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Fléctere si néqueo súperos, Acheronta movebo.
Ever since his Latin tutor made him read The Aeneid and every interpretation there was from it when he was ten, the quote had stuck with Cepheus Marcellous for as long as he could remember. If I cannot bend the heavens above, I will raise hell – that was the rough meaning of the line. There were a lot of different variations of translation out there regarding the said lines; If I cannot sway the heavens, I'll wake the power of hell; or If I am unable to make the Gods above relent, I shall move hell; and Cepheus' favourite might be the latter.
Acheronta, the word that was used to describe hell did not necessarily mean hell in the literal sense, rather derived from the name of the river that flows through the realm that belonged to Hades, River Acheron. River of Woe, that was what people referred to that particular river from the Underworld. Cepheus resonated the poem's line with a determination that he had when it comes to family, growing up, he had always planted the idea of Always and Forever by his uncles. There's nothing that Cepheus would not do when it comes to his family, be it draining the River of Woe with his bare hands, he would do it.
Although he did not carry the name Mikaelson, the blood still runs through his veins. Marcellous, even his father's name was given by a Mikaelson. Marcel Gerard was what Marcel used to go by before he decided that his own father did not deserve to have his surname passed down, so he went with Marcellous–he wanted his children to bear his name, not the name of the man that used to abuse him. Although he did not carry the name Mikaelson, still Cepheus loved Orion like she was his own sister.
Growing up, Cepheus always had favoured Cassiopeia–which made sense to him, Cassiopeia was quite literally his other half. The day of Orion's parents' death, Cepheus and Cassiopeia were the only ones that could see how it changed her. Some people chose to never grow up, yet Orion's childhood ended the day she stepped foot into the Mikaelson Mausoleum to bury her parents–too early, but no one could stop it. Unbeknownst to the littlest Mikaelson, it wasn't only her childhood that ended that day, the twins made an oath from that moment on, they were no longer two, but three–every breath that they're going to take, not one could go without Orion Mikaelson.
Cepheus swore to every Gods that ever existed out there, that if there would come a day where he had to choose between any other member of the family, those two were the only ones he was going to choose and if there would come a day where he had to choose between Cassiopeia or Orion, well, let's just say everyone would know what a dying sun look like.
Sipping nectarine green tea might be Cepheus' favourite thing to do in the morning when he's at home. A Daily Prophet in his hand, looking out to the Mikaelson Garden view outside of his bedroom, while planning his schedule for the rest of the day. He had one important task to do that day before he had to go back to Hogwarts, talk to Elijah Mikaelson.
If I am unable to make the Gods above relent, I shall move hell, yet, that day he would rather face the God of the Underworld himself rather than trying to knock some sense into his uncle regarding his fight with Orion. It had been almost a week and there was no sign of Orion coming home yet. Cassiopeia said that Orion needed some time alone, that she had been staying at her favourite hotel in London. Cepheus took his time to call the said hotel for some information, but there was no reservation under her name; he took the matter into his own hands after that, went to the Ritz himself and waited at the restaurant until he sees his cousin – nada.
Which means, either Cassiopeia lied to him or Orion lied to them. But then again, maybe Orion did not leave her room and made a reservation under an alias, but whatever it was, it was Elijah's fault and Cepheus refused to let whatever fights between them stop his cousin from going back to school.
"You're so far away," a soft voice coming from his bed was the only thing that broke his mind apart. He turned his head, looking at the pretty girl still snuggled up under the duvet looking at him with a faint pout.
"Morning, my love," he put his cup and newspaper down, walking to her side of the bed. A smile on his face when he saw her sitting up and reached her hands to hug him, he bent down, sneaked his hand on the back of her neck and leaned down to her instead.
"I haven't brushed my teeth," the girl scrunched her face, moving away from his kiss only to be pulled to him once again.
"And I care because?" Cepheus beamed, putting his knee on the edge of the bed to hold himself from hovering above her.
"Because, Cepheus Týr Marcellous, that is disgusting," with a hand on his face, the girl pushed him away from her softly, earning a soft chuckle from the boy himself as he started to sit in front of her now.
Cepheus looked at her with such a soft gaze that she had never seen coming from him before. The Slytherin boy in front of her had always been known as cold before, in fact, him and three of his friends had always been seen as unapproachable, not to mention one of them was a literal bully. Yet, the moment they started talking, it seemed like he couldn't take his eyes off her, even when she sat at the table across the room. His eyes almost always set on her the moment she stepped foot into the Great Hall.
"I have something to do today," Cepheus let out the sentence in a low tone, almost sounding half-hearted at the thought of having to leave her side.
"That's fine, I have to go home and pack anyway," the girl said, a hand caressing his cheek as a smile grew on his face. Never had she seen him this relaxed before. "Has Orion come home yet?"
Cepheus shook his head softly as an answer and the girl let out a soft sigh.
