Angelic Lightings (FoY)

[Felicity Hjort]

Two long days after the festival had begun, she'd finally talked her mum and dad into allowing her to go to the festivities. It wasn't because of the festivities themselves they didn't want the blonde going, it was because she was asking permission to go with a boy they didn't know. All boys were dangerous as far as they were concerned, and although she'd already told the Ravenclaw she'd go with him, she had a much harder time convincing her parents to let her go. But convince them she had, as long as the two went in early afternoon and were back by eight o'clock. And although she tried to argue the curfew, she didn't want to press her luck either, so she was to be back at her house by eight o'clock, not a second later.

Besides the curfew, they'd set one other condition, she was to take her nephew Freddy with her. And while she gripped a little at the idea, she wasn't overly unenthused, after all, they could have told her take one of her other nephews. But an hour before he was supposed to arrive, her cousins suggested taking all of the children out for ice cream, hoping to take their time and get her out of having to take any of the tykes with her.

Gleeful, she waited at the bottom the stairs in the living room, listening for the tell-tale sign that someone was outside of their door. Unfortunately, her dad was right there in the living room as well, pretending to read the paper in his favorite chair. The same position he had taken up when her sisters had started dating and he had drilled their dates. And although she tried to convince her entire family it wasn't a date, none of them would believe her.

However, being her parents had set the rule she had to take one of her nephews with her, she knew it was going to be harder getting out of the house without one of the children there. But if she was lucky, she would be able to. After all, she had done all of her chores as soon as she had arrived home, she hadn't instigated any arguments, and she'd been on her best behaviour, so there wasn't really any reason to not allow her to go to Diagon without one of the younger children tagging along, right?

The only thing left to do was wait for the knock.

((This thread will be moving along right into the Festival of the Yule next post or so, it's just starting out at the Hjort home))

[Lucas Smith]

If Lucas had been terrified to try out for a simple sports team, than he must have been absolutely petrified of the idea that he was going to meet Felicity's parents. Petrified, as it turned out, didn't even seem to be the right word. He racked his brain for a word stronger than that, but was unable to find one. That just proved to Lucas how scared he actually was. It shouldn't have been such a big deal to meet the parents of a friend, but to this Ravenclaw, it felt like it meant the world. And knowing his luck, he'd screw it up right off the bat and be sent home and Felicity wouldn't get to go to the Festival. With a deep breath, Lucas tried his hardest to push that out of his mind and approach the door.

Knocking three times, Lucas stepped back, attempting to fix his hair, straighten his shirt and make sure his pants weren't wrinkled. He hadn't really "dressed up" for this event, but he still tried to look nice. If he looked presentable and made a good first impression, perhaps Felicity's parents would be more forgiving when he started to bumble like a moron. Heaving a heavy sigh, Lucas knew he was overreacting and made himself stop fidgeting, waiting for someone to come to the door. Here goes nothing, the Raven thought to himself.

[Felicity Hjort]

There it was, the sign. Jumping right off the stairs to get to the door before someone else left in the home, she was grabbed by the shirt and made to sit right back down where she was. Her brother-in-law, while he agreed that she should be allowed to go alone, wasn't about to let her warn the boy beforehand that her father had been practicing firing questions at himself in the mirror all morning, and had snuck up behind her just in time to hear the knocking and prevent her from getting there first.

Grumbling to herself, she glanced briefly over at her mum who'd just come out of the kitchen, wringing her hands together wondering where the children were and why they were late. Resting her elbows on her knees, she put her face in her hand and looked over at her dad. Wasn't he going to answer the door at least, or was he going to play the trick of letting Lucas believe no one was home and therefore getting his way of not letting his little girl go anywhere.

"Dad...please let him in?" she pleaded with the older man, his piercing blue eyes finally looking up from the page he'd been looking at for the last fifteen minutes. "I promise this isn't a date, he's a friend from school, that's it."

Without a word, he swiftly arose from the comfort of his chair and turned enough to wink at his wife Meadow before heading for the door. Oh, it'd been too long for this older man, and he rather missed having boys in his home that he was allowed to bully with questions, but being that this was the first boy Felicity had ever asked permission to go out with, and she insisted pretty consistently that it wasn't a date, he would be kind enough to ask the easy questions, and make it a short enough visit for the boy.

