take the plunge. And the sooner the better. Alicia's driving me mad with all this planning crap."
"Pretty soon I'll be all alone in this place," said Lee, pouting.
"What are you complaining about?" said George. "You'll have the place all to yourself. You can bring Lavender up here any time you want. You can shag on the kitchen table and not worry about anyone walking in on you."
"True," said Lee, grinning. "I'll say this for Miss Brown. She saved my life."
"Your sex life, you mean," said George.
"Dammit, George, help me with my tie," Fred snapped, as he stood in front of the mirror and fumbled with the ends of the tie.
"Jesus, Fred, you STILL haven't learned to do a tie up proper?" said George, rolling his eyes. "Seven years at Hogwarts and he's still hopeless. Come here. For god's sake."
"I can do it with my wand," said Fred, annoyed.
"So, Lee," George went on, as he deftly tied Fred's tie, "are you and Lavender getting serious?"
"You know, I think we might be," said Lee. "She's a lot deeper than most people think."
"I'll bet," said Fred with a snort. He realized he had only one shoe on and began to search for the mate.
"Hey, don't impugn my girl!" said Lee. "If it weren't for her I'd be holed up in a monastery somewhere, tossing off every five minutes. As it is we have quite a lovely relationship, thank you, based on mutual trust, respect and understanding. And plenty of smashing good sex."
"You always did have a thing for blondes," said George.
"Shit, where's my other shoe?" said Fred, and he began to toss cushions again.
"Right by the door, you dirty great moron," said Lee, putting his head in his hands.
"Right," said Fred.
"So you're over Katie, then?" said George, shaking his head as Fred struggled to put on his shoe. Fred shot him a dirty look.
"I think so, yeah," said Lee. "I saw Oliver Wood the other day at Fortescue's and I didn't even feel like punching him. I took that as a good sign."
"Fred, do you need me to tie your shoe now?" said George, watching with amusement as Fred tied and re-tied his shoe.
"Shut it," said Fred, whose hands couldn't seem to stop trembling.
"When you're finished dressing yourself," said Lee, "which will probably take another hour at this rate, would you mind putting this mess back in order?"
"I've got it," said George, chuckling. He took out his wand and gave it a wave, and the many displaced cushions, pillows and blankets all neatly returned to their proper positions on the sofa and chairs.
"Okay, how do I look?" Fred asked. He was wearing his best shoes and his nicest Italian Muggle suit. By some designer called Armani. It had cost him a fortune.
George and Lee were both in the living room now and they looked Fred over.
"Like shit," said Lee.
"Fuck off," said Fred.
"Yeah, fuck off," said George. "If he looks like shit then so do I."
"Right," said Lee. "You look like shit, George."
"Fuck off!" said Fred and George together.
"I'm just kidding," said Lee, rolling his eyes. "Fred, you look fabulous. Handsome. Hot."
"Definitely hot," said George, grinning.
"Thanks," said Fred, not sure if he believed them, but it was too late to change now. "Okay, uh, I'm going."
"Yeah, get the hell out of here," said Lee.
"Wish me luck," said Fred.
"Good luck or bad?" said George.
"Sod you," said Fred.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Fred, what's with you tonight?" said Angelina, gazing at him with concern as they strolled through Diagon Alley. They veered off to the right and came to a small park. Nearby, the strains of classical music could be heard from a local concert hall. It was a clear night, cool, lovely. Perfect. Even the damn pigeons seemed to be in hiding.
"What?" said Fred, his hand thrust in his pocket, his fingers clutching the box inside.
"You're really tense," said Angelina, as they sat on a bench.
"Oh, yeah," said Fred. "Well, you know, uh, tough day at work."
"Me, too," said Angelina sympathetically. "Sometimes I wonder just what the hell I was thinking going into the Healing Arts."
"You're great at it and you know it," said Fred.
"Thanks," she said, smiling that gorgeous smile that always made him feel weak.
He looked at her; she'd cut her hair so that it fell just past her chin, and she was wearing a simple light blue dress that skimmed her body and fell to her calves. The color set off the richness of her coffee and cream skin and showed off her décolletage to its best advantage. Her feet were in strappy, ridiculously sexy sandals; her toes were painted a lovely pale shade of pink. She looked fantastic.