"I just hope she's alright," she said as she bit the inside of her cheek, a worried glance on her face at the thought of Orion not coming home for almost a week. "I don't like lying to her, Ceph."
"Cho," this time it was his turn to sigh, grabbing a hand on his cheek softly. "We're not lying to her, she didn't ask."
Cho gave her boyfriend a knowing look, tilting her head while an eyebrow was lifted. "Because you avoided her," she let out a low laugh when Cepheus groaned in annoyance, knowing his girlfriend was right. "Besides, I don't get why you're afraid to tell her, it's not like she's going to start a riot."
"You're her best friend and again I thought you don't like PDA, thought you wanted it to be private?" Cepheus' tone was low, he now felt stupid when he realised what she meant by private.
"Private, Ceph. Not a secret," Cho sighed, though the smile on her face never faded even in one second. "As I said, she wouldn't mind."
"Yeah, but you are her best friend, love. She's going to think I'm taking you away from her," Cepheus stood up this time, walking towards the bench on the end of his bed and grabbed his white Oxford that he had laid down after he took a shower earlier.
"Yeah, but this is Orion, we're talking about," Cho said in the same tone that Cepheus used, eyes still following the boy who was putting his shirt on. "Besides, put yourself in her shoes. Let's swap the narrative, would you be mad if she gets with one of your best friends? Surely you wouldn't because you already know them."
Cepheus immediately widened his eyes, a scoff escaped his mouth as he twisted his head to face his girlfriend in an instance. "Yeah, no," he shook his head. "The only closest thing I have to a friend is either Malfoy, Zabini, and Nott. The only slightly decent one from the three of them is Nott and he is currently hopelessly and undeniably in love with my twin."
Cho widened her eyes, she had to bite her bottom lip to fight the urge to laugh at how her boyfriend acted like he was disgusted by the thought and had to shake his head to throw the thoughts of Orion being with either of his friends away from his mind.
"That leaves to Malfoy and Zabini, and if either of them even slightly think of Orion like that, I will slit their throat so fucking fast," his voice drifted away as he walked towards his closet, leaving the door ajar. "Though, I'm not really worried about them," he continued as he walked out, a tan cashmere sweater over his white shirt and a blazer in hand.
"Blaise's type is–just not Orion, while Draco is Draco," he shrugged, putting his blazer on his bed.
"What does it mean?" Cho tilted her head, an amused thin smile on her face on the fact that she was getting an insight towards the Slytherin boys that probably some girls in Hogwarts are dying to know.
"Draco doesn't do dates, I think he's more of a physical person to certain people, he doesn't do emotional stuff."
Cho pursed her lips as she looked away from her boyfriend in a matter of seconds, Cepheus stopped himself from rolling the sleeves of his clothes to his elbow, an eyebrow arched as he waited for Cho to say something but she just stared blankly at his nightstand.
"What is it?"
"Yeah," she trailed her tone before she darted her gaze back to him. "No, I think you should be worried about that."
Eyebrows furrowed deep into a knot, Cepheus tilted his head to the side now.
"Because that–" Cho pointed her finger toward Cepheus, moving it into a circle. "–that description of Malfoy sounded a lot like someone I know."
"Good Lord," Cepheus sighed, a hand was immediately draped over his forehead, starting to massage his temple, remembering how the both of them disappeared from their houses at the same time. But then again, Theo was the one that said Draco had been staying at his guest house for a while trying to avoid his parents. Theo wouldn't lie about something like that, would he?
"But there's no way, this is Draco and Orion we're talking about."
Cho nodded along to Cepheus' statement, trying to shove away the amount of times she had caught Orion stealing glances towards the Slytherin table without she herself knowing it, at first Cho thought it was just some sort of habit of checking up on the twins, but then again Cho had caught a certain blond guy with his silver gaze staring at the Ravenclaw table, not even bothering to hide it.
Cepheus took a second, furrowed brows as he was trying to sort out his cluttered mind. "They're too–I don't know, they don't go together, I think. They're too different, both of them are too closed off, it's not going to work, Orion is too careful and Draco is too careless."
"Yeah," Cho squinted her eyes, her words trailing from her lips as Cepheus looked at her with the same squinted eyes.
"No, I mean, they despised each other too much, right?"
"Right," Cho once again nodded.
Sitting back with her legs crossed and furrowed brows, Orion watched the butlers pacing around the room with several bottles in their hands, putting them down to the table in front of the fireplace in Elijah's Study Room while the owner was nowhere to be found. She was back home really late last night and the moment she woke up, Dimmy immediately told her that she was awaited by Elijah in his study room. Expected to be scolded for not being at home for a week, but the moment she was in her uncle's study room, it looked like she was invited to a wine tasting.
Elijah walked inside his study room, a view of Orion sitting on his chair with her half up and half down with a dutch braid–the same hairstyle that she would wear every day for five months when she was eight, a velvet black dress wrapping her body. She looked exactly like she was the day Elijah saw her for the last time, only older, only she was no longer the same little girl that would run to his arm the moment she saw him.
