Cloudy and grey, the morning greeted him through the windows. The light was so sombre, he couldn’t tell a round time. It could have been ten but also just six o’clock. Yawning quietly, he stretched a little and rubbed his eyes, startling with a sniff. A black, hairy ball laid on the pillow to his left. Slowly, a warm smile drifted onto his face. When had he gotten back from the Ministry? He could hear his calm, even breath in the overall silence, and after a while, caught himself melting away with the peaceful sound. Embarrassed, he gazed over to one of the windows and tried to see the dim lit gloom behind the curtains. It was then that he understood it must still be early on the day. The few birds in the trees around couldn’t be heard through the closed windows, which normally were no barrier to their song.
Very careful not to wake him, he crawled out of his side of the bed, slid into his slippers and – nearly fell over. His legs were still a bit weak. Cursing in his mind, he snuck to his wardrobe and got out a fresh pair of white pyjamas before he went for the door and left almost without a sound, closing it behind. The silence of the room laid on the rest of the house as well. After a short visit to the toilet and a rather uncomfortably waking encounter with slightly too cold water on his face, he walked downstairs, where he found his mother in one of the armchairs around the lit fireplace, reading a book in the mix of the warm shine and grey light from outside.
At the quiet sound of his slippers, she immediately looked up, smiling tiredly when she saw who approached her and put the book away. Smiling equally and leaning down over the side rest, Draco wrapped his arms around her shoulders from slightly behind and placed a little returned kiss on her lips, cuddling his head to hers then. The words they exchanged, were only whispers.
“Dad’s still asleep?”
“It’s barely five, Draco. What do you expect?”
“Oh. Sorry. Had no idea what time it is.”
“Did you sleep well?”
“Quite. You?”
“As good as I can sleep these days. And as you can see, I am up already because of that.”
“D’you know when he came back?”
“About an hour ago.”
“Did he say something? What happens in the Ministry?”
“Not a word. He looked extremely sleepy, if I think about it. More like he slept too long, rather than being awake for too many hours, however. He only said `Good morning – and good night´ and went up.”, Draco sighed.
“So it’s gonna be a quiet day then.”
“Probably. Like the others.”
“Fortunately.”
“Yes, fortunately.”
“I’m in the shower.”, he gave his mother another kiss after she nodded approvingly and went back upstairs.
It was far more pleasant than his first meet with water today. Warm and comforting, the pearls ran down his skin, the scars on his chest. They were far away from war, but war was there, ever present. Every time Severus had gotten back from his secret watch of Ministry hearings, every time he left again, war shortly visited the house. And when he was gone, the house was empty. At least that was what Draco felt. His parents, constantly staring into space and dropping random brief and quiet conversations, were not much of a company and that his father avoided his looks since that incident on the evening of the Ministry’s fall, added a bleak touch to the mood. So he had fled himself into reading on the big bed they had kept in their room. Sometimes he would also go for a walk outside, alone, when it wasn’t raining. It had rained almost every second day – and if it had been for just some minutes.
As he enjoyed the water running down on him, he remembered last Sunday. It had been a wonderful bright day and Severus had – he had taught him how to swim. Something he had ever feared to admit, but the few colleagues of him that had gone swimming in the Black Lake, had always accepted his answer of `I don’t want´ without arguments. As much as his father bore the rare gotten moments of Severus’ presence in their new house. Draco knew why, but he didn’t care. He didn’t care about the jealousy. If he rather was jealous than doing himself what Severus did, it wasn’t Draco’s problem. He couldn’t bother less. Even less than drying his hair properly, which he only rubbed with a towel. Slightly messed, the strands hung down all around his head, not having been cut in almost three months now. But, he didn’t care about that either.
He only pushed them a little to the right so they wouldn’t fully block his view and put on the fresh pants. The humid air in the bathroom and the warmth still lasting from the shower, made him feel that he would suffocate if he wore too much and since it wasn’t really cold in the house due to the fire downstairs heating it up through the system of water pipes, he found that he could actually do without a shirt. So he returned to his room, walking into a surprising scene.
