Bab 86: Flowery Insights
(A/N: This Bonus chapter is dedicated to my madlads, thanks for your continuous support everyone!
Enjoy yourselves.)
. . .
"It's in moments like these that I am truly grateful for the perspective my rather troublesome life gave me." Magnus said, straightening his school robes, and doing his best to ignore the offending giggles.
He was apparently not very good at that, as the girl earned herself a glare.
"You'd 'ave to tell me more about these strange experiences of yours." She said, her grin while objectively charming held so much mischief she might just be in cahoot with Loki.
Who else but that trickster would go so far as to send such a troublesome girl in his life, and make him like it?
Magnus ignored her all together, very much aware that his success in verbal battle against her was bound to fade the moment he looked at her pretty eyes and ultimately lost himself.
There had to be some sorcery involved, perhaps she didn't tell him everything about Veela and their charms?
'No, this girl is too soft for such trickery.' He thought.
Then how could she have such an effect on him? Big questions indeed, and Fleur didn't seem keen on letting him ponder in peace.
"Ignoring me, Monsieur Noir?" She said, and he heard the muffle of her unnatural light body moving through the conjured cushions and blankets.
The two of them had spent enough time in their little secret hole near the library for Magnus to picture her movement. His eyes were stuck on a book he'd picked up, yet he could see her hovering gracefully through the cramped space, unbothered by their proximity.
As a matter of fact, she seemed to detest what little space remained between them. Soon enough he felt great heat on his side, a weight pressing through his left arm begging him to reach out and hold it closer still, a few strands of silvers sliding down his chest and covering some words of his book.
For once, he couldn't care less for his reading material.
He still needed to say something.
No man was above the masculine urge to say something witty when he stayed so close to someone so precious.
"Mr. Noir." He said, tasting the words, before nodding in understanding. "Sounds racist."
It was not yet time for the compulsive virtue signaling and censoring for the sake of diversity, and it would likely never be if his projects were successful, but he still managed to steal a snort out of her school champion.
"What can I say? You push me to be the worst version of myself." She said, rather clumsily.
Now, that stung…
He was almost proud.
He didn't care for her rudeness, he knew she didn't mean it that way, though he could picture the wince in her face and the few silent curses she spoke while condemning her own lack of social skills.
Magnus looked to the side, and true enough, he found the same expression he's pictured, only much more charming.
He was supposed to have a perfect memory, though he cheated mercilessly to use it, then how come she always appeared more beautiful when he saw her with his own eyes?
'Right, Veela.'
He felt her hands running through his hair, sending blissful shivers through his entire being. She rested her head on his shoulder, moving it ever so slightly as if trying to remove any pain she might've inflicted.
'Is this what a healthy relationship looks like? Just enjoying each other's presence, and making up for each and every hurt we might've caused.' He thought, but he did not know the answer. 'Guess I'll have to do my part.'
"Yet you're still perfect."
A bit on the cheesy side, but it worked well enough.
She seemed happier, but it had the unfortunate side effect of cutting short the abnormally pleasant nonsense she was doing to his scalp, and that was intolerable.
"Don't even think about stopping, I just got comfortable." He said, shedding all pretense of aloofness.
Magnus wasn't one for constant honesty, or god forbid, full disclosure and sharing. As a man, that would make him predictable, boring and bound to be discarded. As an overly ambitious wizard with questionable morals and even more questionable sanity, it would cut short his brutal goals before he could even start.
What goals? Safety and survival, Mastery of magic, Functional immortality, Infinite reserves of chocolate and perhaps global domination if he has the time.
'For now, let's just try and make that shield of mine.'
"Enjoying yourself much?" She said, amused.
"Uh-huh." He hummed, barely bothering to close that book properly and levitating it back to the table.
"You do want more of this?" She asked
"Uh-huh." He said, very much aware of the innuendo his flower innocently left there.
"Then you might consider not being an overly engrossed idiot once that secret project of yours advances, ignoring the people who do care about you and creating a lot of useless drama between us…between everyone." She said, and he added enhanced lung capacity to his mental file on Veela abilities.
"That was very specific." He noted.
He could feel her nodding, digging into his shoulder blade so pleasantly he nearly groaned. Merlin, that girl will make him lose what's left of his mind.
"I know you, Magnus." She said, confirming his thoughts once she spoke his name in that so very sweet, so very Fleur way.
He closed his eyes, tilting ever so slightly to meet her own face intruding on his shoulders. He allowed it, but decided to play her own game, resting his cheek on the silvery crown of her hair.
She smelled of cinnamon and burnt roses and all kinds of lovely things, a scent he could hardly describe as anything else but Fleur's.
"What's that supposed to mean?" He said, his voice was slightly muffled by her hair.
