In Fond Remembrance

Overheard in a cafe frequented by Europe’s deities —

 

“C’mon Cassandra, spill. I happen to like this couple and I’d hate to see your boss fucking up their lives for sport.”

“Actually, it’s not my boss whose into ‘sport’, as you call it,” the beautiful Roman goddess corrected, “it’s Britain’s own prankster — Merlin. Why your group let’s him get away with it, I’ll never understand.”

“It’s a union issue. Thanks to the Internet the minority deities are finally getting equal status with you ‘superstars’. He’s protected — meaning we have to put up with his shite until he comes off the endangered list.”

 

That revelation meant Merlin was finally picking up 21st century worshippers.

 

“Cassandra?” The Lady of the Lake prodded.

“Oh alright! Draco’s got it seriously wrong. Hugo Harry Weasley, Ron and Astoria’s tenth child and the only one of the twelve with a brain — will sneak those kisses at Hogwarts from Cassiopeia Janine Malfoy. Hugo and Cassie will end up in Gryffindor house together, the first and only one of Draco’s eight children to do so…”

 

Cassandra, the deity cursed to know the future and doomed to be disbelieved, went on to tell Nimue that:

• Lucius confined Narcissa to their bedroom in the Manor for a month at the sorting and bonding news…


• The future marriage of the Hugo to Cassiopeia reconnected Draco to a harpy he’d hoped would “accidentally” fall into the Veil. Astoria Greengrass Weasley and her cuckolded husband Ron “The Dolt” Weasley became in-laws to the Malfoys and grandparents to their future grandchildren by Cassiopeia…


• Upon hearing about his baby girl and the Village Idiot Weasley and considering its impacts to his family for the rest of time, Hermione’s Dragon penned her up nightly in the private library for nearly two months… 

 

…and conceived (thanks to Merlin who completely screwed Cassandra's prediction count) their ninth and last child, Jordan Cissa Malfoy — daughter number “3”, who had the good sense to marry Theo Nott’s youngest son Thorton — a Slytherin.

 

But long before daughter number “3” eased her father’s aging heart, Merlin’s sense of humor lightly poked Draco again:

 

Orion Perecles fell hopelessly and completely in love with Bill Weasley’s part-Veela daughter, the breathtaking and voluptuous strawberry blonde Dominique Weasley, and tried to double the census of Malfoys in Draco’s lifetime (before and after their marriage — her parents responded to news of another Malfoy bond by sending Dominique to Beaux Baton and not Hogwarts, having heard stories about JP and Lily's "situations"). The young couple set a goal to pass Gwynddh’s prodigious count of 22 children…

 

 

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AN:  Thanks for your time and your kindnesses. This really is the end… I promise…

colao — Thanks for reading my stuff. I write in two other fandoms and have been submerged in treachery and suspense for over a year. This has been a fun romp — and I find I enjoy poking Lucius and Draco. :D

RavieSnake — You’re kindness is appreciated. I’m working up to a magnum opus like “Songs of Regret”. I appreciate the encouragement. For my next “magic” trick I’ll be trying to finish “The Best Of…” — the story my last two H/D stories were supposed to complete.

nari-chan — Thanks for hangin’ in. I’m glad the humorous juxtaposition worked. Harry was being a bit of a rogue about Draco’s reaction to the Lyra-JP situation so I decided turnabout was fair play. :D

pickles — Thanks for whatever time you have. I agree with your observation — the younger kids in a family develop much faster than their older siblings and Scorp’s had a year of watching his sister and JP in those dungeons. I haven’t plotted out the next generation for this story as it’s an abandoned plot line from “The Best Of…”; at least I know how those kids turn out. :D Have a good summer and let me know what you think when you have time to reread the story.

Trelweny — I can tell you I had written this chapter first so I knew that Orion Perecles would settle into a wonderful relationship like his mother did. Despite his sorting, he’s a Gryffindor in his true heart. With the Malfoy facility for wordless, wandless magic, I hope I’ve made the case that Draco would’ve maimed JP if the killing curse failed. :D As for the adultery, you are correct: the offer to go to Crete came after Hermione’s annulment — Draco thought Astoria had violated their marriage contract when she walked out on him. And he might have surmised that the documented infertility meant he’d violated the contract as well. Neither of the protagonists meant to violate their vows. Draco didn’t realize there were vows to violate until the Ministry’s notification, the result of not reading what’s in your own home library. Not weird at all on your part. As for Draco’s attempts to wall his baby girl in… well… I think Merlin "interfered" with that as well.

claudia — I'm happy you caught the reference. Lucius does a wonderful Fester to Draco's Gomez. And Narcissa is so perfect as Morticia. :D

FieryPhoenix — Glad you liked them. They came flying off the fingers first and fast so my gut thought they were humourous. As this story was an abandoned idea for "The Best Of..." I will be returning to that tome to make my way through with workman-like effeciency... NOT. :D

cpetnm — Thank you! I mentioned in another reply that after publishing this story I became wistful at not saving the Beltaine materials for "The Best Of...". Oh well, hindsight is perfect... I appreciate you taking your time to read and comment on my work. I proudly declare that your "Five Days In November" was the first story I ever read on this sight. It continues to inspire.

sarah — Thanks for the shout out. I'm going to be refining and pruning a bit in a week or so, so if you tell me what you thought was slow, I'll make sure to take a look and revise it.