Thank you to Morgan and Steph for beta work.
Chapter IV: Shape of Your Body
Caroline stirred slowly, shielding her eyes from the sun shining through the window. She found herself colder than usual, and she groaned, reaching for Klaus's side of the bed and pouting when she found it empty. She'd gotten used to Klaus in bed with her since he'd moved into the house at the end of August, and she'd finally had to accept that she was going to bury her face in his chest and tangle her legs with his no matter how much she swore to herself as she went to bed that this would be the night that she didn't accidentally cuddle. Now that it was approaching late October, it was starting to get colder, and Klaus tended to run hot enough that she'd compromised on keeping the magical warming charms on full blast, instead wearing thick sweaters and yoga pants most of the time, secretly smug that she'd caught him admiring her ass in the tight lycra more often than not. It was nice to feel wanted again after her long string of singledom and random one-night stands (usually with Muggles so that they wouldn't know who she was), and she had to admit that knowing how much Klaus wanted her made her feel powerful.
He'd gone out again the night before to get potions ingredients for work. Last time he'd done it, he'd returned about half an hour after sunrise. She'd already been up on the phone with someone from Hong Kong about their latest shipment of demiguise fingernails, and as soon as she saw him enter their bedroom she left to let him get some sleep, figuring that she might as well start her office work for the day. She hadn't heard him come home this time. If he'd arrived at the same time as the last he should have been sleeping, right? She hadn't heard the alarm go off.
Whatever.
She went down to the kitchen to get some orange juice, expecting Klaus to be at the table eating eggs, but he wasn't there either. She frowned.
"Jenna?" she called, poking her head into their front sitting room where she heard movement.
Jenna was waving her wand at the feather dusters dancing around the room. She stopped, turning to face Caroline and summoning the duster over so that it wouldn't knock things over if she lost concentration. "Hey, Caroline. What do you need?"
"Have you seen Klaus this morning?"
"Yes. I think he's in the guest bedroom. I saw him there when I went in to change the flowers this morning, so I didn't bother him."
Caroline frowned. Weird.
"The guest bedroom?"
Jenna nodded. "Sound asleep."
So much for insisting that they sleep in the same bed. "Do you know when he got in?"
"No. Sorry, Caroline."
"It's okay. I'll just take him breakfast. Is it ready?"
"Yes. Ric left a warming charm on it. It's on the stove."
"Thanks!"
She grabbed a few slices of bacon and some potatoes and toast from the spread Alaric had prepared, putting some strawberry jam in a small bowl, remembering that it was usually the one Klaus reached for in the mornings, before waving her wand so that it floated behind her as she made her way up the staircase to the guest bedroom in their wing of the house.
"Rise and shine," Caroline said, sinking down on the side of the bed and nudging Klaus's shoulder. "I have breakfast."
"Thank you, sweetheart," he said, his voice rough from sleep. Her mouth dropped open when he turned to face her. She'd never seen him look so tired. There were bags under his eyes, and she could have sworn that the thin scab on his chin was new, like he'd been scratched by something. He sat up against the headboard, running a hand through his hair. "What's the occasion?"
"Are you okay?" she asked, her eyes wide. The sheet had fallen down to his waist and she could see a deep set of scratches on his stomach that had barely scabbed over, a few other random ones crossing his chest and shoulders. "What happened?"
"Fine, sweetheart," he said, holding out his hands. "Thank you for breakfast."
She handed him the tray, stealing a piece of bacon from his plate and taking a bite, still trying to square the Klaus that had left the day before, unharmed without any cuts or bruises that she could remember, with the roughed up version in front of her. "Why are you all torn up?" she repeated, not backing down when Klaus shot her an annoyed glance. She wasn't going to let him dance around it.
"I'm fine. Just tripped on the way into the forest. Other than that, I got all the ingredients I needed fairly easily. I dropped them off at the office before I came here," he said, stabbing a potato with his fork. "Is that all?"
"You tripped?" she repeated, her eyebrows raised. "Into what? A Hungarian Horntail?"
"How'd you guess?" he drawled.
"Klaus!"
"Caroline, I'm fine," he repeated, reaching to grab her hand. She stared down at it for a second, her eyes wide. It was the closest he'd gotten to casual affection since he'd moved in, and when she looked back at his face and saw the assessing way he was staring at her, she realized that it was probably calculated.
