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[attr="class","ctopline"]Rain came pouring down when I was drowning

[attr="class","cscriptmud"]that's when i could finally breathe

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[attr="class","clyrics"]And by morning, gone was any trace of you,[break]
I think I am finally clean

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[attr="class","cbody"]This was an incredibly bad idea.
[break][break]
She had been telling herself that for weeks. From the moment that she had seen Draco, and he had brought up his wand and the circuit board he was having trouble with as if it was the most normal thing in the world. What he had been doing was obvious. Of course, she didn’t know why he was doing it. That was the real question.
[break][break]
After everything that had happened between them, after the way that their relationship had ended, there was no reason for him to have any interest in how she was doing with her new station in life. No reason for him to offer to let her use his wand, no reason he should care that she felt her mind turning to mush every day that she was stuck cleaning up after the Parkinsons. He had proven how little care he put into about her feelings when he had decided to shag his ex-girlfriend in their bed.
[break][break]
So, really, she shouldn’t let him attempt to charm her back into his apartment. At all. But it had been working and he knew it. She knew. As pathetic as it was, she still reacted to his presence the same way she had four years ago. Once he had left, once she had gone back to cleaning, Nora had been able to think clearly again. She had been able to tell herself that this was a horrible idea. That there was no good reason for her to take him up on that offer. Even if she wanted to take a look at that circuit board and whatever else he was working on at Aurora. It was a bad idea.
[break][break]
Luckily for her, she had seen Callum the week after and she had obviously told him that she’d seen Draco. There was no reason to hide that from him and he, of course, had plenty of opinions about what she should do. Going over to his apartment had not been his vote, for obvious reasons, and that had helped. Without Draco being in her vicinity, and with her cousin’s words in her mind, she had been able to hold out coming over here longer than she probably would have otherwise. It had been two weeks.
[break][break]
Better than showing up the next day. That just would have been humiliating.
[break][break]
Two weeks had passed, two weeks of more cleaning, and going home at night and trying to keep her mind occupied. But there was only so much that she could do with no wand. Callum would honestly probably give her work at Aurora if she asked him to, but she wasn’t going to put him in that position. She wasn’t going to put the company at risk just because she was bored. So, she went home, she read, she drank wine, and tried to keep busy.
[break][break]
But tonight, she hadn’t been able to keep herself occupied. She had been restless. After trying to read, she had given up and had tried to call it a night early—very early. But that hadn’t worked either, and after tossing and turning for a good half hour she realized there was just no way she was going to fall asleep yet. She was frustrated, she was bored, and the offer that had been in the back of her mind for the past couple of the weeks was there.
[break][break]
For at least another five minutes, she had tried to talk herself out of it. Then she had gotten up, gotten dressed, and had continued to try to talk herself out of it. Bad, bad idea. But then she had given up, she had grabbed the Floo powder and tossed it onto the fire before she could stop herself. She wasn’t even fully aware of what time it was when she appeared in Draco’s living room, a thought she realized maybe just a little bit too late. It couldn’t be past nine yet, could it? Still too late to show up here, really. For a moment she hesitated and glanced back toward the fire. This apartment was new to her, but she had to hope it was big enough that he hadn’t heard the Floo. She could just grab some Floo powder and go back home before he came in.
[break][break]

[attr="class","cnotes"]718 ● Draco Malfoy ● outfit minus shades

[attr="class","cred"]MADE BY VEL OF WW + ADOX 2.0

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clean
_{I think I am finally}

Draco was at home from Hogwarts for the holiday break. He had thought his tenure at the school would come to an end today. He had meant for it to when he had taken the offer to join the staff at Bangor in January. But then his aunt had surprised him. She had fired Sebastian Flint. She had placed a neutral party as the new Headmistress. He wanted to show his support of this action. He believed in what she was doing. He was proud to see her taking steps to making the world more reasonable and normal. He wanted that, too.

