The Raven and the Snake

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Chapter Eight

I want to apologize for taking so long to update this tale. It seems that Severus and Larentia wanted all the attention so I had to put Onyxia and Lucius on the back burner. Hopefully I’ll do better at juggling the two.

Onyxia felt the warmth of the sun on her face, waking her. She stretched, testing her deliciously sore muscles and running a bare foot up her lover’s bare leg. He moaned and rolled onto his back, his arms over his head. Smiling, she turned over, propping her chin on the arm she threw across his chest. It was official, she thought memorizing his sleeping face, she was Lucius Malfoy’s mistress.

She replayed their lovemaking from the afternoon before, blushing as she recalled his whispered confession. She hadn’t expected that, hadn’t expected him to say he loved her. She was still processing how she felt about it. Sure she felt something for him, but she wasn’t entirely sure it was love. It was possible.

“Stop staring at me,” Lucius mumbled without opening his eyes.

She smiled and shifted so she her face was above his. She lowered her head and brushed her lips against his, teasing him and pulling away. She only rose a few inches before his hands cupped her cheeks and drew her back down. When his lips met hers, she felt breathless. And why not, he was breathtaking after all.

“Good morning, love,” he whispered against her lips as he pulled back. His gray eyes opened and locked on hers. Was she imagining it, or did he actually look in love with her? And if that’s how he looked, then how did she look?

His hair was fanned out around his head, the blankets of the bed bunched around his waist. It was really indecent that he looked like a pinup for one of Witch Weekly’s Wicked Wizards calenders. She knew by now her hair was a bird’s nest and she was fairly certain he’d given her a love bite on her shoulder. So he looked decadent and sexy and she looked like a witch caught in a windstorm who turns tricks on the side. So is the fairness of life.

“You’re beautiful.” He sat up, dropping a kiss onto her shoulder. She snorted at this in a most unladylike way. “What? You are.”

She raised an eyebrow and pointed at her head. She didn’t have to look at it to know it was a tangled mess. She didn’t like to point out the love bite, he’d given her that and so it was a gift of sorts. Not a gift she’d ever ask for, but a gift nonetheless.

He chuckled and pulled her back toward him. She settled against his chest, listening to him breathing. “Like it or not, Onyxia, you are beautiful. Even if your hair looks Athena’s been nesting in it.”

She turned to glare at him and he dissolved into laughter. She tried to keep the stern expression, but she couldn’t help but let a giggle out. It wasn’t as though she hadn’t thought it herself. She sighed and cuddled back against him.

“So what are we going to do today, Lucius?” She asked, already thinking of several scenarios that would not include getting dressed for hours, possibly days.

Lucius cleared his throat and she turned to face him again. He smirked down at her before using a finger to tip her chin back. He descended and for the next few hours she was left wondering if he could read minds.


Nexi sighed as she looked longingly at her cottage. They’d only had three days. Lucius had convinced Narcissa he was needed at a conference for the Ministry. He’d left an hour before, flooing to the Ministry. Technically she didn’t have to leave, it was her house after all, but it would be lonely without him with her. Lonely and unfurnished. She needed to take some time to shop in Diagon Alley for furnishings and draperies.

She smiled at the thought of making the cottage her home. Then she closed her eyes and turned, Disapperating with a soft pop back to her bedroom at her parents’ house.

She looked around at the familiar room, feeling something close to nostalgia. When she finished school and came home during summer, she’d be going to her cottage, not this house. She realized she’d have to pack up her things, her books, clothes, jewelry, and other personal things. Adding this to her list of things to do during her holiday, she put down her carpet bag and took off her cloak. Nanny popped into the room with a crack and Nexi jumped a little, not expecting her.

“Missy Nexi, welcome home.” Nanny curtseyed low. “Is there anything Missy needs? Tea, warm milk?”

Nexi shook her head. “No, Nanny, I’m fine. I just have things I need to do, but first I need to talk to Mother. Is she here?”

Nanny nodded, her ears flapping slightly. “Yes, Mistress Morrigan is in the library. Do you want Nanny to tell her you need to talk with her?”

Nexi sighed and nodded. “Yes, Nanny, tell her I’ll be down in a moment.”

Nanny left with another crack and Nexi turned to the mirror. Her hair was smoothed back into a curly ponytail and her emerald green robes were unwrinkled and flawless. Certain her appearance wasn’t a point to worry on, she wondered how her mother would greet her after a three day tryst with her lover. She knew, without a doubt, that her mother hadn’t given up the idea of an advantageous match. No, her mother was biding her time, waiting to strike.

She shook herself free of her worrisome thoughts. Her mother’s plotting wasn’t something she wanted to think about. Another glance in the mirror and she fixed a smile on her face and went to talk to her mother.

Morrigan O’Dwyer sat waiting in the library with a cup of tea. Her dark red hair was piled high on her head and her beige robes were artfully arranged around her. She smiled as her only child walked in and sat down on the chair next to hers. Onyxia, her independent, stubborn, beautiful daughter. She couldn’t possibly mean what she said about marrying. When she’d been cavorting with Lucius for awhile, when he fell in love with her and she with him, she’d be pushing him for the commitment she’d shunned in this very library months ago. Then there would be babies. Pureblood grandchildren she could spoil with the Malfoy name.

“Good morning, Mother.” Nexi said, smiling.