It felt like the room sucked out all of the oxygen that Elijah had to fiddle his fingers on the button of his suits, swallowing the lump in his throat when he tightened his fist, fighting the urge to hug his niece–his sweet sweet niece. He was not quite sure how to approach the situation despite the fact that Kol had briefed him a couple of times on how to talk to their very own niece. Do not try to lecture her, that is Freya's job; was what Kol said over and over again for a week. Elijah had heard the same sentence for more than two hundred times now.
"A week, Orion," the low tone in his voice echoed throughout the room, Orion didn't heed him yet she let out a long sigh, only turning her heads in his direction when his fifth steps echoed in the room. "You left the house in one week without any–"
"Davina and Freya knew," Orion cut him off in an instant, her amber gaze pierced towards him who was walking towards where she was seated.
"–and leaving in the middle of the first gala this family threw in a decade?" Elijah continued, his arms folded across his chest, standing in front of the table where Orion was seated across him on the big leather chair.
"Oh, yeah. You should've guessed why, since–oh I don't know, probably because you're the reason I left the gala," Orion unconsciously mirrored him, crossing her arms as she tilted her head, her gaze following Elijah who immediately turned around to the table full of bottles of wines and champagnes.
A sound of discrete popping noise followed by a crackling was heard, Orion could only see her uncle's back as he poured his wine into the glass. A hissing sound of the wine being poured followed after, expecting another sound of the bottle being closed, yet she heard him pouring another one.
"I don't want–"
Orion didn't get a chance to finish her sentence when the sound of muted cracking was heard from Dimmy apparating onto the study room. "Master Elijah's guest is here," Dimmy said before the doors were opened.
"Elijah, no," Orion was on her feet in an instance the moment she saw the guy she had been spending her week with stepped into the room.
Wrapped in a dark grey suit, Draco Malfoy stepped into the study room with both hands shoved inside his pants pockets. He walked into the room and the attention shifted to him in an instant, his confidence even in a place where he was the unfit piece of a puzzle still radiated throughout the room. Yet, Elijah still had his attention stuck on his niece–who, despite how her brows were still furrowed into a deep knot in annoyance, the tension in her shoulders was released in a matter of seconds.
"Mr. Malfoy, come on in," Elijah started the second he heard Draco's steps start to get closer, standing in a space between the two Mikaelsons, yet still he stood his ground. Nodding his head towards Elijah as a hand draped over his stomach.
"Mr. Mikaelson, how are you?"
"Please, call me Elijah. Besides, I think the chit-chats are long overdue, don't you think?" claimed Elijah, a thin–half-hearted–smile was draped over his face, passing a glass of wine to Draco who accepted it gladly from his hand.
"So, Pierre informed me how you are an expert on champagnes and wines," Elijah turned his back to face the blond, he circled his glass and a faint sizzling from the liquid was heard. "Care to tell me what the wine in your hand might be?"
Draco shot him a thin smile before he brought his glass of wine to his nose, circling it before he began to sniff. Redberry and floral. "This one is a 1948 Cheval Blanc Vertical, Sir."
"How are you sure this isn't the 1976 one?" Elijah asked him again, this time he took a start to sip the wine on his glass.
"Because I can smell the strong hints of plum and apricot-kernel instead of violet," the blond once again answered him without even tasting the wine, looking at Elijah who gave him a lifted eyebrow before he finally nodded.
"Hm, good one," Elijah darted his gaze towards Orion this time, taking another sip from the brim of his glass.
"Elijah, what are you doing?" Orion sighed, darting his gaze from Draco who was still avoiding her gaze the moment he stepped into the study room, she couldn't help but wonder whether she had done something wrong to him.
Draco mirrored Elijah by sipping the wine on the glass he had passed earlier and Orion had to fight the urge to stop him from drinking it, part of her was worried that Elijah had put something in it, knowing how her uncle had been acting like her father lately, she wouldn't be surprised if Elijah was trying to poison him.
"It's Uncle Elijah to you, Orion," he let out the sentence, although his tone was soft, Orion could still hear the sharp irritation behind it.
"Then start acting like one," the littlest Mikaelson seethed through her gritted teeth, arms crossing again when she saw Elijah started to clench his jaw. The atmosphere in the room was weird, even Orion sensed that and she couldn't help but feel sorry for dragging Draco into this mess.
"What am I even acting like right now, Orion? You're making this much harder than it should've been," his words were sharp, akin to a poisonous blade through her skin. If he wanted it to be easy then he shouldn't have left in the first place.
"You're trying to be my father and it's infuriating, you even started acting like him, threatening me by threatening to dagger your own siblings," Orion pointed a finger towards Elijah now who was setting his gaze right on his niece, yet no reaction was coming from him, still looking as calm as he usually would, but then an eyebrow raised. "What, you think I haven't read about how my father used to dagger you, Uncle Finn, Uncle Kol, and Aunt Rebekah for hundreds of years? You should've brought all of your journals with you when you left."
