The risk I won't stop taking | Invited

[Deleted]

June 23rd 2025

Riley had been loving being graduated, even if he didn’t have a real place to live yet. His room at the Leaky Cauldron sufficed for the time being while he worked on finding somewhere affordable and decent in London. And it gave him somewhere to be with Kinsey, which he loved. Any moment that they weren’t together he was worried about her. So every night when she’d leave, he’d beg her to stay. She never would. They both knew the reason why. But after the first few weeks of her leaving every night and returning to be with him after work the following day. He began to wonder what they were waiting for.

So one night in late June, while they were both sitting around his room, not doing much of anything, he asked, “You wannah get married?” and he looked over at her to watch how she reacted. He had always planned to propose to her in a big way. But their lives had changed so drastically since they first met one another, and while he was still a man full of big gestures, being with Kinsey forever seemed far more important than a big proposal.

@kinsey

[Deleted]

Life had changed drastically for Kinsey since graduation. Not that it really showed in a ton of ways, but she felt like a different person now. She wasn't in school and her nightmares were coming less and less frequently now. Maybe it was because she wasn't in school anymore, maybe it was because she was less stressed now. She was living with her parents, though she rarely spent any of her time at home. She was either working at the museum or with Riley. He seemed a bit more relaxed now, which she was glad about. Maybe he wouldn't be as stressed about taking care of her. At least now they could spend as much time as they wanted together. They didn't have to worry about curfews and professors, even though her parents did always want to know where she was. They'd accepted how she spent almost all her time with Riley pretty easily. 

She was reading in his room, studying up a little bit about a new artifact they had at the museum. She wanted to be able to answer questions about it and really know about it, so she was a little distracted when Riley spoke. She glanced up, eyes glazed a little as she smiled over at him. "Hmm?" she asked, even as she replayed his words in her head. Then she paused, and a grin crept onto her face. He asked her that so casually? She shrugged, trying to tease him by matching his nonchalance. "Actually yes," she started. "As long as you do." Kinsey knew he did. Even though they hadn't talked about marriage, they had talked about how they wanted to be together for the rest of their lives. After a moment she smirked and quirked an eyebrow at him. "Are you asking?"

@riley

[Deleted]

Riley wasn’t surprised that Kinsey had assumed that he was speaking in hypotheticals. This wasn’t exactly the most romantic situation for him to be asking her to spend the rest of her life with him, but in a way he had already made the intention clear. He had left his family, his money, and his social standing for her. He wasn’t going to let her go. “Yeah, I’m asking. Let's go tomorrow and apply for a marriage license?” he asked, setting his book down on his bed.

@kinsey

[Deleted]

Kinsey's smile grew when he answered her, saying he was asking. He suggested they apply for a marriage license the next day, then he put his book down. Kinsey followed his example, lowering her book so her attention could be on him fully. Not that that was hard. "Okay. Are you sure you're ready for this? I mean, I know you're really busy training ..." Kinsey wanted to get married. She wanted it more than almost anything she could imagine. But, she wanted to make sure that Riley was ready for it. She didn't want him to do it because he felt like he had to. Kinsey wasn't unsure about their relationship at all anymore. Not after everything that happened the past year. She knew Riley loved her and she knew that the two of them would end up getting married. She was ready for that whenever he was. "I'm ready for it when you are." 

@riley

[Deleted]

She asked if he was sure about it since he was so busy with training. While he did have a strong work ethic and wanted to be fully invested in his training, he also knew when to leave work at work and when he needed to invest more into his personal life and relationships. “Let’s do it. I want to. We can apply for a license and then while we wait we can find a flat.” he was looking for one anyway already, it made sense to be looking together since it would be where they lived while they were newly married. Plus, he was ready to live somewhere other than the Leaky Cauldron. She admitted that she was ready when he was and he nodded. “I’m ready to make this official and legal and binding.” he agreed. He didn’t want anything to be able to seperate them again.

So the next day he took the morning off work and they went to the ministry to apply for their marriage license. It was granted to them, however, the wait period still stood. So they had time to figure everything out, and try to find a decent place to live while they waited. It all felt very quick, but it also felt very right. The quickness came from a place of not wanting to have to wait any longer. The world around them was changing and Riley didn’t know if eventually the opportunity would be taken away from them. Now along with the conflict (basically a war) going on around them, and with the quarantine, the future was entirely too uncertain. But love was certain.

