Carys' heart fluttered in her chest the entire time Sebastian was carrying her up the stairs. She'd never understood the appeal to being carried before Sebastian was the one doing the carrying. His arms were strong and she felt no worry that she was going to be dropped, which was nice.
He sat her down just inside the entryway to her bedroom in order to close the door and wave his wand. Candles lit themselves all across the room and soared into the air to hover around the bed. Carys was unbelievably touched that he would think of such a gesture. The fact that all most men were interested in was sex was exactly why she hadn't let any of them take her to bed. And that even while he was in the process of going about sex, Sebastian had thought of atmosphere and romance affirmed that she had made the right choice.
Sebastian put up soundproofing wards and took her face in his hands. "I want you to be sure about this, Carys. And if at any point, you decide you want to stop, tell me and we'll stop. No questions asked."
Nodding, Carys rose onto her tiptoes, pressed her mouth to his. "If I wasn't sure, Sebastian, I wouldn't have asked," she murmured in his ear, draping her arms around his neck. Surprising her, he took her hands in his, took half a step back from her. He reached behind her head and tugged her hair from it's braid. The white blonde locks fell around her shoulders in waves.
"Still. No pressure. I don't want you to have any regrets tomorrow."
Slowly, Carys drew her t- shirt over her head, laid it on the desk chair. "I don't believe in regrets."
Sebastian kissed her then, and the world spun away. He led her to the bed, eased her down on to it. When she would have drawn him down on top of her, he resisted, instead raining kisses all over her face. His mouth trailed down her throat, across her collarbone, to the lacy edging of her bra. By the time he had undressed her, her breath was coming in short gasps.
Hesitantly, she reached for the buttons on his shirt, and he let her. Her hands splayed on his chest, fascinated with the muscles she found there. She hadn't realized before just how muscled he was, how much he truly was built like a god. She thought she could have spent a couple of hours discovering that chest.
They made love softly, slowly. Carys felt only a short burst of pain when he entered her which was quickly eclipsed by the waves and surges of emotion and pleasure. And she knew that when morning came and she woke next to Sebastian, that there would be no regrets and that she hadn't made a mistake.
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Sebastian woke first the next morning, which was a Saturday. A glance at the clock told him that it was barely seven in the morning. Thankful that he'd waken early, he slipped from the bed and pulled on his clothes. Carys was still asleep, the blanket yanked up to her chin, one arm flung over the pillow where he had been laying moments before.
She was beautiful. That was the one thought that was clear in Sebastian's mind. She was the most beautiful woman that he'd ever seen. And he loved her. He loved everything about her. And sleeping beside her had been the best experience of his life. He'd gotten to hold her close, and every time he'd woken through the night, she'd been there, her head nestled on his chest, their limbs entwined, the blankets tangled on top of them.
He bent to press a kiss to her forehead, then opened the door and stepped into the hall. And as fate would have it, came face to face with Draco. Wearing nothing but boxer shorts and a button down shorts, since his quick search hadn't unearthed his pants.
Cursing fate, and Merlin, and whatever God was listening, Sebastian sent up a panicked, illogical prayer that Draco had suddenly developed sleepwalking. The quick licks of hope were extinguished within a matter of moments though.
"Want to tell me what the hell you're doing in my daughter's room this early on a Saturday morning and just where the hell your pants have gotten themselves to?"
Sebastian knew better than to lie to his godfather. "Look, Uncle Draco, I can explain."
Draco didn't give him a chance. Before Sebastian could react, Draco swung and his fish connected solidly with Sebastian's jaw. On an oath, Sebastian and Draco collided in a flurry of fists and curses. It was no surprise when they tumbled down the stairs in a large pile of bodies and blood.
The crash at the bottom was enough to wake everyone else in the house. Carys made it to the top of the stairs first, wrapped in the blanket that she'd yanked from the bed in her rush to the door. Harry and Hermione were right behind her with Ginny right on their tails.
"Draco Lucius Malfoy! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Ginny demanded, running down the stairs. Harry didn't bother to ask. He lifted his son off of Draco and punched his best friend.
"Don't you dare hit my son."
Always willing to go with the flow, Draco tackled Harry and the two men went down in a mass of fists and elbows. Hermione ran to Sebastian, grabbing his arm to keep him from diving back in. Luna didn't have as much luck with Ron, who's intention had been to break the fight up, but he ended up getting dragged into the fray.
Noah and his brothers Caleb and Joshua arrived and, being full blooded Weasleys, simply cheered on their father. Luna watched the whole thing boredly, and Hermione watched in horror. "Sebastian, what's going on?" she demanded of her eldest, trying to grab one of the three grappling men before they did much damage. For the moment, everyone seemed to have forgotten that they could just curse them apart.
"Uncle Draco caught me coming out of Carys' room this morning."
Though Carys would have liked for Sebastian to come up with a lie, she knew the adults in the house could see through one in ten seconds flat. But that knowledge didn't stop her from turning red when her cousins let out with a chorus of catcalls and whistles.
Sick of the whole thing, Ginny reached into the pocket of her robes for her wand. She sidestepped to avoid being knocked over as the three men rolled on the floor and pointed it solidly at them. "Diffindo!"
