BENEDICT & ALTHEA FANCOURT
Max Fancourt and Elsie Branstone were of course Hogwarts sweethearts, and if you weren't at some point either extremely annoyed or entirely nauseated by them, then you never had the pleasure of spending more than five minutes in their presence. Well-liked in their respective houses, both went on to become house prefects fifth year and then eventually head boy and girl seventh. Their academic aspirations were not prompted by the hope of garnering the other's attention, however, and it should be noted that it wasn't until the very end of sixth year that Max finally plucked up the courage to ask Elsie if she would like the idea of going on a date with him walking around Hogwart's grounds
not on duty, of course, and preferably at a time that it wasn't ungodly dark or blindingly light out. Two promenades around the lake, one ridiculous Madam Puddifoot's meal, and an exceptionally sweet Hogwarts Express goodbye kiss later, the couple finally (to a surprising amount of their peer's chagrin) made their relationship official and thus started the summer of many,
many late night love letters.
Both Elsie and Max had lined up prestigious internship opportunities over the summer before their seventh years (Elsie in St. Mungo's and Max in the Minister of Magic's office), but as the law dictated, even busy worker bees had to take an hour off for lunch Monday through Friday. Between eating lunch together everyday, quaint weekend dates, and enough owls to stock shelves worth of desk draws, their workloads did not get the best of them and all-the-happier Max and Elsie stepped onto Platform 9¾ September 1st with the determination and happiness that any dating Head Boy and Head Girl would have.
Their year as Heads went by quietly, much to their relief, as Max and Elsie were for the most part accepted as approachable, fair, and honest by the student body. Their only downfall was, of course, how unbelievably perfect they seemed, which irritated and alienated quite a few of their fellow Seventh years for whatever personal reasons. But seeing as Max and Elsie rarely ever fought, and didn't put much effort into appeasing the thoughts of others concerning them, they spent their final year at Hogwarts happy, delighting in the other's success however big or small, and in love.
After finishing their education, Max's family began to pressure him to travel abroad immediately to begin his Grand Tour. However, not wanting to leave the country, or Elsie for that matter (who had been offered and already accepted a spot in St. Mungo's healing program), he instead decides to stay in England and move in with Elsie to an incredibly small but fitting for their budget flat. Determined to use appease his family while using as little of their money as little as possible, Max takes up his old job in the Minister of Magic's office and he and Elsie tentatively began what they hoped would be the beginning of the rest of their lives together. They spent the next year making jokes about how incredibly poor they were, but their lack of monetary funds never truly bothered them. Max's trust fund would always be there in case of emergencies, and Elsie wouldn't be bound to a life of destitute as an accomplished Healer.
In October of 1976, Elsie's father fell ill, but not ill enough that he was incapable of blessing Max's intent to marry his daughter. Happy to hear that Elsie's father approved of him and the
family heirloom he had picked for her ring, Max proposed to Elsie Christmas Eve in their tiny little flat, and celebrated the news with their families the next day after a night of private celebrating themselves.