Almost flat on the blanket, only supported on his elbows, Severus laid there in his Oxford blue pyjamas and read a book that rested on his pillow, the curtain of tufty black hair concealing his face from Draco. That one put his worn pyjamas into the basket and laid the fresh shirt on the lid before he closed the door. Severus didn’t look up from the book. So Draco decided to take a little more drastic action. He walked towards the bed, climbed onto it and half over Severus, sitting down right under his buttocks and lied down, back on back, his legs framing Severus’ and his hands under his head, at around Severus’ shoulders. He could hear the subdued snicker, but Severus didn’t give in on the weight. Though he raised his voice in a whisper, just loud enough for Draco to hear him.
“And what is this, when you are done with it?”, he smirked to his book.
“I may ask you.”, Draco answered emotionless and closed his eyes. “Mum said, you came back – about an hour ago.”
“You spent almost thirty minutes in the shower. So it is an hour and a half. And I have been here almost all night. I only felt the need to sleep outside.”
“Outside?”, frowned Draco without opening his eyes.
“On the veranda.”
“Why?”
“I said, I felt like it.”
“Did you sleep outside before?”
“Many times, actually. I used to do it more often in my childhood. Mostly in summers, of course.”
“Isn’t it uncomfortable?”
“Not at all. I normally carry enough blankets and pillows in my pouch to make myself the most comfortable bed on earth.”
“I meant, what I do.”
“Unusual, but not uncomfortable.”, his left lower leg shot up, making Draco startle with a shriek at the touch.
“Hey!”, he moaned, his eyes wide open now. “I still need my ballocks!”
“You do?”, Severus snickered.
“Oh shut up. Not having a girlfriend now doesn’t mean I want to live alone forever.”
He heaved himself off Severus’ back to that one’s left, where he laid down on the pillow next to the book, or rather, his temple at the back of Severus’ hand. His left hand under his head again, he reached out with his right and dreamily wiped some loose strands to join the black curtains, studying Severus face. The reading specs on his nose harmonised with the shape of his dark eyes behind and they made his features look a little less fierce, although glasses like such normally had the effect of making a person look significantly more like a teacher. But he seemed rather like a friendly uncle with them than the strict Professor he actually was.
Without realising what he did, Draco’s fingers wandered over Severus’ forehead and cheek, his thumb gliding over his nose. At the tender moves, Severus closed his eyes, tilting his head against Draco’s hand as the stroking became more distinct. The nail of Draco’s index finger brushed over a lightly parted pair of soft lips. Really not sure what he actually did there, he raised his head. It was difficult from his position. Seconds later, the finger was replaced, hesitantly. The next kiss was a little fuller and the following one not lone anymore.
How much time passed, they didn’t know. Only Severus must have felt that Draco’s neck got stiff and supported the boy’s head with his right hand. Not long after, their kissing reached a depth neither expected. Both let go in the same moment, daze in all four eyes.
“I – sorry – ”, Draco aspirated, but Severus cut him off.
“No. I am. I – I don’t know – what made me – ”
“But I started – I – oh god I – ”
“Don’t worry.”
“You – ”
“Draco, this was not the kissing of a person who feels something like this for me.”, Severus said softly. “Believe me, I know.”
“Something like this?”
“Well, you are not in love with me, or are you?”
“I – what? Er – you kissed me back – ”
“Can’t a man just be weak?”
“I – sorry. I’m so sorry – I didn’t mean to hurt – ”
“Hurt? Hurt whom, Draco?”, moaned Severus and let go of Draco’s head, which made it instantly fall back down onto his hand on the pillow. “You didn’t even know what you were doing. So stop apologising.”
The moan mingled with a smirk at the boy’s doleful expression, followed by chuckling. Though just slowly, Draco couldn’t help laughing either.
“I feel so stupid.”, he huffed.
“No need to. We are both desperate, blatantly idiotic berks.”, Severus sighed and, his hand beside them again, directed his look back on the pages before him. “Let us just be glad, you didn’t start to whack me off.”, a chuckle from Draco, this, in disbelief.
“You – sick fuck!”, he moaned and slammed his flat right hand against Severus’ upper arm, but the latter was prepared and didn’t give in. “Stop smiling!”, it was in fact a broad grin, the man gave his book. “And don’t just go back reading! What a pathetic way to flee!”, Draco murmured and sat up, his face at the lakeside window and his arms wrapped around his knees.
