Ever since practice had started up again, Caden found himself at home less and less. It was always how it went, him seeing his family early in the morning just to come home to them after a day of intense training, tired and often times frustrated. He couldn’t even remember the last time he and Estella had an entire weekend to themselves, which was what made him think to ask Ellie – she said she was looking for a job, which made him assume she needed money, and he had a way for her to earn it that also worked to his benefit.

He used to be terrified of asking anyone to watch Marcus, because he feared more for their safety and sanity. He was quite a handful, there was no getting around that, but some maternal affection and some discipline had tamed the beast. He was still a terror most of the time, but Caden was proud of how far he had come.

His relationship with his biological son was…complicated, to say the least. Those who knew this usually knew how to handle Marcus’ blatant cries for attention, and why he was so misbehaved, which was a relief to Caden who didn’t have to sound like he was making excuses for him. Ellie was one of those people, though at the time everything was happening, she was probably too young to truly understand why Caden didn’t have the same bond with his son as other fathers did with theirs. Ellie also knew Jacob from all the time she worked with Estella, which left little Lizzy as the only Flint child that his teammates sister wasn’t all too familiar with.

Caden shifted on the bench he was sitting on, looking out to watch all the people who were passing by. He'd switch between keeping an eye out for Ellie and just spending some time being by himself with his thoughts. As much as he loved his family, and as much as he loved playing for Puddlemere, he appreciated moments like these - where he could just sit and exist, and not have to worry about a million different things...like earning back over 400 points during the course of the season, or making sure that Snitch wasn't off eating one of the kids toys, or Estella's shoes.

WHO: Ellie Bell and Brianna O'Hara
WHAT: Final dress fittings and revelations!
WHERE: Bridal shop
WHEN: Before today ahaha
NOTES: We'll finish in comments because I figured it should be posted before the wedding post lmao :D

( And this haircut was just not Ellie’s best. )

At least this time she was going to Davy's flat - that meant that he couldn't just decide not to show up. She supposed it could be possible that she'd just show up to his place to find it empty, but Davy really did seem like he wanted to talk this time. Maybe last time she'd just been ... too forceful, she'd gone too fast. He had just needed time to adjust to her being back, and she was sure he'd had other things on his mind.

He was getting married now, after all, and also apparently having a baby - his ex-girfriend was probably the last thing on his mind. She didn't want to think that she had any right to claim she was still important to him after she'd just up and left. She coughed and cleared her throat, announcing the location of Davy's place with a voice that was just a little too loud and then stepping into the flames.

She hadn't even been in direct contact with anyone since she'd been back except through the journals. She'd been working at a muggle record store, sleeping in a crappy apartment... but she'd been happier. She didn't want to go home to her brother and her parents just yet; she was still concerned they were going to skin her on-sight. She brushed off her jeans as she slipped out of the floo, looking around and hoping that Davy's fiancee wasn't here too. Wouldn't that be awkward.

"Davy?"

She'd gotten to the park at five thirty not because she had been worried about being late, but because she had wanted a little time to think about what exactly she was going to say to Davy when he showed up -- if he showed up. The longer that she sat on the bench and stared out at the pond, the surer she was that he probably wouldn't show up.

It would've been much easier if he didn't for both of them, really. Davy had said that he wasn't able to write her out of his life completely, though. That had been hard for her to hear, even though she wasn't surprised by it. She'd been hoping that he'd started hating her guts and then eventually forgotten about her in the past year or so, but things rarely seemed to go the way she wanted them to. She'd come back to Ian's life in shambles and her parents even madder than she'd thought they were going to be. On top of that, she had to deal with all the guilt that had been building in the pit of her stomach since she'd left. At least Phoebe had been -- well, as wonderful as Phoebe had always been, really. If one of her best friends had been too angry to even speak to her, she'd probably have just crawled back into the Underground.

Ellie sighed, stubbing out the cigarette she'd smoked completely down to the filter on the wood of the bench and tossing it into a bin.

This was going to suck.

Who: Ellie Bell and Antonin Dolohov
What: Secret dancing lessons that take literally a month to finish. And then there's some toppling at the end.
Where: Manchester Dance

( Okay, catch me! )

"I'm glad you could come!"

Meredith waved to one of the many people whom she recognized and took a sip out of the glass she was holding. She looked around, surveying the people who had come--this party had definitely been a good idea, just look at everyone who had shown up! It was almost as good as the parties that those rich Slytherin girls threw, except that none of them were there. Which was alright, she told herself, because they were rude anyway, but how cool would it have been if a party she and Phoebe threw had actually attracted one or two?

There was a big bonfire blazing a few meters away and Meredith went over to place herself down in the sand around it. She leaned back on her hands and stretched her legs out, watching the silhouettes of her feet as she wiggled her toes. It was going to be murder to get all of this sand off of her at the end of the night, but none of that mattered right now. This was awesome and nothing was about to spoil her night.