I had finally given in and sent out my resume to a few other departments. The blow to my ego sucked- not hearing back from the department I wanted. What hurt more was the little voice in the back of my head saying that my father was right. That I wasn't good enough.

"I expect you and your wife in the dining room for dinner." the very same man had commented that morning after Coco left for work.

"Yes sir," I answered, before also leaving.

After that first day, I learned that staying home while between jobs was not an option. I didn't want to deal with my father so every morning after Coco left, I would too. I usually went to the Malfoy house to have coffee with Draco and his mother.

Narcissa was handling everything as well as expected- which is to say with an impressive amount of grace and dignity. It had quickly been determined that she wasn't a Death Eater, she'd never done anything in the name of Voldemort and while she probably had been privy to a lot of the information there was nothing they could really lock her up forever on.

Not to mention that despite everything, the woman was filthy rich as the only living member of the Black family.

The trials had been- a difficult time. Some people, such as the Selwyn's, hadn't been touched by it at all. Genevieve wasn't involved in any of that, thus Baz had never really been pressured into it. My father managed to keep himself out of any of the drama with the threat of blackmail. Draco-

Well, Draco was another case altogether.

"I think I'm going to visit the Mulciber house, would you care to join me?" I asked as I finished my coffee. Narcissa had excused herself to go check on her peacocks.

"No, I have a few things I want to get done around here," Draco responded.

"Oh?"

"Nothing exciting," Draco promised. "Mostly just- cleaning stuff out." After everything had been done, Narcissa willingly let the Aurors in to take whatever was deemed 'dark artifacts'. I was sure they hadn't managed to get everything, there was just too damn much. Both Draco and his father had a taste for dark artifacts and I knew that he had spent- a lot of time and money hunting down some of the most rare items.

Malfoy Manor was also made for secrets. The number of hidden rooms and passages ways in the home were almost comical. It made Hide and Seek an actual nightmare.

"Are you getting rid of all of it?" I asked curiously. Draco glanced at the door to the garden where his mother was off feeding her beloved birds.

"No." Was all he said. I nodded and stood, taking my leave.

By the time I got to the Mulciber's home, which was a literal castle, It was nearly 10 am.

The house was silent, that was normal. I knew my way around the vast space, heading straight up to Alistair's wing.

I remembered as a kid thinking it was so cool that Alistair got an entire section of his family's home to himself, what I didn't realize until later was that it was done so that his parents didn't have to deal with him. He had house elves who took care of him and his parents really only dealt with him when forced to by public appearances.

I headed for the sitting room where he normally hung out, but found it empty.

"Huh…" The second option was the bedroom. I hurried up the stone steps and didn't bother knocking, just pushing it open. "Mulciber- oh."

He wasn't alone, there were actually two people in his bed. Both of whom woke up at my intrusion and scrambled to cover up.

"Nott, polite society dictates you knock before entering a gentleman's bedroom." Alistair didn't lift the eye mask he wore.

"And were I entering the bedroom of a gentleman I might have considered doing so." I stepped back as the couple quickly dressed.

"I'll owl you." The man said.

"I wouldn't," Alistair replied- not moving the mask so he didn't see the look cross their faces before they left.

"Gentlemanly indeed."

"Better than getting their hopes up." Alistair ripped the mask off finally and hung it on the elaborate headboard. He dramatically unearthed himself from the blanket and climbed out of the massive bed. I was used to Alistair so him wandering around the room completely naked was no longer a shock. "What time is it?" Alistair asked around a yawn, scratching the back of his head and walking to his bathroom.

"Nearly ten thirty."

"You woke me at the crack of dawn?" I rolled my eyes.

"Alistair." He turned on the shower and I knew that until he came out- there would be no talking to him. I took a seat, pushing a pile of clothes off of the chair. While I watched, the room began to clean itself, the old sheets stripping off and replacing themselves. The pile of stuff I had shoved to the floor vanished.

Ten minutes later, Alistair had a towel wrapped around his waist, a second one in his hands, scrubbing at his mussed hair.

"Don't you usually spend your mornings commiserating with the Malfoys?" He asked, letting both towels hit the floor before trailing to the wardrobe.

"Yes, and I did, now I am here, watching you walk bare ass naked."

"No one is making you watch, Nott." Alistair pointed out, a few minutes later he walked out in a pair of khaki slacks with a sweater vest with no shirt underneath. "So, To what do I owe the pleasure? Pancakes?"

