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captainfile · 6 years

Text

not a flortist

words: 7192

ocs: any mentioned agrona

in which the epilogue barely happened and cursed child doesn’t exist.

Agrona Apothecary, with some relation to Agrona Athletics, is a fairly successful small business, but only has one location, unlike the notorious family chain. it’s a short building, considering, and the color scheme seems too dark for a flower shop.

which is, hilariously, what it kind of is. the owner is a witch, as expected with the store’s name, and enjoys displaying bouquets in the front window that she sells for cheap because she grows them herself and it’s really no trouble. the other materials in the store, however, are bizarrely gathered from all corners of the earth- Mengdaxiang lizard urine, uncompressed ash bone, and other strange things the average wizard doesn't recognize.

Fax frowns to herself and attempts to tuck her hair back into its braid without redoing anything, which of course just makes it messier. baby hairs stick to her forehead in the humid environment. she clips a dead bud off the carnations on the counter, then turns on her heel to feed it to her vegetarian venus fly trap.

only the front half of the store is lit, for the full-sun plants and materials. at the sound of the front door swinging open, Fax looks up and forces her eyes to adjust.

“Draco Malfoy?” she mutters to herself, then straightens and pushes her hair behind her shoulders. “welcome!” she smiles, thinking of the front display to make her expression seem genuine. “is there anything i can help you with?”

“yes, actually,” Malfoy- and it is him- replies, tucking his hands into his suit pockets. as he moves towards Fax, the angles of his face are sharpened by shadow. “i found some mountain ash lining a room in my home, and heard that you tend to deal with such oddities for a price.”

“depends, but usually, yes. i get letters from all over the globe, it’s where half of this comes from,” she gestures to the inventory of her business. Malfoy arches an eyebrow.

“and the other half?”

“travel, too much spare time, my own garden,” she shrugs. Malfoy leans against the nearest table to himself and narrows his eyes.

“do you think you can harvest the mountain ash, then?” he wonders. Fax nods, and digs up a book for appointments to figure out when she can.

“perfect. i just need your personal information. name, location, payment method,” she pulls out a separate book and opens to the first empty page.

“so you don't know who i am?”

Fax pauses in handing him the book to consider his expression- surely he doesn't expect her to hold a grudge over a few comments he made about one of her friends in the middle of a war that ended two decades ago.

“I know only your name,” she says, instead of going on a rant about how uptight everyone always is. Malfoy just nods, hair falling into his face, dousing himself in more shadow than before.

Fax breathes again when he leaves, long legs striding easily across the threshold. She watches him go, then simply stares at where he stood for a moment before turning back to the venus fly trap, now closed around the flower bud. She fills her cheeks with air and picks up her clippers.

Fax’s brother, Barry, tells her off when she visits his apartment half ot pet his dog and half to ask what Draco Malfoy has been doing since the war. She isn’t suspicious of him- he’d never get away with anything foul, probably- but she’s curious why he’d come to her about mountain ash. It’s pretty minor, and usually pretty useful. Convenient, if it’s already been installed in his house- he can’t be attacked by magical creatures living in a house lined with the stuff.

“You can’t be seriously thinking of helping him, are you? I mean, he hasn’t done anything noteworthy since his wife- well. But he’s still a Malfoy, alright?”

“Bearach!” Fax snaps. “You know better than anyone not to judge a book by its cover!” he’s an Auror.

“What about by his enthusiastic actions?”

“When he was a teenager and living in the Dark Lord’s house,” she fires back, because she’s not going to hold Malfoy to that any more than she’ll worship Harry Potter for his saving of wizardkind. Which she doesn’t- they met briefly at a school reunion, once, and he asked her how she was doing- all she said was

, and went to sit with her sister.

“Yeah, the same house you’re visiting in a few days to enter a room you’re not guaranteed to exit!” Barry suddenly stands from his armchair with a grave expression. Fax rolls her eyes obnoxiously and then looks down at Danagb, a siberian husky.

“I’ll be fine. You said yourself, he hasn’t done anything noteworthy since something happened with his wife, or something, so he’s clearly grown up and gotten a handle on life, even if he’s living at Malfoy Manor. But it doesn’t matter- I just wanted to know if you know anything I don’t, but I guess not, so-”

“Just about his wife, she wasn’t a nice woman.”

“Wasn’t?”

“She’s not his wife anymore, she’s in Azkaban for using him to get to his family’s dark artifacts and using them on muggles.”

So that’s why he wants the mountain ash removed, probably- no one wants to live surrounded by proof of their own evil acts. Fax nods. “Anything else I should know?”

