Draco and Theo rushed at Elizabeth, spun her round and then they all fell down, laughing, in front of the gates that closed off the grounds of Malfoy Manor. Laughing and chattering, the three Slytherins pushed through the gates and made their way up the path and front steps. Elizabeth rapped forcefully and the door was opened by a rather bedraggled-looking house-elf.
"Good day, miss. Scorps shall go find master." Before Elizabeth could let out some heated reply, Draco stepped into the house-elf's view.
"Get back to the kitchen, Scorps. We can find our own way." Draco moved aside to let Elizabeth and Theo enter before him.
Once inside, Elizabeth led Theo across the vast foyer to the family's lounge. There sat Lucius on the left-hand couch, which had its back to the five full-length windows that gave marvellous views across the park. Narcissa was sat, stiffly, in the upright armchair beside him and, to Elizabeth's very great but invisible surprise, Severus was sat on the couch facing Lucius'.
"Hello, my dear," said Lucius, getting up and approaching Elizabeth.
"Hi, darling," she smiled and kissed him on the cheek, leaving her lips pressed to his skin rather longer than was needed. When she finally drew back, he raised his well-manicured eyebrows at her. "I hope you don't mind, hun, we brought Theo with us."
"Of course! Not a problem at all. In fact, I'm sure your parents will be delighted to see you," he exclaimed, cheerfully, going over and shaking Theo's hand.
"Thank you, sir."
"What do you mean, his parents will be delighted to see him?" Elizabeth asked, shrewdly.
"Well," Lucius started, turning to her to see how badly she was taking it. "I thought that Igelbert, you and I could profit from talking in person." She smiled at him, telling him with her eyes and the twist of her mouth that she had been teasing.
"So," she began, but had to stop because she was in serious danger of bursting out laughing at the look on his face. "So, when are they getting here?"
"I said about three o'clock," Lucius answered, still glaring sternly at her but with a slight twitch about the left corner of his mouth.
"So, we can expect them from about half past two, if Desdemona is in charge–"
"Or quarter past three, if Igelbert is," nodded Lucius, finishing her train of thought perfectly as always.
"Sorry, Theo," said Elizabeth, noticing he was opening his mouth to argue. "We're not being mean to your parents, it's just that punctuality isn't one of their strong points." She then walked over to where Narcissa was sat, skirting Severus' deliberately outstretched legs.
"Carissa!" cried Elizabeth, joyfully, and watched with amusement as the older woman cringed. "It's been too long." Here, she swooped down in a flap of robes, that would remind Narcissa of the Dark Lord, and pecked her on each cheek. "We left in such a hurry last time that I wasn't able to thank you for your hospitality," she said in a honey-sweet voice with a malicious smirk, before stretching herself out on Lucius' couch. The boys then came and sat down: Draco in an armchair between his mother and godfather, Theo next to Severus and Lucius went to resume his seat, only to find Elizabeth's legs there.
"Excuse me."
"Yes, darling, what have you done?" she grinned up at him.
"Nothing... yet. But that might change if you don't let me sit down."
"You can sit down," she answered lightly. Elizabeth had removed her shoes and pulled on her green velvet slippers before entering the lounge, so she was not dirtying their couch.
"Fine!" and he did, right on her feet, but she only smiled at him, putting her head on one side.
"Honestly! From the way they behave, you would think they were in love," muttered Draco as his father and friend negotiated so that they ended up with Elizabeth's feet in Lucius' lap, as they knew they would.
"They are!" "They were," answered Narcissa and Severus simultaneously.
"She flouts her position in my husband's regard all the time! There have been times when I've expected to be poisoned in my sleep!"
"How dare you?!" hissed Elizabeth, turning a twisted, wrathful, snake-like visage on Narcissa. "If I were to kill you, you'd be awake, facing me and armed. So don't you dare impugn my honour by suggesting otherwise."
"So you have considered killing her?" murmured Severus.
"What would be the point in upsetting Lucius? I can get everything I want from him with her alive," Elizabeth drawled, stroking the blond in question's stomach with her right foot.
"So far," he said, darkly, but still smiling.
"So far," Elizabeth said with an evil grin. Narcissa turned her head aside, as though she wanted to cry, and Elizabeth grinned exultantly. Severus had to admit that she wasn't exactly pleasant, but he couldn't help but support; he was lost. "Oh!" cried the Slytherin queen, getting up. "I need to go get changed. I'll be back soon, darling." She swooped down and kissed Lucius' cheek, glaring pointedly at Severus; Lucius was right.
EG
Elizabeth took the stairs at a sprint up to the second floor and then strode down the right-hand corridor to her bedroom. The door swung inwards for her and she went straight to her wardrobe, pulled out a green gown, because it was the first thing that came to hand, and trudged into the bathroom to change.
'Why is he here?!
'Because you had Lucius invite him.
'Yes, but under the circumstances you would have thought he would have had the decency to stay away.
'Decency? You may have forgotten, but he doesn't seem to have an sense of the term.' She shuddered as she remembered what had happened earlier: the wet shower wall against her back, his warm hands on her shoulders, his knee between her legs, the starched towel falling either side of her torso... She shivered again, but then blocked the memory from her mind and became the calm, cool queen again as she left the en suite and made her way back to the lounge.
