Too Early to Say Goodnight (Carcer)

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Alice had been back from the States for about a week now. Her time there had been nothing short of magical as she and the Scamanders traveled around the country looking for creatures such as Bigfoot, the Chupacabra, and unicorns. Alice had grown surprisingly close with Lysander, the Ravenclaw, and it had surprised her how much she had in common with him. Lysander had talked a bit about waiting fro an owl from RJ Hagrid, Carcer's brother, and such a thing had surprised her to learn that she and Lysander shared so many common interests. It was funny to Alice and even helped her open up a little bit more.

Upon returning, Alice had realized just how much she had changed since the beginning of her seventh year. So much was different now as she was going to be starting a career as a magizoologist, she was done with school, all of her friends were starting their own careers... and Alice felt like she had made progress in opening up to people. That was a big thing for the Hufflepuff alum. So, to commemorate her life changing for the better... Alice had decided to cut off a significant amount of her long blonde hair so that it now stopped just under her chin. It was a nice transition to not have her long, blonde locks blowing in every which way. It had grown quite bothersome in the American winds over the summer, she had worn it in a ponytail most of the time anyway. She was quite happy with how it looked now.

Now she was back in the UK and in London to meet Carcer. The two had arranged a meeting by owl just before her return and Alice was more than a little excited. She tried to contain herself as she waited just outside of Gringotts for the half-giant. She couldn't wait to ask him how his training as a Curse Breaker was going. And she couldn't wait to tell him about her adventures in the U.S, either. Though she had a feeling she would wait to talk about Lysander and RJ until perhaps he brought it up. While Alice had changed a bit, she was still quiet when it came to others' business.

@carcerronaldhagrid

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The timing couldn’t be better for Carcer. The Cursebreakers had come back to London yesterday morning, and he only had to come in today to follow up on some of the treasure they’d pulled while on Egypt. After that, he had a week off before he needed to pick up a new assignment, which he believed would give him enough time to shake off the curse he’d been hit with completely. And hopefully get the other ‘breakers to stop laughing about it. After all, it wasn’t like he had any choice in the matter, and Egyptian curses were powerful. Anyone but Carcer would have died. The fact that he was throwing the curse off meant that I nthe end, nobody would be hurt by it.

Surely it hadn’t been that funny?

He exited out of Gringott’s and immediately saw Alice standing nearby. But she didn’t see him. Not that he was surprised. He was normally so easy to pick out of a crowd, but today of all days was unusual for him. He couldn’t feel too bad about it, though; he might not want to stay cursed forever, but that curse had given him a very rare opportunity, and on a day that Alice wanted to go out. And for that, he could endure all the jokes that had been made and would be made about him by his fellow Cursebreakers.

Carcer stepped out from the group of people he’d left the bank with, right in front of Alice. “I’ve missed you.” Oh, he’d savor the look on her face forever as he grinned at her. After all, the last time she’d seen him, he was thirteen feet tall, but right now, there wasn’t an inch of difference between their heights. “What, do I have something on my fphhbbbttahahahahahahah!” He couldn’t help dissolving into laughter.

Finally, he got control of himself again. “I have had the weirdest week,” he confessed, still unable to stop grinning.

@alice

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Alice was excited for the night ahead as she gazed around the alley, watching the people as they walked by. She knew that when Carcer came out of work, it would be as easy as pie to spot him. It wasn't hard to miss a half giant after all. Though, the meeting time was... right now and she had yet to see him. Suddenly, a rather large group of people came filing out of the bank and Alice watched the doors for the ducking half giant but he never came. Instead, she found herself trying to look around a male that had approached her. The voice of the stranger made Alice's snap right to meet theirs.

The young magizoologist's jaw would have dropped to the ground if it could have.

It was Carcer; she'd recognize that grin anywhere. And he was... he was her height. She wasn't exactly registering what he was saying until he burst out into laughter. Alice's eyes widened, looking him over once again until her eyes finally settled on his face with a look of absolute surprise she was certain she had never worn before. Carcer remained grinning as he said he had had the weirdest week. Alice kept the look of shock planted firmly on her face. "I can see that!" She exclaimed, nodding once at his height. What on Earth were they doing in training that had turned a normally thirteen foot tall half-giant into a regular sized male?

@carcerronaldhagrid

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“I can see that!”