“Yeah, you’re an idiot, Fax,” Barry huffs, but otherwise shrugs. Fax smiles in agreement and leaves for brunch with Garrick Ollivander.

By the time her appointment with Malfoy, she looks up at the castle at Malfoy Manor and starts reconsidering.

“can i help you?” asks Draco Malfoy as Fax remembers him from Hogwarts, but with less weight on his shoulders.

“who is it?” the real Draco Malfoy calls from inside.

“i'm Fax Agrona, from Agrona Apothecary-”

“ah, miss Agrona!” the elder Malfoy- well, relative to whoever it is standing at the door- appears, setting a hand on the young boy’s shoulder.

“please, just Fax,” she corrects, because then maybe this won't all be so intimidating.

“well, Fax, this is my son, Scorpius. Scorpius, if you'll excuse us, come in, Fax,” he seems to be in his element, at the Manor, instead of lean and shadowed, like in Fax’s store. though, that might have to do with her store being an exceedingly strange place. “the room is just up here. don't worry about your shoes, this whole place is charmed to the gills.”

the house is massive, in that Fax was right in thinking it a castle. Scorpius goes back to whatever he was doing before Fax knocked, and Draco leads her through long corridors that become short with his relaxed pace. Fax quietly thanks Merlin that she’s barely shorter than him, if at all, and can keep up.

“this is it?” she asks, when Draco gestures to a perfectly normal door. smart, however, to have it blend in. she hefts her bag off her shoulder and sets it in front of the door, pulling out a wood block. “cherry,” she explains, setting it against the door so it presses up against the border of the room. nothing. she jinxes the block into a duck- therefore a magical creature- and holds it up to the same place, this time observing the shimmer that comes with pressing against the wards. she taps the duck back into a black and puts it away, then digs through her bag for- “looks like mountain ash, but it might be- aha.”

“what else could it be?” Draco asks, quietly, like he’s saying it more to himself than to Fax. but she answers anyway.

“a careful ward, maybe, from the pattern of the shimmer. alternatively, the door could just by chance have traces of mountain ash in it, but we won't know until we look, will we?” Fax falls into talking to herself, voice barely intelligible to Draco, probably. he leans against the wall leisurely as she switches the glass of her monocle until she sees what she wants.

Fax opens the door. and whistles.

“that's kind of what tipped me off,” Draco tells her, holding out a minty salve that she rubs under her nose with a grateful smile. “i can't remove it.”

“

, from the looks of it,” Fax fills her cheeks with air and then sighs. “i was confused, before, but i think i really get it now.”

“i am raising a child here, and the last thing i want is for him to find literal skeletons in my literal closets,” Draco graces her with a smirk. Fax laughs quietly, but then looks back at the werewolf bones.

“you've got guts, mister Malfoy,” she sighs again. Draco steps further into the room and frowns.

“technically, it’s lord. but Draco, really.”

“any idea who she is?” Fax asks, crouching beside the corpse, and frowns slightly when Draco shakes his head.

“she’s been here long enough to decompose like this, but that could be anywhere between ten and fifty years.”

“there's no evidence of food or water, so i'm betting on at least twenty,” Fax replies quietly. Draco nods in agreement and takes a step back to stand just outside the doorway again.

“i should actually be reporting this to the Ministry, because of my ex-wife and all, but i don't think even she was capable of leaving a werewolf to rot in a room she can’t escape like this,” he leans against the door thoughtfully, then shakes his head. “don't worry too much about her, i'll have her buried on the property once i can move her. all i need you to do is figure out the border.”

“of course,” Fax nods, but then pauses. “if you could get a sheet or something-”

“didn't think of that,” Draco interrupts, blushing, and disappears down the hall while Fax gathers her things and set about working, ignoring the elephant-corpse in the room.

finding the mountain ash is half the battle, and then there’s extracting it. Draco gives up on supervising and excuses himself to help Scorpius with homework or something.

by the time she’s done, she’s used to the smell of rotten flesh and drywall, but done she is.

“well, you’re all good now,” she announces when Draco check up on her and sees her packaging the recovered materials. “just a couple galleons, and i'm on my way.”

“and a couple extra, for the conditions,” replies Draco, handing over an envelope with a check for Gringotts. “i should have warned you.”

“good hindsight for next time something like this happens,” Fax shrugs, because there’s nothing he can do, now- she already sat for hours with the bones of a poor werewolf. so she takes the check and thanks him for his business and is on her way with a wave to Scorpius, who waves back with wide eyes.

“I cannot believe you actually went,” Barry snaps at her when she meets him for dinner, “and I can’t believe you didn’t bring me along, I could protect you!”

