The steady percussion of the fat, fluffy black cat went along nicely with the soft sounds of the piano. Well, until the cat decided that the piano keys were the best place to lay down.

"Perkins!" Annie scolded even though she couldn't help but smile down at him. Perkins was the Riddle family cat, purchased when Annie was only three years old and had learned that her father would buy her anything she wanted if she just flashed him a puppy dog face and grabbed onto his large hand with her little one. Tom hated animals but he'd bought the kitten that afternoon because he couldn't imagine a world where his daughter didn't smile. Now, almost eighteen years later, she and Perkins were closer than ever. He followed the young woman almost everywhere she went. His favorite spot was her lap as she soothed him with piano, though apparently, he wasn't in the mood for that now.

"I'm beginning to think that cat is immortal," James said from the doorway before he took up his usual spot leaning up against the black baby grand. "Eighteen years? Do cats even live that long?"

Annie smiled and scratched Perkins behind his ear. "This one does."

James rolled his eyes but petted Perkins anyway. Like their father, her brother wasn't one for pets but he did love his sister more than anything so he sucked it up and loved the damn cat. Secretly, Annie was pretty sure that Perkins had made everyone in that home as in love with him as Annie was.

"Are you ready for tonight?" James asked.

Annie gestured to her ensemble. Tonight, she'd decided on a pale silver dress that almost looked white unless it was in the right light. Elio had said he'd love the silver stars in her eyes—ones she didn't even really know she had until him—so she wore it to please him. The empire waist gown accentuated her small figure, while her half-up hair fell down her back with spiral curls dotted with matching stars.

"Very ready." She couldn't decide if that was a lie or the truth. On one hand, she was ready to see Elio again. Ready to be in his arms and feel his lips—and maybe other things if things lined up just right. But on the other, she was terrified of James meeting him. Elio had promised to not be as cheeky as she knew he could be and perhaps she could convince her brother to give him a chance. Still, James was… James. There was a reason her brother was next in line to be the Dark Lord.

"I don't think Lottie will be there so looks like it'll just be you and me. I might say hi to a friend or two at first but then we can have some sibling bonding."

James flashed a charming smile that he reserved only for his family and girlfriend. In all the years that she knew him, Annie had only seen James be charming to a handful of people. "Friendly" wasn't exactly on the list of his personality traits. To be honest, it wasn't on any Riddle's. Even Annie could be kind but to be friendly, she had to have at least a modicum of sociability and she truly did not.

"About tonight…" Annie said with a wince.

"What?" James's face immediately flooded with concern. He yanked his younger sister from the piano bench by the arm and began inspecting her for injuries immediately. "What's wrong? Did someone say something to you? Is there someone I need to take care of?"

She pushed his hands off. Well, attempted to. James still kept a tight grip on her bicep and she was far too weak to push it off. "No, nothing like that."

"Well, what is it, Annalise?" She frowned because James only used her full name when he was serious. More serious than he normally was, at least.

"There's someone I want you to meet tonight."

His face darkened. "Annalise Adele Riddle. You better say that this

'someone' is a girl." She just shook her head with the look of a sullen child who had been scolded. "Fuck. A boy?"

"Yes."

"No. No way," James said while shaking his head. "Not a chance, Annalise. You're not going to date anyone for a long time. I don't care if this boy is Jesus fucking Christ himself. You are not seeing anyone."

Annie frowned. "That's not fair! You have Lottie. How come you can date and I can't?"

"Because I'm…" But he trailed off. At that moment, Annie knew exactly what he was going to say and it hurt. Because I'm me. Because you're you. Because you're weak. Because you're not strong enough. Because you need to be kept away.

She ripped her arm from his grasp and took a few steps backward. "I'm almost twenty-one years old, James. I have no friends, I've never been out of England, and I've never dated anyone. I'm kept in this house while you're off exploring the world with Daddy where I'm hidden from everything. And now when I've finally met someone who makes me feel seen, you want to take that away from me? You want me to give it up because you aren't ready even though I am? How does that seem fair?"

His face fell. "Annie, I—"

"No. I don't want to hear any more from you," she whispered, her voice cracking at the end as she did the one thing she never thought she would do. She began to build a wall between her and her brother. Her closest friend. The one person she'd never kept anything from.

