August 19th, 1978
Who: Caden Flint and Estella Derrick
What: Their first date!
Where: London!



Why was he so nervous? He couldn’t stop moving. His hands kept ringing, and he kept looking at his clock, as though a bomb would go off when it struck 5:30. He didn’t want to be exactly on time, because that would make him seem like he had been doing exactly what he had been doing. Counting down until he had to go and look for that house with the blue shutters. But, he didn’t want to be too late, either. That wouldn’t make a very good impression at all, now would it? He kept adjusting the cuffs of his shirt beneath the jacket. Since he had to drop Marcus off at Jolene’s anyway, he had stayed at her place until he had to go. She was holding the baby on the couch as he continued to walk around, trying to calm his nerves. When his back was turned to her, he heard a giggle erupt from her throat, causing him to turn around with a quirk of his brow. “It’s not funny.” She shook her head and tilted Marcus’ bottle to give him the rest of the milk. ”Caden, just relax! Calm down, okay? You’ll be fine…oh, and it’s 5:30.”

This caused him to stare down at his watch and then groan. “Fuck. I can’t do this.” Jolene stared at him for a moment before narrowing her eyes. ”If you don’t leave, I’ll never let you see your son again!” She seemed to think that over, and then spoke again. ”And, I’ll never cook for you again!” Caden looked rather pathetic, with still adjusting his sleeves. Without warning, Jolene was putting Marcus down on the couch, and moving towards him, literally shoving him towards the door. “Oy! I’m going, I’m going!” His hand reached out to grab the item sitting on the counter that he planned on giving to Estella. Turning around, he gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I should be back aro-“ ”Just GO!” And with a final shove, he was out in the hallway, hearing the door lock behind him, and a ”LOVE YOU!” shouted from behind the wood. “Yeah, love you too..”

Taking a deep breath, he gripped at his wand, and focused on the address she had given him, disapparating from the hallway to 46 Leaf Avenue, Bristol. Really, it wasn’t hard to miss her house. He slowly began to approach her house, and as he approached the front door, the single red rose that was in his hand spun idly between his fingers, as his other hand rose to knock on the door.

Oh God.

Oh God.

Florence had almost pulled out all of Estella’s hair with the way she’d been fidgeting tonight. It was a wonder she’d managed to get it done, and her makeup, and actually gotten dressed without a problem. Jacob found his mother’s constant moving quite amusing and had watched her move about the room from the center of her bed for about an hour before he grew bored and fell asleep on the spot. Estella was quite grateful for that, as it was always hard to pass him along to her sister or parents (Tobias wasn’t a very good person to ask to baby sit, really--), one because he was so fussy and clingy, and two because Estella didn’t necessarily like giving him up. Sure she loved the peace and quiet, the silence was almost a God send sometimes, but she still felt like she should be there for Jacob’s every beck and call…

…which was probably why he was such a brat.

Oh! She shouldn’t say that about her son.

But he was.

Anyway, five thirty came along much faster than Estella would have liked, and she was just coming down the stairs when she heard the knock on the door. What were the chances that it wasn’t Caden? Not very good. Not very good at all. Oh, oh. What if she was over dressed? The place wasn’t that fancy, really, it seemed casual enough for a…meeting. Had she really called it a meeting? It wasn’t a date? No…no, it was definitely a date. But he’d repeated meeting in his journal! He’d said meeting. So it was a meeting! But it was supposed to be a date? Maybe it was going to turn into a date?

“Hey, hi,” Estella said, not even realizing she’d crossed to the door and opened it with a smile on her face. Her eyes caught sight of the rose and she blushed immediately; oh, oh. It was a date.

When the door opened, his eyes went from staring at the ‘Welcome!’ mat that was beneath his shows to focus on Estella. He looked her in the eyes when she opened the door.

“Hi.” He took a moment to just take a glance at what she was wearing. She looked nice, but he felt very odd saying this out loud. So, he found himself looking down at the rose he was holding before he looked back up at her. “I uh…here.”

He handed her the rose, and watched as she took it. She gave him a smile and began to turn around before she turned around and invited him inside for a moment, just so she could put it in water. He stepped over the threshold and closed the door behind him, and stood in the foyer with his hands placed in his pockets, waiting for her to get back.

Taking the time while she was gone, he looked around and took in the little details of her house, smirking to himself a little bit at a photo of a dancer who was doing a Grand jeté. Not that he knew that it was, it just looked like jumping to him. He was still staring at it when she came back in from the kitchen.

“Is that you?” He asked, gesturing to the photo he had been so captivated by.

Once she’d entered the kitchen to look for a vase, Estella’s feet moved so fast you’d think there was a mouse running around her feet that she was trying to avoid. Oh, oh! A flower, he’d gotten her a flower---and not just any flower! A rose. Very romantic—ah! Ah! Romantic! Oh, oh! She did a little twirl before putting the flower in a vase and came back, swiping her purse up. She was determined to have a good time tonight, she was absolutely, positively adamant about having a good time, and damn it! It was going to happen!

Unless she messed it up. Which was likely, but she could try.

“Oooh, haaa…” Oh, hell. She hated pictures of herself, and this one was only up because, ah, “Well, you see. My mum’s a photographer and…I’d feel right awful if I didn’t put her stuff up…it’s not a very good shot, really…”

Estella knew she was flushed and cursed herself for not taking down any embarrassing pictures of herself beforehand. Not that she’d expected Caden to come inside, because—well, oy, maybe it wasn’t bad if he came in…it…just…wasn’t…expected. Oh, hell. Anyway, she’d have to hide any more embarrassing things before even thinking about inviting him in again, or…oh…just shut up, Estella. “Do you know where the place is? I can take us there, if you want.”

“No, it’s good. I like it. It’s…artistic.” Oh, what the fuck was he going on about? Who said that? He mentally kicked himself, and when she turned around to grab her purse, he mouthed the word ‘artistic’ to himself, as though asking himself why he had to be so stupid. Turning to her, he shook his head. “You said it was near the Leaky Cauldron, right?” She nodded. “Well, I figured I would just take us to that area, so we can walk the rest of the way.” There were so many reasons why he wanted to walk, that he wasn’t about to tell her. He was having a hard time standing still already, and he had a feeling that if he was able to just walk for a little while they would both have time to calm his nerves, and he would be able to move around without squirming as much in his seat at the restaurant.

They were really doing this. He was there, in her house, and they were about to leave to go to some Italian Restaurant. He had gotten her a flower. He had just asked Jolene to watch Marcus, so he could go out on a date. Fuck, the last date that he had been on was when he was 17, and it wasn’t even an official date. He had invited Mack to the Quidditch match with him, and there had been no flowers, or food involved. So, this was really all new to him.

He cleared his throat and slipped his wand out of the inside of his jacket, his other hand extending so she could take hold of it. He was doing his best to relax, and act cool, but really it wasn’t easy. She was standing there, looking so beautiful, with her hair, and her eyes, and her dress, and…she had to stop. Because, it was just making him more nervous. But really, what the hell, he wasn’t 17 anymore. He was a grown man; he shouldn’t be this jittery around a girl. Even if she was this gorgeous.

He wouldn’t be able to concentrate enough on where they needed to go if he couldn’t stop looking at her. Oh, the last thing he needed was for one of them to splinch because he wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing. That’d go over great. He wouldn’t have to worry about a second date, that was for sure…

A date.

The restaurant was really nice, but not in that super snazzy, must wear the diamond earrings, talk in a hoity toity accent kind of nice, but it was just---it was simple, the waiters were friendly, the food was good, and it had a very calming atmosphere that Estella couldn’t be more thankful for. The last thing these two needed was any form of stress.

Estella had been worried that she wouldn’t have anything to talk to Caden about, that their date would just be a hour or two of silence, or one of them would mention something depressed and the whole mood would be killed. But, to her pleasant surprise, they’d actually had quite a full conversation. They’d both been in Slytherin, which led to a lot of old Hogwarts stories, always amusing, those---and she asked him about quidditch, and she talked about dance, it was just—it was…

It was nice. Very nice.

The waiter was currently pouring another glass of wine for them when the music changed and Estella’s eyes drifted out to the dance floor. She smiled at the older couple that had taken the lead and stepped up first, and soon a few more couples had joined. Estella couldn’t help but smirk at the bad steps some of them were taking and had to remind herself that not everyone was trained in dance.

“Ooh, thank you,” she said when the waiter was finally done, picking up her drink.

Their dinner had been wonderful, and the wine had gone perfectly. Everything seemed to be going really smoothly, and he couldn’t have asked for anything more than that. And for once, neither one of them was completely miserable, so that was always a plus.

