16. Chapter
Turning Points of the Future
"I don't know, Draco. I don't think it's the right thing to wear."
With a long-suffering sigh Draco rolled his eyes and let himself fall down on one of the big, soft armchairs. Big, sky blue eyes stared intently at the nearly closed door which lead to their joined sleeping area. Mindlessly he drove a hand through his short, silver blond hair and rested his head on his knuckles. Why, oh why did it always have to be so difficult?
"Perhaps I should try the other one again. I really think it looked better anyw-"
With a loud growl Draco sprung up from his seat and glared at the door which hid his mate furiously. Enough was enough and had he been honest, he would have confessed it already was too much at all.
"You have been dressing and undressing for over two hours now! Be honest, you don't look bad. You are just nervous. So please, come out of the room and show me, what you're wearing. Should it really be that disastrous - not that I believe it would be - I will tell you straight away. Believe me."
His voice came out more harsh and irritable than he had wanted it to. But honestly, he had enough. He knew he wouldn't have to worry about his mate's appearance as she looked gorgeous and breathtaking in everything - even in red. So why did she have to worry so much about it? If she worried about her appearance any longer, they surely would be late and that clearly wasn't an option.
He turned to the still nearly closed door and was about to snap at his mate, when the door finally opened and Kiara stepped out. With a loud snap, his jaw closed, and the sight caused his eyes to widen in the progress. To put it simple, his mate looked gorgeous.
She wore a nice, formfitting dress. Two two-finger-wide straps ran over her shoulders and joined into a pointed neckline. The dress ended at her knees, which accentuated her slim thighs nicely. Where the neckline ended there was a fine, delicate lanyard placed at the end of the neckline. The colour of the dress was of a dark aubergine, which went perfectly well with her emerald greens eyes, her nicely tanned skin and her black hair. With her dress she wore a set of very dark aubergine, nearly black, elbow long, satin glows, a pair of diamond patterned, see through tights and a pair of black pumps.
Her waist long, black hair was done in an exquisite swept-up hairdo and combed out of her face. Only thin strands of her bangs were running over her forehead and ended in the master piece at the back of her head. One could not say with absolute knowledge how she had created it, as there was no beginning and no ending of hair strands to be seen. A set of diamond earrings and some light make-up with the focus on her beautiful eyes completed her appearance.
All in all she just looked breathtaking.
Draco gulped and finally managed to drag his staring eyes away from her beautiful sight. With long strides he walked to her side, sneaked his arms around her slim body and then kissed her lovingly on the lips. He could feel her melt against his touch and would have loved nothing more than to deepen to kiss, but unfortunately he had to keep his composure and stop the kiss unwillingly.
When he heard her sigh nearly inaudibly, Draco couldn't suppress a throaty chuckle. With Kiara still in his arms, forehead resting against forehead, Draco looked deeply into Kiara's emerald green eyes. They were shining brightly, love, happiness, faith, something akin to submission, though even a lot of confusion and dreading were running through them, too. With a soft smile on his lips he kept on staring into her eyes.
"No need to fear, love. Everything will turn out right, you'll see."
A slight smile spread over her full, pink lips, though the worry and dread stayed her eyes. Draco felt himself glow with happiness and contentedness from inside and smiled broadly at her lovely face. His hand sneaked into hers and with a light squeeze he tried to reassure her. Several moments they stood like this and looked deeply into each other's eyes, while they held hands and their foreheads were pressed together. Then suddenly a mischievous glint and a teasing smile appeared on his face.
"We should probably go, you know? If we stay like this just for another moment, I won't be able to guarantee that your dress won't be ruined in the process and you would look quite ruffled. Not that I would mind this. But I know my mother and I can tell you for sure that she will be very displeased with us coming late to the family dinner on Sunday."
Kiara's green eyes widened comically in played horror and with a frightful gasp she clapped her hands over her open mouth. As she knew the game he played and what he wanted her to do, Kiara pretended to pale and be about to faint. Without hesitation, Kiara grabbed Draco's hand, walked over to the fireplace and dragged him with her. She grabbed the bowl of floo powder, lit the fireplace with her wand and then turned around to look at her mate.
With a broad smile and a teasing glint in her eyes she leaned over and kissed his lips lovingly.
"You know, we shouldn't let your mother wait. I don't know her as good as you do, but I can vividly imagine, what would happen should we be late."
"She will forgive us eventually, especially about being late, once she knows what we want to tell them. Just imagine her face and not only hers. Father and Uncle Severus will be just as pleased and content as mother will be. So no worries, just keep cool, relax, smile, be yourself and everything will turn out quite nicely. I know it, love."
Kiara silently nodded, though a spark of nervousness and fear remained in her eyes. When he saw this, Draco squeezed her shoulder reassuringly and motioned for her to step through it. With lightly shaking fingers Kiara took the bowl and grabbed a handful of powder. After she took a last deep breath, Kiara turned around and stepped over to the brightly burning fire. After another deep breath, Kiara threw the powder into the fire and caused it change into a poisonous green. What was about to happen, would change their lives drastically. Just before she was about to go, Kiara looked over her shoulders and smirked teasingly at Draco.
"By the way, you look delicious in that suit."
And with that she called the name of their destination and vanished into the fire.
Draco blinked in surprise was left to stare at the now red and orange fire. Then, just moments later, a light smirk and a bright glint appeared in his eyes. While he shook his head to himself and chuckled with mirth, Draco had to admit that his mate could be a little tease when she wanted to be. Draco was still chuckling when he grabbed the floo powder, too, threw it into the fire, called out his destination and stepped through.
It wouldn't do him any good to let either of them wait.
He was just about to step out of the fireplace, when a pair of arms forcefully pulled him out of the fireplace and into a chest with crushing force. His breath was knocked out of his lungs and due to still being held so tightly, his head started to turn blue due to the lack of oxygen. All struggling and fighting was useless. Whoever held him had a real death grip. Just when he thought he was going die, a chuckle to his left ensued and a male voice said:
"Let him be, love. Otherwise he might die and then what would you do then?"
