Chapter 22

"I don't need his blessing I want it. I also want to propose and have it mean something than it be some idle afterthought" Warrington told Alicia as he pulled the blankets back from the bed. Luckily the dinner hadn't been too painful. Maura and Cillian though hadn't made it easier with their talks about Ireland and her fixing up his new 'cottage'. Maura and Cillian had retired for the night in separate rooms down the hallway from Warrington and Alicia's room.

"So right now it doesn't mean anything?" Alicia asked confused, she hated how needy she sounded when the reality was she didn't care if they got married or not. Her reputation was dirt it couldn't get any worse than it already was. Warrington moved to her side of the bed and placed his hands on her shoulder.

"Right now it feels like an obligation as we have pressure from our family to do the 'right' thing because you're pregnant that is not something I want to base a marriage on" he told her as he slid his hands to the side of her arms giving them a gentle squeeze. He didn't want to admit how much Cillian's blessing meant to him but he also wanted to propose to her and it be special not have it appear he was bending to someone's desire. Alicia gave a sardonic smile as she looked up at him.

"You know we don't have to get married. I know you've taken responsibility of me and I can never repay you for everything you've done for me but-"

"Alicia, you have nothing to repay. You're also not my responsibility or some obligation I have to endure. You are my pleasure and I'm not talking about the sex though that is very pleasurable" He said his lips kicked up into a satisfied grin for a moment before he grew serious. "I care about you very deeply. I love you but I want us to get married because it's a show of our love and commitment, Ok?" he asked her.

"Yes" She said took a shaky breath and gave a nod. He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead before he got to the question he had been waiting all night.

"Will you tell me why your grandfather wants you to move to Ireland and what Callaghan said?" Warrington asked, Alicia took a fortifying breath before looking at him.

"It's nothing" she said dismissively.

"It's not nothing, tell me before I think the worst" Warrington pleaded he couldn't imagine two people arguing over nothing so passionately as Alicia and Cillian did.

"Remember he's very old and not all visions are set in stone-" Alicia started.

"Alicia" he said cutting her off and making it known he was not going to let it drop as he looked at her to continue. She ducked her head and gave a shake of her head as she looked incredibly reluctant to share.

"I was dead" She told him in a matter of factorial tone.

"I don't understand" He said. She held out her hands in front of her, palms up and looked down at them. He saw the tears fill her eyes but she blinked to stop them from falling as she tried to contain her emotions.

"He held my hands and read the lines trying to decipher the best type of materials to forge my wand when he had a vision. He said I was lying dead on the floor of a dungeon cell that my back was bare and I had scratching on my spine, blood everywhere" She said he saw her hands shaking and caught them in his.

"Like before" he stated in a calm voice as he felt a cold chill ran down his spine. She gave a nod but didn't look at him.

"Yes, but this time in this vision I was dead" she said in a quivering voice.

"It could have been just an old memory where you looked dead, many powerful seers have been noted to have the ability to read minds" He said, Alicia shook her head and the tears slowly slid down her face.

"It wasn't that. I was pregnant in the vision" Alicia said looking away, she pulled her hands from his and wiped the tears from her eyes. She turned her back to him as she felt like her nightmares just kept coming and wondered when it would all turn good and she got to live life like everyone else.

"Do you know how far along?" Warrington asked her. She could hear the fear in his tone and wished she had answers for him but she only knew what she saw and had no reference or time frame.

"No, I've never been pregnant before I wouldn't be able to tell how far along I was and anyway it's a stupid vision" Alicia told him she kept her back to him as she didn't want to see his reaction or to know what he was thinking. She didn't want to be blamed for bringing such pain and drama into his life even if he did begin it by trying to blackmail her. She held herself tightly and tried vainly to dismiss the visions she felt if she didn't believe in it then it wouldn't happen. She heard Warrington take a deep breath and exhale slowly.

"Ok, well perhaps we should talk about some extra precautions" he suggested.

"I barely leave the house as it is" Alicia told him, she had been incredibly fatigued and thus George and Fred allowed her to do the accounts from home. She of course had taken over the desk in the library to do her work as she didn't like Montague annoying her in the study when he randomly dropped by with pregnancy tips and him having a drink waiting to have a word with Warrington or to flirt with Maura.

"I'm not saying that you should lock yourself in the house." Warrington said to her as he moved in close behind her.

"Then what are you saying? Do you want me to go to Ireland?" Alicia asked him in a low voice.

"I want you to do what will make you the safest and most comfortable. If that is in Ireland then we will go" Warrington said, Alicia turned to face him as she couldn't believe he had said that.

"We? You have a business to run here in London" She told him.

"I can apparate in two legs to work or travel by floo it will only be a greater distance nothing more and I would not leave you alone in Ireland. We are having a child together and I don't want to miss any of it" he told her.

