"Actually, I'm not going to be moving back to the Burrow." Bill interrupted his mother before she got too involved in her plan making for the move out of London. Silence and blank stares met his announcement, though these quickly gave way to open curiosity.

"Nonsense, Bill," Molly waved her hand. "With the boys and Ginny off at school, there will be more than enough room."

"It isn't a question of space, Mum. Staying in town will be much more convenient."

"Sirius has been most generous in allowing us to stay during the summer, but you cannot just invite yourself to stay on."

"Bill is more than welcome to stay here for as long as he likes. As are you." This last was almost an afterthought, tone devoid of all emotion. "As you know, this house is at the disposal of the Order in any capacity. Whether that means a place for meetings, a place for respite between missions, or even long-term residence, I am perfectly at ease with people here."

"That's very kind of you, however --"

"Before you two get into it again, I'm not going to be staying here either." Once again, there was silence at the dinner table. Bill mentally sighed. "Much as I appreciate the invitation Sirius, Headquarters for the Order doesn't make for the best place to, er, receive visitors."

"Oh." Molly was slightly taken aback. She looked to her husband for support, but Arthur seemed to be busy grinning over some secret matter as he served himself another helping of meatballs. Remus and Sirius, for that matter, were also exchanging rather amused glances. Why do I feel as though I have missed something? "Well, you would be more than welcome to bring friends home to the Burrow."

This time, Bill's sigh was audible. "I know that, Mum. But as I said before, London is more convenient in general. It's closer to work, and anyone I'd know would be in London already."

"Hm. Well, if you're determined," she paused, and Bill nodded. "Have you begun looking for a place yet? I believe I saw some for let and lodging signs in Diagon Alley when I went to get school supplies. And there is that section in The Daily Prophet that --"

"No, Mum." Bill knew this was going to be a challenge, though he had not expected to have this conversation in front of other members of the Order. At least they are all friends. "I'm actually looking for a flat in Muggle London."

"Muggle London??" Molly sputtered, and everyone at the table dropped all pretence of ignoring the conversation and peered at her eldest son. "But, Bill..."

"So when do you leave?"

"Next Thursday." Katrin thought her mother was taking the announcement of her trip rather well. So well, in fact, that it almost seemed as though she had been previously aware of it. Katrin squinted at the crystal. "Why are you so calm about your eccentric daughter flying across the globe to visit a guy she has only met twice?"

Sarah laughed. "Oh, a few reasons, I suppose. One: I'm not your father and am well aware you are both competent and quite independent. Two: were I to react any other way, I likely would not get any details at all. Three: I had a feeling you would do something like this from the moment you mentioned England in the first place. And four: well, to be honest, it is precisely the sort of thing I would have done."

"You would have gone haring off to a foreign country after a couple encounters and a mass of emails?"

She laughed again. "Ok, so it was more than once and email was not involved. But I did end up in the Underground rather frequently for all that your father's and my courtship had barely begun."

"Yeah, but Dad was obvious in his intentions. I'd hardly call this a courtship in comparison, mother."

"Not everyone has the means of being as dashingly suave and debonair as your father, Katrin. Being one of the High Fae and possessing an abundance of magic and power enabled him to arrange the circumstances to his liking and in the best way possible."

"Hm... I guess that's true." Katrin leaned back against her kitchen counter. "And I also guess that if someone did so for me I'd be more inclined to think less of him for making it easy on himself."

Sarah giggled. "Oh, I don't doubt that. But don't let your father hear you suggest he took the easy route."

"I'm sure he'd merely suggest that in deciding to court you he ruled out the easy route right away," she scoffed.

"Probably."

"Where is he, anyway? I would like to be brave and break this travel news of mine to him myself."

Sarah sighed. "He's off reconstructing the Labyrinth."

"What, still? He's been at it for... how long now?"

"More than two weeks. I'm hoping he'll return any day now."

"Yeah..."

There was a brief silence before Sarah grinned. "But it's no use fretting over it. He knows what he's doing, and when he returns I'll tell him of your escapades in the most gentle of ways."

"Somehow that isn't reassuring at all."

"Where will you be staying?"

"At The Mad Hatter. It's an inn connected to a Pub chain."

"I can't say as I'm surprised, but why not the Ritz or the Savoy or something swanky like that?"

"Are you kidding? This one is within ten minutes walking distance of the Globe!"

"Girl after my own heart. Is a certain someone picking you up at the airport."

It was Katrin's turn to giggle. "No, he has to work. Which is fine because I scrimped on the plane tickets so I've got layovers from hell and will be in dire need of freshening up upon arrival. So I spent the money I saved on the tickets on luxury car service to my hotel. I won't have to carry my bags!"

"Because that extra expense on top of a direct flight first class would really have broken the bank."

"I generally prefer being, you know, rustic."

"Right." Sarah shook her head in amusement. "So when are you going to see Bill? I assume you're not only going to London for the luxury car service."

"We're meeting for breakfast on Saturday, and then take it from there I guess."

"Mm. Very spontaneous of you."

Bill flopped down on the bed with a huge sigh. He had refused to answer any of his mother's rather determined questions regarding his insistence on living in Muggle London. On top of that, he had refused to be persuaded otherwise. This had set Molly into an increasingly disgruntled mood for the rest of dinner. His father, thankfully, had been equally unhelpful to her cause, much to her dismay. The rest of the small dinner party did little to hide their amusement, though they all refrained from direct involvement.

