Through Love And By Love (Pt. 10)
Summary: Twenty-Two years ago, Draco Malfoy used the imperius curse to slow Voldemort’s rise to power. No good deed goes unpunished. Warning: this series contains mature subject matter surrounding use of the imperius curse, discussions of trauma and mental illness; reader discretion advised.
Part 9
Scorpius loves Hogwarts. Anything anyone says about him or his parentage is easy enough to ignore. He’ll be a third year in September. But today he is home. Today they are all home, for Leo’s wedding.
"I invited grandma and grandpa Malfoy." Leo tells her mother. "Do you think they'll come?"
"I don't know," Rosanna zips the bride to be carefully into her gown.
"I know they're mad, but they'll come. Don't you think?" Leo lets out a nervous laugh. They don’t want her to marry a squib; but surely, some outdated prejudice wouldn't have them miss her big day.
Rosanna sighs, deeply. "This is your day. I don't want you worried about anything."
"What's the big deal about Henry not having magic? He can't control it, it's hardly like he asked to be without it. He works hard and makes a decent living and-"
Rosanna touches her shoulder, to stop her rambling, "they love you, it's just how they are."
"But why?" Leo's brows furrow, "it's stupid!"
"I agree-"
"But better to keep it in the family than marry anything but a pureblood? I know they wanted Dad to marry Astoria Greengrass." Leo shakes her platinum head. "I did my research, they're cousins."
"Very distant." Rosanna informs her, nearly all pureblood families are related somewhere.
"Why are you defending them?" Leo says, in disbelief. Her father’s parents were pleasant enough to her mother, almost as if they loved her, while hating the fact that they did.
"What color is the sky?" Rosanna asks, throwing a curve ball.
"What?" Leo snaps around to look at her mother, thinking she's finally lost it.
"Just humor me for a second, what color?" Rosanna begins again, patiently.
"Blue." Leo narrows her brown eyes.
"How do you know what blue is?" Rosanna raises a brow.
Leo scoffs, "you taught me."
"What if I told you it was yellow instead? Would you have believed me?"
"I guess so." Leo still doesn't understand where this is headed.
"So the sky is yellow, if I tell you it's yellow. Because you trust me, and you don't know any better." Rosanna reiterates.
"Ok, the sky's yellow." Leo says, "so what?"
"Well no, the sky's blue." Rosanna chuckles.
"Mum!" Leo snarls.
"Imagine the frustration and confusion you feel. You've gone your whole life thinking the sky was yellow. Realistically you know the sky must be blue, because that's how the rest of the world sees it. But wouldn't it be easier to keep pretending that the sky is yellow; if your friends and family thought it was too? Especially if you knew that accepting the sky is blue would have you disowned?" Rosanna explains further, to put into perspective, the pressure a person must feel.
"Well...I guess." Leo gets it. "That's still not an excuse."
"I'm not trying to excuse them. I'm just trying to explain as best I can."
"They came to your wedding," Leo says, bitterly.
"Maybe they'll surprise us," Rosanna smiles, rubbing her daughter's arms, reassuringly.
Leo nods, "where's dad?"
"Last I saw him, he was trying to wrangle Corina into her dress." Corina, their one and an half year old daughter, is a spitting image of her mother, which pleases Draco to no end. But she also has his own dramatic tendencies, which does not please him nearly as much.
"You know, you guys had five great kids," Leo says, teasingly. "But you had to push your luck for just one more. You should have stopped while you were ahead."
"I'll have you know, your father wanted at least a half dozen more of you." Rosanna flicks Leo's shoulder, playfully. "I pulled the plug, thank you very much."
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"Corina, straighten your legs." Draco coos, the little girl draped across his lap diagonally.
"No, no, no." She screeches.
"Please, darling," Draco huffs, holding the stockings firmly. "You'll tear your tights."
"Go, bye bye." Corina demands, strawberry blonde curls frizzing as her head tosses back and forth against his suit jacket.
"You will go bye bye, after you're dressed." Draco promises.
"Nooooo. Daddy!" The little beast howls, thrashing in his arms.
"Stop it, you're going to hurt yourself."
She burst into crocodile tears, her mouth open in an obscenely wide sob.
"Shh, I'm sorry. I know you're tired." He kisses her head ten times over.
"Mummy." The little girl cries. Corina was having a hard time breaking from nursing. She still wants Rosanna whenever she is tired or upset.
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"I am sorry, Rosanna but she needs you, now." Draco bursts into the room, with the heartbroken little girl. Still wearing only a diaper, her tiny dress slung over his shoulder and her tights dangling from one foot.
"Come here, my angel," Rosanna coos, taking the baby into her arms. "What did daddy do to you?" She tuts her husband, teasingly as she pulls down the left side of her dress.
"Doesn't that hurt?" Leo winces for her mother.
"I'm flattered you think I can still feel my nipples, after nursing six of you." Rosanna smiles.
"Can't you?" Leo asks, a horrified expression taking over her features.
"She feels her nipples just fine." Draco chuckles, kissing the back of his wife's head.
"Dad!" Their daughter flushes scarlet.
"Sorry, sweetheart." He apologizes, realizing his slip up.
Rosanna presses her lips together to contain a laugh.
The room is silent for a moment.
Draco finally gets a good look at his eldest child, after the chaos. She is a vision, in her angelic white wedding gown. Though she has not lived at home for some years, marriage felt much more...permanent. "Can't we keep you?" His voice breaks.
"Dad," Leo crosses the room to embrace him. "You have five more to keep you entertained. You'll be fine."
"But I only have one Leo; and I will miss you, my darling girl. I'm so proud of you, the woman you've become." He kisses her cheek, lightly.
"I love you, Dad," Leo breathes, "I'll still be around. It’s a wedding, not a funeral." She reminds him.
"Yes, I know." Draco squeezes her once more, before drawing back. "I love you too."
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For Narcissa it was never a question, this is her granddaughter's wedding; she’s going.
Lucius however will not listen to reason. "I will not watch my granddaughter reduce her life and namesake to rubbish and marry a muggle."
"Don't you want to be there for Leo? To see her happy? This is her day, she's asked you to be there." Narcissa trails after her husband, in frustration.
"What would you have me do?" Lucius turns back to her, narrows his eyes, "I can't give my blessing."
“Didn’t we say the same thing with Draco?” Narcissa holds firm in her decision. “Rosanna was a disgrace to our bloodline, wasn’t she? My parents disowned my sister for marrying into dirty blood. I was not meant to love that girl. That perfectly wonderful little girl who was forced to grow up too fast.” Narcissa swallows down the lump in her throat. “Bellatrix said she would be a curse upon this family. But she was wrong. I grew to love that half blood girl. Love her like my own daughter. I love her children and I will love her children’s children, and their children’s children after that.”
“Rosanna is the exception, she is not the rule.” Loving her does not negate the need to keep magic in their family line. “Putting aside all else, here are the facts. Leo will outlive him, squibs die out the same as muggles. If she has children, and they are squibs, she will bury her children. They will never wield a wand, never fly a broom, never know what it feels like to receive a Hogwarts letter. Is that the life you want for Leo?"
“Lucius…it’s her life. We can make suggestions, surely, but we cannot dictate what she does with it.”
“I only want the best for her.”
“Suppose this is the best for her, it just looks a bit different than we thought it would.”
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Leo's wedding is perfect and without incident. Which is nearly unheard of for a Malfoy affair.
The reception is equally beautiful, under an ivory tent behind the manor. Leo and Henry are both elated to dance into the night. They would take a red eye out of London that night for a two week honeymoon in Hawaii, before quidditch picks up again.
Corina has taken up residence in 'Won's' arms. She adores her mother's good friend.
Rosanna finds them, near the dessert table, when Draco heads to relieve himself. "So, not as much fun as you remember, huh?"
"I gotta tell you, this kid's a laugh," Ron answers, "good company."
"Don't let Hermione hear you say that, she asked me to cure your baby fever." Ro confesses, around a mouthful of Ron's abandon pastry.
"I dunno what the big deal is. I want to have just one more. Maybe if you talked to her-"
"No thanks." Rosanna cuts him off. She'd been caught up in their spats one too many times.
"If you plant the seed, next time you're at the spiral class-"
"It's called a spin class, because you're on a bike." Rosanna laughs, picking at his plate, for anything else that hasn't been gnawed on.
"Come on, help a guy out, Ro. I want one of these." His eyes drift down to the child in his lap.
"I'll mention it, but that is all." Rosanna narrows her eyes at him. "I'm getting too old for this."
Harry and Ginny make their way over.
"What are you two in cahoots about now? Eating up all the sweets?" Ginny asks as she takes a seat.
"Ron wants me to convince Hermione to have another baby. I'm still trying to figure out why he thinks Hermione can be talked into things." Rosanna explains, crossing her legs beneath the table.
"You're her best friend, and you work together; see her more than I do I reckon."
"I work with her too, Ron." Harry points out, "why haven't you asked me?"
"Well...you're not a bird." Ron explains, lifting one shoulder, "it won't be as impactful coming from you."
"What won't be impactful?" Hermione asks, joining the conversation.
"I thought you went to the loo?" Ron tries to change the subject.
"I did, and now I'm finished; what's going on?" Hermione knows him like the back of her hand.
Ron’s ears flush, deep scarlet at the tips. He’s been caught. "I know you think I don't know what I'm asking, but I do. I want to have another baby with you, my wife, who I love very much."
Rosanna places her hand at the base of the champagne flute Hermione is sipping from, encouraging her to finish the glass before answering. "You can't be serious!"
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Polaris has always been monumentally different from her sisters. Most notably Vega, her twin. Almost as if they were polar opposites. But Vega was always there, always around. Until they were sorted into separate houses. They didn't share a room, or clothes, or even a class schedule. At first it was nice, the distinction; then it was more lonely than either of them anticipated.
After Vega befriended her new roommate, Arlene; Polaris felt more distant from her than ever.
Arlene saw that Vega was different. Very quiet, reserved, and hated to sleep in her bed. She'd often find the Malfoy girl, curled up anywhere but in her assigned sleeping area. One night in particular, the platinum blonde is draped over an arm chair in the common room.