He didn't mind. As a matter of fact, her hair could just as well choke him to death and he still wouldn't complain.
Fleur giggled, whether it was something in her mind or his own face caressing her head while he fought tooth and nail not to go ahead and kiss it, Magnus didn't know.
"You can be rather single minded when something picks your attention, Padma and Luna said as much." She said, choosing her words carefully as if she feared driving him away. "You throw yourself at it for days on end, pushing everything and everyone away then come back as if nothing happened."
"Like when I met you?" He said, making her pause.
"I…I guess so."
She seemed flattered, which was a welcome result.
'Let's not shake her too much in one go.' He thought, smiling when he felt he allure going highwire.
He felt a nagging feeling on the back of his mind, as if he was missing something very important. Ultimately, he discarded it.
This was his Fleur time, after all, even if she did kidnap him the moment he left Dumbledore's office and dragged him all the way to their beloved safehouse among books.
"Alright, you sly woman, I promise not to brush off everyone." Magnus said.
He felt her satisfaction before she could voice it, and he didn't need some broken Veela finely tuned sensory powers to do the job.
No, the regular wizarding sense of magic was more than enough.
He felt her allure preening in satisfaction, it reveled in the power its owner had over him, even if it didn't come from her magical charms.
It was fascinating really, and more than a little disturbing, this side of Fleur's magic that seemed always eager to draw him in and monopolize his time and attention.
The nagging feeling came back en force, and this time he was much too close to the answer to banish it fully.
"Fleur, your allure does react independently to you?" He asked.
She stayed silent for a while, forming a good enough answer while using that highly trained, bright mind of hers to try and find his angle.
"Yes." Fleur nodded, "I can control it well enough, but sometimes it does feel like it has a life of its own."
She had explained the mechanics of the Veela charm before, how it unconsciously leaked out despite her efforts and worked to destabilize most people.
Contrary to what he'd once believed, it did not exactly make them fall in love or even excite them, though the latter is often a side effect when it combined with her kind's natural beauty.
Instead, it worked as a defensive and at times predatorial mechanism.
When unleashed, those affected will have the urge to impress the Veela, while the most weak willed will have their mind clouded and just stand there drooling like braindead vegetables.
What did interest him, though, was the near sentience of her magic.
It's ability to act on its own, while still obeyong direct commands from its owner. Fleur needed not consciously use it, even when in danger, nor did she need to to realize it herself.
The allure just acted, like the reliable magic it was.
The same kind of magic he wanted to create.
On a whim, he remembered some words spoken by a man he disliked as much as he admired.
"Even the most logical beings ought to see the power in love, the wisdom in their bonds." Magnus said, rolling his eyes. "So that's what you meant, you old goat."
As much as he hated admitting it, that was good advice.
Overly cryptic, yes.
But good advice nonetheless.
"Pardon?" Fleur looked at him, her face brimming with curiosity and for the nth time that that day he struggled not to give in so soon.
Or perhaps he should just do it? Wouldn't it be better to give in to the temptation? The dark side had great power, and cookies aplenty.
'Screw it.'
On a whim, he stole a kiss to her forehead. A short, sweet, and innocent thing, but one he needed desperately.
His patience was stretched thin, and while his own wants were no mystery to him he knew the girl was still filled with insecurities, courtesy of an unkind world who had no love for those it judged unworthy, good and innocent as they were.
It was the same everywhere, greedy bigots would trick the masses, make them fear and hate and spite each others while a scarce few profited from it.
Just as his thoughts turned dreadful, he saw her blinking at him, not quite processing what just happened.
He saw the realization in her eyes, the fiery blush spreading through her almost sickly pale skin, the opening and closing of her lips as he struggled to find words.
In the end, she chose silence, but that was expected.
Sad, but expected.
"It's a long story." He smiled, answering her earlier question. "I guess you chose the right time to make me promise."
The champion was too smart not to understand his point, too curious not to shower him with questions, too kind not to answer his own.
'Too timid to return my affections, too sweet to push me away.'
Magnus couldn't help but smile, content.
The world might be unfair, and currently largely going to shit since everyone and their moms thought it was the right time to start raising hell, all claiming their cause to be just.
But Magnus knew everything would be alright, it had to be.
Now that he had so much, and expected even more still, there was absolutely no way he'd let something as pathetic as life push him around and put him down.
'No way in hell.'
. . .
Author Note:
Hey guys! It's Uncle Sheo!
If you are reading this, you likely earned yourself a bonus chapter, if so, then thank you for your support!
There was some fluff, some plot being put in place while Magnus advanced once more in his chosen path.
Next Chapter will be very plot heavy, we're building a basis for some seriously big action.
The foreshadowing, grind and character building is necessary so I can eventually write that hell of a story with so much action, magic, fluff, surprises, stray laughs and of course, Dobby.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone