A/N:
At last the crudest truth is revealed…Draco would confront the most "dangerous mind" ever…
!!WARNING!!
Implicit (or is it explicit? :smirks:) moral & sexual so-called deviations ahead.
Don't like? Swallow hard and read it anyway…it might "enlighten" your mind…who knows? You might end up surprising yourself…
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CHAPTER XXVIII
"Sucker love is heaven sent you pucker up, our passion's spent
My heart's a tart, your body's rent, my body's broken, yours is bent
Carve your name into my arm, instead of stressed, I lie here charmed
'Cause there's nothing else to do, every me and every you.
Sucker love, a box I choose, no other box I choose to use
Another love I would abuse, no circumstances could excuse
In the shape of things to come, too much poison come undone
'Cause there's nothing else to do, every me and every you.
Like the naked leads the blind, I know I'm selfish, I'm unkind
Sucker love I always find, someone to bruise and leave behind
All alone in space and time, there's nothing here but what here's mine
Something borrowed, something blue, every me and every you."
(PLACEBO – "Every You Every Me")
Inside that beveled crystal coffin erected in the middle of the stone built water font was the mortal remainings of his mother, Narcissa Black. Draco could barely recognize her body for the flesh presented an advanced state of decomposition and her limbs had been savagely mutilated following the Manchalismos ritual.(*)
"Mother…"He gasped and tried to stifle his shock but he found his heart being pulsated with the anger and rage of those endless echoes of raw pain inside him.
Closing briefly his eyes, his mind brought him back to the moment when he performed the Necromancy Ritual:
"The one who condemned her is the only person who knows the exact location of Narcissa Black's body. She's been left forgotten to endure the crudest pain and suffering for eternity; waiting for the arrival of a saviour who would spare her from that torture and redeem her soul."
The blond spun his head to a side as he noticed a slight movement from Lucius, who was slowly pushing himself from the floor with both hands.
Draco waited for the man to stand in his two feet as his own face transfigured itself into a mask of wrath. "Despite the fact that you've always despised me, beat me countless times to the point of almost leaving me cripple, I knew you'd never dared to finish me off for I'm your sole heir. But mother, who loved me and was my only reason to live, you condemned her and her feelings because you consider them weaknesses and turned her into the lamb to the slaughter!"
The young Slytherin then swinged his right leg sideways in a circular motion, performing a 360 degree kick that once it stroke Lucius, the bestial force of the kick contorted his face grotesquely, sending a splash of blood along with a couple of teeth flying into the air. Before the limp body could even hit the ground, Draco picked Lucius up with yet another kick that sent his father flying onto the opposite direction, crushing his body soundly and painfully on the floor.
"I'm Draco's blood-thirsty revenge." His sore eyes blazed red with the fury of the monster inside him.
"I'd never wanted to kill you and that's tragic." Lucius coughed blood as he brought himself to his feet, he stumbled forward a few paces before steadying himself against a column. "I guess you want to get even for what I've done to your mother though."
"To get even?!" Draco's breath was coming in ragged pants. "I would have to kill you!"
"Seems that you can't bring yourself to do it, can you?" Lucius asked. The slight fear that cracked his voice almost betrayed his confident words.
Draco frowned in what must have been the most nauseating expression of pity he could bring himself to make. "That doesn't mean you're going to live much longer either."
"There comes a time when men like us have to make the most crucial decision of all: kill our own flesh and blood. I've failed. Don't commit that same mistake." Lucius started coughing more violently, contorting his face with the stinging pain that threatened to overcome him completely to the point of blacking out.
But then Draco's pale lips started to curl into a cynic and most vengeful smirk. "There's a reason why you've rendered mother incapable of rising against you in her undead form. You wanted to stop her from avenging her death because you were terrified of the way she'd make you pay for what you've done to her through all these years. I'll set her soul free so she can kill you! But before I do that, you're going to tell me where is Blaise Zabini."
When Lucius turned slowly to look at Draco, the light in his eyes faced and his face paled clammingly with accented confusion.
Draco spitted right at his father's incredulous face when he spoke accusingly. "You've kidnapped him along with those people back in the cemetery field. Where is Blaise, what did you do to him?!"
Lucius shook his head in disbelief. "I didn't do anything to such boy: I don't even know who he is."
Draco fixed his blood-shot eyes on Lucius pupils and in how they remained constant, they didn't swell the slightest: he was telling the truth.
"You useless fucker…" Remotely pleased with the answer, the blond reluctantly dropped the grip on the other's throat shortly after the man passed out. "Doesn't matter, I'll find my brother myself."
Draco walked towards the font, stopped right in front of the crystal coffin and held up his wand. He flicked it once, the silhouette of a pentagram erupted from the wand and lifted incorporeally above his head before crashing onto the floor, melting the cold stone under his feet as it finished tracing its figure, placing the blond Slytherin just in the middle of the five pointed star.
He then strengthened his posture and lifted his head up before closing shut his eyes. He inhaled deeply and exhaled soundly, following a rhythmic and meticulously controlled breathing. With each breath he took, his concentration grew deeper, immersing him completely in a state of trance as the darkness around him slowly took shape and form, turning into a black fluid that started to move inward in a spiral vortex formed in front of him.
As the words started to escape Draco's lips in faint whispers, he opened his amethyst blue eyes. A low rumbling sound began to fill the room and continued to grow louder as his voice gain volume and resonance. "By the gracious permission of the infinite and Supreme Forces, increase and strengthen the hidden and occult virtues of this Pentacle so that I may be enabled with it to perform those magical evocations for which purpose I now perform this mystic rite, hear my petition, allow my voice reach through the veil between the world of the living and the underworld!"