"Orion–" a warning came from him, yet he was cut off by his own niece who seemed like she still had a lot to say.
"You even acted like him for the last – what was it? – six or seven years, going on a murder party like the madman that he was, and here I thought you were supposed to be the noble one, just another title that fell down to Kol Mikaelson now, I guess," Orion continued, she could see Draco coming closer to where she was standing from the side of her eyes, but she was too angry to even think about him right now, all she could see now was how Elijah tilted his head to the side faintly.
"Oh, you know, in case you forgot, you were supposed to be my favourite uncle too, that title now belonged to Uncle Kol, who may I remind you that even when he left, he still managed to check up on me, it really wasn't that hard, Elijah," she emphasised her tone on his name, her gaze finally darted to Draco who was now beside her, turning around to face her as his back was on Elijah.
Gods, all that Orion wanted to do was to hurt Elijah in that moment, because he didn't react. Orion couldn't read his emotion at all because now all that he showed her was sadness, he wasn't supposed to be sad, he was supposed to be mad. He shouldn't have looked like he was sorry, he should've just screamed to her so Orion could hurt him even more.
Orion was sure the next words that she was going to utter was a spell, any spell that could just hurt the original vampire in front of her, after all, immortal or not, Gods or not, Elijah Mikaelson could still bleed. She could practically feel her skin burning, fire rolled throughout her veins to the tip of her fingers. Every drop of blood in her was boiling and all she wanted to do was hurt him.
She could barely breathe, her lungs felt like it was filled with smoke and the only thing that filled her head was rage, rage, and rage.
"You know what Elijah, you abandoned me. You should be grateful that the moment you stepped your foot back, that despite how much I wanted to, I didn't try to put–"
She was once again cut off, not by Elijah, but by a cold feathery touch on her fingers this time. She didn't have to look to see whose it was, the owner was standing next to her, half sitting on the table with a wine glass in his other hand while he set his silver gaze on her. The tip of his finger was touching her palm just under the table.
"Chérie déesse," he hushed quietly, just enough to reach her ears and her ears only.
Elijah squinted his eyes faintly when he saw the fire in his niece's eyes started to fade. "You wanted to put me down?" Despite the fact that he let out the sentence in such a hushed tone, his voice was still as stern.
"I–uh," without even meaning to, the witch started to grip the fingertips that were still caressing her palm lightly, the electricity that was created through her somehow brought her back to her senses. "Uncle Elijah–" she had to blink a couple of times to ground herself, remembering the words that she had just let out to her uncle.
Shaking her head softly before she darted her gaze back to the original vampire standing across the room who was looking at her with squinted eyes, furrowed brows. Not quite understanding what was happening.
"I–uh, I'm sorry," she whispered, yet still loud enough that it reached her uncle's ears. But the moment the apology came out of her mouth, Elijah wasn't the only one surprised by it, even Orion herself didn't seem like she knew it came out of her.
Elijah was sure despite the fact that his niece was whispering, her voice echoed throughout the room. The apology sounded so half-hearted yet it was still as genuine as it could be, he could see how surprised Orion was by what she was about to say. She shouldn't have to be the one who apologised, it was his fault. Any broken parts of the little witch were all his fault when Klaus and his wife had tried so hard to make sure there would be no dent in her.
He was the only one to blame.
The sound of the doors slamming the wall once again echoed. "Bloody fucking hell, Elijah," spat the younger Mikaelson the moment he saw who were inside the study room with his brother. "We promised Rebekah and Marcel not to kill him."
Kol twisted his head towards the blond guy, his gaze didn't miss the interlocking fingers underneath the table before the two started to step away from each other. "Has he tried to kill you yet?" Kol's words were directed towards Draco who immediately let out a very polite chuckle.
The younger man now faced Elijah who was still looking stunned, he began to wonder what just happened but he was sure it had something to do with what his niece had said before he went inside the study room. "And, Elijah, without me?" he tried to laugh it off.
"Kol, it really is unlike you to spoil my fun," Elijah turned his back to everyone as he walked towards the table after he chugged his wine down to pour himself another.
"Uncle Elijah, what is this?" Another voice came into the room that almost made Elijah throw his glass into the fireplace, irritated by how his conversation with his niece and his plan to interrogate the boy who he believed was his niece's boyfriend was ruined by how nosy his family suddenly was.
"Cepheus, your mother wanted a word with you, go," was all that Elijah let out, his voice was low and everyone in the room knew he was not going to take no as an answer.
"No, she could wait–"
"Cepheus Týr, would you please," the tone raised, yet he still didn't yell, didn't even feel the need to face his nephew who didn't seem to recognise one strange person that wasn't family. "I have a guest, now if you will," he pointed to the door.