“I am not fleeing.”, Severus mumbled and curled his lips to suppress another laugh.
“Sure.”, Draco huffed. “And I’m not in love with you, if you want to know.”
“That is good to know.”
The following minutes went by in silence. Severus read on, though the content of the pages didn’t fully reach his conscience. Something bothered him about the boy’s attitude.
Draco stared into the grey outside, thoughts spinning in his head as well, mostly thoughts of guilt. Only that there hadn’t been anything to regret. Some sort of demon told him that what he had done was actually supposed to disgust him, but it didn’t. And why did Severus immediately think that he was – he was not nearly! He adored him, but in the kind of way he had always wished he could be able to feel for the person still sleeping in the bed on the other side of the wall behind him.
It must be brutal torture for him, Draco thought. To watch what they had and wish he could be in Severus’ place. But he wasn’t. He had ruined that chance for himself long ago. And now he had to suffer from that torture. There wasn’t enough pity left in Draco to spare him from that suffering. It would be a lie and he just couldn’t lie to his own heart. Not anymore.
Draco turned around, so his legs laid on the blanket, knees bent again though, and his toes pointed up to the pillows. Still deep in thoughts, he carefully started to push up Severus’ shirt. Severus startled, but didn’t look up from the book. Letting the slub rest at his scapulas, Draco’s eyes wandered with sadness over the long, crisscrossed scars on the pale skin he had seen before. He leaned a bit closer, putting down his right forearm on Severus’ other side and tenderly trailed his left hand across the marks.
“Why – ”, Draco aspirated. “Why do people do such things – ”
“The things that drive us may be very complex, but in the end we are only human. And such defend the things that are dear to them; sometimes, whatever the cost. When something beloved is in danger, we do everything to prevent it from harm. And if that means that we – ”, he broke off.
Draco had bent down in that weirdly wound up position and placed a soft kiss on his spine, in the middle of his back, where he then nestled his head at and hooked his fingers onto the rear parts of Severus’ ribs, closing his eyes once more. Curled in, he laid there for a another silent while. Severus gave up reading and only gazed at the dark wooden head of the bed.
Setting one more kiss, Draco rolled out and laid down straight on his right. A giggle escaped him at the light touch to his toes and he tried to shake Severus off. But he continued playing with Draco’s feet, knowing that it was the only part of his body he was ticklish at. Giggling heavily with his eyes closed, he fought and fought, though Severus had trapped his ankles with his hands and now nuzzled Draco’s freshly washed, soft soles, pressing teasing kiss after teasing kiss on the sallow feet.
“Stop it!”, Draco chuckled limply and Severus grinned against his toes.
A last kiss and nuzzle and Severus resumed his former position, setting his glasses straight. Calming down as well, Draco opened his eyes, finding them in height of Severus’ left ankle, reminded of something else he had spotted several times over the past weeks, but never gotten a close look at. Just an inch below the blue seam, it hung gently around the ankle. The colours were absolutely unusual for him, Draco considered. Especially the pink note. Unable to stop himself, he brushed over the tight, tiny knots of yarn, studying the pattern. The anklet was still a little shiny and the colours clear, but he must have worn it for at least some months.
“I’ll never understand you, will I?”
“Hope, that you never will. Hope, that your life will be a little more bright.”
“It is – I think. I – ”, he paused. “I have you.”
Severus said nothing on it. There was nothing needed to be said. After some seconds, he decided to answer the question that must have obviously come along with Draco’s touch, although the boy was already so good at Occlumency that he didn’t want take on the hard try to intrude his mind.
“It was a birthday present.”
“Birth- oh my god!”, Draco fell to his bare back and clapped his hand on his forehead, wiping his still moist hair up. “Birthday present! I’m such an idiot! How could I’ve forgotten it! That crap’s still – where the heck is it anyway?”
Seeing him rolling sideways all the way to the edge of the bed, cost Severus a little laugh. Draco jumped off clumsily and hurried to the open wardrobe where the picked up the plastic bag and pushed his arm in deeply to get hold of his school bag. Due to the books and a lot of other stuff still inside, it was rather heavy once it was out. He hung back the plastic bag, knelt down and started emptying the shoulder bag. Severus had put down his glasses at last, turned and sat up to watch him. Piles of books, messed up parchment, tattered quills, all sorts of sweets, a – pair of socks? Draco held the two up with a horrible grimace and threw them over his shoulder.