Carcer was having a hard time stopping his laughter, but he did eventually manage to sober up enough to explain things. “We were in Egypt at a crypt, digging up treasure for the bank. Being a small fuzzy animal in the desert? Not fun. Anyway, long story short, I intercepted a curse that we triggered. Turns out, it was designed to shrink the entire tomb down to the size of a grain of sand and crush the tomb robbers, then slowly return to full size over a period of time. I was able to take the curse instead of the tomb, but…well, as you can see.”

He grimaced a bit. “You should have seen me right after the curse hit. I was the size of a house-elf, and apparently that was funny to certain individuals. Odette Greyback made me take a picture sitting on her shoulder.” He sighed and shook his head, though he couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth from twitching upwards. In hindsight, it was a little funny, though he hadn’t had much fun with it at the time.

He had perked up when it became apparent that he could use the curse to his advantage before his body shrugged it off entirely, though. Carcer wrapped an arm around Alice’s waist and pulled her to him, kissing her lightly. Not that he was ashamed of his normal size, but the ability to shrink to the size of a normal human could be very useful in the future, so he was currently using his free time to research the curse that he’d been hit with. But if this was the only time he’d blend in with a crowd of Muggles?

“So…I was thinking…I know we had a few ideas about what to do today, but…well, I can actually go out into the Muggle world now without getting anyone’s attention…I was thinking we could go see a Muggle zoo?”

@alice [this was what I mentioned wanting to use Odette for xD Lemme know if I need to change it!]

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Alice listened to Carcer's explanation with raised eyebrows, quite surprised by it all. She knew giants could withstand more dangerous curses and spells, and Carcer being a half-giant had inherited some of that ability. And Merlin was she sorry to have missed the whole thing. Carcer the size of a house elf? "I need to see these photos," she said, chuckling lightly. "I'll admit, that is pretty funny." She smiled at Carcer, and for once she didn't have to look up at him to meet his eyes.

The Longbottom's eyebrows rose more in surprise when the... regular sized half-giant wrapped his arm around her and pulled her in for a light kiss. Alice couldn't help but smile as she returned it. It was odd to be roughly the same size as Carcer now, and even more odd that she couldn't stop smiling - both at his being her size and the idea of Carcer being the size of a half-giant.

At Carcer's suggestion about what the two of them should do for the day, Alice's eyes grew so wide they almost felt close to popping out of her head. "Really?" She asked incredulously. "I... I would love that." Leave it to Carcer Hagrid to be the one to always put a smile on Alice Longbottom's face.

@carcerronaldhagrid

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“I need to see those photos.”

Aw, man. She was going to keep a copy of those photos forever, Carcer could tell. He shrugged it off, but smiled when she said that she thought it was funny. It wasn’t so bad now, since he knew he’d get back to his real size, and considering the opportunity it had afforded him. And when he asked her to the zoo…oh, the look on her face. So amazing. Luckily, the Gringotts goblins were quite skilled at exchange rates, and being as he was a valued employee who had saved an entire tomb’s worth of treasure, they didn’t even swindle an extra fee out of him like they did most people. They had just changed his Galleons out for Muggle money and explained how it worked to him.

…okay, so maybe he had already known what her answer would be. That wasn’t such a bad thing!

He grinned at her response. “Well then, I suppose we should get going. The zoo is closer to the Ministry than here. I figured we could Floo there, then take a...Muggle….taxi, I think it’s called?” He’d never been able to ride in a Muggle vehicle either. Or, really, any vehicle. He wouldn’t have fit on the Hogwarts Express, not that it mattered since he arrived from France and all. So he’d made sure to bring enough money to do it all. He could get it changed back later after all. He wanted to ride around, see the Muggle zoo, eat some Muggle food in a restaurant, and he wanted to do it all with Alice. So he grabbed her by the hand to pull her toward the Leaky Cauldron, where they could line up to go to the Ministry offices. “Let’s go, daylight’s wasting!”

---

The taxi ride was very interesting. The car rolled around smoothly and quickly, it cooled itself, it played music quietly (he couldn’t quite tell where, it seemed to be coming from multiple places), and the driver knew exactly where they wanted to go. Finally, they stood outside of the entrance to the London Zoo. Carcer probably looked a little too excited to be here, but considering the enthusiasm was surpassed by the girl next to him, he doubted people would pay them much mind. “Shall we?”