Caden couldn’t even remember the last time he had talked this much. Not that he was incessant or anything, but it was much more than he had said in a long time. But really, they were both having such a good time that they hardly realized how much time had flown by as the discussed all sorts of things. It was still so strange to think, that they had been around each other for years and didn’t even know that the other existed until many years after both of them had graduated from the school. He tried to spend as much time as he could listening, because he was more interested in learning about her than anything.

He hadn’t been paying much attention to what music had been playing, so when he looked up and noticed that she was looking behind him, he couldn’t help but glance over his shoulder to see what she was looking at. People were dancing. Did that mean…they should be dancing? He looked back at her and could tell that she clearly wanted to, but wasn’t saying anything. Reaching out, he grabbed his goblet of wine as the male singer crooned to the melody that was being played by the band. Taking a large sip, he placed it back down and looked to her, gesturing to the dance floor with a tilt of his neck. “Come on.” That was all he said as he placed his napkin on his empty plate and rose to his feet and moved around the table, holding out his hand for her to take. She paused, and looked up at him before finally slipping her long slender digits into his palm. His own wrapped around them as he helped her up, and led her out to the dance floor. Once they were there, he let his hand slip to her waist, still holding hers in his other.

“I haven’t done this in a while.” He confessed, before they even started moving. “So, you might have to talk me through it.” He gave a smirk, which is really all that she had gotten out of him all night, so far. It wasn’t that he wasn’t happy, because he was. He just hadn’t done it in such a long time, it felt so unnatural.

“Of course, I’m here to help,” Estella said with a grin, too focused on the fact that she was dancing with someone that wasn’t five-years-old. Well---not just focused on that, she was quite sure that her mind was keen on paying attention to how tall Caden was and how well he actually was dancing, and to the feel of his hand on her waist and if she wasn’t trained to simply know where to step she was sure she’d have crushed his toes a few times or tripped and fallen to the ground.

But, she hadn’t, and it was a much different thing to dance to a live performance. Estella was used to the magical record player in the studio, or her own wireless, so this was a very nice change in pace. Not only in the dancing area, of course---it was a nice change of pace for her Friday night. Usually she was home with Jacob, the boy having fallen asleep around eight and that left her with a few hours of trying to waste time. Which usually ended up with her starting a new routine or doing yoga, and all of that was good...once in a while, not every night. Okay, so she lied, acting as if her Fridays were usually something…oh…what was she thinking about? How was she even thinking straight with Caden being so close and…oh…wait…she wasn’t thinking straight…ha…lookit that.

“You’re rather good,” Estella said with a grin, “I could pick you up a tutu and slippers, if you wanted.”

They moved together as though this was exactly what they were supposed to be doing. It was like the song was playing just so they could have a reason to be this close, and move in perfect time to the slow rhythm of the song. They weren’t even thinking about what they were doing. It all seemed to come so naturally as they gazed into each other’s eyes. His own schedule wasn’t much different from her own on Friday nights, except for the whole yoga thing. Usually he was so tired that he just fell asleep at the same time that Marcus did, knowing that was probably the only chance he’d get to sleep until his son woke up wanting something or another.

They turned to the music once again, and he actually raised his brows when she mentioned that he was ‘quite good’ at dancing. He had only ever taken lessons a few times before his wedding, but that was really all the dance experience that he had. But, something happened just after she continued with her statement. He wasn’t sure if it was her cheeky grin, or the way she spoke, but…Caden couldn’t help but do exactly what had felt so unnatural to him the entire night. He smiled. He even laughed a little bit. It lasted only for a moment, but it was still something, right?

“I think I’ll pass on that one, thanks.” His eyes looked away from her for a moment, noticing that people were watching them. But, it wasn’t because they knew who he was for once. Actually, he didn’t think they were looking at him at all.

Looking to her, he gestured discretely over to an older man with very large glasses who was sitting by himself. “I think you have a fan.” The man seemed to be in his late 60’s, and seemed to be all alone. Even at his worst, he hated seeing people alone.

He had a wonderful smile. Maybe he didn’t, and it was just the shock of seeing his face light up with one that was skewing her vision, but Caden Flint had a wonderful smile in Estella’s opinion, and she grinned back, hoping that the smiling was somewhat contagious and he’d continue to do so throughout the night. She rarely smiled herself, only a few people could get her to. Jacob always made her smile when he wasn’t being a terror, Florence was a riot with her boy issues (oh, Smethy), Tobias’ sense of humor made her smirk a lot, and her students were always amusing and she loved them so---

---so Caden Flint joined a rather short list of those who could make Estella Derrick smile, and she rather liked that.

