Just Say Yes

[Anthoney Hayes]

July.

Anthoney had been in a relationship with Karen for two years. What had started off as a bored conversation in a club had turned into a monogamous, and very happy relationship with the muggle teacher. He was not embarrassed to say that he was smitten with her, and port keyed over to the United Kingdom almost every day to spend time with her. However, there was but one problem. Karen was a muggle. Anthoney knew this. A part of him had hoped that, perhaps she had some sort of magical connection, but she did not. He was a pureblood, from a pureblood family that looked down on muggles, and while he had never shared this ideology, he knew that telling her he was magical, and explaining to her why he never took her back to his house, or was always a little jumpy when she surprised him and rarely spoke of his family was going to be tough. He wanted to just be a muggle with her, and happily live the muggle life, but their children would be magical, and he wasn't sure he could just abandon such a large part of himself - and his own magical daughter. He couldn't do it.

Licking his lips as he entered Karen's house using his spare key, he made his way to the lounge room, and sat down on the lounge, giving himself a moments silence before alerting her of his presence. He had two important things up his sleeves. His wand, and an engagement ring. If she agreed to be his wife, he would tell her everything without failure. And if she refused to marry him, he would remain silent. It was the best he could do, quite frankly. He could not lie to her once they were married. A marriage could not be built on a lie.

"Karen!" he called. "It's Tony, could you come here, please?"
​

 

[Karen Hayes]

Two years ago, Karen would have never thought that she'd be living happily with any other man than Scott, but obviously that didn't work out but she was glad that things happened when it did. Because she met the man that she really wanted to be with, because of that, she met Tony. It had been two years since they were together and a lot of her co-teachers had believed that their relationship wouldn't last long especially since they had only met in a bar at the time when she decided to drown out her miseries. But they did last long as hey did and in fact were very happy that Karen knew not what else she could ask for. Well, maybe she did know. After all, even in the two years that they were together, he never introduced her to any of his family members and it seemed like a touchy subject too, so she mostly avoided it but there were times that she was curious but well, they never talked about it. And yet, she trusted him enough that he'll tell her when he's ready.

Karen had just come home from kindergarten and was busying herself in the kitchen when she heard the door open and close. She chose to pay it no mind though for it was only either her imagination or Tony had arrived. He had a spare key after all and it was no surprise should he enter her house without knocking. She was almost going to deem it as her imagination since no one had dared to look for her yet, well, until that was she heard Tony's voice echo through the walls of the house. "I'm in the kitchen, sweetie. I'll be there in a minute," she called back as she turned off the stove, washed her hands and dried it off before heading to the lounge where she knew he was waiting.

As soon as she saw him, she came up to him to hug him and give him a slight kiss on the cheek. "Hey Tony," she said, a smile gracing her features as she looked up to him and gazed at his eyes lovingly. Yep, she was never going to get tired of this.

 

[Anthoney Hayes]

He had never proposed to someone before. He had a daughter, but he was very young, as was his girlfriend, and shortly after her birth, his girlfriend just ran off. So, this was actually getting him a little nervous. But, it was not just the proposal that was getting him nervous. He had tested the water a little, mentioning vampires and such here and there. But Karen was a Kindergarten teacher, bring up silly little things like unicorns and witches and dragons was not abnormal, and they were never serious conversations. It was not like he could rely on her reactions to little things like that - it was all in jest anyway. He fidgeted as he heard her voice, now beginning to wonder if this were wise. He never believed what his parents said about muggles - just look at Karen - but he understood why he was shunned for fraternizing with them. The Ministry never appreciated muggles knowing about the existence of magic, and here he was, planning to tell Karen all about it. But he was a grown man, and perfectly capable of making his own decisions.

He grinned as she kissed him, and grabbed her hand as he sat back down on the lounge, coaxing her he to join him. He turned on a diagonal, to look at her properly, and smiled. "So, we've been together for two years now, a little over two years, actually," he began, having no idea what he was supposed to do. "I care about you, and I love you. I can't imagine what I would do without you, and so..." he reached into his jacket pocket, and presented the ring to her. "You would make me the happiest man alive if you were my wife. Marry me? And also, I'm a wizard, hope you don't mind." He added the last part quickly, and smiled meekly. It was better to get it done quickly, otherwise he would never spit it out until their first half-blood child.
​

 

[Karen Hayes]

Karen wondered what was going on. Anthoney was not normally this nervous, well, unless she was pressing him for family information but she never went to far. But even when she hugged him, she had felt the loud and fast beating of his heart and that wasn't a normal thing that happens. But even then, she knew he would tell her what was wrong just like he always did whenever they were together. She laced her fingers with his as she followed him towards the couch and sat down right beside him. When he started to talk though, she actually grew nervous. They had never talked like this before and she had to admit that she swallowed a lump in her throat and she could have sworn that she was trying to reign over tears of happiness that were forming in her eyes. And she gasped when he had shown her the ring that was absolutely breathtaking. It could well have been made of rubber and she wouldn't care because of utter happiness. And he proposed.

