CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
PART THREE: END OF WEEK THREE
Andromeda awoke one week ago to the realization she was again in bed with someone other than Kingsley.
But this was not a small child, and this person was half on top of her, squeezing her arms. She opened her mouth to scream, but a hand clamped over her lips.
"It's me!" the person whispered.
"Fuck!" said Andromeda, though the sound was muffled by the hand. "Cissy, get off me!"
"I need to talk to you."
"What time is it?"
"Four, four-thirty? I've just come from Draco and Hermione's..."
"Are they alright?" Andromeda sat up, alarmed, holding the blanket to her chest. Thanks to her sister's white-blonde hair she could see her nodding in the dark.
"They're fine. I asked them to watch over both apothecaries for a week. I want to go away with Severus. When he wakes in the morning, I am surprising him with a trip. That's why I'm here."
"I'd love to go on a trip with you and Severus," said Andromeda, fighting back a yawn as she reclined into her back. "But I'm really very busy at the present..."
"Not with you!" Narcissa smacked her on the abdomen. "I need you to keep Hope for the next several days. We shall return on… Thursday evening. Just shy of one week from now. Please?"
"Cisssssy," whined Andromeda. She had enough going on with her job, Kingsley moving in, Dorcas taking over the sitting room, and Teddy's tutoring and therapy.
"We cared for your grandson for three months without question or complaint." Narcissa narrowed her eyes. "The least you can do is help me save my marriage by-"
"How is your marriage?" Andromeda rolled onto her side. Narcissa knelt on the floor, arms folded on the mattress, facing her sister. On the other side of the bed, Kingsley snored, blissfully unaware they had a guest.
"Oh, Andromeda, that shop ought to be called the Court of Miracles. We spent tonight having the best sex we've had in… ever, maybe. Definitely the best we've had together. Four times thus far and I'm banking on at least once more when we wake up. Shattering a record for us. I won't be able to walk by breakfast."
"Lovely." Andromeda said tonelessly. Meanwhile, she and Kingsley were going on how long without? More than six months, not counting that quickie in the facility.
"Get up," whispered Narcissa. "Come downstairs, make tea, and talk to me. My husband is dead to the world for at least another couple of hours and I need to tell someone about tonight."
"What's there to tell? You went home, had sex, enjoyed it… lather, rinse, repeat… and plan to do so again at sunrise. Besides, the kitchen is too close to the sitting room. We'll wake Dorcas."
"Let's lock ourselves in the loo, then. I have to talk to someone!"
"I can't get up right now, Cissy, I'm naked. It's four in the morning, I'm naked, and I want to go back to sleep. I have to work tomorrow!"
"You're naked?" Narcissa pinched the fabric of her oversized Holyhead Harpies t-shirt, which had belonged to Ted.
"I'm naked from the waist down."
"So you're not wearing knickers is what you're saying?"
"That's what naked from the waist down means, yes." Andromeda rolled her eyes. "Can I go back to sleep now? I'll be happy to watch Hope until you get back."
"Is… is the Minister naked too? From the waist down?"
"He's naked everywhere," answered Andromeda, slightly testily. "Why?"
"I just… is he a sound sleeper?"
As if to answer her question, he let out a loud snore and rolled onto his back.
"Why?" asked Andromeda. "Do you intend to assault him?"
"No! But… I mean, a little look wouldn't hurt, would it?" She leaned across her sister, eying his curiously. He was covered to his mid-chest by the blanket...
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Andromeda slapped Narcissa sharply on the wrist.
"I've never seen… a… you know. Man like him. Naked. From the waist down."
"A Ministry official?"
"You know!" Narcissa pinched Andromeda, who winced. In a whisper, she added, "A black man. Is he big?"
"That's a stereotype."
"Is it a true one?"
