Author's Notes:
A big, Big, BIG 'THANK YOU' to Unseenlibrarian for beta-ing this chapter in record time, despite her busy schedule. Please be sure to thank her in your reviews, dear readers! She deserves mountains of praise... and a tin of choco biscuits or two! :)
CHAPTER TWELVE: Survivor of Schism
Thursday, July 10th, 2031 (early morning)
Scorpius woke up to Rose sliding out of his embrace and leaving the bed.
Squinting against the late morning-early afternoon daylight coming in through the windows, he yawned and stretched. "Where you going, baby?" With a sleepy focus, he was dismayed to see his woman was already, partially dressed, a clean white bra and matching knickers covering her best parts. "Better not be a hot date."
"Well, yes, my mum is certainly hot, but no, we're not dating," his witch joked. "She owl'd me last night after dinner about meeting up with her for brunch today." Her hand furiously worked a brush through her shoulder-length, wavy hair. "I'll just make it at this rate." She tossed her brush onto a small vanity desk, and rushed into her narrow walk-in closet to pull out an outfit. "And I have Quidditch practice at three, so I won't be back until at least seven or eight."
"No dinner together, then?" he asked, somewhat disappointed, but determined not to let it get him too down. "How about I come by later tonight for some dessert, instead?" He wagged his eyebrows at her suggestively.
Rose chuckled as she threw on a matching turquoise two-piece, and slipped on a pair of summer sandals to fancy it up. "You're insatiable and are going to wear me out at this rate." Reaching for an earring on her dresser, she clipped the small, gold hoop through her lobe. "Does eight-thirty work for you?" He nodded and she threw him a dazzling smile. "Good. I'll meet you here, then. And thanks for understanding about dinner."
Scorpius sat up on his elbows. "Why wouldn't I? You've got a life outside of this mating, and I don't want to take that from you, Rose. I want to be a part of it."
Her eyes lifted to his as she put on the other earring. "I appreciate your willingness to compromise. I know I've reiterated it to death, but it means a lot to me that you respect my personal space and want me to be a partner in the mating, not just some female to bang and make babies with."
Now he sat up straight in the bed, mentally checking on his Veela at the same time. The beast inside was out cold, having shagged itself into blissful unconsciousness, and he didn't think it would be rousing any time soon. Perhaps now would be a good time to finish their discussion from last night, then. The Veela had slyly cut the both of them off from delving deeper into the issue of the Mating's completion by seducing its mate a second time, using a classic distraction technique to hide its fear and to keep Rose in the dark about the truth of the mating imperative. Scorpius understood the reasoning behind its decision, but that didn't mean he agreed with his other half about lying to his mate. Keeping such important details – information she had to know - would damage the trust between them, he knew, and only serve to anger and drive her away. That was the last thing he wanted to do.
Besides, he doubted Rose had forgotten their interrupted conversation last night, or that she'd let it go for long. She was dogged in her determination to know everything, and eventually, when she had a moment, he knew she'd bring the topic up again. Beating her to the punch and volunteering the information might go a long way in assuring the blow would be lessened.
Still, he was worried about her reaction.
"Yeah, about that. There's something you should know-" he began, but Rose beat him to the punch, her mind arriving at the exact same thoughts as his quicker than he'd anticipated.
"I'd like to know what you meant when you said last night that we needed to finish the mating soon." She was staring at him with such earnestness, and Scorpius stalled, unsure how to explain things to her so it wouldn't frighten her. "Will you tell me, since my Veela obviously doesn't want me to know?" she asked. A small crease worked its way between her brows. "Last night, he shut us both down when we started talking about it. I'm going to guess the truth disturbs him, and he doesn't know how to handle it."
He felt fear punch through his gut. "He's... don't be mad at him, yeah? He's really trying."
Her eyes softened. "I know he is. I'm not mad. I just... don't want him to think he can't tell me everything."
Scorpius rubbed the back of his head, ruffling his short hair. "Honestly, Rose, I'm not sure you're going to like the news, so I can relate to his fear. I... this is... it's a really big deal. A game changer, as they say in Quidditch."
She stiffened, and her eyes strayed to the clock on the small table next to her bed. Her lips went taut, forming a straight, white line across her face, and it was clear from her tightened features that she was uneasy about what he had to say after such a pronouncement. The moment was tense, the atmosphere between them charged with nervous energy. Scorpius held his breath, waiting for her to give him to go-ahead to spill his guts, wondering what thoughts raced through her head in those long seconds.
"Tell me," she bid, clamping her lips shut and staring at the rumpled bed sheets. "Just... do it. All at once. Like ripping off a plaster."
He let out all the air in his lungs, took another deep lungful in, and told her the truth. "There are other Veela going through the Transition this year, according to my grandfather. Your cousin, Louis, will be twenty-five in October. He and I... we weren't friends in school, but I do know his mother is part Veela, so he might have enough of the Veela blood in him to follow the instincts for mating. And then, I've heard there's his mother's sister's son, who is the same age, too. Same deal. I don't know of any others, but... those men are a real threat us being together, if they decide upon you as a mate, too." He met her wide-eyed stare. "Rose, unless I give you the Second and Third Marks, and finish this mating between us soon, another Veela can claim you at any time, if they want you - and they might not be so considerate of your demands for them not to force the Marks on you. It would be rape, and it would be a permanent bond. 'Til death do you part."
Rose's jaw went slack. She opened her mouth, closed it, and then opened it again. "But I thought there was only one mate for each..." She paused, her eyes going glassy as she turned to inward thoughts. "Oh. Hell."
Knowing her as well as he did, Scorpius knew exactly what logic leaps that amazing brain of hers had just made: Rose wasn't currently dead, infertile, or pregnant – the only things that would make a female non-viable for a male Veela's mating instinct. He was sure her mother had told her at least that much. That meant she was vulnerable as things stood... and it seemed she finally was beginning to understand the real level of her exposure, and the potential dangers.
Stubbornly, she shook her head. "You're assuming Louis or Tomas, Gabrielle's son, would want me. There's no guarantee I'd even be a candidate for either of them. I've only met Tomas once, and Louis... he's my first cousin."
Scorpius shrugged. "Maybe you're right. Maybe neither of them is the least bit interested in you." He looked up and met her eye without flinching. "But if one or both are, they could take you from me. If I caught up to them in time, it would be a fight to the death. If not... they could mate you before I could stop them. The First Mark isn't enough to prevent their claim."
Rose was clearly puzzled by that. "I thought... the First Mark changed me. What was the point of giving it to me, if not to bind me to you?"
Recalling the information about the Marking that he'd learned over time from his father and grandfather, Scorpius pieced those bits of conversation together to give his lover a more thorough explanation. "The First Mark's only purpose is to inflame a mate's lust so she'll want to accept the Second and Third Marks from the Veela. It doesn't actually do anything to the female aside from pump her full of an aphrodisiac, making her incredibly horny. That combined with the flavour of strawberries and chocolate that passes through my tongue into your mouth and the pheromone that's pumped through my skin into the air with the same scent are all designed to appeal specifically to you. They're tricks in my seduction kit, if you will... like scented candles, fine wine, and chocolate cheesecake."
Her lips twitched in amusement at such a simplistic comparison. "Times a million," she joked.
"But those things also serve a function, too: to make it clear to all and sundry that a Veela intends to mate you," he continued. "The scents and flavours I give off saturate your skin, your hair, your nose, and your taste buds, and they linger for days afterwards. They're a warning to other Veela to stay the fuck away, because I've claimed you as mine. The aphrodisiac in my blood makes you compliant to my intended seduction, like a lust potion. Baby, if you hadn't set down the rule that I was only to give you the First Mark last night, the Veela and I would have given you the Second and Third Marks, too... and you'd now be safe from being bonded to another Veela that may want you."