A violent flash of light threw Draco's head back, leaving him temporarily overwhelmed by the feeling of his body being stripped with an invasive luminance sensation which was at the same time preventing the black fluid of the vortex from taking over him.
Despite the odd feeling of nakedness, he relaxed every single muscle in his body before calling out. "I, Draco Malfoy, summon thee, Narcissa Black, who dwells in the invisible to attend upon the ceremony I performed through this mystic rite so that in it you may find a permanent equilibrium with which you will rule and direct the natural elements that were taken from you in order to avenge your death!"
The water of the font dried completely as the stone-built fountain cracked in half, releasing its hold of the crystal coffin which positioned itself in mid-air in front of the blond Slytherin eyes. The moment the coffin opened its lid, an electric energic wind escaped from inside.
Draco slowly pointed his wand at the decayed and mutilated remains of Narcissa's body and broke the silence once more. "Oh most gracious Supreme Forces allow the virtues of the natural elements to consecrate, protect and strength this broken body so that Narcissa Black's soul might achieve permanent hold of the after-life bliss!"
That was when an iridescent sparkling light wrapped her destroyed bones and torn flesh inside a weightless, soft and warm luminescent cocoon.
An ethereal, almost angelical voice spoke for the first time. "I've been waiting for you, my dearest son."
"Mother..." Draco could only stare at her, overwhelmed.
Narcissa looked just like Draco remembered her, but there was even more brightness in her beautiful face and tender smile. He was lost in her hypnotic and tender blue eyes. He immediately wanted to reach to her and touch her face, but he knew that the moment he did it, the incantation would cease. However Narcissa was able to touch her son if she so desired for she'd achieved corporeal balance of her essence. Shortly afterwards the feeling of reality settled in and Draco repaired on other parts of his mother's body beside her face, he swallowed imperceptibly and closed shut his eyes, looking supremely embarrassed.
Narcissa smiled broadly at Draco's uneasiness. "You've grown up so much in so little time, but you're still the same innocent child I'd always be proud of."
She then brushed over her perfect milk-white bare skin some of her incredible long silk blond curls - conditioning them to serve as ethereal clothing, hiding the treasures of those gorgeous curves that framed her slender naked body - and looked up at her son.
When his glassy and sore amethyst blue eyes looked her the second time, Draco couldn't contain his voice from shaking. "I wasn't able to protect you when you needed me the most. I didn't keep my promise, I couldn't save you."
The anguish in his tone got through to her. "If what you're saying is true then I wouldn't be here with you now. Draco, son, now that my soul is free, it's time for me to fulfil the one promise I made when you were just a baby: to watch over you, always."
Her compassionate and grateful blue gems stared right back at Draco and that comforted him. "Mother, the pain of losing you, it hurt…so much. Many times I'd asked myself what was the purpose of living with you gone. Even today I still feel half alive without you by my side."
"The day you were born I told myself that I'd be strong for both of us. I gave you everything my heart held inside as I watched you grow with the hope you'd never shut out your feelings. My dear son, I've missed you with the same aching force you've missed me. If you felt half alive without me was because our hearts always had beaten in unison." Narcissa leaned closer and stroked her hand lightly over one of Draco's cheeks; that warm and soothing sensation made him close his eyes briefly. "Life is a gift, treasure it, you've got a lot to live for: your wife and child need you."
As his eyelids fluttered open, tears choked up his throat. "A child?!"
Despite the unquestionable trust in his mother, Draco found himself refusing categorically such news. He'd never failed before when casting a spell. The probability of failing to do so when preventing Luna from getting pregnant was non-existent. Not even that remote one-in-a-million chance was even admitted inside the blonde's exasperated course of thinking.
There was a subtle smile on Narcissa's lips. "Luna conceived your baby under the constellation which heart holds the brightest red star."
"Antares, the brightest red star, is situated at the heart of the Constellation of the Scorpion." Draco replied out loud without even realizing for his head was spinning at the speed of light.
His heart missed a beat as he went back in time and made a mental projection of the date: it coincided exactly with the night he saved Luna's life and performed the Inferae's pact on her at St. Mungo's. The moment he'd achieved complete access of her mind and body in order to transfer the powers of the Ghoul, it'd left completely without effect every existent contraceptive spell…how could he'd skipped such major fact?
Once the idea of Luna's confirmed pregnancy hit Draco like a billion tons over his skull - threatening to eradicate for good what was left of his questioned sanity and forcing him to jump literally into a massive and suicidal panic attack - he froze, remembering something that Snape have said to him. "Mother, what does Akasha's Imbolc mean exactly?"
As Narcissa placed herself in front of Draco, her blue eyes sparkled with a silvery light before replying. "Those ancient magic words describe the ability that is present in a reduced number of wizards to perceive the sensations and feelings inflicted by their unborn children into their mother's bodies. This way the father can experience in the flesh what his baby is doing inside the womb of his wife and exchange subconsciously part of his most treasured feelings, such as affection and protection, directly into his child. Akasha stands for fifth element and Imbolc literally means in the belly…of the mother."
Draco felt his mind splitting in uncountable and irrecoverable pieces. He'd been fatally wrong from the start: the reverberated voice, the resounding of heart-beats, the dizziness, the headaches, the excruciating pain and agony…all those terrible and maddening sensations he thought Luna was throwing at him each time they connected were not because she was punishing him for what he'd done in order to save her life…they were the ill and sick doings of his unborn child towards Luna.