An undignified humph could be heard and just seconds later the arms which were still restraining Draco were released and he was able to breathe properly again. With an undignified motion, Draco sank to his knees where he remained breathing and panting heavily. His eyes were closed, but strangely enough he was sure he knew what was going on. It was like a little fire was burning in his chest and alerting him of the presence of the people around him.
"Draco, dear, is everything all right? You look a little pale. Are you ill or feeling unwell?"
A concerned, female voice asked. Draco, who still panting heavily, drew his eyes open, as he recognized the female voice oh so well. His mother, clad in a long, formfitting light blue dress, was staring at him with worry and concern clearly visible in her blue eyes. With quick and hurried steps Narcissa walked over to her son, placed a comforting hand on his cheek and with the other ruffled through his platinum blond hair.
Draco blushed furiously, slapped his mother's hand away and step to the side to avoid further touch. A loud, booming laughter of a male could be heard, which only helped to intensify Draco's bright blush further. With trembling fingers Draco pointed an accusing finger at his still worried looking mother.
"Mother! You can't do this! You just ruined my perfect hair!"
The laughter increased while a more than undignified look appeared on his mother's features. With a sniff she put her hand down and turned around. Animated discussion could be heard from the dining room and Draco idly wondered who could be there to talk.
"Well, I just wanted to greet my son, as it has been a while since I have last seen him and I was worrying for his and his mate's safety and wellbeing. Obviously he would have done good without it."
A pained groan escaped Draco's mouth and he let his head hang down. His mother would never let him live this down. There she had been worrying about him and he was too ungrateful to really appreciate her feelings. If Kiara found out, she would have his head for this. As he was still fretting and being ashamed, Draco didn't notice how his mother sent a knowing and more importantly pleased look to his father, took his arm and softly led him to the dining room.
A soft chuckle ensued and Draco finally lifted his head, only to look into the bright, blue eyes of his father. The tall, blond man was smiling fondly at him and greeted his son with a strong hug. Draco couldn't help but feel grateful for having a family who loved him unconditionally and would always be there for him. With a strong but brief hug Draco returned the sentiments and entered the dining room shortly before his father.
At the big, round table sat Kiara in her lovely dress and Severus, who wore a set of fine, dark blue robes. Draco couldn't help but stare at the strange sight of his Godfather. It was the first time that he had seen him in something different than black. To be honest, the blue was rather dark and looked suspiciously like a lighter shade of black, if this was possible, but it wasn't his normal attire. Someone must have had a good influence on his Godfather.
A faint, pink blush appeared on his otherwise pale cheeks as he remembered quite well who this person was and how she had persuaded his Godfather to change so drastically for the better.
With a big smile on her face and a sincere laugh on her lips Kiara turned around to look at the newly arrived people. As soon as her gaze met Draco's her eyes widened and a worried expression etched over her delicate features. Kiara motioned for him to sit down next to her, took his hand into hers and bent over to whisper into his ear.
"Are you alright, love? You look a little bit flushed."
In the background, Narcissa and Lucius took their seats. Narcissa had had the house-elves set the table with their best china, a china set from central France. The plates were white with small, elegant, silver and golden floral design raking over it. The glasses on the table, like the silverware were of the finest material and all shone with great cleanness. Any moment the house-elves would come and bring in the food.
Draco shook his head in negation and looked into his mate's eyes.
"Nothing to worry, love. I'm fine. Just remembered something."
Kiara still looked skeptically at her soon to be husband, but just when she wanted to ask another, more detailed question, Narcissa cleared her throat and motioned for them to be silent. When she stood up from her chair, Narcissa looked around at her three guests and her husband.
"Thank you all for coming. I'm happy to see you all again, as it has been more than two months since we last had the opportunity to eat together. So, I'm happy you could make it."
Just when Narcissa wanted to raise her suddenly wine filled glass, a light snort interrupted her. With a strange smile on his lips and a mischievous glint in his eyes Draco stared at his mother.
"You invited us. Of course we did come, Mother."
The slightly superior tone of his voice caused Kiara to scoff and hit the back of his head lightly with her hand.
With a stern look at her son Narcissa cleared her throat again.
"Well, to continue where I have been before I was so rudely interrupted. Thank you all for coming. Please, feel comfortable and enjoy your meals."
She raised her glass in praise, waited for the others to mimic her actions and then took a little sip.
Moments later the plates and glasses were filled with different and delicious kinds of rich food and drinks. At first the dining room was silent, except for the different noises made by the silverware moving over the plates and the little munching noises. The food was delicious, so delicious that Kiara wasn't sure whether the house-elves who were cooking at Hogwarts really were the best in their art.
Soon after the five of them had filled their plates, a vivid and animated chat ensued. They all were absolutely content to hear that Kiara's punishment for her relatives had been brought through and was showing the first signs of success. Obviously Dudley had failed to enroll in the school's boxing team and was therefore gaining more and more weight. The worried school nurse had visited his parents and had had a more than enraged chat with them. The most obvious threat had finally been that shouldn't Dudley lose some weight immediately, his parents wouldn't be able to enroll him in school for weeks. Not that this would be healthy.
Petunia and Vernon were having a little bit of problems with integrating into the new community. Where in Surrey perfection and normal, average lives had formed the most important aspects of the community, in Lillington it was a harmonic family life, a good and healthy relationship with the neighbours and a polite and educated attitude marked the most important aspects of their community. It was clearly visible that Petunia as well as Vernon had enjoyed a rather good education; unfortunately, they had more than big problems to accept those new key aspects of their neighbours.
