9

Father, My Father—Chapter 44

7 January 1950

Cassius loved being held by this big person, the one who was taller and stronger than Mama, not as soft and cuddly, but offering a great sense of security. He really loved it when the person walked him around and let him see all the wonderful toys that set just out of reach. With his head stuck up over Abraxas' shoulder, he cooed and smiled a toothless grin at the multitude of things he planned to explore as soon as he figured out how to move on his own. His hands grasped ineffectually at passing tapestries and vases and oh, so many fun things.

They entered the parlor where Mama and this one—'Rax', he was pretty sure—liked to sit at the black music toy. Rax made such pretty sounds with it, but when Mama tried it shrieked and moaned. Oh, there was another big person! Cassius thrashed and tried to turn around.

"Frank, hello. I'm surprised to see you," said Abraxas, motioning for the wizard to sit on the sofa in the front parlor. "I thought you had work to catch up on, that you'd be out of commission, so to speak, for a while."

"Hi, Abraxas," Frank said, avoiding his eyes. He scooted over and sat, tapping his foot nervously. He gave a little wave to the baby eying him. "Hello, Cassius."

Abraxas seated himself on a chair opposite his friend, then lowered his son to his lap and turned him so he could see Frank as he leaned in the crook of his father's elbow. "So, what's going on?"

"Um…" Frank began. He cleared his throat.

"Forgive my manners. Can I get you a drink?"

"No. No, thank you." Frank shook his head and began again. "I guess the easiest way to say this is just to say it. Jessica and I eloped."

Long pause. "Eloped? Why?"

Frank blushed uncomfortably. "We've been together for a long time, Abraxas—a few years longer than you and Thalia. The planned wedding was another year away."

"I'm not really following," said Abraxas, pulling a string the baby had found from Cassius' mouth. "You wanted to get married because I'm married?"

"No! We wanted…" He glanced around and said in a hushed tone, "We wanted sex. Have you got any idea how hard it is to wait so long?"

"I can imagine," admitted Malfoy. It had been difficult to wait for Thalia, and he'd known her less than a year and a half before they wed.

"Well, I guess we got tired of waiting, because a couple days before your party we were messing around and…it just happened. I know, I know, it doesn't 'just happen', we let it." Frank seemed to be very taken with a certain spot on the floor. "Then she got scared, afraid she'd get pregnant and we'd be shamed publicly, so we agreed to wed immediately."

"Before the Christmas ball? And you didn't tell us?" asked Abraxas, evidently wounded.

"No, we got married on the last day of the year, but we'd already decided upon it by the time of the party," Frank corrected him. "We didn't mention it at the ball because Jessica didn't want to steal your thunder—Cassius' introduction to society."

That explained why Frank and Jessica had seemed so distracted and distant and secretive, Abraxas mused. "She's not pregnant, is she?"

"I don't think so. It's too soon to tell, but I highly doubt it." Frank shifted in his chair. All these years he'd thought Abraxas was the prude, and here he was having a devil of a time talking about intimate relations. And he was nearly a doctor! Maybe that was the key—talking to Abraxas about it. "This past week we went on a short honeymoon. Since the announcement will be in the paper tomorrow, I wanted you to hear it from me." Frank shoved himself to the back of the sofa, forcing himself to face Abraxas. His right hand fiddled with the pinkie ring on his left, the sign of his bond to his new wife.

"I see." Abraxas smiled, though he didn't feel like it. He felt left out, to be honest, and guilty for feeling that way. Frank had every right to do whatever he wished without recriminations from his best friend. "Congratulations! You will allow us to put on a reception for you, at the very least?"

"I think Jessica would like that. And so would I," Frank added, smiling wanly. "My parents were so shocked when I told them that they didn't even think about congratulating us. Jessica's parents weren't any better."

"They were looking forward to the wedding. We all were," blurted Abraxas. The moment he said it, he regretted it. Frank obviously already felt bad enough for disappointing his family, he didn't need it from his friends, too.

"They practically accused me of taking advantage of Jess, saying I pressured her into it, which I didn't. Now her family is pissed at me." Frank sighed heavily.

"They'll get over it."

Frank nodded. This was supposed to be a happy time; why did everyone seem so blasted sad or angry? They should have gone according to the plan, or just moved up the wedding, but it was too late for that. "You're still my best mate, Abraxas, even if I never had a best man."