He took a few deep breaths to steady himself for he felt like his knees couldn't even manage to support the feather-like weight of his diminishing body, he literally felt like dying. "That child…my child…is hurting the woman I love!?"
"Yes." A silvery tear rolled down one of Narcissa's milk-white cheeks.
Draco's breathing started to hum in erratic sobs. "Why would a baby do that to his own mother?!"
She rested a hand over her son's heart. Noticing how agitated it was, she looked at Draco and whispered to him in a calm smoothing voice as if wanting him to follow her soft breathing to calm him down. "The body has its own language and its own wisdom recollected by the experience of the father and of the mother. When a baby is nurtured by a womb in which the love for him was held on trial from the very beginning and the only positive incentive that receives is when the father provides his support and protection through his Akasha's Imbolc ability, the baby's capability to develop feelings remains then undivided and centered in one person only: the father."
"That's why Luna was so afraid of. I told her that I never wanted to have children and when she found that she was pregnant, she panicked. I just wanted to protect her, but I scared her and now she's suffering because of that. This is entirely my fault, not hers!" Draco clenched from his heart, it felt as if it was being dissected and spread wide open by the invisible needles of his guilt.
Narcissa brushed a curl over her face and looked down, avoiding making eye contact with his son, hiding the sadness of her eyes from noticing. "You should be proud of having the complete ownership of such devoted heart. The unconditional love of a child towards his father is a priceless treasure."
"Such exclusiveness can't be good." Draco forced his sore eyes to remain opened, even despite a burning sensation that assaulted him momentarily. "A lot of people will come along in the course of my child's life to counterbalance this: colleagues, friends, confidents, lovers… eventually a life partner to raise a family with and enjoy a life full of experiences."
She shook her head slightly, as if wanting Draco to stop pursuing such idealistic course of action. "Your heir will grow up to be an extremely intelligent and powerful wizard, yes, but the possibilities of finding happiness away from your side would be scarce. That will be mainly due to the fact that your child would either refuse to open his heart to others or because no-one would ever stand a chance to outbeat the feelings only you are capable of arousing in his heart."
"If my child does take after me then he'll fight against all odds to procure himself everything to be completely and truly happy!" He sentenced firmly.
"Unfortunately, you're the only one with feelings and magic powerful enough to provide such unique child the adequate protection against any harm and the required support. It's obvious then why the only place your heir would ever feel loved, contained and safe is with you. You're unable to betray, lie, scorn or hurt your own flesh and blood, that's why." She acknowledged immediately.
Draco felt a splitting deadening headache by then. "But why people would want to hurt my child?!"
Narcissa smiled bitterly. "Because the abilities, magic and psyche of your heir would be far superior to the likes of the rest: that would arouse jealousy, suspicion and hatred of everybody around."
"I won't let anyone hurt the ones I love. I'll protect my family with my life and procure them to have everything they need to secure their happiness, always." He said quietly yet his voice was dripping with self-restrained anger.
She came closer and tilted her head to the side of his right cheek; her silk blond curls caressed softly Draco's skin like feathers. "Your son also wants you to have it all and he most certainly had procured it already. He was the one who gave you that Swastika charm."
The blond reached above his t-shirt and found the medallion he had around his neck. "My son…he gave me this?"
"Yes, your son made it to protect you and your loving ones. This charm is also preserving the Lifespan Seal you took from Luna: the one that's delaying your own darkness from rising." Narcissa nodded, a nostalgic tone tainted slowly in her ethereal voice.
Draco pulled the medallion out from his shirt, noticing for the first time a buzzing energy coming from it. He felt it'd morphed under his shirt the moment Lucius broke the curse between him and Luna, that's why the bleeding in his eyes stopped. "Delaying it…this means the seal will eventually vanish and my dark side would break free."
"When that day comes, you'd not only earn a new strength but also summon a sinister power. Wherever you will go, there will be nothing but darkness." Her voice was a painful hiss.
Draco suddenly clutched at his chest, his heart was racing. "My son had protected me, even from myself. He'd watched over me all this time."
The Slytherin could barely breathe this time as he struggled to recall the conversation he had once with that certain striking blond small boy, feeling the words echoing at him inside his skull:
"I was born when he was very young and despite what the majority of the people would say, this helped us a lot to bring us together. I'm proud to be my father's son."
"My father would never dare to lay a finger on me. He loves me more than anything in this world."
"Sorry about that, can't blame her for inheriting such weak genes, not many have been blessed like I was."
"Scorpius..." Draco dropped his hand stiffly to his side and whispered. "He didn't know Liam and I were the same person, not until he touched me, and when he did, his face…it glowed."
Narcissa's velvety pale lips curled softly. "That's because you're everything to him, literally."
But as more words and images came crashing inside Draco, they immediately left him with a blank, lost expression:
"The words and feelings of my beloved are the air that fills me whole, the warmth that protects me, the strength that makes me grow, don't take them away from me."
"Don't push me away and look into my eyes. I want what's best for you, can't you see that?"
"There's nothing I wouldn't do for my beloved. Give yourself to me."
"Take me to you; imprison me, for I never shall be free, nor ever chaste, except you ravish me."
Draco felt sick, deadly sick inside. Nausea so powerful he literally had to put one hand over his lips surged into his mouth. A deafening vibration started to shook the floor around him as a crisp, sharp noise creep from the walls of the room, threatening to bring down the ceiling.