Pulling the door open, he glared at the tall young man standing in front of him. Yes, it'd been too long for this particular little enjoyment. "Young Mr Smith I presume? My name Jacob Hjort, most call me Ib, you may not. You are allowed to refer to me as Mr Hjort, I am not your pal, nor do I like you. The only reason I am allowing you in my home is on the pretense that my daughter insists this 'outing' of yours is indeed not a date but rather an afternoon out with a friend. I hope you are prepared to face the consequences if this information is false."

With that, he stepped back to allow the boy into his home, an arm open, directing him to the living area where his wife Meadow, sister-in-law Abagail, son-in-law Harold, and daughter Felicity, were gathered. "Welcome to the Hjort home," he mentioned, louder for the others to really hear him. His face was already hardened, hoping to scare the boy even more than he already looked. Jesturing to a chair, he told him "Take a seat."

Felicity's face was redder than ever, embarrassed that her father really was going through with the whole thing. At least he didn't have to endure the spy game her father liked, there weren't any kids around to make him suffer through that one.

"Hi Lucas," she gulped, apologizing with her eyes. If she hadn't been being held on to to stay seated, she would've grabbed him and pulled him outside without a word to anyone, unfortunately they wouldn't let her.

"Lucas," the greeting went around the room. Her mum, that last to acknowledge him was playing the good parent today, which could be good. With a warm smile, she walked toward him and hugged him. Could things get any worse than that?

"Lucas Smith, London home. Lives with his mum," Harold spoke swiftly. Yes, things could get worse. It seemed he'd taken a little advantage of his own job and had looked up information on the Smith's. Craddling her head even more, she prayed things would get over with quickly.

"Tell me about yourself, you have two minutes to get every detail of your life correct before I either let my daughter go with you or I toss you out of my home," Ib took reigns on the conversation again. "Starting now."

[Lucas Smith]

Lucas' throat closed right up the second the door opened. He'd expected to see Felicity there to greet him, but instead he was faced with a man and the Ravenclaw squeaked out a polite "Nice to meet you, Mr. Hjort" before he followed the man inside. The door closed behind him and for a heart stopping moment, Lucas felt trapped. Suddenly he wasn't so fond of the whole Festival idea. But when his eyes traveled over to Felicity and he saw the expression on her face, he knew he needed to just be polite and get them both out of there.

The greetings came from around the room and before Lucas realized it, he was pulled into an embrace by a woman, apparently Felicity's mother. The Ravenclaw took note of the Gryffindor's embarrassment and decided right then that he wouldn't ever bring this up in casual conversation. It seemed painful enough for her one time and there was no need to relive it.

The interrogation started. Lucas was being forced to talk about himself, something he never did on his own accord, but right now he needed to just blurt something out. He heard another voice giving his information but Lucas didn't even bother to venture a guess as to how that was common knowledge.
"I...uhh..." Lucas stuttered, trying to find words and some courage, "Well, I live in London with my mum and she's a fantastic woman. Perhaps much like yourself, Mrs. Hjort." Lucas flashed Felicity's mum a friendly smile, hoping to earn himself a couple points by complimenting one of them.

"I grew up mostly with just my mum and for a while my uncle lived with us but he--" Lucas stopped for a moment, breathing deeply and soldiering on, "He passed away when I was younger."

[Felicity Hjort]

Blue eyes narrowed in the direction of the boy as Ib listened to him compliment Meadow. While it really was a very nice way of showing his politeness, it was so much nicer making the boy sweat. And yes, the information that had been given was pretty basic, but no further detail would be gone into by Harold unless the boy made a mistake on what he told the family that awaited to hear about his life.

Felicity bit her lip when she heard him bring up his uncle, her gathered family already knew that detail, as she'd begged them not to bring it up in front of him. They knew what it was like to lose someone, and they'd promised not to bog on with it if he brought it up himself. At least the Ravenclaw seemed all right for the moment, just going on about the few details he would be able to fit in in the short amount of time her father had given him.

At the end of his spiel, Ib glanced over at Harold, who nodded curtly once, letting the sixty year old man know nothing had been false to his knowledge. His grip was loosened on Felicity, letting her know she was almost set to go, though they weren't done just yet.

"How long have you been atten--" he was cut short by Felicity butting in.

"Dad, I already told you he arrived this year. That he's only been at Hogwarts a few months." Again she felt the loosening on her shirt."

