gorgonfondness | Vane: Family Visit

As per Mia's recommendation, Scorpius has left the Quidditch jumpers at Hogwarts and is tugging at the annoyingly stiff collar of his traditional robes when he runs into the guard.

Almost literally too, near bumping into the guard, being far more interested in his surroundings than where his feet are actually taking him. He nearly swallows the peppermint toad he's working on.

"Hi. I'm looking for Mia?"

The guard is visibly taken aback, taking a moment to stare at Scorpius. He doesn't really look offended, just surprised.

Once he finds his voice, he says, "You must be the guest Majesty Mia is expecting. We are just outside of her quarters."

He moves to open the door and leads the way in through a comfortable sitting room. He knocks on a door that's been left ajar, obviously leading to a bedroom.

"Majesty Mia? Your guest has arrived."

"Oh, we'll be there in a moment," Mia's voice calls back.

The guard gives Scorpius a nod and returns to his post outside of the door.

Left alone, and waiting for Mia to appear, Scorpius takes to trying out the nearest set of sits, sitting in one and then quickly the next before finding his feet once more. Too anxious to sit still.

He rocks forward on his heels, hands stuffed into the pockets of his robes, and then chances a glance over his shoulder toward the door to see if the guard is watching.

As quick as he can, he spits the peppermint toad into the wrapper he grabs from the depths of his pockets and is stuffing it back in when he turns to greet Mia.

Mia carefully opens the door, Cepheus on her shoulder.

"Hello, Scorpius. How are you? Would you like anything?"

"No, I'm fine, thanks. Hi." The greeting being directed to Mia and Cepheus with a bright grin that fades only slightly when he leans in to whisper, "I think I startled your guard."

She leans close to hear the whisper and replies, "Oh? What did you do?"

It's honest curiosity on Mia's part.

"I'm not exactly sure. Aside from maybe almost stepping on his feet," Scorpius considers this carefully with a frown.

"I wouldn't worry about it, then. If he didn't say what it was, it must not have been that important. Here, would you like to come in and help get the pram?"

In the meantime, Cepheus yawns, looking like he's getting ready for a nap.

But he will worry about it. The guard is probably watching him now, through the door, calculating.

Scorpius snaps out of his possibly overactive, paranoid musings with a cheery "Alright!" at her suggestion.

He follows Mia into the nursery, only having to stop and poke at one of the sheep on the walls, making a funny face at the yawning Cepheus as he does so.

The nursery is bright and yellow, but with plenty of green accents. There are stacks of stuffed animals and a little pile of pink things.

"A number of people here were dead certain Cepheus would be a girl," she explains. "Once Draco's up to it, he's going to put color-changing charms on them and transfigure the dresses."

Cepheus is gently placed in the pram, where he wriggles in search of a comfortable sleep position.

"Now, shall we start our tour with the Guild or would you like to see some of the city first?"

The dresses get a laugh.

"Guild's fine."

There's so much to see, might as well start anywhere.

"Why were they convinced he'd be a girl?"

"Because the Ausa family is mostly made of women."

This isn't the whole truth, but either way, Mia's ready to get the tour of the Guild started.

She guides the pram through the doors and leads Scorpius down the hall, discreetly using a spell to get the pram down the stairs with ease.

"I suppose the best place to start would be the living quarters since that's where your guest room is."

She turns them down another hallway where there's a row of rooms. There's laughter coming from a door at the end, one a woman that sounds a bit like Mia and the other a gruff-sounding man.

"That's Mother's room down there," Mia explains, opening the door to Scorpius's sheep-free guest room. "And it sounds like Master Mel is visiting her."

The room is nice. And Scorpius is pleased to find Mia kept her promise of it being sheep-free.

"Your mother is...?"

He's not sure whether he ever got her name before or not. He realizes there's an awful he doesn't actually know a lot about Mia. But, part of this trip is about getting to know her.

"Oh, her name is Lemia. She and Mel were comrades in arms during the Heresy War. Master Mel is governor of Meribia, where Draco has his potions shop, and the father of my friend Jessica."

There's the sound of a door opening down the hallway and the woman's voice calls, "Mia?"

Then a new, small voice says, "Auntie Mia!" and runs down the hallway until suddenly there's a little girl with blonde hair and dark skin hugging Mia's leg.