"And don't forget you're to be my son's godfather," Abraxas reminded him. It cheered him to see Frank smile at that.

"Thank you. I was sort of afraid you'd be cross and choose someone else." He reached out his arms and Abraxas handed the child to him. "Cassius, my boy, remember Uncle Frank? One day perhaps my children will be your playmates."

Cassius, standing on Frank's lap supported by his hands, slapped and squeezed at the man's face. He had that tickly, rough stuff on his cheeks like Rax often had. Mama's face was smooth and soft. He reached out to twist Frank's lips into something obviously very painful, then grabbed Frank's earlobe and gave a tug.

Abraxas watched his son mauling his companion, his heart lifting. So they'd missed out on the wedding, it didn't take anything from their friendship. With any luck, soon Cassius would have a playmate who'd be his best mate; he deserved as good a friend as Frank had always been for Abraxas. "I should call Thalia in, she'll need to get a list of people you'd like invited to the reception."

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The moment Horatio left the manor, Nicolette was tempted to run for the orchard, but she knew better. It could be a trick, a trap. Best to wait half an hour or so, then casually stroll down as if for a brisk walk. Pacing in her room, she waited out the time, then sneaked down to her husband's bedroom. The door was open, and he appeared to be gone. Good.

Nonchalantly she left the house and headed for the orchard, for her special spot. When she arrived, she carefully looked about to make sure no one was there. As a safeguard she took her wand from her pocket—the wand she'd bought a couple of years ago and kept hidden from Horatio after he broke her last one—and she cast a hominem revelio; no one was around. Hurrying to the tree trunk where she'd stashed the letters from Margentis, she stuck her hand in and withdrew them, automatically counting to make sure all were present. A relieved breath escaped her.

She sat down on the flat rock, facing the manor in order to watch for anyone coming, and slowly pored over each letter, committing it to memory before incinerating it with her wand. One by one they disappeared in flashes of blue light. When the last one had gone up in flames, she sighed and leaned back on her hands. It saddened her, yet it had been necessary.

The very last letter had mentioned Cassius, comparing him to Abraxas when he was a baby, when she and Horatio and 'Margentis' had all been together still. A flood of memories suddenly washed over her.

"Abraxas, look at me," a young Margentis was saying. He bounced the tiny boy on his knee, laughing as Abraxas gurgled and giggled. "Who do you love?"

"Give him to me!" snapped Horatio, grabbing the infant from him and slinging him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "He's not your son."

"Of course he's not. That doesn't mean I can't love him."

"He's supposed to love me!" Horatio replied coldly.

Nicolette came forward timidly, insinuating herself between the men. "He can love both of you, can't he?"

"Nicolette, stay out of this," advised Horatio. "I've had my fill of people interfering in our lives, telling me what to do with my own son. First my parents, now him."

"I didn't tell you anything," Margentis protested.

"And you'd better not." The manner in which he said it left little room for doubt that it was a thinly veiled warning. "Why don't you leave us. I'd like to be alone with my wife."

Nicolette sighed again. Horatio's parents had died not long after this incident, ostensibly from dragon pox. While it wasn't unheard of, she failed to grasp where they might have caught it, and why or how it managed to strike so hard, so suddenly. If she'd dared, she might have gathered the courage to suggest Horatio had played a part somehow, but she had no proof. Saying it out loud may have been tantamount to signing her death warrant—even now it might result in the same. After all these years, did it really matter?

Slowly she got up and headed for the house, the afternoon sun already low in the sky. Where did the time go?

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The piano sounded the last haunting final notes of the song Abraxas was playing; he stopped and let his hands drop as he looked over at Thalia cuddling Cassius. She'd been listening to him play music as she fed the baby, then rocked him to sleep. God in heaven, he loved watching his wife and son—nothing in the world gave him such a sensation of love welling in his chest.

"That was beautiful, Brax. You're so skilled," she said softly. Then in a playful tone added, "In more ways than one."

"Oh?" he answered, smirking. He slid out from the bench to come join her on the sofa. Settling down next to her, he stroked Cassius' blond, downy head. "What ways might those be?"

"Well," she said, looking up at the ceiling and pursing her lips, deep in thought, "You're good at horseback riding, and archery—and healing, of course, and…hmmm…and dancing. Yes, you're a very good dancer."

"Ah," he said, eyes twinkling. "You can't think of any other ways?" His finger trailed from her cheek down her neck, and he leaned in to nibble at her. "You had an appointment with Dr. Cullin today. What did he say?"