"No thank you." Another aspect of nearly twenty years of being Alistair's friend was learning to follow his train of thought. "I figured I would stop by- soon enough I'll have another job." Alistair made a disgusted face at the idea of a job.

"My condolences."

"Thanks. Anyway. I figured while I still have the free time, and you have nothing but free time, I'd stop by and see my friend." Alistair grinned at me,

"Great, you can watch me eat breakfast." He gestured for the door and I followed.

Alistair's wing of the house was set up much like its own unit. He had his own kitchen, which he never used but his house elves did.

"My mother's been trying to get the ministry to allow her to send letters to my father." He commented gleefully as he led the way to his dining room. "She is losing her mind over it, says it's of utmost importance that they are allowed to correspond."

"Why?"

"I have no earthly idea. I was under the impression my parents hated each other as much as they hated me." Alistair shrugged and dug into his food.

Spending the afternoon with Alistair was always interesting. He took me across the grounds to show me the muggle car he had gotten his hands on that he wanted to fix. He had a pile of books about the subject and I helped him look through them to try and get started.

Then as it got closer to for Coco to get home, I said my goodbyes and headed home.

I got there literally one second before my wife.

"Hey." She leaned in to kiss me- one of the upsides of her heels was that she was nearly my height.

"Hey, come on, we need to dress for dinner. Rochester wants us to eat together." Coco made a face- much like the one Alistair made when I mentioned a job. "And family dinner is always semi-formal." Coco groaned, heading up the stairs.

"I've been dressed up all day it's time for Pyjamas and barefeet." She whined.

"After dinner." I hurried up the stairs after her and went to change- as the clothes I had been wearing were mussed from Alistair's car project. She came out of her wardrobe a little later with her hair freshly styled up off her shoulders, a red dress that gave me the most sinful thoughts.

Suddenly, the concept of skipping dinner to stay in the bedroom was even more tempting than before. But I knew Rochester wouldn't put up with that. I pulled her in for a kiss.

"Remember, he's-"

"The worst?"

"Well yes."

"I could never forget," Coco promised, reaching up to caress my cheek, I leaned into the touch without thinking about it. "Let's get this over with." She sighed and led the way down to the formal dining room.

The table was large enough to seat twenty or so people, which made the three place settings on one end of the table look more than a little ridiculous.

I led Coco to the end of the table- making note of how the plates were arranged. There was a plate at the head of the table- presumably for my father, and a plate on either side of it, putting Coco and I on opposite sides of the table, facing each other, as opposed to sitting next to each other.

"You're on time." Rochester sounded surprised.

"Of course." I quirked an eyebrow, pulling the seat out for Coco. She sat, crossing her legs. I walked around the table to my own chair on my father's right side and sat. My father cleared his throat and took his own seat, the glasses filled themselves and the bowls filled with soup.

Coco reached out and picked up her glass of water, taking a sip.

"Cordelia- you feel that dress is appropriate for dinner with your father-in-law?" Rochester asked.

"Obviously I do. I wore it." She answered without skipping a beat.

"Next time, wear something more appropriate." He snipped. "Theodore, have you found a new job yet?" He asked. My shoulders tensed and I glanced up at Coco, who was sipping her soup.

"Not yet, no. I have sent my resume to a few different departments-"

"You just now did that?" I clenched my jaw. Realizing my mistake too late.

"No. I had sent one out before-" Rochester barked out a laugh.

"You tried for the Department of International Magical Cooperation didn't you?" He asked I could see the dark amusement in his stare. "And let me guess- they turned you down."

"I-"

"They didn't, actually," Coco spoke up. "I was going to surprise you tonight, Theodore, but I was blindsided by- this." She gestured to the three of us at the table. I frowned, confused.

"What?"

"The head of hiring for that department caught me before I left work, knowing that we are married, gave me this." She withdrew an envelope from- I don't even know where and held it out to me. I stared at her with wide eyes, suspicion started to roll in my gut but I squashed it. After everything we had been through, I knew she wouldn't mess with me, not like this, and definitely not in front of him. So I reached out and took it. I opened it up and withdrew the papers.

Mr. Nott, please excuse the delay in response, but we would like to extend an offer of employment-

"I got the job." The dread that had been weighing on me lifted, it was better pay than what I had originally been getting, more hours, yes, but not by that much. "I got it." I brightened and hopped up, hurrying around the table, past my father. Coco stood and hugged me.