"If you say so," she said finally, looking him up and down.
"I do. You don't need to worry about me."
She swallowed, deciding to change the subject as he shoveled food in his mouth as though he hadn't eaten in days. "You slept in here."
His lips twitched. "I did."
"Is everything okay?"
"Did you miss me?" he teased, making her huff.
"No. It was actually nice to have the bed to myself again," she lied. "But you were so weird about it when we moved in that I figured you must have had something happen."
He shook his head. "I've never come home late when you were in bed before. Wasn't sure how light a sleeper you were and I didn't want to wake you in case you had a morning meeting."
She frowned, her mouth opening before she closed it again, not quite knowing what to say. Klaus being considerate? "Oh. Thanks."
"Of course."
"I'm not going to sleep through an alien invasion, or anything, but you won't wake me up just from getting in bed."
He nodded. "Good to know, love."
"Sure."
They sat there in a semi-awkward silence for a moment before Caroline began to stand up, tightening the belt on her robe and giving Klaus a small smile. "I'm going to go grab you a healing balm for your face, okay? I think we have some in our bathroom."
"You don't have to. I can-"
"You can't go out looking like that," she said firmly, reaching to run a fingertip down the cut on his face, wincing at the smear of blood right by the scab. "And since you won't tell me what did it, I'm not going to risk you getting them infected by not doing anything."
"Fine," he said finally, taking another bite of bacon. He seemed to not want to answer her real question, so she gave up, getting up to go to get the healing balm.
When she returned, Klaus was gone, the shower running in the bathroom by the guest room. She decided to wait for him, mostly because she was annoyed that he seemed to be avoiding her. When he emerged, he was only wearing a towel, and the look he gave her was slightly pained. He scowled when he saw the balm jar next to her. "Don't be a baby. Put some pants on and lie down," she ordered, gesturing to the bed.
He smirked, looking like he desperately wanted to make a comment that she'd probably scoff at, but he went back into the bathroom, emerging a few moments later in a pair of jeans. It was weird that he'd kept them in there, but whatever. Maybe he'd known that he would have to keep some clothes in the guest room?
She abruptly realized that she'd been obviously ogling him shirtless, and she ignored his smirk, clearing her throat and gesturing to the bed. He climbed on, resting on his stomach with his cheek resting against the pillow so that he could look at her, and she tried her best not to bite her lip at the stark tattoo against his skin and how freaking attractive he looked, unsure that she would have been able to pass it off as worry if he saw.
She climbed on the mattress behind him, unscrewing the jar and taking a bit of the thick paste on her fingers, pressing her lips together at his hiss when she began to apply it to his back. She could have sworn he shivered slightly when she ran her finger down his spine with light fingers. She was unable to resist the urge to not strictly keep to areas that were hurt. He'd basically been looking at her like he wanted to eat her for the past few months. He wouldn't mind, right?
She worked in silence, grinning when his breath hitched when she let her fingers trace the triangle tattoo on his back under the guise of rubbing against a particularly deep cut. She felt a twinge when he groaned at the drag of her fingers against his spine, and she was glad that he couldn't see her blush. She worked quickly after that though, not wanting to start something she wouldn't be able to let herself finish. She set the jar on the side table as soon as she was done and got up, resisting the urge to tighten her robe again so that she didn't get the remaining paste on her fingers smeared on the fabric.
"All done."
"Thank you, love," he said, turning over to face her, the cuts on his stomach still obviously deep, a few spots of blood staining the white sheets. She swallowed.
"Lie down. I'll take care of the rest, too."
His eyebrows flew up but he didn't argue, a smirk twisting his mouth as he obeyed. He looked up at her with dark eyes as she impulsively took more paste. She hadn't planned on doing his front too, but she kind of wanted to keep touching him, to feel his skin underneath her fingers. She bent over him, reaching down to spread it over the deep scratches on his abs. His eyelids fluttered when she brushed her thumb across his nipple, his muscles twitching. She kept eye contact with him as she carefully spread the paste over the cuts, now not bothering to hide that she was basically feeling him up, and she could hear his breathing begin to quicken as she ran the heels of her palms up his chest to wrap her fingers around his shoulders, her thumbs tracing his collarbone.