"I refuse to answer that, and I can't help thinking I ought to be offended by your question on his behalf, though he'd probably tell you the stereotype is steeped in truth because he's a man and men are like that. In any case, please don't fetishize my... Kingsley." Andromeda was glad her sister probably couldn't make out the blush creeping into her cheeks given the complete darkness of the room. "And no, you may not look upon him naked from the waist down. I think that erotic shop has addled your brain, you oversexed, empty-headed sea slug."
"I'll let you see Severus naked in exchange."
Andromeda snorted. "Why would I want to?"
Even in the dark, Andromeda could tell her sister was highly insulted. Before she could make a thing of it, Andromeda added, "Trust me, Cissy, I've seen enough of them to know they all look more or less the same. Sure, there are some deviations in size, color, and curve, and some are cut while others are not, but ultimately it's just a veiny, velvety rod with a hooded little head at one end and two sweaty balls stuck side-by-side in a sack of skin on the other."
"That is probably the most unappetizing description of the male anatomy ever to be spoken aloud," said Narcissa, clearly disappointed.
"It's a cock, Cissy, not a beef wellington. It doesn't have to be made to sound appetizing."
"Armondida," Kingsley mumbled, rolling onto his side and placing a hand on her left hip. "You talking a-someunn?"
"No, love, you're dreaming. Go back to sleep."
"Mmkay." He fell back to his back. Snoring commenced.
"Cissy, I'll watch Hope, she'll be fine. Go home and enjoy Severus for the next week, and don't ever, ever, ever again offer to let me see him naked. Promise?"
"Goodnight, Meda." Narcissa kissed her sister on the forehead. Andromeda shoved her away. "Thank you!"
She rushed from the room, noisily closing the door behind her.
"Wassat Narcissa?" Kingsley mumbled, rolling again, this time to spoon Andromeda under the blankets.
"Yes, dear. She heard you're into having two women at once and wanted to volunteer her services, but I told her you find incest a turn-off."
"Mmhm, yes, I see," he mumbled, nodding as if she'd made an excellent point. His eyes did not open. She giggled and wrapped her arms around his around her waist.
"Go back to sleep, love."
The next morning, he was surprised when Andromeda told him Narcissa had dropped in to ask them to keep Hope.
"When was she here? I didn't see her."
"No, you just missed her." She kissed him before slipping from the bed in search of her work attire.
"I'm going to put up the photographs today, if you don't mind." He pulled himself from the bed, too, but most unwillingly as it was warm and comfortable and he was not looking forward to spending the entire day entertaining foreign dignitaries.
"I don't mind."
He'd shown them to her the night before. Three framed pictures, two of which had been on the walls in his Ministry residence, and one that he'd kept hidden in a drawer but now felt ought to be displayed. The first featured his parents, taken a number of years ago when they'd renewed their wedding vows, the second was of him and his beloved great-grandmother, who passed when he was nine, and the third was of a young Kingsley with an afro, wearing seventies bellbottoms, holding a baby in his lap. His son, Brighton. One of only two pictures he had of the two of them.
He put the one of his parents and the one with his grandmother on the wall, where she had up a number of family photos, and set the one with the baby on the mantle – the place of honor.
"It's a lovely picture, Minister Shacklebolt," she said, content with its placement between one of toddler Nymphadora and the one she'd put up to replace the torn one with Ted. "Every day, it feels more like you live here."
"I do live here." He kissed her cheek. "Do you regret inviting me to move in?"
"Not at all." She'd turned and wrapped her arms around him and drew him down into a deep kiss, one that was promptly interrupted by Teddy, Hope, and Dorcas, all seeking breakfast.
That was one week ago, and in the seven days since, Andromeda felt they'd done a stellar job of raising one whiny toddler, one feisty child, and one shy girl who presented more like an anxious twelve-year-old than a woman of twenty.
Which is why it was particularly upsetting when Harry Potter showed up after work on Thursday with fire in his green eyes, his mouth set in a perpetual frown.
"You have a prostitute living here?" he growled, pushing his way in without invitation as soon as she'd opened the door. "You have a drug addicted prostitute sharing a bedroom with my godson!"