So, instead of completely resigning from Hogwarts, he took a smaller role available at the school. The former Alchemy professor--another Death Eater carrying the Dolohov name--had resigned in a huff to show solidarity to the deposed Flint. That left the job he had really wanted all along at the school available. He could teach Alchemy two days a week, one hour a day, with a couple hours office hours--and that was enough. He didn't have to stay at the castle. He didn't have responsibilities outside his classroom duties. It was a light gig that let him give himself over to things he was really interested in: research.

It had always been about research for Draco. That was why when he and Magnus Everlight had started talking, Desiderium had been formed. It was their little way of changing the world--of finding answers to life's questions. Life had put some pretty tough questions in front of him as late. He didn't have his magic. There was no big breakthrough happening with Epidemic X. The national state of emergency was still ongoing after months. The world was shit. 

Something needed to be done to make it better. He was doing everything he could to move it in the right direction. Part of that was him imparting his knowledge to the best and brightest minds at Bangor. He might not be much of use in a practical sense; he knew loads about alchemy and had been part of bleeding edge breakthroughs in the field. He had knowledge to impart. There was time still to prepare, but he was already working on lessons plans and an introduction that he'd give of himself to his students when the term started in January. The tip of his pen--yes, he used muggle pens instead of quills and ink wells--scratched over paper as he worked on his opening statement.

His flooplace roared to life and a soft ding of his wards announced the arrival of a guest.  Who in the world was coming to his flat at this hour? It wasn't terribly late, but it was still not early either. He moved through the space to greet whoever it was. 

"Nora..." he gasped in surprised when his pale eyes came to rest on his ex-fiancee. 

Nora | OUTFIT | 487

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[attr="class","ctopline"]RAIN CAME POURING DOWN WHEN I WAS DROWNING

[attr="class","cscriptmud"]that's when i could finally breathe

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[attr="class","clyrics"]AND BY MORNING, GONE WAS ANY TRACE OF YOU,[break]
I THINK I AM FINALLY CLEAN

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[attr="class","cbody"]Day after day, she woke up only to put on that blasted uniform. If it weren’t for the fact that the Parkinsons were generally decent people—by purist standards, anyway, Nora would think that they had somehow charmed it to sap her intelligence away and turn her into nothing more than a mindless maid.
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Truly, she was certain that such magic must exist somewhere in the world. There were no lengths that dark wizards and witches wouldn’t go to in order to assert their power over somebody else. In the history of the world, she was sure that there was someone somewhere that wanted to torture and humiliate someone in such a way. Even if such a curse did exist, Nora knew that the Parkinsons hadn’t cursed her uniform. She knew that she wasn’t actually slowly getting less intelligent by the day.
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She knew that it was a nonsensical worry, brought on by months and months of cleaning up after purists. Of doing nothing more than scrubbing baseboards, and dusting, and whatever else needed done that day. Her mind hadn’t been challenged in… well over a year. From the moment that she had left Lucent to go on the run with her aunt and uncle, life had been about surviving—and then just as quickly, had turned monotonous as the purists of their world did everything possible to show Muggleborns what their rightful place really was.
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Not being challenged was the reason that she felt the way that she did. She missed the days where she could spend all night in her office at Lucent, or in one of the labs with whomever she was working with at the time. Brainstorming and creating until the sun came up over the horizon and they realized that they’d worked through the night. It was times like those that she’d remember her childhood—with her innocent wonder of how long her father could possibly stay up working.
[break][break]
Nora even missed that midday slump after an all-nighter where she was always half-tempted to lock the doors of her office and take a quick nap for a couple of hours. There had been more than a few times in her tenure at Lucent where she had done just that—and back when Draco had been in the picture, trying to sweet talk him into joining her had always been a part of the fun.
[break][break]
But now, she had nothing in her life but her work at the Parkinsons. She at least had been allowed to move back to her apartment after Tara had died but waking in her bed did little to make her feel better when she knew where she was heading. Waking up and seeing that uniform was enough to make her want to roll over and go back to sleep. The time of her loving what she did so much that sleep felt optional was long gone. Now, she’d give anything to just ignore her responsibilities and sleep all day, instead of going over to that house.
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It was why this offer had been too good to pass up. Even though she knew that it was a horrible idea, even if Fionn had told her it was a—well, his words had been colorful, as always, a part of her had known that she was going to give in eventually. She needed something—she needed more. Because right now, she was just existing and sometimes, it felt like she was barely doing that. If that meant braving her ex-fiancé’s apartment just for a taste of that mix of magic and engineering that made her mind work, then that was exactly what she was going to do.
[break][break]
Or she had told herself until she actually saw him. Then she was quite tempted to turn around and go right back through the Floo. Focus on why you’re here, Nora. She had faced him at the Parkinsons—in her uniform, for Merlin’s sake. Surely, she could face him now. “Hi.” Her words came maybe a second too late, but she’d barely realized that he’d spoken at all. “I hope you were serious about that offer, otherwise this is officially awkward.” There was a chance that he’d just offered figuring that she’d never actually take him up on it but that just didn’t seem like something he would do. Or so she was hoping, anyway.
[break][break]