He groaned, reaching to wrap his hand around her wrist, but she pulled back out of his grasp, giving him an exasperated look that didn't at all match the skip of her heartbeat.
"Let me finish," she scolded, grinning at the look that was close to a pout he shot her before he obligingly took his hands away and laid them on the mattress, watching her with dark eyes as she rubbed the balm over the rest of the scratches, watching the skin slowly begin to knit back together. "There, all done," she said, setting the jar on the table.
When she looked back at him and saw the way he was looking at her she felt her breath catch. What had she done? She'd basically just given him a massage, medically necessary or not. He'd been eyeing her with more and more hunger over the weeks they'd lived together, and she couldn't help but feel like she'd crossed the point of no return.
Her attraction to him was overwhelming and at this point undeniable. She couldn't let him take over her heart the way he did her idiotically horny brain. Sure, they were going to be married, and in her heart of hearts she knew that she wasn't going to be able to resist him forever, especially with heirs expected. She doubted that she'd last longer than the wedding, if that, but she wasn't sure she trusted him yet.
He was dangerous. She couldn't let herself fall for him.
XXX
"You look amazing, Care."
"Thanks, Bon," Caroline said, turning to the side and smoothing out the delicate lace where it had bunched around her waist. It hugged her curves well, flowing down to touch the floor with a train, the jewels distributed through the lace catching the light as she turned. "The torso is kind of long for me."
"We can alter it," Parvati promised, already brandishing her wand. "Do you want me to show you what it would look like?"
"Sure."
She waved her wand to cast an illusion charm before turning Caroline to look in the mirror, helping her adjust the clips holding the back up. Caroline swallowed, turning to the side and back, trying to figure out whether she liked it.
"If you don't think it's right, it's not right."
"I think I want a different one," Caroline said finally. "The lace is pretty, but it doesn't feel like me."
Parvati hummed, looking thoughtful as she stared, looking Caroline up and down. "Okay. Why don't you change back and we can look at something a little bit more modern. Or were you hoping for a fuller skirt?"
"No. I definitely like the shape. Maybe a bit more fitted around the waist? But not as much lace. Our theme is kind of wintery. Sparkle is fine."
She heard Bonnie giving her opinion on a few dresses on the rack while she was changing, handing the garment bag to Parvati's assistant when she left for the girl to whisk away to the back room.
A rack of options was pushed out with several choices, and Caroline was drawn to one on the end. It looked like it was made of a light fabric that would flow behind her as she walked, crystals scattered throughout to catch the light, and it looked like it was fitted exactly the way she wanted it, the sweetheart neckline cut just right to flatter her cleavage with a few creative spells.
"This one," she said, pulling it out.
"Excellent choice! The diamonds in the one I'd sew for you would be goblin-cut, of course. We can also do an enchantment to lighten the fabric to make it flow more, if you like," Parvati said as she helped her into it, tightening the clips at the back and holding the train when she approached the three-way mirror. When Caroline caught sight of herself, she felt her breath hitch, hot tears filling her eyes. She hadn't expected to feel this emotional. This was an arranged marriage, one that she had to convince herself she was looking forward to to stay sane. She'd made multiple pros and cons lists, the pros list growing steadily longer as she got more creative, but it hadn't done anything to assuage the unwelcome nervousness creeping into her thoughts.
"You look gorgeous!" Bonnie said, smiling widely.
"You do. I think this could be the one," Parvati agreed, eyeing her critically. "We can alter it to nip your waist a bit more. It's fitted a bit already, but you have such a nice figure. It would be a shame to hide it."
"Okay," Caroline said, trying not to cry. God, this was so stupid. She'd always known that her wedding would likely be to someone she didn't even know, or considering her father's vast network of snobs, someone she didn't like, but she couldn't help but feel butterflies erupt in her stomach.
"Do you want to see it with the headpiece?" Parvati asked.
"Yeah."
Parvati went and retrieved the goblin-made tiara that had been in Caroline's family for generations, setting it on her head.
"This is it," Caroline confirmed, giving Bonnie a watery smile. "I think."