Narcissa looked around at the fractured walls, aware that the outbreak in Draco's psyche unleashed the terrifying strength of his own magic. "You are not to blame for that because you've met Scorpius' unstable and unlimited powerful unborn form: the one that's hurting your wife and is fixated in your person…but you've also met his fully-grown, stable and channeled human form: the boy who gave you that charm so that you can secure your happiness and the one of those around you. They might seem two completely different beings but what's important is that the energy in Scorpius is pure. He's a caring child and that's because you raised and taught him how, that's why you can't leave his side. Without you Scorpius' energy and magic is prone to lack of control and unleash chaos."
A painful moan warned mother and son that their conversation was no longer private: Lucius was slowly coming back to his senses.
Narcissa's silvery blue eyes darkened when he rested her gaze on her husband. "Time is running out for me and for you as well but before I go, there's something I have to do."
Draco nodded and didn't move an inch from the spot he'd been standing ever inside he conjured the rite. "I can hold it, don't worry about me."
The fact that Draco didn't repair on the echoes of the desperate and terrified screams of his father filling the room and resounding on the walls confirmed that his attention was deposited in concentrating harder to maintain the balance of the incantation, or so it seemed, because a shameful tear crawled down his cheek in spite of himself.
Once Narcissa returned to Draco's side, she stretched both arms around him and hugged him tight. "Son, there's something else you need to know about Luna's Lifespan Seal. It's true that you need it to stop the darkness from rising, but at the same time it's preventing your soul-mate from giving the strength you're so desperately seeking. If your soul-mate happens to find you, you won't need Luna's Lifespan Seal anymore because you'll be sustained by your soul-mate's Light."
"But I love Luna." Draco's voice was trimmed with angst and despair.
"I see you're confused, don't be." She leaned forward, caressing his cheeks with her soft and warm breath. "A soul-mate is not just a mere object of infatuation or a romantic lover like most people believe; it's much more than that. A soul-mate is the twin flame with whom we have a strong spiritual and magical connection with and trust, loyalty and commitment are mutual."
Narcissa adverted then that the black fluid of the vortex was slowly devouring the luminescence wrapped around her son's body, making its way towards Draco. "We've got no time left."
"No! Please stay with me a little longer. I'd never be able to see you again." The Slytherin broke into deep sobs, as bloody tears ran down his cheeks, cursing himself silently. "Damnit!"
She rested a pale and smooth hand over Draco's heart and looked up, smiling one last time at him. "I promise I'd be there with you, strengthening it."
"I love you mother. Don't forget that. Never forget that..." His voice was trimmed with a painful knot chocking up his throat.
The urge to lean forward the few inches that separated him from hers was undeniable, but Draco knew that the Pentagram's protection was indeed fading.
"And I love you too, my precious son." She whispered softly, placing both her hands against her bosom.
Raising his wand towards the ceiling, Draco called out. "Oh mighty and infinite Supreme Forces, in the hope you will concede my request now that the blessing and consecrating of the elements has been fulfilled, allow Narcissa Black's purified body and redeemed soul aspire to the Light!"
"Now I'm at peace. Thank you." Narcissa's musical voice whispered.
Silvery spiral waves concentrated around her pale figure and sparkled with the rainbow colour spectre before vanishing into countless of star-shaped flakes that raised high onto the ceiling before disappearing in the air.
"This is goodbye mother. At least one of us could reach salvation, you deserved it, not me… I can't be saved." Draco said to himself brushing one hand over his heart before curling it into a tight fist.
lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
The young Slytherin stepped outside the hidden room and then pulled the statue back to its place, sealing the place forever.
"Draco." Luna murmured as she wrapped her arms around herself, shaking and refusing to look straight into his eyes.
He lifted his head slowly, his foggy amethyst blue eyes reflected exhaustion and despair.
"You've heard the conversation between my mother and I." It wasn't a question, Draco knew what was coming.
Luna said nothing at first. She tried to pretend she hadn't overheard, but her watery eyes betrayed her. "I wish I hadn't."
Draco stretched both arms towards Luna for her to come closer. "I promise I would make things right this time, but I need you and our son by my side. I can't live without you: I love you both."
But she recoiled and looked at him with a paper-white scared face. "The baby hates me because he knows I'm terrified of him."
Draco rushed to Luna and wrapped her tight in his loving, protective arms and rested her head against his chest as he caressed tenderly her dirty blond curls with one hand, soothing her. "Your happiness is my only purpose in life and I'm willing to do the unthinkable to make up for my mistakes."
Cupping her chin with one hand, Draco lifted her face to meet his and that's when he repaired on the colour of her eyes as two glassy amethyst blue gems stared back at him. "Luna, your eyes…"
Luna remained still for a long moment before speaking. "The curse in me, it's gone."
Draco noticed the stress she placed in that one word. What in the past had meant an unbreakable bond meant to bring them together developed into a…curse.
She was still shaking with turbulent mixed emotions when she broke forcibly the embrace and took a couple of steps away from him, brushing both hands over her stomach. "I didn't want to believe it at first. I tried to forget what happened in the cemetery underground alley. Now I understand everything: I wasn't myself, I was just his puppet and you were his victim! This can't be my baby, this is an abomination!"
Draco's heart stop beating altogether as the angst fasten its wiring around it squeezing the last drop of his diminished strength, rendering him into an irrecoverable state of shock and despair.
He watched Luna turn her head, walking slowly away from him and Draco couldn't even push his body into motion to stop her, he felt…he just panicked. "What can I do to make you stay?! I'll do anything, anything!"
Drying the tears from her eyes with one hand, Luna turned round and looked at him one last time. "All this pain proves only one thing: we were never meant to be together. The more we deny it, the more we'd suffer. Draco, my feelings for you are strong, yes, but we both know that I don't love you."