[attr="class","cnotes"]729 ● @ i regret this already ● outfit minus shades

[attr="class","cred"]MADE BY VEL OF WW + ADOX 2.0

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finally clean

Rain came pouring down 

WHEN I WAS DROWNING that's when i could finally breathe

Each passing month brought change--to his life--to the United Kingdom. He knew there was still far to go, but he liked the direction that things seemed to be moving lately. It felt like everything was moving in the right direction. Despite the sickness striking him magicless, Draco was looking forward to where life was taking him. He was in talks with Magnus Everlight to open a research facility. He would not be teaching annoying children all day anymore. He was getting to share his alchemical expertise, both at Hogwarts and Bangor. He had this new relationship growing with Perenelle. It seemed his mother was improving somewhat as well. At least she was coming out of her room again. The changes at Hogwarts were going to be good for everyone. The muggleborn healers being restored to their old jobs was a step in the right direction, too. Things were going the right way.

They just had to keep them moving that way. Draco believed they could, too. He was hopeful... and hope was quite powerful. He found it to be more powerful than despair, something he had grown intimately familiar with in the darkest hours of his life. He had drowned in it during his late years at Hogwarts before Voldemort had fallen. He had dropped into similar depression when he had been sentenced to the work camp. But he had come out of those hard times--and he had learned from the experiences. They had humbled him. They had made him a much better person than he had been as a child. If nothing had come along to undermine and undo the lessons his father had imparted to him growing up, Draco would have still been an insufferable arrogant git. Sure, he still had ego. He still had sarcasm and sass. He wasn't a completely different person, but he also knew when to be humble. He knew how to admit he did not know everything. He knew how to ask for help. He had not known those things growing up.

He had not understood so much of the world. He had been so ignorant. Hate had blinded him. But he wasn't blind anymore. He wasn't ignorant either. He had gone to Gráinneog--he'd studied muggles and engineering. He had come to appreciate and understand ways that the nonmagical made do... and now he was having to make do just as they did. Thank Circe, he had actually learned something about muggle science and technology before this epidemic hit. He knew how to use a computer. He knew how to use a cell phone. He was far more comfortable with technology that most wixens were. And that was because he had recognized a deficiency in himself. Being raised so ignorant to the nonmagical world had been a terrible disservice done to him, but he had fixed it.

There were some things he couldn't fix, though. He couldn't fix the fact his son was dead. He couldn't fix way he had ended things with Honora. He couldn't fix the damage that had been done to his mother. He could not change those things. They were just part of the fabric of his reality now. But that didn't stop Honora Carmody from stepping out of his floo and into his flat. No matter what he had done to her in the past, she must not hate him still so much that she wouldn't take him up on his offer to work on some of the new tech coming out of Lucent.

That didn't mean it wasn't awkward to have her here. He was glad to see her. He had missed the witch. She had been such a huge part of his life for a really long time. He hated that things were going like they were for her. She didn't deserve this. He had never wanted her to lose her career. That was why he had made sure they broke up back when he got sent to the work camp. She hadn't need her life ruined just because he was...and now, hers was all mucked up anyway. He hated it. It was wrong, unjust and just so stupid.