"You know, we could go back to my place for a little more...dessert," said Angelina, leaning close to him and smiling suggestively.
Merlin, but how he'd love that. Love to run home with her and tear that dress off her and take her to bed. But no, he wasn't leaving this square without doing what he'd set out to do, what he'd been preparing himself for, for the past six months.
"I'd love to, Angie," he said nervously, "but, uh, first I need to ask you something."
"Oh," she said, looking confused. "Okay."
"Well," said Fred, swallowing. "You know I'm completely mad about you and you and me together has been bloody fantastic. I mean, you're my best mate in the whole world and I think I've been in love with you since the day I met you..." His voice trailed off.
She smiled. "This is a romantic speech," she said. "What's the occasion?"
"Right," said Fred, his fingers closing round the small velvet box in his pocket. "The thing is, Angie. Angelina. I've been thinking. A lot. About you and me. And where our relationship is headed--"
"Uh oh," said Angelina, looking suddenly horrified. "Oh, no."
"What?" said Fred, his stomach flopping terribly.
"You-you're...breaking up with me, aren't you?" said Angelina, and her eyes filled with tears.
Fred gulped and goggled at her.
"No!" he said quickly. "No, my god, Angie. No way!"
"Are you sure?" she said, her voice cracking.
"Absolutely," said Fred vehemently. "Are you kidding? I'm crazy about you, I'm happy with you, I want to be with you--"
"Really?"
"Really," said Fred, and he swallowed again. "I want to be with you, Angelina. Every day." He paused and the words finally came out of him. "For the...for the rest of my life."
Angelina's eyes widened and her lower lip began to tremble.
"Wh-what?"
Fred's heart was beating so loudly he was quite sure everyone in London could hear it. He gripped the velvet box and pulled it out of his pocket, and although he hadn't really intended to do it, he felt himself start to sink to his knee.
"Angie, will you be my--oh, SHIT."
"What?" Angelina snapped.
"Bloody hell," said Fred, and he sat up on the bench and looked at the knee of his best trousers, which were now covered with the bird droppings he'd managed to lower himself onto.
Angelina began to laugh. "Oh, no," she giggled.
"My best suit," said Fred miserably.
"Fred, I'm so sorry," she said, but she was still laughing.
"Dammit," said Fred. "So much for my romantic proposal."
Angelina stopped laughing and looked at him.
"Proposal?" she said archly. "I don't recall hearing a proposal. You were planning on proposing to me?"
Fred felt his face burn. "Uh, yeah," he said, fumbling with the box in his hand.
"Oh," said Angelina.
"You know, that's why I did the whole knee thing," said Fred. He pulled out his wand and muttered "Scourgify" as he pointed it at his knee; the bird droppings vanished.
"I sort of wondered about that," said Angelina.
"Ruined it," said Fred. "The proposal, I mean."
"Did you?" said Angelina. "Funny, but I'm still here, and I'm still waiting."
Fred looked at her. Her eyes were swimming with unshed tears and she was smiling at him. He felt a squeezing in his chest.
"Marry me," he blurted.
"Yes," she choked, and then they were kissing and laughing and she was crying and Fred was trying to slow his racing heart for fear it might explode in his chest.
He opened the box and turned it so that she could see the ring inside. A simple, single champagne colored diamond. Not too big, but bright and brilliant and perfect all the same.
"Fred, oh my god," she whispered, giggling as she had when he'd first met her all those years ago. "It's beautiful."
"You're beautiful," he said, his voice struggling against the lump in his throat. "Give me your hand."
She did, and it was trembling, and his were trembling as he took the ring from the box and slid it onto the ring finger of her left hand. It fit. It looked...perfect.
She stared at the ring for a moment, and then back up at him. Tears were running down her face.
"Did we just get engaged?" she asked.
"Yeah, I think we did," he said.
"My parents are going to wet themselves when they find out," said Angelina, laughing. "In a good way."
"I'm practically wetting myself right now," said Fred. "I was a bit nervous you might say no."
"Are you daft?" said Angelina. "Say no to you? Haven't you figured out by now that I can't resist you?"
