Music Recs:
Demi Lovato - 'Sorry Not Sorry'
Minnie Ripperton - 'Les Fleurs'
Ben Platt - 'Ease My Mind'

Wedding Prep

The technician took her hands and gingerly indicated she keep them dipped in the fluid in in a pink shell bowl in front of her to soak her nails. There was some funky pop song lightly playing and her Mum was running late.

It wasn't quite like her, but Cassiopeia didn't get huffy at her for this single incident and wasn't concerned for her wellbeing, patiently waiting with her fingers dipped. She had been coming to the same place since she had moved to London after graduating and found it to be an opportunity to catch up with her Mum outside of their country home while getting some pure muggle TLC without her Father giving her 20 questions as he was anxiously want to do when she came back home for a luncheon or birthday event.

Cassiopeia was excited for this particular treatment because she was going to make herself look a lot more deluxe than she usually had after a manicure and pedicure because she was preparing herself to look more than suitable for her favourite cousin's wedding. She had even convinced Victoire to get her nails done as muggles did as she admired the colourful and sculpted fingernails the last time she visited their home by the beach further South, with Teddy sending a photo of her nails shortly after they were done in their local salon, with a gem on each one also in a sharp stiletto shape. The text from him after said, 'You've created a monster.' She was not entirely shocked to find he had his done too, although thankfully it was merely a couple of coats of a lime green because Teddy had always been peculiar like that.

Eventually, her mother strode through the door of the shop, looking as elegant as ever, and thankfully more appropriately attired as an upper-class muggle than something that walked straight out of Witch Weekly, although she insisted on keeping away from large designer purses as she found them useless next to a never-ending coin purse she kept on her at all times. She took off her sunglasses to reveal her bright green eyes and fluffed out her dark hair from the bun she had put up momentarily to take the heat outdoors. She was greeted quickly by a technician currently working on another customer and when she had gestured toward Cassiopeia, the technician gestured she take the seat next to her.

'Hello darling,' Astoria Malfoy greeted her daughter with a kiss on her cheek, and a maternal hand brushing her blonde hair away from her child's face.

'Hi Mum,' she returned the smile. 'Are you going to do your nails differently for the wedding? I was looking at these French tips in blue instead of white, so it suits the dress – or maybe different variations of blue,' Cassiopeia suggested, having looked at images prior on the salon's Instagram page for reference.

Before her Mum could answer her, a second technician came over and started assisting her opposite her seat.

After explaining what she specifically wanted from her manicure, Cassiopeia frowned.

'You want tan coloured nails for the wedding?'

Astoria sighed and Cassiopeia's shoulders slumped, her neck elevating as her head turned accusingly to her Mum. 'You and Dad aren't going, are you?'

'It's not that simple. Your Dad has never been a firm yes or no, and your Aunt Daphne has asked us to come visit before the end of Summer,' her mother explained quickly.

'So, you have to go with him?' she finished for her plainly.

'Don't be like that, Cassie,' Astoria implored sadly, 'the truth is, your father would be deeply uncomfortable considering the guest list.'

'Scorpius is dating Rose Weasley and his best friend is Albus Potter!' Cassiopeia harshly whispered. 'How long can he keep avoiding that this is our reality now?'

'As long as is necessary for your father to come to terms with…well with everything from his past,' her mother insisted.

Cassiopeia argued that had been well over thirty years ago and that he sometimes worked as a consultant for Hermione Granger in the Ministry for ancient and/or dark magic objects and books, well before Rose finally started dating Scorpius. She let her head fall back, and closed her eyes as she also knew her Father was struggling to reckon with his past and the demons that occasionally woke him up in the middle of the night, often caught in the kitchen for a midnight snack by him based on this alone, and that being on the wrong side of a war as a teenager isn't something that just goes away.

But the last time Cassiopeia suggested he go to therapy, he looked at her as though it would be impossible to get therapy for that in an occasionally vengeful Wizarding World.

'So, I suppose I can't go,' Cassiopeia said, sounding annoyed though more so upset. Astoria frowned in confusion and Cassiopeia rolled her eyes at the fact that she would even have illustrate why she thought this way, 'Dad doesn't like me going anywhere explicitly not muggle occupied where he isn't in control of the situation.'