As she crossed the landing that led into the first floor corridors, he was coming towards her.
"Elizabeth..."
"What?" she spat. "Coming to finish what you started earlier?" Even though she was livid, her voice was a dulcet murmur.
"I'm sorry–"
"Well that doesn't cut it any more, lover."
"Please, hear me out."
"No! You hate me. You hate what I love. You hate my flesh." She put a hand to her stomach and pushed past him.
"I love you!" he cried in frustration.
"More fool you!" she hurled at him, spinning back to face him. "Did you really think you could ever compete with the most powerful wizard the world has ever seen? Did you ever think I would choose you?" Instead of wasting words arguing with her, Severus caught her to him and kissed her hard. He pushed her up against the wall and held her there carefully.
"Forgive me, last night, I was reacting on impulse. I love you and, when you let me call him my son, I will love your child." She looked up at him, shocked.
"You don't mean..." He nodded. "But, this morning...?"
"I was... I was trying to take his place, but I never can. I'm not that dominating monster." She laughed.
"Severus, hun. He didn't try to dominate me. Evidently, trying to dominate the world all day left him wanting to be dominated at night." Severus laughed with her and, once they had quieted, he ran his hand through her hair.
"Elizabeth Helena Gaunt, will you marry me?"
"Severus Tobias Snape, I hereby pledge to marry you, so long as we are both fit and able." The formal words of a pureblood betrothal ceremony came naturally to them and spared them the awkwardness of trying to find the right words. He put a silver band, set with a single amethyst, on the third finger of her left hand and then kissed her again.
"Now there's a sight for sore eyes," said someone from the stairs below them.
"Aren't you disappointed, darling?" Elizabeth asked, teasingly.
"Oi! Stop flirting, you. I've just got you, I'm not about to lose you to Lucius." She laughed.
"Oh, you lost me to Lucius long before you first had me." Lucius, who had now joined them on the landing, smiled and hugged her to him.
"Congratulations, darling. He's a fine man," he murmured into her hair.
"Don't I know it," she said, slightly ruefully. Severus put his arm around her waist and Lucius put his round her shoulders.
These were her true brothers. Theo and Draco were wonderful, but they hadn't been through it all with her; these two had. These were the two she could always rely on, even when they were in a towering temper at each other, she could always rely on them being there to help her. She loved them deeply and knew they both returned it. They might joke about it now, but they all knew that if Narcissa had died in the war, Lucius would have been competing with Severus for Elizabeth, but an engrained sense of duty kept him trapped in this marriage. However, Elizabeth would always take precedence in his heart and home, over Narcissa.
EG
Draco came to meet them as the three of them re-entered the lounge.
"Could you two keep the flirting down? Mama is very upset."
"And why, pray tell, should she be upset by me flirting with my betrothed?" Elizabeth asked, turning and kissing Severus full on the mouth. Draco shook his head at her and sighed.
"You really are the ficklest of women."
"Not fickle, just confused and spoiled for choice."
"Oh, yeah, that's why Parkinson wants to scratch your eyes," drawled Theo.
"Oh, do shut up," she told him as she and Severus came and sat down together on the other end of his couch.
"Narcissa has just been telling us your wonderful news," oozed Desdemona Nott, enthusiastically.
"Has she now?" said Elizabeth, sweetly, giving the Malfoy matriarch a crocodile grin. "And how are you, my dear Lady Nott?"
"I'm fine, just fine, thank you, my lady. May I ask when you expect to go in to confinement?"
"We were thinking about the middle of February, won't we, dear?" she said, smiling up at Severus, who nodded.
"Not that I would know anything about it; I leave ladies' concerns to the ladies concerned," said her fiancée, acting the perfect pureblood male.
"Oh, so a December wedding?" smiled the over-inquisitive Lady Nott.
"Not at all!" Desdemona looked shocked. "November will be better, I don't wish to be in great discomfort on the happiest day of my life," Elizabeth told her with another smile at Severus.
"Of course not, of course not," prattled Igelbert's good, but foolish, lady.
"And how are you, sir?" asked Lucius, holding out a hand to the long-suffering man.
"Well, thank you, Lord Malfoy. I am greatly honoured at receiving such an invitation."
"Yes, so kind of you, Lady Malfoy, to include us in such a select party," simpered Desdemona, causing Elizabeth to hide her face in Severus' shoulder to keep from laughing; Narcissa had nothing to do with the organising of select party or even large ones or, for that matter, the running of Malfoy Manor at all. If Lucius ever wanted a lady's opinion on some matter, he always asked Elizabeth. She had been the real mistress of his house since the summer before Voldemort's return.
"Dinner is served. I must entreat you to follow me," squeaked a smartly presented house-elf.
"Come, my dear," said Lucius, offering his hand to Elizabeth. She and he were the two persons of most consequence and, therefore, must enter first. Narcissa followed behind, leaning on her son's arm. After them came Sir Igelbert and his wife, followed by Theo and Severus.