Chapter 1

The house was big, bigger then she was expecting. Although, she wasn’t sure now why she was surprised as Jubilee pulled her by the hand up the steps, considering how many people Jubilee had talked about knowing. All of them lived here. Or something similar. This was a mansion. Compared to the Burrow, this place was...was...so much more. The sense of being out of place grew in leaps and bounds, despite the familiar comforting grip of Jubilee’s fingers around her own. Ginny let Jubilee pull her up towards the steps from the taxi which was even now driving off, leaving their suitcases sitting in the dust. The anxiety was almost choking her as they walked up the steps, and the door opened.

Her stomach was doing somersaults.

“Will you relax? This’ll be...fun.” Jubilee shot her girlfriend a grin, as the door opened and someone stepped out into the sun. Ginny could feel her heart triphammering inside her chest, and she swallowed a breath, brown eyes traveling up to the person who was standing there. Waiting for them both. “Hey, Wolvie!” The comforting fingers let slip of her hand as Jubilee dashed up the steps towards the rough looking man who had opened the door and flung herself into a hug. “Man, I missed ya!”

Ginny bit her lip, trailing after Jubilee slowly. She wasn’t afraid. Not really. Just...very, very tense. Jubilee was babbling, the way she always did. The somewhat wry look the man threw her made her smile slightly. They both knew what the volatile Chinese girl was like, and it was a point of connection. Her shoulders relaxed a little as she got to the top of the steps. Maybe this wouldn’t be as bad as she had feared.

“So who else is in? Anybody? Everybody? Huh?” Jubilee paused, stepping back for a moment and grinning at her lover. “Ginny, this is Logan. Wolvie, Ginny.”

So this was Logan? Jubilee had told her about her adoptive father figure. At length. And Ginny was still certain there was something that she hadn’t been told. Something that Jubilee was keeping back from her. Maybe now that they were here, Jubilee would tell her.

“Pleasure to meet you, sir.” Offering him a shy smile as she extended her hand to be shaken, Ginny could almost feel herself jittering with nervousness as he looked at her. Had this been what Jubilee had felt like when she’d met Ginny’s parents? If she had, she’d never shown it. Leapt right into the thick of things at the Burrow, while she was mired in formality and anxiety. Maybe it was because she was British.

“Just call me Logan.” His grip was firm, fingers strangely uncalloused as they closed around hers. Everybody had some sort of roughness to their hands, even if it was only from a pen. His had nothing. Her brow furrowed for a moment, before the smile blossomed again. It wasn’t important.

“So, who’s here, huh?” Jubilee asked in a demanding tone, still hanging off Logan like a limpet even as he shook Ginny’s hand. “I mean, there better be someone here. Since it’s me coming home and you’ve been bereft of my awesomeness for months and months.” She made a moue, rolled her eyes then let go and slid down before looking over at the suitcases. “You want to get the bags, Ginny?”

“Oh? Oh, yes.” Ginny turned, frowning a little as she recalled the Levitating Charm that was needed. Logan took half a step forward as she took her wand out of the holder she had for it at the side of her hip, slim length of wood just the right size for her hand. As always.

“I should –“

“No, don’t worry, Wolvmeister. Ginny’ll get ‘em.”

“I love how she’s so supportive.” Swish, flick. “Wingardium Leviosa.” The suitcases floated into the air, and she could almost feel the surprise that radiated from behind her. Resisted the urge to sigh and roll her eyes. Jubilee hadn’t told them. Like it had been any easier for her to tell her mother that her lover was a) a girl and b) a mutant. With the power of fireworks. And oh, hadn’t the twins had fun with that. They’d nearly destroyed the garden with their efforts to duplicate it, before Mum had kicked them out and told them to go back to their shop and destroy that instead.

“Ok, so I wanted to see the look on his face.” Jubilee shrugged as Ginny lifted her wand, directing the suitcases up the steps to hover by their sides. The luggage obediently followed the lift of her wand, for which she was glad. Messing up such a simple spell in front of Jubilee’s mentor slash father figure wasn’t something she wanted to do, and sometimes her magic went funny when she was really nervous. Which she was, right now. So nervous she could feel tap-dancing butterflies with combat boots on dancing around her tummy like wild things. “She’s not a mutant, though, since I know that’s what you’re thinking, Logan. She’s a witch.”

“Witch?”

“Oh yeah. Do you have any idea what a pain it is to arrange for <i>two</i> passports? One for the mundanes, and another for the wizards.”

Ginny looked up sharply, wondering for a brief moment if that was what Jubilee really thought only to see the wicked grin that the girl directed at her. Her eyes narrowed for a moment as the suitcases thumped emphatically at Jubilee’s feet, narrowly missing them. Not through lack of control. Just to warn her not to take the teasing too far. Everybody had their limits, and Ginny hated to think that other people found her annoying or infuriating just because she was there. It had been bad enough being the only girl in her family and always being left behind because of it. There was also the memories of Hogwarts and her stupid crush on Harry. Mostly she’d done it because it had been expected, and she didn’t have the faintest idea how to articulate the fact that Fleur had made her go ping far more then any boy had. Even the really cutes ones who her dorm mates had giggled and sighed over. Even more then Harry.

“Anyway,” Logan said in a gruff voice, not missing the look the two young women shot each other, “Come on inside. Jubilee, will she be bunking with you, or do ya need to ask Slim about organizing a room?”

“Oh, I don’t know what I would do without my snuggle muffykins at night!” Jubilee declaimed, throwing her arms around Ginny, who made a small shocked noise. Her hands spasmed, fingers spreading out in fans as her back stiffened. The pale redhead’s skin vanished behind an almost iridescent blush, her mouth hanging open a little as she tried to look anywhere but at Logan. “I mean, she’s so warm and cuddly I - ack!” Ginny planted the heel of one hand on Jubilee’s forehead and pushed her head back as her face had seemed to be heading on a direct tangent for her cleavage. “Yes, we will be sharing a room,” she said indistinctly, still holding onto Ginny as her girlfriend didn’t remove her hand and made her keep looking skywards. Logan was so laughing at her, she could hear him. Bastard!

“Sure you’re not sleeping on the couch?” Logan chuckled, before stepping back and opening the large front doors again so that they could come through with the suitcases. Life was always more interesting when his Sparkler was around; interesting in a way that didn’t involve bleeding, serious plots for world domination or anybody dying. He was always in favour of that. That kinda stuff seemed to be regular fare for the X-Men, so a change would be nice. Maybe they’d even get lucky and nobody would attack the mansion while Jubes’s girlfriend was staying over.

He wondered if she’d told the witch yet exactly what her ‘family’ did when they weren’t being normal folks. Hopefully nothing would alert her before Jubilee had a chance to explain it herself. That sort of thing could wind up hurting both of them, but he could understand why she hadn’t told the gingery haired girl if she hadn’t gotten to that yet. The X-Men weren’t popular with everybody, and it could be dangerous for the girl to know. For both sides. Still, he trusted that she’d do the right thing. He had to; as much as he hated to admit it, it wasn’t any of his business. He’d just brood from the sidelines and be there to pick up the pieces if that was the way things turned out.

Jubilee let her arms drop with a sigh and Ginny removed her hand from her girlfriend’s face. Another swish flick of the wand and they headed inside, items of luggage following after them like a trail of obedient ducklings. Misshapen, leather ducklings. Which were full of clothes. But still, somewhat like ducklings following their mother, despite not actually being anything like ducklings at all.

Ginny smiled wanly as Jubilee babbled in her ear, wondering just what sort of family she was going to end up meeting, and whether she’d pass their inspection or not.

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