@alice [Sorry, had to cut it off a bit early to go to a meeting. Hope this is a good enough start <3]

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Alice was about to burst from the amount of excitement she was feeling. Alice had never expected to be able to do something like this with Carcer. Not that that had ever upset her, but the sudden and unexpected surprise that she was foing to be able to experience it with him after all was an incredible one. She bit her lip, smiling still, when Carcer seemed to struggle with finding the right words for a taxi. She let out a laugh. "Yes, a taxi," she nodded excitedly. The eldest Longbottom could feel her heart threatening to beat out of her chest when Carcer grabbed her hand; for more reasons than one.

Alice had been in a muggle car before, but riding one with Carcer was a ride she was going to remember. There wasn't a moment during the ride that she didn't stop smiling, and how could she when Carcer looked just as excited as she did? It was funny, too, seeing him look around for where the music seemed to be coming from in the taxi. She had to stifle a laugh more than once during the duration of their ride before they finally arrived at the zoo. Standing outside the entrance, Alice's eyes widened with wonderment and excitement as she looked all around. Just behind those gates were all the muggle animals she could think of and she couldn't wait. "We shall!" And Alice grabbed a hold of Carcer's hand and practically dragged him up and through the ticket booths.

Once through the gate, Alice grabbed a map and began to look it over. There was so much to see and do, and she was determined to do it all. She looked up at Carcer, and in all the excitement, had momentarily forgotten that she didn't have to look up very far. "I don't even know where to begin," she let out an excited breath.

@carcerronaldhagrid

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Carcer’s excitement paled in comparison to Alice’s. His physical appearance had changed, but not his physical strength. He could easily stop her from running off, but where was the fun in that? So he followed along in her wake, grinning at her eagerness the entire time. This was a side of Alice few people got to see. The side she shared with him. And he would move mountains to have her smile like that. He was hooked, that much he knew. And he was okay with that.

Getting through the ticket booths was simple enough—the goblins had been kind enough to give him a crash course in Muggle money, which on the whole was much simpler than wizarding money, as everything ran on multiples of fives and hundreds. Once they had the map and were inside, Alice started looking over the map like it would lead to the Philosopher’s Stone. “I don’t even know where to begin.” Carcer couldn’t help it—he leaned in and kissed her quickly, before stepping over to her to wrap his arms around her. “We have time. We could even come back tomorrow if you wanted, though I’ll probably be a head taller by then.”

He rested his chin on her shoulder, looking at the map. He had never minded his great size, but it was nice, for once, to do something like this. He would rarely get this sort of chance—unless he learned how to work the Egyptian curse and applied it liberally—so he was quite willing to be a little more affectionate than usual while he could do such things. His eyes roved over the map. There was a place for gorillas directly in front of them. Aquarium, reptile house, Outback—a section for Australia’s animals. They seemed to have everything here, including a place just for bugs. It was marked by a spider. Geh. Hopefully the muggles didn’t have anything like acromantulas to deal with.

Then his eyes fell on something else, something that confused him. He tilted his head. “Alice, what’s a butterfly paradise supposed to be?”

@alice

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Alice was constantly being surprised by Carcer, and when he quickly gave her a kiss, it was no exception. Though, it was the pleasant type of surprise that made Alice's smile grow even wider to the point she was certain she could probably never stop smiling after this. Alice's eyes grew wide when Carcer said they could come back tomorrow. "Don't joke about it! I'll hold you to it, foot taller or not!" She pointed an index finger at him, trying to look as threatening as her smile would allow her to be.

Alice was excited, that much was certain. But when she felt Carcer rest his chin on her shoulder, she could feel her heartbeat faster than it had moments ago, and as she looked at the map she glanced at him and widened her smile to herself. It was certainly a different experience to have Carcer be her same height, and she actually didn't mind his being more affectionate that usual. If this was a temporary thing, Alice figured they might as well take advantage of it. She slowly turned her head to face him when he asked what a butterfly paradise was. A mischievous looking smile quickly replaced the look of shock she had faced him with. "Only one of the most beautiful things you'll ever experience," she said, taking a hold of his hand before heading in that direction. "Let's go!"