"No--I was serious. Absolutely, come in. Do you want a drink or something? I probably have some beer. Whiskey, probably, too- Not much else, though. Just got back from Hogwarts for break." He did not have much stocked in the flat yet. If she was hungry, they could order in, because he definitely did not have any food. 

@ i knew you couldn't say no to a motherboard • 751 • outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

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[attr="class","ctopline"]RAIN CAME POURING DOWN WHEN I WAS DROWNING

[attr="class","cscriptmud"]that's when i could finally breathe

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[attr="class","clyrics"]AND BY MORNING, GONE WAS ANY TRACE OF YOU,[break]
I THINK I AM FINALLY CLEAN

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[attr="class","cbody"]When Draco had first hinted at her coming over by bringing up a motherboard and his wand, she had told herself that it was an absolutely horrible idea. And then, when her own resolve had started to crumble, she had made sure to tell Fionn. If there was anybody that would talk her out of going over there, it was her cousin. He had never made his opinions of Draco all that secret, even when they had been together. He hadn’t ever been outright rude to him, but he certainly hadn’t been as accepting of him as the rest of her family had been. As close as she was to Fionn—he was more of a brother to her than a cousin, that was one conversation that she’d never really had with him. She didn’t know why he’d never seemed to like him. But she did know that he was the person to talk to when a situation like this one came about.
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Not that she had ever been in a situation like this one. From the moment that she had walked into the bedroom, from the moment that she’d seen Draco with Astoria, she hadn’t looked back. She had walked right back out again. Hadn’t even yelled, hadn’t thrown anything at him, hadn’t done anything. She had just left, had Fionn return the ring, and focused on work. Draco had been sent to the work camp and, as worried as she had been, she had told herself it wasn’t her problem and she had stayed away.
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Seeing him coming out of Donna’s room had been the first time she’d seen him since she’d walked him on him with his ex-girlfriend. It had stirred up all sorts of feelings that were easy to forget when she wasn’t around him. It had messed with her head. She didn’t want to admit that, not even to herself, but it had. Their relationship had never had closure. It had him cheating, it had her walking away, and that was it. That was all that there had ever been. And as much as she could tell herself that she was completely over it, that familiar feeling in her stomach when she’d been in his proximity had said otherwise.
[break][break]
Fionn knocking some sense into her had been just what she’d needed. Tough love was his specialty. He could tell her that she was being an idiot and remind her how heartbroken she’d been left before, and not to be in the same room with him again in one breath. And it had worked. For a little while, anyway.
[break][break]
But now, here she was. Nora knew that she just had to separate feelings from the past from her feelings now. They were not the same people that they had been back then. They had both been through so much. Just because they had known each other well once upon a time, did not mean that they knew each other now. They didn’t. She didn’t love this Draco—she didn’t even know him. He was just someone that had mattered to her more than anyone else in the world, a long time ago. And now he was the only person that had offered to give her the slightest bit of her old life back. Even if that just meant being in front of a motherboard for a couple of hours. It was much better than nothing.
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The nerves in her stomach were more from worry than anything else. She had faced Draco in her uniform, she could face him now. She was more worried about using real magic for the first time in over a year, from engineering when she hadn’t in ages. When she was sure that every day spent at Parkinson Estate was turning her mind to mush. What if she couldn’t even do this anymore? That was not exactly something that she wanted her ex-fiancé to witness.
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Still, she had to hope that wouldn’t happen. She had to hope that it would all just come back to her. And if it didn’t… well, apart from Draco being the one to witness it, she supposed it was better to know that now. “Beer and whiskey’s all anyone needs,” she said, but she felt the joke fall flat. She was nervous. And it was getting the better of her. “Uh—a beer is fine. Thank you.” Nora added, figuring that getting a drink in her mind actually help the situation a little.
[break][break]

[attr="class","cnotes"]746 ● @ because motherboards are fun ● outfit minus shades