"I can't ask that of you, this is all too much to think about right now. I'm just too tired" Alicia said the whole day had been overwhelming and now he was saying he would add extra stress to his life so she would be 'safe' not that she was sure she would feel safer in Ireland than she did in England but right now she wanted easy. She wanted to just get better and not be so incredibly dependant on others.

"Then how about I take your mind off of everything and we can discuss it in the morning over breakfast" he asked her.

"With my grandfather and your mother at the table?" She asked with a smile as she loved him for dropping the subject.

"Perhaps we'll discuss it before breakfast" Warrington said as he didn't need Cillian or his mother weighing in on the subject.

"My Grandfather will be up at 6am" She told him, they usually woke up around 7am. She wrapped her arms around his middle. He wrapped his arms around her and she looked up at him with an exhausted smile.

"Then we should definitely go to bed now" he said, he kissed her for a long pleasurable moment before he broke the kiss briefly "For sleep" he added before he continued to kiss her. Alicia groaned at him.

"Afraid my Grandfather might come in and catch us" Alicia asked pulling her lips away from his.

"No but I do not want to know his thoughts on our sex life if we look a little worse for wear at the breakfast table" Warrington told her.

"So I can't even convince you for a quickie?" she asked innocently.

"You should know by now I don't do anything quickly" he drawled in a husky tone, Alicia smiled and gave a chuckle.

"Hmm I think I need to be reminded on a regular basis" she teased him.

"You will be but not tonight, you're too tired to appreciate my ministrations and I'm exhausted" he told her, she made a grumbling noise as he moved them to her side of the bed but not letting her go.

"Oh not even married and you're already giving me the 'I'm tired and have a headache' excuse" Alicia grumbled as she looked up at him stubbornly holding him to her body.

"It should be your line" he told her with a wry smile.

"Are you sure you don't want me to walk you to the Apparation point?" Alicia asked Cillian for the third time that morning. They had shared an amicable breakfast while Maura and Cillian discussed the house he had bought and Maura telling him her experience of renovating and her house in Wales. It had been a good breakfast and then an hour after breakfast Cillian announced England was giving him a rash and he needed to go home.

"Geez woman I'm not a hundred with an addled brain. I know where to go, you have to be off your feet. I love you and will be back in a few days to visit" Cillian said as he hugged her again, he couldn't help but worry about her as she was incredibly thin in his opinion and she looked incredibly exhausted. She assured him she was fine and Maura assured him she would look after his grand daughter. It made him wish he didn't have a bar to run but he needed to get back.

"You mean to check in and see if I have changed my mind and need help packing" Alicia asked him with a cheeky smile.

"Aye that too" he said with a smile. He turned to Warrington.

"Sir, it was a pleasure and feel free to drop by anytime you wish" he said holding out his hand.

"Thanks, now you keep an eye on her and other out for trouble" Cillian told him as he firmly shook Warrington's hand.

"Will do" Warrington said. Cillian released his hand and turned to Maura.

"Maura, it was a pleasure to meet you and feel free to come to Ireland to work your magic on my house" he said with a smile, Alicia smiled while Warrington maintained a neutral face as Cillian's tone suggested there was a lot more than just his house that he'd like his mother to work on. But then he was used to it, his mother was too youthful and good looking for her own sake.

"Of course, I'll keep the gracious offer in mind. Take care and travel safely" Maura told him,

"Aye will do, later now" he said and with a salute of his hat he turned and started down the street whistling a tune and looking like a man without a care in the world.

"He's a charmer, I can family events will forever be entertaining from now on" Maura said with a satisfied sigh and a smile before turning back into the house. Warrington and Alicia shared a look before Alicia moved back into the house and Warrington closed the door putting the wards and locking the door.

"Yes, welcome my half of the family to the table. Just for the record there are no wards that he can't break" Alicia told Warrington in a low voice.

"I wouldn't dream of warding my house against your grandfather. It would be bad manners though I should ward the house against my grandmother" Warrington said he also thought of a good list of his associates who could go on that list as he didn't want to risk Alicia's safety. Obviously she didn't want to take the visions that Callaghan had seriously but he was definitely going to visit the old seer and find out exactly what was in the vision.

"No offence but I could do without her visits." Alicia said with a smile as she and Warrington went to his study as he needed to pick up a file for work before leaving.

"What are your plans today?" Warrington asked her.

"Maura wants to go shopping and then sleep" she said, last night she hadn't had a nightmare which was pleasant but she was still exhausted from all the stress and travel from the day before.

"Sounds like a good plan" he said as they walked into the study.

"I need my rest which reminds me. Thursday night we will be having drinks with my friends" She told him.