After Lucius had ended his tale, Narcissa began to tell her guests how she had met with her good friends, the mothers of Daphne, Pansy, Blaise and Theodore. The five of them had met for their weekly tea session, during which they would normally speak about everything and nothing, or gossip without ends as Draco and Lucius would put it. Somehow their chat had turned to a new, interesting topic: this newly arrived girl at Draco's side.
At first Kiara had bristled when she heard this degrading nick name. New girl at Draco's side? What was she? A kind of dog to decorate the side of the good looking young man?
Narcissa, who saw the look of anger and enragement on Kiara's face, realized quickly how dangerous the situation was and that, if she didn't do something quickly, their perfect family lunch might be ruined in the process. So she hurriedly set for finishing her tale. She told them how Kiara seemed to have done quite an impression on the Slytherin group. The girls and boys seemed to be really impressed by her educated behaviour and her nice, friendly and polite ways. This seemed to calm her greatly and when Narcissa told her that Lucrezia, Lucius' sister, was so pleased and that she was sending her regards, Kiara was besides herself with joy.
After Narcissa, Severus cleared his throat and informed them of what was going on and what had happened the last weeks. Obviously the absence of the former Headmaster was doing the school a really good. Minerva McGonagall was a much better Headmistress than most would have given her credit for. She controlled the teacher- and student-body with a firm hand and would never once accept something worse than very good or some kind of unfairness.
With a strange tone of stating things Severus continued telling them that loosing Harriet Potter had obviously taken a toll on the Gryffindor student-body. With a delighted grin Severus told them, how Hermione Granger's marks seemed to sink a little bit. She was often seen in the library, while she was looking frantically for one thing or another and was never seen to enjoy socializing with her other year mates anymore. Only Ronald Weasley seemed to stick up to her. Whether it was out of friendship or because he needed her for something, nobody really knew.
Ginny Weasley, too, seemed to have major problems. Her grades, too, had suffered greatly. But instead of learning and studying, Ginny could be seen with different guys, flirting, flashing lashes and giggling in what she thought was a seductive way. The teachers were starting to become worried, but unfortunately there wasn't any rule, which forbade students to interact with others. As Ginny Weasley had always been a lucky one, she hadn't been spotted outside the common room after curfew until now.
If one hadn't known Severus, he or she wouldn't have noticed how his voice and posture changed when he reached the end of this story. His eyes suddenly took over a nervous, shining glint, his face grew a little red, which clashed horribly with his normally pale skin, his hands clenched and unclenched unconsciously and a fine layer of sweat appeared on his skin. He was nervous, really nervous and soon they would get to know why.
With a little forced smile Severus looked at the people who sat next to him and gained their undivided attention.
"I just wanted to add a little piece of information, which has something to do with this year's Christmas. There should be one more plate set than normally."
A stunned silence followed after those few words. Normally, there would be six plates, the three Malfoys, Severus and Lucrezia with her husband. This year, however, Kiara would be joining them. But this had already been cleared for some months. And it wasn't Severus' thing to state something this obvious. So what, or better yet, whom was he referring to?
The faint, pink blush on Severus' cheeks intensified slightly. With fiddling fingers Severus tried very hard not to avert his eyes, though the struggle was plain visible. The nervousness seemed to radiate in waves from him. Just when Lucius and Draco were about to ask what exactly Severus meant with his last strange sentence, Severus finally complied.
"Anastasia is going to accompany me."
The faces that greeted him were a strange mixture of nearly all possible emotions. Lucius and Narcissa were both stunned and surprised. While Lucius was the one to look more stunned, Narcissa looked more than a little surprised. Kiara meanwhile was smiling broadly at Severus, her sister's husband to be if she was going to have a say in this matter. Her features looked happy and pleased. And last of all, there was Draco. His eyes shone with an amount of mischievousness which they should fear.
"Oh, Severus, the two of you came together. That's so sweet. You make such a lovely couple!"
The once faint blush turned into a deep red, full blown blush. Lucius couldn't help himself; he started to snort at his dear friend's misfortune. Narcissa was well known for her love for marriages and forming relationships. Severus was now her perfect guinea pig to form and mould after her wishes. While Narcissa was more and more fussing over the now exasperated Potions Master, Kiara sat next to Draco and couldn't help but giggle. It was like she always wanted it to be. People she could call family, sat, laughed and joked together and truly felt content for the other's fortunate happenings.
When he finally took pity on his suffering Godfather, Draco cleared his throat, which efficiently silenced his mother. With a last reassuring glance at his mate, Draco stood up from his seat. With an important, self-assured and more than pleased look on his face, Draco turned to look at his parents and Godfather.
"Well, you two aren't the only ones to share good news this day. This might come as a surprise to you, though one could say you could have guessed for it to happen. Last Saturday was a very important day for Kiara and me. We spend the time talking and planning, rethinking our principles, wishes and hopes for the future. And as the time flew by, a solution for all of our problems arose."
He softly placed a hand on his mate's shoulders. He could see and feel how tense she was and frankly, this worried him greatly. She was his mate, his soon to be wife. She should feel comfortable around him and his family, not tense up because she feared someone might not approve of their decision. He made a mental not to speak with his family and Kiara about this problem. Draco smiled a flashy smile at his family and then spoke the important words.
"Kiara and I are going to get married at Christmas."
There was a tiny and absolutely stunned silence. Three pairs of wide eyes stared at them in disbelieve and astonishment; two of an amazing sky blue and one of a captivating black. If only their mouths were hanging wide open, it would have been able to top this sight. But before Draco could take the opportunity and say something disrespecting to his family, a loud, excited squeal caused them to look around in fear.
Narcissa had jumped up from her seat and, in a crushing wave of utter excitement, was running towards them with her hair flying behind her. In a matter of seconds Narcissa had enveloped her daughter-in-law to be in a firm and crushing hug, as if she was trying to squeeze the essence of life out of her thin body. It took Kiara's face turning from lightly tanned to blue and all three men's shouts to prevent her from unintentionally suffocating her beloved daughter-in-law to be.
