Put A Ring On It

[Amelia LeBeau]

Having ducked into The Three Broomsticks to shield herself from the nippy wind that rustled through Hogsmeade, Amelia sat at one of the empty tables holding a cup of hot tea between her hands. The steam billowed into her face as she took a sip and smiled. It was then, as she was setting her cup down on its costar she glanced at her engagement ring. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, the most beautiful thing anyone had ever given to her. How it seemed to sparkle and glitter even without light.

Her eyes drifted to the wedding magazine she had involuntarily picked up at Flourish and Blotts. It had been a few months since Callum’s proposal and they had yet to plan anything. They had not even set a date. Amelia still needed to tell her parents. By now Callum’s entire family knew of their engagement.

Amelia twisted a piece of hair around her finger nervously just thinking about it. Her mother would scream out of joy and insist on inviting millions of guests most of which she knew none and her father would insist on meeting Callum tutting, “Now wait, wait Charlotte, we don’t even know this boy,” and Amelia would sigh and say, “Father, he isn’t a boy, he’s a man, and I’m not a little girl anymore.” At which point her mother would scold her father, “Remy! Out little girl is getting married!” and then promptly pop off to go call caterers and wedding designers for a dress, or perhaps she would go into the attic and dig out her old dress the one that had been passed down from her mother. Amelia would like that bit of tradition she thought. At least she had told Henri and Esme. Oh God! What if it just slipped out, and Henri ruined the whole thing! Amelia had been staring worriedly at the same page for the past fifteen minutes thinking about this.

((ooc: Anyone? I felt like Amelia needed to be written.))

[Max MacAlister]

Ducking into The Three Broomsticks, Max unravelled his stripy scarf and unbuttoned his coat, glad of the warmth that enveloped him as soon as he stepped into the pub. “I’ll have a coffee please, black,” he told the barman as he looked around the relatively empty pub. It seemed most people had decided the chilling wind was reason enough to stay indoors that day instead of braving the shops of Hogsmeade. Max had a deadline for a few articles the next day which meant unless he picked a pub or café in which to finish them, he’d undoubtedly be distracted by things at home. That was the joy of journalism, he had quite a bit of leeway with ‘coming into the office’; he basically decided his own working day and the good editors of The Post didn’t seem to mind it by this point.

Paying and thanking the barman who returned with the steaming coffee he turned to decide on a table to sit at and was surprised then as he saw Amelia sitting at a table, seeming to be staring quite fixatedly, but blankly, at the magazine opened in front of her. He made his way over to the table, putting his cup down across from her to get her attention as he asked, “Penny for your thoughts?” with a kind smile, dumping his coat and scarf over the back of the chair and sitting down opposite her. His eyes flickering momentarily to her reading material, he looked up to meet her gaze, “Wedding magazine… interesting… so have you finally set a date then?” he asked lightly, taking a sip of the hot coffee. If he knew his best mate, Callum would have zero clue about wedding details and, as such, was probably trying to take a back seat on the planning of it… but him discussing at least a date with his fiancée would probably be helpful!

[Amelia LeBeau]

“Wedding,” she blurted out, “What?” Amelia glanced up to see Max’s shining face. Out of all of Callum’s friends she certainly loved Max the most. To be honest if she wasn’t marrying Callum she would probably hitch herself to Max if Callum ever decided to leave her. She felt so comfortable with Max. It was as if they had been friends forever.

“Well,” she chuckled softly to herself, “I think you know,” she wiggled her left hand in front of him to indicate her ring. Then begrudgingly she admitted, “I still haven’t told my parents.” She took another sip of her tea to distract herself. Then brushing her problems aside she asked brightly, “How are you dear? What have you been up to? I haven’t seen you much lately, except when you and Callum are watching a game.” She smiled at him.

[Max MacAlister]

Max let out a laugh and nodded, “Well aye, I know about him proposing, bloody hell do I know. You do realise he made me sit through him rehearsing different ‘takes’ on proposing?” he pointed out lightly, “I meant more… have you set a date properly yet.” He looked at her over the edge of his raised cup, his eyebrows lifting in surprise, “You haven’t told your parents? Oh god, even my ma knows Cal’s getting married at this point,” he told her with a slight shake of his head, his tone becoming quieter and more serious, “Why haven’t you told them yet then?”