“Ah yes, little Fax, a full-on adult with the ability to duel for herself, no way could she face some rando in his own mansion.”

“In a room lined with mountain ash!”

“You don’t even know what mountain ash is, Bearach,” Fax hisses, glaring at her brother while cutting into her steak. Barry rolls his eyes and takes a long drink of his wine.

“I know that you shouldn’t be doing such reckless things-”

“I travel, brother, to all ends of the Earth in search of dragon egg shavings and bear cub claws because that is my job, alright? I interact with ancient families that actively try to have me killed but hold off long enough because they legitimately need help. I’ve been stuck before, but brother, this is not one of those cases, and it’s done with.”

Barry huffs. Their hostility is in the tabloids the next day. The only Agronas that didn’t join the family business are arguing? Clearly there’s nothing more important to report! Fax ignores the rumors of pregnancy or mutiny or whatever to travel to Taiwan and collect jinxed shrimp from a distressed restaurant.

Everything is calm again when a man much younger than Fax opens the door of her store and reaches up to ring the bell a few times. Obnoxious.

“Can I help you, sir?” Fax asks him, hiding her annoyance.

“Oh!” he jumps, then rubs his hands together and lets the door fall closed behind him. “Teddy Lupin,” he introduces himself, “I’m here on behalf of Harry Potter, he said a colleague recommended your business for the extraction of dinosaur bones from his wand?”

“That’s quite a pickle. Is this urgent? I have a few appointments today, and wands tend to take a while,” Fax replies calmly. Harry Potter- maybe Barry told him to check up on her? Maybe he saw the tabloids?

“I’m sure you can make time for the Head of the Auror office,” Lupin suggests, holding hands behind his back. Fax stares him down, and then nods.

“I’ll have to make a call.”

Indeed, Harry Potter has pterodactyl bones embedded in his wand, and the Ministry is a bit lost on how to get rid of them. Fax puts on a smile and sits down with it and her toolbox, because the bag was too big to bring to the Ministry.

“A young one, from what I can tell,” she remarks when Potter himself sits across from her while she works.

“I’m sure you know why you specifically were called?”

Fax provides a grim smile. “I don’t need checking in on, sir, but thank you for the thought.”

“Barry hasn’t let go of the war. It was my entire childhood, and when it ended, it didn’t in my head. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to tell you to stay away from Draco Malfoy.”

Fax pauses to look up at him incredulously.

“Hell, I encourage it. My son, Albus, heard from Draco’s son that hardly anyone visits the Manor anymore. If he asks you for help again, say yes. Or, if you so choose, go on a friendly visit.”

“Mister Potter-”

“Harry, please.”

“Harry,” Fax amends, “I agree with you entirely, but your opinion is also entirely irrelevant.”

Harry Potter’s turn to be shocked. “Sorry-”

“You may lead the Aurors, and my brother may be one of them, but that doesn’t give you the right to insert yourself into a family issue. If my brother comes to you with advice, advise him, not me. Surely all these years of working with red tape have taught you that there are some lines which are not to be crossed? Find someone else to fix your wand, Mister Potter, because I’m afraid I can’t work in an actively hostile environment such as this.”

With that scathing monologue, Fax sets Potter’s wand down, gets up, and leaves the Ministry without a single look back.

She’s coaxing a stray kneazle into a box so she can take it to a magizoologist when Draco Malfoy turns the corner and sees her. She waves, but puts a finger over her lips and gestures to the kneazle. He smiles and leans on one leg. The kneazle runs away anyways, so Fax just rolls her eyes, stands, and Vanishes the box.

“I do my best,” she shrugs.

“I see,” he nods, with his slight smile, and approaches. “You know, I just want to apologize. If I had any idea asking for help would be such a big deal, I would have asked elsewhere.”

“Did you hear about me going off on Potter?” Fax asks, lips thin, and sighs when Draco laughs as lightly as he smiles. “He doesn’t have a problem with you, it’s my paranoid brother,” she tells him. “You don’t owe me anything, and I don’t owe Potter anything.”

“He definitely owes you, though,” Draco remarks, eyes bright. Fax laughs.

“Hey, are you hungry? There’s a muggle coffee joint just that way,” she goes out on a limb, and when Draco nods, she lets a breath escape.

“I was just on my way here, to be honest,” he tells her once they’ve entered. Fax raises an eyebrow in surprise, but then smiles-

“Interesting,” she narrows her eyes at him and turns to the menu when he mimics her. the barista who greets them with a bright smile reminds Fax of a doll with her dark eyes and soft corners, unlike Fax’s taught skin and square shoulders that seem to fight with her slim jaw for her strangest feature. “hot chocolate, please.”

