The Bookstore

Severus stood to the side of his sister, idly watching those around him and feigning interest In the conversation taking place next to him. They had received an invitation from the Notts’ to dinner that they hadn't felt they could turn down, primarily because Lucius had flooed to inform him as such, which had irritated Severus no end.

Severus was still struggling to accept his new found...elevation in society, it was uncomfortable knowing he was now bound to follow certain social diktats that he would have previously ignored, not that he was much in demand socially before his acceptance of the Prince Lordship of course. Truthfully if it was just for himself he would wash his hands of the whole social scene, but it wouldn't be fair for Livia to have to endure the stigma that it would then no doubt attached to their name, being half-bloods with a muggle father was enough for most to look down upon them even now.

He heard Bellatrix and Rudolphus laugh at something his sister said and a small smile graced his lips for just a moment, content that she was entertained at least, she had been in no more of a hurry to accept the dinner invite than he had, but she was better at social nuances than he was by far and was always more at ease than he was at such events, though she would always choose academic pursuits over such frivolities which pleased him greatly.

The Dark Lord hadn't arrived yet he noted, was in fact late which was a most unusual occurrence, so dinner was being held off for the time being it seemed. It was this thought that led Severus' eyes to linger on his hosts who were making their rounds, Lord Nott with his Lady wife upon his arm, and currently speaking with Lord Lestrange. It was clear to him that there was much affection, if not actual love, between the married couple, it was somewhat surprising to him given they were almost certainly an arranged marriage, which were notorious for producing either indifferent or on rare occasions out right hostile marriages.

It was this thought lingering in the back of his mind that seemed to direct his eye towards the couples in the room. Lucius was stood with Narcissa, the only pair there tonight that had not, strictly speaking, formed from an arranged marriage, his hand unobtrusively resting on her back, the two sharing little glances of understanding as they were speaking with Abraxas and Rabastan. Severus was distracted momentarily as his gaze travelled appreciatively over Rabastans form, Rabastan, who had turned slightly in the direction as if feeling the heated gaze and met his lovers eyes, smirking at him with a distinctly pleased look, before turning back to the group. Severus' cheeks pinking slightly at being caught looking so blatantly and directed his gaze away to safer places where is imagination would run less rampant.

He took mental refuge back with his own group, Bellatrix and Rudolphus were stood close together, their body language mirroring each other, looking to be perfectly in sync without once looking at the other. It had taken quite a long time for Bellatrix and Rudolphus to become fond of one another he recalled, but then they had been betrothed since infancy so they had had plenty of time to get used to the notion, but they had done so and apparently with some success it seemed.

He looked to his sister, who every now and then would glance towards the door, no doubt waiting for Slytherin to arrive. Severus was still unhappy with her decision to marry the man, he wasn't convinced at all that it would end happily. His sister was clearly enamoured of the man and yes they were apparently compatible, but did she truly love him, or was it a mere short infatuation, and was that love ever likely to be returned? Lucius had tried to reassure him all those months ago, but he found that as the arrangements for their engagement party and inevitable wedding were being made his mind was filled with doubts anew.

His gaze was still upon his sister as she glanced over his shoulder at the door again and gave a dazzling smile, it appeared that Lord Slytherin had finally made his appearance, he sneered inwardly.

He turned slightly as the man gave a perfunctory greeting and polite apology for being late to the hosts, bordering on the rude Severus determined, and made his way directly to Livia’s side. He gave each a brief nod in greeting and pulled his sister away to a small alcove with a love seat and proceeded to sit her down and erect what were likely privacy charms. He narrowed his eyes in irritation at the behaviour, until he saw the seriousness of the man's face and how he clutched his sisters hand as she paled slightly. Whatever he was imparting was of a serious nature it seemed and he disliked immensely not knowing what news had affected his sister so.

Aletha Nott had been startled at the abruptness of both Tom's arrival and his greeting, she watched on, bewildered as the man in question strode purposefully towards his intended and maneuvered her into a secluded corner, it was all quite... unconventional and certainly out of character for Tom. She looked to her husband intending to ask about the change only to find him watching the couple with some amusement, she looked to Rambert in hopes of an explanation only to find the man looking exasperated at the courting pair.

"Well, that is a rather unorthodox greeting. This is something of a normal occurrence now I take it?", she asked them, eye brow raised. Tom had never been so remiss in his duties as a guest in all the years she had known him and had never been so wholly attentive to any other woman as he seemed to be the young Ms Prince.