Draco clenched one hand over his chest and threw his back against the wall, sliding slowly onto the floor before placing his head between his knees, stifling his sound ragged sobs.
"Were you that desperate to mean something to someone that the end justified the means?" Lucius mocking voice past by his ears, haunting him.
"Yes..." He said to himself, cracking his knuckles against his knees.
Shortly after that, everything around Draco started to appear in-and-out of focus in front of his eyes and the killing headache regained intensity. A rumbling and distorted sound coming from under the floor alerted the blond that the foundations of the dungeons were giving up for good and the reason of all that was because…Draco was pissed to high Hell.
With a loud crack Draco apparated at the last step of the stairs that lead towards the only safe exit from the Mason, scarce feet from where Luna was standing.
He crossed his arms over his lean chest, seizing her from head to toe. "This ain't over, sweetheart."
Looking defiantly, Luna took her wand from behind her ear and pointed straight at him. "Everything that pulled us together is gone, the curses, the bindings spells…all has been destroyed by Lucius!"
"WHAT ABOUT OUR SON?!" Draco yelled, his left eye started twitching. "I might not be the kind of man a woman your sort deserves but that's exactly what encourages me to fight against all odds in order to make you mine!"
Effortlessly and in one consecutive motion, Draco disarmed and seized Luna from behind.
"Whether you like it or not, you're my wife and the mother of my child. I don't care if you'd never match my feelings for you. I'd fill the void between us by showing you every single day of my life what I'm capable of doing in order to brand your heart with mine. Now, regarding the ill doings of our precious baby, his father will teach him how to behave and worship his mother from this day on." He hissed on her ear with a tense voice as he rubbed her stomach with one hand.
Draco grabbed Luna gently but firmly by her shoulders and spun her to face him, locking his sore and enraged amethyst blue eyes of his into her gems.
Leaning closer, Draco pressed the tip of his nose against hers and spoke softly. "Show yourself to me."
He felt Luna's fingers closing firmly the back of his neck as her body slammed against his like a magnet. The moment Draco turned to look at Luna a second time, there was an eerie light on her eyes.
Draco smirked coldly and focused on her pupils. "Do you love me?"
"Yes." That perfect smoothing amethyst blue ocean of hers shined like never before, and her round pupils remained static after such confession.
"I wish those were Luna's words, but they're not and that's because you're not her." Fighting a burning angsty knot crawling up his throat, Draco said. "I love you too. You know that, don't you?"
"Yes, but I don't need to read your eyes to know that." Luna grabbed his hand and placed it over her stomach before returning the stare. "Your love is the one and only power source that's sustaining my life."
A shadow of a smile curled Draco's pale lips. He couldn't remove his eyes from her belly as he kept caressing it softly with his open palm.
Leaning closer, she pressed the tip of her nose against his and purred. "I want my beloved to kiss me deeply."
Draco took a step back and shook his head, sighing soundly. "You're in this unlimitless powerful unborn form but you're my son and I'm your father. We might never have a typical father-and-son conversation because we're not regular people, we're Malfoys."
The blond Slytherin twisted his head around until his neck popped and smirked tightly. "Your love for me is just the clothing for the naked fact of desire. Don't confuse love with desire: desire is physical, love is spiritual. When desire blooms, bodies meet in sex but when love blooms, souls meet in bliss. The flesh and the bones consume and decay, limiting the concept of desire and the act of sex within the boundaries of the flesh, but the soul is eternal, that's why love is ever-lasting, it has no limits. Now that you know the difference and you know that I love you, what do you want to do?"
She bit her lip, thinking carefully her next words. "I want to be able to express what my beloved makes me feel for him."
Grabbing her hands in his, Draco squeezed them tight before looking back at her. "Then do it, but dare to go beyond, dare to touch my soul instead of my flesh. I want what you feel for me to overcome the limits imposed by the body. If you manage to do that, then it'll mean that you're strong and you indeed love me but if you can't, then the only thing you'll prove me is that you've let yourself sink in confusion because you're weak…and Malfoys are not weak!"
With a worried and confused frown, she replied. "But I love and desire my beloved. I want him to desire me as well. I won't accept to receive less than what you give to this body of hers."
Draco's jaw locked. "Do you really want me to treat you like a mere copy of hers or like the unique being you are? You were created with part of me and part of your mother, of course I'd never love anyone the way I'd love you. You haven't got a body of your own yet because you're growing inside your mother and that is what's confusing you."
She slowly took Draco's head in her hands, brought it together with hers and released a soft breath against his lips. "She is also part of you for she has your blood. I don't see why you're making differences between her and me. I want everything you give to her…and more."
He blew a stressful sigh and stretched his back. This was going to require a methodic patience…a quality which Draco unfortunately found difficult to maintain for long when he was beyond pissed. "You want more? Then you're looking for power or ego…probably both but certainly not love. The ego is always asking for power, but love is not a function of ego! So what you feel for me is not love, because it's just part of your search for power, bound to create confusion in you. That's why you can't understand the very thing you think you have understood the most, that's why you're confused with your feelings towards me!"
With a light-speed movement, she grabbed his head in her hands again but this time she kissed Draco hard on the mouth, closing her eyes. "Words in themselves have no meaning, only experiences have meaning."