Her eyes wandered over to the old man and Estella pouted slightly. She taught a class of senior citizens (though in the wizarding world, that meant they could be up to one hundred and fifty years old) and it was always a treat to see them happy and reminiscing about the music in their day and what not. Even if she couldn’t make herself happy, Estella liked to see she managed to make other people smile.

“Hey…you look thirsty, maybe you should go get us some drinks,” she said to Caden with a nod toward the old man, and a wink. He could figure it out, right? She patted his arm and crossed the dance floor and sat at the table next to the old man, noticing him watch her and if she hadn’t seen him pull out a chair for another woman earlier in the night, and pick up some utensils a waitress had dropped, Estella might think he was a bit odd for staring. But, what harm could a dance do? She waited until the next song finished before leaning over and requesting his hand, and on the dance floor she caught Caden’s eye and smiled.

“You should show me some of your moves!” she told the man (his name she found, was Charlie) as the next song took on a bouncier beat.

Caden was quick to catch on to her mention of how ‘thirsty’ he looked. Giving her another one of those rare smiles, he glanced to the man and reluctantly slipped away from her so he could go and give her some time to make an old man just a little happier. He had turned some of his money into muggle cash, but he had no idea how to use it…this would give them plenty of time to dance.

After handing over the right amount to the bar tender after 3 or 4 tries, he grabbed the drinks and made his way back to the table, placing down the drinks that he had just gotten. He turned his chair so that he could get a better view of the dance floor, watching as she was twirled and spun by the man who had been watching her. He sat in his chair and took a sip of wine, not even realizing that this was about his 4th glass. He wasn’t drunk, but he could definitely had a nice buzz because of the crimson liquid. He took some time to think while she was dancing around, having a good time. This was going so well, it was almost scary. It was strange to think that he had been so nervous, and worried that they wouldn’t have anything to talk about. That they would just sit and poke at their food and then leave, realizing that maybe their feelings for each other the other night were only there because of the amount of alcohol they had both ingested. But, they were still there, even without booze or wine. They were there when he had showed up at her door, and they were still there now.

The song ended, and Caden hadn’t even realized it until she was running back over to him. “Have fun?”

They finished off their drinks, and both decided that it was time to leave, since they had been there for quite some time. It was getting late, and the band was packing up, and…crap, when did they become the last people in the restaurant? He paid (with help from Estella this time), and they were on their way. They strolled side by side down the road, both of their hands at their sides. For the first time in a while, they were both quiet, but it wasn’t awkward. It was just a nice break from talking as they listened to the sounds going on around them. Cat’s meowing, crickets chirping, etc. It was nice. They turned a corner and he happened to walk a little too close to her, so their hands brushed. He glanced down at her and then stared ahead of him before he reached out and purposely brushed against her again so he could hold onto her hand. He swallowed roughly, but continued to look ahead of him, as though nothing had happened.

Was it strange to say that holding his hand was more intoxicating than the kisses they’ve shared? Estella felt herself get dizzy; the drinks probably helped, of course, but this was such a nice feeling. At the single’s night, they had both been ridden with grief and…oh, dare she say it, lust, and while it had felt incredibly good, Caden taking her hand was even better. It was him actually wanting to touch her because they’d had a nice night, and in the most gentlest of ways. Hand holding, ha, that’s what you did when you walked the corridors of Hogwarts, that’s all many young couples did for a long time, and they’d gotten past the awkwardness of snogging, so…it…felt…calming to just be holding his hand and not having any other worries.

She spotted the Leaky Cauldron coming up and Estella couldn’t help but frown slightly. She really didn’t want the night to end, it had been the best time she’d had in a while and…oh, she couldn’t possibly invite him back to the house, right? Especially since she hadn’t hid any embarrassing pictures yet…but other than that, she didn’t want him to think…well…she had been more than promiscuous at the single’s event, but that was clearly because of the alcohol and…hm. They did both have children to pick up, and Estella mentally huffed at Jacob for not being able to make breakfast for him self.