'I've reasoned with him on that matter,' her mother insisted, 'He's fine with it because your Aunt Andromeda has requested that regardless of our attendance, that you be there with Scorpius. Teddy loves you too much for you to miss his wedding…and you would have been devastated if we stopped you, despite how much you would have pretended not to be.'

Cassiopeia adjusted herself in the leather seat and chose not to look at her mother as she ran her tongue over her teeth in contemplation, a habit she had picked up from said cousin.

'You're not wrong,' she focused on her nails.

'And your father only wants for you to be happy. Even if he isn't comfortable with you going,' Astoria said lastly on the matter.

She chose to give her mother side-eye, 'Thank you for convincing Dad not to infringe on my liberty.'

While Astoria knew she was being cheeky out of self-preservation, she sighed and allowed it. 'As dramatic as your father.'

To honour her cousin and his new marriage, her nails ended up reflecting a little more chaos than she was used to, even in her manicures, with the different shades of blue on her almond shaped nails that would still work with the dress she had purchased for the day. Her mother stuck with the tan colour appropriate for a woman who, while comfortable straying through the muggle world unfounded, was still abiding a particular colour palette that worked with her skin tone and closet arrangement in both worlds. She had admitted that she wasn't sure how much more fun Spain would be, but she at least offered this to Cassiopeia.

'You never know, you might meet someone at the wedding and you certainly don't want your father and I to be there to embarrass you for such possibilities,' her green eyes sparkled in mirth. Cassiopeia didn't look remotely impressed by the mere thought.

'While I'm going to put a solid absolutely not on that suggestion, I suppose it will far feel less chaperoned with you and Dad not present for the wedding.'

Although she would be far more dependent on her brother, his friends and her Aunt Andromeda for conversation and dancing.

Something must have occurred, as her Mum had looked annoyed with herself.

'Of course, of the millions of things in my bag, I forgot to bring the Black Pin.'

'The Black Pin?' Cassiopeia questioned.

'Yes, it's a tradition for the men to wear the Black pin for good luck on their wedding day, particularly for reproductive reasons – "an heir and a spare" nonsense. Your grandmother brought it over last Sunday when you conveniently fell ill,' Astoria said of the tea set up for her grandparents to catch up with their son, his wife and their two children.

'I'm sure they pretended to believe it too,' Cassiopeia knowingly grimaced, 'And then persisted on Scorpius creating another heir sooner rather than later, even if it is to Rose Weasley.'

While her grandparents didn't neglect her per-se, they weren't quite sure how to relate to her, nor did they really attempt to get involved in her life as a muggle in any sense that would be comfortable for them. The entire concept outside themselves was too much for them to bare. She was aware they had unconditional love for her, otherwise they wouldn't have been eager for her to be strong enough to fight for herself were she to be attacked, but they didn't like that she had to use brute muggle techniques like taekwondo growing up as duelling with a wand was a more genteel approach, considered a fine art to them.

They merely hoped she would remain locked up with her parents' protection, tutored privately until she married a suitable wizard, although they didn't have high expectations for the blood – just as long as it wasn't a muggle so they could sleep at night knowing Cassiopeia wasn't entirely cut off from the old world. When their son went the opposite way with rearing his newly discovered squib daughter from the age of nine based on the advice of her therapist, already feeling they suffered a blow when she didn't come out of her mother's birth canal with a penis to confirm heirdom, they were insulted.

The insult wasn't enough to stop her grandparents from being involved in their lives, but it was enough for them to stake their hopes on Scorpius being the sole saviour for the family's reputation and earnings. As though her father hadn't doubled their income by investing in a far less discriminatory venture like Professional Quidditch, staying away from the Ministry and their affairs unless called for by the now Minister Hermione Granger for investigative purposes and not influential like their grandfather of which their father had to dig them out of so they wouldn't be spit on in the street for being confirmed high ranking Death Eaters of the Second Wizarding War. But sure, they pinned their hopes on the grandson who liked playing jaunty piano tunes and was nice to the point of being a doormat.