[attr="class","cred"]MADE BY VEL OF WW + ADOX 2.0

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finally clean

Rain came pouring down 

WHEN I WAS DROWNING that's when i could finally breathe

It was surprising having Honora Carmody in his flat. He wasn't complaining. He'd brought her here in three weeks ago. He'd even shagged her here then. That had been a more questionable decision, but he couldn't help himself. She'd gotten all sassy with him in the hallway outside Donna's room--each comeback traded between them had drawn them closer together. He literally could not remember moving from the spot in front of the door, but they had both taken steps until their bodies had been pressed together in the middle of that long empty hallway. He'd kissed her--and that'd been it. They'd been done for. 

Thoughts of them coming of the floo together and everything that followed that were really not the sort of thoughts that he should be having with Nora coming out of the floo towards him now. She wasn't here to shag. She clearly did not want that. She was here to work. She was here to make use of the magic she still had control of. Not to make the mistake of getting mixed up with her ex. That would have been dangerous and stupid for the both of them.

How was he supposed to be around her now? They had never really been 'just' friends. They'd worked together for a little while before their first hookup, but they hadn't really been friends. And then after that hookup, they'd been them...right up until the day that he had ruined that. So, what were they now? How were they supposed to be? Draco had no idea and it seemed pretty clear that Honora didn't really know either. She made a joke that didn't really work, but he laughed anyway---sort of. His chuckle sounded forced. It probably was. 

He felt bad for not having any food or anything more to offer the woman. She was living the life of a servant. Everything had been taken away from her...he knew how that felt too well. He'd been the oppressed one a few years ago. He'd lost his career and all of his family wealth due to the work camp. He deeply understood the suffering that Honora was now enduring--and he hated it. So, awkward or not, they would figure out how to make this work--they would figure out how to be around one another so she could have a little bit of her old life back, so she could make use of her brain. He knew how much that was needed when in a position like hers. 

"Cool--let me just grab that." He slipped off to the kitchen, and pulled two cold ones from the fridge. A glance at the label gave him an uncomfortable feeling. He glanced back inside the refrigerator. Sure, enough, this was the only beer he had. It was his favorite...and it was the same stout that Honora had drank the majority of the six pack of the first night they hooked up. But maybe she wouldn't remember... That was possible, right? It would be fine.

He popped the tops off before walking back into the living room, making a little face at the mess of papers he had strewn over the table. "Here you go," he said as he handed her one of the glass bottles. "Sorry I have shit everywhere. I wasn't really expecting anyone and have to get some lesson plans together for next term." With his switch from potions to alchemy and to both Bangor and Hogwarts instead of just the latter, Draco had a lot to prep for over the holiday break. It would be worth it though. Teaching Potions every day had sucked, which was unfortunate, because he really loved brewing--not that he could do that anymore.

"But you're not here for that, you're here for this," he produced his wand from the holster he still wore up his sleeve. "I don't even know why I carry it around." He flipped the walnut conduit around and offered it handle first to Honora. "And this..." He continued, gesturing towards the mess of electronic components that were dominating his dining room table. The living room and dining area were essentially just one big connected space with the back wall glamoured to make it seem like the country was outside instead of the city.  

@ i knew you couldn't say no to a motherboard • 761 • outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

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[attr="class","clbox"]

[attr="class","ctopline"]RAIN CAME POURING DOWN WHEN I WAS DROWNING

[attr="class","cscriptmud"]that's when i could finally breathe

[attr="class","cline"]

[attr="class","clyrics"]AND BY MORNING, GONE WAS ANY TRACE OF YOU,[break]
I THINK I AM FINALLY CLEAN

[break][break]