"Very well," Ib looked at his daughter, as though daring her to interrupt again. "How well do you know my daughter?" This was the right question, that last one he usually asked in his interrogations. This would tell whether the two were secretly dating, or really were just friends. "Tell me the colour of her eyes without looking at her, her favorite colour, one of her nervous habits, and something she doesn't like."

[Lucas Smith]

Lucas' eyes went wide at the next question. For a terrifying second, he blanked and couldn't even remember what Felicity looked like. He closed his eyes and her face slowly drifted into his mind, as it did so often when he wasn't around her. Mumbling to himself for a second, Lucas finally opened his eyes and looked at Felicity's dad defiantly.
"Brown, sir," he answered, "Her eyes are brown. Her favourite colour is...blue. She fiddles with her hands when she's nervous and she hates cursing." Lucas spoke quickly and he didn't even know where all that information had come from. Was he really that creepy? Did he really know that much about her?

"I also know that she loves squirrels," the sixteen-year-old boy continued, "I know that she'll make a great reporter some day." Looking over his shoulder, Lucas tried to find her eyes so they would meet as he continued.
"And I know that she's an uncommonly kind girl who will still be your friend, even when you haven't been the best one yourself," he finished, flashing her a quick smile and a wink before turning back to her father.

[Felicity Hjort]

Rolling her eyes, she waited for him to answer. As if her dad couldn't have chosen more obviously answered questions, the one's he'd chosen for the boy to answer specifically were pretty easy to tell, though she noticed the hold on her shirt being completely released. Lucas had answered correctly, but one of the specific answers Ib was looking for was incorrect. Well, not really incorrect, but it wasn't the more obvious one. She bit her lip out of nervousness more often than hand fiddling, so his conclusions had been made, and even further assumptions were made when the boy continued further than what he'd requested.

They were dating.

Hardening his expression even more, this time out of concern as to why his daughter would lie to him, he turned his face towards her, waiting for an explanation.

Sighing, she knew she'd have to endure all of their looks for a while, at least until they met Drew. "Dad, we're friends, nothing more," she gave a furtive glance in Lucas' direction, hoping he wouldn't react badly. "Can we please just go?"

The blonde felt a gentle push from behind as Harold was giving her the sign that she was free to leave, but when she stood her dad did as well. "I thought we said you had to take Freddy with you?" The look on his face was one that wasn't to be argued with, especially since he was in the belief that his daughter had lied to him about the boy not being her boyfriend.

Thankfully, Harold was up for the challenge and quickly stepped in, taking the older man to the side, being joined but her Aunt Abagail, and a rushed, whispered conversation took place. The only audible parts were a few "Hmph"s and "Mmm"s. After a moment, their attention returned to the rest of the room, Felicity half standing on the stairs, ready to run at full force out the door if the need came for it.

"Curfew," Ib bellowed, looking pointedly at the Ravenclaw. "No later that eight o'clock. If you're even a second late, you will wish you had never met Felicity. You do anything to make her cry, once more you will wish for something you never imagined you'd find yourself wishing for." Turning from the blue-eyed boy, he smiled at his youngest. "Have fun, enjoy yourself, be back on time."

Warning and farewell wishes, she'd gotten off easy. Jumping off the stairs she hugged and kissed her mum and dad, grabbed Lucas' arm and dragged him out the door before they could change their minds. Running from the house, still pulling Lucas along with her, she slowed down once they were a little bit farther from the house, shooting a look of apology in his direction. "I'm sorry about that, but it could've been worse. At least not everyone was there."

[Lucas Smith]

Gulp. Lucas wanted to look away from Mr. Hjort, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from the man. He noticed the look from Felicity but ignored it, determined to not let it bothering him. Suddenly, her hand was on his arm and he was being dragged from the house. Lucas got out a quick, "Pleasure to meet you all," before he was out the door and off down the street. Once they had slowed down, Felicity turned to him and spoke. All Lucas did in response was shrug.

"If my mum was like that, I just wouldn't have friends," Lucas answered, looking over his shoulder at the house as it disappeared behind them, "Are they really that scared to just let you have fun?"

[Felicity Hjort]

"No," she quickly replied with a shake of her head. "They want me to have fun, they just don't trust boys, especially when they don't know the boy." True, they were much more protective over her than she'd ever seen them be with her sisters, but she thought they'd gotten off pretty lucky. Lucas answered her dad's questions without a negative tone, he hadn't tried to play off the 'there's more going on than you think' card, and he'd been polite, which was a plus.

Felicity remembered one time when her dad had actually decided to have a 'talk' with Fawn's husband when they were just starting to date. Her dad had gone into a huge spiel about how to treat a young woman, what not to do, and he'd even gone into a further discussion with him about things Felicity didn't want to think about. So yeah, in her opinion they'd gotten off pretty easy.

"But they do want me to have fun, I think it's more that they're not ready to accept that the baby of the family is asking to go somewhere with a boy, when only last summer she detested the creatures," she teased him. The past summer she had hit a boy for trying to kiss her, and her dad had been really proud of her. On the other hand, she'd always been asking to hang around with the boys from the neighborhood, but she hadn't ever asked if she could go somewhere with them. And the fact that the two of them had managed to get out of the house without a tagalong, she was feeling pretty good about things.

"I really am sorry about that though. He's not that bad, he's just playing the gruff thing, trying to scare you."

[Lucas Smith]

"He did a fairly good job of it. Look," Lucas answered, showing Felicity his hand that was still trembling, even though they were in the clear now and a good distance from Felicity's house. He shook his hand, trying to stop it and shoved it back into the pocket of his jeans. Looking up ahead of them as they walked, Lucas was getting more excited again about going to the Festival. Now that the scary part was over, he was excited about spending the day with the Gryffindor girl.

"So where do we go first?" he asked Felicity.

[Felicity Hjort]

A little laughter escaped her as he showed the girl his hand, it was kind of funny. The Danish man had a way about him, and all he had to do was give a look, words were not usually needed to accompany such looks.

There had been a lot more on the festival since they'd first spoken about making plans, and everything sounded wonderful. There were to be tournaments, sales, music, and a couple of shows, all of which sounded interesting, especially the music.

"How about we just look around and see everything we can first?" she suggested, that way they could spend a bit more time later on things they wanted to do. Leading the way into the Leaky Cauldron, she quickly pulled him to the back where there was already a crowd of people opening the doorway.

[Lucas Smith]

"Do we really have to be out of here by 8:00?" Lucas asked her, getting in behind everyone else who was going into Diagon Alley. It seemed way too early and while it did still give them loads of time to hang out and see stuff, but the lights and everything would only start after dark and that was what Lucas wanted to see the most. It didn't seem fair that they had a time restriction on them either.

[Felicity Hjort]

"I have to be," she answered. That didn't mean he had to be, but she wasn't about to chance getting in trouble, not when she was only home for a little while and didn't want to blow the first time going out with someone. And as much as she wanted to see the lights, she was sure her parents wouldn't just skin her alive, but Lucas wouldn't see the light of day again if she was late getting back. The only thing she could hope for at that moment was that the lights were turned on a bit early and she'd get to see them then.

"I'm really sorry," she apologized again, knowing that it was a little ridiculous, especially when her sisters' curfews had been at earliest, ten. "But I had a hard time convincing them to even let me go with you. And even then, I don't think it was me that convinced them, I'm pretty sure Harold had something to do with it, and maybe Jared, too."

[Lucas Smith]

The Raven simpled shrugged again, not sure what to say to that. He really couldn't see what the big deal was if Felicity wanted to go out with a friend, even if it was a boy. She was a big girl and she could look after herself. Not that Lucas would do anything to harm her anyways, but he supposed her parents just needed to know that. However, the interrogation really wasn't necessary. There might have been an easy way to find out that Lucas wasn't completely mental.

But they did seem to know a bit about him already. Lucas had been taken aback when the other man (who he assumed had to be Harold or Jared, whoever they were) had introduced him.
"How did they all know about my and my mum already?" Lucas questioned the girl, walking into the Alley as the doorway was opened, "Did you tell them already?"

[Felicity Hjort]

Giggling, she pulled him through the archway and off to the side. "He's a detective," she whispered to him softly. "I'm not supposed to tell many people, but that's what he does for a living. He was an officer at one time, but he got hurt on the job and so he couldn't go back to it. Instead, he runs his own agency. Usually it's just for petty stuff, but sometimes he gets a few good jobs that pay well."

Of course, everyone in the family thought his agency was a joke, but they knew he took it seriously. And he had gotten a few really neat jobs. Once he had to track down a missing child and another time he'd gotten whiff of a theif that worked at the home of one of the aristocrats outside of London, but for the most stuff he just did little things that didn't amount to much, but he was good at it.

Grabbing Lucas' hand, she led the way into the crowd, to see what was already going on.