The Spencers and MJ wandered down a well-worn path that looked like it led to the woods behind their property. They did enter the trees for a brief period, but the trail veered out again, and they soon found themselves in a grassy area that was probably really pretty in the daytime. MJ could see faint traces of the yellow and pink flowers that grew in the field where the horses roamed in front of the house, though she didn't know what anything was called. There was a faint sound of running water, and MJ realized that they must not be too far from the small stream she'd seen with Heath on one of their walks. The clearing was surrounded on all sides by trees, and was nearly a perfect circle, giving it a very romantic and secretive feel.

The two non-nursing mother dogs, Noel and Budgy, had accompanied them for their nighttime star-gazing sojourn. Budgy was the shepherd mix who'd eaten the toast that Archie threw at Heath, and Noel was some kind of almost Great Dane, though it was hard to recognize him as such because his ears and tail hadn't been cropped. He was huge and clumsy and adorable.

They had brought two chairs for Mr. and Mrs. Spencer, to spare their backs, while the younger Spencers and MJ were just going to lie down on a huge sleeping bag with some pillows. They spread out the sleeping bags and opened up the basket that contained the food and wine. Margaret supervised the passing out of the food. They ate in the gathering dusk, as they didn't want to risk a fire in such a grassy and woodsy place.

"So, on maps and such, this place is just called 'Tanglewood Clearing,' and we usually call it 'the back pasture,' but has Heath told you our other name for this place?" Archie asked MJ as he ate his sandwich, which was made from all of the veggies from their garden, grilled with olive oil and garlic.

MJ shook her head, looking from Heath to his brother. She nudged Heath with her foot. "Is it called something funny?" she asked.

"No, it's not, and you need to learn when to just shut the fuck up," Heath declared to Archie.

"Oh, come on, Heath Michael, it's adorable," Poppy said, nearly pushing Heath over with her hand. She obviously knew nothing of the ulterior motive in coming away from the house to look at the meteor shower on this particular evening. "And we believed you, anyway," she assured him, nodding as she drank her wine. "For a long time."

"Whatever," Heath mumbled, turning away.

"Oh god, I have to hear this story," MJ declared, smiling at Poppy and Archie. "Please, spill your guts, you guys."

"Et tu, MJ?" Heath asked, making stabbing motions at his heart. "I thought you loved me."

"I do, I do, but I love a good story," MJ said, shrugging as she rubbed Heath's back.

Poppy looked back and forth from her brother to MJ, looking pleased at their words, but didn't say anything.

"Well, we were really little," Archie began. "I mean, I was probably three or four, which would make you, what, Pops, like eight?" She nodded. "So Heath was twelve or so, I guess, and he was out here doing god only knows what--"

"I was looking for a portkey," Heath interrupted, turning back around. "If you're going to embarrass me, you might as well do it right." He turned to MJ. "I was looking for a portkey, you know, from Harry Potter? The thing you grab onto so you can--"

"Don't worry, I know what a portkey is," MJ assured him. "Hufflepuff here, pleased to meet you," she said, holding her hand out.

"Gryffindor, pleasure," Heath replied, shaking her hand with vigor.

"Oh my god," Archie said, shaking his head at the level of nerdiness surrounding him.

"Oh, please, like you don't know you're a Ravenclaw yourself?" Poppy said, waving her wineglass at her younger brother. "You know you are, don't get all high and mighty, Mr. I'm Secretly But Not So Secretly In Love With Hermione!" She noogied Archie's head. "You're no better than the rest of us, Archie, and you know it." She kissed him, a kiss he tried to rub off.

"If I might continue my story," he said, staring at Poppy.

"Anyway, so Heath was out here, looking for a portkey," he said, laughing. "We were all back at the house, when suddenly he comes bursting out of the trees, with the dogs chasing him, running like all the demons of hell are chasing him. He's shouting something, but he's so off his head that we can't understand word one, you know?" Archie was laughing as he told the story. Margaret, who was sitting in her chair close to where Heath sat on the sleeping bag, reached out to stroke her oldest son's hair, and he leaned into her briefly.

"Then stupid Heath trips and falls, I mean, he goes ass over teakettle right on the path, which made the dog Lolly trip over him, and he gets up and keeps running towards us--remember how hilarious he looked, Poppy?"

Poppy, who was laughing by now also, nodded.

"So he gets here, and he can't breathe, so mum makes him drink a glass of water to calm down, and when he can finally talk, he says, "Fireflies! Fucking fireflies! All over back pasture!"

"So naturally we all go charging off into the twilight, because there are no fireflies in England, I don't know if you knew, MJ," Archie said.

MJ shook her head.

"So this would be an absolutely amazing thing, like we'd be famous, you know?" Archie said, taking another bite of his sandwich.

"I'd be famous," Heath said coldly. "Just me, not you, knobhead."

MJ snorted.