"Do we have to?" he asked.

"I've sat through all your events with your friends and business associates-"

"But I had to blackmail you into going" he said cutting her off.

"Well if you don't go I'll be very disappointed" She told him, he looked at her in odd amusement "I'm sorry, I'm not good with blackmailing and I haven't got anything to black mail you with" she said with a shrug.

"You could withhold your body" he told her.

"You turn me down more than I do you. I'm beginning to think you're bored of me" Alicia said with a smile as she knew he was anything but bored with her.

"Never, if anything I still have many things I'd like to share with you" he said in a low voice by her ear, she shivered in pleasure as his hands moved slowly up and down her back. "But it will have to wait until after work" he told her before he placed a kiss on the side of her neck, Alicia groaned as he was always good at riling her.

"Slytherin, you're all talk and no play" Alicia drawled.

"I'll prove you wrong and you will suffer great pleasure under my ministrations for your impudent tongue" he told her in a mockingly strict tone.

"I'll believe it when I see it" She said she smiled cheekily as she stood back from him. He shook his head at her. "And anyway tonight we are going to that charity auction tonight" Alicia reminded him.

"Of course, it slipped my mind I'll come home early to change. Black tie?" he asked as he stepped away from her to his desk.

"Yes, your tux is hanging in the wardrobe and ready to go." she informed her, he smiled and picked up the file he needed to take to work and moved back to her side and kissed her.

"Thank you, I'll be home around half three. I'll see you then and try to make sure my mother behaves" he told her before he apparated to work.

Cillian whistled a bright tune as he walked the main street back to Diagon Alley, he didn't miss the fact he was being followed nor did he miss the spy outside Warrington's house keeping an eye on the house. He wondered if Warrington knew he was being watched, he didn't seem like the kind of man to pay someone to watch him or Alicia.

Sure the man had designs and marked his Daughter but Cillian knew the man was not his father. He didn't dabble in the dark arts and he had withdrawn a lot of business from the dark arts industries and black markets. He was cleaning up the business with considerable losses but then the Warrington fortune was so vast the loss was nothing but a grain of sand lost from a desert.

It made Cillian wonder who had the nerve to follow him. He didn't have to look over his shoulder to feel the eyes of whoever it was boring into his shoulder blades as he moved. He made it to Diagon Alley and slowed in the busy street perusing the windows and using it as an excuse to see who was following him. He spotted his stalker and kept walking before giving the man the slip. He waited in a side alley and seconds later his stalker stepped infront of the opening looking for him.

Cillian pulled the stalker by the collar of his shirt and shoved him against the wall.

"Aye aren't you a looker" Cillian said as he took a better look at his stalker who looked to be no older than his granddaughter. He wore common street clothes nothing that earmarked notoriety or riches. A mere boy considering his lanky build and malnourished look.

"Let me go" he said as he tried to fight Cillian's hold but he was no match for Cillian's strength.

"You were following me and to be honest the only people I like following me are pretty ladies with a few years on them. Now you tell me why you were following me" Cillian told him.

"I swear I wasn't following you" the young man said.

"And I'm Mary Queen of Scots" Cillian said mockingly.

"who?" the young man asked. Cillian fought the urge to roll his eyes as he needed the boy to fear him. So he pulled the card guaranteed to get the young man's attention.

"My name is Cillian O'Loughlin and if that doesn't put the fear of Merlin in you then allow me to enlighten you. If you attempt to fool me boy, I can't promise you'll retain full use of any of your limbs after I'm done with ya. You hear me?" Cillian asked him in a cold tone, he saw recognition of his name followed by fear flash in the young man's eyes.

"Yes" he said in a panicked voice.

"Good, now why are you following me?" Cillian asked him.

"I was paid to, not just you but me and my boys were paid to follow the toff and his tart"

"That's my granddaughter you're speaking so foully of" Cillian said, the young man's eyes went wide.

"Sorry, I didn't know I'm sorry" he stuttered but Cillian stopped him with a cold look.

"Who paid you and what do you report?" he demanded.

"We report their movements that's it, nothing else I swear and he pays us well" he said.

"Who is he?" Cillian growled.

"Some toff"

"I want a name"

"I can't tell you I took an oath, I cannot reveal his name or location"

"You shouldn't allow your eyes to linger on what is not yours" Lucius said quietly to Theodore Nott. Narcissa was the first to point out to Lucius Theo's wandering eye that followed Miss Spinnet around the room. He was amazed his wife was even paying attention as she usually was too busy admiring and bidding on the items at the Charity Auction to care but she had noticed and put him to task.

Lucius didn't blame the young man for being attracted to the woman in question as she was radiant with her hair side swept to the side in deep waves, she was dressed in a soft coral strapless mermaid style dress with a modest sweetheart bodice it clung to her curves in a way that made a man weak in the knees. It was certainly a winner in the eyes of socialites as Alicia held herself with elegance, grace and style that made her stand out from those in her age group who felt that rich coloured and low cut tops with cleavage for miles and thigh high slits was fashionable and glamorous when really to the older crowd made them appear loose and too eager to please.

Miss Spinnet was also not hard to miss considering the fact she wore an expensive arrangement of diamonds around her delicate neck or the fact that she and Warrington practically captivated the room's attention whenever they stood next to one another. They exuded power with ease and grace without the feel that they were entitled to it. It was probably why they had become a public favourite with little effort which irked Lucius as he wanted Astoria and Draco to be more powerful than them. They had had a chance to be more powerful couple when Warrington was single. He hadn't fought in the war and only to come back to clean up the image of his father's company and take over. It was nothing to sneeze at but it was something that didn't win hearts as society loved a good war story. Now that he took up with Miss Spinnet they were now remarked as the new example of unity in the Wizarding realm as two people from different houses and blood lines united together showed that love conquered all that is how the Daily Prophet prattled on about it. Apparently it was more news worthy than the union between the houses of Malfoy and Greengrass.

Lucius wanted to help boost Draco's public image and thus help the boy in his Political aspirations but it was had for him to get public recognition when Warrington was taking up the lime light which was why Lucius felt it best to keep the Malfoy's in the spotlight with the couple. Their name attached to the Warrington's meant power from association.

Lucius also knew when Narcissa pointed Theo out he would have to have words with the man as he could ascertain his level of interest in the girl and inform Warrington of it. Lucius knew he could play both sides, and when Warrington offered a reward for his loyalty Lucius would then have him publically back his son when he started campaigning for office.

"I can look wherever I please and if that is in Miss Spinnet's direction then so be it." Theo told Lucius in a light tone, as he watched Alicia talking with Warrington smiling up at him before laughing about something. He saw Warrington's hand stray down her waist to the side of her hip. She was like a breath of fresh air in the room and all he wanted to do was possess her and crush the spirit out of her as revenge for sending his master to prison to die.

"Don't be smug boy" Lucius told him.

"Why do you care if I look at her. She's not your daughter or a familial relation" Theo said.

"She is Warrington's woman earmarked to be his wife-"

"I know to cross him would ruin me not only financially but socially though what exactly is my social standing here? I'm always on the outside yet still in the room" Theo remarked looking to Lucius. It was so well known that the Nott Family were not of the same gentry as the other households in the upperclass and were forever on the outside. They were too rich to be commoners but never rich enough to rub shoulders with the upper echelon of elite wizards.

"Because you like your father have no understanding of conduct yourself in society. You think money gives you the right to be treated as one of a higher standing but really it is the alliances you forged in this room and also what you bring to this room." Lucius told him.

"That's rich coming from you, and how is it that Warrington who by all means should be touted a turncoat for not fighting in the war and taking up with a tart who has a taste for potions get to be at the top of chain. Tell me what do they bring to the room?" Theo sneered before taking a swig of his whisky.

"Warrington has power thanks to him taking over his father's company and estates while Alicia brings her air of grace and elegance. She adds to his respectability as she is a war veteran like all of us and she also deems respect because even with the infirmities she suffers daily with she still holds herself proudly."

"She wasn't so proud when she was caught by the Aurors" Theo said.

"Really? I thought they were rumours" Lucius said raising an eyebrow in surprise when he really wasn't. He was one of very few people who did know about Alicia's case. He also knew it was never taken trial due to a lack of substantial evidence.

"Yes, well they couldn't hold her because Warrington has too many influential people in his pockets" Theo said, Lucius highly doubted that, so he decided he'd play into Theo's game.

"Mm, or it could be that she is the progeny of Cillian O'Loughlin. He is rather well known by the Wizengamot perhaps they knew better than to charge her until they had a solid case?" Lucius offered to Theo, he smothered a smug smile as Theo paled at the name. It was common knowledge that Cillian was a blackguard and a very dangerous and powerful Irish Wizard.

"I doubt that, she is nothing like him. I could take her" Theo said.

"I would not try if you care for your life" Lucius told him.

"She can't even use magic-"

"No, but her grandfather can and it's common knowledge that the Irish hold blood feuds more savagely than the British. Do yourself a favour and keep your eyes firmly off Miss Spinnet and find a interest elsewhere. In fact I would consider Warrington and his future bride are firmly untouchable" Lucius told Theo.

"I consider myself warned" Theo said as he downed his drink and placed it on the tray of a server passing by. "If you'll excuse me your lord I will be taking my leave" Theo said, he gave a bow and moved to where Draco and Astoria were standing talking with their other guests.