"Well she couldn't sleep on the couch forever, and his room is a decent size. We put up a wall to turn it into two, so they have their own private living spaces, though currently Teddy is sharing his with his cousin; I hope that's not a problem." Her tone was snarky but what she'd said was true. "What business is it of yours?"
"What business?" Harry stalked from the sitting room to the kitchen and back again, eyes darting around the room as if looking for contraband or paying customers. "Teddy is my business! Remus named him my godson so-"
"So you could do as well by him as Sirius did by you?"
It was a low blow and she instantly regretted it when his face contorted in furious pain.
"I told you before I'd not sit idly by and let him be raised by a-"
"A what, Harry? What are you going to call me this time? A slag? An addict? An alcoholic? I've heard them all – from you, from the Prophet, from perfect strangers on the street – and they don't even hurt anymore." This wasn't quite true. While she had indeed heard them all before, they still hurt. Every time.
"I don't want my godson growing up in a… in a…"
"In a… whorehouse? A brothel? A den of iniquity? Why do you think she's living here? Do you think I've got her working for me, servicing men for money in the room she shares with Teddy? Do you assume we're getting high together while Kingsley is at work? Do you really think so little of me that-"
"I don't know what to think of you!" He threw up his hands. "I haven't even seen Teddy since you were in St. Mungo's with Dragon Pox, and-"
"You saw him when I was in St. Mungo's?"
Harry stilled. Obviously that had been a secret, one even Teddy had managed not to divulge.
"Hermione!" breathed Andromeda, as his mind was not closed enough to keep her out. "She took Teddy to see you when I was ill."
"He's my godson. I have every right to-"
"As I told you before, Mr. Potter, he is legally my child, and I'll say who gets to see him. I wish you could be among those regularly in his life, but as you've been unable to shake this problem you have with me, I'll not have him-"
"HARRY!" Teddy flew down the stairs and flung himself at his godfather. "You comed!"
"Came," corrected Andromeda. Harry shot her a look as if the boy's mistaken grammar was her fault.
"Blame your sneaky little friend for that one," she snapped. "Hermione's been working with him on his grammar and punctuation since I returned to work and he seems to be getting worse with it."
"I'm here, Teddy!" Harry tossed him into the air and caught him, wrapping him in a hug. "I've missed you, and so have Ginny and James Sirius!"
"I can come over?" Teddy looked hopefully to his grandmother.
"Not tonight," she said. "I'm making dinner."
"He can come to Grimmauld Place for dinner," Harry argued. "I'll bring him back after."
"Yay!" Teddy hugged Harry around the neck.
"No," said Andromeda firmly. "He will not be going. Not tonight. His therapist missed Tuesday's session because she was sick, so she's making it up tonight. He also has some Metamorph practices to do for his tutor, and academic workbook pages to complete before Hermione sees him tomorrow afternoon. Not tonight."
"Please, Nana? I want to go with Harry."
"You can come with me, mate." Harry flipped the boy upside down, to his delight, and turned to Andromeda. "I'll bring him back straight after dinner for his therapy session."
"I said no." Andromeda moved swiftly to Harry and took Teddy from him, balancing the boy on her hip. "I'll not have you undermining me in my home, Harry. I said no and I meant no. As his parent-"
"You will never be his parent." Harry ruffled Teddy's hair, keeping his tone and expression much lighter than his words. "You are his grandmother, Tonks and Remus were his parents, and I-"
"Have no legal power over him, so I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Again."
"This is a mistake, Andromeda." Harry allowed himself to be led toward the door. "You're only hurting Teddy."
"Think about why you came here today, Harry. Think about the words you used, the tone, your actions. I am not your enemy, but since my stay in the facility you've been treating me-"
"Treating you like the person who was found half-dead on the floor by a traumatized five-year-old?"
"Are you going to throw that back in my face for the rest of my life? The way you've treated me since, it's clear you think it would have been better for all of us had I been found fully dead instead of only half." She both looked and sounded hurt, and by the way he avoided eye contact, she was certain he felt badly. Though not enough to apologize or contradict her statement.