[attr="class","cbody"]A part of her had known that she was always going to end up here. He had offered her an opportunity to do something that she hadn’t in years. He’d offered to let her use his wand and play around with a motherboard, and how could she possibly say no to that? Even if being around him was a horrible idea, she needed to do something. She couldn’t spend another day dusting and cleaning up after the Parkinson family without losing her mind. She couldn’t go into Lucent, she couldn’t even go home and see if her father was working on something interesting. Anything that risked her family was not an option, and she knew there was a chance that they were watching them. That they were making sure that they weren’t assisting her in any way that wasn’t allowed.
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Or maybe she was paranoid. At this point, there was no real way to know for sure. She just knew that she would never forgive herself if something happened to her parents, if something happened to Fionn. She had already lost her aunt and uncle. They might not have died for her, but in some ways it felt like they had. Her uncle had been protecting them when the snatchers had come. He had been trying to keep them safe, until that flash of green light had him dropping to the ground. They were two of the best people that she had ever known, and they were gone. She couldn’t let anything happen to her parents or her cousin now. She couldn’t risk it, not even a little bit. It meant that there was just no chance of her getting to actually challenge her brain with real work.
[break][break]
The most that she could really do was read, which helped marginally. But not nearly enough. So, when Draco had made that offer, there was no chance of her holding out forever. Even when she tried to. Even when she told Fionn, because she knew that he’d give her the brutal honesty that she likely needed. She had ended up here anyway, and it was a dangerous place to be. It had only been a few weeks ago that they’d ended up in his bed, only a few rooms again. At least they hadn’t shagged in here somewhere. If they had, she didn’t know if she could have been in the living room at all. There would have been no way for her to focus on work when that was on her mind. But she had no reason to go into his bedroom at all. So, she could hopefully just push the thoughts right from her mind, and not think about them anymore.
[break][break]
It felt like there two different reasons for her growing nerves, and they were fighting for priority. It was hard not to think about how recently he’d had his hands on her, how recently he’d been making her feel things she’d forgotten she could feel, yes. But it was also hard not to be petrified that he was going to give her his wand, and she would reach the stark reality that almost two years of cleaning, submission, and that awful uniform had made her incapable of doing her actual job anymore. And Draco would be witness to that. It was a terrifying prospect. Something she didn’t even want to think about.
[break][break]
And her nerves were showing—making her awkward. She knew that she just needed to relax. She nodded in response to his words, watching as he disappeared into the kitchen. Nora took that opportunity to try to calm her racing thoughts. Years of work at Lucent, at Gráinneog, it wasn’t just going to leave her because she cleaned up after purists for a living. It was still there. She was still capable of it. She was just letting her mind get away from her with unnecessary worry. She took another breath, feeling a little bit better.
[break][break]
Until Draco returned with an all-too-familiar bottle. It was the very beer she’d drank the night they’d spent at Lucent. Instead of letting that rattle her further, she smiled and took it from him. “Thanks,” she added, taking a sip. It was just beer. He’d been the one that had bought it that night. It was good beer—she had some in her refrigerator too. “Oh, you’re fine. If you have things to do, I can come back another time.” She couldn’t pretend to know how long it took to make lesson plans, but she imagined it was time-consuming. He didn’t need her tinkering around with a motherboard while he was trying to work.
[break][break]
Her gaze moved to his offered want and she hesitated for a moment before taking it from him. It was strange to feel the weight of a real wand, to feel that hum of power from it—of real magic, not the sticks that the Ministry had tried to give them to pass off as a wand. Even as he spoke, she was moving toward the dining room table, her eyes already on the mess of components covering the table. “And you’re really sure you don’t mind…” She glanced back at him for a second—just for one last verification, because he had to be very aware that he’d likely have to kick her out to get her away from this motherboard.
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[attr="class","cnotes"]895 ● @ because motherboards are fun ● outfit minus shades

[attr="class","cred"]MADE BY VEL OF WW + ADOX 2.0

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finally clean

Rain came pouring down 

WHEN I WAS DROWNING that's when i could finally breathe

Draco was not awkward, but he was probably being a bit awkward right now. It was just different. Being with Honora in a completely friends only way was foreign. He did not know how to do it. He really should not have thought about how it had been with her here three weeks ago. He had destroyed that maid's uniform, ripped it off her with brute savagery. Possessiveness had taken over and he'd claimed her. He had left his calling cards embossed into her skin--fingerprint bruises against the porcelain perfection, but she had not called. Nor owled. There had been nothing. 