Fax doesn't see Draco Malfoy for a while after their shared meal, which is fine but for the pleasantry of that meeting, but she does see his son in Hogsmeade when Fax goes to meet Hagrid. Scorpius walks beside Harry Potter’s ginger son, grinning and wiggling his fingers to catch the falling snow. then Scorpius sees Fax, looking around to see which way is fastest to Hagrid’s hut, and waves.

“miss Agrona!” the young blonde calls, grinning even wider, and grabs Potter to pull him towards Fax in a light jog. “hello again!”

“hello Scorpius, how are you?”

“just enjoying the snow,” Scorpius giggles- giggles. he seems unable to contain his excitement.

“and who’s your friend here?” Fax can't remember the Potter’s name.

“Albus Potter, miss. you-uh-”

Fax laughs as quietly as she can when he begins to stutter. “i yelled at your father, didn't i?” she smiles, and Albus blushes while nodding. Scorpius laughs too.

“you should come by the Manor again, father is getting frustrated with some artifacts that you probably know more about than him,” he suggests, eyes open, and tucks a few stray pale strands of hair behind his ears, letting go of Albus’ hand.

“maybe i will, but right now i have a meeting with Hagrid. any idea which way is best to his hut?” Fax asks, quietly amazed with herself for interacting with a couple of teenagers and not smacking either of them. they don't seem like horrible kids, though, considering the kind of people their fathers were, years ago. or mothers, for that matter- the teens just send her in the right direction and say farewell. she figures that if Scorpius isn't so bad, that Draco’s done a good job.

the lord Malfoy bursts into her store while she’s trying to have a lunch break but also design something nice for the flowers in the front window. he looks horrible, entirely disheveled, and yet still beautiful.

“i found a bag of wind, and it’s taking apart my bloody house-”

Fax resists the urge to laugh and swiftly strides over to take his arm and apparatus back to the manor with him. indeed, there's a hole in the roof where the attic has been blown apart, and far above, the winds gather in a menacing cloud.

as Draco leads the way to the attic in a frenzy, he describes what happened.

“thought i'd get some cleaning done, with Scorpius at school, and when this happened i went to the Ministry, of course, and they took one look at me and told me to leave or be removed, bunch of idiots.”

“aguamenti,” Fax mutters to a length of rope gathered in the corner of the attic, where the wind hasn't gotten to yet. her hair whips against her face as she tries to wrestle the bag into remaining in one place so she can secure the rope around it.

“what do i do?” Draco yells over the howling gusts as another patch of roofing peels itself from the stable beams of the house. his hair moves with the wind, too, but less against his skull like he used to slick it and more like a stranger riding waves at the beach and catching glances

“i just have to- there,” Fax says to herself, finally securing the lip of the bag. but the storm outside churns with a threat. “we have to patch up your roof before the cloud breaks, or you have a worse problem than you started with.”

so they work quickly, with half-baked water repellant charms and old tin buckets and a spare mattress that they cut in half to spread it wider, if thinner.

and then they sit. the rain is worse than Fax expected, but their charms don't give in.

“thanks,” Draco mutters, as they sit in tense silence, each drop from the one leak echoing around the attic.

“i'm here for crazy, Draco,” Fax shrugs and curls her fingers around her shins absently. for all she's claimed of loving rain before- ha.

“were you friends with Lovegood, in school?”

Fax blinks, frowning. “No, she was plain weird.” Draco looks like he’s about to laugh, but then he doesn't, and turns his head to watch the water drip. “I was more friendly with Sprout and Chang and- a couple muggleborns that you probably don’t know. Funny, considering.” Fax doesn’t mention Cedric. Draco seems to understand, and frowns.

“I’m-”

“I already forgive you, Draco, it was a long time ago,” she interrupts. “It’s funny how I don’t talk to any of them, but I now read the Quibbler on the daily and consult with her and Longbottom all the time.”

“We all ended up a little different, even my cousin, who was truly already different.”

Fax has to go- she’s due to meet Luna, actually, and her husband, Rolf, in Bollywood for dinner and the rescue of an imprisoned erumpent. “We can get him back to Africa, we already have somewhere set up,” they wrote a few weeks ago, “but with the musk and elaborate locks, we need your help.” She eyes the patches that have replaced the roof and stands slowly to inspect them.