"I'd also be pregnant," she pointed out, losing her good humour. She fiddled with one of her earrings in a nervous gesture. "The day after your dad mated my mum, she and I talked. She told me that the only time a Veela would pass on its first choice for a mate is if the woman was 'unobtainable or unfit' at the time of the Transition. Because my mother was pregnant with me, your father couldn't claim her twenty-six years ago. So, it would be the same... if you gave me the last two Marks, I'd be pregnant. I'd be changed, permanently. No other Veela would want me, and I couldn't be with them, because I'd be completely attuned to you once the mating was done, like you are to me already."
"Right," Scorpius confirmed. "The First Mark is meant to incite lust in you, so you'll accept the Second Mark. The Second Mark changes your body similarly to how the second phase of the Transition changes mine. The difference is your changes aren't about making your body stronger or faster to protect a mate, but to make sure your body is ready to conceive and carry a Veela child. You hardly notice those changes, though, because your body's so consumed by lust from the First Mark."
She nodded. "That's kind of what mum told me, too." She ran her fingers in nervous, circular patterns over the sheets. "She said my body would immediately go into ovulation once I take the Second Mark, dropping an egg into position in my uterus during the initial mating. She told me that the Third Mark was the actual conception of our baby – when your sperm and my egg join to form our son's life. I get the mechanics of it all; I just didn't put it all together. That is, until the Second and Third Mark happen, I won't really... well, be yours."
"Now do you understand why the Veela is so scared?" he asked, leaning back against the headboard. "My grandfather says there are too many scents in the air of Veela lately, and he can't discern where they're coming from. If there are other men close by with Veela blood running through their veins, and if they are the right age, they could be feeling the instincts for mating and breeding. Like Louis and his cousin. If one of them decides on you, he knows that the First Mark isn't enough to hold you to us."
Raising her eyes to his, Rose held his gaze. "I don't need any marks for that."
He ran a hand over his hair, mussing it even more. "You might not, but Veela do."
"Louis isn't a pure-blood Veela. He's only an eighth," his mate pointed out. "It's the same with Tomas. Surely that's not enough of a connection for either of them to have a Veela's urges."
Scorpius ran a hand over his eyes. "If their lineage is potent enough, they could actually go through a type of Transition, too. It wouldn't be exactly like the Malfoy ritual, because our inheritance is based on Theodosis Black's curse and as a result, our Veela are all pure-blood, undiluted over the generations by interbreeding with humans, but it could be close enough for them to be able to give you the First and Second Marks. If that happens... we'd lose you."
"You won't lose me," she said in a very quiet, firm voice, and for the first time, her expression was completely open, letting him see into the very heart of her. What he saw enchanted him.
There was lust, and clear affection shining in her wide, blue eyes. There was fear, but also exhilaration in the slight parting of her lips. And there was tenderness and need conveyed in every breath and in the graceful posture of her body... need for him.
Rose sat before him, emotionally naked and raw, trembling and awkward, but utterly sincere, and Scorpius was once again overwhelmed by her courage and beauty.
"I love you."
It took no thought to say such powerful, transformative words to her. They simply rolled off his tongue, as natural as could be, without posturing or rehearsal or concealed intent.
The tension seemed to melt right off her shoulders, and a moment later, her smile trembled to brilliant life. Hopping up onto her knees on the mattress, she crawled over to him, keeping her shoes off the bedding, and pressed a quick kiss to his mouth. Then, she moved in for another... and another.
"Scor..." she sighed in pleasure.
No, he didn't expect her to say she loved him back just yet. He knew they'd overcome a lot of the misunderstandings over the past few days, but there was still a lot of work to do to win her over. It was folly to think one night of incredible sex would erase years of hurtful words and actions on his part. Still, Scorpius was a tad disappointed, especially knowing she'd so freely given those same words to his Veela just before nodding off to sleep in the early hours of the morning. He'd heard her confession then, and couldn't help the bit of jealousy that had burned through him, wishing she'd said she'd love him as well.