"I told you you could do it."

"They'll learn and so will you." Rochester scoffed. "You're not prepared for actual work."

"He is. He absolutely is, and you not wanting to see it doesn't make it less true." Coco snapped at him. "Despite your best attempts, Rochester, you raised one hell of a man. No clue where he learned it from, but he did it." There was a loud crash as my father stood, knocking his chair over and he shoved his bowl of soup- as well as his glasses of water and wine to the ground, I quickly moved between the two of them.

"Don't-" I started

"I will NOT be disrespected in my own home." Rochester roared, Coco's hand gripped the back of my shirt. "As long as the two of you are living under MY roof you still treat me with respect."

"Funny you mention it, actually." Her grip moved from my shirt down to my hand. "That's my second surprise. I made an appointment for us to meet with a realtor. I think it might be best for all of us if Theodore and I moved into our own place."

"Excuse me? The two of you couldn't-"

"Oh, we could. You're not the only one who knows how money works, Rochester. Theodore and I both have jobs." That was a new development, but she was right. "I have a trust fund, plus money that I received from my paternal grandparents' after they died. And my mother's parents have accounts for both Bastian and I. And I recently found out about a fund that was created for me by Octavius Lestrange of all people."

"Wait what?" That one got me.

"Yes, My mother said that after he murdered our father, he set up stock accounts for Baz and I. He told my mother he didn't regret killing William, but he didn't want to be responsible for the downfall of two good pureblood children." Coco shrugged. "I just found out about it the other night. So you see, Rochester, even without me taking into account any money Theodore has outside of his work income, he and I are set."

I had never seen my father look so angry in his life.

I wanted to cheer.

I also wanted to quickly escort Coco from the room before he could touch her.

"See you thought you had really fucked us over, forcing us to get married. You thought you'd sentenced Theodore to be as miserable as you are for the rest of his life but the joke's on you, Rochester. You are miserable because that's who you are as a person. Theodore deserves so much better than a dark, oppressive house under the thumb of a man who doesn't know how to love anyone. And that's what we will have. While you sit on your throne, alone. Enjoy your dinner." Coco turned and walked out of the room, leaving me alone with my father.

"If you move out- I will take away your trust," Rochester warned.

"You can only take away the one you put together." I pointed out. "Not the rest." I knew that my mother's family- though I'd never been allowed to see them- had made sure I'd be taken care of financially when the time came. And it seems it had. "I don't need your money- I don't need anything from you. I have the love of my life." That felt- right. So right. I couldn't stop the smile as I walked out of the dining room, leaving my father completely alone.

Coco was right, it was how he was meant to be.

I headed up to the bedroom where I knew my wife would be waiting for me, and sure enough, she stood next to the chessboard, looking down at the half-finished game. Draco and I had a habit of playing multiple games and then halfway through one, we would realize the time and just- stop.

"Which side were you?" She asked. I closed the door, cocking my head, a little confused.

"What?"

"On the board? White or black?"

I cocked my head to the side.

"Black. I'm always black and Draco is always white." I answered. She nodded slowly,

"Good."

"did you really set up an appointment with a realtor?" I asked.

"Yes- I know I probably should have asked first but when have I ever actually done things the way I should?" She responded, kicking her heels off and reaching back to unzip her dress. I watched as she walked into my wardrobe- not her own, and a minute later she came out wearing one of my shirts.

I had never told her out loud how fucking sexy it was when she wore my shirts, especially when she wore them with nothing underneath. But fuck it did things to me.

She walked over to the bar cart and set up two glasses, adding whiskey to them both, and bringing one over to me.

"Thank you." I took it and my other hand moved around her waist- pulling her in for a kiss. She returned it, pressing her body to mine. It felt- perfect. Wild- everything that had happened tonight. I had gotten the job I wanted, I was going to move out of this house, out of the hell that provided the backdrop for my childhood.

"I can't live here anymore," she admitted. "I can't stand this place, it's- everything I said, dark, oppressive. Every inch of it screams that it doesn't want me here- it doesn't want you here. I want us to have a home, a place where we can invite people over without holing up in this one room." Technically we could invite people over and hang out in just about any room in the house but I understood what she meant.