She moved closer to him on the bench and he put his arms round her.
"I think I'm slowly realizing it," he said, grinning.
"I love you," she said. "I love you, Fred Weasley."
"I love you, Angelina Johnson," said Fred, and he kissed her, long and hard and passionately, his heart soaring and his stomach swooping and his head spinning all at the same time. They sat on that bench and kissed and kissed for what seemed like hours before they finally got up and decided it was past time to go home, to Angelina's flat, where they could do more than just kiss each other.
"Where should we go on our honeymoon?" he asked, as they made their way back to her flat.
"Tahiti," she said at once. "It's secluded, it's tropical, we can order room service and we can sunbathe naked."
"You mean, YOU can sunbathe naked," said Fred. "In case you haven't noticed, Angie, I'm a bit pale. I cook up like bacon in the sun."
"That's what Sun Shielding Charms are for," said Angelina. "Unless you don't want to see me bounce around on a beach with no clothes on..."
"On the other hand, Tahiti sounds like a marvelous idea," said Fred at once, as they reached her front door.
"You are so easy, you know that?" she said, rolling her eyes as she unlocked her front door with a key.
"I know, shameful, isn't it?" he said, sliding an arm round her waist and pressing her close as they backed into her flat, pressing his pelvis against hers, letting her feel his arousal.
"Take me to bed right now," she whispered, as she shut her front door and shut them inside and her lips brushed across his.
He kissed her hard, felt the heat radiating off her skin. "If you insist." And he carried her upstairs.
Later, when they had sated themselves and she had fallen asleep, he lay awake, gazing at her as she slumbered. Angelina, he thought. What a perfect name for her. She did look like an angel. She sighed in her sleep and shifted slightly, and her hand moved over his pillow to capture his hand. And he lay awake and gazed at her.
His future. Their life together. They'd move into a house, somewhere not too far from London. They'd get a dog; Angelina loved dogs. They'd alternate Sunday dinners with their families. Have huge holiday get togethers. They'd play Quidditch at the Burrow. They'd have children. Beautiful, exotic children with his blue eyes and her coffee and cream skin. They'd stand on Platform 9¾ and wave as their kids got on the Hogwarts Express. Their kids would grow up and leave home and marry and have their own families, and Fred would still chase after Angelina like a teenager and she would laugh at his jokes, and they'd grow old together. He could see all of it as he watched her sleep.
He was quite possibly the happiest wizard alive.
THE END
_______________________________________________________________________
A/N: And it's over! I'm sad, as always. I was thinking of writing a wedding but to be honest, I just didn't have the energy. I am going to take a much- needed--but hopefully not terribly long--break from fanfic writing. I honestly don't know if I have any sequels in the making yet. My brain is pretty fried as it is. But if I do write I certainly hope y'all will keep reading. The Harry Potter Universe is always full of good stuff to build upon. As always, I greatly appreciate the reviews, the encouragement and the constructive criticism; it's all helpful, it's all good.
In the meantime, if anyone's interested, I am posting "The Book of Morgan Le Fey" over at FictionAlley.org, in the Schnoogle section, but I have been spending the past several weeks making edits and what I think are improvements to the story. I wanted to post the story on another good fanfic site, in part to get it out there, but also because it's given me a chance to re-read it and make several edits and what I think are significant improvements to the first version. I hope all of you will consider giving it a whirl; it's halfway finished at the moment and I hope to have the whole thing posted in the next month.
One more big thanks, too, to all those who assisted me in solving the whole plagiarism issue. I still have to file some sort of "official report" with FictionAlley but as of now it looks like the offending fic has been removed and the author has apparently been removed as well.
"Shit, George, where is it?!" Fred yelled desperately, and he began tearing cushions off the sofa, looking beneath furniture, upending what he could.
"Would you stop ripping up our flat?" Lee yelled. "It's right here, you idiot."
"Where?" said Fred, leaping up from the floor, where he'd been down on all fours searching for the missing item under a chair.
"Here," said Lee, holding up the small velvet box.
"Thank god," said Fred, crossing to the kitchen and taking the box from Lee.
"Nervous, are you?" said George, entering the living room. "Jesus, Fred, this place is a disaster."