“Me? Oh, I’m Max, I’m fine as ever, thanks,” he brushed the topic of himself away quite easily with a shrug, “I haven’t been up to much, my life is churning along much the same as it ever has. I’ve had deadlines to meet on quite a lot of articles, been holing up in various cafes and pubs to get stuff written, hence my venturing into here today,” he explained, gesturing vaguely around them with his left hand, “I’m planning another long trip, possibly at the end of this summer, but I’m thinking of biking instead of backpacking. I’ve always wanted to do an American road trip, and I love my babies aka my bikes, so I might give it a go this summer. Plus I’d definitely have a lot of material to write travel articles about for the paper, or perhaps a book-” he trailed off, deep in thought at this possibility and whether anyone would consider publishing it. He made a mental note to make some calls and fire off some emails to test the waters. “And how are you, my dear mademoiselle?”

[Amelia LeBeau]

Amelia smiled into her cuppa tea as Max revealed that Callum had tested his versions of proposing on Max. She almost laughed at the thought of it but was trying very hard not to. However she could no longer hold her laughter back as he said even his parents knew. Then as he asked her why she frowned, “You have obviously never met my parents.” With a shrug she added, “My mother would invite a million people within five seconds of my telling her and my father would question my decision and want to meet Callum which obviously will happen, it’s just… we haven’t decided anything for ourselves yet and… I guess I wanted to come prepared,” she admitted with a small smile.

“That sounds great Max! I would love to go to America, I think it’s a brilliant idea, I think you should do it!” she enthused, “You know, if you want to take Callum with you on this trek across America I wouldn’t stop you two,” she added. She knew those two had backpacked across Australia. Most of the trips Callum had ever taken in his life had been with Max. She didn’t want to deprive them of that lasting friendship.

((ooc: Sorry this is rubbish, but I posted hehe.))

[Max MacAlister]

He chuckled along with Amelia as she seemed to find the idea of Callum testing out various proposals on Max amusing but sobered seriously as they talked of her parent's ignorance of Cal and Amelia's upcoming nuptials. "Well no, admittedly I haven't," he agreed and then frowned in thought as she explained more about her parents. "Why don't you have a small ceremony then, just family and close friends? If you open with that then maybe your mum will hold off on inviting the world and his wife," he suggested. "You need to tell Cal because, I love him and all, but he's prone to taking a back seat on big decisions like this. You probably need to nudge him into action about deciding venue, date etc."

"Hey, if you reckon you can handle days on a motorbike, you're welcome to come along," Max grinned as she was enthusiastic about his trip. She was the first person he'd told the idea to, he hadn't even told Callum yet, mainly because he wasn't sure whether his mate would come along on this one. "What, seriously?" he raised an eyebrow critically as he thought about this, "I dunno, I guess I assumed that maybe you two would be having your wedding this summer, if that's enough time to organise everything? And I didn't wanna deprive Cal of the delight of his first few months with his beautiful wife," he explained, inclining his head to her as he spoke of her and Callum.

((ooc: Nonsense it was lovely!))

[Amelia LeBeau]

“Yeah, but between the both of us we know too many people to even consider making it a small wedding. Though to be honest we haven’t really talked about it,” said Amelia nonchalantly while she sipped her tea. “Really? You think so?” Amelia asked, looking at Max almost concernedly. “Gosh look at me I’m turning into one of those sappy, insecure girls,” she shivered jokingly, “Eesh!”

“I’m in,” she clinked cups. “You flatter me,” Amelia laughed. “Well we would have to have our honeymoon first, that’s a given, but then maybe we could meet up with you? Gallivant around America together? And I could leave you boys off to do boy stuff while I go do girl stuff,” she sighed, “It really is a shame you and Heather broke up,” she added absentmindedly like an afterthought and more in a joking manner not at all being serious, “We’ll have to find you a girlfriend eh?” she teased.

[Max MacAlister]

Max chewed the inside of his mouth thoughtfully for a moment and then nodded the concession, “Aye, you do have a point there, I mean… even if you just invited Cal’s immediate family, up to cousins and such, and you did the same and then the people you work with… hmm,” he broke off a moment to think. “You know if you two just eloped there wouldn’t be any of this trouble,” he joked. “Nah I think Cal probably wants to do it properly, big white wedding and all that, aye?” He took a sip of coffee and shook his head, “Talk to him about it, he’s probably assuming that it’s gonna be one of those moments when the bloke takes a back seat, wears what he’s told to wear, and just shows up on the day having had zero input into the actual wedding-planning,” he shrugged slightly, “Either you bring the subject up or I’ll text him telling him to get his arse into gear with the planning. You’re not ‘one of those sappy, insecure girls’, you’re someone who is very much in love and getting married, you should be anxious and excited to get the plans sorted.”

