Bound for Glory
written by: albe-chan
DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction and I do NOT own Harry Potter or any of the characters mentioned, I am making no money from this, and any similarities with real life are purely coincidental. This work will contain MATURE THEMES, such as coarse language, mature subject matter (scenes containing graphic sex, nudity, etc.), and/or violence. Please, if you are not over the age of 18, or of majority in your country, DO NOT READ THIS! You have been warned!
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When Lily went to paint the next day, she was all but ambushed by her mother at the front door. "Lily Luna, what on earth do you mean you already put a deposit on a wedding venue? Your friend said you weren't planning to and you only did so you could reserve your date, but I want to know why I wasn't invited in the first place! Honey, and you need to be a little more sensitive. Astoria's going to be heartbroken, I'm certain. She doesn't have much and this wedding is probably going to be harder on her than me even. Why on earth wouldn't you invite us, even just to come look?"
Lily took a deep breath and closed the front door behind herself. "Well, it was kind of a spur of the moment, completely last minute thing. I'm going back Monday to book it in earnest and hammer out all the details. You and Astoria can come then." And she can't be heartbroken, she's like the freaking Tin Man, she doesn't even have a heart to break!
Ginny frowned, following Lily upstairs. "Honey, I know you said you love it, but a Botanical Garden, really? It's going to be so muggy come June, and we won't even know what sort of flowers they're going to have-"
The redhead frowned. "Rule number two of wedding planning, Mother," she said sternly. "My wedding, my decisions. The flowers are going to look amazing, it's going to be humid, my hair will probably be huge, worse than your hair in your wedding picture even, and not the ones you got with Potter. Yes, Mom, I saw that picture, and you can deal with it. And Astoria will deal with it, because she's gaining a daughter in law, not sending her son off to war."
Giny pursed her mouth and sighed through her nose as Lily lifted her eyebrows. "Well it could be worse, I suppose. It's just Astoria and I were thinking maybe the golf club, they have such a lovely-"
"No, Mom," Lily said. "Are you going to come with me Monday to finalize everything, or not?"
"Of course, I want to see the space for myself. When would you like to go, honey? Maybe late morning, I don't see his mother being very much a morning person, so eleven?"
Tawny hazel eyes rolled. "Sure. Just call me whenever," she said, going toward her room. "I'm going to paint."
"Oh that reminds, me, honey, you got mail from your card people." Lily barely refrained from rolling her eyes again and waited as her mother went downstairs and got it, then came back. The redhead frowned and tore the envelope open. Inside was a letter from her publisher, thanking her for her years of dedicated participation with them in the greeting card business, but that they would no longer be able to keep her on as a freelance artist, and that because she was taking a break, they would assign her cards to another artist. She frowned steadily more as she read to the bottom. Basically, from what she could understand, she was being let go. Her publisher wouldn't be sending her any more assignments, at all, even after her break period, because they didn't like that she was taking a break.
"This is fucking bull!" she snapped, and went into her room, pulling her phone out and calling Scorpius. "I'm mad at you," she said when he picked up.
"Do I get to know why, or am I guessing?" he asked, sounding utterly unruffled. She could hear people in the background and the clink of cutlery.
"Where are you?"
"Is that Red?" said Constantine's voice in the background.
"Eating brunch," Scorpius replied, then to Constantine he added, "Yes." Constantine mumbled something she couldn't catch. "Why are you mad?" Scorpius prompted her.
Lily felt her temper flash. "My publishers for my cards let me go indefinitely," she snapped. "And it's your fault. They sent me a letter saying because I chose an 'inopportune time' to break, they're going to outsource my work to 'an artist who has the flexibility to take on their assignments'. It took me a long time to find that job, and now they're firing me!"
"Did they say they'd take you back once your break was done?"
"No!" she half-shouted, furious, because he sounded distinctly unrepentant.
"Good. Focus on school and your own work. Those bastards didn't pay you enough, anyway." Lily felt her mouth fall open, eyes bugging almost out of her head. "What? They didn't, darling, you made almost nothing," he said at her pause.
"Scorpius," she said, striving for calmness, even as her free hand balled into a fist. "They paid me five hundred dollars a card. That is not nothing. That's like my investment for paper and supplies, plus an extra four hundred dollars, just for painting." She took a deep breath. "Those kinds of freelance jobs are hard to come by as an artist, and I fought hard for that one."