@kinsey

[Deleted]

Kinsey watched Riley closely, really interested in what he was about to say. This was important to her and she wanted to know how he was really feeling about it. When he insisted that he wanted to, she let her smile start to slip out. "I want to too," she told him honestly. She smiled as he explained what they could do while they waited. "That sounds great. And you're probably excited for the day when I can actually just stay with you." Honestly, Kinsey was excited for it too. She loved her parents and living with them was fine, but being able to stay with Riley? Actually being married to him? That would be better than anything else she could imagine. "Me too," Kinsey agreed. 

Going to apply for the marriage license actually wasn't as complicated as Kinsey thought it would be, but that was a relief. She didn't really want to deal with complicated things. As they walked out of the building, she turned to Riley and smiled. "So, 28 days? And we need to find two witnesses ... have any ideas who you want to ask?" Kinsey knew who she wanted to invite. Her best friend, besides Riley of course. 

@riley

[Deleted]

As they walked out, she mentioned that they needed to find two witnesses. Just two, and they were really the only two people that Riley wanted there. He wondered if that was selfish, if they should invite her family. They both knew that he didn’t want his family there, but she was close to hers. “I guess that depends, do you want any more than just two people there? Do you want your family there? Or do you want us to keep it small and just us?” he wanted to make her happy, whatever way he could. He didn’t want to be selfish. But, he did just want it to be about the two of them. He didn’t want to make it into a big party and celebration. At least not at the current time.

@kinsey

[Deleted]

Kinsey paused at Riley's question. Honestly, she didn't even think of her family until he brought them up. That was terrible of her, wasn't it? The thing was ... they were doing this privately for a reason, weren't they? Then again, her sisters would want to be there. The thing was, she didn't want to deal with any drama. She just wanted to marry Riley. "I don't want a lot of people there ... what if we invite our witnesses," she already knew who she wanted to come, "and my parents? Then we could go to my parent's house for a small dinner so my sisters can be included." She really didn't want to have to deal with Diana, Cara or Dustin. The triplets were fine, but if she just invited them Cara would throw a fit and Kinsey didn't want any of that drama. "What do you think about that?" she asked. She really wanted him to be happy with whatever they decided to do. 

@riley

[Deleted]

Riley heard Kinsey and nodded along with her words, but he felt a rumbling in the pit of his stomach as she asked about having her family there and everything. It wasn’t that he didn’t like her family, though some of them had very strong feelings regarding him. He just felt like something was off and he wasn’t quite sure what it was until it fell out of his mouth without letting his brain check it first. “Let’s not wait.” he blurted out, biting his lip a bit and gaging the look on her face. “I mean, I love you, I don’t want to wait. We can just go to the courthouse before they close tonight… if you want…” suddenly the thought popped into his mind that maybe she didn’t want to. Maybe she wanted to wait. Maybe he was making her feel uncomfortable… He watched her as they stood there, waiting for her thoughts on the matter.

@kinsey
(some retcon since we decided to ignore he 21 day waiting period here!)

[Deleted]

Riley seemed to be okay with her suggestion, even though he didn't say anything at first. Kinsey wasn't worried though. She trusted him and was excited to be doing things with him, to trust him with everything she did. She was excited to marry him, no matter who was or wasn't there, so she wouldn't have minded either way, but it was nice that he was open to the idea. 

He blurted out that he didn't want to wait and Kinsey froze. She watched him in stunned silence as he explained himself, saying that he loved her and didn't want to wait, suggesting that they get married tonight. She studied his face for half a second before a grin covered her face. "Done. Let's get married today," she agreed, quickly wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him. "I love you and I'm excited to marry you!" She kissed him again. Then, a thought occurred to her. "What are we going to do about witnesses then?" She'd always wanted to ask Toby to be a witness for her, but is that something Riley would want? Or did he have another idea?

