"O Maximo! I can never marry a Mudblood like you even tho you are so hansom!" said Estell

"You have no choise!" said Maximo with eyes that looked like 2 storms "you must marry me and we must go to bed together tonite or you will be ravished by all your fathers enemes! Any way I no you really want to". He smiled and looked at Estele's

Maddy hesitated, quill poised over the parchment, wondering whether she dared write the next word. Holding her breath and lowering the nib, she wrote tits in very small letters, then bent her head so that her hair swung forward to hide her face, giggling at her own audacity.

Without any friends to visit, and without Freya Lovelace's novels to read, Maddy had hit on the idea of writing her own stories to amuse herself and pass the long summer days. She decided to start by writing the rest of Maximo and Estelle's romance, as she imagined it in her daydreams. Perhaps Maddy would write to Ravenna and ask her to bring the book back to Hogwarts with her in September, so that she could finish reading it, and see how closely her own ideas matched the original. Maybe she would even show her version to Ravenna and Venice, if it turned out well enough.

"What's so funny?"

Maddy's head jerked up. Ophiuchus Cameron leant against the doorframe of the study, head cocked to one side in amusement. She had not realised he was at home. Her mother had been out since midday, and the pair had become almost inseparable.

"Nothing," said Maddy, quickly shoving the parchment into a desk drawer. "Just writing ... something."

Cameron came into the room and sat down across the desk from her. "A letter to a ... friend?"

"A story," Maddy admitted.

"What kind of story?" asked Cameron, still looking amused.

"It's nothing," said Maddy, cheeks warm. "Just something to pass the time."

She had hoped that, by working in her father's old study, she might keep her writing a secret. It was more comfortable to write sitting at a desk than on her bed, and she was less likely to be discovered, since her mother hardly ever visited that room.

Cameron grinned. "Well, whatever it is, it looks like it's put some colour in your cheeks. You look positively radiant."

Maddy giggled. Cameron had a way of talking to her that made her feel almost as beautiful as the heroines of Lovelace's novels. With her dark hair, blue-grey eyes, and plump figure, Maddy might be considered pretty at best, rather than a great beauty like her mother.

"May I read it?" Cameron asked, eyes twinkling with mischief.

Maddy hesitated, biting her lip. "I dunno if it's any good."

"I'm sure it's every bit as delightful as its author. Please?"

Slipping the parchment out of the drawer with nervous hands, Maddy passed it across the desk to Cameron. His fingers brushed hers as he took it. It made Maddy's belly feel strange - excited and a little afraid. Her hands twisted together in her lap as Cameron read over what she had written.

"It's very good," he said at last, with a smile that was almost a smirk.

"Please don't tell my mother," Maddy begged. "She wouldn't like it."

Cameron winked, grinning broadly. "Never fear. It'll be our little secret."

Maddy breathed a sigh of relief.

"Are these the kinds of stories you like, Maddy?" Cameron asked. "Forbidden lovers? Whirlwind romance? A little bit of ... sex?" He raised an eyebrow.

Maddy's cheeks flushed a deeper red. "Yeah."

"So do I," said Cameron. "There's no harm in it. Your mother told me you've been reading romances. I'm sure she has your best interests at heart, but sometimes it's hard for mothers to accept that their daughters are growing up. There's nothing wrong with a little healthy curiosity. It's natural to want to explore ... certain feelings."

"Mum said so, too," Maddy admitted. "But she said I shouldn't dwell on them."

"I'll tell you a little secret," said Cameron, dropping his voice to a low, confidential tone, and leaning closer over the desk. "Everyone has those kinds of thoughts and feelings. Wanting certain things is natural. You wouldn't tell someone not to dwell on water if they were thirsty, would you? There's nothing wrong with taking a drink."

"I-I suppose not." Maddy swallowed, heart beating faster. It felt strange to talk about such things with a grown man, especially a man who was doing those things with her mother.

"You're a very lovely young woman, Maddy," Cameron continued.

He lifted a hand and brushed back a lock of her hair, tucking it behind her ear. His touch made the breath catch in Maddy's throat, and her heart pound all the harder. She felt as if Cameron were weaving some sort of enchantment around her.

"It's a wonder some lucky boy hasn't already indulged your curiosity," he murmured. "But I suppose your mother takes great pains to keep you ... pure."

Downstairs, the front door slammed. Maddy jumped, but Cameron merely leaned back in his seat, looking unconcerned.

"I'd be very interested to read the rest of your story, once it's finished," he told her. "We can talk about it later."

He gave her another wink, then stood and strode out of the room, leaving Maddy trembling, the parchment clutched to her bosom.


Maddy wrote in her room after that, with the door closed. She liked that her mother's lover treated her like an adult, but something about his casual familiarity made her uneasy. At meals, Cameron was friendly and courteous, but sometimes Maddy felt his foot nudge hers under the table in a way that she did not think was accidental. When her mother left the room, Cameron would smile and wink and ask her in a low voice how her story was coming along.