Arlene leans in, to tap her shoulder. Vega's pale skin barely brushes the pads of her fingers, the contact instantly jolts her awake.
"What the hell are you doing?" Vega snaps, drawing in on herself.
"Why don't you go to bed?" Arlene frowns.
"I can't sleep in that bed." Vega informs her.
"And why not?" The other girl crosses both arms, over her chest.
"Because it was my Mum's, and when I lay in it... I see things." Vega whispers, into the dimly lit room.
"What kind of things?" Arlene wonders, taking a seat on the couch, opposite her.
"Things that happened. Not to me." A thousand laughs, a thousand tears, none of them are her's.
"We could switch beds, but I'm not sure who mine belonged to." Arlene offers, she knew of Vega long before she met her. Her mother is one of the most well known legilimens of all time. Vega must take after her.
"Lavender Brown." Vega says, the bed aside of her mother's used to be Hermione's. "They moved everything around so no one would be particular when given room assignments."
"Maybe it'll be easier for you there?" Arlene hopes so, the girl deserves a proper bed.
"Or maybe I'll see you." Vega tells her.
"I'm not so bad." Arlene smiles, "quiet boring really, my life; compared to yours."
"Boring sounds pretty brilliant." Vega grins in return, "thank you."
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Polaris likes Arlene well enough. But she all but sprints from the crowded dance floor, when she overhears them dreaming up a life together.
Harry's oldest son notices Polaris leaving, just as he's gathered the nerve to ask her to dance. James follows her, to the outskirts of the lawn. Near the cast iron fence that separates their estate from the rest of the world. "Polaris, wait up!"
"Bugger off, James." She sneers, feeling tears prickle at the corners of her ice blue eyes.
"Oi, I'm here to help." James rakes a hand through his dark hair.
"How are you gonna to do that?" Polaris scoffs, of course, perfect James Potter, thinks he can fix everything.
"Dunno really," He admits, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his dress pants. "I'm rubbish at this sort of thing. But I'm here."
"I heard Vega talking to Arlene...about doing something like this, after they graduate." The icy blonde tells him.
"So?" James shrugs.
"So, it pissed me off." She snaps, tracing a finger down the dark metal beside her.
The boy chortles, "go on then, tell me how chuffed you are at the idea of your sister being happy."
"How can people just settle? All that life to live, all the potential and possibilities and you just...get married? And they're so happy about it! Leo will be thrilled to leave the Holyheads and have a baby. Arlo and Marko basically have an entire ceremony planned. And Vega, we shared a womb for nine entire months! She's completely content to move into a hole in the wall with her little girlfriend." Polaris seethes, she is envious of her sisters. Not because she doesn’t want them to be happy, no, not that at all. Rather because they're content to be 'normal'...and she isn’t.
James chuckles, Polaris is something between a friend and a girlfriend. They snogged, he asked her out, she shot him down, and then snogged him some more. "What's so wrong with that?"
"I don’t want to settle,” she whispers.
"Then don’t." James smirks, at the back of her head. Thick hair beginning to break free of its barrette.
"Really?"
"I think you're afraid of what comes after graduation, you haven't got a proper plan. It's ok that you don't."
"You're not just saying that to stay in my good graces?" Polaris turns to him, full lips quirked in an accusatory grin.
He raises a shoulder, "I do want to be in your good graces, Polaris. But I meant what I said.” He tugs a loose piece of platinum hair. “I don't want to settle either."
"You won't wait on me forever."
"Maybe I will.” They’re only seventeen and he’s not opposed to playing the long game. Polaris is a piece of work, but he likes that about her; loves it even.
"Shut up." She bites back a grin, glancing up at the sky as it begins to darken. "Holy dark mark in the sky at my sister's wedding."
"Way to change the subject." James turns from her, to have a look. "Holy dark mark in the sky at your sister's wedding."
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Lucius waits his turn to dance with his granddaughter.
Leo smiles when she finds him there, accepting his outstretched hand. “You came.”
He gives a curt nod, his blonde hair is down, same as Draco’s, schooled straight and sleek for the occasion.
“I didn’t think you would.”
“You can thank your grandmother, she talked me into it.”
“I’m glad she did.” Leo admits.
“As am I.” The confession is quick, as though it were unpleasant.
Behind her grandfather, Leo can see Polaris rush back into the tent. Her blue eyes are wide, glossy, cheeks flushed from running, her hair fallen around her face from its careful updo. James is there, holding her. Not taunting, teasing or tugging at her the way he normally would. Holding her like she is in danger.
“Dad!” The sound of it is horrid, retched from Polaris’ throat.
Draco’s eyes find her, immediately rushing to her aid. “What is it?” He checks her over thoroughly, brushing sweat damp tresses behind her ears.
“The mark was in the sky.”
“What?” Had Fred and George sent up some sort of fireworks and spooked her?
“The dark mark was in the sky.” Polaris jerks on his hands, the way she would as a child, asking him to banish the monster beneath her bed.
“You stay right there.” Draco orders, breaking away to see for himself. Sure enough, the sky is lit up. The skull and snake.
Part 11
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