Seeing that neither man was going to answer immediately she continued on hoping to shock an explanation out of one of them, "I don’t believe I have ever seen Tom so inattentive to the proprieties. He must surely be in love with her", Xander gave a little smile at his wife, knowing that she was curious and that she had been wanting to meet Ms Snape properly for some time now, having heard so much about her.

“I believe he does so, very much, my dear and I must admit to being glad of it. He had become restless of late with our progress as you know and when he agreed to take a wife it had been his intention to find something...political, which of course Rambert agreed with!", The Nott Lord glared to his friends playfully, "I had hoped however, that he would find something closer to what we have”, he told his wife, looking into her eyes as he raised her hand to his mouth.

Xander heard his friend groan in the background as Aletha tapped his arm playfully and huffed a little laugh, “You’re still the same old charmer that you were back then. There is no need to be such now since we are already wed!”.

He caught her hand again, “That is where we must disagree my sweet, there will always be a need to charm you, if only to keep you at my side another day”. His wife blushed with a mixture of pleasure and embarrassment, in the knowledge that even after so many years together he would still say such things to her, and in public, she had been very lucky in the spouse chosen for her.

"You flirt like teenagers still", Rambert grumbled.

Across the room, neither aware of the attention they were garnering, Thomas was imparting some welcome, yet unwelcome, news to his beloved.

"I have news that I hope will help on restoring peaceful sleep to you once again", Tom held Livia’s hands in his own and brought them to his lips briefly. He was well aware that she had been having nightmares since she had been kidnapped.

She looked askance and he continued, "Moody is dead, finally", his eyes danced over her face as he tried to gauge how she was taking the news, she didn't always respond as one would expect.

Livia stiffened slightly at Toms pronouncement before she sagged slightly into him.

"Well, I won't pretend that I’m not relieved", she gave him a small half- smile.

"He's finally dead then?", she confirmed into the silence between them.

"He is, you should receive an owl regarding the matter in the next 24 hours or so. They have to notify Moody’s next of Kin first, but once that is confirmed you will be notified also", Tom's thumbs were gently rubbing across Livia’s knuckles as he tried to offer so comfort.

"Are you terribly upset by the news?", he couldn't help asking, he had no idea what to make of her slightly pensieve reaction

Livia looked up from their hands and into his eyes, still not really seeing, as she tried to sort out her feelings.

At length she answered, "Not especially, I think? I think I would have preferred Azkaban for him than death", she gave herself a mental shake, she would think on it later, now wasn't the time.

Squeezing Tom's fingers she gave a grateful smile, "Thank you for telling me. I think we should perhaps inform Severus at least. He will be pleased with the news I'm sure".

"We can do that, however I'm positive that there are several others that would be equally glad of the news", he stood, offering his arm to her which she gladly took and as he dispelled the silencing charm Severus was already upon them.

"What has upset you Livia?", he demanded bluntly, giving Slytherin a dark look.

Livia seeing the look pursed her lips, tired of Severus' attitude towards her partner, and answered more curtly than she had intended, "Moody is dead". Severus looked away from the Dark Lord and to his sister and blinked, then blinked again as he processed her words.

"Well, I didn't expect that, though I suppose I should have. You're OK? Or do you wish to return home?", he looked at her, noting that she seemed mostly fine, but not wanting her to felt obliged to stay if she didn't feel up to it.

She smiled softly at her bothers care, "I will stay. It will be better to be distracted I think", she glanced up at Tom and Severus felt resigned at who she obviously wanted to act as that distraction and, giving a quick nod, over away to tell Lucius and Narcissa the 'good' news.

"It looks like Severus will be spreading the news for us", he commented as he observed the younger man approach his friends immediately after leaving them, glancing around the room he noticed Aletha speaking to a house elf, "Ah, It appears that our hostess will be calling us to dinner", as he finished speaking a small chime was heard.

"I would invite you along into the dining room as dinner is to be served. We are being quite informal this evening so please be seated wherever you like", Aletha graciously informed her guests, despite her words there was an unspoken understanding that everyone would still seat themselves in accordance with all that was correct and proper to ones station and social situation. Well most of them, she noted eyeing one particular couple.

Xander pulled his wife’s seat out for her as he always had done before moving to seat himself at the opposite end of the table whilst Aletha continued to observe as Tom led Livia to the seat next to him, even though established couples were not usually sat directly next to each other at meals, it was thought that it stilted the conversation around them if they spoke mainly to one another. As polite conversation was made over a sumptuous meal, she felt that the rule was quite right to be in place as neither Tom, nor Ms Prince had eyes or ears for anyone else at the table.