"Yes!" she exclaimed all too happily as she hugged him shortly and pulling away to wipe her slightly wet eyes. Though a giggle escaped past her lips afterwards. She heard his whole proposal, though the part that he said he was a wizard made the mood a little lighthearded. It was quite unexpected. "You do know that I would have said yes even if you didn't say the part that you were a wizard right?" she said with a small smile. Really, even if he did want to lighten up the mood during his proposal, being a wizard was just too far-fetched. Well, maybe in another dimension they were true, but as per where she was, the only wizards she knew about where the magicians in the streets and in the circus. And she was pretty sure that Anthoney was neither. There was no such things as wizards right? Or so she was raised to believe.

 

[Anthoney Hayes]

Anthoney was elated that she had accepted his proposal, but he doubted she had taken him seriously. What muggle would? He smiled slightly at his new fiance, and slid the ring on her finger. "I'm glad to hear that," he whispered, now running a hand through his hair and leaving her hand to drop. Now was to really prove he was a wizard - without actually performing magic. That would be illegal and he was not looking to go about breaking the law and get himself thrown in Azkaban. Well, this entire occasion was illegal he was quite sure, but performing magic around a muggle would get the ministry right on his back before he could say boo. She would never understand why he was gone. "But I wasn't joking," he started, pulling his curly wand onto the coffee table in front of them, and looking at her seriously. "I really am a wizard. And my whole family are magical. I have magical siblings, magical nieces and nephews - my daughter's magical. I run a shop in New Zealand and I portkey - um, er... teleport here daily to be with you."

Merlin this was such a bomb to drop. "Karen, I'm sorry. This is a huge thing to just throw at you, I know, and I'm sorry. But if we're going to be married, I can't lie about this." Leaving her time to react, Anthoney sat back a little. This could either go really well, or this could wind up being the shortest engagement in the history of engagements. He really hoped it would all work out.
​

 

[Karen Hayes]

Karen was all too serious about accepting Anthoney's proposal. She loved him like she hadn't loved any man before and that was why two years ago, she had decided that she would accept him, whoever he was. Though no amount of preparation could have prepared her for the bomb he dropped on her tonight. On any other night, she would have thought he was playing along with her, imagining the fictional world that only existed in stories, that little did she know really existed in her world. When he said that he wasn't joking, her eyes widened as she tried to digest this stuff. "You... Are a wizard?" she asked as it was the most unbelievable and impossible thing she had heard in their two years of being a couple. "Like... Like, genie Abrakadabra? L-like Open Sesame and stuff like that?" Karen sputtered out stuff from books that she usually reads to children like Alladin and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. They had magic in there after all. "Teleport?! Oooooh god," the kindergarten teacher mumbled disbelievingly as she ran her hands through her hair as she tried to understand this situation. If he was teleporting, where did he even live?

"I-is that a wand?" Karen muttered as she finally caught sight of the stick-like item that now settled in the coffee table. She had seen Tony pull it out of his sleeve and putting it there. How could she even not notice that... that thing... whatever they call it that she thinks is a wand from what she knew about fairytales, all those years? Then she finally put together which maybe perhaps an information that she was yet to digest. "You go bibbidi-bobbidi-boo like the fairy godmother?" the woman asked remembering the book Cinderella that she would also read to the children attending the kindergarten where she would teach. This was a lot to take in really in the span of one night. But Tony was right, if they were getting married, he shouldn't lie to her about things like these, and surprisingly, she still accepted him, she still loved him, and she wasn't willing to lay her engagement down just because of this. "Why didn't you tell me about this earlier again?" she finally decided to ask when she had calmed down and gathered her bearings. It was time he told her the whole truth.

 

[Anthoney Hayes]

Anthoney refrained from smiling at all the muggle children's book references she was making. He didn't get most of them, but he knew a couple from discretely looking at them so he could understand what she was talking about most of the time with regards to her job. He had done a lot of studying to make sure he was up-to-date with the muggle culture, since it had been a while since he had set foot into a Muggle Studies classroom, or spoken to his sister about what she knew of muggles. Considering he had done this well on covering up his magical heritage, he must have been doing pretty well - or was convincing enough to blame his ignorance on some things on the fact that he was raised in France.

