- Day 74 of 366 Days of Writing Challenge: Loved
- The Emotion Challenge: Paranoid
- The Investment Building Challenge/Dialogue Property: "What sort of potion is that?"
- Gringotts Prompt Bank/Scream: "You have a dark mind." / "You have no idea."
- Gringotts Prompt Bank/How I Met Your Mother: (object) a glass of white wine
Pairings/Characters: Walburga/Orion
Word Count: 601
Threat of Love
We all look for heaven and we put our love first, something that we'd die for, it's our curse.
It was the middle of the night, but somehow, Orion had found himself sitting bolt-upright in bed. The reason being that he was currently alone in his bed, and his wife was missing.
Now, perhaps he was just being paranoid, but Orion was sure he could smell the distinct, burning aroma of their rusty family cauldron being heated up. He couldn't understand why on earth someone would be brewing a potion in the dead of the night, but he wasn't about to just go back to sleep. If his wife was creating secret potions, he wanted to know what they were and why.
So he slipped quietly out of bed, wrapped a bathrobe around himself, and crept down the stairs, being careful not to tread on any of the creaky floorboards along the way. Walburga often forgot that she wasn't the only one who had grown up within the Black family houses, and Orion knew how to sneak around the old buildings just as well as she did.
He advanced upon the kitchen, and saw her hovering over the cauldron at the other side of the room. Luckily, she had her back to him, but Orion took note of the glass of white wine which was perched within reach on the counter. The almost-empty bottle wasn't far away. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes, hoping his wife wasn't drunk.
He had no idea what potion was brewing in the potion, but he could see suspicious pink bubbles rising from the cauldron and popping on the ceiling. The smell was hard for him to put a name to, but he knew it was sickeningly sweet.
"What kind of potion is that?" he asked suddenly, causing Walburga to flinch so hard that she dropped her glass of wine. The glass shattered on the ground, and she pursed her lips at Orion, before waving her wand to clear up the mess.
"None of your business, Orion," she snapped dismissively. "Go back to bed."
Orion folded his arms. "Explain yourself," he demanded. "You sneak around in the dead of the night - why couldn't making this potion have waited until tomorrow?"
"Because…" Walburga seemed to wrack her brain for an appropriate lie, before flailing her hands in defeat. "Because I didn't want you to know about it, okay?"
"What is it, Walburga?"
"A love potion."
Orion's eyes widened. "Why on earth—"
"You loved me once," Walburga interrupted. "But then we had children, and it faded away. This will make you love me again."
"You idiot woman," scoffed Orion, trying to smother a laugh. "Of course I love you. I love you more than words can say."
Walburga pouted, leaning back against the cauldron. "I don't know if I believe you."
"So, you were just going to sneak a love potion into my morning coffee?"
"Something like that."
Orion shook his head, and withdrew his wand from his pocket. With a sharp, angled wave, the cauldron was emptied. Walburga opened her mouth to protest, but she decided not to speak. "You have a dark mind."
"You have no idea," Walburga replied with a sigh. "Are you sure you still love me?"
"Why would you think otherwise?"
"Because I'm neurotic, and loud," Walburga murmured, looking at her feet. "I shout at all of you. I scream, I get angry—venomously angry—"
"—and I love you for all of those traits," whispered Orion, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Now, lets go back to bed."
