Niall supposed that most men would have been nervous at a moment like this. After all, he was here to meet a young woman who very well could end up being his wife.

Of course, most men would have been worried about things that Niall would never care about -- at least, not with a woman. All he had to be concerned with was keeping up appearances, and having a wife at all would go a long way towards that.

He had cleaned himself up quite well, at least in his opinion. His suit was perfectly fitted and his hair was neatly pulled back. Whatever the hitwizard actually was, at this moment he looked like a gentleman. Knocking briskly at the Swift's door, he waited to be admitted to meet his potential bride.

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It was time to meet her fiance.<p>

Cassandra Swift was displeased, though she hid it well. In the back of her mind she ran through possible near-death situations. Get a crowd of her quidditch playing male friends, put them in on the deal, whichever one succeeded would end up having her father's favor. Win-win. The downside would of course be if her father decided to betroth her to one of them but, to be quite honest, that would surely be an improvement over someone she was determined to dislike.<p>

Cassie tried to look like she was nervous rather than unhappy, and stood in the Swift family home trying to convince herself that it would be fine. She fanned herself a bit, felt ridiculous, paced, and was genuinely relieved when Niall Donovan finally knocked on the door. (Even though, in reality, it had likely not been long.) This meant it was real.<p>

"I can get the door, Mother," she said with a cheerful smile. Cassie folded up the fan and stuck it awkwardly under her arm. She walked at a brisk pace to the door and opened it as slowly as she could manage. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, Mister Donovan," she greeted. Her expression was kept carefully level. Cassie was in the school of thought that associated emotions with weakness; the only real expression that leaked through was a quirk of her eyebrow as she held the door open for him to walk in. "My mother is in the other room. Follow me please." She walked back to where she had come and stood awkwardly. What the hell was she supposed to do now? She had had suitors, but not actual ones.
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tag: mummy & niall | outfit: http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=47442073 | notes: here<br/>
made by Emily exclusively for Charming</div></div></center>[/dohtml]

When the door opened, Niall was somewhat relieved. Cassandra Swift was (academically speaking) quite a lovely young lady; there would be no question in the public's mind as to why he had chosen to marry her. She was attractive, objectively, and raised by the Letitia Swift. She was an ideal bride.

"It is lovely to meet you as well, Miss Swift. I am pleased to find you in good health."

Okay, so perhaps that was a bit awkward, but not only had Niall never courted a young lady but he had also not approached a man without money in the equation in years. At least this was something like a business transaction.

Cassie smiled just slightly and said, "Thank you, Mister Donovan." She nodded her head just slightly and ran quickly through conversation rules in her head, trying to come up with something both entertaining and proper.

"My father tells me you were also of Gryffindor house," she offered, mentally flailing but maintaining her calm tone. She would have been more than pleased if her mother were to interfere with the conversation, but she did not appear to be graced with such good luck. At least Mister Donovan was not bad looking. If she were not extraordinarily stubborn, Cassandra may have been able to see the benefits of such a match.

"I was," Niall confirmed. That had certainly been a while ago, but a point of similarity was a good thing for them to find, especially since he seriously doubted that he would find any reason not to marry the young lady.

"I played quidditch as well. Do you like quidditch?" He certainly hoped she did; that would give them one more thing in common.

Cassie smiled slightly. If she was going to marry him - and she was still determined not to - at least she could rest easy with the fact that he was a quidditch boy."I am a fan of the sport," she said, folding her hands in her lap.

"Which position did you play, Mister Donovan?" she asked. In her well-educated opinion, the positions were all equal in importance. However, it was always interesting to know. She did, after all, in case none of her plans worked, want to know what sort of physicality her children would be good at if they took after Mister Donovan.

Niall gave the girl his best roguish smile. "I was a beater, of course," he said, shifting his well-muscled shoulders easily. He'd been rather good, for all that he'd only gotten to play for three seasons before being expelled. Thankfully, he'd been able to move past that little blip, and was now a respected member of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

He wasn't really sure what to talk about ... usually things were simpler. He paid and he enjoyed the services that he had paid for. This was different; he needed to get to know this young lady, at least a little. "Are you enjoying your final year?"