As the meal ended Xander walked to his wife to escort her back to the sitting room, "You outdid yourself Ally", he whispered in her ear, and she had, the decoration and menu had been outstanding. He supressed a grin when he noticed that she was still surreptitiously watching Tom and Livia interact, and her obvious shock when she heard Tom declare that he was in desperate need of Livia’s input on their next political manoeuvres and promptly sequestered the two of them in a corner, heads bent together in earnest conversation again. From the look on his darling wife’s face she thought it as unlikely as he did that ‘Political’ manoeuvres were upper most in Lord Slytherins mind given how he was looking at the young woman.

Aletha sighed, “Tis a pity he monopolises her so, I had high hopes of being better acquainted with the young woman who bought that man to heel, she really must be quite extraordinary, don’t you think?”, she had said in hushed tones before she moved across the room to speak with more of their guests. Xander gave a low chuckle at his wife’s words and watched his darling glide across the room, no less beautiful to him now as she was on their wedding day. He would never have described the Dark Lord as having been 'bought to heel' by anyone, but the description was rather apt considering Ms Prince was the only person he knew of to have gotten away with berating the man and lived to tell the tale, not to mention the fact that his old friend would clearly do anything for the woman, even apologise which was a novelty in itself.

The conversations that evening primarily revolved around Dumbledore’s still not having appointed staff for the new courses being offered at Hogwarts and Mad Eye Moody’s conviction, though the man would never see the inside of Azkaban as he so richly deserved, they would all just have to be satisfied with his death.

Aletha Nott, tired of politics, turned to Bella who was sat at the other end of the sofa from herself and asked, “I did not catch who you were speaking of earlier. You said something had not reached the gossip magazines yet?”.

Bella leaned forward, a wicked grin on her face and her eyes lighting with amusement, “A friend of mine had the most delicious little on-dit to share about Ms Charlotta De Lello “, she shared loudly.

Narcissa sitting on an adjacent sofa glanced up at her sister upon hearing the name and tried to watch Livia, Thomas, and Severus, who had gone to interrupt the couple and bring them back into company, out the corner of her eye, she had suspicions about this particular piece of gossip and was eager to know if she was correct.

“That woman will do anything for publicity and to entice a rich and powerful husband,” Aletha said her nose scrunching as if she smelled something foul, she disliked women who had no sense of self-worth and flung themselves at the highest bidder, she was no ‘Lady’ that was certain.

Bella nodded emphatically and took a sip of wine before continuing, “Well It is all quite baffling”, she said with evident glee, “Apparently, De Lello believes someone is tampering with her beauty products to make her less appealing. As I hear it, she changed nothing about her beauty regime but when our mutual friend saw her, her hair was greasy, lank, greying and thinning, and she has wrinkles, even on her décolletage! Of course, all her outfits are revealing so she has had to resort to scarves to hide it”, Bella shared with a malicious amusement, “ her teeth are quite brown and in the week since this, whatever this is, started she has begun to gain weight. It’s almost as if she's aging rapidly”, Bella finished with a thoughtful expression.

“Has she discovered if it was tampering?”, Aletha asked, curiosity bleeding from her ever pore.

Bella grinned at being the one to share this particularly juicy bit of gossip to such a receptive audience, “Nobody can find the reason and she hasn’t been seen in public since it began. Even that Unspeakable she had on a string for ever... what was his name... you know... he’s from the McMillan line...anyway... even he couldn’t find the cause from what I’ve heard. All of her products were sent for testing and none were found to have been tampered with”, Bella laughed lightly, “Well, her misfortune did not stop there...,” Bella paused for dramatic effect and took another sip of wine while Aletha leaned forward a little more, “now she is suffering from some sort of incontinence and her old lovers have distanced themselves from her since it’s becoming apparent that her looks won’t be restored any time soon".

“I’m sure my dear friend at Witch Weekly would be fascinated by Ms De Lello’s unfortunate turn of... bad luck,” Aletha said mildly enough, but inside she was delighted, there were several society women of her acquaintance whose husbands had been drawn in by the harlot and would be delighted to see her get her comeuppance, and from the look Bella was giving her she was much of the same mind.

Tom had been keeping half an ear on the conversation, not terribly interested in gossip rag fodder but a little surprised that the case hadn't made it into the papers as of yet. De Lello had been implicated with himself in the papers so he would need to ensure that no suspicion was directed at himself. His attention was caught by Severus who was eyeballing his sister in the most peculiar way, glancing towards her to see her reaction which had every appearance of being innocently unaware of what was causing her brothers consternation and had in fact given the man a small smile.