But if he forced her to choose between him and Elio, he wouldn't like the choice she would make.

Annie began to walk out of the room only for a cold hand to grab her own. She refused to look at him, even as he held her back.

"Annie, please. Listen to me." She sighed and turned back. James was staring at him with grey eyes filled with concern. He looked like the perfect mixture of their parents. A little bit of Tom, a little bit of Evelyn. Her shoulders slumped as she wondered if it'd always been like this, if she had always been a sort of outside in the family.

"I'm listening," she muttered.

"I will meet the boy," James said in a tight voice that suggested truly how painful it was for him to say it.

"Really?"

"Really. I can't promise that I'll like him but if he's nice and he treats you well then—"

James was cut off by Annie throwing her arms around his neck and squeezing him tightly. "Thank you, James! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

He chuckled and hugged her back, picking her off the ground as he turned her around the room. "You're welcome, princess."

James set her down before looking her in the eye. "I'll give you two a little bit alone at the beginning and then I can meet him. I can speak with our cousins or something."

Annie squeezed his hand. She could hardly contain the excitement radiating through her pores. What if they became friends? What if this went really well and her father liked Elio too? What if they didn't have to hide? What if they could be a real couple, one that got married?

"Okay!"

He grabbed her arm and began to lead her out of the room. "Merlin, Annie. If you have him as wrapped around your finger as you do the rest of us, that poor boy doesn't stand a chance."

⋆ ⭒ ˚ . ⋆ ⭒ ˚ . ⋆

"Hello, my perfect little mouse," Elio whispered as he wrapped his arm around Annie's waist, kissing her neck gently. "Hello, my pretty girl. My sweet angel. My loving future wife."

She turned around and smiled up at him. Merlin, she looked even more beautiful tonight than ever. He was pretty sure his heart stopped for a few seconds as he looked at her soft lips, the way they curved up as she leaned into his embrace.

"I missed you," he raised because no words seemed to explain just how long the day had felt since he'd left her.

"It's only been a few hours."

"A few too many." Elio kissed her forehead before smirking. "You know, if you moved in with me it would be less."

Annie rolled her eyes. "Then how would you pine for me?"

"Topolina, I will always pine for you. As long as you are even a millimeter away from me, I will pine for you. Any space between us is far too much."

She blushed before whispering cheekily, "Maybe we should lessen the space, then."

Did his pants just get smaller?

He groaned before grabbing her hand and leading her out into a corridor far away from the rest of the ball. His plans of dancing with her, feeding her petit fours, and toasting champagne with her all went out the window in favor of getting inside of her as quickly as possible.

Elio knew the Parkinson mansion fairly well. Peter Parkinson—Pansy Zabini's older brother—had twins that Elio was decent mates with. Well, the boy was one of his mates. The girl… he didn't want to think about his past with the girl, not when he was holding the girl that was his future.

Elio's parents had warned him several times that he would regret his womanizing ways when he met his future wife. To be honest, he'd never believed them because he truly never thought he'd get married. He didn't think he'd be lucky enough to fall in love as much as his parents did. But now? Now he regretted even looking at a woman who wasn't Annie. In his mind, they all paled in comparison to her. He wished he could undo the past more than anything but he couldn't. All he could do was focus on his future with her and prove to her that he would only ever want her. Luckily, Annie hadn't seemed to judge him too much, though he would always have those regrets in the back of his mind.

Finally, they reached a corridor in the guest wing that was rarely used. The oil lamps were off and it looked like someone hadn't been there in ages. Perfect.

Elio pushed Annie against the wall—gently, of course. She gasped but the sound was cut off by his feverish kiss. "I missed you," he groaned as his dick strained against his pants. It was like she was the sun and his cock was the sunflower hopelessly flocking to wherever she was.

Annie kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his neck while her legs wrapped around his waist. She pushed into him almost as hungrily as he did. "I'm right here," she whispered in a voice that drove him wild. "You have me."

"Not close enough." His voice was a low growl. Elio needed Annie desperately. He ached for her, ached to push inside of her and hear her moan again.

"So get closer."

It took only seconds for Elio to hike up her dress, shove his trousers down far enough, and push inside of her with one, long thrust. He groaned as he filled her before kissing her neck. One of Elio's hands grabbed onto her curls while the other held tightly onto her ass.