Cassiopeia loved Scorpius, but he had to overcompensate in personality where their reputation had him at a large disadvantage in his school years. That was where she knew she had lucked out. She was just another rich white girl at a public school in the UK as a squib, not the child of a war criminal who got off by a hair because Harry Potter intervened at the last second.

Now that she thought about it, it probably was for the best her father didn't attend the wedding. The saviour of the Wizarding World was Teddy's very involved Godfather after all.

He was always very nice to her though, on the few occasions they met based on her cousin or her brother and his best friend, that ever anxious Albus Potter.

Unfortunate name chooser, but she couldn't fault the Harry Potter for his loyalty to the past.

'Nevertheless, Narcissa deemed it important enough to bestow upon you to pass on to Teddy. She would have given it to Scorpius, but we both know that he has a habit for losing everything,' her mother spoke exasperatedly, flailing her hands to quicker dry her freshly done nails. 'We'll be leaving two days prior to the wedding, so I'll come by to your flat to drop it off.'

As the two days came to a head, Cassiopeia was presented with the Black pin, and she was not entirely surprised to see the old French crest, relaying "Always Pure." A guttural noise of aggravation echoed from her throat region in frustration.

'This will not do,' she had said quietly.

Teddy, for all his charm and acceptance, wouldn't desire to wear such a pin, no matter how much his Great Aunt had requested it amidst her absence. Cassiopeia knew that while the pin could remain the bones, her brother with a little handiwork via his wand would be able to update this monstrosity of a message. Cassiopeia made her way for their evening planned together as Rosie had booked an appointment for adjustments to her outfit for the wedding.

Scorpius plopped across from her in front of a game of Spit taking up his coffee table, having found himself getting sick of chess after far too many rounds with Ron Weasley, trying to impress who he believed with any luck might be his father-in-law in a few years if he played the game just right. He levitated a fresh gin and tonic on her side as his choice of drink, possibly the only adult thing about him, a whiskey on the rocks to his right.

'Before we start a new round, I need to know if you can help me with something,' Cassiopeia paused his slender hands from dealing out some new cards.

'What would you need help with?' he asked curiously.

She pulled out the small ring box the Pin had been kept in and opened it. 'Grandmother wants Teddy to wear it – heir and spare blessing or something stupid.'

Scorpius frowned at the explanation as he pulled it closer, his light eyebrows quirking one way as he investigated. 'Oh dear,' he said once he came across the problem.

'Can you do something less purebloody with it? Sirius was a Black too – maybe a black dog?'

'That could work,' Scorpius said, before nibbling his lip as he focused on the handiwork. 'It's old as shit, though. It might be hard to return it to its previous make.'

'I don't plan on returning it in the same condition – that is, I mean, if you can update it at all,' Cassiopeia mentioned honestly. Scorpius' brow rose at this, 'I can update it, but you would deliberately try to piss of our grandmother?'

Cassiopeia rolled her eyes, but when Scorpius' expression didn't change, she conceded to trying to be honest, 'You and I haven't thought this way about our place in Wizarding society, ever. Mum certainly wouldn't allow for it. Dad knows the consequences of it the most. If she really does still hold such beliefs, then she should know that it will be buried with her. You don't want to wear the Pin with that message when you finally get the courage to propose to Rosie, do you?'

Scorpius nibbled his lip again, before looking back down at the Pin.

'I know you don't want to disappoint her, Scorp,' Cassiopeia said quietly, a sympathy for him being caught in a different web to his sister entirely. 'But I know you would rather take a needle to the arm than wear something that proclaims that message. And if I can predict that for you, and Grandmother really does want Teddy to feel part of the Black family from her perspective, then she'll understand.'

Scorpius briefly looked to his hands, knowing she wasn't wrong in theory.