"I should really go," she stated even as she kissed him again, this time lingering a little longer and slipping him a sly, naughty tongue. "Really, I should."
"Mmmm," he agreed, but didn't make a move to stop her as she leaned in again and claimed his lips once more with growing fervency.
"Damn," she cursed around another teasing pull. "Kiss me back, Scor."
"If I do, you'll miss brunch with your mum," he promised, remaining absolutely still, letting this be her choice. "I'm horny and have raging morning wood, in case you missed the show under the covers. That's not a good combination to rouse if you want me to respect your space, baby."
Rose let her tongue swipe over his again, attempting to coax him into taking charge, but Scorpius refused to be baited. If his lover wanted him, she was going to be the one to decide. Frankly, he didn't want her blaming him later for missing a meeting with her mother because he'd shagged her into the mattress.
Realising that he could match her stubbornness, his aroused, little mate swore under her breath, said something to the effect of, "to hell with it," and in a quick move, she kicked her sandals off and was in his lap. Her mouth was hot and desperate against his. Surrendering to her domination, he kissed her back with a matching passion.
Well, it wasn't as if he hadn't warned her...
His Veela came awake in the middle of the writhing and rubbing, joining them by coming up alongside Scorpius' consciousness. He felt the shifting of their minds as they accommodated each other, melding together once more. "Mate," they sighed in between pulls of lips, rolling her onto her back so they were on top. "Our Rose…"
"You're messing my… mmm… my hair," she gasped around his heated mouth.
As one entity, Scorpius and his Veela slid their fingers over one of her breasts, cupping it, kneading. "That's the idea," they shared the thought, caressing her nipple into a tight, straining point. Rose moaned, arching into their touch.
Slipping their hand down, they snuck under the snug tie of her dressy summer shorts, under the band of her soft knickers, and sunk a finger deep into her velvety wet heat. God, she was slick and ready for them again, her hips rolling into their thrust with eagerness. Her fingernails dug into their shoulders, urging them on. Their cock ached from the knowledge that she wanted them as much as they did her, their pulse pounding in the plump head as it strained towards her once more.
Simply being oversexed didn't describe this insatiable need that burned through them. It was their Rose that drove them to heights of madness unimaginable, tangling up their emotions, enslaving them as assuredly as they were capturing her.
They pumped a finger in and out of her, adding a second when she made this adorable whining noise in the back of her throat, wordlessly begging for more. "We'll miss you, mate," Scorpius and his Veela whispered in her ear together, their conjoined voices echoing the sentiment in their combined hearts. "Will you miss us?"
Her fingernails rasped across their skull as she feathered through their hair. "Yes," she admitted with a whimper, arching into them. Her lips sought a continuous connection with theirs, ravenous for their kiss. "Give me your taste," she pleaded. "I want your taste in my mouth all day."
With a shiver of anticipation, Scorpius' Veela released a bit of his hold on the mating aphrodisiac, and the flavour of strawberries and chocolate melted across their tongue. He was very careful, Scorpius noted, not to unleash the full weight of his sexual magic, though, only letting slip a small portion, knowing Rose was frightened of being overwhelmed.
Their mate's response was predictable: she gave a small cry, and then yielded to her heightened desire. Their fingers were glossed with her sticky, sweet essence as she came in a shaky sigh.
It was an easy matter then to slide her shorts to her ankles, along with her knicks, and to mount her. Knees braced to either side of her legs, they slid between her thighs and entered her in one claiming stroke, sinking deep.
Rose gave a long, loud moan as they prolonged her climax, their pelvis rubbing against her clit with each rocking surge forward and back. Her fingernails scored their hips, their shoulders, and their back as she held onto them in any way she could and gave herself over to them.
Scorpius and his Veela watched the changes in her expression as she came down from her orgasm only to climb towards a second one. They marvelled over their witch together.