Annie moaned as he continued to move inside of her, curving his hips with each thrust so she could feel every inch of him. She arched her perfect body into his. Elio wished that they were in his bedroom and he could rip off her dress and take those perky breasts into his mouth. Another time.

The air sizzled with uncharged magic as the two of them made love in that empty corridor. Though the only real sounds were those of their heavy breaths and skin slapping together, Elio wondered if he heard soft music as he felt her wrap around him.

"I think I'm close," Annie said between breathless whimpers.

"Come, Annie. Join me in the stars, then fall back down to Earth with me."

And then they were spilling over the edge together, Annie's hands clutching onto his arms while he kept them steady against the wall. Elio moaned her name while he came inside of her.

A fog was over Annie's eyes as he slowly exited her, a primal part of him secretly happy that his seed was inside of her. He was the only one there. She was his and he was hers and everything was perfect.

He fixed her dress and straightened her hair while she continued to lean against the wall. Finally, as Annie came back down to Earth, he kissed her one more time. "I love you, topolina. So, so much."

"I love you too, Elio," she murmured before eyeing him with curiosity. "How come you call me so many nicknames?"

He smiled. "At first, it was because I didn't know your name so I didn't know what to call you. Then, it was because I've never called a girl a nickname. I guess it's my way of letting you know how special you are to me."

Her eyes shone with adoration. "And here I was thinking it was because you didn't like my name."

Elio chuckled. "Trust me, Annie darling. I adore your name almost as much as the woman with it."

He stretched out his arms and Annie nuzzled herself against her chest. "Are you ready to meet my brother?" She asked after a few moments of silence.

He stiffened, though he tried not to let it show. To be honest, he would have much rather spent the rest of the ball recreating the past several minutes over and over. Annie said her brother was protective and while he had no doubt he could charm the bloke, he was still a little nervous about fucking it all up. Nothing could keep him from her. Nothing. But that didn't mean he didn't want to make a good impression on his future in-laws.

Still, he replied, "I'll meet him whenever you want me to."

A dimple broke out on her cheek when she smiled. It was faint and hardly noticeable but it was there and it was beautiful. He felt his knees go weak just at the sight of it. "Great! Let's go now."

He followed as she grabbed his hand and led him back down the corridor. "Are you sure you don't want to go back up to the corridor and continue?" He half-joked once they neared the ballroom.

She turned and flashed him a dark glare and once again, he was hit with a sense of deja vu. It seemed so familiar but he was sure it wasn't because of her. Annie was so light that such darkness rarely flashed on her face, though it did occasionally. No, he recognized it from somewhere else. But where?

The ballroom was crowded with guests by the time they returned to the fray. It seemed the annual Parkinson ball was rather popular, though it wasn't like Elio would know considering he'd never come to one.

"I see him!" Annie said before leading him to an empty spot by the window. "Stay here. I'll go get him."

She walked away only to make her way toward… Scorpius? No, that couldn't be right. The blond-haired boy looked nothing like her and anyway, he was Malfoy's best friend. He'd know if he had a sister, even if she was kept hidden. So that only…

Oh no.

Oh fuck.

Oh no.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

It all made sense. Everything in that one moment aligned. The dark look he'd recognized, the strict family, Scorpius's jests over her parents, Astoria's threats over harming her, the boy's warnings over staying away from his younger sister, who was a total "Daddy's girl."

That's who Annie was. James Riddle's younger sister.

James realized at exactly the same time Elio did. But whereas Elio's eyes widened in nothing less than complete and utter terror, James's darkened with total rage and fury.

"No," he seethed in a deadly voice. His jaw was clenched so hard Elio wondered if his teeth would break. "No, no, NO!"

Elio held up his hands in surrender. "James, old sport, I swear I had no idea she was your—"

But he was cut off by an incredibly hard fist decking him in the nose, the Riddle signet ring breaking his lip in just one punch. He felt blood gush like a fucking waterfall down his face while Annie's scream could be heard in the background. Elio sighed.

Fuck me.

Ahhhh, I have been waiting for this scene for a LONG time. You guys have no idea and the next one is even juicier. Not to spoil too much but just to get you excited: It's going to be from James's POV! OMG I can't wait hehe.

Hope you liked it! Let me know what you think, what you hope to see, etc. I love hearing from you lovelies 3