@carcerronaldhagrid

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He chuckled when she told him not to joke about the zoo. Truthfully, he was all for coming back the next day. He doubted they would be able to see the whole thing today, not if they wanted to take time to appreciate each individual animal. It would be too rushed to do it all on one day. Especially if they kept to their original plans of having dinner together. Alice seemed rather receptive to Carcer's increased physical proximity. And while he didn't think he wanted to give up his normal body size, he could see some serious argument in its favor with her acting so comfortable with him like this. It would be too awkward at his usual size, as he would have to carry her around, and his head and limbs would weigh too much for him to lay his head or an arm over her shoulder like he'd been doing at every opportunity.

The smirk on her face either meant something good, or something very, very bad. Carcer liked to think he was the one who got all the 'good' stuff from Alice, but it was hard to tell when she smiled like that. Still, she said it would be beautiful, so he followed along behind her as she pulled on him, onward toward what looked like a building shaped like a giant caterpillar.

---

Butterflies everywhere, in more shapes and sizes and colors than Carcer had every really understood. They fluttered around the place, and dozens congregated at small stands where slices of fruit were set out for them. The half-giant just stood and watched for several minutes. If he had to live as a Muggle one day—he wanted to work in here. “Well, you weren't wrong, it's definitely one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. Not the most beautiful, though,” he added, reaching out to take her hand in his.

@alice

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Alice's smirk faded slightly to just a genuinely happy smile as they approached the caterpillar shaped building. She couldn't wait to see the look on Carcer's face. They entered through two sets of doors before entering a large, spacious room full of plants and flowers of all color, surrounded by hundreds, maybe thousands of butterflies as they fluttered around the room in silent, butterfly bliss. Alice looked around happily as the butterflies moved around the room. It wasn't magic in the slightest, but it felt like it.

When Carcer spoke, Alice smiled as she continued to look around until his last words really got her attention and she turned her head to him. Her cheeks turned red, but she still smiled at him. She gave his hand an affectionate squeeze and took in once again, his size. "Imagine yourself in here at your normal height," she grinned at him playfully and this time, Alice took the next plunge and leaned in quickly to plant a kiss on Carcer's cheek. It wasn't everyday that she was going to be able to do that.

@carcerronaldhagrid

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“Imagine yourself in here at your normal height.”

He was about to comment that he would probably stared at more than the butterflies, when the feeling of her lips on his cheek killed the words in his throat. He couldn't help the pleased grin that crossed his face at that. “I wonder if we could get a permit to breed a magical species of butterfly for people to have as pets. What do you think?” he asked quietly, pleased that he could whisper to her without needing an Extendable Ear running down the sleeve of his robe. The idea of crossbreeding animals was daunting, even for Carcer, who was raised by breeders. But Alice knew more about animals than he did, even with his enthusiasm for them. If anyone could pull it off, she could. They would just need permission to try. “We'd need a good name for them, though. What do you name a magical butterfly that stays around you as much as possible?”

An orange butterfly suddenly beelined straight between them, barely grazing both their cheeks with its bright wings.

Carcer raised a hand up to his cheek, watching the butterfly fly off, then turned back to Alice. “We could call them Caresses.”

@alice

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Hearing Carcer's whisper closer to her than normal was a surprise all on its own but the words he actually spoke brought such surprise that she parted her lips and let out a small gasp. Breeding had always been something in the back of her mind that she wanted to do, but it was something she thought wouldn't be in her cards for years to come. "R-really?" She turned to face him completely, her eyes blinking in disbelief. Alice couldn't think of a better partner to have by her side if they went through with breeding. She didn't know anyone who had the same love for animals that she and Carcer did. The thought brought an overwhelmingly wide grin to the blonde's face.

Alice's grin widened still when an orange butterfly flew between she and Carcer, tickling her cheek just slightly as it grazed by. She, too, watched as the butterfly flew away from them and then looked at Carcer when he suggested a name for the potential breed. "I like that," she smiled. Alice then raised an eyebrow. "But what would we cross-breed them with?" She paused to think of an idea. It would certainly take a lot of though and probably even more time to get their proposal eventually approved but it was something Alice could certainly find the patience for. "Want to go and see the primate kingdom?" Maybe they could come up with some ideas for a breed by walking around the zoo.

