#vegacopper

The air was heavy with heat that alludes to the beginning of summer. The breeze was light though and it offered relief from the haze of the sunny day. All around them the grass was green and the sky was blue and finally Ben was ready to do something he’s been dying to do.

(No rhyme intended, he swears.)

From beside him, Alex squeezes his hand and looks up at him with a bright smile. “Don’t worry, Ben! They sound lovely and I’m super excited to meet them. What could possibly go wrong?”

Ben groans at this. “I know you haven’t watched a lot of movies, but just so you know, when people say that everything goes wrong.”

Alex sighs and clicks her tongue in disagreement. “Relax, Ben. I’m nice, you’re nice, they’re nice. Not everything has to be against us, y’know.”

This makes the tall blonde soften as they turn the last corner, Ben’s childhood house coming into view. He squeezes her hand. “You’re right,” He nods, the both of them taking the last few steps needed to climb the porch. “I’m sorry. It’s just between curses and long-lost brothers and murderous professors, things haven’t seemed to really care about going our way before,” He smiles at her finally, soft and warm and making his eyes sparkle just a little. “But maybe…things might just be turning around.”

Alex grins and pushes up on her toes to place a sweet kiss on his cheek. “And they start now.”

Together, they look at each other and take a deep breath before Ben raps his knuckles against the cherry red door. The sound of rushed and excited feet could be heard from the other side of the door as Ben and Alex waited with baited breath. The door knob turns and gets pulled open.

On the other side stands a beautiful woman. Her eyes and smile are wide, showing off a set of perfectly white teeth. Around her eyes and at the corners of her mouth, she shows faint signs of her age. They are either laugh lines or frown lines but somehow Alex assumes the former. Her white-blonde hair is pulled back into an easy braid, a few thin strands tumbled out to frame her diamond face. Her eyes, though, are what catch Alex’s attention. They are round and deep and comforting and oh so very familiar.

She looks briefly at Ben and finds them there too.

“Alex?” The woman asks, looking directly at her, her smile still happily in place. She phrases it as a question but one she already knows the answer to.

Alex’s expression grows to match her own and she nods. “Hi, Mrs. Copper! It’s so nice to finally meet you!”

Mrs. Copper beams and opens her arms out. She stands at a good few inches taller than Alex, but the only thing Alex feels standing in front of her is welcome.

“Gosh, don’t call me Mrs. Copper, it makes me sound old,” She says as she steps forward to take Alex into her arms. Her skin is cool, but soft with most of her arms exposed in a nice summer blouse. She squeezes Alex kindly and the witch returns the sentiment eagerly. “You can call me Caroline.”

“Hi Mum,” Ben clears his throat, successfully catching the woman’s attention. “It’s nice to see you again.”

Caroline huffs at his dry tone and reaches out to pull the both of them into a last lingering group hug. “Honestly Ben, I don’t know where you got that attitude from. Just let me enjoy this. You know I missed you.”

From over Caroline’s shoulder, Alex throws Ben a questioning glance. Ben shakes his head and Alex frowns as she reads between the lines. He didn’t tell them. About the cursed vaults. About dragons and cults and Rakepick and all the danger. They don’t know.

Finally, Caroline pulls back and steps aside to allow them in. She holds the door open for them as they step inside.

When Alex walks through the doorway, she is suddenly hit by how unstriking the house is. In the wizarding world, every house has more going on inside than the eyes have time to follow. Enchanted ceilings and self washing dishes and furniture and singing clocks. The Copper family house, however, was undoubtedly simple. Most everything was made of polished wood and white paint for the wallpaper. Still photographs hang up in frames but from her place by the door Alex can’t quite make out the pictures. There’s a bay window on the far left, a love seat on the right, and a sofa in the middle. Directly in front of the sofa stands what she believes Ben called a television.

A hand grabs her and she turns to find Ben behind her, having left his shoes by the door. Alex notices and makes to do the same. “It’s modest, I know but—”

“—No!” Alex interrupts, a happy smile on her face. “It’s lovely, Ben! I’ve never been to a muggle house before!”