"Lily," he replied, just as calm. "Do you know how much they sell your cards for?" She blinked. "I looked. They're three bucks a pop, or a dozen for thirty. How much money do you think they've made off your hard work in the last two years, considering they probably print hundreds of your cards, because you sell them the artistic rights to your images? They even sell them online, you know. Apparently they're very popular in Thailand, by the way."
"That's not the point!" she growled. "The point is, after the summer, I have no fucking job to go back to! This is why I didn't want to take a break from my cards, because I knew they'd find someone else, I knew it!"
"Lily," Scorpius said, and she could hear him smirking, which only prodded her temper more, "I'm more than capable of supporting-"
"No!" she interrupted. "You know I don't want to be supported, damn it! And that's why I'm mad! Because now I have no choice!" She pouted. "And I'll probably have to return my new shoes because I can't pay my fucking credit card bill." She sat down at her desk and glared at her painting in progress.
"Finish your paintings you have on the go now, and when you sell them, you can pay me back. And you have to keep the shoes. I have big plans for them tonight." Lily frowned. "Trust me, darling; you sell one painting, you'll be laughing all the way to the bank at those card publishers."
The redhead leaned back in her chair. "You better be right," she snapped, although some of the wind had gone from her sails. "And from now on, I'm buying shoes with your platinum card."
"I look forward to it. Back to work, darling." Scorpius smirked a little as he hung up, dropping his phone back into his pocket.
"What's got Red in a twist?" Constantine asked through a mouthful of eggs. "Not that I entirely mind seeing you get shouted at, you fucking prick." Scorpius rolled his eyes at that. "Seriously, that's fucking low. You're supposed to be my friend."
"Relax, Con, that's why I'm buying you brunch. And hey, at least I waited to see if it was just a little hiccup before moving in. Not my fault you fucked up and she's done with your bull, I was on a different continent when it happened." Dark eyes narrowed and Scorpius grinned. "C'mon, I told you already, it was probably just a one-time deal, and it was just for Lily's training." Constantine snorted.
"So what's she calling to yell at you for?"
The blond ate some pancakes. "She got fired from painting her cards." Dark brows lifted. "I convinced her to take a break from them to work on something real, but I suppose they didn't much like that, so they reassigned her stuff." Constantine smirked and Scorpius shrugged. "They paid her a pittance for her work. She's better off without them."
"I take it she disagrees," the darker man replied.
"Thoroughly. She doesn't think anyone will buy her work in a gallery."
"Will they?" Constantine asked and Scorpius glared. "You've gone soft, Scor. Look at you, getting your back up because I question Red's talent."
The blond glared some more. "Of course someone will buy them. And I have not gone soft. She's got more talent in her pinky finger than most do in their whole bodies, which would be obvious if you'd seen her work."
Constantine grinned. "Sure you're not just saying that?" he teased.
Scorpius narrowed his eyes. "When they go up to be sold, you'll eat your words, Con." Constantine sat back.
"Hell, I'll probably end up buying one."
Scorpius almost smiled. "Then again, maybe not. You won't have Alexia to pick the best one for you." Constantine glared now. "Come on, Connie, just go profess your undying love for her, already. She might even take you back."
"Fuck you." Scorpius grinned.
"You're not my type. But for real, man up, Ramirez." Constantine narrowed his eyes. "I won't even say I told you so."
"Yes you will."
"Yeah, probably," Scorpius admitted. "But I did tell you so. Too many flavours they all start tasting the same. Go back to your mint chocolate chip and get fat."
The dark haired man frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"You always say settling down is like picking a favourite flavour of ice cream before trying them all. But any time I've ever seen you eat ice cream, you always get mint chocolate chip."
"It's a metaphor, Malfoy," Constantine growled.
"And my point is, imagine if they stopped making mint chocolate chip. You'd be almost as pissed as you are now. You like to try other flavours, sure, but if they discontinue your favourite, you'd go ballistic." Scorpius leaned forward after polishing off the last bite of pancakes. "Go tell her she's the one or whatever. Or stop turning into a grump any time someone mentions wanting to take a bite of her."
Constantine rumpled his hair with a hand. "She's pissed."
"Of course she is, you were being petty and juvenile." Constantine frowned. "I know you already talked to Niccolo. You know nothing happened."
"Still." Scorpius shook his head.
"Then stop being a grump if you're going to pussy out, Con. It's boring trying to cheer you up."
"We'll see," he said blandly.
Scorpius shrugged, smirking. "Should've seen it, though. You thought the first time was hot. Fuck, they were both screaming this time. It was great."
"You fucking prick," Constantine growled.
