A/N: Walburga finds a mysterious box in their bedroom and confronts Orion. RxR. FxF.
Submission for:
Fanfiction Terminology Challenge: Cousincest - Walburga/Orion. They are cousins (second-cousins) but also married. I'm not a big fan of (cous)incest, this was the closest I'd get to it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
"Orion," she said tersely as she took her seat at the table and made a show of throwing her napkin across her lap.
"Walburga," he said in response, not bothering to look at her above his newspaper. A steaming cup of coffee sat on the table in front of him.
She frowned and picked up her cutlery noisily before starting on her breakfast. Orion flapped the newspaper and steadily ignored her. She cleared her throat once, twice, trying to get his attention, but his eyes moved intently across the black and white pages.
Clank! The cutlery dropped onto the ceramic plate, small pieces of egg flying a bit off the edges of the plate. She fixed her gaze on him as his eyes rolled lazily over to her face and he held it for one, two-.
With a sigh, he folded his newspaper neatly, placed it perfectly on the table and asked, "What's the matter, dear?"
She sneered and spat, "Oh, it's dear now, is it?" He raised an eyebrow at her and she continued, "I found a rather interesting item upstairs in our room. You wouldn't happen to know anything about it, would you?"
He blinked at her and was about to open his mouth, but she still continued, "You're buying gifts for some other woman and have the audacity to bring them home. If you wanted to go outside of our marriage, you could have just said so. I may not have liked it, hell I don't like it, but I'd rather know about it than to continue living life like a lie."
She continued to shriek, throwing a few harsh words in about his morals and his beliefs in the sanctity of marriage. Even though they hadn't married out of love, it was still his duty to remain faithful her and show her the utmost respect. He placed his elbow on the table with his hand on his forehead as she spoke, his shoulders slumping from their usual perfect posture out of exasperation. She was getting on his last nerve.
"Are you even listening to me, you dog? Who is this woman? Is she prettier, richer, better? Does she-"
She stopped mid-sentence as she saw his hand reach for his pocket. He held his wand out to the right and within a seconds, a blue and white gift box zoomed through the air, the silver bow still perfectly tied on top. She looked at him oddly before she said, "Now you're flaunting it in my face. I don't want to see what you've gotten that other woman. I should have destroyed when I had the chance."
He tossed the box to her and it landed on top of her unfinished plate, neither of them caring about the mess it made. She made to open her mouth and again but he said sternly, "Open it."
She pouted but swiftly pulled the box top off. Though she may have said she didn't want to see, he could still see the thinly veiled curiosity in her eyes. She reached in a pulled out a silver bracelet. The links were intricately lined with spiralling patterns, each spiral ending at a small diamond. At the clasp, there was one sapphire stone, the perfect colour if he did say so himself. He had it goblin made so it would not tarnish and he had hand-picked the gems himself.
Her jaw dropped. The bracelet was exquisite and made especially for its recipient. She looked into his face and stammered out, "I don't understand. Why are you showing me this?"
He leaned back in his seat, lifted up his newspaper and said, "Happy Valentine's Day," before continuing his reading.