“I- um,” she figures discussing his son will be too long of a conversation, “I actually have to go see the Scamanders now, but if you need more help-”

“No,” Draco replies quickly, standing as well and starting to lead her out. “I can repair the roof myself, since it’s not like I’m busy these days. Send my love,” he nods slightly, and thanks her for the help, forgetting to pay her. Fax doesn’t mind. Luna laughs at her cheerfully despite the situation when she arrives and tells the couple about her day.

“Whenever someone tells him they’re going to see me, he says that, but I haven’t received an owl or caught a glimpse since Scorpius was born. His mind is guarded by-”

The erumpent emits more musk. Fax’s eyes widen, and she claps a hand over Luna’s mouth and watches how the cage reacts. “Later, alright?”

Fax sees Scorpius again when he enters the store with Albus and Harry Potter in tow. “cheerio!” he calls, smile bright, hand tight in Albus’ grip.

“Scorpius, how nice to see you again, and Albus, Auror Potter.”

“please, just Harry outside of the Ministry.”

Fax just nods, gut twisting with nerves. “how can i help you gentlemen? flowers, fruit, blast-ended skrewt legs?”

Scorpius steps forward, suddenly dipped in shadow the same way his father was. “we need mountain ash-infused jars.”

“we don’t- we don't need them, Scorp-”

“yes we do!”

“regardless of necessity, i believe they are just along the wall here,” Fax puts a stop to the younglings’ bickering and casts a lumps, which makes her vegetarian fly trap flinch, but the other plants and materials are tolerant enough to her magic.

“and how much?” Harry asks, digging into his pockets already while the two friends pick out what they’d like.

“who’s asking?” Fax utters with a smirk. so she's still a little cheesed, whatever. Harry looks horrified for only a moment before she feels bad and waves him off. “it's fine. three jars should be twelve sickles.”

“Luna told me you helped again.”

“sounds like i'm doing drugs instead of being a good person, Harry,” she turns and hands him his change after putting his galleon into the cash register. “and didn't we already establish that my business has no place in the Auror office?” Harry at least blushes.

“i mean no disrespect, miss Agrona.”

Scorpius snickers. Fax narrows her eyes at him and smiles. “i'm sure, Harry. now, is there anything else you need or will the next time i see you all be at the anniversary ball?”

Scorpius is a real funny kid, Fax decides, and decides to tell Draco the next time she sees him. except that the time doesn't come for a while. Fax goes about her business, waiting on a certain blonde to stride across the threshold of her store and ask for a unicorn hair or some other odd thing that only she would have. she's only left to wonder what happened to his roof.

Christmas comes and goes, and then the year changes, and then nothing exciting happens for months.

well, that may be an exaggeration, as Fax ends up meeting the president of America and shaking his hand and removing pterodactyl bones from

wand, which is a strange coincidence, and then Hagrid give Fax a grand tour of the Dark Forest next to Hogwarts, including introductions to the various civilized species which live there. Fax ends up removing nails from a centaur’s hoof, and is rewarded with fewer threats than when Hagrid introduced her. which is all exciting, yes.

but no Malfoy and no Potter and even no Agrona but Fax herself enters Agrona Apothecary until springtime. when all of the above decide it is time for a visit at the exact same time.

first arrives Barry, with a kiss on the cheek and green tea with lemon and honey, no milk or sugar. he sits at her desk and pokes the bristles of the fly trap until it bites him.

next are Ginny and Harry Potter, in search of a really pitiful description of something Albus wants. Barry jumps up and helps them, cradling his acidic finger, when Fax just looks lost. she doesn't speak teenager anymore.

to top it all off, she's rearranging the flowers in the front when Draco Malfoy steps up and begins correcting his hair in the window. Fax bites her lip to keep from laughing and waves, which makes him realize she’s there so his face can turn entirely sanguine.

“sorry!” he mouths, but looks over the flowers with a sheepish smile and gestures to the door, opening it moments later. Fax starts to take off her gloves when Barry storms past her with the most insincere smile she’s ever seen him wear.

“mister Malfoy! fancy seeing you here!”

Fax frowns, but figures he’s a big boy and can handle an Agrona here and there.

“what a hairline for someone our age,” Ginny whispers, having left Harry to choose between two shades of blue. Fax frowns deeper and reaches her hand up self consciously- but then Ginny laughs. “not you, Agrona, him! Malfoy. he's doing better than all of our other classmates. well, the male ones.”

“oh,” Fax’s frown relaxes. so Ginny didn't come over to be a nasty ginger. “i don't pay attention to that sort of thing.”