Pulling away - with as much self-controlled anger as he could master - Draco combed back with one hand his silk blond hair, shooting a piercing look at her. "The mind is a very contradictory thing for it works in polar opposites. But that's why we can always rely on our logic. You're asking yourself why? Well, it's because our logic always chooses one part and denies the other. Use your logic, choose psyche over body. If you're so eager to prove me your power then, your psyche is the only one that contains such never-ending energy, the body only restrains it!"
Placing her little finger against his closed shut lips, she smiled at his pissed-off expression. She then looked intently into his sore eyes and curled his little finger in hers. "Can't you see that you already belong to me? Don't tell me you've forgot the promise you've made to me. You told me that I could ravish you anytime, anywhere, anyhow because you're all mine, always will."
Without giving him time to process those words – or breathing for that matter - she tackled Draco to the ground, hugging him tight in a death grip. The force she used was such that Draco hit his head sideways with the edge of the stairs rest, leaving him momentarily dizzy and with a rebuilding drumming on his ever-lasting headache.
Once Draco's eyes fluttered open he found Luna on top of him, nibbling on his neck, moaning softly. He felt that one of her hands was clenching from the collar of his t-shirt while her other hand was eagerly seizing for gold under his pants. His body tensed when she found her final destination and started massaging its length slowly. Draco was beginning to respond in spite of his emotions and he hated every second of it, he didn't want to react like that, not again.
Draco felt the room spinning, he was breathing rapidly and raggedly through his open mouth. "The further you access my body, the more we'd drift apart. If you're looking to get close to me, you've chosen the wrong way to approach me."
In reply Draco received a vicious slap on a cheek that made him spun abruptly his head to the side, making him feel suddenly nauseous. "Hush, my beloved."
His headache had become a full blown by then, felt like he was about to black-out from the pain. Draco tried to push her away as his body jerked slightly under her. But she was incredible strong and dangerously determined. She restrained Draco grabbing him by his throat as she continued massaging his manhood with her free hand. As she got carried away, she started to get rougher, pushing him to the dangerous edge. Draco tried to draw a breath, but his throat closed with the effort, he was slowly chocking, gasping desperately for air.
Draco threw on the table his last card: reverse psychology. It hurt like hell the moment he tried to bring himself to speak. "If what you're looking for is to treat me like your prey instead of your father…if you choose to act like an instinct-driven animal craving for fresh meat instead of conducting yourself like a rational developing human-being looking for acceptance and support, then go ahead and stuff yourself with my body until you indigest and choke up with your ego! Once your desire dies, toss out what's left of me for the vultures and worms to finish me off!"
She gasped and opened her amethyst blue eyes wide before they started filling themselves with tears. "My beloved is angry at me, why?"
Pulling her hand out from his pants and throat, she hugged Draco tight, shrugging. "I don't want my beloved to be angry at me because he's everything to me and I can't live without him. All I want is to make him happy!"
Draco's voice sounded completely broken yet strangely calm. "If you consider my feelings and you don't want to hurt me this means you're able to control your desire for me and you're learning to love me. Now that you know that the meeting of two bodies can never achieve permanent union and that both of us count with enough energy in our hearts to make our feelings transcend and last forever…would you choose me for who I am, your father, and not your beloved partner?"
"Why are you crying?" Caressing his bruised and swollen cheek with the back of her palm, she hissed. "That makes me angry but also sad. I don't want you to cry. I don't want to feel sad. Don't cry."
Draco massaged his violated throat with one hand and looked up. "Can you promise me two things then?"
She frowned slightly, as if considering carefully her words before replying. "How can commitment be promised aforehead? Before I could grant you my word, I need to hear about it first."
Cupping her hands in his, Draco pressed them against his own heart. "Stop hurting your mother, don't cause her more pain to her body that you've already have, she loves you too."
She shook her head twice, visible burdened. "No! She does not love me and she does not love you either!" She then sucked a sound, deep breath and added. "As long as I'm still growing inside her I can't afford to hurt it. Much. So I'd do as you say."
Draco closed shut his sore eyes for a brief moment and pushed down a tight knot from his throat, his voice sounded raspy and shaky. "Next time the two of us meet I want it to be outside your mother's body, once you're born and have a body of your own. A body that would allow you to be yourself - an unique an unrepeatable precious person – with which what you see, touch, smell and taste would be experienced by yourself with your own senses and through your own body. I can't wait to look into your own eyes, brush my fingers in your own hair and witness your own smile. I can't wait to hear your own voice calling me father, I can't wait…" But his voice died completely, he swallowed painfully.
"I can't wait either…" Her cheeks went burning red. "I want to be with you. NOW!!"
Draco realized he was holding his breath. He tried to release the air out slowly, remembering the relaxing techniques he'd learnt from Slughorn's sessions, but he was starting to choke with his piling angst.
She cupped his chin with one hand and hissed against his lips. "Not being able to see you or touch you…that's a tremendous sacrifice you're asking me."
Draco squeezed his eyes shut to prevent more tears from falling. He was losing control of the situation, literally balancing on the edge of the abyss.
"Stop crying and look at me!" Startled, Draco did as requested and leveled his foggy blue amethyst eyes to meet hers. "If do what you ask, would that be proof enough that I'm strong and worthy enough to be a Malfoy?"
Smirking tightly, Draco nodded silently.
Ducking her head down, staring at her belly, she asked. "How long would I have to wait in order to see you again?" The tone in her voice denoted a marked impatience.
Pressing softly one open hand against her stomach, Draco hissed softly. "It takes nine whole months for a baby to grow inside his mother's womb."
