December 31st, 1890 — Hogsmeade NYE Festivities

After missing nearly the entire month of December, and with it all the excitement leading up to Christmas, Fallon was eager to spend New Year's with Jesse. An evening of ice skating, warm drinks, and fun was the exact distraction they needed from the brewing tension between them. The fight they had days before her leaving created a rift, a repairable one for sure, but a rift nevertheless. Still, she was utterly determined not to dive into those tonight. The facts of her career weren't like to change in a day, and if they did then she had far greater concerns than a fight with her beau.

The makeshift skating rink was a tad crowded, but they had managed their loops without any major catastrophe. (At the very least she hadn't fell, which was her biggest concern when agreeing to skate. The only experience she had with the sport was throughout her years at school and those had long since passed.) Fallon maintained a respectable distance from him as they walked through the various rows of stalls and open shops.

"This is nice," she told him in a low voice that only he would hear. "Being out with you. I'm glad we decided to do this."

  

Having Fallon home and in a safe space where he knew what she was doing and pretty much where she was all the time was a huge weight off his shoulders. There was an air of tension building between them that was bound to burst sooner rather than later, but hopefully they could make it through tonight.

He and Kirke both apparently had plans tonight as they headed out about the same time and meandered toward the High Street. They split soon after, Jess finding Fallon in the crowd easily thanks to that beautiful hair of hers. Skating was not something he'd done in a long time, but as athletic as he was, it wouldn't be as problem. And it wasn't, for him anyway, though she hadn't fallen, he was much more at ease.

Now they were wandering through the booths easily enough, what felt like an unnatural distance between them, considering the nature of their private relationship. Stepping closer to avoid walking into someone, he caught what she said and smiled slowly. "Me too. It would be nice if they could show their normal affection, but there was only one way to make that appropriate. "Do you want to get some cocoa?"

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The distance was so incredibly awkward. Fallon longed to hold his hand or loop her arm through his, anything to maintain the physical contact they'd become so accustomed to throughout the past week. "Cocoa and maybe a stop at the Honeyduke's stall if there is one?" Fallon could think of no better way to ring in the New Year than on a sugar high. (Well, there were a few better ways, but none they could act upon on the streets of Hogsmeade. Not when the rest of the civilized world were unaware of their attachment.)

With cocoa in hand she dared to stand just a step too close to him. It wasn't her reputation she worried over (though, really she ought to considering her profession) but his. "I didn't think maintaining proper distance would be this difficult," she said as they walked a few feet away from the nearest person.

  

Cocoa was agreed upon and so Honeyduke's was the next logical choice. Jess had never had better cocoa than that of the confectioner's. The quality of the chocolate certainly had to make a difference. With the first sip he felt himself warm up a little from the inside.

"More of a challenge than I anticipated." Jess was not normally an overly affectionate person, mostly with his nieces and nephews, but he could definitely still feel the urge to continually reach out to her in some way or another. He caught himself most of the time, but it was almost a herculean task.

The sweets display wasn't far off from where they got the cocoa and thankfully nobody else was within a few feet, gently he reached out to the small of her back. It could easily be construed as him gently guiding her toward their destination. Fortunately there's always later." He leaned in before stepping away again.

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Fallon was beginning to wonder if they ought to forego the activities and return to his flat, if for no reason other than the ability to touch him at will. Or, perhaps, they could simply drop the pretense and allow people to make their assumptions. It wasn't as though Fallon was afraid of people learning of their relationship. Nor could any reasonable person expect her to suddenly require a chaperone. She was a working woman, after all, and a member of the lowest social class. Being seen on the arm of a man was almost expected behavior for 'her sort'.

"Or," she began in a low voice as he stepped close enough in range to hear it, "we cease caring for any rumors. You were supposedly secretly married a few months ago, were you not?"

  

Fallon had a point. Though the rumor had never gone far, nor really gotten any footing, at least not that he knew of, they could probably reasonably chance it. His mother had never brought anything up to him, though he knew she was dying to ask about anything related to his personal life these days.

On that note, Jess casually looped an arm through hers and pulled her in close. It wasn't as if they hadn't spoken about their relationship in the long term, it was an inevitability at this point, something they just had to plan out a little better rather than wonder if it was going to happen at all. "I like the way you think." Realistically the only person he had to worry about things getting back to was his mother and if he was smart he'd probably head to see her soon enough anyway and cut her off at the pass. This would give her something to ruminate on, however.

