Chapter 18

Draco watched, dumbfounded, as his witch leaned back in his arms to wet her hair.

"Wait! What does that mean that you're just getting started?" He practically yelled, he was beginning to suspect that whichever god had sent Calla to him (or more likely him to Calla) was having a laugh at his expense.

She reached out a hand and he helped her so that she was upright again. She squinted and rubbed at her eyes and he couldn't suppress a laugh.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I look like a drowned rat."

She was scowling at him, her hair plastered to her face. She did look a little ridiculous, especially given the irritated look on her face, but nothing like a drowned rat.

"No," he clarified, "it's just kind of startling how flat your hair gets when it's wet, and how long. I can help you with it later, if you like. I think I remember enough about what Aunt Daisy showed me about how to care for it to at least give you a hand."

"Thank you."

He guided them over to the steps of the bath seating her on one and settling behind her, placing her in the vee of his legs. He had to sit on the second to the top step to get her situated in a place that would keep her head above water. "You're so tiny, Calla," he snickered.

"I am not!" She objected. "I'm the same size as Mother! At least I think, as far as I can remember."

"Yeah," he answered softly, "that's what I remember too. I was only teasing. I like it actually."

One eye popped open. "Really?"

He sighed. "You just," he carefully scrubbed her hair to buy himself time to gather his thoughts, "you do this thing where you tuck yourself against me. Like you're seeking shelter in me. It's nice. You're the only one who's ever wanted that from me."

"I'll always want that from you, and it has nothing to do with my size. But for the record I like how I fit against you too."

"So," he began once he had thoroughly massaged her scalp and had her all soft and pliable, "what did you mean by 'I'm just getting started?'"

She barely reacted, just opened her eyes and blinked blearily up at him. And then she shrugged, like it was nothing. "I have plans, I've always had plans. As Calliope, as Hermione, now I've just done a little reorganization," she tapped one temple demonstratively.

"Okay?"

"But I'm not sure you're prepared to hear them," she explained with a casual shrug.

He bristled automatically. "I can handle anything you have to tell me."

"Let's finish this first," she gestured generally to her head.

"Of course," he murmured automatically. He was curious and a little nervous, but he wasn't in a hurry. Nothing gave him more pleasure than being able to help her. He knew she thought she'd hidden it well, but he'd noticed how she carried herself, almost as if she was attempting to hold herself together, and how she winced nearly every time she moved over the past several days. He also noticed how she'd relaxed since she'd been alone with him.

"Okay, time to stop stalling," he said after he'd rinsed the conditioner from her hair.

"I was not stalling, I was trying to figure out how to explain." She spun around in his arms and straddled his lap. "Hi," she whispered.

"Why does it feel like you're trying to keep me from having my mind completely on the conversation?" He looked down between them and then back up at her, cocking one eyebrow.

The truth was, he was a little intimidated by how comfortable Calla seemed to be in her own skin and in being physical with him. He loved it, but he hadn't been prepared for it.

"I can move," she offered.

"No, no!" He pulled her back against his chest.

"Seriously though, Draco, tell me if I'm coming on too strong. It's not okay for me to push you either just because I'm the witch and you're the wizard. That's sexist nonsense."

"You think a lot of things are nonsense."

"A lot of things ARE nonsense," she insisted.

"You're not pushing me, you've just surprised me. If you listen to talk, witches are supposed to play hard to get."

She made a little frustrated sound at the back of her throat. "For the record, I think that's nonsense too. And I have no interest in playing games with you Draco."

"I'm glad," he said softly, kissing her jaw.

"Which I suppose means I should tell you my plans now," she sighed dramatically.

He chuckled.

"Do you know what university is?"

He shook his head. He was going to have to track down some Muggle Studies books, it was becoming embarrassing to have a conversation with her.

"They're muggle institutes of higher education."

Draco didn't quite understand what this meant either but he could extrapolate. "Like getting a mastery?"

"Yes!" She beamed at him. "Except it's formal schooling with classes like at Hogwarts, not an apprenticeship, though there are opportunities for things like that depending on your course of study."

"Okay."

"Also, it's kind of a rite of passage and an experience. I always expected to go, dreamed of going. Both of my parents went and they have all these wonderful stories. But then I got my Hogwarts letter and I assumed it would never happen. However, my mum pointed out that I could study on my own and keep it as an option."

"Wait, is that why you study so much?"

She nodded.

"I've never noticed any muggle looking books."

"Of course not," she scoffed, "I glamour them, I'm not an idiot, I'd never hear the end of it if most people knew what I was doing." Draco hesitated and Calla must have noticed because she tilted her head and studied his face. "What is it?"

"I guess I don't understand why you don't just get a mastery. You're a witch, you should be educated like a witch. I would never try and stop you."

"Oh I know you wouldn't, as if you could, " she scoffed. "It's just that there's so much to learn out there Draco, there is so much more beyond the magical world. Though I plan to pursue at least one mastery when I have time. But like I said, uni is an experience as much as anything else, I can get a mastery at anytime but if I wait too long to go to university, I'll be a lot older than the other students and it just won't be the same."