It had always been a contentious issue after they had met Teddy in his teens. He was staunch in his beliefs and knew why his parents died and that he refused for that to ever be in vain in his lifetime. It was also enough to radicalise his cousin Cassiopeia to throw out their previous traditions based on the amount of damage they caused. If she had proven to be a hiccup in the Malfoy/Black line, she would use it to make some changes too. Scorpius was often caught in the crossfire, as was her father, but her mother, often the supportive kind, also believed in the necessary rebranding for the sake of their family's happiness. The first argument had been caused after meeting Teddy without Narcissa's knowledge shortly after Cassiopeia's status as a squib was confirmed. The second had been on the basis of Scorpius' choice in friends. Cassiopeia had felt that this third argument was coming to a boil when the changes were going to cement themselves upon Scorpius marrying Rose, and whatever deviated path she took from the one they had pressed on her desperately from a young age.

Cassiopeia knew that in a sense there was a calm before the storm when Scorpius still held out on proposing, as Rosie was currently in the middle of a career change and it might be a little too much stress to put on his long-term girlfriend. And they were still so young by muggle standards.

'Alright,' he cut through her train of thought, 'I will change it, but if this comes to bite me on the ass – you are coming down to hell with me.'

'Sure Dante,' she joked and watched as he dealt the playing cards.

Scorpius had lost the round quite sparingly for cards, and when it was Cassiopeia's turn to deal, he had mused on a thought regarding the Pin.

'It's kind of nice that they entrusted you with the Black Pin over me…maybe like they see you as being the eldest makes you responsible for some of this heirloom stuff,' Scorpius spoke his mind to his sister.

Cassiopeia tried to school her features but unfortunately her brother caught the snippet of her lips folding inwards to hide her small grin.

'Something like that,' she said, painfully keeping her face relaxed.

Scorpius threw down the cards.

'They think I'll lose it, won't they?!'

'I didn't say anything of the sort.'

'You didn't have to – after the way grandfather reacted when I couldn't find that bloody cane –'

'Which you also used to pretend be Gandalf,' she remarked incredibly amused.

Scorpius huffed and when the round finished and he lost again, he childishly groaned.

'It's tacky to have a cane without the need for one anyway!' he blurted out defensively.

Cassiopeia smiled somewhat, as her eyes filled with mirth.

'Well, congratulations, Keeper of Heirloom Crap. If it means they won't be wondering about my sex life with my girlfriend as much as they do already, all the power to you.'

A cough sounded out clearly in the living room of Scorpius' flat and Cassiopeia snorted rather unladylike at the appearance of said girlfriend. Rosie looked tired and annoyed, which wasn't often for Cassiopeia's experiences, but she seemed very over the wedding stuff as much as anyone else was excited about. Her naturally thick and curly hair wilder with stress, bags under her eyes from the current transition of what career she planned to take from the path she had intended to take after her mother became decidedly too much of a legacy ordeal for her. When Cassiopeia fully expected her to say she was heading to bed, Rose approached the table, taking Scorpius' drink and wincing through the strength of it and sat on the couch behind him, her brown hands slipping over Scorpius' shoulders and wrapping from behind him across his chest in a small embrace, her head nestled on his left shoulder.

'Please tell me your grandparents aren't coming to the wedding. I really don't want to explain that my uterus is off limits for the evening…or never a topic of discussion.'

'While I would be more than happy to oblige such conversation to end with that statement, they are not attending, nor were they invited,' Scorpius reiterated to her as he looked at her before stealing his drink back from her. She quickly kissed him before he could take a swig.

'Should I get out of your hair?' Cassiopeia asked, always a favourite saying of Rosie's.

'No, please keep playing, I want to see you two play a card game while I just rest my eyes for a minute.'

Scorpius stopped immediately.

'Rosie, go to bed, I'll be there in a minute.'

'You promise?' she asked with a delirious, tired giggle. Scorpius, not often one for blushing until he met the very forward woman his girlfriend could be, had his sharp features heat and turn red. Cassiopeia knew she was merely teasing him because there was no way she had any energy for that sort of thing as she yawned. 'G'night Cassie.'

'Night, Rosie,' Cassiopeia returned, who had also agreed that it would probably be best to finish up after that statement, but not without a teasing smirk toward her brother.

'I can't wait for the day that you find yourself in my position. I will cherish it,' Scorpius spoke directly to Cassiopeia.

She shrugged. Cassiopeia didn't count on it.

Please R&R

Fadinggx