"I wonder if anyone would even care." He chuckled quietly. Why did everyone care anyway? The rigidity of society never failed to baffle him on a good day and on others it was downright frustrating.

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Any stress Fallon had regarding navigating the society norms vanished the second his arm looped through hers. This was leagues better than attempting to speak in code and stolen whispers. What did it matter if whispers circulated about them, anyway? They were going to be married eventually, so whatever rumor truly made no difference. Well, for them. Malou and his family might be damaged by association.

That was an issue for another day.

She rested her hand on his arm comfortably and grinned. "You're the more notable one of us. A handsome, eligible bachelor. Should I be afraid of upset debutantes chasing after me?" Conversing with him was so much easier now that they had closed nearly all the distance between them. "Any angry mothers?"

  

Jess was fairly confident nobody was even paying any attention to them. Why would they? He was a second son from a relatively unknown middle class family and well, Fallon unfortunately didn't have much family to go on in the first place. Neither one of them was all that noteworthy, though he though she deserved more credit for her position at the ministry.

"I highly doubt there are any debutantes that would be of concern." Though Jess had seen Connie go through a season; it was cutthroat and mildly terrifying. Chaperoning her to events had been simultaneously boring and fascinating at how much the ladies were expected to know and do at those things. All he had to do was keep an eye on Connie and be social. It certainly made him thankful to be a man.

"As for mothers, if you mean mine, that is of little concern to me either." He loved his mother and knew she did what she did because she just wanted them all to be happy, but as Gabe had married young and Connie had found herself a respectable match, he was in focus these days, though not quite as much as Victoria. "In that I mean I— we can handle her."

As they approached the Honeyduke's booth, Jess eyed the hot cocoa as well as some of the treats offered. "See anything you like?" He didn't have a ton of disposable income, but probably a bit more than Fallon, plus he felt like he should be the one to treat her.

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Although Fallon was confident in her relationship, she was relieved to learn Jesse didn't believe any debutantes would be following him about like a sick puppy dog. He likely received invitations to the same caliber of events Malou did — meaning Fallon would never know otherwise. Not that he frequented the events often, or at least she didn't think he did. When would he have the time? They saw one another nearly every day now that she was home. And even if that urgency died out in the upcoming weeks, Fallon still didn't believe he'd willingly choose a ball over being in bed with her.

She certainly wouldn't.

Her brow raised momentarily. In all the time that she'd known him she never thought him to blatantly disregard his mother's wishes. Mrs Hatchitt was supposedly overbearing like most mother hens were, but Fallon always thought Jesse to take it in stride. Her thoughts needn't last long, though, for he soon amended his statement to include we. She nearly melted on the spot. "We can," she repeated with a smile. "Think she'll be disappointed I'm not some ditzy debutante, though?" She couldn't help but prod.

She wasn't expecting Jesse to pay for their treats. Fallon worked hard to be financially independent and she was damn proud of that fact. But, she also knew enough not to push the subject around so many people. Jesse was just being chivalrous, where was the harm in that? "I can never resist a chocolate frog." She gestured towards her favorite candy.

  

Jess plucked a couple of chocolate frogs from the table and requested two mugs of cocoa to take on their walk. "Somehow I doubt that. She knows me better than that." Jess would have never been able to settle for some empty-headed debutante of no substance. He needed somebody who could carry on a real conversation and challenge him otherwise there would be zero attraction. On the other hand, he knew Fallon was not his mother's ideal match, not that he cared, but she might put up a minor stink about it. At least Jess had made it to almost 30 before settling down. Gabe couldn't say the same.

With their treats in hand, he paid the girl behind the table and motioned for them to keep moving. Though the street felt magically warmed, it was still cold and moving helped to keep the blood flowing. "I doubt it will be too much of a problem, but like I said, her opinion isn't of too much concern to me. Gabe married unreasonably young and she managed to make it through that alright." Though his wife was delightful and could handle Beatrice like a professional. "With Connie married off now as well, it's on me and Victoria. I think she'll be happy to be shot of me, realistically." Though moving out had been the first step and she'd made it through that alright. Baby steps.