She's beautiful, his Veela thought with some measure of awe in his tone.
I've always thought so, Scorpius agreed. Very beautiful, inside and out. I love her.
He felt his Veela's feral heart tremble at that admission, knowing the beast was having difficulty accepting that anyone else should feel such things for its mate.
We can do this, right? He asked with genuine concern, realising that he and the Veela had to come to an agreement about this one vitally important detail or the whole mating could be blown. We can love her together. It can work. It's working right now just fine. What do you think?
Rose tightened her grip on him. "My Veela! Scorpius!" Sweat beaded upon her upper lip as she concentrated on the sensations driving her higher, closer to her euphoric release. "Please, please!"
The Veela was silent for a bit, concentrating on loving its mate while considering the situation. Finally, it gave a deep sigh. She calls your name, too, it said with some measure of bitterness. Calls you like she calls for me.
She wants us both, Scorpius pointed out the obvious.
Fine, it conceded at long last, resigned acceptance in its tone. But no one else, it warned with a growl.
Scorpius gave a mental nod. Agreed.
It was done, then. They'd all three come to a place of compromise and the mating could happen as soon as Rose gave the go-ahead for the Second and Third Marks.
"Ours," he and his Veela pronounced with triumph in one unified voice, and then proceeded to prove that sentiment to Rose for the next hour, bringing her to climax after climax, unconcerned for the state of her hair or her clothing… or of the time slipping by as the morning sun crawled across the sky to its highest point at noon.
As their mate lay in their arms in the afters, sweaty and very sated, she gave a tired chuckle. "So much for brunch with mum."
Scorpius and his Veela nuzzled against her hair. "We'll send her flowers in apology," they promised.
X~~~~~X
Rose left him for Quidditch practice at some point that afternoon. Scorpius felt her drift from his arms, but exhaustion swamped his senses, and so it wasn't until much later, as the sun was low in the sky that he awoke to realise how many hours had slipped past and that the bed was cold without her.
In his head, his Veela was down for the count, having exerted too much of itself over the last day, so he felt it best not to prod the sleeping beast for a talk. Instead, he got up, gathered his jeans, slipped them up his legs and secured them, and used Rose's Floo to get home.
His grandfather was sitting in a chair opposite the hearth at the Manor when he arrived, and it was apparent by the positioning, that the man had been there for quite some time, waiting for Scorpius to come home.
The moment the green flames died down from the Floo and the ash dispersed into the air, Lucius took a deep breath, his nostrils flaring. A pale eyebrow quirked in curiosity at what he discovered from Scorpius' scent. "You gave her the First Mark," the man commented, "but not the others."
There was a definite question implied in the man's statement.
Scorpius nodded, still uncomfortable speaking with his grandfather, especially after yesterday's revelations in the garden. "We've all three come to a compromise on the situation. It's a good place for us."
Lucius tutted. "You're too much like your father."
For the first time in his life, Scorpius felt proud to be compared to Draco Malfoy. His father had walked through fire to find a place of equilibrium with his Veela and true happiness with a mate, and Scorpius was just beginning to understand how much sacrifice and work such a thing entailed.
Raising his chin, he acknowledged with pride, "That I am."
The Malfoy patriarch rose to his feet, gripping his cane. "That wasn't meant to be a compliment in this case. My son's stubbornness has almost cost him his life on a few occasions in the past, most especially during his first mating." Lucius poked him in the belly with the blunt end of his walking stick. "If he had not claimed your mother within the allowable year-long courtship period, the magic of the curse would have turned on him and ended his life. Worse, he risked the possibly of another Veela interfering in his mating, should one have come knocking on Astoria's door, seeking her out. It would have been a fight to the death, then. You should not repeat such foolishness. Woo your mate after the bonding is completed. There will be plenty of time once she's officially yours."
Scorpius frowned. "Wait a minute. What do you mean the curse would have turned on him?"