Ben laughs and his mother copies him as she leads them down a short hall to what Alex presumes is the kitchen. “My son’s a wizard and yet I always forget there’s a special word for us non-magical folk.”

“Oh!” Alex gasps, her hand flying to cover her mouth. “I didn’t mean to offend yo—”

“Honey, we’re not offended,” Caroline waves off her concerns like batting away a fly. “We understand this world is as new to you as the wizarding world was to all of us. Besides, what’s rude about calling us what we are? You wouldn’t be offended if Reg called you a witch now would you, dear?”

Ben shakes his head beside her with an air of both exasperation and fondness, excusing himself to the kitchen. Alex turns to Caroline and offers her a cheerful grin. “No, I guess I wouldn’t!”

“See! Don’t be shy now, come let’s sit on the couch as the boys finish up with dinner!”

Caroline takes Alex’s arm easily, walking them both over to sit on the couch. The hardwood floors beneath them squeak only a little and the cream fabric of the sofa cushions are soft underneath her fingertips. Though, she does end up sitting on a red throw pillow which she seamlessly removes.

“Won’t they need any help?” She asks.

Caroline shakes her head easily with a smirk that tells a secret Alex doesn’t know. “No, those boys have been managing to cook dinner without my help for years,” Caroline leans in as if to share said secret, a hand on the side of her mouth. “I’m much better at baking anyway.”

The two women laugh and Alex’s eye catches on a certain picture hanging up in a frame.

It’s of Ben, that much is certain. It doesn’t move and Alex realizes that’s still an aspect of muggle photography she has yet to get used to. In the picture, he has a paper crown wrapped around his head, tons of little blonde strands poking out from every which way. On his face is what Alex recognizes as sun freckles. Just a few dotting his cheeks and over his nose but the sight makes her grin for she has never seen those before. His lips are curled into a proud, triumphant smile but stained red as though by some sort of drink or candy. Around his neck is tied a small blue blanket but Alex can’t tell what it’s supposed to be. Behind him, however, is something she is more familiar with. A very impressive blanket fort which takes up the space of the whole living room, the small spot of cream amidst a purple blanket the only sign of present furniture.

His hands are on his hips and his warm brown eyes crinkle by the edges as he smiles directly into the camera. It’s such a striking contrast from both the Ben she first met and the Ben who came later that Alex briefly wonders if it’s really him.

But it could be no one else. And the happiness she can see reflected in the frozen lines of his face and within the depth of his eyes spreads a warmth of its own in her chest.

“He was eight there,” Caroline smiles and Alex looks to find her own eyes glossed over with a sense of nostalgia so deep it takes her aback. Her eyes also stare at the photo, far away. “It was two nights after his birthday and Reg’s mother had gotten him an extra fluffy blanket because he was always cold. And he must have seen it on the television because we sat him down that night to watch a movie while we brought snacks and the next thing we know he’s running into the kitchen with the bright idea that we should all band together and make a blanket fort.”

Caroline’s chest rolls with a sort of parental laughter. Behind her eyes is the vision of something only a mother could understand but Alex does her best. “You should have seen the look in his eyes, Alex. Our son was always a rather quiet boy but he had this flush of excitement in his cheeks and his eyes were full of stars and I know you’re wizards but…I believe that’s the closest thing Reg and I ever got to magic.”

Alex opens her mouth to speak, to reaffirm what she’s said but suddenly her throat feels closed up, too thick with emotion for words.

“He’s a really great guy, Mrs. Copp—Caroline,” Alex giggles when Caroline gives her a look of over-exasperation. “I don’t know where I’d be right now without him.”

Again, a conspiratorial smile lifts the blonde’s lips. “I know he’s…been through a lot to say the least. And that won’t tell me or his father but…it’s really nice to know that he has someone he can tell these things to. I just don’t want him to be alone.”