"I care for Teddy as if he were my own son. I wish they'd left him to me-"
"But they didn't." She opened the door. Teddy was still on her hip, his eyes darting from his grandmother to his godfather and back again, a worried expression on his face. His hair turned from pink and curly to black and unruly, and his eyes went green.
"Maybe tomorrow for dinner?" asked Teddy in a small, hopeful voice. He did not understand what was happening between the grownups, but he knew he did not like it.
"I don't think so," said Andromeda stonily, at the same time Harry, wearing a forced smile, said, "Soon, mate!"
Kingsley arrived via Floo as Andromeda was closing the door.
"Was that Narcissa for Hope?"
"No." Andromeda set Teddy down. "Go help Hope clean up the art table, then come back down to wash for dinner."
"But Nana…"
"Now."
He obeyed, but he stomped up every stair and slammed the door when he reached his room, prompting Hope to shout, "AUNTIE! TEDDY SLAMMED THE DOOR!"
"Kingsley," said Andromeda calmly, facing him. She held out her arms. "I need you to hold me."
She did not cry, not quite, but she buried her face against his soft woolen Muggle jumper and struggled to breathe evenly. She told him what had happened.
"It's Teddy who suffers. I don't want to keep him from Harry because I know their relationship is important, but if that holier-than-thou little git doesn't stop looking at me like I'm the Whore of Babylon…"
"I don't know what the Whore of Babylon is."
"The mythological mother of harlots." Thinking of Dorcas, she chortled bitterly. "Which I am, in a sense, I suppose. The point is, it's the same fight with Harry. He thinks, because of what happened in April, I am incapable of raising Teddy. He refuses to see how far I've come, or to care about all the time and effort I've put into getting better. I do not understand how he, of all people, can fail to understand that people change. He admires Severus, a man he spent years hating. He is friendly with Draco, his boyhood rival. But what I did, that's so unforgivable?"
"I'll speak with Harry."
"Don't bother."
"I will. I want to. I don't intend to scold or threaten him, but I want to understand his position. I want to know why he harbors such anger toward you."
She sighed, then breathed deeply, again inhaling the mixed scent of his jumper and soap.
"You smell incredible," she murmured against his chest. "Could I eat you for dinner?"
He laughed, his big, booming laugh, and kissed the top of her head. "Hope is still here?"
"I received an owl requesting 'one more night.' I hope that means it's going well and not that Cissy's killed him and needs more time to dispose of the body."
She took his hand and led him into the kitchen, where cottage pie was almost ready. She put a small portion on a plate and began mushing and mixing it up for Hope, who wouldn't eat it otherwise.
"This is one of my favorite meals." He wrapped his arms around her from behind. "I meant what I said last night, Andromeda."
"I know you did," she said quietly.
"I respect you for the independent woman you are, but-"
"I know, Kingsley." She turned to put the little ones' plates on the table. "Let me think it over."
"Alright." He placed a quick peck on the end of her nose, which made her smile. "I'll summon the children."
"And Dorcas."
"I was including her when I said 'the children.'"
"She's an adult."
"Had my son survived, he'd be older than she is, just as Nymphadora would be. Considering, I think it's appropriate for us to include her among the children." He kissed her again before heading for the stairs. She finished serving and poured drinks while she waited for them to come down. About a minute later, Kingsley reentered with pink-haired Teddy by his side and Hope in his arms. Dorcas trailed behind.
"Could I help you with anything?" she whispered, looking anxiously at Andromeda as if she would be punished for not offering sooner.
"All I need you to do is sit." Andromeda took Hope from Kingsley and placed her on the chair that had been transfigured to be taller than the others. Teddy sat across from her, Dorcas sat beside her, and Andromeda and Kingsley settled at either end. If Andromeda squinted, she could almost pretend she was sitting down for dinner with her daughter and two grandchildren – Nymphadora had been clear from early in her pregnancy she wanted more than one – and with Ted. As much as she loved Kingsley, and she truly did, there was still a part of her that lamented that life lost, growing old with the man she'd fallen for at age sixteen, never leaving the home they'd saved up to buy together, watching their daughter enjoy her child as they'd enjoyed theirs.