“Oh shut up.”, he chuckled when Severus laughed brightly.
There. Finally. At the very bottom – and in a miserable state, logically. It was crunched and dirty and showed scratches all over. Feeling guilty again and hoping whatever was inside hadn’t taken as much damage as the once so colourful little paper box, he ignored Severus’ snickering and pushed off the messed light blue ribbon. The thing he pulled out though wasn’t damaged at all.
“What the – ?”, he murmured.
It had the same colours, with the exception of a light green instead of salmon and the pattern was exactly the same, only that the colours appeared on different elements of it. His eyebrows vanished in his loosely hanging down fair strands as he held the piece up high in front of himself with two fingers.
“Oh!”, he sang. “That’s why you giggled!”
“Ten points to Slytherin.”, Severus smiled broadly at Draco’s more than surprised face.
“Hey! Term hasn’t even started!”
“Pardon me. Force of habit.”, his smile became waggish and he winked.
“But she’s – ”, Draco’s eyes zoomed back at the anklet. “She’s crazy, isn’t she? I mean, how come she think, I’d wear that?”
“Won’t you?”
“I will – but – ”
“Then she isn’t.”, the boy looked back at his smile that had gotten soft again, his head tilted a little to his left shoulder.
“You – think – ”, there was some warmth rising in Draco’s face he didn’t like at all. “You think she knew? That I wouldn’t open it? Until – but – that’s – ”
“I think, Luna has a very special gift. I wouldn’t say, she’s a Legilimens, or even a Seer, but she has a talent for seeing the truth in peoples’ eyes, from which she quite successfully constructs a personality with all its habits and exceptions. She studied you. She knew exactly where you were going while nobody cared for it and no, I don’t think you are the only one she studies. She sees the world with different eyes. That doesn’t bring her friends at first, but it eventually brings her true friends – and not only her. If I may say so, there is supposedly not a single thing she doesn’t know about the people wandering around and past her. It took me a very long time to understand that, and I still don’t fully do, but I believe, that is exactly what she is. She is sorting the world from behind, unnoticed, restoring all the good things to our consciousness – things we forgot to see long ago.”
“That sounds, like she’s – ”, Draco’s hand sank to his lap, “Some kind of – angel?”
“Probably,”, Severus considered with a nod into space. “Yes, that could be a good word to describe her.”
“Now that I think about it, she even looks like she could be one.”
“Maybe. Is that what you associate with an angel’s look?”
“Not necessarily – I mean, if such exist, they wouldn’t all be shiny white figures, right? Because that would be too obvious and people would be like – Muggles aware of our world, if you know what I mean. Begging for help they don’t really need and so.”
“I know exactly what you mean and that is also my opinion. I think, angels look as different as one human being doesn’t look like an other. And it is on us to see them and quietly accept their help with humble gratitude.”
Draco took another look at the piece of knotted yarn and carefully bound it around his right ankle. It fitted as though she had measured his leg. Shoving the surprise aside, he got up, walked back to the bed and crawled towards Severus, who was still smiling. On all fours, he looked deeply into Severus’ dark eyes and gave his closed lips a kiss exactly like the one he had given his mother downstairs. Severus brushed a hand through the boy’s cold wet strands and shortly stroked his cheek, not losing his smile. Then suddenly, Draco hung around his neck. Two warming arms completed the embrace, four eyes closed.
~~#~~
They had accelerated the special day so everyone could celebrate with them. Days for celebration had become rare anyway and it had been Ginny’s wish to have them all around, which would have been impossible on a Monday. So, glad that even the new Ministry rested a little on Sundays, they still sat around the lunch table at half past three, chatting about this and that. By then, they had already formed groups. Her parents and Kingsley at one side of the table, negotiated Order affairs quietly. The twins, Remus and Tonks discussed a more lively matter: the new joke-shop in Diagon Alley. Percy, Bill and Fleur were talking about countries and cultures and – landscapes. She was just raving about the lavender in the Provence, when Luna took the very last cold onion ring and dipped it into sauce.