"I want a place that is ours, that has our personalities- well, More mine than yours. Mine is fun." she corrected herself. I gently shoved her and she laughed, taking a sip of her drink. "Also living with your father for too much longer would result in me going to Azkaban for murder."

"that's fair, I think that's how most people feel about this place," I admitted. I swirled the whiskey in the glass, watching the amber liquid for a moment. "Can I show you something?"

"If it's your dick, I've seen it, a few times."

"Shut up, it's not that." She sobered up at my tone and nodded.

"Of course."

I reached out and took her hand, leading her into the bedroom. I used the hand holding the glass to press on the wall panel that sank in and moved out of the way, revealing my secret room.

"What-"

"When we were young- Draco stole his father's wand and helped me create this." It had been fairly soon after my room had been turned from a child's nursery into a proper bedroom for a young man. Neither of us had been super sure how the law about underage magic worked and had hoped that it had been connected to wands and not to the underage person, but seeing as we hadn't had the ministry busting down the door-

"Lumos" The room lit up and Coco gasped, dropping my hand and crossing the room.

She headed straight for the most important thing in the room, dropping down to her knees on the floor to get a better look at it.

"Is this your mother?"

The woman in the painting smiled.

My mother was a beautiful woman, her hair- the same chocolate brown as mine, was pulled back in the painting. She wore a blue dress, I had once heard from Jacqueline Zabini that my mother's favorite color was blue. I walked over and sank to the floor next to Coco.

"Yes, my mother, Ophelia Yaxley."

"She's gorgeous," Coco commented. the painting didn't talk- it had never spoken. I knew they could, but for some reason, it seemed as if my mother's voice never made it into this painting.

"She is." I agreed. "My father has no idea that I have this up here," I informed her. "After she died, my father got rid of every trace of her we had in the house." Except for her ring apparently. "But when I was a kid, Rochester was away on some business and this was left at the door." I suspected my mother's parents had left it for me. "I hid it away so Rochester would never know that I had it and- it worked." I reached out and touched the gold frame. It had been a bitch to hide it before Draco had snuck out with his dad's wand but I had been determined, my father wouldn't take this from me. Coco scooted closer to me and rested her head on my shoulder.

"You look like her."

"No, I don't." I scoffed. "I look so much like Rochester-"

"It's in the eyes." Coco continued as if I hadn't disagreed. "You have her eyes. The spark behind them. Your father's eyes are either dead or cruel there is no in-between. You- you have so much more and this painting- it proves that it comes from her." My heart clenched in my chest and I felt the prick behind my eyelids- the threat of tears. I kissed her head.

"Here." I handed her my glass and got up, going across the little room. I found what I wanted right away, this room had a lot of little trinkets in it that I didn't want my father to take, mostly gifts from friends. But I knew exactly where everything was. I walked back over and sat. "Give me your engagement ring." I held out my hand. She frowned, putting the glasses down on the floor and she removed the ring- the one that Daphne had designed.

I took it from her and placed it next to the glasses, then opened the little velvet box that held my mother's ring.

"At the engagement party- I said some- terrible things," I admitted, Coco's eyes were on my face, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. "I said you didn't deserve my mother's ring-"

"Yes, I- trust me I remember."

"I never got to meet my mother, not really. My father refused to talk about her after she died- everything I knew about her was from my friends' parents, or occasionally strangers. Of course, they all told me what an amazing, incredible woman she was. I have this image of her in my head, of a saint. of an angel among men and any little bit of her that I can get my hands on- I want to hoard away." I glanced at the painting, a prime example.

"I wanted to keep it all for myself with the belief that no one else deserved it. She was my mother, I wasn't going to share. No one was worthy of this woman in my mind. And- I was wrong."

"Theodore-"

"I want you to have her ring. I want to share her with you. You are just as amazing, just as incredible- definitely no angel, but you are absolutely deserving of my mother's ring. You always have been and I was an idiot to take so long to see it." I pulled the ring from the box and I took Coco's hand. "I love you, Cordelia, I love you, and your attitude and your stupid antics." I slid the ring onto her finger, it fit perfectly.

I was only able to look at it on her finger for a moment before she pulled her hand out of mine and nearly bowled me over, hugging me tightly.

"I love you too." She muttered into the crook of my neck, my arms wrapped around her waist, holding her to me.

I opened my eyes and looked at the painting. My mother watched the two of us- a single painted tear rolling down her cheek.

'My love' she mouthed.