Severus’s attention was recalled by Rabastan and Thomas saw a most uncharacteristic smirk grace his beloveds lips, it was vicious and very, very self-satisfied, and Thomas’s heart raced at the sight of it. Within a blink she was looking for all the world like she had never had a malicious thought in her life, and he could have been forgiven for thinking he had imagined it.

Severus' look and Livia’s subsequent demeanour told him all he needed to know, his little viper had struck out at the unfortunate Ms De Lello, it seemed that his darling had been more affected by the newspaper article than she had let on. It made perfect sense to him, Livia was not someone who would cause another physical pain, but she was certainly vindictive enough to cause someone abject humiliation if they wronged her or those that she cared for.

He leaned in and whispered in her ear, "I do hope you covered your tracks, my love".

She looked up at him with a face a picture of guileless innocence and asked, "What do you mean?". She felt no guilt for her actions, the woman was awful and besides, Tom couldn't complain after his visit poor Miles Flint to ensure he remained a 'respectful distance' after he found out she was still sharing correspondence with the man.

He almost fell for her act until a wicked little smirk and eyes dancing with mirth lit her face. She was radiant, she was cunning, she was brilliance personified and she was, apparently, vindictive when wronged, she was all he could ever ask for in a partner and more. Thomas couldn't wait to announce their betrothal, to then be bonded, the sooner she was tied to him the happier he would be.

He expressed himself the only way he was allowed to, particularly in company and, whilst maintaining eye contact, he raised her hand and brought her inner wrist to his mouth and kissed it, allowing his lips to linger as long as her dared. He was gratified to hear the hitch in her breathing, to watch as her cheeks flushed a fetching pink that seemed to highlight the way that her eyes sparkled and seemed to reflect the very cosmos within them.

She gave him a warm smile, full of promise, until Severus cleared his throat very loudly and pointedly from where he was stood with Rabastan, to which she simply raised an eyebrow and rolled her eyes and joined in the conversations happening around them.

Thomas would try to enjoy what time he could with her now, the next few weeks leading up to the new school term at Hogwarts would be particularly busy as they tried to force more changes through the Wizengamot. He was feeling rather pleased with the range of speakers he had approached and that would be attending the sessions for the next few months, all in the hope that educating the members of the Wizengamot on the realities of magic usage outside of Britain would help change the mind-sets that Dumbledore’s constant lectures on the harmful nature of ‘Dark’ magic had wrought and how it's usage would give rise to another Grindelwald.

Later that night when Thomas retired to bed, he replayed Livia’s wicked little smirk over and over again in his mind, she was a thoroughly arousing creature, and he was counting the very seconds until she would join with him as his wife.

Albus was sat at the Head table in the Great Hall in Hogwarts, the school had been back in session for a few weeks now, he was still feeling disgruntled and concerned at how the meeting with the governors had gone earlier that day.

It was inconceivable that they would interfere as they were doing, Tom and Livia were the cause of the mischief now ravaging his school he knew. He had begun to suspect that maybe this Dark Lord spoken of was in fact Tom Slytherin, it would make sense after all. Alastair had been convinced that Livia was embroiled in the dark somehow, he didn't agree with Alastair's methods of interrogation of course, but he could understand the mans desperation for answers, to do anything to avoid the devastation that war brought. Yes, he understood that well indeed.

Next week the Head table would be filled with the additional staff that the governors had taken it upon themselves to hire, for all manner of classes that Albus felt would be detrimental to the innocent young minds that he was tasked with educating, and steering towards more enlightened opinions. What was more they had put him on notice and threatened to dismiss him from his post should he make any attempt to derail the changes.

As he sat there looking out over the children he sought to protect, he wondered what he could possibly do to turn the tide back towards the light. It seemed that lately everyone had forgotten how damaging dark magic can be, why they had classified such as illegal and he had no idea to counter the arguments.

He had of course tried to find academics and professionals who would show evidence of his views or to prove that the same results could be accomplished without dark magic usage, but sadly it seemed as if no one had bothered to research into such things, too happy with the status quote he thought. Not recognising that it was the stifling of magical fields that had caused this lack of research.

He didn't notice the owl until it was in front of him, didn't notice the hush that went around the room at the sight of the black envelope.

He reached forward knowing what news it would bring and once the envelope was released he stood and distractedly excused himself from the table and hurried to his office to be in solitude.

An hour later there was a know at his door, "Come in", he called.