"By now even Dad's heard, though he was in the house, and he decides it would be faster if he took the bicycle, for Christ's sake, so he goes blazing off on the bike, you should've seen him, MJ, it was like something out of Benny Hill or something--"

"So what did you find?" MJ asked. "Were there fireflies here?" She looked around. It was nearly completely dark now, and she could imagine how beautiful it must've been.

"Of course not!" Archie said, shaking his head.

"We all got here, completely in a lather," Poppy took up the story. "Even Dad somehow made it on that ridiculous bicycle, though he did fall a couple of times along the way. The dogs knew we were excited, so they were running around, barking like lunatics, and all of us get here, huffing and puffing, wandering around the pasture like escapees from the local lunatic asylum, you know, walking very slowly, parting the grass and looking around, like the fireflies are hiding from us or some such twaddle."

She nudged Heath's foot.

"It was just a big joke, wasn't it, brother?"

"They were here," Heath said. MJ could tell by the tone of his voice that this was a conversation they'd had many times before. "I know what I saw. They were here, a bunch of them."

"Heath, you probably just saw a bunch of bees, or butterflies or something, all with the setting sun reflecting off them at a particular angle," Hugh said kindly, and MJ could tell that he'd said those particular words many times before as well.

"No I didn't," Heath said. "They were fireflies."

"They were probably fairies," Archie teased.

"Shut up," Heath muttered.

"So, what is this place called, then?" MJ asked, trying to change the subject, but honestly curious. "What do you call it?"

"Actually, this part is kind of nice," Heath answered, perking up and smiling. He turned and took MJ's hand.

"We call it 'Heath's Meadow,' actually," Archie said, smiling between his brother and his girlfriend.

Heath squeezed MJ's hand.

MJ caught her breath.

"Really? Heath's Meadow?" she repeated.

"Yeah," Heath answered, smiling at her. "Isn't that sort of beautiful?"

MJ could only nod. She scooted closer to Heath, who put his arm around her.

Just then, Poppy gasped next to her. "Look! A meteorite!"

It was quite dark, and because the trees surrounded them, no ambient light from the neighboring houses or the road reached them, which made for optimum viewing conditions. They quickly put the remains of the meal away and lay down on the pillows they'd brought.

MJ couldn't remember when she'd last been this happy, and she twitched her body ever so slightly until she was as close to Heath as she could get. Then she worried that she was too hot and sweaty and twitched a little in the other direction, but as soon as she did, his hand grasped her arm, and he whispered in her ear, "Excuse me, Ms. Jasse-moonbeam, where do you think you're going, hm?" So she stayed where she was.

Even with his entire family around them, it was still one of the most romantic things MJ had ever experienced.

To be lying outside, in the dark, next to the man she loved, felt amazing. It probably didn't hurt that she'd had a few glasses of wine. Heath clasped her hand, rubbing her fingers from time to time, and just this innocent action was enough to set her mind reeling.

For some reason, having Archie on the other side of her was messing with her a little bit, too, probably because he was so good-looking, and looked so much like Heath.

He would sometimes roll over to say something to MJ, and his hair would tickle her shoulder, or his arm would rub against hers, and she would feel a little zing in her spine.

WTF?

MJ smiled to herself, and she was just glad Heath couldn't read her thoughts.

The later it got, the more shooting stars they saw. Some were so vivid and so long lasting that their contrails could be seen across the sky long after they'd burned out.

"Oh wow, did you see that one, Heath?" MJ asked.

"Yeah, I did," Heath answered, pleased at how happy MJ was.

"Thanks for suggesting this," she whispered to him.

"You're welcome," he answered.

"Well, I don't know about you, but this old man is ready for bed," Hugh said. "And I need to have a wee, as you young people like to say."

"Oh god, dad, TMI, honestly," Poppy admonished.

"Come on, Hugh, this old lady's going with you," Margaret told him.

"No, mum, you guys, leave the chairs, Poppy and I will carry them up, no need for you to mess about with them," Archie called.

"I believe our son just called us geriatrics, Margaret," Hugh said to his wife with a chuckle.

"He can call us whatever he wants as long as he carries the fucking chairs, they're heavy," Margaret responded, taking her husband's arm.

"Good night, kids," they called as they headed up the path.

"Come on, Archie, we should go, too," Poppy said, sitting up and pulling on her brother's arm.

"Why?" he protested. "We've still got a full bottle of wine left, and the meteor shower's not supposed to hit its peak for another three hours."

"God you can be as thick as plank sometimes," Poppy said, shaking her head. "Come on, you git."

"They don't mind if we stay, do they?" Archie entreated. "Look, they're not leaving, they're perfectly--" he stopped, mid-sentence.

Silence.

"Ohh, okay, yeah, right, we should go," Archie agreed.

"Sorry, Heath," he said with a laugh.

"Perfectly okay, mate," Heath answered.

Five minutes later, Heath and MJ were completely alone in Heath's Meadow, just them and the shooting stars.