"Brother, if you keep on with this pace you're going to leave with no nephew or nieces on your side," Kol began to mutter, eyes scanning the room when he saw his niece and the blond guy tried their best to keep their distance from each other, suspiciously.
"Good fucking Lord, what are you doing here?" spat the Marcellous boy the moment he saw the only light-haired person in the room, squinting his eyes when Draco turned his back to face his mate.
The sound of Elijah putting his glass down harshly was heard. "He's my guest. Pierre told me how the Malfoy heir has excellent knowledge on wine and champagne and I wanted to know."
"Why is Orion here then? She doesn't even like wine," Cepheus asked, tilting his head to face Elijah who looked like he's had enough with whatever was happening inside his study room. If one more person decided to step their foot inside, maybe he would try to rip the blond's head apart.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Cepheus darling, didn't I say your mother wanted to talk to you or did I start imagining things?" Elijah passively waved a hand in front of his face. "Do I really need to repeat myself, Cepheus?"
"Just please tell me why my friend is here," Cepheus started to sigh, knowing exactly if he pestered his uncle, he would just lose his temper, which somehow had been a problem since he came back home. Which was very unlikely of him. Yet he was worried on the view of Draco with Orion, especially after his conversation with Cho.
"I already told you, I wanted to know whether what Pierre had said was true, and Orion came here to talk to me and decided to stay for our wine tasting," Elijah finally turned his fierced gaze to his nephew. "Do you think me a liar?" Despite how calm he sounded, the tone that he let out sounded more like a threat than a question.
"Now, Ceph. Be a darling and go talk to your mother before she started marching here," Elijah continued once again without giving Cepheus a chance to talk. "Besides, don't you need to escort the girl in your bedroom or are you planning to introduce her to me?"
Orion turned her gaze on Cepheus in an instance when she heard the girl that he had been seeing all night had stayed under the same roof as her and she still had no idea who it was. Cepheus, who caught his cousin's pierced gaze on him finally thought it might be the best choice to leave before she started to ask questions.
"I'll need to talk to you later, Uncle Elijah," Cepheus said before he turned on his heels, walking away from the room without waiting for his uncle's answer.
The sigh that Kol let out was so loud that everyone immediately darted their gaze towards him. He looked at Elijah, a disappointed look was draped over his gaze, yet his lips formed into a thin mischievous smirk. Despite how messy the condition was between his niece and brother, he somehow found it quite interesting, the family hadn't tasted a drama for almost a decade.
"So," he turned to the two youngsters that were still standing behind the table, a good amount of space between them. "Just–care to tell us where you two had been?" He looked at the two alternately, waiting to see who's going to talk first.
"I was the one who asked," Draco finally broke his silence after spending his time observing the messy bickering between the family in front of him. "I needed some space away from home, just needed some quiet and I happened to stumble upon her who felt the same way, she said she had a place for us to go which happened to be a muggle hotel in London. We book two separate rooms and spend the whole week forming a book club."
"Just reading?" Kol tilted his head, despite the fact that he had furrowed brows, the smirk on his face stayed. Elijah almost rolled his eyes when he heard the question.
"We're not sleeping together if that's what you're implying," a defensive scoff escaped Orion's lips, tilting her head towards Kol as she felt betrayed by how nosy he had became.
"Good gracious, Orion, please," Elijah took his time to roll his eyes dramatically this time before he turned his gaze to the blond. "I believe what my brother is attempting to ask is whether the two of you did magic outside school, you know, since she's the only student allowed."
"Are you actually implying that he is using me for my magic?" Orion let out a sharp chuckle, shaking her head softly at how amusing she had found the question to be. "Please, uncles, give me some credit. Do you really think I would let someone order me around?"
"I believe what Orion is attempting to say is that we did not use any magic, hence, we stayed at a very muggle place," Draco finally sighed, eyes still set on the two original vampires in front of him despite how Orion immediately turned her head to face him. "Like I just said, I was the one who asked and I think we just needed a friend at the moment, that's why."
"Thought the twins said that you two are not necessarily friends?" Elijah gave the two a lifted eyebrow, hands across his chest, he was definitely calmer than he was before.
"Which was perfect, because we don't really need to talk," Draco shrugged this time, putting the glass of wine in his hand to the table in front of him. "We just stayed to read in silence, the only time we talked was to discuss the books that we read. Hence, like what I said, a book club."
"Now, if you'll excuse us, I need to pack for tomorrow and he needs to go home," Orion waited for a second for any sort of approval from her uncles, when she saw Kol nodded faintly, she wasted no time to grabbed her bag under the table before she dragged Draco with her to leave the room as fast as she could.
Draco nodded to both original vampires in the room, was about to apologise and thank them for their time but had no time since Orion almost leapt towards the doors while he took big steps each time to match her rushed–almost running–steps. They walked in silence, still with Orion dragging the blond towards the hallway of her bedroom.