"Albus are you ok? Was that about...", Minerva McGonagall, his Deputy Headmistress, trailed off pointing at the letter clutched in his hand.

"It was. Dear Alastor Moody has finally succumbed to his injuries and passed on to his next great adventure", his eyes dull a he recalled his dear friend and confidant.

"Oh Albus, I'm so sorry for your loss. I know you had been friends for a long time, but at least he is at peace now.", she tried to comfort the Headmaster, even though she privately thought that Moody had a lucky escape given he would have certainly been sent to Azkaban given what he had done to poor Livia Snape, she was also sure that Severus would have been pushing for the worst punishment available, the young man loved his sister more than anything.

"Is there anything I can do to help? Do you need some time off perhaps?", she enquired gently.

"No my dear, I couldn't possibly take time away, especially now when there is so much danger to the students with all these new classes and staff we're unfamiliar with", he gave her a small reassuring smile.

Minerva, like many of the teacher's were quite pleased with the changes the governors were making, they, unlike the Headmaster, had been listening to the pupils and understood their concerns, most of them were alumni of the school themselves and had seen first hand the effects of cutting back the classes.

For the first time she really began to wonder if perhaps it was time for Albus to step aside, his views were tainted from a time and battle that no longer existed. Wizards and Witches lived such long times that it was even more imperative that they maintained a more... flexible point of view, ready to accept change as time moves forward.

One thing she did realise all too well was that Albus's point of view was falling out of favour fast and if he didn't adjust he would be left behind.

The following week Narcissa had insisted on meeting with Livia for lunch in Monument Ally, which was found just off Diagon Ally, and boasted multiple historical monuments of some of the most notable wizards and witches of Britain. In recent years it had become a bit of an entertainment centre with its many restaurants, pubs, clubs and bars, and most notably the small amateur theatre that had opened just 3 months prior.

Narcissa had chosen her favourite lunch venue, the small but exquisite Cafe Gardino, the interior of which was made to look like a lush and vibrant formal garden complete with Greco-Roman statues, roses and lavender hedges and looked and felt like it was permanently a warm summers day with a light breeze.

"I've ordered the Antipasti for two, I know how you love the little Pistachio covered Arancini. How are you?", Narcissa told Livia after they had greeted one another and sat down.

"I'm well, but how about you? Your invitation to lunch sounded like you had something urgent to share. Is Draco, ok? Lucius?", Livia asked, she had been concerned ever since the letter had arrived the night before, the wording had certainly indicated that some sort of urgent matter would be discussed.

"We are all in good health Livy, thank you", Cissa smiled warmly at her dearest of friends, "Perhaps some additional privacy would be beneficial", she added, knowing that Livia knew a vast array of spells that would ensure their privacy, in addition the basic ones that surrounded each table in the establishment.

Livia flicked and swirled her wand around as unobtrusively as she could, muttering and sometimes silently casting various privacy spells and when finish she sat forward asked, "Your letter made it sound urgent Cissa. Please tell me. I've been half worried out of my mind all night".

"We need to speak about your Betrothal Party. We are only a few short weeks from the end of your Courting, and it takes time to plan these things. We will be working on a tight schedule as it is, and I have no doubt that Lord Slytherin will be wanting the Bonding itself to take place as soon as possible. Quite frankly I'm grateful that your brother put his foot down at this point or you would have been relegated to having the most awful hodgepodge of a Bonding and that simply would NOT do!", Narcissa said in one long breath. "As the closest thing you have to a female relative it is my responsibility to ensure that these events are worthy of you and your future spouse", she continued when she realised Livia had been apparently shocked into silence for the time being.

"I'm just glad that I had the forethought, when I first saw Lord Slytherin’s intentions towards you, to begin planned the bonding itself or we would truly be playing Quiddich without a broom", here she pulled out, then enlarged, an overly large and thick, cream leather folio with the words Heiress Prince to Lord Slytherin Bonding Planner, embossed and gilded across the front.

Livia blanched. She could not believe Cissa had lured her here under false pretences, granted she hadn't specified the ‘why’ for the meeting, but it had been implied it was of the utmost importance. She had been supposed to work with Severus that morning on a joint project, he would not be impressed if party planning was why she had cancelled on him.

“Before we begin planning your Bonding, Severus has hinted that you may well be the cause if Ms De Lello's current... situation”, Narcissa asked, knowing Livia would likely own up to it if she was the one asking, Severus would scold her if he had proof, which he hadn’t been able to find any, much to his annoyance and Lucius’ amusement.