“well, you will when you're married,” Ginny smiles fondly, which reminds Fax of her mother. she wants to laugh, suddenly, but doesn't. “i think in just a few years, i'll have to start shaving him,” Ginny shakes her head, watching the confused man look between the two products and adjust his glasses. but Fax isn't exactly conventional, so she just nods instead of actually agreeing.

“would you like to hurt me, Agrona? kill me? torture my son? because, what, my father raised me a certain way and i was too stupid to see he was wrong?” Draco sneers. “that doesn't make you any better than him, and you know it. if you can't end the war in your mind, at least stay on the side you stand for.”

Fax fills her cheeks with air and strides over to her brother, who has paled and curled his hands into fists. “Draco! how can i help you? you seemed interested in the flowers, earlier.”

Barry turns to her, jaw slack. “you-”

“yes, actually, i’m intending to give my cousin Luna a bouquet, i’ll be joining her for dinner tonight.”

“Fax-” Barry hisses. she ignores him. Ginny laughs again.

“yes, she wrote and told me you two are once again on actual speaking terms,” Fax tells Draco, who barely blushes, but settles his hands in his pockets.

“right. how do i apologize and also inspire enthusiasm?”

“just showing up, i'm sure, will do the trick, but,” she pulls on her gloves and reaches into the center of the display. “i happen to know that she and Rolf enjoy their centerpiece with no relation to the color of their dining room.”

Draco watches her rearrange the bouquet for travel.

“how can you sell to this man?” Barry finally breaks and demands. Fax raises her eyebrows while Draco arches one, and Harry, from his corner of indecision, reaches for his wand.

“i don't discriminate, brother, and even if i did, this is on the house.”

now Draco’s eyes widen, but only slightly. “i can’t-”

“it’s for Luna, yes?” he nods. “on the house.”

“Fax, i will not-”

“Bearach, i will not allow such hostility in my store. kindly exit, sir.” Fax snaps, and when Barry looks to his superior for guidance, all he gets is Harry Potter gripping his wand tightly. so the other Agrona leaves. Fax fills her cheeks with air.

“thank you,” Draco breathes.

“of course. and thank you, Harry,” Fax adds, turning to the Auror. “may i recommend the darker shade of blue? to match his eyes?”

Barry ignores Fax for a while, and then goes back to being the childish older brother he’s always been, but with less comments about her safety. because she's fine, and even Harry Potter agrees.

he especially doesn't come around the day of the anniversary ball, which is more like of a tradition than a solemn honoring of those lost in the war. which isn't to say there’s no solemnity, but there's also wine. so Fax feeds her fly trap and then feeds her actual fly trap and then pulls her hair into a lopsided braid so it isn't in her face while she washes the floor with muggle tools. she barely looks up when the door opens.

“miss Agrona?”

“oh, Scorpius, i'll only be a minute, i'm just-”

she waves a hand towards the door. “cleaning. what can i help you with today?”

“my father would like to buy some flowers, he said you’re good at picking them out, but he had to get my dress robes, so i volunteered to come here.”

“that's responsible of you,” Fax smiles, dropping her gloves on the counter beside her own wilting bouquet. “what are the flowers for?”

she can't really help the little twist in her stomach, the little hope.

“well,” Scorpius pauses. he steps from side to side, hands clasped. Fax narrows her eyes at him, nearly impatient, but he is only a teenager and therefore destined to be difficult, so she gives him time. “they're actually for me, i- i wanted to get Albus some flowers. and you, too.”

Fax smiles, relaxing, ignoring herself to step towards the front of the store and pick out some carnations and then holds up a lily in one hand and a daisy in the other. “ones named after his sister. what do you think?” Scorpius points to the daisy.

Draco then steps into the store, spots Scorpius, and sighs. “there you are.”

Fax hums. “not quite so responsible of you anymore, buddy,” she pats his shoulder and hands him the bouquets. they're small enough to fit in one of the glasses at the ball, so he can gift them there, but bulky enough to show sincerity.

“sorry,” he mutters. Draco just smiles slightly and looks up at Fax, then back down to the flowers. Fax shakes her head. “wait, how much do i-”

“get out of here,” Fax laughs, and waves as they walk away. she only realizes after they're gone how horrible she looks.

which she makes up for at the ball, having shaved, washed, dressed, and styled herself before apparating herself to Hogsmeade Station where the Thestral-led carriages pull guests up to the castle. Barry arrived at the same time and helps her into one of the carriages before himself and two of his coworkers.

Harry greets Fax and asks how she’s doing. she smiles and says “fine, how are you?” which she counts for personal growth. Ginny compliments her choice of dress, which is a stiff black two piece gown that she rented because she isn't exactly twenty anymore. Fax compliments her back.