Alex grabs the older woman’s hands and squeezes them gently in a show of sincerity. Her insides feel hot and melty like liquid luck or, possibly, some sort of molten love.

“He will never be alone,” She promises earnestly, every bit of truth she has in her slipping into the seams of her voice. “Not as long as I’m around.”

Caroline smiles, her eyes shiny and she opens her mouth to reply before—

“—Dinner’s ready.” Ben knocks delicately against the wall, alerting them to his presence. He stands there, looking more comfortable than she’s ever seen him in the stone walls of Hogwarts. Leaning against the framework, his hands shoved into his front pockets, his shoulders relaxed and his eyes content.

She doesn’t think she’s ever smiled so much in one evening.

The first thing she noticed when meeting Reginald Copper was how much he looked like his son. Or, perhaps more accurately, how much his son looked like him.

A tall and towering figure he was, though his son perhaps a few centimeters taller, with a messy tuft of dark blonde hair. His skin was soft and dotted with freckles along his cheekbones. Thick rimmed glasses sat at the top of his nose, framing his long, curtain-like eyelashes and soft baby blues. All of which sat on top of a pair of broad shoulders and compacted into a lean figure. In spite of the summer weather, it was rather cool in the Coppers’ air conditioned home and thus the gentle patriarch donned a simple but adequate sweater vest, a stark white button-up beneath.

Alex can’t help but allow her eyes to jump from Copper to Copper as they sit across from each other, bewildered. Every curve, every slope, every dip in their features were the same. Truthfully, there was very little difference between them.

It appears that the menu for tonight was lasagna and Alex must say that Mr. Copper has done an excellent job.

“How was your trip?” Reginald asks evenly as they all dig into their food, circled around a small four-person dining table. A single, hazy overhead light hangs on the ceiling above, illuminating the entire room with a golden glow.

It is not the first time she’s heard him speak, but compared to the amount of chatting she’s already done with Caroline, it seems oddly strange to hear the low baritone of the eldest Copper’s voice.

Alex doesnt let it distract her though and she sighs dramatically, her elbows resting on the table. “It takes so long to get here through muggle transport! Added like an hour onto our trip!”

“Muggle transport?” Caroline questions, confused. An emotion which seems directed towards her son. “You took her through muggle transport?”

Ben merely hums, wiping his hands on his napkin. “Yes, I did,” He nods, but at his mother’s increasingly puzzled expression he folds with a short sigh that belies more acquiescence than frustration. “Alex has never been on a bus before, Mum. She wanted to try it.”

“Ah! Yes, the buses!” Alex brightens, attracting the attention of all three blondes. Her hands twitch in the instinct to clap excitedly and she squeezes her fork to push down the need. “They’re so cute! Like mini trains! …Kinda.”

Caroline laughs at her comparison and even Ben and Reginald share a brief look of amusement. “You’re right, dear,” She concedes with a barely contained smile like she wants to keep laughing but doesn’t wish to offend. “I guess they are. I’ve never thought of it that way.”

“Well, I haven’t actually ridden lots of trains anyway. If it weren’t for the Hogwarts Express, I’m sure I would have never been on one of those either.”

“They don’t have buses in the wizarding world?” Reginald inquires quizzically as if the thought were mildly absurd.

Alex shrugs, turning her fork around in her hand. “Well, yes but they’re not like your buses. They stretch and bend and take different shapes. Nothing like how muggle buses work.”

Ben smirks over at Alex, but his eyes lack that sense of mischief the action would normally entail. Instead, they seem steady. Content. “And now that you’ve ridden one, what’s your verdict?”

Alex doesn’t even need time to think. “Muggle buses for sure,” she shakes her head, frowning at the mere memory of the last time she was forced to take the Night Bus. “You can’t get any peace on wizarding buses. It’s ridiculous! Don’t even bother trying to catch up on your sleep!”