“I don’t know...”, Livia began with apparent disinterest.

“Come now Livy! I’m your oldest and most reliable friend, I know when you’re lying to me. I just want to know how you did it, nobody has figured it out yet and it’s been driving Bella and I mad with speculation”, Cissa pushed. She was well aware that one major flaw in the Intelligent people she knew well was their desire to have their brilliance acknowledged, and both Livia and Severus (and Lord Slytherin, though she wouldn’t dare say it out loud) were alike in that regard.

“You can tell Bella, but no other... and definitely NOT Severus, you know how he gets, though he is a hypocrite of the first degree", Livia issued a proviso before saying anymore and watched as Cissa smirked and nodded in agreement.

“It was a multi layered approach, first I sent her several sets of silk bedding that was ‘a free gift in the hopes she would talk about the company amongst her friends should she find them agreeable', the company is false and have a runic array stitched into them that causes impotence to any bonded male who lies upon them”, Livia shared, excited to finally get to tell someone what she did, unknowingly playing into the very personality trait that Narcissa had counted on. Seeing Cissa looking suitably impressed she continued,

“The second was a variety of expensive and gaudy jewellery, sent from various admirers, that had layered protections that prevented any cosmetic potions, charms or glamour’s to work. I set a small repelling ward over the cosmetic protections so that they will show only the expected general protections against poisons and the like If tested.”

Livia took a sip of water and continued, seeing the raised eyebrow on her dining companion that was clearly saying, 'and.. ‘, “ Lastly I sent several exclusive scarves from a variety of admirers that would do the same thing as the jewellery and of course, she then wears the scarves in order to cover herself up which just prolongs the situation. The reality is I didn’t actually do that much to her I just prevented her from showing a false face to the world. As she looks now is how she really looks without the potions, charms and glamor’s and as an added bonus it can’t be traced back to me and even if it was, I’ve not actually done anything illegal”, Livia explained trying desperately to not show how very proud she was, “Silly bint, of course, remains unable to use her ‘beauty regime' all because of her greed” she finished with a wrinkle to her nose, the jewellery she had sent had truly had been quite hideous. Narcissa laughed at her friend and couldn’t wait to tell Bella, who would, without a doubt, at some point want the finer details of how it was achieved without detection.

Over the course of the next hour Cissa showed Livia an overview of the Bonding Planner, pointing out the several items that would require confirmation by herself and Lord Slytherin so that Narcissa could ensure everything was to their taste and in place for their big day, several of the artisans she had made note of would need to be booked after all, thankfully with the Prince, Malfoy and Slytherin names they would be falling over themselves to be hired for such a prestigious event.

They could use parts of the theme for the Betrothal announcement and ball that would be hosted, ideally it should be held at Prince Manor, but Severus may not be amenable, if not Malfoy Manor could be utilised as it was unlikely that Thomas would want so many people traipsing through his property, his security was very tight and would likely cause problems any way, she had mused.

The conversation continued in this way for some time, with Narcissa doing most of the talking and, a still dumbstruck, Livia watching her with a sort of horrified awe. She had honestly believed that herself and Thomas would be having a small and intimate bonding, she hadn't accounted for Thomas's 'circle' of acquaintances, nor his political allies or Narcissa's love of organising events it seemed. She was realising with some significant dread that she had been woefully naive at best, and wilfully blind at worst, on the subject of their bonding.

"You!", a snarling shout interrupted their conversation and gaining the attention of several of the diners.

Livia and Narcissa turned to see an enraged James Potter, who was accompanied by his mortified looking wife who was trying, and failing, to calm him and lead him away with one hand on his arm the other holding her squirming son. Livia calmly dispelled the privacy wards and spells she had placed.

"It's all your fault I've lost my job! It was your lies that started the investigation. Moody saw you for what you are, he knew you had something to do with this new Dark wizard on the rise. You did something.... some sort of dark ritual or something to make this happen. Ill prove it! There is no way I would have been fired otherwise."

"James... please. You're making a scene. It won't help your case", Lily said quietly to her furious husband.

"Lily, how are you? Is this your son?", Livia asked politely, knowing that acknowledging that they knew each other would likely inflame James Potter's ire further and she was sure this little scene would make it to the papers. She hadn't forgiven Lily for dropping the friendship with her brother as she had. He may have said something in poor taste, whilst very upset, but he had apologised sincerely and repeatedly to the woman in front of her who had refused to forgive him and had the gall to start dating his bully a few months later as if the years of misery he had inflicted upon Severus, her so called ‘best friend’, had all been forgotten.