"Oh my. I'm so happy for you two! I can't really tell how this makes me feel. I'm just… just… so happy!"
Big, salty tears were running down her delicate face. Her lips started to tremble and her delicate shoulders started to shake as she was trying in vain to hold in the tears which threatened to fall. Kiara idly realized that Narcissa must have feared that she would need more time to overcome all what had happened and be finally able to marry her son and make him happy. With an awkward motion Kiara hugged the clearly distressed woman and patted her softly on the back.
Meanwhile the three men were watching the unfolding scene with quite some skepticism. Though they merely shrugged and then decided that this was something the two women had to figure out between themselves and that it was better to stay as far away from them as possible. With a fond and content smile gracing his lips Severus turned to his Godson and shook his hand.
"Congratulations and a sincere thank you. If you hadn't proclaimed your soon to be wedding, your mother would have pestered me for more information and would have step by step driven me insane. Now she will focus her organizing energy on you and your mate. My sincerest condolences, Draco."
Draco returned the smile and the hand shake with utmost sincerity.
"That is why I informed her at this time. I originally wanted to wait until the meal was finished and we were about to leave, so mother wouldn't have the opportunity to plan and organize while we were still in the same room. But I didn't thought it fair to let you suffer, just so that we could enjoy some of our scarcely free time. And thank you a lot for your congratulation and condolences. They are well appreciated."
When he turned around, Draco was greeted with his father's contentedly smiling face. Like Severus, Lucius took his son's hand and then wrapped him in a fatherly hug. It didn't happen very often that Lucius showed so many feelings, but when he did, he did it in a great fashion.
"Congratulations, son. I have to confess that I wasn't expecting your wedding to be so soon. I sincerely thought that Kiara would need a little bit more time. But thankfully, you two get on so great. My only fear is that Narcissa will drive your poor mate crazy. As it is tradition, the husbands' family will only provide the money. The decisions about flowers, meal, dresses, location and organization will be planned by the bride and her family. Though in cases such as yours it would be the husband's mother, too. Poor Kiara won't know what hit her, after Narcissa is finished with her."
Draco chuckled and was about to retort when a loud and excited chatter caught the three men's attention. Narcissa had meanwhile dragged Kiara over to the couches and was currently showing her big albums filled with photos. The Malfoy men couldn't help but groan when they realized that those were the wedding photo albums.
"You two getting married on Christmas is just too perfect. The whole family will be there anyway and we won't have to organize too much. We still have nearly four weeks left, but as my father always said, one can't start to early to organize the future. That is why we should start immediately. It is important that we decide on the location and the flowers soon, so that we will be able to look for the dresses with proper time and have the opportunity to decide on what to eat without stress. I sincerely would advise roses and lilies, it would be just a perfect romantic symbolism. But if you don't like them, we could easily decide on something different…"
A pair of emerald green eyes was staring forlornly into a pair of light blue ones. All this information was just too much for her to take in. She wasn't prepared for it; she just wanted to finish her meal, before she decided on anything which circled around the wedding. And she was about to state this out loud, when she caught sight of the three men, who were standing in the room, too. Three faces full of compassion, but love and caring met her slightly pained gaze and with a sudden jolt Kiara realized that she now officially had a family who cared for her deeply. Everything would turn out quite well.
Kiara smiled at this thought, turned around and patiently listened to Narcissa.
Later at the same day Severus, Lucius and Narcissa sat in the comfortable sitting room in Malfoy Manor with three elegant tea sets filled with steaming hot tea and a plate of small snacks decorating the table next to them. Kiara and Draco had left some time ago as they argued that they still had things to do on this lovely Sunday. So the adults remained where they were, enjoyed some of their spare free time they had and were able to catch up on what was going on in Hogwarts and the wizarding world.
Severus and Lucius had spend most of the free time to discuss relevant developments in the wizarding community. Some laws were about to change. Most of them circled around the grey or even dark arts. With Dumbledore gone the "light side", as it was normally called, had lost its most important and prominent fighter for their cause. Of course, there were still others, who thought the same way as the former and now deceased Headmaster of Hogwarts, but their number became smaller and smaller and their influence on the politics wasn't nearly there.
As the development grew, Severus had gotten an important letter this morning. After a lot of apologizing for what they had done and how they had treated him the previous years, the Ministry of Magic required his presence for some of their projects. Their aim was to resort the entire potions possible to make and to rethink whether dividing them into dark and light was correct.
Lucius and Narcissa were delighted by the prospect that future Malfoy generations would be able to live upon their talents for dark and grey magic, which definitely ran in the family's veins, without having to fear any consequences. They had learned pretty soon that only because a spell or a charm was labelled dark, it didn't necessary mean that it had to cause a lot of damage. The other way round there were some light spells, too, which looked upon a certain aspect, could be dark spells, too, from the damage they caused.
They had deliberately tried to avoid the topic of Draco and Kiara. The way Narcissa had acted when the wedding plans were revealed, was pretty fresh on their mind and neither of both men wanted to have to relive this experience. It had just been too scary. So instead they talked about everything else: the weather, flowers, fashion, lifestyle, hobbies, travelling and what not else.
But somehow they still had ended again at Kiara's and Draco's wedding.
"Don't you think you overdid it with Kiara? Have you seen her face and especially her eyes? The poor girl didn't know what hit her when you started with the planning. She looked as if she was about to faint in the middle of your explanations. It didn't look good and Draco wasn't too pleased either."
Severus had spoken in a carefully neutral tone, but to Lucius, who was able to look clearly into his friend's face and who knew Severus quite well, it didn't go unnoticed that there was a teasing element in both his voice and his facial appearances. To Narcissa, however, who had been too occupied with her tea, this element did go by unnoticed.