He took the radio silence as her saying their hookup had been nothing more than a mistake. One that she regretted, even if he did not. Draco only had one regret when it came to Honora Carmody-- and that was the single lie that existed between them. He had lied and put on a grand show of having an affair with Astoria Greengrass. It had been purposeful and intentional. He made sure that Honora saw them in that manufactured moment of pleasure. He forced her to believe that he had been unfaithful so she would be done with him-- so that she would be safe from whatever destruction that Durant wrought against his life. Draco had been sure when the sentence came to send him to the work camp that it was only a matter of time before he was in a prison cell. That just seemed like the course that life was taking. The wizard could not allow Honora to have that sort of ruin in her life. She deserved better than a husband behind bars. That was not the life she had signed up for accepting his proposal. She had believed herself to be marrying a brilliant, successful, career focused alchemist and chemical engineer. She deserved a man like that-- a man who could build a career and a family with her. Not a criminal. 

But things were different now. He wasn't the criminal in the eyes of the current government. She was. But Draco did not care. He did not see her as any less the woman she had always been. He could never see her as less. Even as he fantasized about being inside her right now, he still respected her mind. She was brilliant. That was why he had fallen in love with her. Her beauty was something to appreciate, but her mind was something to marvel at. The combination of the two made the man putty in her hands. She was always going to have that draw for him. Always. 

He was trying not to check her out. Honora had clearly not dressed to make him appreciate her figure, but he loved her in jeans. They were very flattering to her long legs-- and he could acutely recall peeling off skin tight pairs many times in the past. Sometimes he would inch them down, taking his time, teasing her-- other times, he was more savage, animalistic practically in tearing the fabric away from her skin... and in the most impatient of times, the wizard had been guilty of vanishing the pants completely. Where his mind was wandering was luckily not betrayed on his face as he took a sip of his beer. "You're welcome." He echoed behind her thanks. A quick shake of his head discouraged her departure. "Oh- no! No!" he insisted, perhaps a bit too eagerly-- backpedaling to try to sound casual as he continued: "You are fine. I promise. I have weeks to do these still and honestly I am way overdue a break from this anyway." And he was. He thought he deserved a night away from basic alchemical formulas. "Not that I am going to hover over you while you work. I won't. I mean unless you want to talk or discuss. Then I'm at your disposal." Dear Merlin, why was he being so flustered?! This was Honora. He had shared a million conversations with her. Hours upon hours had been spent talking to the woman.

Draco shifted gears, trying to be a bit more charming and less whatever it was that he was being. Handing off his wand to her, the man tried not to feel jealous or wanting. It was difficult. He missed magic so much. He had managed to find work to do, but it was still this huge part of him missing. He did not know how much longer he would be stuck like this. It had been months now-- there were no rumors that he had heard so far about any real progress on repairing the damage. Hope was hard to have in a situation like that.

She sought confirmation that he was comfortable with her wielding his wand. He pushed his lips into that familiar Malfoy smirk. "You've handled my wand plenty before now." He joked, trying to lighten the mood-- and maybe betraying a bit of what he had been thinking about in respect to her being here again. But with a chuckle, he downplayed the flirtation. "Truly, Nora, it's fine. I'm happy for you to be here and to use it. It'll be good for the wand to get some use." Walnut and Thestral Hair were not particular inclined to degradation with a lack of usage, but still. It would be good for the conduit to have magic flowing through it again. 