"Alright, woman?" asked Kingsley.
She smiled.
"I'm fine, thank you, and don't call me woman."
That night, after dinner, Dorcas offered to take Hope up to give her a bath and plait her hair while Teddy had his therapy session. Kingsley retired to the desk he'd moved from his Minister's Quarters into her bedroom – their bedroom – to do some paperwork, while Andromeda busied herself cleaning and reorganizing the kitchen.
About five minutes into Teddy's session, though, she heard something that made her curious.
"Harry Potter Cat is not allowed in the house. He's a bad cat and Nan – I mean, Mummy Cat – does not like him anymore."
She never spied on his sessions, fully and firmly believing he had the same right to privacy while in therapy as any adult could expect, but she crept toward the door to have a look and listen.
He was seated on the floor across from Healer Artemisia Bonham with Nymphadora's old handmade wooden dollhouse between them. The house was impressive. It had three floors, plus an attic with a sloped ceiling, multiple bedrooms, a kitchen, dining room, one and a half bathrooms, a nursery, a formal parlor, and a small casual sitting room (complete with wooden Muggle telly, designed to mimic those made in the 1950s with a picture that changed with the turn of a crank). Nymphadora had turned one of the bedrooms into a Potions lab and made Quidditch and Weird Sisters posters for the walls of one of the other bedrooms, but most of it was decorated exactly as it had been when they bought it in 1978. It had been an extravagant purchase at the time, but one they never regretted.
The Therapy Cats were spread out in front of the house. Teddy had one in each hand. In his left, the Mummy, a dark gray tabby wearing a green and pink dress and pearl necklace. In his right, the orange tabby with the glasses whose head had been magically reattached after the incident with Hope.
"Why doesn't Mummy Cat like Harry Potter Cat anymore?"
Teddy shrugged. He dropped Harry Potter Cat on the floor. "Mummy Cat gets mad sometimes. Harry Potter Cat gets made too. I don't know why." He reached for a tuxedo cat wearing a red jumper and jeans. "Kings – I mean, Daddy Cat – he never gets mad… mostly."
"No?"
Teddy shook his head.
"There's a new cat." He reached into the bag, rummaging around until he pulled out one that was bigger than the Teddy and Hope kittens but smaller than the Mummy and Daddy. "This is Big Sister Cat. She lives up here." He placed her in one of the bedrooms.
"Tell me about these cats." She tapped the two little ones, a boy and a girl. "Are they still 'in a fight'?"
"No." Teddy picked up the boy kitten. "Teddy Cat is trying to be nicer to Cousin Cat from now on because she is smaller and stupider than him."
Andromeda hid a snicker.
"How does Teddy Cat feel about having two more big cats in the house?"
Teddy shrugged. "He likes having Daddy Cat, but…"
"But…?"
"But it's not really Daddy Cat." He picked up the tuxedo cat in the red jumper and threw him into the attic. "There's no real Daddy Cat and Mummy Cat. Just pretend."
"Why don't we switch them out, then?" Healer Bonham suggested gently. She reached for Mummy Cat. "We could put Nana Cat in the house, and-"
"No!" He grabbed her back, clutching her to his chest. "I want Mummy and Daddy Cat with the kittens and Big Sister Cat. And Baby Cat." He tapped the tiny calico in the cradle. "Baby Cat died in real life but in my pretend he's a little brother."
"He died in real life?"
In the doorway, Andromeda cocked an eyebrow. She felt just as confused as the Healer looked. Teddy pointed to a picture on the mantle, the one featuring young Kingsley with his baby son in his lap, and she understood.
"That was Kings – Daddy Cat's baby. He died, like the real Mummy and Daddy Cat." Teddy screwed up his face like he might cry. "It's not fair. I want a real family."