"Good. Let's get it off and I'll get it altered for you," Parvati said, guiding her back to the changing area. "Usually we wait until a few days before the wedding in case there are any changes to the body, but if you like you can provide some hair now and we'll keep a polyjuice potion for you on the day of to make sure it fits correctly."
"Oh, that won't be necessary," Caroline said quickly, privately thinking how stupid it would be to give some random business access to impersonating her. "But I can come back a few days before for alterations, definitely."
"Good," Parvati said brightly. "I'll see you then."
She and Bonnie picked up their purses and left, chatting as they walked down the streets of downtown Diagon Alley, wandering in the general direction of the park at the end of the street. Early holiday shoppers were bustling around them, and Bonnie had taken a moment to linger in front of Flourish & Blott's, inspecting their holiday sale offers before they went in to browse. Ordinarily Caroline wouldn't have found anything suspicious about Bonnie's silence as they wandered through the shelves, but there was a tension in the air that she couldn't quite put her finger on. It wasn't until they walked out, Bonnie holding a shopping bag with a few Christmas presents for her mom and more for herself, that Caroline realized Bonnie was headed straight for a park bench on the side of the street.
"Caroline? Can we talk?" she asked, waving her wand to dry the wood from the lingering frost before sitting down and gesturing for Caroline to sit beside her.
"Yeah," Caroline said as she obeyed, wary at Bonnie's hesitant tone. "What's up?"
"You know you can tell me anything, right?"
"Yeah," Caroline said, already knowing where the conversation was going and dreading it. She hadn't decided whether she wanted to tell Bonnie yet. Every part of her brain was screaming to, needing someone to confide in who would understand, but she could hear her father's voice in her head shouting not to trust anyone, even the people she loved. "I do."
"Okay. Can we talk about Klaus, then? Because I'm not judging you, or anything. You know I want you to be happy. But...does Klaus make you happy?"
"Yes?" Caroline half-asked, cringing at Bonnie's raised eyebrow. She'd always been a terrible liar, no matter how hard she'd practiced.
"Caroline..."
She sighed. She knew she shouldn't, but she trusted Bonnie, possibly more than anyone else in the world other than her father. And where had not trusting anyone gotten Bill, anyway? It hadn't exactly turned out well for him. He'd been poisoned. He was dying. They still didn't have any leads to who had done it.
Caroline took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "We're arranged," Caroline admitted.
"Yeah, I figured that out already," Bonnie said impatiently. "You haven't talked about him since you turned him down at school and now you're suddenly engaged? Everyone who doesn't know you might buy that you were dating in secret, but there's no way you would be able to keep that from me."
Caroline's lips twitched. "That's probably true."
"It is true. So? What's his deal?"
"He's going to take over the public-facing parts of the business," Caroline admitted. "I'm still going to do the business-business part, obviously. He has his day job at Flint-Avery, anyway."
"What did he end up doing?"
"Spell creation. He works on enchantment improvements for magical objects."
"That's interesting! What's he working on right now?"
"I'm actually not sure. It's confidential, apparently. I think it's for the Ministry. He's pretty tight-lipped about it."
"Interesting. And so how did your arrangement happen?"
"He met with Dad about some sort of supplier thing, I think. You know we've worked closely with the Flints for years."
"Yeah. Your dad was thinking about arranging you with Calvin originally, right?"
Caroline wrinkled her nose. "Yeah. The only good thing about marrying Klaus. At least he's not a pureblood supremacist. Mr. and Mrs. Flint were totally Death Eater sympathizers. I doubt Calvin was any better."
"Probably not. Anyway?"
"Yeah, so I guess they met about some kind of supply deal. I'm not entirely clear on how Klaus convinced him, but it was right after my dad got back from the hospital. I was going to try to find someone myself, but I guess that he thought Klaus would be a better pick than anyone I could track down."
"Did you even get a choice?"
Caroline shrugged, kicking a patch of grass with the pointy toe of her boot. "Not really. I mean, Klaus is objectively the best option, to be honest. He's good with people and he'd be a huge asset. It wasn't a bad idea. I'm okay."
"Yeah, you seem way too okay with this," Bonnie said suspiciously. "Is there something you're not telling me?"
"Nothing important."