Scorpius grinned. "Come on. As an added incentive, because I find myself becoming a sucker for a good happy ending, I'll even let you borrow my cupcake for a couple hours if you and Alexia kiss and make up and you manage to pry your head out of your ass."
Dark eyebrows rose in shock. "I might have to get that in writing, Malfoy."
"Patch things up with the nibbles, Con. You look like shit without her."
Lily painted until the sun began setting, then felt warm hands sliding up under her tank top and jumped. "How long have you been here?" she breathed, pulling her headphones off. She turned her head and kissed her fiance.
"Awhile. You're very focused when you paint."
"I get in the zone," she said, stretching out her back, then glanced over at Scorpius, who was eyeing up her work. "Stop that," she murmured.
"Stop what?"
"Ogling my painting. It's not even close to done yet."
Scorpius shook his head. "I still don't get how you just put paint down, and it ends up looking like that," he murmured. "It's fascinating."
Lily laughed. "I don't get how you just go into a room with a bunch of people staring at you and not only talk without stuttering, but ask people questions designed to make them look stupid."
Scorpius frowned. "You make that sound awful. Not all of the questions are designed to make people sound stupid. Sometimes it's to make them look innocent."
"And I don't just put paint down. I have to blend and highlight and shade, and mix colours, and think about not just the details, but the painting as a whole." Scorpius grinned, then moved to kiss her neck.
"So what do you have left to do before you sell this one?" he rumbled and Lily blushed. Despite being engaged, and living together, and everything, Lily still didn't talk more than vague basics about her work with the tall blond. She wasn't used to discussing it with anyone, or even describing her process out loud, and wasn't sure how to convey what was left. She picked up her reference, which had smudges of paint on it, but a clear, concise image.
"Well, I need to go back in and define some of the leaves, for the background, and there's all of the shading across the face and body and the underbrush and then highlights," she moved a finger vaguely, "all through here." Lily sighed. "And, of course, I have the eyes, which are going to take a seriously long time, because there's like a hundred layers." She put her reference back down. "But I thought you wanted me to keep this one? As I recall, it's supposed to end up in your cushy corner office when you get your promotion."
"I do. But if you sell it, I get to say I told you so, and I really enjoy saying I told you so." She rolled her eyes.
"Still. I think it should go in your office. Whether you get the promotion or not."
"What else do you have on the go?" Lily smiled.
"You're being nosy. Why are you so interested?" she asked suspiciously, turning to look at him.
"I just want to see," he replied, smirking a tiny bit. Lily narrowed her eyes but shrugged.
"I only have this, but when I need a break, I doodle," she said, pointing at her sketchbook. Before she could stop him, Scorpius had picked it up. "You can't laugh at whatever you find in there," she murmured, frowning and blushing, feeling embarrassed. Because this sketchbook happened to contain at least a dozen mostly finished sketches of him.
"Darling, do I ever?" he murmured, moving to sit on the bed. Lily looked at her hands, then peeked back at him as he flipped through the pages. She saw his mouth curve up into a smile. "When did you do this?" he asked, looking up, smirking.
"Awhile ago. Stop, seriously, it's embarrassing," she murmured, folding her arms.
"How is it embarrassing?" he teased. "I'm willing to be you're not the only artist who sketches her fiance while he's sleeping." Lily blushed harder. "Is this what you're really up to when you sneak out to go running?"
"No. That's what I do when you won't get up and it's past eleven." She watched him keep flipping and blushed with anticipation of the next one of him.
"Lily," he said in his very deep voice and the redhead couldn't meet his eyes.
"I'm going to tell everyone your middle name. You're being mean," she said, pouting. Scorpius got up and kissed her.
"Darling, finding out you doodle naked drawings of me is so not being mean."
"Well it's still embarrassing."
"It's a good drawing, at least," he said, sitting back down. Her mouth quirked to the side.
"The next one is better," she mumbled, and he chuckled. She peeked up as he flipped through, and then paused. She was certain she was a lobster face. "Told you."
"Is this-?"
"Yes," she said, getting up and moving over to sit beside him. He grinned.
"Naughty. You could make a fortune just doing this, you know. I can think of at least four people off the top of my head who'd pay for this." Lily's eyes widened.
"I can't sell a naked drawing of you!" she whispered, scandalized.
He chuckled. "Not me, darling. I meant they'd pay you for drawing them."