"That I'm all healed up and can resume marital relations whenever I feel ready." Her head tilted back, the better to allow his fervent kisses on the hollow of her throat. A light moan escaped. "Alright, I admit it, you're good at that, too!"

"That's right, tell me," he purred in her ear. "Let's go back to our bedroom and you can tell me how good I am—preferably very loudly."

Very gently Thalia bent over to place Cassius on the sofa, kissed his brow, then using her wand erected a barrier to keep the infant from rolling off. She turned to Abraxas, stood up, took his hand, and led him to the other side of the room. With a single shove to his chest, she sent him dropping to a seated position.

Straddling his legs, she said in a throaty voice, "No, I think you're going to tell me."

"What?" he asked, getting flustered. "You don't mean here in the parlor? On the divan?"

"It's actually a chaise longue, and yes—right here," she answered, smiling sexily. "Your mother is out somewhere, your father is off wherever it is that he goes. We've got the afternoon." She bent down to kiss his forehead, his cheeks, his lips.

Abraxas twisted his head aside to protest, "Thalia, someone might catch us! This is—it's positively—"

"Naughty?" she suggested, with a quick lick across his throat that sent a wave of shudders down his spine.

"I was going to say scandalous, but okay," he croaked. One wave of his wand sent the door shut and locked, another warded it. He took hold of her shoulders to pull her closer, but she shoved him down hard onto his back.

"My turn, Brax. You just lie back and look pretty."

She really ought to have said handsome; with her mouth devouring his and her hands ripping off his shirt, it was impossible to correct her, though at the moment it was the furthest thing from his mind.

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Horatio apparated west of Wiltshire, to Ottery St. Catchpole, then glanced around for his bearings. Not a place he'd come to normally, given his choice, but this happened to be where the scientist lived. He'd much rather be spending time with Abraxas in Wales, the boy missed him. Nonetheless, this was for him, to find a Polyjuice formula that lasted more than an hour—a day or more, if it could be done. He'd been paying the man here for six months to experiment, and now he'd come to ascertain the results.

Just outside town he climbed the steep hill toward the looming black structure that looked ominously like a chess rook. It flitted through his mind that the Weasleys lived not far from here, yet another reason to never step foot here again if he could manage it. The area must attract the odd and undesirable. He approached the building and knocked; he heard the sound reverberating through the inside.

A wizard about twenty-five years of age, slightly cross-eyed, with shoulder-length, dirty blond hair the texture of candyfloss opened the door and gestured for him to enter. "Come in, Mr. Malfoy."

Horatio stepped inside, but not a pace further. "I got your message, and here I am. What is your progress, Lovegood?"

"I haven't got any," said Xenophilius, shaking his head. "I've been brewing simultaneous batches of Polyjuice, staggered so I can test them as they mature. I've altered the ingredients, the strengths, the proportions—nothing works. If anything, it makes things worse."

"So keep trying. I am paying you well to do so."

"No, I quit!"

Stunned, Horatio recoiled. "What?"

"Look at my eyes!" exclaimed Lovegood, leaning in. "They weren't like this before!"

Horatio narrowed his own eyes and peered at the wizard. One of his blue eyes aimed down toward his nose, the other aimed at Horatio. Lazily Malfoy drawled, "Weren't they? I hadn't noticed."

"It's been three weeks since I took the last dose, and I haven't returned to normal," Xenophilius said, evidently agitated.

"That's good news then," said Horatio. "The effects are permanent."

"But they're not the effects I'd hoped for," snapped Lovegood. "If I keep this up, I may end up a total mutant. I'm sorry, but I quit."

"I'll double your pay."

"No."

"Is that your final word?" asked Horatio.

"It is."

"Very well." Horatio turned and walked out, then spun back around. "Is there anyone you might give reference to? I'm still interested in pursuing this project."

"I wouldn't do this to a friend, and I don't know anyone else," said Lovegood. "I wish you luck, but not at my expense."

Giving a nod, Horatio turned and walked back down the hill. So he'd lost a scientist—he'd gained some knowledge. It was possible after all to alter the effects of the Polyjuice, and one day he may find the formula that would allow Abraxas to stay Abraxas forever! It gave him hope. It also made him want to go see his son, perhaps check up on how well his archery was coming along. He really was turning out to be a better son than the original Abraxas…