Reaching into his satchel that lay on the floor next to the bed, he pulled out a copy of Loot, a Muggle publication with advertisements of all sorts, including information about flats to let and lodging opportunities. He had spent most of his free time the past week getting everything in order and registering at an estate agency. This included setting up a Muggle bank account, easy enough for him to do with his connections at Gringotts. While Muggle banks were anything but aware of the bank for Magical folk, Gringotts kept tabs on their non-Magical counterparts if for no other reason than to ensure the exchange rates for Muggle and Wizarding money were appropriate. Bill was not the first Wizard to require an outside bank account; working for Gringotts only made the paperwork process all the faster.

The real tough spot with the estate agency was his lack of a telephone. After an awkward conversation with a clerk at the Internet cafe, Bill found his way to a little shop and purchased something called a Pay-As-You-Go mobile. He put twenty 'quid' on his account, all the while wondering how 'pounds' became 'quids' as well as what a 'quid' was exactly, hoped he set up his answer phone correctly, and finally was able to complete his paperwork at the estate agency. His agent, Daniel, would probably find something soon, but in the meantime he would continue to look on his own.

Bill was hoping to have his own place by the time Katrin arrived at the end of next week. He did not really expect her to want to come inside, especially as he would not have any chairs to sit on, but this way he could at least tell her where it was without any difficulty.

He perused the ads diligently, not finding much, when someone knocked on the door. "Come in," Bill called, tossing the paper aside.

Sirius came in, shutting the door behind him before lounging on a stool in the corner. He grinned lazily, a twinkling in his eye that had been somewhat absent since the kids, namely Harry, had left for Hogwarts. "Well done, mate," he said, folding his hands behind his head and leaning back.

Bill blinked. He and Sirius always got on well, though they generally had little contact outside of business with the Order and dinner because of Bill's work. "Sorry?"

The grin on Sirius' face widened. "I said 'well done'. Who is she?"

Bill could only blink again. "Sorry?"

At that, Sirius chuckled. "Between your elusive answers and that grin on your dad's face, it was easy enough to figure out that the sole reason you are needing to move out, and to Muggle London no less, has to do with the fact that you met a girl. And a Muggle girl at that."

"Oh." He pondered that for a while. "Well, yeah. I did. And she has no idea I'm a Wizard." Yet, he thought, uncertain of how long he would be willing to keep something this important a secret.

"Ha!" Sirius barked. "Moony owes me a Galleon. He figured it was a Witch from a Muggle family and not much access to our World. So why the reluctance to just flat out say so? It would have led to a whole new line of questioning, I'm sure, but at least you would have been able to relax about your decision."

Bill shrugged, sitting up on the bed and echoing Sirius' position. "I guess I'd rather wait until I know there is anything worth telling. She's an American, actually. Met her when I went on vacation earlier this summer."

"Ha! Another Galleon. Always knew I should have pursued Divination. And I suppose she's coming to visit and that explains the sudden need to move out?"

"Why, do you get another Galleon if the answer is yes?"

"No, I'm just curious on that note."

"In that case, yes, she is. Later next week."

"Brilliant." Grin still in place, Sirius stood and moved to the door. He stopped, hand on the knob, before opening it and looked over his shoulder. "And just so you know, I'm not offended in the slightest that you're not staying on. If it doesn't work out, you're always welcome back. And if it does," he sobered marginally, "well, good on you for finding someone amid all this chaos. Explaining it all may end up being the easiest part." He looked as though he meant to add something else, but seemingly changed his mind at the last moment. With a final nod, Sirius nipped out the door before Bill could respond.

Bill stared at the door for many minutes pondering Sirius' parting remarks.

Tossing the crystal back in the fruit bowl, where it promptly changed into a kumquat, Katrin rolled her shoulders. She strolled over to the fridge and pulled out a carton of orange juice. Not bothering to grab a glass, she opened the carton on her way to the living room. Flopping down on the couch, she took a deep swig of juice.

Though she would never admit it aloud, Katrin was rather nervous about her forthcoming trip. She enjoyed having a good time and meeting new people, but this was a limb she had never ventured out upon before. Much to her chagrin, those close to her had figured it out. Naturally, they confronted it in different ways. Her mother teased in a roundabout way. The Aunts frequently ganged up together; Katrin had to suspect whether they planned their attack in advance. Only this morning, however, when Katrin stopped in at Alistair's for a slice of pie, Nell fixed her with a piercing stare for a full minute before spouting off her piece.

"Someone once said something to me that you might find reassuring," she had said. "If a man tells you he'll call, he won't. But if he says he wants to see you again, he means it." With that, she gave Katrin a pat on the shoulder and went off to find out if there was any turkey sliced. While this did not completely boost Katrin's confidence in her decision, she was somehow reassured that all would turn out well.

Setting the carton on the table beside her, Katrin's thoughts turned once again to how things had played out with Bill up to this point. This, of course, led to her pondering what would happen once they met again. She folded her hands behind her head and stretched out so her feet were propped up on the armrest on the other end of the couch. As she drifted off, her final thoughts lingered around how to avoid complete disaster when she introduced him to her parents, namely her father, for the first time.