"Severus, one can't start too soon with his or her wedding planning. And as unlikely as this might seem, I'm absolutely positive that Kiara will come to the same conclusion very soon. When the last days before the wedding will have arrived, she will be most thankful that she doesn't have much left to do. This way it will be more peaceful and enjoyable for all of us."
With a slightly raised eyebrow Lucius turned around and stared at his mate with open incredulity.
"And what, may I ask, were the results of the day's planning?"
The blond haired woman didn't miss the sarcasm, but it ignored it in favour for smiling at Lucius benevolently.
"Well, we decided on inviting your sister and her husband, just like Severus and Anastasia. The further guest list will be developed by Kiara and Draco. Next week we will meet for the planning of the location and decoration. The following week, when the guest list is finished and the bride maids have been found, we will go shopping for the dresses. This is the same time when you two should accompany Draco to buy your tuxedos. The last week before the wedding will be the gown fitting, the tuxedo fitting, deciding on a hair style, looking for the perfect wedding rings and making the last preparations for the ritual. The priest will have to be informed about this and the wedding gifts should be bought. And Draco and Kiara will have to look for the right marriage gifts, too."
This last sentence caught Severus' attention. When he looked at Narcissa in open confusion, Severus demanded answers.
"What do you mean by marriage gifts, Narcissa?"
The sigh was nearly inaudibly.
"Well, this is a veela tradition. For the wedding the bride and the groom have to accomplish a little gift to show their devotion for the partner. It has to be something they think the partner will be most pleased about. But nothing in the material way. It could be a promise, an act of devotion or something along the way to show what they feel for the other."
Narcissa frowned a little and was deep in thought.
"I'm curious on what Draco will do for Kiara. He loves her so much, he will definitely think of something special."
Severus snorted and was about to retort, when a sudden, burning pain rushed through his body and cut of his response. A painful gasp escaped his lips and slowly he was sinking forward. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see Lucius doing the same.
"Lucius, Severus! What happened? Are you all right?"
Narcissa's fearful voice echoed through the hall. With wide open, worry ridden eyes, the Malfoy Matriarch was looking at her mate and her mate's best friend. Both had suddenly been in pain, pain so horrible they had closed their eyes to force it out of their thoughts. She was about to get up and call for the house elves, when both came back to normality.
With pale faces and trembling fingers Severus and Lucius opened their eyes. They were still clutching their left forearms tightly and clearly didn't want to think about what the pain meant. Narcissa, who saw the way their bodies were hunched and grabbed their forearms, slapped her delicate hands over her mouth and stared at them in horror.
"No, this can't be. It can't."
But even all her pleading, staring and shaking of her head couldn't change reality. Both men were sitting in their chairs, forearms clutched and their heads hanging down. They knew what it meant and boy, the results could be devastating, but to negate the pain's origin and cause would only make it worth.
"Why now, Lucius? Why not later or sooner? Why does he have to require for your presence exactly at this time? He let us life in peace for such a long time now; did he have to ruin it all now?"
Lucius quietly shook his head and stared at his mate's tearful face. Her eyes were red due to all the tears which had fallen and her hands were shaking, whether because of fear or anger, Lucius didn't know. Inwardly he was sure, it because of both.
"You know that this had to happen sooner or later. The Dark Lord had let us live in peace for more than three months now. It was due to happen. Be thankful that it is now and not at the wedding. We knew that He would call for us soon. The last time He required our attention, He informed us that He would be doing research for quite some time. On what topic and how long it would take him, He didn't tell us. But one things was clear. As soon as the Dark Lord had found what He was looking for, He would demand our presence to share His plan."
With a long, suffering sigh Severus stood up from his comfortable seat and turned for Lucius to do the same.
"We should hurry up. The Dark Lord doesn't appreciate unpunctuality and to let him wait for you would be the utmost death wish you could utter. I really don't enjoy being held under the crutiatus and now that my body had time to get used to not hurting at all, it would be most unpleasant."
The blond haired man nodded in silent approval and quietly followed his best friend over to where the fireplace was located. With more than a little dread, both man grabbed a handful of powder. When they hesitated one last time, Severus took one last breath and then threw the powder into the fire, which caused it to change from orange to green. He was just about to shout out the destination, when a tentative call from Narcissa made him stop in his tracks.
"Please, please be careful. Don't get hurt, don't die and please, return home safely. I wouldn't be able to overcome it, if something should happen to you. Kiara and Draco would be most devastated. We all would be devastated. Please, just… please, come back home safely."
With a tight knot in their throats and a sinking feeling ion their guts, both men nodded before they shouted their destination into the fire and vanished into an unknown, hostile future.
They left behind a silently worried Narcissa who was crying alone on the floor.
Meanwhile in Hogwarts Kiara was sitting in their living room and waited patiently for her guest. Draco had left mere minutes ago to attend another Quidditch training. Before he had left, he had apologized dozens of times, as he remembered quite well the last time that he had left her alone in favour for practice. Surprisingly, Kiara had smiled at him with benevolence and a lot of compassion and indicated that she didn't mind him enjoying himself while playing. Quite stunned Draco had left, but not before he had placed a heated and passionate kiss on his mate's lips.
A silent knock informed her of her guest's arrival. With a swift movement of her wand, the painting and the door which lead to the sitting room opened and allowed her entrance. Immediately a tall, black haired and grey eyed witch entered. She greeted Kiara with a firm hug and two little kisses on the cheeks. After she had hung her cloak over one of the seats, Anastasia sat down and looked at Kiara.
When she offered her guest the plate with cookies and the tea kettle, Kiara leaned back in her seat and smiled at Anastasia.
"Congratulations, Ana. Severus just told us that the two of you got together."
A tiny blush appeared on Ana's pale cheeks. Nervously the young teacher nipped at her tea pot. Though she tried to hide it, Kiara could very well see the excitement and the nervousness in her bright, silvery grey eyes. She must be fearful that Kiara wouldn't approve of her choice, Kiara figured out. That was why she was smiling encouragingly at her sister.