"Yeah, I'm nervous!" said Fred defensively. "We are talking eternity here, you know."
"For god's sake," said Lee. "Look, Fred, she's going to say yes, okay? You've got this one in the bag. What are you going mad about?"
"I'm not going mad," Fred mumbled. "I'm just...agitated."
"Yes, and the evidence of your agitation is shown by the disaster you've made out of our living room," George said dryly. "You know, Fred, it's not THAT hard to do."
"Says the man who's already done it," said Lee. "God. Everyone's getting so bloody domestic on me."
"I'm not domestic yet," said George defensively. "I have three more months before I take the plunge. And the sooner the better. Alicia's driving me mad with all this planning crap."
"Pretty soon I'll be all alone in this place," said Lee, pouting.
"What are you complaining about?" said George. "You'll have the place all to yourself. You can bring Lavender up here any time you want. You can shag on the kitchen table and not worry about anyone walking in on you."
"True," said Lee, grinning. "I'll say this for Miss Brown. She saved my life."
"Your sex life, you mean," said George.
"Dammit, George, help me with my tie," Fred snapped, as he stood in front of the mirror and fumbled with the ends of the tie.
"Jesus, Fred, you STILL haven't learned to do a tie up proper?" said George, rolling his eyes. "Seven years at Hogwarts and he's still hopeless. Come here. For god's sake."
"I can do it with my wand," said Fred, annoyed.
"So, Lee," George went on, as he deftly tied Fred's tie, "are you and Lavender getting serious?"
"You know, I think we might be," said Lee. "She's a lot deeper than most people think."
"I'll bet," said Fred with a snort. He realized he had only one shoe on and began to search for the mate.
"Hey, don't impugn my girl!" said Lee. "If it weren't for her I'd be holed up in a monastery somewhere, tossing off every five minutes. As it is we have quite a lovely relationship, thank you, based on mutual trust, respect and understanding. And plenty of smashing good sex."
"You always did have a thing for blondes," said George.
"Shit, where's my other shoe?" said Fred, and he began to toss cushions again.
"Right by the door, you dirty great moron," said Lee, putting his head in his hands.
"Right," said Fred.
"So you're over Katie, then?" said George, shaking his head as Fred struggled to put on his shoe. Fred shot him a dirty look.
"I think so, yeah," said Lee. "I saw Oliver Wood the other day at Fortescue's and I didn't even feel like punching him. I took that as a good sign."
"Fred, do you need me to tie your shoe now?" said George, watching with amusement as Fred tied and re-tied his shoe.
"Shut it," said Fred, whose hands couldn't seem to stop trembling.
"When you're finished dressing yourself," said Lee, "which will probably take another hour at this rate, would you mind putting this mess back in order?"
"I've got it," said George, chuckling. He took out his wand and gave it a wave, and the many displaced cushions, pillows and blankets all neatly returned to their proper positions on the sofa and chairs.
"Okay, how do I look?" Fred asked. He was wearing his best shoes and his nicest Italian Muggle suit. By some designer called Armani. It had cost him a fortune.
George and Lee were both in the living room now and they looked Fred over.
"Like shit," said Lee.
"Fuck off," said Fred.
"Yeah, fuck off," said George. "If he looks like shit then so do I."
"Right," said Lee. "You look like shit, George."
"Fuck off!" said Fred and George together.
"I'm just kidding," said Lee, rolling his eyes. "Fred, you look fabulous. Handsome. Hot."
"Definitely hot," said George, grinning.
"Thanks," said Fred, not sure if he believed them, but it was too late to change now. "Okay, uh, I'm going."
"Yeah, get the hell out of here," said Lee.
"Wish me luck," said Fred.
"Good luck or bad?" said George.
"Sod you," said Fred.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Fred, what's with you tonight?" said Angelina, gazing at him with concern as they strolled through Diagon Alley. They veered off to the right and came to a small park. Nearby, the strains of classical music could be heard from a local concert hall. It was a clear night, cool, lovely. Perfect. Even the damn pigeons seemed to be in hiding.
"What?" said Fred, his hand thrust in his pocket, his fingers clutching the box inside.
"You're really tense," said Angelina, as they sat on a bench.