Bonnie leveled a glare at her that made her wince. She wasn't sure why she was avoiding telling Bonnie that she and Klaus were sleeping together. Probably because Bonnie's follow-up questions would make Caroline think about her attraction to Klaus, which she'd very carefully put in a box in her brain labeled "do not touch" just in case the attraction turned into ill-advised feelings.
"Caroline."
"I'm serious! We're just sleeping in the same room so that Jenna doesn't get suspicious."
Bonnie raised her eyebrows. "Doesn't Jenna know it's an arrangement?"
"I mean, we haven't told her."
"But wouldn't she know?"
"I mean...yes," Caroline allowed. "But we're trying to act like it's not."
"Why?" Bonnie asked, her eyes narrowed. "There's no reason to do that. People get arranged all the time."
"Yeah," Caroline said slowly. "But like, I don't know. Klaus is being weird about it."
"Weird how?"
"He wanted to sleep in the same bed with me. For a cover or whatever," she said, deciding not to mention that she was way more okay with the arrangement than she'd anticipated.
"And you're doing it?"
"Yeah."
"Is that okay?" Bonnie asked, clearly concerned. "Like, is he doing anything?"
"No!" Caroline said quickly, trying to reassure her. "No. He hasn't pressured me or anything, if that's what you mean."
Bonnie raised her eyebrows. "So are you sleeping together, or are you sleeping together?"
"Just sleeping in the same bed. We haven't done any sex stuff yet."
"Not yet?"
"I mean like, we're going to be married..."
"So? People in arranged marriages have agreements to sleep around all the time!"
Caroline winced. "Yeah, but he doesn't want me to."
"So?" Bonnie asked again, frowning. "Does he want you to be celibate for the rest of your life?"
"I mean, no," Caroline said slowly. "He just...he says he has zero interet in seeing anyone else, or in me seeing anyone else, and that he thought that eventually I'd want to."
"Want to sleep with him?" Bonnie clarified.
"Yeah. And like, that's fine I guess. Once I trust him more and we get to know each other better."
"Oh my god, Caroline..."
"What? I don't want to not have sex for the rest of my life."
"You could have just not agreed to that," Bonnie said, clearly exasperated.
Caroline huffed. Bonnie had a point. "But then what if he'd walked away from the deal?" she asked. It wasn't that she wanted to sleep with Klaus. She just knew that he was her best option to get what she needed. Obviously.
Bonnie did not seem to agree, looking at her in complete disbelief. "Then he would have walked away from the deal. Oh no. You'd have to find another person to marry a hot twenty-five year old who was three months away from inheriting a billion-galleon fortune. Who would ever sign up for that?"
"An illegally obtained fortune," Caroline pointed out, knowing that Bonnie wasn't wrong but not wanting to concede. "Look, Klaus was a good choice. I understand why my dad chose him, and it's not like we don't have to make heirs anyway. I'll sleep with him minimum twice, anyway. Heir and a spare, you know?"
"Okay," Bonnie said, dragging the word out. "If you're sure. I just worry about you, you know?"
"It'll be fine," Caroline said, trying to be as reassuring as she could and bumping Bonnie's shoulder with hers.
"I don't want you to be fine, Care. I want you to be happy."
Caroline took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, weighing her words. "I think...I think I could be happy with Klaus. Eventually. I mean, it'll be hard for now, but ultimately as long as we work at it and stay out of each other's way, and once I get comfortable enough with him, I can have a totally good no-strings-attached business-marriage, if that's a thing."
"I don't think it is," Bonnie said, her lips twitching. "But I know what you mean. I hope your no-strings-attached business-marriage works out, Care."
"Thanks. Me too."
XXX
It was the fourth month in a row where Klaus had warned her not to wait up and that he'd sleep in the guest room after looking for potions ingredients, and she was starting to get suspicious that something was amiss. It had seemed weird to her than he seemed to be the only one who went every month when the department was so large, especially since they were in charge of spell creation rather than potions. She vaguely remembered him disappearing one night both last month and in September, but she'd been busy at work at the time. It wasn't until she spotted the full moon out the window when she waited up that she realized what it might have meant, and after double checking the dates it all clicked into place.
The scratches, how he hadn't pointed out that he was gathering ingredients specifically the night of the moon, how he'd been especially touchy in public with her the last few days... If she was right, and she was pretty sure she was, then they had some talking to do.
