The Luckiest Man on Earth

The Luckiest Man on Earth



Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and no trademark infringement is intended or implied - not to say that I would not like to but please do not sue.



Chapter 27: Divorce



Flint Manor:



“Divorce,” said Natalya weakly as she looked at her husband in a daze. “You want a divorce?”



“Isn’t that why you are here?” asked Aurelius wearily.



“We are bound together for life,” said Natalya tightly. “We were married in the old tradition.”



“Divorce would be difficult, time-consuming and expensive,” said Aurelius. “But not impossible.”



Natalya swallowed the tears that threatened to overwhelm her and stepped closer to her husband’s bed.



“It’s that whore,” said Natalya lowly and intently. “You want to marry that slag.”



“What are you talking about, Natalya,” said Aurelius with an irritated and confused look at his wife.



“I knew it,” hissed Natalya as she stepped closer to her husband. “You are trading me in, aren’t you?”



“You are the one who wants a divorce,” said Aurelius forcefully. His face was flushed and his eyes were flashing. “I know why, too! It’s that fucking mother of yours.”



“Don’t talk in that manner about my mother,” said an outraged Natalya.



“Why?” asked Aurelius sardonically. “She has never actually used my name. I’ll call her what I want. She put you up to this!”



“My mother would never-“



“Like hell,” shouted Aurelius. “She wants you married to someone who can give you another child. I have outlived my usefulness.”



Natalya stared at him with a stunned expression on her face. They never talked about children. For several years now, Aurelius and herself has assiduously avoided the subject. Natalya felt a sick lurching in her heart and she sat down on the bed. Her knees refused to carry her. Natalya started sightlessly into the fire as she recalled the years after Marcus’s birth. The waiting, the tears and the disappointment when she failed time and time again to have another child. A child she knew her husband desperately wanted. A child she yearned for. A child that never came.



“You know that can never happen,” said Natalya hoarsely.



Aurelius swallowed as he looked into his wife’s desperately pale face. Her hands were trembling. He remembered the days when he would come home and find her crying in bed. Aurelius closed his eyes as he recalled her disappointment and sorrow that they did not have another child after Marcus. He started to dread her time of the month. But the most terrible times were when they thought she was pregnant. Her heartbreak when she miscarried time and time again after a month or two.



“Maybe it was me,” said Aurelius quietly. A heavy silence fell between them.



“Is that when it started to go wrong for us?” asked Natalya tearfully as she turned to look into her husband’s eyes. “When I could not give you what you needed.”



“I don’t know,” said Aurelius pensively.



“Is that when you started to cheat on me?” asked Natalya quietly.



“I could not stand to see you so desperate,” said Aurelius. “Every month was like torture.”



“Is it?” asked Natalya persistently.



“Gods,” saideliuelius as he ran a hand through his hair. “Yes, No, - I don’t know. Maybe, it was just easier.”



“Easier?” asked Natalya incredulously.



“Yes,” said a frustrated Aurelius. “It was easier. Those woman didn’t expect so much from me.”



“Liar,” said Natalya softly. “You wanted another child just as much as I did.”



“A child is all you wanted from me,” rejoined Aurelius. “You stopped sleeping in my bed. You came here only when you wanted to try for a child or when you wanted to be comforted. You stopped seeing me.”



“I knew from the beginning,” said Natalya intently. “I knew from the first time you fucked that girl from the village. I sometimes thought it was because you were trying to have a child with another woman. But you haven’t, have you?”



“I’ve made sure that never could happen,” said Aurelius tightly.



“Why?” asked Natalya. She felt almost detached from the conversation they were having. Aurelius was silent for a moment. He turned his head away and mumbled something she could not hear.



“What did you say?” asked Natalya persistently.



“I wanted my children to be your children as well,” bit out Aurelius. His eyes were guarded but Natalya’s heart gave a lurch. His eyes looked suspiciously damp.



“Why didn’t you tell me?” asked Natalya.



“Youze mze me out,” said Aurelius. “You turned inward. I could not comfort you or tell you that it did not matter because you would not let me. I would do things to try to jolt you out of this vagueness but to no avail.”



“Things like sleeping with Arabella Nott,” asked Natalya a touch bitterly.



“Yes,” said Aurelius pensively. “The witch I married would have poisoned me for less. So I just kept trying to wake you up and eventually it became a habit.”



“You were trying to provoke me into killing you?” asked Natalya incredulously.



“Yes,” said Aurelius. “Any sort of reaction from you would have given me hope. The other women truly meant nothing to me. It was just mindless sex.”



“Your mistress?” asked Natalya with a hard swallow. “That woman I found you with?”