"Okay, well I'm not sure I quite understand, but if it means that much to you we'll figure it out. But I do think I can safely say that I can't attend a muggle school."

"I wasn't expecting that of you," she smirked at him, "you can just be my mysterious, eccentric boyfriend who shows up for parties and to take me to the occasional lunch."

"Boyfriend?" He groused.

She shrugged elegantly. "It occurs to me that it might take Aunt Cissa several years to plan a wedding she's satisfied with, and she only gets to do it once, we should let her have her way."

"You're going to let Mother plan our wedding?"

"I said I wanted a big celebration, not that I cared about the details of the flower arrangements. And Mum won't care about those details either."

"Will your parents like me, do you think? Will they approve?"

"Yes," she answered without hesitation.

"Really?"

"Yes, because you love me and you'll treat me well. That's what's important to them. I'm not saying that some aspects of our situation won't take some getting used to for them, or that they won't insist on getting to know you before they just give their blessing, but I'm certain they'll come to love you in time."

Draco considered this. It was strange for him to be so anxious for approval, much less for the approval of two people he'd never met- two muggles he'd never met. It was something he'd only ever desired from a handful of people in his life.

"Why? Are you nervous to meet them?"

"What do you think?"

She smiled at him indulgently. "You don't have anything to worry about. Dad might give you a bit of a hard time, because I suspect he's been waiting for the day that I brought a boy home so that he could do his overprotective father routine, but mostly they won't be aiming to make you uncomfortable on purpose."

Draco frowned. "Is that some kind of muggle tradition?"

"I suppose it is," she smiled slightly. "I promise to have your back though."

"Hmmm," he answered, noncommittally, not knowing what else to say. "What are you going to tell them about...everything that's been going on?"

She sighed. "I have no idea, where do I even start? Do you have any suggestions?"

Draco considered that and realized that he didn't know how to begin to advise her. Calla spoke of her adoptive parents often. She was practically bursting with stories about her life pre-Hogwarts.

He'd known just from observing her that Hermione Granger had been well taken care of, she always had new and high quality books and supplies. The clothes she wore out of uniform seemed nice, if a little odd, and nobody could fault her manners. But now he knew that she'd also had just about every advantage he had: dance and music lessons, she spoke three languages and she had traveled extensively.

She had written her parents to inform them of her injury and that she was in the hospital wing, she'd given no details nor had she told them she'd gotten her memories back, explaining to him and Theo that those weren't things she wanted to tell them by letter. They'd written back every day since to check on her and sent her a large care package of muggle snacks, puzzle books, and little games to keep her occupied while she convalesced. Draco was now fairly addicted to something called "sudoku."

It all put Draco in the incredibly uncomfortable position of feeling ashamed of himself for how he'd once thought of them. And more so for continuing to struggle over knowing how to feel about muggles and the magical children born to them. He didn't want to admit these things to them, these people who had taken in and loved his Calla without question.

It was such a stark contrast to the way he and his family had treated her. Draco couldn't personally imagine living without magic, and he still thought that magicals were better off marrying other magicals for a myriad of reasons, but especially in order to produce magical children. But other than that, well, he was frankly humbled by so much of what he was learning about muggles in general and the Grangers in particular.

But he wasn't ready to admit that yet. Especially because, for all her good qualities, Calla liked to gloat when she was right. So he changed the subject.

"Alright then, Princess, taking down the dark arsehole, university, and at least one mastery. Is that all?" He asked sarcastically.

She gave him a look as if to say: 'I know your game?' But what she actually said was: "I wish you and Teddy would stop calling me that."

"But you are the princess and we are merely your subjects," he winked at her, "but somehow I don't think you're about to tell me that you want to spend the rest of your life being catered to."

She wrinkled her nose. "That actually doesn't appeal to me at all. Though there are certainly things I want to do just for the pleasure of it," she winked at him and he felt his eyes go wide, she smirked. "I want to travel. Oh! I just had a thought, we could take a gap year after Hogwarts and go backpacking!"

"It's too much to hope that isn't exactly what it sounds like, isn't it?" He groaned. "I don't rough it, Calliope," he said, trying to sound stern.

It had no effect on her. "Oh please, with magic you'll be fine. And it'll be good for you to try something new." She started to curl his damp hair around one finger and he got the impression she was trying to distract him again. "Also, at some point the entire Ministry needs to be reformed, but we can take care of that after we track down the people who kidnapped me and make them pay," she explained in a deceptively casual voice.

"Well that sounds like a couple of easy weekend projects," he quipped.

"I'm serious Draco! Any government in which Delores Umbridge can rise to such a high position is deeply flawed. The lack of creature rights in this country is appalling! Muggleborns are second class citizens at best! All of it has fostered an environment where a Dark Lord was allowed to rise to power not once, but twice in a period of just twenty years! It all has to go."

Draco felt a little lightheaded. She sat here with him, like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, casually discussing treason. And he knew that she was utterly serious, and that she'd pursue her goals with or without his help.