"Yes, we got together last weekend. It was the weekend after you had been released from the Hospital Wing. I was wandering aimlessly around the deserted halls and didn't know what to do or where to go to. And somehow I crossed Severus' way. He invited me to join him on a cup of tea and as I didn't have anything better to do, I joined him. We talked for hours, started at a and ended at z. We came nearer and nearer and then suddenly we kissed."
When she ending her tale, Anastasia's blush grew more intense. The way she hung her head it was clear that she tried to avoid Kiara's direct view at her bright red face. Her eyes were fixed on her cup of tea in her hands, which caused long strands of her night black hair to fall loosely over her shoulders. She looked like a small child who had been caught stealing from box of cookies. The very idea made Kiara laugh out loud.
"That is so sweet. Like Narcissa said, you two make such a sweet couple."
Had it been possible, the blush on Anastasia's face would have even intensified. As it wasn't possible, her big sister was left to groan out loud in dismay and to let her head fall into her hands to hide away from the world outside. This only made Kiara laugh with even greater volume.
"Oh my God. Narcissa is one of those perfect pureblood wives, isn't she? So she will pester Severus and me until we finally agree to marry each other and let her plan our entire wedding. Oh no, the next months will be horrible."
When she was finally able to control her laughter, Kiara watched her sister with bright and intense eyes.
"Ah, you are already thinking about marriage I see. Well, you surprise me, Ana. I knew you didn't like to wait long for things to happen, but to think about a wedding only after one week of dating is even fast for you. The way you described Narcissa, though, is the absolute truth. She would act this very way, had she nothing else on her mind. Thankfully, I can reassure you that this pestering won't happen, as Narcissa has other things to prepare at the moment."
This last sentence caught Anastasia sharp mind. The blush had decreased and her cheeks were her normal facial colour again. With great interest which was shining in her eyes, Anastasia titled her head to the side. When she saw the way her sister wanted to coax her into telling her more, Kiara smiled tentatively at her.
"Well, you see, there will be a wedding soon, before the end of this year even. And Narcissa, as she is involved personally, is left to organize and plan the wedding with the bride."
This all seemed to be of great interest to Anastasia, but still she couldn't see where this was leading to. She wanted to know who this poor girl was who was about to get wed within the next few weeks, so that she could thank her thousands times for catching Narcissa's attention and letting her live in peace. The very thought of Narcissa butting into her personal life, love life that is, was quite irksome.
A sigh made her get her attention back on the matter at hand.
"Well, no need to speak cryptically further. Draco and I are going to get wed on Christmas."
She couldn't have surprised her with saying something different. A pair of big, wide open, silvery grey eyes stared at her in astonishment. When all she saw was the truth in Kiara's eyes, Anastasia squealed in delight, sprung up from her seat and rushed to hug her sister. With her arms placed firmly around her delicate shoulders, Anastasia kept on hugging Kiara.
"Congratulations, sißta. I'm so happy for you. Marrying at Christmas sounds like a special way to start a new life."
When she was finally able to compose herself again, Anastasia let Kiara loose and tentatively sat down. Kiara mirrored her actions and sat down on her chair. Forgotten were the tea and the cookies, both young witches had other things on her mind.
"Well, my sincerest condolences, Kiara. Narcissa will be a pain. Especially as you are going to marry her only son. She will want it to be perfect. Lots of work will have to be put in it."
Anastasia put on a serious face and etched forward on her seat. With a firm and sincere gaze she tried to catch her sister's eyes.
"Is there anything I could do for helping you through it? State it, I'll do it."
A fond smile greeted her. If one things was for sure, then that she could always trust Anastasia to be there for her. Her sister was the only constant aspect she had had in her life. Kiara knew that she didn't have to ask for her to do something. Anastasia would always offer it without initiative. The fond smile suddenly turned into a sheepishly one.
"You could be brides maid and attend all those gatherings Narcissa is planning for me. There is the meeting which is circled around location and decoration, then one about the dresses for the bride and the brides maids, then one to find the right hair and make-up stylist and then finally the one for organization and timing of the whole wedding. To do this alone would kill me. So, would you help, please?"
Anastasia's eyes changed rapidly. The worried expression was replaced by an excited glint. She whipped her long, night black strands over her shoulder, straightened her back and then leaned back as if she was enjoying the whole thought quite a lot. Had she rubbed her hands in anticipation and laughed in a irksome matter, Kiara wouldn't have been surprised by that. She knew her sister; she had always enjoyed such gatherings.
"Why, of course I will help you! I know you best, my little sister. With my help and your mother-in-law to be's talent for planning and organization, your wedding will be a great success. You will love it, your husband will love it, everyone will love it. Nobody will ever have seen such a perfect, romantic and captivating wedding such as yours. Everybody will envy you. It will be perfect."
Stunned, Kiara watched her sister. She had known of Anastasia's love for romantic things such as weddings. But for her to become excited this way was even unexpected for Kiara. With a little concern shining in her bright green eyes, Kiara studied her sister and then stated calmly.
"Well, this is nice of you, Ana. But you know me, you know me better than anyone else. I hate attention and big social gatherings. For me, it would be ideal if only my closest friends and family would attend. I don't know whether this is okay with Draco, but I sincerely hope for it. So if we could plan this a number smaller, I would be delighted."
The excited glint immediately left her eyes and was replaced by worry.
"Of course, love, whatever you want. Your wedding shall be a small one, but nevertheless it will be perfect. Perfect for my little sister."
With some uneasiness Kiara had to clear her throat.
"There is one thing that you could help me with immediately. The location, decoration, dresses and timing will have to wait for the next weeks. My current problem is much bigger. I don't know what you know about veela marriage customs but to tell the truth, they are rather different from wizarding marriage customs. But in our world, the gifts from the guests aren't as important as the gift the bride gives the groom and the one the groom gives to the bride."