"You need to stop dragging me around," Draco stopped his steps in an instance, grabbing her hand this time to stop her from marching towards her room–he's not sure whether it would be appropriate for him to be there.
"No, you need to stop acting with your saviour complex by talking over me to my uncles," she snatched her hand away from his grasp, and there it went again, rage flashing over her eyes.
"I'm not trying to save you, I'm trying to prevent a bloodbath in front of my eyes, if you utter another word to your uncle, I'm fairly certain you're going to find a spell to bleed him until he desiccates," he let out the sentence through his gritted teeth, hands formed into a fist as he tried so hard to keep his voice down, not wanting to raise his voice.
Orion took a second to catch a breath, she's not going to lie, Draco was right. The study room felt suffocating, scratch that, every room and every corner of her house somehow felt suffocating. It's home, but for some reasons, it hadn't served its purpose like it used to. Deep down, she didn't want to blame the arrival of Elijah back to be the reason, but all that he did the second he arrived was hurt her. Every step that he took in that house was akin to a knife pierced through her ribcage, and every time he uttered a word out of his mouth he pushed the knife deeper, twisted it over and over again that Orion could feel every sharp edge on her flesh.
"What, do you want me to thank you?" spat Orion, hands across her chest now after she dropped her bag, cocking her head slightly to meet his eyes.
The blond let out a chuckle at the question. "No," he shook his head, a faint smirk forming his lips. "So, what about the Astral Projection to the Prison World? We didn't do that despite you spending a week in my house."
Orion rolled her eyes in an instant as soft laughs escaped her mouth. "Next school break, maybe?" She tilted her head, his smirk mirrored on her face. "We're not entirely lying to Elijah and Kol though, we did read a lot."
"Yeah, among some other things that we did," jested the blond, earning a slap on the hand from Orion by the sentence he let out. "What, we did a lot of things besides reading, I wasn't wrong. I did a lot of cooking and you did a lot of eating. What did you think I was implying?"
"Okay, you really need to go home before Cepheus or worse, Cassiopeia, sees you and decides to interrogate you again," she started pushing him softly away before she called Dimmy to escort him to the Floo Network.
"See you at school?" Draco let out a thin smirk as he began to walk away, head still turned to her with Mippy standing not too far from where they stood, looking at the interaction between the two.
Orion hummed in an answer. "Or maybe I'll just avoid you at school," she jested, earning a rolled eyes from the blond before she stopped him from walking. "Wait, Malfoy," the blond stopped when he heard his name, turning around with furrowed brows when he saw Orion walking towards him, hands folded across her chest.
"Uh– Dimmy, look away?" She turned her head to face Dimmy, though she tried to hide her face on her own shoulder.
"Why would Dimmy look away from Miss Orion?" Dimmy tilted her head and Orion almost rolled her eyes if she didn't like Dimmy so much.
"Just do it, please," Orion sighed, feeling a hand sneaked into her waist before she turned her head to face the blond in front of her after she was sure Dimmy had turned around.
Draco tilted her head, he furrowed his brows into a deep knot while the tip of his lips tugged upward. "What are you doing?" the question was let out just above a whisper.
The brunette shrugged before she slightly stood on her tippy toes since the blond didn't lean down to her, she brushed her lips over his before they moved to his jaw, leaving soft kisses on his skin, trailing down to his neck. Chaste kisses were left on his pulse, trailing down to the skin near his collarbone before she stopped on the spot, sucking lightly on his skin, another round of chaste kisses on his skin before she repeated the action on the same spot. The grip on her waist tightened, yet he didn't do anything to stop her.
She took a step back when she saw the mark on his skin, knowing it'll last at least three days. "Don't wear a turtleneck tomorrow," she said as she finally walked away from the blond who was now shaking his head in disbelief.
"You're shameless, Mikaelson," he let out, tongue digging on the inside of his left cheek, breathy chuckles escaped his mouth.
"Am I?"
As soon as Orion stepped inside her room, she went straight to her study table, putting the bag she carried before on top of it as it made a muted thumping sound. Draco did say that if she tried to utter another word she would've found a spell to desiccate her uncle. Well, he wasn't wrong.
Orion pulled out a wooden box from the bag, putting it slowly on top of the table before she opened it. Kol was never one who was good at hiding things, she found the box in a small safe behind her father's painting inside of the wall. The code for the safe? Her birthday, not necessarily the cleverest either. How did he not think of cloaking the box? It was like he was dying for someone to find it.
Four daggers were placed in it. Three silver daggers and one gold dagger. Draco was right, but also wrong because she wouldn't need a spell to desiccate her uncle, all she needed was one of the daggers placed in front of her.
Closing the box, Orion walked towards the other side of her study table. Opening the lock of one of the drawers before she put them in it. Unlike her Uncle Kol, she didn't forget to cloak the object. As soon as she finished the spell the doors of her room opened, her blonde cousin walked inside her room, hands folded across her chest, the biggest smile on her face.
