Extract If They Only Knew

[Ai Nightray]

It was rare to have visitors in their wing in Nightray Manor, and as far as Ai could recall, this was the first time her school-aged children decided to invite someone to their home. Jai and Tizi had never brought anyone to Nightray Manor until their respective partners came along. The less said about Mikael, the better. Annika had barely been out to even meet anyone to invite. So, when Eurydice had asked her and Liam - or told them, really - that she'd invited a friend over for the weekend, she and her husband had been quite surprised. They probably shouldn't have been considering their eldest daughter was perhaps the friendliest of the bunch and was the one most likely to bring someone home. What neither she nor Liam expected however, was that their guest was going to be a boy. A boy who their daughter was very much enamored with, so it seemed. So excited was her daughter that Ai had barely had time to greet their guest before he was whisked away for a tour. Certain arrangements had to be reconsidered, including asking the house elves to prepare a guest room nearer to Kael's room than Eury's. Dinner as well would be held in one of the dining rooms and to have the table set for seven.

Dinner was mostly a quiet affair. Quiet in the sense that Liam was glaring, Ai was calmly eating dinner, Mikael was glaring, and the rest, well, she was sure trouble would hardly come from the rest of the table in her presence. They'd just been waiting for dessert when Eury excused herself from the table and said she would return. She was sort of hoping it'd happen, but she didn't quite expect it to happen so early on in the boy's stay. "William, was it?" she said before taking a sip of her tea, "I've heard quite a few things about you dear." Both from her brother and her son - just one of them, because it was really too much to expect Mikael to tell her things. "Now tell me, are you really dating my daughter?" Ai had to kick her husband's leg under the table lest he interrupt her little interrogation. It had to be quick after all since Eury was due back any minute.​

 

[William Potter-Cade]

William had been nervous to spend a few days at Eury’s house, mostly because it meant meeting her parents and spending time with Mikael who had made no secret of the fact he didn’t like him. William kind of got it, if anyone was buzzing around his sister he would like them either, and his sister was the same age as him, it would be a few years until he knew how Mikael felt, but one day he would experience it when Poppy was old enough to start dating. He dreaded that day but thankfully it was a long way off.

The first day at Nightray manor was pretty uneventful, the looks he got from Mikael not withstanding. It wasn’t until dinner that things got interesting, while they were waiting for desert Eury stepped away from the table leaving William alone with her family for the first time, and her mother turned all of her attention onto him. “Yes William, or Will is fine too, most of my friends call me Will, Eury seems to be the exception,” He couldn’t help but smile when he talked about Eury. William had to admit he hadn’t thought much about whether he was dating Eury, was he? They were doing things that couples their did he supposed, Felix had called Esme his girlfriend and he didn’t spend anywhere near as much time as William had with Eury over the past two years. “Yeah, I guess I am,” It might not have been the most convincing way of saying it, but he was pretty sure they were dating, at least by what would considered a normal relationship by most peoples standards. He just hadn’t got around to calling her his girlfriend yet.

 

[Ai Nightray]

Ah. Ai had her suspicions that it had been her daughter who had latched on to the boy first. Their kids had taken on the most interesting traits of their father and Eurydice, even with her bubbly personality, was no exception to that. It probably didn't help that Ai's kids had spent the majority of their pre-Hogwarts years only interacting with their cousins so making friends in Hogwarts must have been a novelty. She watched as the young boy seemed to ponder over her question. The news of Eurydice dating the boy hadn't really come from Eury herself, Ai had heard from Conan and Tizi though it appeared that despite it being only a speculation, it was quite a valid one. Ai didn't think she had any leg to stand on - or well, she only had a little bit. She could recall having found someone she liked at Eurydice's age though Ai, in her youth, had never been as open and affectionate as he daughter was. Heath, her ex, was nothing like William was either - open to receiving affection, willing to give as well according to her brother, and vocal. She supposed there were worst boys for her daughter to date.

"Oh calm down Liam, your daughter will be returning soon," she reminded her husband who was entirely too agitated by William's - Will's - response. At least Mikael was only glaring. "I suppose I don't need to ask you not to make my daughter cry. My husband and sons would probably be awfully displeased," she said with a shrug as dessert appeared on the table, cake and pastries. Finally not fruit. She took a bite of her own slice of cake and hummed quite contently. "And do make sure not to follow in your brother Crispin's footsteps too early. I think in your twenties would be a rather good age at the very least don't you think?" she said with a sweet, sweet smile. One that came with lots of promises. She hoped William got the idea. She had faith he would.​