Kiara stood up from her seat and began to pace in front of the fireplace. Thanks to her being a dark veela, the knowledge about veela traditions was fresh on her mind. She knew of the importance and which symbolic declaration it held. This was why she was so nervous. It was the most important aspect of the wedding.
"This gift is important: it symbolizes the development of our love and our marriage. It shouldn't be anything material, but of great symbolic importance for the couple. And this is exactly my problem. I love Draco, I really do, but what should I give to him? What could be of such a great importance to him that it could represent our love?"
The silence which spread between them was nearly oppressing. Kiara had stopped in her pacing and now stood facing the window which offered the beautiful and breathtaking view of the Forbidden Forest. Her arms were crossed and her eyes stared into the distance, though she didn't see anything of it. With her whole stiff posture it was quite clear that the thought of not finding the perfect gift weighted heavily on her mind.
As she didn't know what else to do, Anastasia was left to sigh.
"I don't know, love, I really don't. But I promise you, Kiara, we will find it. We will find the perfect gift."
Several hours later, Narcissa was still sitting alone in the living room. Every now and then she would stare at the brightly burning fireplace, as she didn't know what else to do. Had she been a normal wife, she would have started to knit, to divert her attention to something else and to smooth her agitated nerves. But unfortunately Narcissa was anything but normal. Knitting was beneath her and even if she would have been absolutely sure it was the best thing to do for herself in this situation, Narcissa would never allow this to herself.
So instead she had opted for scanning through some magazines and prospects. She had observed her daughter-in-law to be quite closely while they had been eating and was now thinking about dresses and hair styles which would bring out her beauty and style the perfect way. Sadly, the poor girl was still a little thin and a too form fitting wedding gown wouldn't be the right thing for her to wear. This would make their search more difficult, but not impossible.
Thankfully, as Kiara had long, night black hair and a slightly tanned skin, wearing a perfect white dress wouldn't be impossible for her. Narcissa had always dreamed of her son marrying a bride in a white dress and thankfully this dream might come true.
But even with all her attention on the fast approaching wedding, Narcissa wasn't able to suppress the fear which slowly but surely started to invade her whole being. Her husband had been gone for several hours now and to the Dark Lord none the less. To have to wait long for him to return home was always a bad sign. The longer he was away and in this man's presence, the bigger the opportunity for him to get wounded, cursed or killed was becoming.
During times such as this, she always wished that they had fulfilled the soul-binding ritual. This way, she would have known, whether Lucius was hurt and if he had been where he was, so that she could help him. But Lucius had been against it. He had told her that the Dark Lord would notice it immediately if Lucius was protected by such ancient, slightly dark magic. He would figure it out without any problems.
And to let the Dark Lord know that they both were pureblooded, light veelas would be the worst thing which could possibly happen. The Dark Lord would try to force them to reveal all of their secrets and as the veelas were an old, powerful magical race, they had tons of secrets. Most of them would cause the Dark Lord to squeal in delight like some thirteen year old girl, should he ever get to know them.
Veelas had special runes, more powerful and binding than normal wizarding runes. Their spells were more accurate and the their charms more powerful. Their potions were something totally different from the potions taught in the wizarding world. They held more power than any of wizarding potions did. Severus had once received a special gift from them, a potions book with nearly all of the veela potions in them. The poor man had been so excited that Narcissa had feared he might die due to heart failure if he continued to get so worked up because of it. In Severus' hands the potion receipts were safe.
But one couldn't imagine what the Dark Lord would do with so much power in his hands.
And this was why she didn't know how Lucius was faring at the moment.
With heartbreaking sorrow Narcissa remembered the day that they had joined the Death Eaters as if it had been yesterday. The last weeks before had been a real torture. Like Narcissa, Lucius was very talented in the dark arts. He wasn't bad in the light arts, no, not at all. But the dark arts were even more easy for him to manage and held a greater interest for him than the light arts would ever manage to create.
As he was the impulsive man he was at this time, Lucius had started to practice the dark arts at home. With all the passion he could muster the young male veela worked through the beginners guide and the following guides so fast that he nearly finished one book a day. He accomplished every single charm, spell and curse described in the dozen of dark arts books and finally, when the holidays had finished, Lucius was a Master of the Dark Arts.
His parents, as well as Narcissa and her family had been very pleased with Lucius. It wasn't everyday that a young man was able to master a complete subject in less than two months, but Lucius had mastered it. He knew everything about the dark arts and was quite happy and ready to show his knowledge and experience to others. His demonstrations clearly showed how powerful he was. Narcissa's parents were besides themselves with happiness. It was a good thing to know that one's daughter's mate was a powerful one, who would never let her come to harm and be able to protect her if need be.
Back then to learning and study the dark arts had never been a problem before. But unfortunately the Ministry decided to check over all older students' wand to search for those, who had experience in this field. As Lucius had practiced them constantly for the last two months, his wand was the one to show the most experience in this matter.
He was called before Headmaster Dumbledore and Deputy Headmistress McGonagall. Both of them were severely shocked by the amount of dark magic which emitted from his wand. There had only been one other human being to ever posses such strong access and affinity to the dark arts and this being was the cause for the control itself.
McGonagall had thought that warning Lucius about the consequences of associating with the dark arts and those who practiced them would be enough and fitting. Really, the young man hadn't done something illegal at that moment. But Dumbledore, being the old, manipulative, black-and-white-thinking bastard he had already been at this time, wanted to get Lucius kicked out of Hogwarts and placed into Azkaban without trial for endangering the whole student-body.
A huge fight had ensued, the Minister of Magic and several Aurors had to be called to the Headmaster's office, to prevent things got too out of hand and someone might leave with lasting damage. The Minister, just like McGonagall, was shocked by the hate and loath which emitted from Dumbledore. Several Aurors were needed to restrain the old man and to prevent him from attacking and killing the young veela right then and there.