She was glowing and Morrigan knew allowing Lucius to give her the cottage and spend a few days alone with her worked at bringing them closer. Perhaps she was already with child. She returned her daughter’s smile and plotted how difficult it would be to twist Lucius away from Narcissa if there was an heir on the way.

Nexi could tell her mother was thinking, and from the smile she had on her face, it wasn’t plans for dinner. She gave an internal shrug, unwilling to revisit her insistence that she would never be a wife. Sooner or later, she thought, her mother and through her, her father would realize that she was being serious. Until then, let them plot and scheme. Nothing would come of it anyway. Her mother wouldn’t dare tarnish the O’Dwyer name with the scandal of Nexi being Lucius’ mistress. And she’d do anything in her power to make sure that no one else blemished the family name. No, she’d keep that fact a well guarded secret and be certain that any gossips were terrified to tattle.

“Mother,” Nexi said, drawing herself out of her mother’s scheming. “I need to go to Diagon Alley. The cottage Lucius bought me is perfect, but it is unfurnished. I was thinking of going today. After lunch.”

Morrigan nodded. “Yes, I was fairly certain that Lucius wouldn’t decorate the house. How the two of you managed to survive in an ill equipped house for three days is beyond me.”

Nexi smiled a little at just how well they survived, wrapped together for most of the three days. “Oh, he did manage to furnish a room or two,” The bathroom, it had been carefully laid out with toiletries and towels. And the kitchen, he’d furnished the house with a house elf and stocked the kitchen with food enough. “And he offered to hire a professional decorator, but I’d prefer to do it myself.”

“Do you want me to come with you?” Morrigan asked, more than willing to lend her expertise to her daughter.

“No, I think I’ll be fine on my own. I just wanted you to know that I’m going out later.” Nexi said. She didn’t really want help with the decorating, especially because she didn’t want her cottage to look like a museum, unlike the manor she was raised in. She stood to leave, but her mother put her hand on her arm.

“Onyxia, I know you don’t want to hear this, but are you being careful?” Morrigan hoped her daughter’s rash behavior included being unprepared against pregnancy. It would make things much easier if she’d just wind up pregnant. Then Lucius would insist on divorcing Narcissa and marrying Nexi and giving his heir his name.

“Yes, Mother, I took every precaution necessary.” Nexi felt her face grow hot. This really wasn’t something she wanted to talk about with her mother. She caught her mother’s face and noticed she looked disappointed. Of course, she thought getting pregnant would trap Lucius into a second marriage. She fought the urge to roll her eyes as she turned to leave the library. The ways her mother’s mind worked was terrifying.


Nexi pointed to the partners’ desk in the second furniture store she’d traipsed through. It would be perfect in the library, a place she could sit and write. Her parents weren’t aware, nor was Lucius that Nexi hadn’t spent her school years simply following the lesson plans her teachers taught from. No, while she managed 11 OWLs and worked toward NEWT level, she’d been writing romance novels. Magical romance novels that she’d managed to get published last year. Under a pen name, she’d had three novels published. The gold sent to the Gringott’s vault her parents had started when she was a mere baby.

She smiled at the saleswizard, agreeing that the price was very reasonable and selecting a desk chair from the selection available. So far she’d managed to find furnishings and draperies for nearly every room. She’d decided to keep the furnishings simple and understated. It was a cottage after all. Her color schemes ran to browns, tans, and beige. After paying for her latest purchases and giving the saleswizard the address to deliver and agreeing on a date of delivery, she walked out into the chill of a beautiful winter’s day. She turned and was nearly knocked over by a fellow shopper, intent on getting somewhere without looking where they were going.

She looked up and realized with a start who bumped into her. Narcissa Black-Malfoy was standing there looking down at her as though she smelled like a troll. Nexi straightened her back and studied the woman before her with interest disguised as contempt. If she would have watched where she was going, they wouldn’t be standing along the street eyeing each other.

“Watch where you’re going,” Narcissa’s voice was a tone below shrill.

Nexi raised an eyebrow and answered in a snap. “I wasn’t the one who plowed into someone. Perhaps you need to watch where you’re going.”

Narcissa’s eyes narrowed. Of course the ice princess wasn’t used to someone talking back to her. Nexi’s hand curled around her wand under her cloak. She heard stories about the Black girls and wasn’t about to be off her guard. Then again, hexing Lucius’ wife on a crowded street wasn’t exactly the smartest thing to do either. She sighed and turned to walk away. Surprised when no spells hit her.

Nexi thought about Narcissa while she wandered along Diagon Alley doing last minute Christmas shopping for her parents. She’d found Lucius a gift weeks ago, during a visit to Hogsmeade. She considered the woman she’d just had a run in with and was boggled. She was beautiful, of course, but rather cold with no curves. Nexi caught her reflection in the glass fronted shop windows and considered how different she was from Narcissa. She was small and soft, her dark hair contrasting nicely against her pale skin. Narcissa was all white blonde frostiness. Of course, his marriage to Narcissa had been arranged so Lucius hadn’t exactly hand picked her like he had Nexi. It was strange to think that she’d been pushing Lucius to put effort into being a proper husband to an icicle.

She sighed and walked into a shop known for its expensive trinkets. She really didn’t need to compare herself to his wife. She had what she wanted from him, nothing more, nothing less. So why did it bother her so much to know he went home to Narcissa at the end of his day?