"Oh, yeah," said Fred. "Well, you know, uh, tough day at work."
"Me, too," said Angelina sympathetically. "Sometimes I wonder just what the hell I was thinking going into the Healing Arts."
"You're great at it and you know it," said Fred.
"Thanks," she said, smiling that gorgeous smile that always made him feel weak.
He looked at her; she'd cut her hair so that it fell just past her chin, and she was wearing a simple light blue dress that skimmed her body and fell to her calves. The color set off the richness of her coffee and cream skin and showed off her décolletage to its best advantage. Her feet were in strappy, ridiculously sexy sandals; her toes were painted a lovely pale shade of pink. She looked fantastic.
"You know, we could go back to my place for a little more...dessert," said Angelina, leaning close to him and smiling suggestively.
Merlin, but how he'd love that. Love to run home with her and tear that dress off her and take her to bed. But no, he wasn't leaving this square without doing what he'd set out to do, what he'd been preparing himself for, for the past six months.
"I'd love to, Angie," he said nervously, "but, uh, first I need to ask you something."
"Oh," she said, looking confused. "Okay."
"Well," said Fred, swallowing. "You know I'm completely mad about you and you and me together has been bloody fantastic. I mean, you're my best mate in the whole world and I think I've been in love with you since the day I met you..." His voice trailed off.
She smiled. "This is a romantic speech," she said. "What's the occasion?"
"Right," said Fred, his fingers closing round the small velvet box in his pocket. "The thing is, Angie. Angelina. I've been thinking. A lot. About you and me. And where our relationship is headed--"
"Uh oh," said Angelina, looking suddenly horrified. "Oh, no."
"What?" said Fred, his stomach flopping terribly.
"You-you're...breaking up with me, aren't you?" said Angelina, and her eyes filled with tears.
Fred gulped and goggled at her.
"No!" he said quickly. "No, my god, Angie. No way!"
"Are you sure?" she said, her voice cracking.
"Absolutely," said Fred vehemently. "Are you kidding? I'm crazy about you, I'm happy with you, I want to be with you--"
"Really?"
"Really," said Fred, and he swallowed again. "I want to be with you, Angelina. Every day." He paused and the words finally came out of him. "For the...for the rest of my life."
Angelina's eyes widened and her lower lip began to tremble.
"Wh-what?"
Fred's heart was beating so loudly he was quite sure everyone in London could hear it. He gripped the velvet box and pulled it out of his pocket, and although he hadn't really intended to do it, he felt himself start to sink to his knee.
"Angie, will you be my--oh, SHIT."
"What?" Angelina snapped.
"Bloody hell," said Fred, and he sat up on the bench and looked at the knee of his best trousers, which were now covered with the bird droppings he'd managed to lower himself onto.
Angelina began to laugh. "Oh, no," she giggled.
"My best suit," said Fred miserably.
"Fred, I'm so sorry," she said, but she was still laughing.
"Dammit," said Fred. "So much for my romantic proposal."
Angelina stopped laughing and looked at him.
"Proposal?" she said archly. "I don't recall hearing a proposal. You were planning on proposing to me?"
Fred felt his face burn. "Uh, yeah," he said, fumbling with the box in his hand.
"Oh," said Angelina.
"You know, that's why I did the whole knee thing," said Fred. He pulled out his wand and muttered "Scourgify" as he pointed it at his knee; the bird droppings vanished.
"I sort of wondered about that," said Angelina.
"Ruined it," said Fred. "The proposal, I mean."
"Did you?" said Angelina. "Funny, but I'm still here, and I'm still waiting."
Fred looked at her. Her eyes were swimming with unshed tears and she was smiling at him. He felt a squeezing in his chest.
"Marry me," he blurted.
"Yes," she choked, and then they were kissing and laughing and she was crying and Fred was trying to slow his racing heart for fear it might explode in his chest.
He opened the box and turned it so that she could see the ring inside. A simple, single champagne colored diamond. Not too big, but bright and brilliant and perfect all the same.
"Fred, oh my god," she whispered, giggling as she had when he'd first met her all those years ago. "It's beautiful."
"You're beautiful," he said, his voice struggling against the lump in his throat. "Give me your hand."