Before the Minister could send Lucius to his dorms and tell him to write to his parents and tell his Head of House about this shocking incident, the door burst open and Abraxas, Lucius' father, arrived in the office. If looks could kill, the Headmaster would have been dead by then. His normally light blue eyes had darkened considerably, his bright, silvery blond hair was flying around him, as if some unseen force was moving it and his whole posture was stiff, as if he was working very hard and nearly failing on not letting his wings appear.
Lucius was sent to his dorms, before he could witness how everything literally got out of hand. Nobody knew what happened exactly, but the next morning, the Headmaster apologized in the public to Lucius for having overreacted and acted not properly. Abraxas had come to an agreement with the Ministry, which allowed him and his family more rights than others, so that the Minister of Magic could make up for what the old Headmaster of Hogwarts had done.
Dumbledore had to be literally forced to take this step and to apologize to Lucius. While outwardly he had been calm and collected, and he even managed to look slightly ashamed and sorrowful for what he had done, he was seething inwardly. There it happened again. He found one of the most powerful supporters of the dark arts and instead of being thankful and grateful for trying to finish him off and rid the world of another evil, he was punished and had to apologize in public to the little, arrogant and evil brat.
So when he came across Lucius alone in one of the hallways the next time, Dumbledore silently approached him and threatened him that he would keep an eye on him. Just like did with Tom Riddle. And Lucius' fate was forfeit.
Narcissa sighed and quietly closed her eyes. If Dumbledore hadn't been full of his idiotic glory, all that had happened wouldn't have happened. Lucius' interest was spiked. In his anger and rage at Dumbledore's audacity, all he cared for was to find out who this mysterious wizard named Tom Riddle was. Narcissa remembered all too well how much time Lucius had spend in the family library, how he had searched through all kind of tomes and looked through dozens of different family trees.
One year later, half a year before he was about to graduate, Lucius finally managed to find out who the person was who he had been searching for. It was the first time in Narcissa's life that she had seen her mate utterly surprised. The Dark Lord, Lord Voldemort as only few dared to call him, was the one he had been searching for. To his delight, the Dark Lord was thinking the same way as Lucius and Narcissa did and so, after only a few days of consideration, the young Malfoy couple had made up their mind and decided to join the Dark Lord in his cause.
It was the worst decision they could have made. Their once perfect, harmonic and peaceful life got out of hand and took a turn for the worse. Narcissa couldn't state the correct number with absolute sureness, but she could recall each and every time that Lucius and Severus had come home wounded, cursed or at the verge of death. They had wanted to live their life freely, to not be restricted by the Ministry's laws about the use of the dark arts. And they weren't. But now instead the Dark Lord claimed to own and direct their life and directing them he did.
With an silent sigh Narcissa opened her eyes again. Six hours had passed. Six hours since Lucius and Severus and stepped through the fireplace and had vanished into an hostile future. What wouldn't she do for them to return to her sound and safe. It had been such a perfect day, why did it have to be ruined by this evil, disgusting man now? Couldn't he just vanish for good?
With a sinking feeling, Narcissa brought her hand to her head and carefully combed it through her hair. No, there was nothing that could be done against him. Three months ago had their last hope for a peaceful and better future died. The one to vanquish the Dark Lord, the girl-who-lived, Harriet Potter had died. Yes, she had been replaced or better reborn in Kiara Balgakow, but with the disappearance of Harriet Potter the one destined to free them, wasn't there anymore.
Destiny had presented them hope for their family in the form of Kiara, but it had taken away their hope for a better future.
Narcissa was about to get up and make her way to the dining room, when a sudden roaring let her stop in her tracks and caused her to stare at the fireplace with wide open eyes. Suddenly the red-orange fire turned into a brightly shining green and then, mere seconds later, another roaring ensued and a cloaked figure stumbled out of the fire.
With her hands clapped over her mouth in horror, Narcissa stumbled to her feet and rushed over to where the figure had sunk down on its knees. The black hood and the disgusting silver mask were still in place and hid away the identity of the person. With shaking and trembling fingers Narcissa bent over the person and carefully pulled the hood and the mask away.
Long, silver blond hair pulled out from under the hood, a pale face and wide open, light blue eyes greeted her. With a painful squeak Narcissa pulled her husband into her arms. Her fingers carefully stroked over his pale, slightly sweaty cheeks and her mouth uttered small, nonsensical words of comfort.
"Oh my God, Lucius! Are you all right? Are you hurt? Is something wrong? Lucius, say something, please!"
Light blue, disorientated eyes scanned the room tentatively, before they finally met Narcissa's worried and more than a little scared gaze and focused on it. With all the strength he could muster Lucius carefully got up from the floor, his face still pale and his skin still slightly sweaty. When he leaned heavily on his wife's shoulder, Lucius was finally able to focus properly on his surroundings.
"I… I well. What? Oh, yes, I'm fine, love, fine. Really, nothing's wrong. It's- it's just, well, it's unbelievable, I don't know how to tell you this. It's just too…"
Narcissa's fear and dread rose dramatically. It wasn't normal or even thinkable for her mate to stutter. The knowledge that he had done it right now was for her prove enough that something had gone horribly wrong. She wrung her hands in desperation and imagined what horrible things had to have happened to shock her mate enough to behave this way. The results she achieved didn't help her fear and dread in the slightest. To be honest, they only made it worse.
"What is it, Lucius, what happened? Tell me!"
In slow motion, Lucius turned around and stared directly into her eyes. What she saw, made her shudder. Her mate looked as if he was on the very edge of loosing himself to insanity. There was a glint in his eyes, hope, unbelievable strong and blossoming hope. It started to grow and eat away all this disbelief and shock which resided in them.
"He's dead, love.", Lucius whispered. "Dead for good. Voldemort is dead."