Sometimes Maddy heard her mother and Cameron at night, when they were alone together in the privacy of Cartimandua's bedroom. The sounds of their loveplay made Maddy shiver with fear and forbidden delight. She knew she should not listen, but she could not always help herself. Her mother's cries and moans sounded like pain to Maddy's ears, but she knew from Lovelace's novels that sex was supposed to feel good for women as well as for men. When her thoughts and feelings became too confused, Maddy tried to shut out the sounds from the other end of the corridor and focus on her story.

Late one night, Maddy set down her quill and shook out her cramped hand. She had just finished writing a scene wherein Estelle learned that Maximo's grandmother was not truly muggleborn after all, but had only been adopted into a muggle family by accident. After learning that he was really a pure-blood, Estelle let Maximo touch her breasts, and told him she would gladly yield her maidenhead to him - once they were properly wed.

The candle on Maddy's nightstand had burned low. It was past midnight. Maddy was anxious to write the elaborate and romantic wedding scene she had imagined, and the bedding that would follow, but she was thirsty. The hour was too late for her to ring the bell to summon the house-elf without waking anyone. Getting out of bed, Maddy tiptoed downstairs, trying to avoid the places where the floorboards of the old house creaked.

She stopped short in the kitchen doorway. Cameron sat slouched at the table, pouring firewhiskey into a chipped crystal tumblr. He looked up when he heard her enter.

"Oh. 'S you." He lifted the bottle, tilting it toward her invitingly. "You wanna drink?"

"I just came down to get some water," said Maddy, wondering why her heart was suddenly racing.

Going the long way around the table, she took down a glass from the cupboard and filled it from the tap.

"Din't know you were still awake." Cameron eyed Maddy frankly, looking her up and down.

Maddy suddenly realised how sheer her summer nightgown was, and crossed her arms over her chest, cheeks flaming. A little of the water she held slopped onto her front, soaking through her gown and trickling down her thigh. She ignored it.

"I was writing."

Cameron gave her a knowing wink. "Course you were. How's your sexy story coming along?"

"It's good," said Maddy nervously. "I'm writing the wedding scene next."

Cameron swiveled around in his chair to face her. The dressing gown he wore was half open and carelessly belted, showing off a thin, pale chest, and rather a lot of his left thigh.

"No need to worry about your mother int'rupting us this time. She's taken a sleeping draught. Selfish cow." He muttered the last words into his glass in an undertone.

Maddy hunched her shoulders. "She does that sometimes."

"You'd think she'd spare a thought for my feelings," Cameron said bitterly. "You saw what she was wearing at supper. 'S cruel to tease a man, then leave him cold."

"Oh. Um." Maddy was unsure how to respond.

"Beautiful women have power over men," explained Cameron, frowning at Maddy's crossed arms. "But you prob'ly already know that. We're weak, y'see. Just can't help ourselves. One look at a nice pair of tits, and our pricks start doing all the thinking."

Maddy's eyes widened. Such bawdy talk was not unknown in hushed, giggling conversations with her cousins, or in the pages of Freya Lovelace's novels, but Maddy had never before had a grown man speak to her so frankly of such things.

Cameron stood up, a little unsteadily, and Maddy tensed. The corner of his mouth curled up.

"There's nothing to be afraid of," he said, stepping nearer. "I'm just ... thirsty. You'd never keep fresh, pure water from a man you knew was suffering from thirst, would you, Maddy?"

Taking the glass from her unresisting hand, Cameron drained it in a few swallows, then set it carefully on the counter, and looked down at her, head cocked to one side. Maddy stared up at him, wide-eyed, the edge of the counter pressing into her back, heart hammering in her throat. This close, he seemed taller than Maddy had thought. The top of her head barely reached his chin. She could smell the liquor on his breath, and the scent of his body.

"You're a good, kind, unselfish girl, aren't you Maddy?" Cameron asked.

"I - I think so." Maddy swallowed nervously.

"You could help me. And I could help you. Teach you things. Your mother would never have to know."

Maddy licked her lips. "Wh-what sort of things?"

His hand rose, and he traced a finger lightly across the tops of her breasts, exposed by the low neck of her nightgown. Maddy froze, unable to breathe.

"You know what sort of things," murmured Cameron. "The sort of things you've read about and dreamed about and written about."

He took one of her hands in his, and moved it down between them, pressing it so that she felt a hard shape through the fabric of the dressing gown. Maddy flinched, but he held her hand in place, curling her fingers around the shape.

"You want it, don't you, Maddy?"

"No!" she gasped. "I want to stay pure for marriage!"

Cameron gave a derisive snort. "No one actually does that anymore. It's just something women say to pretend like you're better than us. Some females may be frigid, but with a mother like yours, and those stories you write, I know you're not one of them."

He squeezed her fingers, forcing her grip to tighten around him. She squeaked, and tried unsuccessfully to break free of his grasp.