“Seriously?” he asked, slightly taken aback before he broke out into a grin and clinked his cup against hers, “It’s a deal.” Scoffing somewhat he shook his head, “I don’t flatter you, I just speak the truth,” he told her in a matter-of-fact way. “Has he mentioned anything about your honeymoon even? Seriously, if he hasn’t even offhandedly talked about wedding details I’m going to tell him straight off to stop being so blasé about it all. Meeting up with me sounds cool though, I suppose once I work out my itinerary for each leg it’ll be easier? It’s not a case of me wanting to do it in as fast a time as I can or anything, I wanna pace myself, take time to see the sights and stuff so there’d be ample time to catch up with me along the way, when I come to a particularly beautiful place perhaps?”

Wrapping his hands around his mug to warm them he exhaled in a sigh and looked down at the grain of the table as she mentioned Heather, “Aye, a shame indeed. I really loved her,” he said bluntly, meeting Amelia’s gaze again, “But… nah… she could never have loved me like that whilst… well whilst she still, unknowingly or not, belonged with David. Thing is, I can’t even hate the bloke! It’d make me feel better if I could but he’s a decent guy, I just want her to be happy I guess.” Laughing at her suggestion to find him a girlfriend so they could meet up as a fab foursome again he shook his head, “I’m cool, Amelia, really, I’m… seeing people, it’s not as if I’ve become a monk after Heather and I broke up, I assure you.”

[Amelia LeBeau]

Amelia thought about it for a moment as if eloping were a possible option and then shook her head, “Nope, my mum would die from… from something, not being able to see her first born in an actual wedding dress not a bloodied fake one for Halloween, and my Dad, well for all his groaning and grumping he would probably disown me for not being able to give his baby girl away at the wedding, besides I rather like that bit of the tradition.” She said thoughtfully her mind immediately picturing all the possible scenarios, places they could be, and dresses she would wear and flowers they would have. Amelia bit her lip as she listened to Max, “I don’t even know what kind of flowers the bouquet should have.” She put her head in her hands, “I don’t want to be one of those crazy bridezillas,” she spoke through her fingers and then looked at Max, “I suppose that is why I haven’t told my parents or asked Callum for help. I don’t want to seem pushy or selfish or I don’t know…” she trailed off taking another sip of her tea.

“I am excited,” she smiled a bit beaming smile as she thought of getting married to Callum, “But I don’t know what to do, and I should shouldn’t I? I mean every girl dreams of their wedding day since they were little, I should have it all figured out by now,” she shook her head, “But I have no idea whatsoever, except that I probably want my wedding dress to be white, but beyond that no idea,” she sighed overwhelmed by the entire idea of it.

“Yeah, I mean the honeymoon is really the only thing I ever really thought about when I was little, since I had never traveled anywhere but around France I wanted to see the world. Of course I haven’t really mentioned this to Callum yet but we, and when I say we I mean I was hoping to travel a bit more for our honeymoon so we could just extent that to a summer trip with yours truly,” she rambled on enthusiastically. She smiled and placed a hand over his as if to be perfectly serious, “In another life Max you and I might have been hitched,” she joked good naturedly.

She patted his hand reassuringly, “I know sweetheart.” She smiled and listened while he spoke of Heather, “I know. I really wish she would do something about that David of hers. She has been avoiding it I think. Maybe her David is like my wedding, a subject too big to broach.” She remarked half thoughtful park joking. “No darling it would be much worse if you hated the guy, think about it a minute,” she said. “You are a fantastic bloke and any woman would be lucky to have you,” she said earnestly before taking a sip of tea, “Hell if Callum doesn’t do something soon I might leave him for you,” she teased. “Really?” Amelia gasped. “Who is she, or is it she(s) and do I know her, or them?”

((ooc: Aah it’s so late and this is rubbish but I am posting it anyways because Max + Amelia are so cute. Do you think Callum should come in at some point? Also should I bring in someone like Faith or someone who interrupts them, or gives them a drive by interruption at some point? I forget if we planned on having Max date Faith, the bad girl meets good boy scenario?))

[Max MacAlister]

“I was joking,” Max pointed out with a grin as she explained how eloping just wasn’t an option, “Don’t let Cal get the idea of elopement in his head then. It’s nice that you like that bit of the tradition. I sort of get the feeling that Cal feels a bit… well lucky to have found you and to love someone who loves him back and so he wants to do it properly, traditionally you know?” he suggested of his mate. “Isn’t that what those kinds of magazines are supposed to help with?” he asked in confusion, gesturing to the one opened in front of her, “You won’t be a crazy bridezilla and you definitely won’t seem pushy, it’s your wedding, Amelia, do it the way you want to do it and if that means an expensive luxurious dress, renting out some fancy mansion and having gourmet food at the reception, you do that.”