She did, and it was trembling, and his were trembling as he took the ring from the box and slid it onto the ring finger of her left hand. It fit. It looked...perfect.
She stared at the ring for a moment, and then back up at him. Tears were running down her face.
"Did we just get engaged?" she asked.
"Yeah, I think we did," he said.
"My parents are going to wet themselves when they find out," said Angelina, laughing. "In a good way."
"I'm practically wetting myself right now," said Fred. "I was a bit nervous you might say no."
"Are you daft?" said Angelina. "Say no to you? Haven't you figured out by now that I can't resist you?"
She moved closer to him on the bench and he put his arms round her.
"I think I'm slowly realizing it," he said, grinning.
"I love you," she said. "I love you, Fred Weasley."
"I love you, Angelina Johnson," said Fred, and he kissed her, long and hard and passionately, his heart soaring and his stomach swooping and his head spinning all at the same time. They sat on that bench and kissed and kissed for what seemed like hours before they finally got up and decided it was past time to go home, to Angelina's flat, where they could do more than just kiss each other.
"Where should we go on our honeymoon?" he asked, as they made their way back to her flat.
"Tahiti," she said at once. "It's secluded, it's tropical, we can order room service and we can sunbathe naked."
"You mean, YOU can sunbathe naked," said Fred. "In case you haven't noticed, Angie, I'm a bit pale. I cook up like bacon in the sun."
"That's what Sun Shielding Charms are for," said Angelina. "Unless you don't want to see me bounce around on a beach with no clothes on..."
"On the other hand, Tahiti sounds like a marvelous idea," said Fred at once, as they reached her front door.
"You are so easy, you know that?" she said, rolling her eyes as she unlocked her front door with a key.
"I know, shameful, isn't it?" he said, sliding an arm round her waist and pressing her close as they backed into her flat, pressing his pelvis against hers, letting her feel his arousal.
"Take me to bed right now," she whispered, as she shut her front door and shut them inside and her lips brushed across his.
He kissed her hard, felt the heat radiating off her skin. "If you insist." And he carried her upstairs.
Later, when they had sated themselves and she had fallen asleep, he lay awake, gazing at her as she slumbered. Angelina, he thought. What a perfect name for her. She did look like an angel. She sighed in her sleep and shifted slightly, and her hand moved over his pillow to capture his hand. And he lay awake and gazed at her.
His future. Their life together. They'd move into a house, somewhere not too far from London. They'd get a dog; Angelina loved dogs. They'd alternate Sunday dinners with their families. Have huge holiday get togethers. They'd play Quidditch at the Burrow. They'd have children. Beautiful, exotic children with his blue eyes and her coffee and cream skin. They'd stand on Platform 9¾ and wave as their kids got on the Hogwarts Express. Their kids would grow up and leave home and marry and have their own families, and Fred would still chase after Angelina like a teenager and she would laugh at his jokes, and they'd grow old together. He could see all of it as he watched her sleep.
He was quite possibly the happiest wizard alive.
THE END
_______________________________________________________________________
A/N: And it's over! I'm sad, as always. I was thinking of writing a wedding but to be honest, I just didn't have the energy. I am going to take a much- needed--but hopefully not terribly long--break from fanfic writing. I honestly don't know if I have any sequels in the making yet. My brain is pretty fried as it is. But if I do write I certainly hope y'all will keep reading. The Harry Potter Universe is always full of good stuff to build upon. As always, I greatly appreciate the reviews, the encouragement and the constructive criticism; it's all helpful, it's all good.
In the meantime, if anyone's interested, I am posting "The Book of Morgan Le Fey" over at FictionAlley.org, in the Schnoogle section, but I have been spending the past several weeks making edits and what I think are improvements to the story. I wanted to post the story on another good fanfic site, in part to get it out there, but also because it's given me a chance to re-read it and make several edits and what I think are significant improvements to the first version. I hope all of you will consider giving it a whirl; it's halfway finished at the moment and I hope to have the whole thing posted in the next month.
One more big thanks, too, to all those who assisted me in solving the whole plagiarism issue. I still have to file some sort of "official report" with FictionAlley but as of now it looks like the offending fic has been removed and the author has apparently been removed as well.