"You have no right to speak with my wife so informally", James raged on.

Livia sneered at him and replied frostily, "Do be quiet, the adults are speaking. Really, your blundering through like a Stag in an apothecary".

James froze eyes wide, did she know about his animagus form? She couldn't could she? He did save Snivellous that time using it when Sirius had sent him after Remus on a full moon night. HIs werewolf friend would have been put down without thought had he killed or infected someone, even if that someone Snivelly Snape. They never registered their forms either damn it!

Lily, ignoring her husband's comment, oblivious to his internal panic, and Livia’s response, with a strained smile answered, "I'm well thank you Livia, this is my son Harry", Lily was unable to see anything of the small, shy, underfed waif that Livia had been in childhood, she was now a confident young woman with a tongue every bit as sharp as ever Severus' had been.

She had come to regret cutting Severus off as she had done so, especially when confronted once again with how very childish her husband seemed, while they dated he had seemed to mature but as soon as they married he returned to the man she had loathed and berated for nearly 6 years at school.

James looked at his wife in betrayal and it was enough for Lily Potters temper to snap, "You must have forgotten that I knew Livia when we were children. She is Severus' little sister after all and he and I were best friends for many years", she hissed at him, resembling an angry cat for a moment.

"But you dumped Snivellous years ago, when you realised he was a no good slimy Slytherin git. There's no reason to be polite to his no-good dark sister who cost me my job!", James shouted.

"For goodness' sake James, will you stop using that childish nickname and for the last time I didn’t ‘dump’ him, we were friends and fell out! AND you lost your job by following that crackpot Moody. I'm going home. Feel free to return when you're finished embarrassing yourself", Lily said with a mixture of frustration and exasperation and turned to Livia again and with a strained smile said, "Congratulations on your Masteries Livia. Please send my regards to Severus, it was nice to see you", having said her piece she walked away without a backwards glance at her husband.

"Lily! Wait!", James called after his wife's rapidly retreating back and hurried after her.

"Well...that was an experience", Livia said wryly to Cissa, who was laughing quietly into her hand. Livia placed the protections around their table once again.

"I wouldn't at all be surprised to read about it in tomorrow, Prophet. They have been reporting on the 'Disgraced Aurors' quite regularly", Narcissa said when she had finally gotten control of herself.

"If they do I've no doubt Severus will be delighted", Livia grinned.

"Now, back to more important things. The ribbon colours will likely be red, blue, green, black, pink and gold, unless either of you wishes to add or remove any for the hand fasting. For the Bonding colours, I have picked out a Sky Blue, Grass Green and Dusky Pink, in soft shades, from the ribbons with either Oyster or Lace with Light Gold accents. So how about we stick with those colours but in slightly bolder tones for the Bonding Ball?", Narcissa asked whilst flipping through the folio and pointing at the various colour swatches as she spoke about them.

"Shouldn't Thomas be included in this conversation Cissa?", Livia hedged, not seeing the difference between the colours ‘Oyster’ and ‘Lace’.

"Pish", Narcissa waved her off, "Men are rarely interested in the finer details of the Bonding, but we will run all of our decisions past him once we have made them to confirm he is satisfied".

Livia couldn't help but feel envious of Thomas in that moment, maybe she should just agree with Cissa on everything, it might make the afternoon pass quicker and less painfully.

"I agree. After all my bonding could only be perfect with you at the helm Cissa and I trust your vision completely", Livia said in half desperation and half sincerity. It was apparently the right thing to say as Narcissa positively beamed at her.

Thomas was making his way through the Ministry, they had had another successful meeting in the Wizengamot, slowly but surely, though admittedly more quickly than he had ever dare hope, perspectives on so called ‘dark magic' were being challenged and changed. Today a prominent healer at St Mungos and, thanks to Livia’s contacts, world renowned Rituals expert had both spoken with passion on why several ‘dark' healing rituals should be reclassified and reinstated for use in the UK. Livia had been correct when she told him that people cared more for money, health and children first and foremost and if he wanted changes to start there with small sensible changes to policy. People could leave the UK to have the rituals done but it was expensive and therefore prohibitive for those who were less affluent, which in turn had caused an unfair health system, it had a been a point that the ‘light' hadn’t considered and whose sense of fairness had been peaked the thought of.