His grandfather's ice-grey stare froze his bones. "Don't be dense, Scorpius. It doesn't suit you."
"I'm not," he protested, baffled by what his grandfather had just revealed. "I've just never been told there's a drop-dead date on mating before. I mean, I guessed something had prodded Dad's sudden flip-flop regarding accepting my mother as a second choice mate just three months after his transition, and I thought it might have something to do with the illness I've heard mentioned Dad had contracted around that same time period, but are you actually saying that his Veela would have ended Dad's life if he'd continued to refuse the mating?"
"That is exactly what I'm saying."
"And the same thing could happen to me?" he asked.
Lucius rolled his eyes. "It's the same curse, so the answer should be quite obvious."
Throwing up his hands, Scorpius' anger boiled to life. "You neglected to tell me that this could happen – why?"
"Because we all assumed you'd have simply claimed the chit by now," the Malfoy patriarch growled at him. "You've never been one to fail at charming women into your bed, Scorpius. No one expected you to have had such difficulty doing so with the one woman in the world who shouldn't have been able to resist you. If you'd only applied your magical talents toward the endeavour-"
"I want Rose to come to accept this mating because she wants to, not because I'm forcing her to," he snarled, cutting his grandfather off. "Using Veela magic to make her submit is no different from raping her will. In that, I agree with Rose. I will not brutalize her and end up no different from the fucker who begat this curse upon our family centuries ago!"
Lucius' black temper flared, but before he could open his mouth to reply, Scorpius' grandmother was suddenly there, restraining her husband with a hand on his arm.
"Perhaps it would be best if I were to speak to him, husband," she calmly stated.
Biting back the words he'd been prepared to say in anger, his grandfather instead closed his trap, kissed his wife on the cheek, then turned on his heel and stormed out. The door from the Drawing Room into the long hallway beyond slammed shut behind him.
"He hates me," Scorpius said with complete assurance as he kept his attention fixed on the door. "Just like he hates father."
His grandmother sidled up to him, taking his arm and leading him towards the opposite end of the room, towards the stairs that led down into the manor's foyer. "Nonsense. Quite the contrary," she stated with absolute certainty. "He loves you both more than you could possibly imagine. It's the reason he's so worried about your mating... and Hermione's pregnancy." She lifted the hem of her long, fashionable robes as she carefully made her way down the stairs. "Your grandfather is a hard and stern man, Scorpius, and conveying his concern or love with flowery words isn't in his nature, but it's there all the same. You just need to know where and how to look for it."
As they reached the bottom step, his grandmother guided him towards the front door. Apparently, she intended on an evening stroll through the front gardens. With a wave of his wand, the massive oak door opened and they passed through, startling an albino peacock in its wanderings. The bird hurried off, its long tail feathers dragging behind.
"What did he mean," he asked, breaking the silence between them, "about the Veela having enough power to kill Dad if he hadn't mated Mother in time?"
His grandmother's lips pursed together in a tight line as she considered how best to answer him. "From everything I've come to understand about the curse since mating your grandfather fifty-two years ago, the initial Transition that Malfoy men undergo at the age of twenty-five is not just a requirement for preparing to find and win a mate, but also a series of events meant to magically bind the Veela to you. Specifically, as the host, you are responsible for keeping its more savage nature under control, and binding it to you with a specifically crafted magical ritual accomplishes that goal." She gave him a wry smile. "The Transition is a partial taming of the beast, as it were, to keep its feral nature under some semblance of control. However, as Lucius has explained it to me, the Transition is by no means a complete chaining of your Veela."
Pieces of the bizarre puzzle of his family curse began to click together in Scorpius' head then. "Taking a mate finishes the process, doesn't it?" he asked.