"Tell me you've never imagined how my cock would feel inside you," he rasped, breath hot on her face. "Tell me the thought hasn't made your little cunt wet. I've thought about it a hundred times. Sometimes when I'm fucking your mother, I imagine it's you under me instead."

"Please -" Maddy whispered tearfully, trying to pull her hand away.

"You'll like it just as much as she does," Cameron promised, heedless of her struggles. "I'll make you moan, just like her. Stop pretending you don't want this as much as I do. I'm going to fuck you. You might as well relax and enjoy it."

Grabbing Maddy by the waist, Cameron lifted her onto the countertop, banging her head on the cupboards in the process. He did not seem to notice. Maddy tried to push him away, but he caught her wrists, holding them with one hand while he drew his wand from the pocket of his dressing gown.

"Tenax," he said almost lazily, pointing the wand at each of her hands in turn, then pressing them down firmly so that they stuck fast to the countertop on either side of her.

"No!" Maddy sobbed. "Stop it! I don't want to -"

She struggled helplessly as he forced her knees apart, gripping her thighs. His dressing gown gaped open, and Maddy could see the ugly red thing standing up between his legs, looking huge and monstrous to her terrified eyes.

"Your mother is asleep," he reminded her. "Scream all you want. I like hearing -"

Cameron broke off, frozen, eyes bulging. An animal sound of surprise and pain tore from his throat.

"You will step away from the Young Mistress now," said a high, ringing voice.

Maddy blinked over Cameron's shoulder in shock. Squeaker, the Yaxley family house-elf, stood in the doorway. She held her hand out in front of her, palm upturned, thin fingers curled, as if cupping an invisible object.

"Squeaker is telling you to step away, Sir," the elf repeated firmly.

Her fingers curved inward, tightening, and she moved her hand in a twisting motion. Cameron yelped, hastily backing away from Maddy. He wheeled on the elf, body bent forward, hands clutched protectively between his legs.

"How dare you use your magic against a wizard?!" he demanded hoarsely.

The house-elf gave Cameron a cold look. "Squeaker's magic is used only to help and protect her mistresses."

"I wasn't hurting her," snapped Cameron. "We were just having a bit of fun."

"It's not true!" cried Maddy. "I told him to stop!"

"Squeaker knows," the house-elf assured her. "Squeaker will not let the bad wizard touch the Young Mistress again. Is you all right, Mistress Maddy?"

"I - I don't know," Maddy admitted. Her voice broke and a tear slipped down her cheek. Her head ached where it had struck the cupboards.

Squeaker approached and Cameron backed away, still clutching himself.

"The Mistress will hear what the bad wizard did," said the house-elf as she unstuck Maddy's hands from the countertop and helped her down.

"No, don't tell my mother!" begged Maddy, wide-eyed with renewed panic. Her mother would not be pleased when she learned what had happened.

The elf bowed her head. "Squeaker must."

"Enough of this charade," Cameron said contemptuously. "I won't be intimidated like this. Do you really expect me to believe that Manda would trust the word of a little tart or a house-elf over the word of the man who shares her bed? If you don't want to fuck, fine. Forget about it. It's late. Let's all just go to bed."

"Squeaker is honoured by the Mistress's trust," said the elf, eyeing Cameron with dislike. "She will believe when Squeaker tells her of the evil deed done in her home."

"I don't think so," growled Cameron, snatching up his wand from the counter.

The house-elf raised her hand once more, and made a quick, sharp squeezing gesture. Cameron yelped again and dropped to his knees, bending over in pain.

"I think we has heard enough from you," sneered Squeaker.

She raised her other hand in a forceful pushing motion. Cameron flew backward against the cupboards and collapsed onto the floor, unconscious.

"It is best always to go for the knackers, Mistress Maddy," advised the elf, as she busied herself binding Cameron's hands and feet. "That is the quickest and surest way to get a man's attention."

Maddy nodded, hugging herself. She realised she was trembling. For a second, she almost considered thanking Squeaker for rescuing her. But that was absurd. It was no more than the house-elf's duty to protect her family from harm. Maddy had been stupid not to think of calling out to Squeaker in the first place. It was easy to forget that there was someone else in the house when that someone was not a person. Maddy stared down numbly at the still form on the kitchen floor. Cameron had certainly forgotten they were not alone.

"Squeaker must stay here and watch over the bad wizard until the Mistress wakes and decides what must be done with him," said the house-elf, "but the Young Mistress should go to her bed. It is very late."

"I don't think I could sleep," muttered Maddy, subsiding into a kitchen chair. She wished she could stop shaking.

Squeaker gave her a look of sympathy. "Would Mistress Maddy like a cup of calming tea?"

"Yes," Maddy sighed, almost adding please.

The house-elf busied herself with the kettle, but Maddy could not take her eyes off Cameron.

"He said I was powerful," she whispered. "He said he couldn't help himself. That it wasn't his fault."

The house-elf paused over the jar of loose tea leaves. "It is not Squeaker's place to say. But - was you feeling powerful, Mistress Maddy?"

"No," said Maddy softly.