"You have a real family, Teddy. We've talked about this. What is a family? People who love each other, people who may or may not live togeth-"
"Freddy Weasley has a mummy and daddy who live together, and Orlando Granger has a mummy and daddy but they live in different houses, and Hope has a mummy and daddy on holiday, and-"
"Not every child has a mummy and daddy. I told you about when I was your age, remember? I did not have a daddy."
"Your daddy leaved."
"He did. He left before I was born, and I was raised by my mummy alone, and that's okay – my mother and I were family. We loved each other and shared our home, and we didn't need a daddy or a baby brother to be a real family."
"Daddy Cat got mad at Teddy Cat one time." Teddy picked up the tuxedo cat and the boy kitten. "When Nana – I mean, Mummy Cat – was sick in the faculty…"
"Facility."
"Facility. Daddy Cat taked Teddy Cat to a football tournament, like for Quidditch but it's a Muggle sport. The kids all got signed up and put on teams and the teams played matches against each other. I got on the Silver Dragons. At break time for lunch they said, 'Go find your mums and dads.' I went to Kingsley. I mean, Teddy Cat went to Daddy Cat." Teddy made the kitten move as if running toward the tuxedo cat. "But then after lunch, this boy…" He reached into the bag for another boy kitten. "He said, 'That's not your dad!' and Teddy Cat said, 'Is too!' and the boy said 'No! He don't look like you!'" Teddy moved both kittens like they were speaking to each other. "Teddy Cat said 'He is too my dad and you don't know anything!' and the boy said, 'I bet you don't even have a dad!' and Teddy Cat got mad and then King – Daddy Cat – got mad too."
"What did Teddy Cat do when he got mad?"
Andromeda strained to see, leaning farther into the room, as Teddy used the kittens to act out one pushing the other down and kicking him in the face.
"Teddy Cat called him a stupid git and a bloody tosser and maybe kicked him in his face one or two or five times."
"One or two or five?"
"Maybe five." Teddy put both kittens down and reached for the tuxedo cat. "Daddy Cat picked up Teddy Cat and the lady with the list of names said we had to go home and never come back because they don't allow bullies in the football teams."
"And Daddy Cat was angry with Teddy Cat for this?"
Teddy ducked his head and sniffled. "He said…" Teddy dropped his voice low and tried to look stern, imitating Kingsley when in Minister mode. "'Young man, you are supposed to kick the ball, not your teammates. I am very disappointed in your behavior.' If Teddy Cat had a real dad…"
"Dad or no dad, you know it was very wrong to kick that boy in the face."
Teddy nodded.
"But it was also very wrong of him to tease you like that. He was bullying, and it's okay to admit he hurt your feelings."
Teddy nodded again.
"Let's try something. I'll hold Daddy Cat, you hold Teddy Cat, and Teddy can tell Daddy how he felt when he had to leave that football tournament."
Teddy held up Teddy Cat and spoke in a squeaky voice – his cat voice. "Daddy Cat, I feeled bad because I made you mad and you were very disappointed, but I was mad too. I was mad at the boy and also I was mad at you and also I was mad at Nana and my real dad. I was mad at my real dad the most because he did not love me like how my mummy did not love me."
Andromeda clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a gasp.
"Why do you think your mummy and daddy didn't love you?" asked Healer Bonham-as-Kingsley/Daddy Cat, her voice deep. She moved the tuxedo cat closer to Teddy Cat to pat the toy comfortingly on the arm with a fuzzy plastic paw.
"When Nana was sick, everybody said 'she is getting better because she loves you.' Then she comed home because she got better, because she loves me. But mummy and daddy didn't come home because they didn't get better because they didn't… they didn't…" Teddy dropped the cat. His face crumpled, and he began to cry. Andromeda nearly darted into the room to hold him, but Artemisia, catching the movement, shook her head. The Healer pulled Teddy into her arms and rocked him, but waved his grandmother back.
