Lilia was openly grinning when he knocked on Azalea's door, and it opened slightly so that he could see within. Considering the sheer number of wards on the home, he didn't fancy having to undo a curse or seven just for opening the wrong thing.
Inside he found Azalea snoring lightly on his son, both of them sound asleep.
Malleus was already awake, and reading from the rather large selection of books that had not been put in the family library. He was deeply immersed in one of the books he had found. In his lap was his familiar, which was happily curled up asleep, while Grim resting on his shoulders.
He wasn't sleeping, but rather reading over Malleus' shoulder. Malleus was being rather gracious about waiting for Grim to read the pages as well before turning them. Sebek was out training in the modest garden.
Smelling the heavenly scent of fresh food, Lilia meandered to the kitchens.
He found Kreacher begrudgingly making the food.
Not one to miss an opportunity, Lilia sat down after making some tea.
One by one, everyone began to gather in the kitchens. Once they had breakfast, with even the glutton known as Grim stuffed to the gills, Azalea planned for the outing they would be going on. Yesterday had been catching up with her family, today they were going to visit the park and do a carryout order from some of the restaurants she knew of.
She planned to have their visit to the Twin's shop as for tomorrow, because she wanted to see the glorious moment when the twins met an enabler all too happy to 'test' their creations first hand.
Malleus cheerfully donned his hat, and Azalea made sure to put his the Roaring Drago toy that he carried everywhere in a special case. While his familiar was now able to leave the toy, he still liked the act of caring for it. Besides, it meant Drago could enjoy the park too.
"I still can't see why I'm not allowed with you," complained Grim.
"Talking cats aren't normal, and you're too short for any of the decent rides. Besides, the kids will be sure to stuff you to the gills anyway," said Azalea.
She was dropping Grim off at the Burrow, and the kids were eager to play with the cat again. He was more fun than Crookshanks.
Azalea checked everyone's outfit, especially Malleus. Satisfied that everyone was dressed "muggle appropriate", she dropped Grim off at the Burrow before hiring a magical cab to the drop off point at Thorpe Park.
No way was she subjecting any of them to the headache that was the Knight Bus...even if Lilia was at least to get a kick out of it.
This was going to be a fun day.
Several hours later...
Azalea was tired, but in a good way. Things had not gone as she expected, but they all still had fun so it was alright. Even if there was a near disaster when Malleus' hat almost flew off.
As predicted, the prince garnered a lot of attention from the normal folks at the park. However he was generally well behaved even if she had to explain a few things to him, such as "No, you couldn't roast the target and have to hit the prize with the rigged gun to win it."
Lilia had wheezed a bit from laughing so hard at that one. Even if he did win the toy Malleus was after.
Azalea gleefully hugged the stuffed dragon Silver had managed to win. It was a rather overpriced replica of the dragon known as "Charizard" but she still loved it.
She also planned to introduce Malleus to the Pokémon franchise as soon as possible.
It was when she saw Lilia pick up one of her console controllers than an evil, evil idea occurred to her.
"Tell me, have any of you heard of a game called Mario Kart?" she asked cheerfully. Lilia immediately grinned with a wicked smirk.
"I'll help set up the console!" he said quickly. She grinned at him with a conspirator's smirk.
This was going to be hilarious. Good thing she had the sense to order ahead for pizza, so she just had to go pick it up.
Once the console was set up and the boys given a basic walk through of the controls, Azalea left briefly to get the food before returning. She was also armed with copious amounts of junk food, soda and a few treats she had become hooked on.
She also made a point to go get Grim, since it wouldn't be fair for him to miss out on the fun.
Lilia was chuckling darkly already, having claimed his controller for the upcoming slaughter.
Once everyone was settled in, the war began.
"NO! My lord, I am so sorry!"
"You can't escape the blue shell of doom!"
"My, I shall have to increase your training Sebek. To think one of my own students could fail so miserably at cooperation."
"This confounded controller! How dare you betray me and knock lord Malleus off the stage!"
Grim and Drago were too busy devouring as much junk food as they could since the humans were thoroughly distracted. All in all it was a fun evening, even if Grim and Drago had stomachaches the next morning.
Later that night...
Silver had a slightly befuddled expression, realizing at some point during the movie marathon Azalea had fallen asleep on him. Lilia was openly cooing at the two.
Quietly, so as not to wake her, he asked his father "What should I do?"
Lilia's eyes gleamed at the opportunity presented to him to cause some fun. So with a bit of quiet instruction Silver carefully picked up Azalea into a princess carry. Lilia made sure to hold the door open, and had to grin when she refused to let Silver's shirt go. He wasn't as reluctant as he pretended to be about cuddling with her.
When he checked on them a few hours later, they were both sound asleep. He made sure to cover them up without actually entering the room, since Azalea was still hyper-sensitive about her space. Much like Malleus when he was in a brooding mood.
He couldn't wait for tomorrow, if only because Azalea planned to take them to Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade for the day, and Hogswarts the next.
He was rather eager to see the prank shop where Azalea had her accident.
~*~*~*~*
Azalea was trying very hard not to cackle, as the second Lilia was introduced to Weasley Wizard Wheezes his eyes lit up with unholy glee.