“A diversion,” said Aurelius with a bitter twist of his lips. “She knew it, too. She would send other women in her place occasionally, in order to keep me interested. Actually, it was pure laziness on my part. I just wasn’t up to taking another mistress. I was getting tired, you see.”



“Tired of what?”



“Tired of waiting for you to wake up, tired of meaningless sex,” said Aurelius with a sigh. “Most of all, I was tired of the lies.”



“But you promised to marry her!” said Natalya with a suppressed sob. “I wanted to die when I read that. I thought you had decided to try for a child with another woman.”



“Never,” said Aurelius with a bitter laugh. “She knew, that bitch.”



“Knew what?”



“That I love you.”



“You don’t,” said Natalya as she shook her head. Tears began to streak down her face.



“Gods,” said Aurelius impatiently as he reached out a shaking hand to wipe away her tears. He had struggled to keep his feelings to himself but his words were coming without him even realizing it. He was telling her things he had wanted to tell her for years. His pride be damned. Aurelius knew that if he did not tell her now, he would never again get the chance. He looked into her tear filled eyes and sighed, “I wish I didn’t love you so much. The past few weeks have been hell.”



“You married me for my money!” said Natalya shakily as she tried to pull away from his hands.



“What money?” asked Aurelius sardonically. “Your dowry is yours. It’s still in Gringott’s”



“But… the estates,” stuttered Natalya.



“Oh,” said Aurelius as he raised an eyebrow. “I did use your dowry as collateral against a few loans over the years but the principal has never been touched.”



“But,” stuttered Natalya.



“I married you,” said Aurelius as he turned to look her in the eyes. His normally guarded face was unusually open. “Because I fell in love with you. My mother wanted me to marry the Parkinson girl or that DelaMere chit at that ball. That’s why I was there. It was practically arranged between our families - my bloodline in exchange for her galleons. They pretended to give me a choice. I didn’t know what she looked like. Then I saw this girl dancing in a purple dress. I hoped you were her. When I found out that you weren’t, I was so disappointed.”



“Celeste DelaMere?” said Natalya with a shocked look. Celeste was the richest witch in Western magical Europe. She was currently on her third husband.



“I said bugger it all,” said Aurelius with a smirk. “And ran off with the girl in the purple dress after a memorable shag in the garden.”



“You never told me,” said Natalya as she began to cry again. Hope was flooding her heart as she listened to Aurelius.



“I saw no need to,” said Aurelius with a puzzled look. “I had decided to marry you not that other girl.”



“Gods,” said Natalya with a sob. “I always thought you married me for my money not me.”



“Why did you marry me?” asked Aurelius intently.



“I was in love with you,” said Natalya with an artless look of surprise. “Why else?”



Aurelius leaned in and captured her mouth in a sudden passionate kiss. Natalya melted into his embrace. She pulled away a moment later.



“Why are you pulling away?” asked Aurelius throatily. He tried to pull her into his arms.



“I can’t think when you are touching me,” said Natalya. “And we need to really talk about our marriage.”



Aurelius nodded then his hands tightened on her arms. “Tell me,” said Aurelius lowly. “Have you taken a lover?”



“Yes,” whispered Natalya as she swallowed. Her heart plummeted when he pulled away from her.



“Who?” asked Aurelius.



“Does it matter?” asked Natalya shakily. “You have had countless lovers.”



“Strangely enough,” said Aurelius with a bitter twist to his lips. “It does. You came here tonight because you were upset. Why?”



“I needed to see you,” said Natalya softly. “You make me feel safe.”



Aurelius looked perceptively into his wife’s face.



“Is he threatening you?” asked Aurelius softly and dangerously.



“I never intended anything,” said Natalya in a headlong rush. “I was just so angry with you. I wanted to hurt you as badly as you hurt me. It just happened…now…now… he won’t let me stop. He says he will tell you. He says he will tell everyone.”



“Who?” asked Aurelius in a clipped voice.



“I can’t,” said Natalya as she closed her eyes.



“Gerard Greengrass?” asked Aurelius tightly. “He has always been one of your admirers.”



“No,” said Natalya genuinely shocked.



“Tell me,” urged Aurelius.



“You will kill me,” said Natalya in a tiny voice.



Aurelius jerked his head back and hissed, “Lucius?”



“Yes,” said Natalya. Her heart was in her throat. Her husband looked angry. Natalya gasped when Aurelius reached over and touched her face. He ran a finger over her lips.



“I wonder,” said Aurelius with a drawl. “If Lucius did it over that little fling I had with Narcissa.”



“What?” said a stunned Natalya.



“It was at Hogwarts,” said Aurelius thoughtfully. “It has been over twenty years and Lucius is still not over it.”



“I’m sorry,” said Natalya desperately. “I never meant to do it. I only wanted you to think I was. Some stupid part of me thought I could make you jealous.”