Letting out a little sigh he looked at her seriously, “Not everyone knows what they want their wedding to be like from birth, you know? Besides, it’s probably a good thing you didn’t think about it when you were 10, you might have wanted to marry Mickey Mouse and get married on the moon… I don’t know… my point is, and yes I do have a point, just think about it and talk to Cal, I’m sure he has ideas on this too, ideas which you can quickly discard because they probably will be rubbish,” he added teasingly with a laugh. “You don’t need to decide everything now, break it down, bit by bit, just figure out when you’d like to do it first of all, then venue, then start thinking about more insignificant details like… flower arrangements or something.”

“Mention it to Cal,” Max advised her quickly, “I’m sure he won’t say no to an extended, worldwide honeymoon,” he smiled. “Cal’s been around a bit and I, by the very nature of my job, travel around a bit. I’m sure between us we could come up with a pretty interesting travel-cum-honeymoon trip.” After taking a sip of coffee he smiled as she joked with him, “In another life Cal might have ended up with Heather,” he shrugged. “Oh don’t worry, it’s fine, I’m… well I’m not ‘over it’, I’d be lying if I said I was… but I’m fine, really,” he assured her as the conversation turned to Heather and his breakup with her. “She ought to solve whatever issues she’s having that’s stopping the two of them being together, I didn’t watch her walk out of my life just to end up alone, she deserves to be happy with him as soon as humanly possible. I encourage it even.” Holding her gaze as she said he was fantastic he smiled, “Thanks, it’s good to know, on both counts. And, no, you don’t really know her but you’ve met her a few times in passing when we’ve been out. Beth? She works at The Post too, she’s a photographer. We’ve been good friends for years actually, now we’re… dating, sort of,” he explained.

((ooc: Yep, I’ll bring Cal into here in a mo and lol drive-by Faith would be amusing. I think we did discuss the possibility at some point. I can easily have Max say him and Beth are no more at a later date, I figured they could have been friends for ages so they could just decide to go back to being just that instead of a couple? I did actually have Beth in Max's photo album ages ago, lol, here.))

[Callum McGregor]

Having used his day off wisely, namely visiting his mum and dad to try and calm down his mum’s ideas about getting involved in the wedding – getting involved meant her planning everything and doing it her way regardless of what his bride wanted – Callum wandered leisurely home, wandering through Hogsmeade on the way. Just as he was absentmindedly glancing through the shop windows, he saw Amelia and Max sat at a table in the Three Broomsticks and grinned. Well, he didn’t expect to find them both conveniently together at a pub but it’d do for a happy coincidence. He ducked into the pub, shrugging off his jacket whilst he crossed to the bar to order a drink. Having paid and grabbed his drink he sidled up beside where they were sitting, managing to do so with enough subtly that he appeared to have come out of nowhere, also catching the tail end of their conversation.

“Now, do tell Maximilian, what’s all this I hear about ‘Photographer from The Post, Beth’? Have you finally asked her out?” Callum asked in an exasperated tone as he pulled a spare chair from a nearby table and dragged it over to sit beside Amelia. “Hey… fiancée, wow that never gets old,” he grinned, then leaning over to kiss her briefly, but tenderly, before he straightened in his seat and turned to Max. “Now, spill, I am intrigued… also known as ‘nosy’,” he told him surely with a knowing smile at his best mate; he figured Max would eventually get with Beth, the two of them had been thick as thieves for years now, extending that to each other’s beds just made sense really. Taking a swig of the butterbeer he looked between the two of them and then remembered, “Oh… by the way… I never actually asked properly but, mate, you’re gonna be my best man, aye?” Callum asked, more like checked really, he didn’t know anyone else who’d even come close to the friendship that he and Max had.

[Amelia LeBeau]

Amelia looked up at Max with her big teal eyes looking innocent as ever. Callum really did drive her crazy, and in all the right ways too. How she wanted to be in that white wedding dress and married to him already. “Alright, I’ll mention it,” she said as she glanced at the ring glittering on her finger and smiled.

“Honey, if you ever need anything, really,” she said placing a comforting hand over Max’s, “Really, I’m your girl,” she smiled reassuringly; she didn’t want Max moping over Heather. “Oh yes, Beth, that reporter girl. She seems like a nice girl, and pretty too,” she mentioned. She giggled as he corrected her saying she was a photographer, “Oh, sorry photographer,” and smiled.