After some days at home, she had returned to The Burrow for Ginny’s sixteenth birthday. Her father had been a rather unpleasant company since the attack on the wedding and the horror of the past days stood clearly in her face, even though she tried to hide it – or something inside her tried to cover it with her usual dreaminess and an absent smile.
Ginny took a glance past Tonks’ left shoulder. They all had placed the presents on the small table that was surrounded by old armchairs and the sofa in the abutting living room. She hadn’t wanted a cake, but had unfortunately been unable to stop her mother. So there was a chocolate cake with raspberry jam filling and green icing; topped by little red and golden marzipan Snitches and Quaffles; waiting in the fridge. From Luna’s look, Ginny knew she was raring to try it.
“Phew!”, the holey of the twins sighed, crossed his arms in his neck and leaned back. “I’m so starving!”
“Now George – ”, his mother murmured, “Don’t be such a – ”
“He wants cake, Mum.”, Fred noted. “Not slurs.”
“Well. Ginny, dear – is your stomach ready?”
“Luna’s is.”, she sighed with her eyes on the girl that gave her a broad smile on it.
“It is not Luna’s big day.”
“But it would make me happy to see her happy. So, cake please?”
“Alright, alright!”, her mother brandished and went for the fridge.
~~#~~
A few hundred miles away from that fridge, a fire crackled lonely in its chimney, abandoned. But the silence in the house was so immense the sound of it appeared like a hundred hammers thundering. Therefore the scratching of the fork over the empty plate was not much of a relief.
“Could you stop that?”, a broken voice whispered, but the fork continued scratching, ignoring the present, as the mind that made it was focused on the impending. “Draco!”, he hissed, but the boy remained indifferent.
“Draco,”, another man said, but calm and soft. “There is still some more in the pan. Would you like it?”
“No. But thank you.”, Draco sighed, not taking his eyes off the plate and scraped on.
“Draco!”, it was Lucius again. “Stop it!”, but the refusal couldn’t have been more obvious. “You’re damaging the plate!”
“This fork, according to the embossing, is made of steel, which has Mohs hardness of six.”, Draco said grim.
“What?”
“The plate is a high quality ceramic and its glaze has a hardness of seven.”
“What are you talking there? What hardness? And what is Mo– ”
“If I damage something, then it is the fork, not the plate. Oh yes, father. I am not stupid. I care for what I abuse.”, he huffed. “Rather like you.”
“Now what’s that supposed to mean.”
“Lucius. Let him.”, Narcissa moaned.
“No, I won’t. Draco, I need a word with you.”, he heaved himself up and staggered over to the doorframe. “Now!”
The fork was slammed on the tabletop so hard that two empty glasses fell. Severus could just catch the one in the near, but the other rolled off the edge and burst into pieces as it hit the floor. With a sigh, he picked his wand from next to his own empty plate and repaired the glass, which soared back onto the table as though nothing had happened. Meanwhile, Draco had stomped past his father, out into the living room, where he stopped in front of the fireplace, arms crossed, staring into the flames with fury. Supporting himself on his walking stick, Lucius had caught up and approached him.
“Draco. What was that nonsense for.”, he addressed him in a whisper again since his condition wouldn’t let him speak louder yet.
“If you call it nonsense,”, the boy grumbled.
“Draco. Look at me.”, he had walked around him, but Draco had turned his head to the window. “What have I done to you.”, Draco shivered when his father placed his empty hand on his shoulder.
“Oh – I don’t know. Why don’t you ask yourself?”, he snorted.
“Please help me understand you – ”
“Why. Aren’t you supposed to be the adult and I the – little boy? Aren’t adults always wiser than children? If you haven’t noticed, I’ve grown up. I’m seventeen.”
“You are still my son.”
“Since when.”
“Since you have been born, Draco.”, his shaking hand wandered over Draco’s hair and cheek, barely touching him. “Since you have been born, my beautiful.”, he moaned and his trembling fingertips tried to rest on his son’s lips. “Since – ”, he winced when the hand was pushed away with unexpected force.
“Don’t you – ever – touch me like that again.”, Draco snarled. “I’m not your toy,”, he murmured; the look he gave him was a mix of fatigue and disgust, “Not anymore.”, and he lightly shook his head.