"I'm going to be the Lady Black, I want to use that," she poked him. "I will make people listen to me."

"So you don't want to be a princess, you want to be a queen." He wasn't sure if he was joking or not.

"Of course not, that sounds very tedious and time consuming. I'll fix it and get out," she pouted playfully, but then she met his eyes with utter seriousness. "I can't, in good conscience, leave things the way that they are."

He just nodded, because somewhere, deep down, he'd known this about her without needing to be told. "And the last thing?" He asked on a sigh.

She didn't look away from him. "You don't think that I believed for one second that you and Teddy were just going to leave it alone, did you? I want to help. Don't treat me like some innocent little witch who needs to be shielded from these things. I'm prepared to get my hands dirty, it wouldn't be the first time. You've seen Mariette Edgecombe lately, haven't you?"

He let out a startled laugh. "So that was you?"

"Of course it was, who else?"

He sighed again, he was in so much trouble and there was nothing to be done about it, he might as well embrace it. "Okay then."

She tucked herself against him again and they sat there in silence for a few minutes. He began to rub her back and realized that his fingers were all pruney. "We should probably get out."

"You didn't tell me about your plans," she said by way of an answer.

"What?"

"I told you my plans for after Hogwarts, but you didn't tell me yours. You must have some."

"I think trying to keep up with you is going to be a full time occupation."

"Haha," she snorted, "seriously, how did you see yourself?"

He shrugged. "I guess in the back of my mind I always thought my life would look a lot like Father's: helping run the estate and the business, and now I have the Black estate to take care of on my own."

"Why do I sense a 'but?'"

"Because there is one which is: but Father had Mother and she was the center of it all."

"And I was gone," she surmised.

"Yeah," he shrugged, "it was just easier not to think too hard about it. I worked hard with my tutors and here at Hogwarts, I've kept my options open, but I didn't make plans like you have."

"Oh Draco," she placed a sweet kiss on his lips, "I'm sorry, of the two of us I think you had it worse."

He squeezed her hips. "You're here now."

"What would you have done-" she cut herself off.

"What? Tell me."

"What would you have done if you'd never found me?"

"I probably would have held out as long as I felt that I could, your father didn't get married until he was in his forties, after all, it's not unrespectable. But eventually I think I would have felt like it was time to find a witch who I could stand well enough to produce an heir. If I couldn't have you, the very least I could do was my duty."

"How depressing," she whispered. "I hate this hypothetical witch, by the way."

"I'm not particularly fond of her myself."

"That's what girls like Parkinson were counting on, right?"

"I assume. But just for the record it never would have been Pansy." Calla made a little sound in the back of her throat, which, coming from a bigger person probably could have been described as a growl. He laughed. "You really can't stand her, can you?"

"I really can't."

He cleared his throat. "Speaking of heirs…"

"Yes?"

"You didn't say anything about having a family."

"Well, I thought it went without saying that we would someday."

It was all he could do not to breathe a sigh of relief at the way she'd framed her answer. "But not right away?"

She barked out a laugh. "Were you listening to my plans? I'm going to be busy for at least the next ten or fifteen years. I have neither the time nor inclination to be anybody's mother now or for the foreseeable future. I'm sorry if that sounds terribly selfish."

"It doesn't, or at least if it is, then I'm selfish too. I just got you back, it's going to be a long, long time before I'm willing to share you."

"Babies are needy," she nodded sagely, and then wrinkled her nose, "and little kids are sticky."

He laughed. "I don't remember ever being sticky. I don't remember you or Theo being sticky either."

"Well, we were extraordinary children," she said primly.

"You have a point," he conceded, "hopefully that means we can expect to have extraordinary children...someday," he emphasized the last word.

"Someday," she confirmed. "Why did you ask me that?" She peered at him, eyes sparkling with humor. "Did you think I was going to go all broody on you? I'm sixteen."

"That hasn't stopped a lot of witches around here."

"True," she sighed, "to each their own I guess. Some women are more maternal than others and I know it's fairly common to start a family immediately after leaving Hogwarts, but honestly, I think that has more to do with the way our society values women primarily as wives and mothers. Though, if our betrothal was more contract than love match I might want to just get it over with too."

"Something else you want to change?"

She shrugged. "Teddy doesn't have an intended he hasn't mentioned, does he? I'm sure he's gotten offers."

"I'm certain he has too, and he's probably about to get more."

"Oh right, since I've officially taken you off the market," she leaned forward and nipped his jaw. "Mine."

"Mmmm," he hummed, he wouldn't have dreamed of disputing her claim.

"And I suppose it would have been rather hypocritical of Father to attempt to force his hand."

"I'm not sure your father's done much thinking about the future in the years since you disappeared either, Calla."

And then, as if summoned, there was a pounding on the door and Theo's voice floated through, shouting that they'd been in there long enough.

"I think we've exhausted his patience."

Calla narrowed her eyes in the direction of her brother's voice. "Oh, we are definitely going to be having a talk."