Lily shook her head. "Um, no." Scorpius frowned a little. Lily sighed, looking at her drawing as she leaned against him. It was of Scorpius, naked and standing at the dresser, looking over his shoulder, half smiling and giving her the very best of looks, the one that promised she would like whatever he had in store from her. "First off, I'm only good at drawing you. Second, that would be awkward, depending who it was, drawing them naked. And third, even if it was from a picture that just...it doesn't feel right. Taking money from someone to draw them? No, that's like conning them." Scorpius rolled his eyes. "It is," she insisted. "They're paying me for like an hour, maximum, of my time, and the cost of like two percent of a pencil and a sheet of paper. And I get to do what I like second best, albeit awkwardly."
"And your hour of time isn't worth nothing," he countered.
Lily smirked. "True, but it's not about the money, either," she said. "I draw because I like it, and because I don't have to think about it. I can't charge someone money for that."
Scorpius sighed. "You could, but I know you won't."
"Bad enough you want me to sell my paintings. That feels almost weirder."
Scorpius grinned. "Keep them all if you like."
Lily snorted. "Yeah right. I might not like it, but if it keeps my bank account in the black, I'll do it. And if you tell me one more time about how you make a disgusting amount of money, I'm definitely going to tell everyone your middle name."
"Cruel. Con's right, I'm a terrible influence on you."
"It's true. So, I've been wondering all day, what are your big plans for my shoes?" He kissed her soft and lingeringly, tongue just teasing her upper lip. "Mmm, what's that for?"
"That's your hint, darling. Let's go."
They went back to the penthouse and Lily took a shower. When she emerged, she heard Scorpius on the phone in the bedroom and eavesdropped shamelessly by the partly open bathroom door.
"I know what you said, but I'm telling you, you're going to want to leave a space. Okay, maybe two." There was a pause. "Do you think I'm a liar? Of course, they'll be spectacular." Lily's brow furrowed. "I don't give a shit, you owe me a fucking favour, and I'm calling it in." Another pause. "Fine, one spot." Lily wondered who he was talking to and what on earth he was talking about. "I can't give you a timeline, it's not-" The person must have interrupted him. "Fine, I'll try to hammer it out. No, probably not then. At least Thanksgiving." Another pause. "Good. Now we're square."
Lily was toweling her hair when Scorpius poked his head in. "Where are we going?" she asked, even as he pulled the towel around her body off.
"You remember Vicky?" Lily's eyes widened and she paused as she reached for her lotion. "She invited us to dinner. And dessert, if you're interested." Lily picked up her lotion, swallowing.
"And dessert, I'm assuming, is...the previously mentioned offer?"
"It is." The redhead focused on applying lotion, even as Scorpius helped her. "So?"
"So we'll go to dinner," she said at last. "I'll wear my very pretty new shoes, and then we'll have dessert. Assuming, of course, you're okay with that." Lily looked at him steadily. "You are okay with it, or I'm assuming you'd have just told her no, right?"
Scorpius pursed his mouth. "It's going to be a very different dynamic." Lily smiled a little, even as she went to get dressed.
"I figured as much," she said. "I mean, I'm assuming her guy will try a little harder to get to me this time, but I'm ready for that."
Scorpius shook his head, even as she opened her lingerie drawer. He closed it again for her. "Those will be unnecessary," he murmured and she blushed faintly. "I meant you'll be out of your element. Different house rules." She cocked a brow. "Vicky isn't known for leniency. And she'll try very hard to break you. Her sub will try even harder to please her."
Lily smiled. "Then it's a good thing they don't know I'm a fighting Irisher, isn't it? She can try all she likes, I've gone toe to toe with your mother."
Scorpius smirked. "True. But imagine not rising to any of her comments." Lily shrugged.
"I'll go to my happy place. Or just do what I do when I want to hurt your mother after she tells me I have no taste in clothes because I don't wear exclusive Chanel. Picture a slow, methodical dismemberment. I've got this." She moved to her closet. "Should I dress fancy?"
Scorpius moved behind her and reached for the slinky little black dress she'd worn to James Potter's wedding, and the first item of clothing he'd ever seen her in. "Wear this."
Lily smirked. "You know I have an upgrade on this dress, right?" she murmured, even as he turned her and pulled her against himself.
"I know. I like that one." He kissed her. "And I'm sure you can handle it, but follow my lead anyway." Lily's brows drew together. "You remember how I mentioned so very long ago I wasn't interested in a submissive twenty four seven?" She nodded. "Vicky's interested in that. And she'll expect the same of you."
Lily grinned. "Then that's what she'll get. You love the 'I told you so' but I just love that shocked look on someone's face when I end up exceeding expectations, especially when they underestimate me."
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