“I was,” said Aurelius. “It was eating me up inside.”



“I am so sorry,” sobbed Natalya.



“As much as I am sorry over that woman in the papers?” asked Aurelius intensely.



“Yes,” said Natalya as a realization came over her. She wanted him to forgive her over her infidelities just as much as he wanted her to forgive his transgressions. “We have a lot to forgive each other for.”



“Yes,” said Aurelius pensively.



In the silence, Natalya decided not to tell her husband about Rhys. After all, his sister was marrying Marcus next month. Aurelius was a passionate man. He would not be able to let it lie.



“You don’t want a divorce, do you?” asked Natalya hesitantly.



“I thought you did,” said Aurelius with a confused look at his wife



“Never,” said Natalya.



“Neither did I,” said Aurelius.



“Can we forgive each other?” asked Natalya quietly. “For everything. The infidelities, the silence, and most of all, the lack of more children.”



“I don’t care about the children,” said Aurelius. “I made my peace with that issue years ago. We have Marcus; that is enough for me. We will have a grandchild soon enough.”



“Can you forgive me for Lucius?” asked Natalya a touch desperately.



Aurelius looked into her tearstained face and realized that he was being an arse. She was torturing herself over one lover and he had countless woman over the years. Lucius, admittedly, had hurt but not as much as he had hurt Natalya over the years. He reached out and stroked her hand.



“I forgive you,” said Aurelius as he realized that he meant every word. “Do you forgive me? For everything?”



“Yes,” said Natalya in a choked voice. She could feel her heart begin to accelerate. “I forgive you Aurelius. I was so very angry with you but I still love you. I love you as much as I did the first time I saw you at that ball.”



“When you came here tonight, I thought you were trying to end our marriage,” confessed Aurelius. “I knew I did not deserve you but I could never let you go. In the past weeks, I have been so unhappy but I still had hope. You still lived here with me. I can’t promise you that the rest of our life together will be all sunshine and roses but I do promise you that I will never knowingly cause you pain again.”



“I want fidelity from you, Aurelius Flint,” said Natalya seriously.



“As do I,” said Aurelius seriously. “I want the witch I married.”



“I will try,” said Natalya pensively. “It was easier, you know, to pretend and to ignore.”



“I don’t want to be ignored,” said Aurelius seriously.



“I won’t, I promise,” said Natalya as she began to cry again. “I don’t care about the sunshine, I don’t care what will come. All that I care about is you.”



Aurelius pulled Natalya into his arms and let her cry against his chest. The emptiness in his heart was gone. She was back where she belonged. He stroked her hair and was surprised to see the early morning sun coming through the windows. They had talked the night away. Aurelius closed his eyes and smelt the familiar violet scent that clung to her. His heart lurched and he clutched her closer as he began to realize how close he came to losing her forever.



Natalya buried her face against his bare chest and burrowed closer. She felt safe here. Her eyes felt heavy as she let him pull her inside the bed with him. Natalya wrapped herself around her husband and fell asleep.



Hours later, Natalya woke up and stretched. She turned to look into her husband’s sleeping face. It was late afternoon. She gave a wistful smile. Earlier, he had let her sleep then coaxed her awake later in the morning with his clever tongue buried between her legs. They spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon making love like they used to do when they were first married. And the lovemaking had been like it was when they first met. The first time had been languorous and gently blissful. She had felt how much he loved her by how reverently he touched her. The second and third time had been blisteringly passionate. She touched his face and grinned. He was a very passionate man. And she was very, very lucky woman because they had been given a second chance.



Aurelius smiled sleepily into his wife’s eyes. He rolled over and trapped her against the mattress. She squeaked in surprise.



“I’m so hungry,” murmured Aurelius.



“I’ll get Floris to bring something,” said Natalya breathlessly as Aurelius’s hands caressed her skin.



“I’m not hungry for food,” whispered Aurelius with a wicked smile. He started to drop kisses down her torso.



“Are we going to spend all day in bed?” gasped out a rather willing Natalya. She parted her legs for Aurelius.



“All day?” said Aurelius with a smile. “All weekend, my beautiful wife. We are going to make love all weekend.”





Author’s Note:



Well, it’s been awhile but AFF has been down for what seems ages. I am currently mourning all my lovely hits. The updates are going to come pretty fast. Originally, I was going to have this reconciliation happen off stage (so to speak) but it haunted me. I dreamt about it even.



The next chapter has Terry dealing with the developing relationship between Adrian and Daria. He and Ally will evolve as well. Let’s not forget about Billy. Her nefarious plan is coming together behind the scenes.





http://www.livejournal.com/users/aureliaflint/