"That's a wand, my wand." He ran his fingers across his wand, and sighed, a small smile managing to cross his face at the Cinderella reference. He got that one. "I'm not a fairy godmother, but I guess. Yeah." He wasn't quite the sort to make pumpkins take young girls to their Prince Charming, but it was the reference he knew, and if it was going to help Karen understand, than he would use it, happily. However, he question stumped him for a moment, and he eventually shrugged. "Well it's, it's a little complicated, really," he explained, trying to say all of this delicately and not ruin what they had built. "You see, I and my family are what're called 'purebloods' it's a rubbish term that basically gives my family the licence to consider muggles - non-magical people such as yourself - almost less-than-human, and while I don't believe that, and nor do some of my siblings, my family are not the only magical people to think that non-magical people have no place with us." He felt like he was making the Wizarding World sound horrible, but really, this was the only way to explain it - to him, anyway. "There's a whole world you cannot see - and rules that tell people like me to not show it to you, and I'm not the only wizard to marry a non-magical person, but it's not really advertised."

He sighed, and slumped back against the lounge. "Karen... I've wanted to tell you for a long time, but you must understand that the Wizarding World's a secret, and I can just go about telling every person I meet that I'm a wizard.I'm only telling you because I love you, and I want to marry you, and I want you to know everything about me and maybe meet my family some day." Not everyone, obviously, but members of his family that he knew wouldn't offend or hurt her.
​

 

[Karen Hayes]

Surprisingly, Karen may be taking the whole wizarding thing better than any other person with no knowledge about magical stuff. Well, it may be due to the fact that she had always partly believed in magic as she was a kindergarten teacher and though she did not believe them to be existent in their world, she believe them to exist in at the very least another dimension. "So you're not living in another dimension or planet or universe?" the woman asked actually feeling a little bit relieved that her boyfriend wasn't teleporting in between worlds just because he wanted to see her. She though it was dangerous. What if he got trapped somewhere in time-space and she didn't even know?! As Tony proceeded to explain some stuff to her, she couldn't help but link those explanations to ones found in fairytales. It was much easier for her to understand that way after all. "Purebloods? So... it's uh... You're like royalty and I'm like the rat of a poor family in a farm at the farthest corner in the kingdom?" Karen asked him after running a hand through her hair as she made sure she understood all of this stuff. She didn't want to look like an idiot in front of Tony anymore after all. "So, this is okay right? You and me together? I don't get the whole thing but people will judge you, won't they?" she asked actually a bit worried that if people started to judge him because of their relationship, he would be outcasted. She didn't want to do that to him and so she reached out her hand to hold his in order to find and give reassurance.

Karen watched as her boyfriend and now fiancee slumped back to the couch where they sat. Well, if that was the case, then she couldn't really blame him for not telling her when they only started dating. And besides if all non-magical people knew about this, it would surely cause an uproar, probably. "I promise I won't tell anyone, Tony. Thank you for telling me all this," she said with a soft smile as her forehead creased with the thought of still trying to digest every information. "Though I think the idea of you doing bibbidi-bobbidi-boo and teleporting might need getting used to," she said with a sheepish smile as she scratched her head a little though her face beamed into a smile when he said that he loved her, and wanted to marry her and introduced her to his family. She was absolutely ecstatic about it though she knew not if he could actually get his family to accept this. To accept her. "I'd love to meet your family. And just to tell you, even if you're a wizard, I love you, Anthoney Hayes and I am not giving this engagement up," she told him confidently and with such finality.

 

[Anthoney Hayes]

He chuckled. This had gone far smoother than he had originally thought. However, there were still some things she did not understand, such as the blood status thing. He was nothing like royalty, and really wanted her to understand that, since some purebloods behaved as if they were royalty, and he wanted Karen to know that such behaviour was ridiculous. "Nothing like royalty, I'm exactly the same as any other wizard. It's just a think in the Wizarding World that some people pay too much heed to." He grabbed her hand, and smiled. He did not feel nervous at all now. Karen wasn't an idiot, nor was she prone to over-reating. He should have known she would hear him out. He knew that some magical people would think this was stupid, and a completely irrelevant relationship, but Anthoney didn't, and that was what mattered. Part of his family would never speak to him again - but they rarely did anyway. "Every one important will love you," he reassured her, squeezing her hand. "And it's only the important people we care about. And thank you, Karen," he grinned at her, and pulled her from the couch to hold her against him. "I love you too."

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-FINISHED-​

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