@carcerronaldhagrid

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It was worth the suggestion just to see the look on her face. Not that Carcer didn’t mean what he said, of course, but just the idea lit her up, and there was nothing more beautiful in the world than a happy Alice Longbottom. Her grin was infectious, dragging him into one of his own, even as she began pondering what to crossbreed butterflies with to get the desired effect. It would be an interesting thing to consider. Carcer was good with animals, but he wasn’t on the level that his father and Alice were. His first thought was a flitterby. If they could combine the magical moth’s trait of glowing wings with the myriad of colors that butterflies produced, and then breed the resulting offspring through something else that would make it smarter and more loyal…

“Want to go and see the primate kingdom?”

Carcer grinned and filed away his thoughts for later. Right now, he wanted to be in the here and now. “I would love to.”

---

The zoo had been fun, even though they hadn’t had time to see everything. Dinner had been good too, though the waiter had given Carcer some very funny looks as he ordered and ate. While Carcer looked human-sized, he was still half-giant and still had the appetite of one. Apparently, four steaks was a little out of the norm for one person to eat, particularly when paired with all the appropriate sides, two baskets of rolls, and an entire pitcher of lemonade. Go figure.

And now, at the door to the Longbottoms’ home at the top of the Leaky Cauldron, he found he wasn’t quite ready for the night to end. Carcer had been feeling more confident and aggressive ever since the attack on the school, like his fury had awoken his giant’s blood permanently, and while he could tone it down, it was always there to a degree.

Still, it surprised even himself when, on impulse, he pushed Alice up against the door of her family’s house and pressed his lips heavily into hers. A part of him knew he was becoming more and more possessive about her, and he didn’t know if she would be comfortable with that. Their relationship had been slow and careful, and he would never ever try to tell Alice what she could or couldn’t do, but he did want people to know that she was taken. Granted, Alice was able to drive most people away just by virtue of her prickly personality, but she was very eligible nonetheless, and more guys knew that than she probably realized.

But this wasn’t about possessiveness. This was about desire. Carcer had wanted Alice in every way for a long time, and today, he’d had her, every way but physically. He wanted that too, and he wanted her to know he wanted that.

So he tried to communicate every bit of his want with this kiss. How he wasn’t ready for the night to end. How much he enjoyed the day. How much he loved her. How incredible she was. What she did for him, to him.

@alice

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Alice's grin only widened when she saw Carcer put on a grin of his own. As the two of them frolicked around the zoo, Alice could not think of a time in the recent months in which she felt more carefree. Things had been so hard lately, and to unwind and have fun with someone she cared deeply about was very refreshing. After they had explored the majority of the zoo, the two had gone to dinner. Alice, having been close with Carcer for the better part of a year now, was fairly used to his eating habits as a half-giant now. So when the waiter kept giving Carcer funny looks as Carcer consumed four steaks, Alice would chuckle aloud. Being around Carcer was such a joy, and it really brought out the best in Alice.

After dinner, the Hufflepuff alumni had returned back to the Cauldron. The day had been so much fun, Alice found herself not wanting it to end. She realized she didn't really feel tired as the two of them stood outside the door to Alice's family's home. She wasn't in any rush to get inside, of course. She was the only one staying there currently; since her mother was now a nurse at Hogwarts, Alice had their house to herself. Which, as she stood there, she thought she could take advantage of. If there was one thing Alice was now certain of, it was that her feelings for Carcer were much stronger than she ever thought they would be. She never thought when she stumbled into his stable a year ago that she would be going out on dates to the zoo with him, or standing outside her door wanting to invite him in.

Invite him in. Alice didn't want the night to end just yet, and with no one home who said it had to just yet? Slowly, Alice moved to open her mouth to ask Carcer if he wanted to come in, but instead she was met with his lips pressing against hers, and Carcer pushed her up against the door to their house. For a brief second, Alice's eyes widened in surprise but she quickly returned the kiss. This kiss felt unlike any kiss they had shared before. It felt more... passionate. And suddenly Alice was realizing how much she really loved Carcer. Like, really loved him. Of course she had known that for some time, but she had not known to what extent. But here she was as they kissed passionately, wanting to show Carcer just how much she loved him and how much he meant to her.

As much as she didn't want to, Alice broke the kiss but only pulled her head back slightly. She could feel how hot her face was. "Do you..." she spoke slowly. She wasn't hesitant as much as she was suddenly nervous. "Do you want to come inside?" She asked.

@carcerronaldhagrid