"Oh, come on walk in, thank you for knocking on my doors, by the way," Orion mumbled, walking towards the bench of her bed before she sat on it, eyes set on the blonde who was still not saying anything.
"Draco Malfoy, huh? Who would've thought," the blonde jested, both brows jolted as she walked to stand in front of her cousin. "How was it? You definitely had sex with him."
"I did not!" Orion retorted in an instance, looking at her cousin like she was crazy.
"You so did, you have the after-sex glow on your face," she pointed a finger in front of her cousin's face before she poked Orion's nose.
The brunette snatched her cousin's finger away from her face. "I did not, Cass. Stop it."
Crossing her arms again, the blonde tried to study Orion, an eyebrow arched and Orion could only hope that her cheeks wouldn't betray her at that moment. "There was at least some type of touching, huh?" Cassiopeia asked, a laugh erupted from her mouth when she saw her twins getting flustered by the question.
"Oh, this is good!" The blonde shrieked, hands clapping as her grin grew wider. "Were there at least any unnecessary small touches from him?"
Orion shook her head, still in disbelief at how interested her cousin was in that part of her life. Her cheeks once again betrayed her because once again Cassiopeia let out laughter.
"He doesn't like unnecessary touches, you know? Whether it be him the receiver or giver," Cassiopeia shrugged and Orion rolled her eyes, she knew her cousin was about to shove some unnecessary information about Draco and she wasn't sure whether she wanted to hear them or not.
"That's untrue, you touched him a lot," she stated, eyebrows pulled into a knot.
Cassiopeia shook her head. "I tried to, he's my friend. But he never liked it, that's why I do it a lot. Besides, I know a girl that he did it with before," Cassiopeia took a pause when Orion rolled her eyes.
Parkinson, of course. Orion thought immediately before she tried to shake the thought away.
"You don't need to know her name, but, she told me there weren't any unnecessary touches between them," Cassiopeia gave her another shrug, a smug expression on her face as if she won whatever game the two were playing.
"What, like he didn't give her anything?"
"No, that's necessary, I heard he's very generous," the blonde retorted in a second, rebutting her cousin's statement. "I meant like not in a sexual context, I'll do it in front of you sometimes, you're going to see what I meant."
Orion once again rolled her eyes. She didn't want to know that.
"Where are you going?" Orion asked Cassiopeia when she saw her cousin headed towards the doors. She did not just shove unwanted information in her head and then proceed to leave.
"I have a scheduled brunch with Theo, you want to come?" Cassiopeia asked, stopping just in front of the doors with the handle already in her hand.
Orion shook her head, knowing exactly how mad Theo would be if she decided to come and ruin their brunch date, that Orion assumed only one of them would think of it as a date since Cassiopeia tried to invite her.
"Oh, that's actually not why I came here," Cassiopeia started again, the tone of her voice was lower than before, her expression was serious. Orion arched an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue. "Don't be so hard on Elijah, I know you're mad at him."
"But–" Cassiopeia said in an instance, not wanting Orion to cut her off. "When you're away, he's been staying in your room. Not snooping around, I checked everything every time he left in the morning, nothing was moved."
Orion did not know what to make up out of her sentence, still waiting for her cousin to get to the point.
"He would come here every night with a cup of hot chocolate, telling Mippy to either reheat them or change them with a new one every three hours. But you didn't come," Cassiopeia continued, this time she darted her gaze from Orion. "I didn't say this so you could forgive him in an instance, I know it wouldn't be easy."
"But I just think–I think he really misses you, he just isn't sure how to show it," Cassiopeia shrugged, her voice was soft, and this time she managed to open the door. "Don't be so hard on him," she said before she left the room, leaving Orion frozen on her seat.
Orion saw a small note dressing table that she didn't see before, she walked over, still not knowing what to make up from the information that Cassiopeia just let out.
I was thinking of staying. But, I wouldn't if my being here only brings you pain or trouble. If you don't want me to stay, I'll be across the world away the moment you come back home from school.
E M
Frozen, Orion did not know what to think. There was a tugging feeling between her ribcage as she squeezed her eyes. She wanted him to stay, that was what she had been hoping since the day Elijah left. No matter how mad she was at him, she wanted him to stay. Just knowing the fact that he was at home, even when she's away, comforted her in a way she could not explain. She just wanted him to fix whatever he broke, she just didn't know how–or maybe she did. She just wanted him to apologise. Grabbing a pen laying on top of the table, she flipped the note, an exhale was let out by her.
I'll see you at home on the next break.
Please, take care of yourself, Uncle Elijah.
Little huntress.
- ✦ -
The Room of Requirement smelled like sweat after two hours of combat training. Orion was pleased when she saw everyone's progress since the last time of their training just before the Christmas break. Even Hermione's punches were better, way better, she could still work on her high kicks though. Even Luna, who at first refused to do any combat training because she didn't like violence, but now, Orion was certain that she could punch a nosebleed out of everyone she wanted. Orion didn't want to say it, but even Hadria was now almost better than her, he probably took some classes back at home.