The three men, in much the same manner as they had twenty years before, flew to separate corners of the room. Harry flew into the back of the couch, Ron hit the front door and Draco crashed into the hall table. He slid down the wall and the mirror that had been precariously balanced on the wall crashed onto his head.
"I can't believe this!" Ginny screeched, grabbing handfuls of her hair to keep herself from cursing them again. "Three grown men nearly forty years old acting like a bunch of teenagers! What sort of example are you setting for your children!? Brawling like this! And Draco, hitting your own godson! A man half your age with less than half your experience with fighting."
Draco didn't tell his wife that hadn't stopped Sebastian from landing some solid blows. He was pretty sure that Sebastian had been the one to break his nose. But it could have been Harry. He wasn't positive on that particular detail.
Harry rubbed his hand over his mouth, stared at the blood there in confusion. He hadn't noticed he had a split lip. He did know he had a monster headache though. And he was pretty sure that Draco had managed to bust a couple ribs.
"Come on Ginny, Ron did the same thing to Draco. You really can't blame him for being protective of his daughter."
Hermione stared at her husband. "He punched our son for absolutely no good reason, Harry James Potter! I don't care if he thought Sebastian took advantage of Carys, who is nearly nineteen, Harry! Nineteen! How old were we, boys?" she asked, cocking one eyebrow at Harry, Ron and Draco. "I believe the three of you were eighteen, I was quite nearly nineteen, and Ginny and Luna were seventeen. Remember this?"
Ron was remembering what an excellent lecturer Hermione was. "Hey, I didn't want to fight." He reminded her, using the doorknob to heave himself to his feet. "I tried to break it up and got dragged in. A man's gotta defend himself."
Hermione's face was turning interesting colors. She dropped Sebastian's arm, stormed up the stairs. Ginny was right behind her and, not entirely sure what was going on, Luna followed, figuring that her time was best spent with the other women as opposed to cleaning up the men. Carys debated for a moment, then decided that someone had to peroxide cuts and prod bruised ribs.
"Give me two minutes to get dressed and I'll clean you guys up. No more fighting." She spun on her heel and slammed her door behind her. Left by themselves, the four men that had been fighting, and the triplets looked at one another. The triplets soon decided that their mother was the bigger threat and followed Luna. Noah did send Sebastian one sympathetic look on his way down the hall.
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Carys garnered great pleasure from torturing the four men with rubbing alcohol, peroxide and the most painful healing spells she could come up with. By the time she finished with them, they all wished she'd have just let them suffer. It would have been less painful than the treatment they received at the hands of a vindictive teenager.
When she was finished, she looked at Harry, Ron and Sebastian. "If you three don't mind, I'd like a word with my father. Sebastian, please wait for me in the living room. I'll need to talk with you next."
Draco would never in a million years admit that his own daughter intimidated him. She'd learned well from her mother, who could make him feel two years old with one look. Carys was managing to take him back to about twelve. It worked better coming from Ginny, but was effective from Carys.
"Daddy." Carys said that one word, her smile strangely watery as she looked at him. Draco started to think that maybe she wasn't as angry as he'd thought she was. "I'm a grown witch. And nothing happened last night that I didn't want to happen." She sat down next to her father. "I know that's hard for you to realize. I can't understand completely, but I've read a book on empty nest syndrome."
Draco was tempted to laugh at that. "I don't have an empty nest."
"No, but I've flown the coop and it can't be easy to let go and admit that I'm grown and can make my own decisions. I love him Dad. I really love him. But," she slid into his lap and laid her head against his heart. "I love you, too, and no matter how old I get or how self sufficient I become, I'll always be your daughter first. And I'll always need you, no matter what. And even if I don't need you, I'll always want you. So please don't make me choose, Daddy. I love you both, but if you made me choose, I'd have to choose you. I may have been born to love him, but I was born because of you. So can't you please just accept that I am in love with Sebastian and I want to be with him?"
Draco turned his head into her hair, breathed deeply. "How did I get so lucky? You are the best daughter anyone anywhere could have ever asked for. And I love you. And if it was anyone but Sebastian, I'd be tempted to make you choose. But you know I love him, Carys. And if he makes you happy, I can't ask you to give him up. I could never take something from you that makes you happy. And if you love him, well, I understand love as well as anyone can."
Carys kissed Draco's cheek. "Thank you, Daddy." She slid from his lap and squeezed his hand. "So no more punching him?"
Draco lifted one shoulder. "Not unless he does something to deserve it."
Carys nodded. "That's the best I'm gonna get, so I'll have to be happy with it."
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Sebastian was pacing the length of the living room when Carys walked in. He stopped when she perched on the ottoman, looked at her expectantly. "Well?"
"Dad has promised not to hit you again unless you do something to deserve it. We just shocked him, I think. You know he doesn't mind that we're together."
"Are we still together?"
Carys stared at him for a long second. "Why wouldn't we be?"
Sebastian sighed, sank down to sit beside her. "Thank Merlin. I was convinced that you were going to end it because of what happened this morning."
"No, but please don't fight my father again." She stood, pulled him to his feet. "Come on, we've had our day of rest. We need to get back to the research."
With a resigned sigh, Sebastian followed her to the library where Noah was already absorbed in a book on reflecting spells.
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