“You were never a toy. Why would – ”
“Then why does it feel like I was?”
“You are my son, Draco. Nothing less, nothing more. I love you.”
“You should have realised earlier.”
“I always loved you.”
“Oh sure. In which way?”
“Which – Draco! You are my son! There is no `which´!”
“Tell me, why don’t I believe you?”
“That is what I ask you.”
“Well, it’s simple. You never showed it how you should have.”
“Showed it? How I sh– Draco! I have been caring for you all your life! I gave you everything – I – ”
“What did you give me.”, his arms were crossed again. “A huge empty house, a garden maze that swallowed me any time I even thought about entering it, a wide meadow behind the family grave I wasn’t allowed to approach, a forest on the other side of a high wall, a prison, Dad. You gave me a prison. You bought me nice clothes – presented me with jewellery I never wanted – ”, he took off his great-great-grandfather’s ring, seized his father’s hand and forcefully placed it there before he dropped the slack fist, “Bought me brooms – books I never read – ”
“You never read – ”
“The only books I read where those I secretly bought myself. Well, yes. You gave me a lot. Things other children can only dream about – and things I came to understand that no child should ever receive from a parent. But do you know what I dreamed about? I dreamed about the day I ran out into the rain and threw myself onto the ground, rolling in the mud. I dreamed about hurrying over the meadow, playing with my best friends. I dreamed about being able to climb the wall and explore the forest, about the day we two went fishing. I dreamed about the day we took two of those brooms you bought and flew over Britain until we got tired. I dreamed about playing Quidditch with you, instead of flying up and down the manor’s front alone, accompanied by your nagging. I dreamed about all those days you took me in your arms and said that you love me more than anything, rather like what you did to show me that. I dreamed about the day you said that you were proud of me. But guess. I’m seventeen now. And none of those days ever came.”
“Draco – ”, Lucius just aspirated.
“I sick of dreaming in vain. Stupid enough that I needed a dead bird slammed against the back of my head to wake up. So don’t you tell me now that I have ever been something else than a puppet to you. It’s too late.”
“This war is confusing you.”
“I’m not confused!”
“That house here does weird things to your brain. Just listen to what you say there. Dead birds – puppet – honestly, Draco – we should go back to the Manor. You will see, everything will be fine again.”
“You don’t get it, you fool! It’s not the house we are in! It’s the house we were in! I’d rather drown myself in that lake voluntarily than going back to your Manor! That house never felt like home to me! I feel comfortable here! If you want to crawl back into your prison, just go; I won’t stop you. I stay here. Because this house here does feel like a home. Once in my life I feel safe at a place – once I feel comfortable – I feel actually loved by someone else than Mum – and all you want to do is taking it away from me. Just like you took away my dreams. Like you took away my childhood. You wanted to make a little prince out of me, but I’m not. I’m not your prince or your – beautiful. And I feel ashamed that it took me seventeen years of my life to understand that you abused me for your reputation. That you fed me to show off with me. To impress your acquaintances – or converse – or whatever you wanna call them. But I tell you one fact: it has brought you nothing! You didn’t form me, you broke me! Your insufferable pride blinded you!”
“Now let me tell you something – ”, Lucius became angry as well.
“No, I’m not done yet!”, Draco hissed. “And I won’t let myself be stopped by your desperate tries to save the very pride that has kicked you into the deepest pit of the society you cherished so much that you forgot to see how others might feel about it. All the time you were grooming your so-called friends, you forgot one thing. Your family. I can’t understand how Mum can still love you, but that’s her business anyway, not mine. You’ve fed the wrong people in the wrong ways. All I ever wanted was a father, but what you gave me was an emperor I had to bow to.”
“That is not – ”
“I’m ashamed to notice that I’ve acted like a dog, loyal to his master all the time, not questioning a single matter – and ignoring personal desires. I’ve given up all my dreams for the mere hope to see you proud. But you never showed. I’ve done all you wanted – obeyed without question – and all I get from you is ignorance. The same ignorance you gave the rest of the world. The same ignorance that made you too blind to see that you have been buttering up people that never saw anyone as a friend, especially not you. The only friend you have is sitting over there in the kitchen – ”, he pointed his arm to where they had come from, “And he has been more a father to me in the past weeks than you have been in seventeen years. If you excuse me, Dad, I am upstairs, reading a book I bought myself!”