His grandmother nodded. "Mating focuses a Veela in a way nothing else can. It forces him to commit all of his efforts towards the biological impulse to nurture a mate and to breed with her, rather than rampaging through life, aimless and confused as to a higher purpose. It civilizes him, and forces him to exist within the realm of human law to keep his mate safe and content. In so doing, it keeps him from becoming a true monster. Towards that end, he will do whatever he must to assure the mating takes place and is successful in as quick a time as possible."
Scorpius turned that information over in his head. "You're saying that if the Veela's host denies a mating, like my father almost did, the Veela inside will take steps to… what, punish him?"
His grandmother tilted her head to the side as if in partial agreement. "It is not punishment, per se, but a strong survival instinct that forces the Veela to act against its host. From how Draco explained it, the longer the mating to Astoria went without happening, the more feral the Veela within him became. It began to slowly drain his life force when it became clear that no amount of its reasoning, begging or pleading had moved Draco's heart. It had hoped to weaken him enough to simply step up and take over his body. Once it had accomplished that, it would simply have mated Astoria without your father's input."
"Sounds more like physical blackmail to me," he dryly stated. "'Mate her or I'll put you in a coma and take over the body.'"
"It could have been much worse," his grandmother stated. "Hermione postulated that if Draco had not relented, and he'd stubbornly let the courtship period lapse, his body could have been severely weakened, and unable to sustain both he and his Veela's life energies. His Veela's savage nature would have then taken control to assure its survival. It could have gained autonomy, turned on my son, and devoured him, using Draco's life energy to subsist. Without my son's moral compass to guide it, however, his Veela would then have killed everything in its path in its madness. The Ministry would, naturally, have been required to step in and destroy him at that point using an iron dart dipped in poison. It's the only way to bring down a fully feral Veela."
Holy. Shite.
Shocked by the scenario of what might have been, Scorpius' mind spun in circles, leaving him speechless for a moment. The very thought of his Veela having that kind of power over him suddenly made him extremely nervous. Controlling his body at times was one thing, but... causing him to wither and die? Devouring his life energy?
Jesus Christ.
"I have seen a Veela's savagery myself, twice. The first time was when Lucius' mother, Madeline, died. Your great-grandfather, Abraxas, went into a state of such fury that we were afraid we would have to put him down. However, he came out of it soon after the Ministry sent a Healer from St. Mungo's to evaluate him. The second time was when your mother passed," she continued, "your father's Veela nearly went mad. It was only by the interference of Hermione that your father's Veela returned to a state of control."
"Because it recognised her, and knew there might be a second chance for them in the future. Hermione gave Dad and his Veela hope."
"I believe that to be true, yes."
They stopped in their walk at the fountain at the end of the gravel trail. The figure in the centre of the magical sculpture was of a swan and its mate facing each other, their foreheads pressed together. The graceful arch of their long necks formed the shape of a heart between their bodies. Behind them, a large clam shell sheltered them from the sun and allowed water to stream down behind the mated pair, creating a waterfall backdrop that settled under and around the birds, before falling in another cascading sheet into the large pond below.
The swan fountain had always been Scorpius' favourite spot to come to as a child, giving him peace in a way nothing else could. Now, as he looked at the way the two magnificent birds touched, their hearts as united as their bodies, he felt a strange catch in his throat.
They were a mated pair. Their flawless precision was a result of the duality of their nature. The ideal shape they created together would be broken and made imperfect with the addition of another swan.
Rose had said she loved his Veela. She hadn't said she loved Scorpius, though.
Fuck, but he was the third in this mating, wasn't he? It wasn't his beast – it was him that was irrelevant to the relationship.
The thought caused a fist of terror to grip the organ under his ribs and squeeze tight.
"I-I think… I need to… to speak to Dad again," he stammered. "Thank you for your honesty and insight," he offered to his grandmother, kissing the back of her hand.
She looked up at him in concern. "What thoughts trouble you all of a sudden?"
He shook his head, feeling unmanned before this great lady for being so unnerved by his fears. "I'm fine. Just… soaking in the information."