Not to mention he had reason to believe that there may be a promotion in his near future, which would cement anything else his mother could come up with.

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Gabe's marriage was long enough ago now to not be a worthy topic of discussion, though the occasional comment was still made by the jackass of the department. So, she was always surprised to remember how impulsive one of her favorite coworkers had to be to marry so young. Perhaps there was hope for Jesse and she, then, if Mrs. Hatchitt could forgive such a transgression.

"I think you're not giving yourself enough credit," she teased. In her eyes, Jesse was as great a catch as they came: kind, dependable, handsome (not necessarily in that order). Even in their worst moments he was still able to think rationally, to calm her tides. Hell, Fallon had even slapped him once and all he'd done was hold her. If that didn't speak to the measure of his character, then nothing else would.

"It would've been someone else within the year if it wasn't me, I'd wager." Her comment was meant jokingly, but she only belatedly realized the context of which it could be taken. There was a very real chance only a few short months ago of him ending up with someone else entirely. Fallon sipped on his cocoa to avoid further shoving her foot in her mouth.

  

Humble was not a word used to describe Jesse Hatchitt, all of its opposites yes, but rarely humble. Jess liked to think he was realistic. His family was respectable, but not without faults. A little broken, but still there for one another. It was a strange dynamic to say the least. "We'll see, just don't take any reaction of hers personally." Truthfully Jess did not know how his mother would react. It would probably would depend on how she found out. He should probably get on that.

He cast her a curious glance at her last comment, watching her give her attention back to her hot cocoa after. Whatever had caused her to say it, Jess wasn't sure, but he didn't think vehemently disagreeing in his initial knee-jerk reaction was the way to go. Had he and Fallon truly broken back in the fall it would have taken him a long time to rebound.

"Did I tell you I'm up for a promotion this upcoming month?" He asked instead, changing the subject entirely. "The head of the squad is retiring at the end of January and since I've been there the longest," Nearly ten years, if it was possible to believe. "I'm being put forward as his replacement." Unless somebody else with more experience from somewhere else in the ministry took interest, it was a likely a given.

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Though she would try not to, Fallon was learning to dread the day her extent of her relationship with Jesse was revealed to his family. The last thing either of them needed was further complications when, really, all they wished to do was be married. She allowed both the comment and the curious glance to be met with a sip of her cocoa and her eyes steadily forward.

They were meant to be happy tonight, not stressed.

"A promotion?" She asked, turning to him with a look of surprise. "That's great. What does it entail?" Meaning: how dangerous would it be? Fallon wouldn't stop him from it, of course. That was his decision to make, just as her career was hers.

  

Jess supposed he really should get on disclosing things to anyone other than Gabe. A problem for tomorrow, or the day after, or next week. Maybe they could just elope and deal with the consequences after.

"Mostly more paperwork I think." He chuckled and shrugged. "Organizational things, schedules, point on emergency situations. Nothing too crazy." He'd seen his boss handle it for a while now, and the bloke was not the most organized, Jess could be when he wanted to be. In this case he would have to be. It was good though, a step up the past scale, a long in favor of settling down.

"If it's not me, it'll be Fisk, which is also fine." He laughed again. Dory wasn't far behind him in experience, but his brother-in-law was the minister and though Jess doubted Ross operated like that, who knew how far the nepotism stretched.

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She nodded. At least it wouldn't be anything as demanding as a position like Head Auror might be. "And so the mountain grows. Think you'll ever be able to escape the office? " Fallon laughed, a mention to their forgotten days of letters and the dreaded Mount Paperwork. Her own long nights were bound to resume once she was officially debriefed of the trafficking case.

"Fisk played quidditch for a bit, didn't he? He can't have the amount of experience you do with that in his history." She then stated matter of factly. "Nepotism or not, he's not the type of man to do that." They were friends in school and never once had Dory seemed the sort to step on his friends to achieve more.

  

Jesse snorted at her response. He knew Dory pretty well, they worked together quite a bit. He reminded Jess of a younger version of himself at times. It was true though, if it were up to Fisk, Jess would still be the one getting promoted. However, Jess was not one to count his chickens before they hatched. Realistic to a fault.

"Didn't know you knew him so well." He quirked an eyebrow at her, clearly teasing. Taking a sip of his cocoa, he smiled behind his cup and looked forward.

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