Draco spun on his heels and stormed off, nearly knocking Severus over who had raised and listened at the foot of the stairs. But he was too upset at the moment. So he rushed further upstairs and disappeared, a slamming door being the resounding hint on where he went. His arms crossed as well, Severus turned and took the few steps into the living room, where Lucius hung limply on his walking stick. When he lifted his head to look at him, all his weakness seemed to be blown away. He straightened and threw him the most loathsome look.
“Get out of this house.”, he said grim, but still quiet.
“No.”, Severus replied curtly.
“I said, get out of here. I don’t want to see you anywhere near my son ever again. He says, you’re my friend? A thief, that’s what you are! You stole my son!”
“You have kicked him out with `free for adoption´ written onto his forehead. I told him that you love him. I wiped away that writing. I left him the choice to do with his life whatever he wants to. It is not my fault if he loves me more than you. I merely did for him what I expect from a friend myself. You cannot receive all the time, but never give, Lucius. Of course, I accept that it is hard for you to show him how much he means to you.”
“You don’t understand, Severus.”
“I understand it more than you would ever dare to imagine.”
“Tz. Empty words.”
“There is a slight chance that Draco might come back to you. But don’t expect him to do and apologise. He is not the one to feel sorry. He has done you no wrong. And it is not my intention to steal your son.”
“That looks slightly different to me,”
“He came to me on his own account, long after I offered him my help. He came when I had given up the hope he would take it before he fell too deep. Fortunately he woke up early enough to pull himself out. Yes, I needed to act to save him; and you said that yourself; but I haven’t taken your son away from you. You dropped him in a pond of ice and expected him to swim while you never taught him how to do that in even lukewarm water. I am your friend, Lucius. I am his friend. I solely couldn’t let him drown.”
“Severus,”
“The rest was ever on him. If you excuse me, I need to calm him down once again and try to tell him that you do indeed love him, even though your attitude has shrunken any possible beliefs of success on the matter to a minimum level, even lower than the chance that the Dark Lord will ever seriously fall in love with anyone but himself.”
~~#~~
“Now come on! Open it!”, the twins sang at their sister.
“I’m trying, you morons.”, she laughed, turning the even cube in all possible directions. “But if you told me how to, I’d do it. What the heck is this?”
“It’s an Incubus.”, said George.
“Sure.”
“Yes.”, Fred winked. “The present is in the cube.”
“Ha, ha. Very funny, guys. Oh damn it – would it break the present if I just tore this open magically?”
“You’re not allowed to use magic at home, sister-heart.”, now it was George who winked, stroking the purring Crookshanks that had rolled in on his lap.
“Oh come on. Mum won’t kill me, will she?”
“I don’t think I will kill you for using a Severing Charm, dear. There are enough adults around.”
“Yes. We’re around.”, sang the twins again.
“I was not talking about you two; now tear it open. Anything that breaks their madness is welcome.”, Ginny put down the cube on the short table and crossed her arms.
“Mum!”, Fred murmured. “She’s on our side! You can’t just tell her to break our madness!”
“Oh don’t be silly, you three.”, their mother brandished. “Go open it, Ginny.”
“And don’t use magic.”, meant George. “That’d be fatal. Better love it.”
“Love it.”, Ginny murmured eyeballing him.
“Yeah. And – ”, he picked the green box and examined it, “This way’s up.”, he turned it around and handed it back to her. “Go for it.”
“What.”
“It’s obvious, isn’t it?”, Luna smiled. “Love it.”
“Love it.”, Ginny repeated. “Hang on – am I supposed to kiss that or what?”
“Just imagine it’s Harry.”, Fred wiggled his eyebrows once more, in a mock sententious tone. “Just think of his eyes – don’t they have the same colour?”
“Oh shut up.”, smirked Ginny and placed a kiss on top of the cube, earning cheerful applause from the twins and even some laughs from all others. “I said, shut it.”, she grinned and gazed at the lid that opened. “Damn it – that’s one crammed box,”, she chuckled and tried to pick a tiny bright orange box with a golden sticker that was stuffed into it among many others. “Whow – what’s that?”