She caught him talking shop with the twins, and shot a thumb's up at them.
Silver had a bad feeling already, but knew there was nothing he could do about it. Instead he went with Azalea to visit the local pet shops. Malleus, now adorned in a different hat, was already trolling through the bookstore. Sebek, being the loyal puppy that he was, went with his lord.
If she had looked to the side, she would have noticed a certain pest that had mostly grown up after the war. Draco bloody Malfoy.
Draco was in shock, mostly at the fact his least favorite cousin was clearly on a date with an attractive, powerful mage. He might not recognize the man in question, but he recognized the cut of the uniform he wore. It was clearly bespoke, and he had the gait of someone well trained since almost birth as a knight-mage.
Draco could also tell that this male was perfectly capable of beating the ever living shit out of both Crabbe and Goyle combined.
If that wasn't shocking enough, two other males appeared from the bookstore. The first was a lime-green haired male with sharp green eyes. However there was no mistaking the fact he was another knight-mage like Azalea's date.
Then he saw him. He had pale features, raven black hair and inhuman beauty. Draco didn't even need to see the slightly pointed ears to know this man was a faerie, and a powerful one at that. Even from this distance there was no mistaking this creature as a being of power, and highly ranked.
What baffled him most was how casually Azalea was talking to the creature so casually, and he was responding with a warm expression. It took Draco several moments to realize that the two knight mages belonged to the inhumanly beautiful creature Azalea was talking to.
He was so befuddled by the entire situation he missed a second inhuman creature observing him from the side, armed to the teeth with a ridiculous number of prank products from the twin's store.
Azalea was introducing Malleus to the wonders of an ice cream shop. She had found out quite by accident it was his favorite sweet treat and wanted to surprise him with the sheer variety of flavors the human world had to offer. He was already deeply enraptured at the idea of well over fifty flavors, some he had never even heard of before. Sebek, bless him, was definitely getting pranked because he was too busy fawning over Malleus' joy to notice she had ordered a cockroach cluster ice cream for him.
Lilia walked in looking exceptionally smug, as he had found the twins utterly delightful to chat with.
The unholy cackling they had been giving off for the past several hours had given almost everyone nightmares.
"Did everyone have fun?" he asked.
Azalea beamed at him, because Silver had managed to stay awake the entire time and enjoyed the shops. Malleus had found several books, which Sebek dutifully carried for him so as not to burden his king.
Silver had reserved an outside table, and Lilia went up to find out what flavors they had.
The second Mr. Fortescue saw Azalea, and realized the odd inhuman beauty was with her, he beamed at them all.
Azalea refused to let him make everything on the house, but did allow him to make their order half off. He was among the few who hadn't believed the smear campaign against her.
"He seemed rather pleasant," said Lilia.
"Before my third year, I sat here regularly and learned a lot of history from him," she explained. "He was among the few people who didn't believe the utter lies the Prophet told about me. I always try to bring Teddy here for little treats from time to time."
Malleus had just taken a bite out of his ice cream, and you could see his utter delight when he tasted the flavor. Sebek, on the other hand had just discovered her little trick and was about to rage about it.
Or would have, had Azalea not cackled and pointed out it was one of the many flavors...and that he should have spoken up if he didn't want her to order for him.
Lilia was smirking, and Sebek reluctantly ate a bit more. He had survived Lilia's cooking, he could survive a small ice cream with bugs in it.
Azalea made up for her little prank by getting him something more to his preference.
In the Malfoy Manor...
Narcissa barely paid any mind to her son's ramblings about how the head of her former family had apparently found someone to date...right up until she heard about the inhuman beauty that had been in Diagon.
Hearing even a fraction of what the man looked like had Narcissa grabbing the family pensieve to see for herself.
Draco dutifully gave her the memory, which had his wife Astoria joining her to find out what had her mother-in-law so flustered.
Narcissa came out looking beyond shocked...but that was mostly due to recognizing the features of the obvious high fae.
"Mother?" asked Draco.
"Who was that man?" asked Astoria.
"That...was Malleus Draconia," said Narcissa. "Or more commonly known as the future king of the high fae kingdom of Briar Valley."
That had Draco and Astoria's attention.
"What?!" said Draco in a strangled voice.
"Those two men with him were likely part of his inner court. They had the right markings and bearing for it," said Narcissa slowly. "And from the looks of things, Azalea had become attached to the more attractive and calmer one."
"Scarhead is dating a high ranked member of the faerie courts?!" said Draco. Narcissa shot him a look.
"I'd advise you not to call her that ever again. And don't look so shocked...the shapeshifting gift in the Black line came from deliberately marrying a changeling into the family before the old ways was lost," said Narcissa.
Draco was still in shock that Potter had somehow managed to earn the favor of a high ranked faerie.
Actually, now that he thought about it, a few things were starting to make sense.
"Do you think they're the reason the goblins have been walking on eggshells of late?"
"I'm almost certain of it. It's one thing to offend a witch...it's another to offend someone with strong connections to the high fae courts. From the looks of things, she's already well on her way to becoming part of his," said Narcissa with certainty. Clearly, the high fae had found something that displeased them greatly from the way the goblins had been acting of late.
Either way, her estimation of the girl's charisma had shot up exponentially.