“good evening everyone,” calls Minerva McGonagall, which brings everyone to find a seat at any small round table around the floored Quidditch Pitch. Fax sits with Barry and their other brothers. “welcome to the eighteenth annual Anniversary Ball for the Second Wizarding War, which ended here on this day, the aforementioned years ago.” Fax bites her lip. “you all look dashing tonight, and i do hope you enjoy yourselves amidst the music, food, and reunion of your comrades from years ago, or new friendships with old enemies. despite the sides which were taken at the time, we all have in common that we survived. a toast, that we all embrace peace for another year.”

Fax raises her glass, and proceeds to ignore the tear-jerker that follow McGonagall. then the music starts and the food appears, brought in by volunteers instead of house elves.

“a change made by Hermione Granger, no doubt,” coughs someone from another table. most of Fax’s brothers don't care, but Barry glares heatedly at the source of the comment.

“you've caused enough chaos for this year, Bear,” Fax tells him, referring to that stupid tantrum with Malfoy. Barry fixes his glare on her. “stop defending people’s honor, especially those who can take care of it themselves. now, literal safety? fine, but don't overstep your bounds.”

“how about you stop telling me what to do, little sister?” Barry huffs, but takes her advice. Fax is the middle child, anyways.

eventually the music gets louder and gains lyrics, which brings some guests to the dance floor- especially the young ones. Fax watches Scorpius invite Albus to a stilted waltz to a Wierd Sisters anthem and resists a laugh, instead settling for cookies. when she gets up to get herself a Shirley Temple, however, she feels glad her dress is so stiff.

“Fax, thank Merlin,” Draco perks up from a table with Luna, Rolf, and their extensions. it's clear that Albus and Scorpius were sitting with them before they went for the dance of their lives.

“really?” Fax wonders, curious smile growing on her lips. Luna grins.

“Scorpius has been so excited to see you all day, it's unbelievable,” Draco continues, getting up. “do you mind if i join you?”

“not at all, i was just going to get something to drink.”

as they walk, Draco explains Scorpius’ excitement. “he’s never given anyone flowers before. it went beautifully awkward with Albus, just so you know.”

“Scorpius is a funny kid,” she finally tells him, and goes on to tell him about the times she saw him before and how Draco has done well, himself. Draco goes quiet when she tells him that.

“i had help,” he utters, then smiles weakly.

“it takes a village, not a woman, Draco,” Fax shakes her head. Draco’s smile relaxes somewhat. “Shirley Temple, please,” she asks George Weasley. it's the first year that Fax knows of that he’s attended; with losing his brother and all, she can understand him needing something to do other than mingle.

“really?” Draco mimics, which earns a laugh from Fax. “sherry, please, only a little.” they accept their drinks and walk along the skirting path between the tables and the bleachers. “he’s quite brave, though, with the flowers and the dance.”

Fax’s stomach twists. she nods and pushes the cherry aside while taking a sip of her drink. “he certainly looks terrified,” she nods, and they look over, finding the pair amongst the growing number of dancers. “well, he did.”

“they look happy,” and Draco looks proud. Fax smiles. “i can't imagine smiling that much in my teenage years.”

“gosh, can anyone?” Fax wonders, looking up at the stars. “it's a gift,” she shrugs. Draco laughs quietly. Scorpius spots them and soon appears with the carnations Fax picked earlier.

“madam,” he bows politely and holds out the bouquet. “for you.”

“thank you, good sir,” Fax smiles wider than usual. the off-white natural color of the flowers compliment her dress, because she has some form of forethought. “and how did Albus take his daisies?”

“he said they were pretty,” Scorpius replies, blushing fiercely. Draco puts a hand on his shoulder with a tender expression foreign to who he was as a teenager.

“what a fool. daisies can hardly be prettier than you, little one, he clearly meant to speak of the gift-giver, rather than the gift itself.”

Scorpius’ blush deepens. “i agree,” Fax adds softly, crouching so her dress wrinkles, but she’s eye to eye with the teenager. “you’re just like your dad when he was your age.”

“much kinder,” Draco smiles slyly. Fax nods and stands again.

“much.”

just an awareness of change. of time passed and friends lost. a personality, stripped.

Fax is dressed up again the next time she sees Draco Malfoy, and he’s in trouble for the nth time. but it’s her brother who swings the door of her store open to side-along apparate her somewhere.

“it’s Malfoy.”

Fax goes. she’s in the middle of a meeting with a Ministry official, but the woman clearly recognizes her Auror brother and nods frantically. Fax doesn't even glance at her pantsuit or rub off her shaky eyeliner nor her makeup before grasping Barry’s arm and being pulled through a straw. they resurface at St. Mungo’s.