Andromeda hovered just out of sight in the doorway through the rest of the session, listening as Healer Bonham calmed Teddy and reassured him that he was loved and that 'getting better' didn't work that way. She reminded him that the real Harry Potter's mum and dad died when he was a baby too and that his mother loved him so much her love was the reason he was able to defeat You Know Who.
"My mummy and daddy loved me like that?" asked Teddy hopefully, cradling the Teddy Cat against his chest. "Nana shows me pictures, but I don't remember them."
That night, in bed, Andromeda snuggled up to Kingsley and told him about the session.
"It might be good for him to talk to Harry about that," said her boyfriend delicately. "I could take him to Grimmauld Place and supervise the conversation, but hearing it from Harry directly might mean more than hearing it from a Healer. And Harry can reassure him that his parents loved him."
"I tell him that!"
"I know you do." He wrapped his arms more tightly around her. She rested her cheek against his bare chest. Now that Dorcas was sharing the divided room with the children, they weren't getting up all night to crawl into bed with the adults. It seemed just knowing she was nearby was enough to keep them feeling safe and staying tucked in, which meant Kingsley could sleep in nothing but undershorts… or less… though Andromeda continued to remain at least partially dressed in case of emergencies (tonight in a tight tank top and pajama bottoms).
"I tell him all the time how much his mother loved him, how much I love him. I don't understand why he's so desperate for a mother and father, why I'm not enough."
"It's not about you." He ran his fingertips up and down her forearm, the one resting across his midsection. "Your parents didn't die when you were a baby. You didn't grow up unable to remember them."
"He didn't worry so much about this when he was smaller."
"Now he's bigger. And I hate to say it, but I think the fear of losing you exacerbated his sense of loss in regards to them. When he was smaller, he didn't know what he was missing. You were the only parent he'd ever known. As he gets older, he's realizing he's different from other children, and he's afraid you won't be here forever. That's why he wants a mother and father and a promise of permenancy."
"You sound like Artemisia Bonham." She kissed the center of his chest, letting the fuzzy hair there tickle her nose before pulling back. "How did you get so smart?"
"I've been reading a book Narcissa lent me. You should read it too. It's called Stages of Grief. There's a whole chapter on orphaned children."
"Kingsley?" She took his wrist and rolled onto her right side, pulling him with her so they were spooning. He nuzzled against the back of her neck. "Why do you want me to quit my job?" That's the request he'd made the night before, that she quit St. Mungo's once and for all. "If I don't work, what will I do all day?"
"Tutor Dorcas. Work with Teddy. Shop. Clean. Cook. Do the crossword." He pressed his lips to the soft skin of her shoulder. "Be my woman."
"Live to serve you?"
He laughed. "Quite the opposite. I want a queen, not a house-elf."
"I work because I have to, because-"
"But you don't have to. I have money."
"You want me for a trophy wife, like Narcissa?"
"You've been working – and working hard – for over thirty years. Would it be so bad to be my trophy wife?" He coaxed her onto her back and pressed his lips gently to hers, positioning his body over her. "You could write that book Healer Smelthwick said you should. You have a talent for words. And you don't enjoy directing patients, do you?"
"Not at all."
"You take care of me, woman." Their lips met in another tender kiss as his fingers splayed against her rib, under her tank-top. "Let me take care of you."
"I still can't believe I'm sleeping with the Minister for Magic," she murmured against his mouth. "I'm going to be trophy wi… the trophy girlfriend of a very powerful man."
He chuckled without pulling away, so she felt the vibration of his laugh against her lips.
"Let me have you tonight." His hand ventured up higher, over her breast under her shirt. "Let me make you feel…"
"Yes," she whispered, slipping her hands up his arms to rest on the backs of his shoulders. "Yes, Kingsley, please…"
A/N:
Sorry this one was a little shorter. Hope you enjoyed seeing some of Teddy's therapy.
Thank you to somethingnew2016, clarasnotlikely, lilikaco, emrldapplejuice, sassanech, kalilje, and FrancineHibiscus for reviewing Chapter 28!
-AL