She decided to wait up for him, taking a pain relief potion for him and a pepper-up potion for herself and making her way to the guest room. She went through some work while she waited, and as she'd expected, he stumbled in just around sunrise, a few gashes on his upper arms, freezing when he saw her. "Caroline," he said, his voice rough. "I told you not to wait up."
"I remember," she said blandly, standing up and holding out the potion bottle for him to take. He inspected it carefully, and she tried not to be offended. She couldn't help the slight twinge of hurt, though. "It's just a pain relief potion."
He gave her a small smile. "I can tell. Thank you, sweetheart."
She watched him as he downed it, and was strangely surprised when he walked to throw the vial in the trash instead of handing it back to her to dispose of herself. "How do you feel?" she asked tentatively. "I don't know much about...about werewolf transformations, but I did some research and I know it can hurt."
If he was surprised that she'd figured it out he didn't show it, just giving her a tired smile. "Better," he said easily. "It hurts the night before and I get a bit achy the next day, but It's nothing too serious."
"Okay. I was just worried."
He gave her a dimpled smile that made her thankful for the lack of light when she felt her cheeks heat. "You don't need to worry about me, love," he said, smirking, before his smile dropped when she yawned. "All right, sweetheart?"
"Yeah. I just didn't get much sleep."
"That's why I told you not to wait up," he teased, his eyes soft.
"Well, I guess I'll have a quick nap before I go into the office," Caroline said, running her hand through her hair before tightening her robe a bit. "Are you coming to bed?"
"I'll be up in a few minutes, love," he promised. "Just have to change and put on the healing balm."
She nodded, yawning, and made her way up the stairs to their bedroom, falling into bed with a satisfied sigh. She pulled the covers around herself and got comfortable while she waited for Klaus to be done changing. She hadn't realized how she'd gotten used to sleeping with him until then. Not having his body pressed against her felt off, and she didn't like it. It was only a few moments before he got in bed and pulled her close, his arms tight around her waist to pull her flush against him.
"Klaus?" she asked after a few seconds of silence, knowing that he wasn't asleep yet from the rhythm of his breathing.
"Yes?"
"When were you planning on telling me?"
He sighed, apparently weighing the question before he answered. "Soon. I knew you'd figure it out eventually, of course, but I was hoping for another month or two."
"But before the wedding?" she clarified, and he laughed quietly.
"I'd never keep such a secret from you for that long."
"Okay," she said, privately thinking that he would keep secrets from her if it benefited him without hesitation, but not wanting to call him out on it for now. She was too comfortable. "Is there anything else I should know?"
He shifted behind her, adjusting his grip to fit her body to his. "Not anything all that important. My senses are sharper and I can be irritable."
"You? Irritable?" she teased, grinning at his huff.
"That, and I'm a natural werewolf."
She frowned. "A natural werewolf?"
"Yes. I was born a wolf."
"What's the difference? You weren't bitten?"
"No. I can transform whenever I like, but the moon's pull is near irresistible. I managed well enough at Hogwarts. Professor Slughorn let me transform as long as I took the wolfsbane potion. I'm not all that fond of the side effects now that I've left school, however. They dull my reflexes in wolf form and sap my energy. Quite unpleasant."
"Do you like, bite?" she asked, huffing at his chuckle. "You know what I mean."
"I do, sweetheart. No, I can't transmit the ability by bite, but it is genetic."
"Oh," Caroline said, not quite sure what the right response to that was. Was one of his muggle parents a wolf? How did that work? It also kind of weirded her out that he was calling it an 'ability' and not a curse. From what she understood, being a werewolf was painful and isolating. Maybe for Klaus it was different. She tried to put out of her mind what it would mean when they had to produce an heir.
"Was your dad one? Or your mom?" she asked, wincing when Klaus stiffened behind her.
"A story for another time," he said, his tone firm enough to let her know that she shouldn't push.
"Okay. Well, any more life-altering secrets you want to share before we tie the knot?" she asked, trying to sound upbeat.
"Not tonight," he said, and she could hear the grin in his voice. "Sleep, sweetheart."
Thank you so much for reading! I hope you liked the chapter. As always, I would love to know any favorite bits of dialogue or parts of the chapter. Your comments keep me inspired and motivated to continue. I hope you all are staying safe and healthy.