"Ah," she said. She half-wanted to tell him she was friends with one of the beaters, but that would have been inappropriate - and her mother was around. Maybe when they were marr- but there was no way they were getting married. Right.

"Yes," she admitted. "Although studying for NEWTs is rather stressful. I've set a goal of getting at least an Acceptable on all of them, and I'm having trouble with Potions lately." Hm. Maybe that could play into her plans...

"Potions are very practical," Niall said, trying to find more common ground with the girl he might very well marry. He would never love her -- not in the way a man usually loved a woman -- but he hoped that at least they could be friends. "I suppose I'm decent at them, but I don't know that I'm good enough to tutor someone. But perhaps I know some books that will be a help."

This really was awkward; if it were not for the fact that he was getting old enough where he really should be married, Niall would have been running back to his simple commercial exchanges. This was going to be a lot of trouble, and he had absolutely no desire to do his marital duty with this or any other woman.

"That would be very helpful, Mister Donovan," she said, smiling just a bit at him. "I'm not quite sure why I decided to take Potions as a NEWT class. It has never been one I am very good at." She had long since become comfortable with that fact.

"I find that I prefer classes like Transfiguration," she admitted, "and History of Magic, although I rarely find someone who agrees with me on that course. Your feelings on it?" She didn't hate him. She also did not want to marry him. It was all very unfortunate around, but Cassandra was self-entitled and had already settled on her course of action.

Yes, she was quite acceptable; provided she and Molly did not immediately hate each other, Niall would be very content to marry Miss Swift as soon as things could be arranged. She would make a very acceptable wife, and when the time came for it she would likely live up to her mother's reputation as a mother herself.

"I will send some books over as soon as I can find them," he promised. "As for classes -- Transfiguration and Charms were all well and good, but my favorite was Defense Against the Dark Arts. I was not the best student when it came to History, although there were moments that I found quite interesting."

"Thank you, Mister Donovan," she said, mind temporarily leaving her Potions thoughts. She could revisit that later, potentially in the shelter of her own dormitory, where nobody bothered her.

"Ohh, I do enjoy Defense," she said. It wasn't a very ladylike thing to enjoy, but it was one of her classes, and she wasn't bad at it. "I like the practicality of it." Her words were deliberate, something Cassie had mastered years ago. "It's also interesting to tie some of the hexes and curses in with the duels occurring throughout history - good for the essays in both classes."

Niall chuckled as Miss Swift tied the practicality of Defense back into her schoolwork. "I was always more concerned with it being practical than grades." He hadn't even completed his schooling -- just passed through O.W.L.s and then gotten tossed out for rolling a MacFusty in the proverbial hay.

"Of course, I simply wasn't interested in being a good student, or I would have done a lot better." It was all about motivation, and he had not had any.

Cassandra resisted the urge to scoff. Not enough motivation was something she had heard from more than one Gryffindor, and one of the few sentences that made her want to flip a table and scream. (And also, be a Ravenclaw.) She didn't think it was about motivation; she thought it was about the ability to sit down and get your stuff done. Tomato, tomahto.

It was a miracle that she managed to refrain from launching into one of her speeches. "I suppose I have that," she admitted, "It's been said that if I were in a different house, it would be Ravenclaw." Like her mother. Or something.

Niall chuckled, shaking his head. "Good thing I have no problem with smart women," he said lightly. Really, she seemed bright -- she'd be good for their children. Not that he was looking forward to creating those children, but he'd do his duty.

He'd made up his mind; Cassandra Swift would make an ideal wife. He hoped she would agree. "I think we could grow to be very fond of each other, Miss Swift."

Cassie smiled, just slightly - at least, she reasoned, she wasn't betrothed to someone who wanted her to be stupid. Not that she was going to get married, she was still determined to escape that.

She agreed automatically. "Yes, I think we certainly could," she said. Soon there was tea, and a bit less unfortunate conversation, and then Cassie was able to flee the premises in order to rejoin her group for the day. She honestly wasn't sure if things had gone better or worse than expected.