@ i knew you couldn't say no to a motherboard • 902 • outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

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[attr="class","ctopline"]RAIN CAME POURING DOWN WHEN I WAS DROWNING

[attr="class","cscriptmudblood"]that's when i could finally breathe

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[attr="class","clyrics"]AND BY MORNING, GONE WAS ANY TRACE OF YOU,[break]
I THINK I AM FINALLY CLEAN

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[attr="class","cbody"]Her relationship with Draco was… complicated, officially. It was not something that she’d been intending. After she’d walked in on him with Astoria, Nora had done everything in her power to make things as uncomplicated as possible. They needed to be done. She didn’t want an explanation, she didn’t want to hear anything that he had to say about it. It didn’t matter if it had only happened once or if it had happened hundreds of times in their bed. None of that mattered. The only thing that had mattered was the fact that he had cheated, and the fact that she was not going to marry someone that had cheated on her. She just wasn’t.
[break][break]
If she was being perfectly honest, she had expected him to come after her. Even if she hadn’t wanted to hear an explanation, even if she wouldn’t have cared just what that explanation was, she had expected him to try. She had expected that he’d attempt to make up for this somehow, that he’d try to get her to forgive him. She had expected… something, but she had not heard a word from him. From that moment on, their relationship had not been complicated. It hadn’t been anything. It had just been over.
[break][break]
When the tides had turned again, of course she had worried that she was going to see him. That he was going to see her. There were worse things than her former fiancé seeing her a maids’ uniform, cleaning up after the Parkinsons. She knew that. There were fates a lot worse than that, but it had not changed the fact that she’d worried about it. That she knew that he was on friendly enough terms with the Parkinsons, at least last she’d known anyway, and there was a chance that he would be at the manor at the same time as her at some point. It was not something that she’d wanted to have happen, and it was something that she’d managed to avoid for quite some time. Longer than she’d honestly expected. Nora didn’t know if he had been avoiding the manor entirely, avoiding it when she was there, or if it was just pure dumb luck that she’d managed to avoid him for as long as she had. But she had been grateful for it.
[break][break]
That luck had run out, and she had not expected that interaction to end up with her in his bed. It shouldn’t have ended like that—she knew that, and she was certain that he knew that too. Their relationship was in the past, and she did not make a habit of jumping into bed with exes. It was too messy, in any situation. But this one, particularly. She had far too many unresolved feelings that she’d been compartmentalizing. They had been easy to ignore, or at least, they had been. Sleeping with him had changed that a little bit. Now, she had to try to get her mind back in order, and that made this a bad idea. Coming to his apartment so soon after sleeping with him… the memories were fresh on her mind. The majority of her clothes had been shredded from her skin before they’d even made it to his bedroom. Shaking her head, she banished the memories from her mind. This was going to be difficult and awkward enough without her thinking about how recently it had been that he’d had his hands on her. She’d had bruises that had only completely vanished from sight a few days before. That was definitely not what she should be thinking about.
[break][break]
She raised her eyebrows at his words, an amused smile forming on her full lips. She was nervous—and awkward, but at least she wasn’t the only one. She didn’t know if he was thinking about the last time she’d been in here too, but she thought there was a pretty good chance of it. “You can hover. I could use the help.” With it being so long since she’d done real work, she was unsure if her mind had turned to complete mush, or if it would come back to her easily. She could hope for the latter, but she wasn’t entirely sure. As much as she wasn’t sure she wanted Draco to witness it if her mind had rotted away to nothing while she’d been scrubbing floorboards, she still could probably use a little bit of support.
[break][break]
Having a wand in her hand felt incredibly strange. The power that flowed through it, as opposed to the stick that they’d tried to pass off as wands to Muggleborns. Her focus was pulled back to Draco as he spoke, and she shot him a glare, though her eyes were teasing. “Mind out of the gutter, Malfoy. There’s work to be done.” She really didn’t know what to think of the flirting. It was too easy to do, but they shouldn’t. It would just confuse things—and what did he want from her? More sex? She was sure that he had plenty of options, and his cheating way back when was proof enough that he’d tired of her. There was no reason to go down that path again. “Assuming I still can.” The words were under her breath, though she supposed there was little chance that he hadn’t heard her. He was standing right there, after all. So, she cleared her throat and pushed forward. “So, what is it that you’re working on exactly?” She asked, taking the last few steps over to the table.
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[attr="class","cnotes"]925 ● @ because motherboards are fun ● outfit minus shades

[attr="class","cred"]MADE BY VEL OF WW + ADOX 2.0

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