The evidence that St Mungos was no longer classed as one of the best medical facilities due to the severe reduction in what treatments they were legally allowed to prescribe and their new breakthroughs now being few and far between had resulted in many newly qualified healers and medi-witches leaving Britain for less restrictive countries, it was estimated that in the next 20 years St Mungos would struggle to keep enough staff to remain fully open and that more people would need to travel for healthcare.

It had surprised many, including himself, to realise they were loosing so many healers. It had been accompanied by some damning reports too.

“Lord Slytherin? May I have a moment of your time?”, asked Heiress Hilde Stokke, who currently worked in the Wizengamot Administration Services.

"Very well, I only have a few minutes spare however".

As she turned around she allowed herself a satisfied smile.

He followed her into a little used office set aside for confidential matters in the admin team and waited by the door impatiently

"Would you mind taking a look at the last Wizengamot notes? I believe there is an error regarding one of your statements and wanted to change it before they are sent out. You always speak so well and with such command it would be a crime not to convey that", she simpered at him gesturing towards the large roll of parchment upon the desk, making sure that she bent over far enough to give Lord Slytherin an eyeful of her best assets.

He gave a small sigh and reached for the document paying no attention to the woman, this wouldn't be the first time, nor likely the last, that such a woman had thought to lure him closer with a fake work queries and her doubted she would be the last despite him publically courting Livia.

The alarm signalling a lock down test was imminent was heard through the room and the door automatically shut and locked before Tom could do anything about it.

Ms Stokke gave a little scream of surprise that was as fake as her artificially enhanced cleavage and flung herself at Lord Slytherin however, before she came into contact with him she bounced off him and hit the floor instead. She looked up confused imagining Slytherin had cast some sort of spell only to see him looking seemingly intrigued at the air around him, with his wand out.

Thomas had felt the ward envelope him the instant the delusional chit had thrown herself towards him and had recognised only a moment later Livia’s magic. He paid no attention Stokke who was still sitting on the floor apparently confused or waiting for him to assist her in standing.

He cast a series of spells and then grinned when he took the pocket watch Livia had gifted him weeks ago out of his pocket. His cunning little vixen had woven a ward into it that forcibly rejected anyone who approached him with the intent to touch him in a lustful or deceitful manner. It was based on the chastity charms of old. He was pleased to note that the ward worked only one way, he could be intent on approaching someone and the ward would accept his choice however, if someone attempted to take advantage of him, he was protected. For a time such as this, where a woman was trying to compromise his courting contract with inappropriate physical contact, which would have left his contract with Livia null and void it proved to be invaluable. That he was pleased with her show of trust in him went without saying, he had no need of another whilst he had his Livia.

He uses legilimency when the woman looks into his eyes and finds she is an open book, she seduced the security manager and got the alarms to go off when she sent a signal from the desk, it was usually for emergencies only, and the manager had set off the emergency lockdown. She had planned that she could seduce him or at the very least compromise him enough that he would have to start a courtship with her and that the one he had with Livia would be cancelled. Despite his fury at the conniving woman being trapped in the room with him, it was less serious than it could have been and when he reflected on the possessive steak his lovely Livia seemed to harbour regarding himself, which it certainly matched his own towards her, he was left feeling quite pleased with the situation overall. It took a little over 20 minutes before the door opened, usually the test only lasted a maximum of 10 and so he was by that point not best pleased. Particularly when a group was gathered outside of the door, Lucius and Rambert near the front.

“Finally! This door wouldn't open even though the test had finished, and the Head of Security here...”, Lucius gestured to the man in question, giving him a look filled with anger and mistrust, “...insisted that there was an issue with the locking system for this particular door. I have suggested we have a professional look into it.”, the guard shifted uneasily and he stared at the young woman in the room who was standing as close as she could to Lord Slytherin without being pushed away by the ward.

“Oh, I'm sure it's nothing that our Head of Security can't fix", the woman said with a forced breezy tone, seeing the large number of Lords waiting outside the room.

"He certainly attempted to fix something today", Rambert muttered eyeing the man darkly.

"Well it could have all been much worse, myself and Ms Stokke here could have been accused of something untoward. Thankfully my darling Livia had the forethought and ingenuity to set up a proximity ward on my pocket watch to ensure no such compromise could take place or be falsely asserted", Thomas couldn’t help smirking at his friends. Rambert allowed himself a grin, the young Ms Snape was full of surprises.

"But just to be on the safe side I shall raise the issue with the Unspeakables, they have the relevant staff to check on the warding issues that may have occured",Thomas declared, smiling at the two who had thought to try and trap him, knowing full well these two would be put of jobs very soon for tampering and the mismanagement of the emergency lockdown procedures.