The Coppers all chuckle at her complaint, paired with an adorable pout. Caroline wipes her mouth quickly before looking back to Alex with a glimmer of that mischief Ben lacked before. Though, now she knows where Ben gets it from the few times she’s seen it in the past.

“Well, Alex,” She chirps, her voice light and airy, sweet like a song or a Valentine’s melody. “Maybe we can convince you to give more muggle inventions a shot.”

Ben groans for the second time that evening, a look of recognition dawning on his face as he drops his fork onto his plate. A look that Alex quickly realizes she is the only one who lacks. Even Reginald seems to understand the implication behind his wife’s words that Alex does not. Caroline, for her part, seems blissfully and willfully innocent.

Which means she is anything but.

“Mum, you’re not really going to subject my girlfriend to that already, are you?”

His girlfriend. It doesn’t matter how long they’ve been together, it always brings a happy flush to Alex’s cheeks.

“Now, Benjamin, you know that this family takes game night very seriously.”

“But Mum, game night was yesterday.”

“Yes, and aren’t you glad we made an exception and rescheduled it so you and Alex could attend?”

“Not particularly, n—”

“—I’d love to play with you guys!” Alex preens, a flutter in her chest alerting her to her growing excitement. Game night with the Coppers? Somehow she has a feeling that this will be a unique experience unlike any other she’s had before.

“You sure?” Ben leans closer to her and lowers his voice as though his parents weren’t literally three feet away. “You really don’t have to. We could always reschedule it for another time.”

Alex nods, steadfast. “Of course, Ben! It sounds fun and maybe I can make a team with your dad!” The two of them eye Reginald with faux suspicion—who, in turn, arches a bemused eyebrow in their direction—their bitten lips barely enough to contain their slew of giggles. “I feel like he’d be good at Ogres and Saints.”

Reginald mutters something undecipherable but his thinly veiled smile gives him away.

Ben shakes his head. “Nope. That’s a wizarding card game, played with magical cards. I don’t have my own set. We’d be playing muggle card games.”

“Oh,” Alex blinks, wondering how she missed that. “Well, that’s okay! I’m sure muggle games are fun too! What do you have?”

“Euchre, Trumps, Poker, Black Jack, War,” Caroline counts off on her fingers. “Gin, but there’s lots really. Beginner’s choice this time!”

“Hey!” Reginald rebuffs, a comical look of betrayal on his face. “Where were those rules twenty years ago when you taught me to play Euchre?”

Caroline shrugs but her smile doesn’t fade. This only causes Reginald to splutter in astonishment, making his wife giggle giddily.

Yet another sight that makes her smile.

A squeeze to her hand reminds her of herself and she finds Ben’s eyes without effort. They smile back at her, reflecting the pull of his mouth.

Thank you, they say and Alex shakes her head.

She kisses his cheeks in the hopes to convey what her words cannot. No need, Ben understands.

This was actually similar to one of my ideas dhhdhdhd I imagined one of the things Alex tries is setting up with ppl (I say ppl bc my ben is bi!) Bc Alex just starts meddling with bens life trying to have good things happen to him even if it does want always work out in the way she thinks it will djjdjd she thinks setting Ben up on dates will help him get out more and make him more confident and if he finds love along the way all the better!! Aaaaand Ben goes along with it bc yea he's kind of a pushover still at this point. And well he also has trouble saying no to Alex in particular.

I imagine merula tries to mess with these dates at first and try to get Ben to embarass himself in some way and ruin his chances altogether but at some point she stops bc "the Ben human does a good enough job at that himself and it's funny to see him suffer without me having to lift a finger !" But I also like to imagine merula actually becomes helpful?? In her own merula way she actually gives ben helpful advice sometimes dhdhd

As time goes on alex starts being rly picky on who to try setting Ben up with bc she had started falling for him (and doesn't quite realize it yet ) and none of the dates work out bc bens an anxious mess, merula messed things up, or maybe his date sees him and Alex together and anyone with eyes can see there's something going on there