“Careful.”, she placed the cube on her lap and opened the second with caution, taking out a walnut-size orange crystal. “Highly explosive stuff.”
“Fred! You can’t give your sister a bomb for her birthday!”, their mother raged.
“Keep calm, Mum. She’s not gonna blow up our house. That’s just in case Snape gets nasty. But blowing up houses could fit.”
“Someone broke into our shop and stole one of those.”, continued George. “Just one. But we know where it went. Fortunately it was an ally. You know, the night Dumbledore died – someone blew up Borgin and Burkes.”, Ginny narrowed her eyes, Luna’s only gaped with delight.
“Don’t look at me like that, Molly.”, Arthur said. “I haven’t told them. They work in Diagon Alley. It would have needed a miracle for them to not find out. The whole place was still gleaming and smoking a week after.”
“Exactly. And that’s the effect those things are said to have. The whole shop’s gone. And that,”, George reached into the pocket of his purple vest, “Came crashing through our second floor window.”, he showed her a silver handle.
“That’s from – ”, she took and examined it, “Ruddy.”
“The goddamned Vanishing Cabinet Malfoy used. We’ve seen the twin when Montague got stuck in it, but we’d never thought there might be something to it. And that tosser figured it out.”, Fred shook his head. “Anyway, I think,”, he reached out and snatched it back from her, “We’ll frame that in the shop to show everyone how grand this explosion was.”
“Yeah. Do that.”, Ginny secured the crystal by closing its box and devoted to the big cube again. “Hell – what’s that all? That’s – an arsenal!”
“An arsenal.”, confirmed the twins mutually.
“And you dare to give that to me in front of Mum?”, only her eyes gave the woman a split-second glance.
“Well, that’s what this here is for.”, Fred gave her another parcel, this time it was wrapped in star-covered red paper. “You’ll need it, I’m sure.”
“Mokeskin – ”, Ginny aspirated when she had unpacked the pouch. “Got inspired by Hagrid, or what?”, she chuckled.
“Actually, Hagrid got the idea from us – and yes – he bought that one with Harry’s. He’s got better contacts on such.”, the girl hastily closed her new `toy-box´ and shoved it into the pouch for checking the other content in a more secure place.
“Thanks a lot, you two. Let’s hope, I don’t need any of that.”
“If not, use it after the war on some stray Death Eaters.”
“George!”, now it was their father. “That is the Ministry’s business! Not your sister’s,”
“All the same, if she becomes an Auror.”
“You want to become an Auror, dear?”, Molly moaned. “You didn’t tell – ”
“I played with the thought. But I’m not sure. Just let me graduate first, if I can.”
“Oh that’s our daughter.”, she smiled with relief, but to Ginny’s delight ceased from a cuddling hug. “Now come on. Open the rest.”
“Zere ees only one more to go.”, Fleur retrieved it from the pile of paper on the table. “Uh – and eet ees very little.”
“The best comes last, I guess.”, meant Ginny and Luna grinned broadly.
“What could be better than Fred’s and George’s?”, chuckled Bill when she studied the small, colourful, pentagonal paper box, not bigger than the orange one had been.
“Luna – ”, Ginny aspirated and looked at her with confusion. “What’s that!”
“Just open it,”, the other girl only smiled and Ginny did as said, eventually pulling the present from it.
“Oops,”, Fred mumbled, suppressing a grin.
“Shut up.”, her eyebrows narrowed at the knotted band of yarn she held up before her face.
“It’s an anklet,”, Luna clarified.
“Yeah – thought so – it – would be – too long – for my wrist – thank you.”, she frowned back at the piece. “Really.”
“You’re welcome!”, Luna’s smile grew bigger when Ginny bent down and bound it around her left ankle.
“What’s so special about that?”, Fred asked.
“Now don’t be so mean.”, Molly hissed.
“Oh he’s not mean, Mrs Weasley. He’s just curious.”, said Luna.
“Yeah. And you’ll never get to know.”, Ginny was back up. “Neither of you. That’s insider knowledge.”
“Insider knowledge.”, George repeated her.
“Yes.”
~~#~~