Grabbing his hand in hers she leaned closer until both were nose-to-nose. "I've already spent fifty-nine days inside this loveless vessel and it's torture." Tears started to form on the corner of her amethyst-blue eyes, her voice trimmed slightly. "But I'd endure the pain because I love you and I want to see you again." She finished with an anguish tone.
Wrapping his arms around her, Draco kissed the top of her head. "I love you too, with all my heart. I'd protect and watch over you, always. I'd count the days until you're born." As if releasing a heavy burden from his lungs, Draco breathed soundly. "I'd be here waiting for you, son."
The light in her eyes darkened a bit. "Son?" She asked and pulled away in shock, her face was white as snow. "This means that once I have a body of my own it would look like yours and not like hers?"
Draco swallowed hard, did he just said those words out loud? No, he didn't…did he? Either way, that reaction had indeed worried him as he continued to look at her trailing her fingers past her curves.
"Yes, your body would be the one of a man, like mine." He then smirked sadly and coughed to clear his voice. "Hopefully, not like mine, you'd definitely be stronger and handsomer."
"You're perfect." What followed certainly mesmerized Draco for he never recalled Luna's face had ever smiled so brightly. "I've seen your naked body and hers as well: I prefer yours."
Draco's heart skipped a beat, his face went clammingly white and his controlled composure threatened to crack entirely. He feared what she probably might have implied by saying that.
As if she'd read his confusion and mind, she grinned mischievously. "It's just that I want to be like you and after you told me that I'd also look like you, this means I'd be remotely like her. So the less I have of hers in me and the more I take after you would make me feel better with myself. That would bring us closer: just the two of us!"
Draco didn't blink, evaluating if that was the answer he wanted to hear. His mind was a wreck of distorted thoughts and his sanity was miles away from his reach at that particular moment. He felt his lungs release the air altogether when her arms wrapped around his waist like a tourniquet. Welcoming the embrace, he kissed her forehead.
Luna's eyes fluttered open, and the moment she repaired on her surrounding, she looked utterly lost and confused. "Draco?! You…you're all bruised and bleeding…oh my! What…happened?"
He coughed, contorting his face painfully as he did so and rubbed his watery eyes with two fingers of one hand, shaking his head slowly from side to side unable to bring himself to speak.
Luna grabbed him by his t-shirt and started mumbling. "There was this bright light and…then there was blood in my eyes…but we kissed and I felt completely safe again with you by my side…you rescued me from Lucius…and then…I can't remember…what happened next."
"I owe you one, Scorpius." Draco's lips curled into a mischievous smirk. "We're in the same boat here, but in my case I don't remember kissing you. How about if you refresh my memory a little bit?" He teased, leaning closer but she pulled slightly away and that made Draco's heart missed a beat.
"Draco, when I told you that I loved you I really wanted to believe that but now I know it's nothing in comparison with what you feel about me, I wish I could..." Luna started sobbing soundly, chocking with her own tears.
"STOP! Just stop…" He took a big breath, trying to calm himself and find his voice back before cupping her chin with one hand, lifting her face to face his. "Stop pushing me away and talk to me. Tell me what's happening to you. I have the right to know."
Luna nodded, her fingers trailed down his cheeks, caressing him softly, tenderly. "You've saved me and granted me a second chance to treasure life, now it's time for both us to save each other and treasure what you and I made together." She dropped her hand to the side and gulped nervously before continuing.
Without having to hear the rest of it, Draco was already lost in bliss after hearing those touching words coming from her mouth.
"I'm pregnant." She hissed and squeezed her eyes shut, shrugging herself.
Just like when seizing a once-in-a-life-time opportunity, he jumped right into action without waiting another second. Draco wrapped both arms around Luna's waist and pulled her closer until both bodies were hermetically pressed against the other, not a single trace of air between them. When Luna gasped for air Draco made his move and melted hungrily his lips with hers. As he deepened the kiss, his tongue desperately seeking for entrance, he forced its way inside her mouth as he continued devouring her with an almost diabolical consuming passion.
"This means…this means that you're happy with the news, really?" Luna asked once their lips parted for much needed air, she looked shocked with Draco's reaction and was already light-headed.
With his arms chained tight around her, Draco looked deeply into her amethyst blue eyes. "Of course I'm happy! The woman I love is carrying my child!"
Draco slipped his hand inside the collar of her shirt and undid the knot of the cord that held their wedding rings around Luna's neck. "I love you and I love our baby. There's nothing I wouldn't do for my family."
Kneeling in one leg, Draco took her hand in his. His heart was literally in his throat by then, he'd never been more anxious in his life. "Here and now I renew the promise I'd made to you to stand by your side, protect and watch over you always. Luna, you're my life, my everything...I can't live without you, marry me again."
Luna found herself out of words. She went clammingly pale and seeing her like that was the last thing Draco would have ever expected coming from Luna after confessing her pregnancy. The Slytherin felt his blood literally freezing in synchronicity with her out-of-the-blue reaction.
Her chin started to quiver and tears filled immediately her amethyst blue eyes. "I can't…I'm sorry."
Draco clamped his teeth, mastering as much inhuman self-control as possible not to scream, refraining himself from doing something completely irrational too.
Luna took a deep breath and looked at Draco with pleading watery eyes. "If we stay together, we'd keep hurting each other."
Dropping his head, Draco closed his sore amethyst blue eyes shut for a brief moment, stifling the uncomfortable squeezing pressure located on the center of his chest. His whole body then broke into a cold sweat as he started to experience difficulty trying to breathe. "What does it take to be the man you need?"