Seeing Callum she automatically lit up, she couldn’t help it, she loved him completely. She swatted his arm, “Don’t be so nosy,” she said as he sat down beside her, and then she kissed him in return holding his lips against hers for a second longer than need be. Returning to Max she added, “Yes do tell.” She clapped her hands in anticipation and then smiled over at Callum.

[Max MacAlister]

Max smiled, “Good, do mention it,” he agreed with a knowing look, not being able to disguise the smile as he noticed her looking at her engagement ring fondly. He really was incredibly happy for his best mate and Amelia. He shook his head then as she placed a hand on his, “I’m sure you are the girl, really, but I’m fine, I don’t need anything at the moment, I’m good,” he assured her, moving his hand then to wrap them both round his cup of coffee. “She… she is nice, but then again I’m biased, and yeah… pretty, of course, but again I’m biased,” he chuckled, looking surprised as Callum suddenly showed up.

“Woah, hey, I have to say that your creeping skills have really improved since you got into Auror training,” he said as a manner of greeting, grinning as he asked about Beth and was accused of being nosy by Amelia. “Well you are nosy, there’s no denying it, so yes I have asked her out, you’d find out eventually if I didn’t tell you anyway. We’re just… you know, having dinner, going to the cinema, pretty standard dating, I’ll keep you posted,” he rolled his eyes at his mate’s insistence of knowing about his love life. “Of course I’m going to be your best man, you think I sat through you trying out 30 different proposal monologues for nothing?” he joked.

[Amelia LeBeau]

Amelia was not surprised by Callum’s sudden appearance. She was never surprised any longer, Callum couldn’t scare her. She found it rather amusing really.

She smiled at Max, “The cinema, dinner that’s good, have you brought her flowers yet?” she asking propping her chin on her hands. Amelia smiled teasingly over at Callum then, “30 different monologues eh? Wow, I knew you tried ‘a few’ out on him but I never knew it was 30,” she taunted slipping her foot out of its high heel and playing footsie with him under the table.

[Callum McGregor]

((ooc: I know this is old haha but I had a sudden urge to post as Callum and I noticed I'd never replied with him here. Wanna do something wedding-y with them and/or have Faith and Max meet/interact?))

Callum shook his head as Amelia swatted his arm, "I'm not being nosy, it's natural curiosity to know about every single aspect of my best mate's life. Am I to be allowed that indulgence?" he asked in a jokingly exasperated tone then nodded with a knowing smile as she too turned back to Max, wanting details. "See, natural curiosity," he noted simply.

"Oh, did I not say, they're training me on how to be a ninja?" he retorted sarcastically to Max as he sat back comfortably and took a sip of his pint, "You're just... 'you know'...?" he repeated, eyebrows raised at this, before to added in a knowing stage-whisper to Amelia, "That means they're already shagging but he wants to pretend like they're respectably 'courting' and haven't got that far yet because he's such a perfect wee gentleman. Don't deny it," he warned his friend who quickly, upon realising Callum knew him very well indeed, seemed to relent. "He's a show-up-at-her-door-with-flowers-on-a-first-date, by-the-book bloke, of course he's bought her flowers. I'll bet you're rethinking your choice of men, eh?" he added with a short laugh - it was true Max was very much the proper little gentleman when it came to dating, he did the dinner-and-drinks, cinema-visit, flowers and chocolates thing without it being overly soppy, Callum just wasn't that bloke.

He frowned then as Max revealed about his proposal attempts, "You said you'd keep that between us, aye? Cheers, mate, really. Obviously he is exaggerating for comic effect," Callum claimed as he looked to Amelia and then found himself smiling in amusement as he felt her bare foot nudging his own and then sliding up the bottom of his leg. Clearing his throat and having enormous fun pretending that wasn't happening, keeping Max blissfully ignorant whilst he and Amelia smiled knowingly at each other, he turned to them both seriously, "Wedding update, actually, yes I have done something. I have spent a productive morning convincing my mother not to take over the planning. You both know my mum enough to know it was a challenge and a half but she's now completely on board with keeping her nose out and leaving it to us and just showing up when she's told to... sound good? Aaaaand... I was thinking... dangerous, I know but, because I am fully aware this is probably going to be a hard sell to your parents, well probably your dad mostly because, let's face it, fathers very often hate me, how about we have the wedding over there, in France?" he suggested hopefully.