She tried her best not to talk to Hadria, only talking to him to fix some of his techniques, other than that, she was pretty good at pretending he didn't exist at all. The one person that impressed her the most was surprisingly Neville, he had gotten so good, better than everyone in fact that Orion asked him to assist him to help everyone.
"Thank you for today, everyone," Harry started to clap his hands together after he gave a small speech that he did after every session of the Dumbledore Army. "Thank you, Orion, for the training lessons, you're a really great teacher."
Orion gave him a smile, shaking her head softly. "Only because I have a great help. Thank you, Neville," she turned to face Neville this time who immediately looked away, trying to fight his flustered face with the compliment.
"Anyone wants to give a suggestion of what we're going to do besides another DADA spell to learn for the next meeting?" Hermione asked everyone and Orion gave her a sheepish smile, mouthing a thank you that she replied by a nod and a smile. She had asked Harry and Hermione earlier that she needed a break from combat training because she needed to start her ballet training as soon as she could.
"I was thinking of learning another theory actually, just something that could help us–you know, since Umbridge did not really teach us much on Dark Arts," Hadria chimed in this time as he wiped the sweat on his forehead with a small towel on his shoulder.
"You could do your own research about that in the library," spat Orion in an instance, rolling her eyes in annoyance. "Or maybe, your research skill is just as wretched as your fighting skills."
That was a lie told to hurt him because if Hadria's fighting skill was bad, that only meant, everyone else's was worse.
"Orion," she could hear Padma warning her in a soft voice just beside her, but she didn't heed it, everyone fell into silence in an instance, waiting for Hadria to say something or for the brunette to apologise for what she had just let out.
"Okay, maybe we could just end it now so we're not late to dinner," Hermione finally said, her words trailed as she herself was not sure whether to cut the two off or not. "Thank you again, everyone."
"Or maybe you could learn how to solve something with a theory but no, God forbid you use your brain instead of hexing every problem," Hadria let out the sentence towards Orion in such an easy tone, looking unbothered as he once again swept his sweat before he turned around to get his bag, not heeding everyone's small gasp.
"Do you fancy a broken bone, Shafiq?" spat the Mikaelson witch, she was about to step forward to where Hadria was standing in the corner of the room when Cho's hand stopped her.
"See, that just proves my point."
Orion managed to leave the Room of Requirement without hurting anyone, thanks to Padma and Cho who immediately went to her side, they managed to calm her down as they walked towards their dorm. Fortunately, just like what Cho had said, a cold shower helped ease her temper.
They split up for dinner, Orion was not in the mood to be at the same table with Hadria Shafiq, who when she stepped into the Great Hall, Orion could feel his gaze on her. For once he wasn't as easy to read as usual, but the witch couldn't care less. He was as good as nonexistent in her dictionary.
"You look pissed," Cassiopeia pointed out at dinner as she was seated in front of Orion. Draco and Theo were on both of her sides, looking at Orion with furrowed brows.
"What's wrong?" Cepheus asked this time, twisting his head to look at his cousin who was seated next to him.
"Nothing, drop it," Orion insisted before she turned her head to face Cepheus, as expected a worried gaze was shot at her. "Drop it, Ceph. Just a bad day, I woke up late and then everything went wrong, not a big deal."
"If you say so," Cassiopeia's tone made her turn her head towards her cousin, Orion squinted her eyes when she saw a thin smirk on Cassiopeia's face, an eyebrow jolted at her before she cleared her throat.
"Draco, would you please pass me the syrup?" Cassiopeia turned to Draco, her hand grabbed his fingers that were laid on the table while the other pointed to the bottle of syrup in front of him. The blond immediately drew his hand away from her grasp, sharply, if Orion may add.
"Thank you," Cassiopeia let out the gratitude when Draco passed her the syrup, this time she put her hand on Draco's shoulder, which he immediately shoved away.
The blond looked at the girl sitting next to him with furrowed brows, setting her gaze on Cassiopeia as if she had just lost her mind before he went back to his dinner, not uttering a word to any of his friends. Cassiopeia shot Orion with a jolted brow, her infamous told you look and smile were directed to her cousin.
Not fond of unnecessary touch, huh?
Orion set her gaze on the blond sitting next to Cassiopeia the moment her cousin was back talking to Theo and Blaise, her brows furrowed deep into a frown, because somehow that seemed weird. Draco, who felt her gaze on him darted his gaze towards her nonchalantly, no expression laid out on his face before he once again darted his gaze, this time to Orion's fingers that were fiddling with a dainty sun bracelet on her wrist.
The tip of his lips tugged upward faintly before he looked away.
Kore and his sun.
- ✦ -
Author's Note:
Hey everyone, don't forget to vote!
I'm so sorry for the late-ish update,
but hope everyone enjoyed it.
Stay safe and take care!<3