“Draco?” the man looks utterly wrecked. he’s standing, but he looks like he’s about to fall over. and they're just in the waiting room, but Fax figures waiting is the hardest part. “Draco,” she breathes, stepping forward carefully. Barry hangs back.

“they won't tell me-”

Fax nods like she already knows when really it doesn't matter; she just pulls him into a shaky hug where he pulls her suit jacket into his fists and buries his face in her shoulder.

“he’s in good hands,” she murmurs, carding her fingers through his matted locks. “let’s sit, okay? sit down,” she slowly maneuvers him to one of the benches in the room. Draco isn't the only one falling apart. Barry casts a cushioning charm on the bench before they get there, which makes Fax look over at him with wide eyes.

Barry just nods. and helps Draco sit.

“they won't tell me anything,” the blonde finally chokes out, falling into a sob. but then he shudders and drags in a breath. “he was in bad shape, is all they’ll say. i could be here for hours.”

“was, was, that's past tense,” she points out, while fear gnaws at her gut. Draco sniffs and rolls his eyes.

“intelligent of you,” he spits. Fax sighs.

“they're preparing a spot for him in the post-surgical ward, which isn't allowed visitors, but they’ll tell us when he’s there and where he is after that,” Barry announces rushing over and kneeling in front of them. “he’s okay.”

Draco falls further into the seat, all breath leaving his lungs, hands scrubbing at his face. “i just can't lose him.”

Barry, too, closes his eyes at that, and nods. understands. Luna storms in with red eyes and pulls Barry up, demanding to know what he did.

“Luna!” Rolf squeaks, but Barry manages to calm her down and explain.

it's hours later, in Scorpius’ reserved room while he sleeps, that Draco finally explains what happened and then asks about Fax’s state of dress.

“oh, this old thing?” she laughs quietly, so as not to wake the sleeping boy, and swipes below her eyes where there really can't be any eyeliner left. “i had a routine meeting with the Ministry. witch without borders, and all.”

“Merlin, i didn’t-”

“stop, hey,” Fax leans forward, suddenly solemn. “you seem to think that spending time with you, helping or otherwise, is detrimental to me. but i like you, Draco, and I like your son, and i don't want you to pay me for flowers or for jars or for anything.”

for a moment, the blonde looks like he doesn't believe her, and then his eyes close. “i don't deserve this.”

“don’t you? doesn't he?” Fax asks rhetorically, because they both know the answer. Scorpius blinks and groans. instantly, Draco is on his feet and reaching for his son, soothing him back to sleep.

“his mother is not a good woman,” he says after, turning back to Fax. “i need time to think.”

“if you, or he, need anything, call me, i won't say a word.”

Fax leaves. her heart is pounding, blood rushing in her ears. Barry tells her he approves.

no Malfoy chooses to contact Fax until she happens upon the young one in Hogsmeade again. he hugs her, and she makes sure he’s alright, but then he grips her elbows with a frown.

“we miss you. father needs you.”

“that may be, but i told him to call if he’d like to see me, and i've not received anything,” Fax doesn't need to crouch as low as before. Scorpius scowls.

“he writes letters, and then he burns them. i have better game than he does.” Fax almost laughs at that, but the teenager seems sincerely disappointed. “consider this your invite. when can you next ambush him?”

“i'm not ambushing anyone, even at your behest, Scorpius, i stand by my word. if you ask, i will be there, but i will not traumatize your father because you think it’s right.” even though she wants to. Scorpius seems to know that. he narrows his eyes.

“Albus,” he calls, and the other teen skips up to them. “how do i get around her?”

“walk?” comes the suggestion. Scorpius rolls his eyes while Fax just smiles.

“how about you talk to your dad?” she shrugs, then spots Hagrid. “i have to go, it was good to see you, boys.”

Scorpius is a clever one, indeed, and Fax says so after stepping through the Floo at Malfoy Manor. Draco stands only a few feet away with a quiet smile gracing his eyes.

“i managed the boggart,” he informs her, but doesn't suggest that she isn't needed. instead, he gestures to the kitchen, where potatoes are mashing themselves and a knife lays beside a half-carved ham.

“anything i can-” Draco turns to face her, and she finds herself trapped between the blonde and a counter. a table. something. “help with?” his eyes flick around her face, then meet her gaze.

“could you roll the dough? i was just making shepherd's pie,” he murmurs, leaning forward just barely. Fax breathes.

“course.”

#draco malfoy #draco malfoy/oc #not a flortist #captainfile

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