“I don’t want to know what time it is,” she muttered, looking down at their hands a moment before blushing and looking straight ahead again. Honestly…oy, and she was paying Florence by the hour, too…no worries, she could deal with an extra ten…twenty…thirty bucks.

He had been surprised when he finally heard her say something, and wound up looking over to her. He could see the Leaky a little ways ahead of them, getting closer and closer with each step they took. “Neither do I.” He had a feeling that the only reason she was worrying about the time was because she needed to pick up Jacob. He was sure that Jolene wouldn’t care how late he came to pick up Marcus, but since he had no idea who was watching her own kid, so he didn’t want to get her in trouble with her sitter.

As they got to the Leaky Cauldron, they stopped walking. He leaned his shoulder against the wall of the building that was right beside it, still holding her hand in his own.

“So…here we are.” He really didn’t want it to be over yet. He wanted to say something more, but really wasn’t sure what he could say. He couldn’t just start up another conversation, because that would seem so random, and it would just go horribly because eventually one of them would have to cut the other off to mention that they really needed to get home.

“Do you want me to take you home?” He knew it was the right thing to do, and that it would just seem rude to let her go off on her own without making sure that she had gotten home alright. Or, maybe he just wanted an excuse to be around her longer. Either way…

“No.”

Estella answered his question immediately, blushing and looking down at her shoes. She leaned against the wall beside him, not letting go of his hand because that meant the night would be over and she’d have to go back home and be reminded that Caden wasn’t going to be there whenever she wanted and ahhh, okay, getting too far ahead of herself but think about it. There hadn’t been much to make her happy and she had something now---so she liked to believe---so it was hard to just let him go back home when she didn’t know when she’d see him again of if she’d see him again and—it---

“We should. Go. But---” Estella didn’t know where all this nerve was coming from, maybe it was more fear than anything, fear of losing this before she had the chance to really figure it out, but she looked up at Caden with a small grin. Her shoulder was against the wall too, the two of them just kind of leaning toward each other like students trying not to catch any attention for their impending snog.

Impending snog. Oy, haaa…they were in public. On a very empty street, but in public, and---“I’d like to do this again, if you want. I had a really nice time, Caden.”

Haaa, she wondered if she’d get a goodnight kiss, it sure seemed like it, her breath was already short—

Her sudden response made him look a little worried, but that feeling slipped away almost as soon as it had come to him. They were getting closer second by second, and it was as though neither of them were moving on their own free will. Not that they were fight against it, but it was like some sort of force was pushing them together. His free hand rose, as he nodded his head.

“Yeah, we probably should. Go. Because it’s late…” his fingers had found their way to her hair, remembering how soft it had felt the last time they had been able to slide through the silky strands. Moving his hand up, he moved from her hair up her jaw line to her chin, where he’s use his pointer finger to tilt her head back so he didn’t have to bend as far down to kiss her.

His eyes shut as their lips touched, feeling his heart beating in his chest. This wasn’t their first kiss, but it might as well have been. It wasn’t rushed, and sloppy like their first had been, and even that had been absolutely amazing. And their second didn’t really count, because it was a simple peck before she had to go back on stage. No, this was their first kiss. Everything else didn’t matter right now. Her lips were sweet, and he felt his body give a gentle shudder due to the goose bumps that had run up his neck as he parted from her for a moment. His hand found its way to her waist again, pulling her closer to him so he could feel her against him as he went back in for another good night kiss.

Oh, oh. It was just like the movies, except there was supposed to be a street lamp, and she wasn’t supposed to be standing in a puddle (how had she not noticed that?) and he wasn’t supposed to be so much taller than her so she had to get on the tip, tip of her toes---but it was just like what her movie would be like, oh, oh yes, and Estella’s hands grabbed hold to the front of Caden’s shirt because she wanted him closer. Ah, oh---

A car drove by and honked and Estella dropped back down, only to laugh and capture his lips again. It was so overwhelmingly nice to feel like this, like she was back in Hogwarts without a care in the world, that it wasn’t until a patron of the Leaky Cauldron walked out and whistled at them that she finally, finally pulled away (and even then she tugged on Caden’s hand for one last—two more kisses).

“I---thanks, I’ll---I’ll owl and…through the journals, I suppose---Jacob’s probably up, and…” Estella blushed once more and realized that this entire time they’d been holding hands. Aw. Okay, even that was a bit sickeningly cute to her, but she didn’t let go until the very last good bye (and a few more kisses) and she disapparated home.