@riley

[Deleted]

Riley couldn’t stop the goofy grin that covered his own face when she agreed and kissed him. By the end of today, he’d be a husband and he’d have Kinsey, the only person in the entire world that made him feel this happy, would be his wife. The thought made him almost want to scream, but he was good with his emotions and just stuck with the dorky, teeth exposed grin instead. She asked how he wanted to go about doing it, what he wanted to do as far as witnesses went. Hmm. That was a good question. He knew that they needed two adults to sign off for them as people who witnessed the vows they made. “Well, I could always call Dom, she’d be here in a minute if i told her what was going on. Maybe you could ask someone too…” he thought of someone to suggest. The first thought he had was someone in her family, but he didn’t want to be the one yelled at if everyone else was jealous they couldn’t be there. “Maybe Toby?” he suggested. Toby was her best friend after all, at least as far as he was concerned.

@kinsey - you post once more for Kinsey and then tobias charles watkins next?

[Deleted]

Was this actually happening? Kinsey could hardly believe that Riley was asking her to marry him! Of course, it was all she really wanted. She'd been in love with him for over a year now and they'd been through so much. She knew she wanted to be with him always, so this seemed like a natural step to take, and she was more than excited. Clearly, by his grin, he was just as excited as she was. She nodded as he suggested calling Dom. Of course he wouldn't be able to ask anyone from his family. Not after he abandoned them for her. Dom was his best friend. It made sense. 

It was her turn to grin when he suggested Toby. She was already thinking about her best friend, but was impressed and pleased that Riley knew exactly who to suggest. "That's exactly what I was thinking," she answered, leaning up to give him another quick kiss. "So ... why don't we go get Toby and then Dom?" Kinsey moved to grab his hand, sure that Riley would follow her lead. 

Once they were out of their house, she apparated them to Toby's family's house. She knocked on the door, hoping that he was actually here tonight. Wait, why was she worried about that? Toby was almost always at home. His father answered the door, smiled at Kinsey and said he'd be right back with Toby, inviting her and Riley inside. Kinsey smiled and thanked him, moving to the front room to wait for her best friend. 

tobias charles watkins (You're turn! Then ... Riley?)
@riley

[tobias charles watkins]

This summer Toby had been busier than he had ever been away from Hogwarts. Working at the sanctuary, puppy love with Lusie Windsor, and attempting to study ahead for the upcoming year, he found himself constantly exhausted. Maybe even a little grumpy at times. Toby had become a napper after working so many early morning shifts. Today he couldn't resist a late nap. Toby was in a constant battle with his sleeping schedule.

Today, his unscheduled nap was interrupted by his father who stepped into his bedroom to inform him that he had a visitor at the front door. The Ravenclaw groggily rubbed his eyes and hopped out of bed, confused about who it would be. If it were Lusie trying to surprise him, he was sure his father would have allowed her to go upstairs at her own will.

As Toby descended the stairs, he was pleased to see Kinsey and Riley standing at the bottom. "Wooah!! What're you guys doin' here?!" he asked them excitedly, rushing over to the both of them to give them each a warm embrace. Toby hadn't seen Kinsey or Riley since she graduated so it was a treat to see them both, he was already going to miss having them both next year at Hogwarts.

@riley
@kinsey

[Deleted]

Kinsey led the way to Toby’s house and knocked on the door. A man that Riley didn’t recognize answered the door and RIley could only assume it was Toby’s father. He said he’d be right back and invited Riley and Kinsey into their home. Riley felt a little weird being there, since this was his first time in their home. And the circumstances made it so they would just be dashing out about as fast as they came in. It didn’t take long for Toby to join them and he hugged them while at the same time asking what they were doing here. Riley wasn’t sure he wanted to steal the thunder of Kinsey telling her best friend that they were getting married today, so he just looked down at his soon-to-be-wife and nodded for her to tell him. He’d take the lead in telling Dom. “Well, we have something we’d like to talk to you about…” he nudged.

@kinsey
tobias charles watkins

[Deleted]

Kinsey grinned when Toby came into the room and gave her a hug. It hadn't been that long since they last saw one another, but ... normally they met up more frequently than this during the summer. She'd missed doing things with her best friend. He asked what they were doing here, and Riley answered saying there was something they wanted to talk about before turning to look at Kinsey. Her smile widened. Riley was so good to her, letting her tell Toby what was going on. 

She turned her full attention to her best friend. "Well, we're getting married and I was wondering if you'd like to be my witness ... and if you're busy today." She blushed a little, waiting to see Toby's reaction. She was sure he'd say yes, but she was also positive that he was going to be surprised. She quirked an eyebrow at him, smiling encouragingly. He was going to want to come, right?

tobias charles watkins
@riley