"Well, if it isn't my Rachel," Mia says, scooping the girl into her arms. "Are you and Grandpa visiting?"

The girl nods.

"We have another visitor, too," she says, turning so Rachel can see Scorpius. "This is Uncle Draco's cousin Scorpius."

Rachel waves and says, "Hi, Scorp'us!"

He might notice she has fangs, unusual birthmarks on her face, and pointed ears.

The girl's sudden entrance into the room startles Scorpius enough that he jumps about an inch in the air. Her fangs and pointed ears alone are worth a good double take.

He tries not to be rude with a bemused look though, offering instead a slight wave and smile in return.

"Hi."

(He thinks he remembers Mia mentioning the little girl once before, if his hazy memory serves him right.)

It's enough to surprise Cepheus, too, and he begins to fuss a bit. Meanwhile, Rachel says, "Tummy smaller."

It takes a moment, but when Mia realizes what she's talking about, she gives her a full laugh.

"Yes, my tummy is smaller now, isn't it? My baby's here."

She lets Rachel peek into the pram just as two people that Scorpius can safely assume are Lemia and Mel come to the doorframe.

"It looks like the party's moved here," Mel says. "Is my Rachel being a handful?"

"Not at all."

And before she forgets, Mia gestures with a free hand and goes, "Mother, Master Mel, this is Scorpius Malfoy, a cousin of Draco's."

"Well, any family to Draco is family to me," Lemia says, brushing back some wisps of blonde hair before offering Scorpius her hand.

Scorpius laughs along to Rachel's comments on the state of Mia's tummy, but when the attention suddenly turns to him, he shrinks back, fighting a rush of color to his cheeks as he shakes Lemia's offered hand.

"Pleased to meet you."

It could be worse. Mel's taking his granddaughter back from Mia's arms, so he's too busy to shake Scorpius's whole arm the way he did to Draco when they first met.

"Good fellow, Draco," he says instead. "His shop really helped Meribia recover after the fighting had taken its toll on our economy."

"And without his potions, I likely wouldn't be in any fit state to entertain," Lemia adds.

"If you keep bragging on Draco, that will only encourage him," Mia says fondly. "I was just beginning my tour of the Magic Guild for Scorpius, as well as taking Cepheus for a walk in his pram."

For all the times Scorpius wants to complain about his father, the praise he hears from Mia's family - even if it is about the other Draco - makes him want to grin and say that's my dad.

He has to bite his tongue - only figuratively speaking, of course - to keep from saying just that. He's supposed to be playing the part of a cousin. So he takes note from his own and gives a slight laugh, adding a "Please don't encourage him."

"We'll let you get on with the tour, then," Lemia says with a slight laugh herself. "But first I want to indulge in my privillages as a Nana."

With that, she reaches into the pram and gives Cepheus some loving kisses and happy coos.

Once that is done, Mia leads her group out of the hallway again (though Rachel did attempt to follow once or twice) and into the school sections of the Magic Guild.

"Here are some of our classrooms, over on this side is the Grand Hall, down that way is the Guild kitchen, and over this way is where we'll get to the guest lounge and the offices for Draco, Nash, and me."

Scorpius is making a mental map of the place in his mind as he follows Mia. Not that he plans on sneaking about on his own. But, just in case.

"How many students do you have here?"

"That's a good question," Mia muses. "I'd estimate at least half of the population of Vane, if not more. The city was founded for the students and teachers of the school."

Mia would actually let him roam around if he liked.

She leads them into the guest lounge and opens the door, revealing a garden and a stone pool.

"This is probably my favorite part of the Magic Guild. I come out here sometimes to play the lute or converse with the fairies."

"It's nice," Scorpius comments lightly, looking around the garden. "If I could find place like this at Hogwarts, I'd claim it for my own."

He takes a step around to the stone pool, looking in.

"I didn't know you had so many students."

"Well, of course. Vane is the magic capital of the world. Anyone on Lunar who learns how to use magic from a school learned it at the Magic Guild."

She carefully picks Cepheus up out of the pram to walk in the garden.

"Ghaleon liked to sit out here and think. I didn't really know about what until I was older. He would play the lute out here, the same I take out here now."

"Ghaleon?"

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