"You were never a good liar, Scorpius," his grand-mere stated with kindness. "Slytherin in action, yes, but your heart has always been too much your mother's."
He smirked. "So, that makes me a… what? Slyther-puff?" He chuckled. "Or is that a Huffle-rin?"
They started back towards the house, leaving the fountain behind… but not forgotten.
His grandmother sighed and patted his hand. "I adored Astoria, despite her unfortunate House sorting, and she loved your father and you very much. For that, I could forgive her affiliations."
Feeling the familiar prickle of sadness that always gripped him whenever he thought on his gentle, dainty mother, Scorpius nodded. "I still miss her."
"As do we all. Your mother was an extraordinarily kind witch… the exact opposite of her viperish sister. That Daphne chit…" She shook her perfectly coifed head. "How the Greengrasses could have raised such diametrically opposed children, I'll never understand. The way she treated your father's friend, Theodore, was disgraceful. Such a kind young man, he is. Thank goodness that McLaggen boy was finally able to tame the woman's wildness, and your cousin turned out surprisingly well, as a result."
Corwin.
Just thinking about Mister Perfect made Scorpius' guts turn over. Rose had preferred his own sodding cousin over him, too.
Merlin's balls, he was depressing himself.
As he escorted his family's matriarch back indoors, he continued listening to his grandmother prattle on about the upcoming birthday gala planned for Corwin on Saturday, offering no comment in order to keep any hostility he might be feeling in check. They separated in the hallway just past the Drawing Room, she going in search of her husband to, "soothe his ruffled feathers," and Scorpius seeking out his father's wisdom.
Entering his dad's wing of the manor, the overwhelming scent of cinnamon and nutmeg filled the air. To his heightened hearing, the sounds of a bed creaking and moans caused him to come to an abrupt stop half-way to the old man's bedroom door.
"Draco!"
Hermione Granger's high-pitched, pleasure-filled cry had Scorpius turning scarlet and doing an abrupt about-face. He headed back downstairs towards his grandfather's private study, where he knew his grandmother had been heading.
The scent of whisky and cloves assaulted his nose as he neared the closed door of his destination, and the familiar sounds of mating assaulted his ears.
"Lucius!"
Shite.
Well, at least he knew when he was his grandfather's age, sex wouldn't be an issue…
Retreating with a quick step, he headed down to the kitchens. At least there he could get a good meal and escape the sounds of happy coupling everywhere. In a sour mood, he indulged, cleaning the plate the house-elf had prepared for him.
"Would the Master like dessert?" the female elf asked.
Dessert… dessert…
He checked the clock on the wall. It was nearing seven o'clock. He was to meet Rose at her flat at half past eight.
There was still time.
"Tell me something: do you know how to make brandy snaps?" he asked the little servant, whose ears perked up in happiness at being put to use. "Or strawberry fool with shaved chocolate on top?"
The elf enthusiastically nodded. "Yes, Master, sirs. Mipsy knows how to make both dessertses!"
Scorpius clapped his hands together, and rolled up his sleeves. "Wonderful. Can you show me?"
"Shows yous, sir?" The house-elf's excitement deflated a bit.
He threw her a flirty grin, having grown-up playing with the house-elves on the Manor property, despite his grandfather's disapproval and knowing how to win their aid when needed. "These are special desserts I want to make for a girl. Do you understand?"
Blue eyes widened and a big, toothy smile flashed across the servant's face. "Oh, yes! Mipsy understandses, Master. Master wishes to give a witch a gift of foodses!"
He nodded. "Exactly." He was going to woo his way into Rose's deep affections one way or another, not content to remain a third wheel, and as the old saying went, "win a heart with a happy stomach." Since he knew her favourite desserts from their school days, this would be easy.
"All right, Mipsy, let's get to work."
So, they did.
TO BE CONTINUED…
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Very important character and plot development in this chapter, as well as some foreshadowing. Did you spot it? Let me know your thoughts, dear readers! Please review!