She sniffed and swiped the sleeve of her blouse under her nose. "You once told me that you couldn't change the way you were, I accepted that back then and now I understand that if you were to change, then you won't be yourself at all, and I don't want that. If I stay with you, I'd have to change who I am, and that would end up destroying me."
Dragging his blood-shot eyes from the floor - still in his kneeling position - Draco squeezed Luna's hand in his and tried to bring himself to talk, but his mouth felt extremely dry.
"Don't do this…" His voice came with a broken anguish tone, but then, for the first time in his life, Draco swallowed his pride. "Don't do this…for me, do this for our baby. Every child has the right to grow with a mother and a father. I won't let our differences take that away from him. I want both of us to be together and raise this family, we owe this child that much."
"I do want this baby to be happy…" Luna start saying but stopped then she felt that Draco had already slipped the ring back on her finger and cupped her hand in his, forcing her to push the ring back on his finger as well.
Draco grabbed Luna's hand in his, fingers entwined, and kissed both his and her wedding rings.
"This is till death do us part." He sentenced with a toneless voice and got up from the floor.
The Slytherin then curled one of her dirty blond blocks behind her ear and whispered. "Luna Malfoy, understand this once and for all: your place is by my side."
Luna closed her shut eyes with fear as she felt the warmth of Draco's tongue licking the tears from her moisten cheeks and his eager fingertips travelling down the sides of her neck.
"Sweetheart, why the drama? Look at it this way: once the condemnation of living by my side is over you'd spend a blissful eternity without me." He said with a resentful tone on his cracked voice.
The moment Luna looked up she saw that Draco's amethyst blue eyes darkened completely.
"I'm the one who's going to Hell, not you." Tracing his ring finger over her lips, Draco snaked his other arm around her waist and slammed her body against him. "You look tired. You should rest."
With exhaustion pressing her down, Luna nuzzled her head against his shoulder before passing out. Draco then wrapped both arms around her body and lifted Luna up, carrying her bridal-style.
While heading towards the entrance of the tunnel that lead towards the exit, a terrible burn and light assaulted Draco's left eye. He almost stumbled forward from such violent sensation, yet he managed to stable himself on his two feet without releasing his firm grip on Luna's sleepy figure. He pressed his back against the wall for support and started breathing soundly.
"Embrace me and I'll give you power." A demonical taunting, mocking voice past by Draco's ears giving him the shivers.
Draco shook his head, clenching teeth. "No…not yet."
Flashing, brightly colored lights in a zigzag pattern started in the left side of his visual field and progressed outward. A pins-and-needles sensation all over his body rendered him incapable of supporting the weight of his and Luna's body any longer. He fell on his knees and then slumped backwards, cushioning Luna's body from the fall with his own.
As his hand rose shakily to wipe the moisture from his face, Draco couldn't help but to stare at that sticky crimson fluid: it was blood. His left eye was bleeding profusely again.
The horde of infernal voices then warned. "Your enemies are already here, getting closer, and they have only one purpose in mind: to kill you and your lover. You're defenseless now, you can't even move, how are you going to protect what you cherish the most? Choose wisely… choose what makes you stronger…choose what keeps you from dying…"
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A/N:
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Okay people! Time to clear up some major doubts!
Whenever Luna addressed Draco as her "beloved" it wasn't her but Scorpius in his unborn form!! :hysterical girlish scream:
If you re-read the last couple of chapters, you'd understand the marked difference in Luna's attitude (chaining, hurting & submitting Draco) , her remarkable strength (when she confronted Lucius), the change in her voice, the eerie glittering in her eyes, and why she was constantly rubbing her stomach…among other things…well…THAT WASN'T LUNA BUT SCORPIUS!!! Mmmmkay?
(*) Draco explains what are exactly the Maschalismos rituals on CHAPTER XII
If you don't want to go back and read the whole chapter again, here's the extract:
Draco held up a hand as he finished a yawn. "Professor, is it true that the Goblins where the first ones to perform the Maschalismos rituals at those who killed in battle?"
The see-through eyes of the ghost opened wide, staring at the Slytherin with a questioning look, not because he didn't knew the answer, for he was an unquestionable source of knowledge, but because was trying to figure out the blonde's name inside his head. Binns' primary concern was his teachings and never bothered to remember any of his student's names, well…probably except for one.
"That's correct Mr. Malfoy, seems you're keen on the subject, aren't you?" The professor replied with his usual eerie and hollow ghost like voice.
Draco nodded but said nothing, curling his pale velvety lips with a smirk.
"Would you limit yourself to explain the meaning of the Maschalismos rituals to the rest of your classmates?" The ghost asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"The Maschalismos is the practice of physically rendering the dead incapable of rising or haunting the living in undead form." Draco paused as he experienced a strange and unsettling chill all over his body, it was because Binns was standing a couple of inches from him.
"Ten points to Slytherin! I'm glad to have such an intelligent young man back in my classroom." He congratulated with a casual tone heading back to the front of the classroom.
The blond shook his head, trying to get rid of the stricken cold sensation. He narrowed his amethyst blue eyes at the ghost's ethereal projection and added.
"The Goblins mutilated the bodies of their enemies during the Maschalismos rituals: first they got rid of the eyes, ears, nose and genitals and burn them with sulphur. Then they proceeded to cut the extremities off from the dead bodies, fastened the pieces around them, stringing them together, as if they were thus depriving them of strength, so that they would not subsequently terrorize them. The corpses used to wear the extremities on their armpits. The Goblins called this process being armpitted." Draco concluded and leaned back on his sit, noticing that now the rest of his classmates were fully awake with their shocked eyes glued on him and their jaws dropped to the floor.
