Space Cowboy

I know my place, and it ain't with you

Sunsets fade, and love does too

Kate didn’t really mind the fact that they were all spread out. She thought that if she lived on top of her brother, or her cousin, she would have gotten sick of them by now. But when they were this spread apart, and they had to make time to see one another, it was easier. Coming in here to Glasgow wasn’t really on the way home, but it would do. She wanted to go to Buchannan Street anyway. Hiram Fitzgerald had released a book, and she wanted to read it. There was a little book store there that was supposed to have it in stock. Not that she had had Kenna check for her…

She didn’t like to rely on her elf for things if she could help it, but since the illness had come, and taken magic from them, she had found herself relying on Kenna’s help more than she wanted to admit to. And she tried to make sure that the elf knew it. She didn’t want to take advantage of her, but she was grateful for her help. There were just some things that she knew that she couldn’t do herself. Things that were impossible now that she was essentially a squib. And she hated that. Kate thought that there had to be something that they could figure out. Because without magic, who were they?

And she didn’t think that it was completely necessary to act like she was better than everyone else all of the time. Yes, she was a pureblood, and yes, she was a Yaxley. And sometimes that meant that she knew how to be both of those things. But sometimes it just meant that she was going to expect better manners out of people. Sometimes it was just a station, and a lot less a chore. And sometimes it was entirely a chore. Her mother had made sure that she saw it that way. That they all saw it that way. And Kate was well aware that she was the disgrace.

She knew that she was. She knew that they were always going to think that she was damaged, or broken, or that there was something wrong with her. And in some ways, there was. There was always something a little wrong with her. The fact that she knew exactly how much of a bottle of whiskey she could have, before she went over the edge. The fact that she knew that she could go on a bender like that, and get lost… She knew those things. But she had been a mess before, and she didn’t intend to go back.

Maybe things would have been differently, if they all would have learned a different level of respect. But that just wasn’t how their lives had ended up, and now they were here. And they were without magic, and she was trying to figure out if they had skipped her brother’s birthday in enough of a fashion that she could get away with bringing up Christmas to her sister-in-law, and the fact that they all tended to get Griff two presents.

Kate was looking at a couple of little trinkets for Ava and Brenna when she heard the door open behind her, and she rolled her eyes when she saw who came in the door. “Did you bring all of this weather down from Hogwarts with you, Professor?” There was something teasing in her voice, but she was still amused by the fact that he had finally decided to become a professor. He was her friend, after all, and she thought that it was something that she honestly should have seen coming. But she figured there were other reasons that Draco Malfoy would enjoy being a professor that had a lot less to do with teaching. “What are you doing in Glasgow, Draco?”

Draco Malfoy • 640 • catherine's outfit

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Space Cowboy
_{Guess I'll see you 'round again}

Draco came out to Glasgow a lot. Nearly every time he left campus, he found his way here. He had to keep checking in on his mother.  He had to make sure she knew she was not alone and that she had someone who loved her and could be depended on. His father had failed them both so much. It was heart-breaking to him. Draco saw his mother as this incredibly strong and brave woman. She deserved to be honored and cherished. She deserved so much more that Lucius. But he knew she would never divorce him. She would never even think of that as a possibility. For Cissa to be free, Lucius would have to die. But that was just not something that Draco had managed to muster up the ability to do yet. 

He had never been a killer--and even for his mother, he struggled to reconcile the idea of becoming a murderer. Lucius deserved death, no matter how Draco had faltered in going through with it. 

Patricide was not the only thing the Malfoy thought about. He thought about the new job opportunity at Bangor, too--and his research at Aurora. Hogwarts definitely did not challenge him. Even without magic, he could not find fulfillment there. It was so boring...and he really didn't actually enjoy a string of barely legal witches throwing  themselves at him. That thought was more appealing in theory than in practice. The girls at Hogwarts with their uniforms and youth just struck him as very, very young. Sure, he had shagging some seventeen year olds over the years...but those girls had been picked up in clubs and pubs. It had never felt like any sort of victimization--those had been opportunities. Anything with someone from Hogwarts would just be an abuse of the position. He wasn't that sort of bloke. 

So, he found his companions outside of Hogwarts. 

He'd popped in to check on his mother and then at her request gone down to the general store. Draco was not sure if she really needed the things she had listed out for him to pick up or if she just wanted him out of her suite. He worried for her, because he knew her-- But it was a fine line. He didn't want to smother her or make her feel like she needed to be fake with him. The wizard liked to believe he could see past her mask, if she did try that...but she was a woman of many talents, perhaps she could even manage to deceive him. He hoped, in time, she would not need to try though--he wanted her to be happy. He just didn't know how to make that happen. 

Losing magic had been hard on them all. He did not realize the full extent of what his mother had lost when the epidemic stripped them of their magical abilities. He was an occlumens like her, but he had far less to block out.

Draco was not the only shopper in the Old Blue's, but it was one particular witch that put a wide grin on his face. It was always a pleasure to see Kate Yaxley--sometimes much more the others. He'd known her in the biblical sense more times than he could count in a great number of places. She was beautiful and cocky and always interesting. He grinned at her as she greeted him. "I can't take blame for that, Kate. Just came down to visit Mum. She's pretty much staying at the Elbow now. Can't say I blame her... Lucius still has his magic. Figures the insufferable git would avoid getting sick." Draco was not open with many about his feelings about his father, but Kate was a friend. She knew. She had known for years. The pair had really gotten to know one another during their time at Gráinneog. They'd both been Slytherins, but with her being so many years younger than him. He hadn't really known her back there. He'd have missed her at Gráinneog, too, if he had gone there right out of Hogwarts. But he'd done his four at Bangor first... So, they'd gotten to the Institute at just about the same time.

"But what about you? How you been? Heard you got a big promotion--Congrats."

@kate
OUTFIT | 700+

SPACE COWBOY

I KNOW MY PLACE, AND IT AIN'T WITH YOU

SUNSETS FADE, AND LOVE DOES TOO

Figuring out life now wasn’t so bad. There was nothing about her career that she had to have magic for. Even her communications with spirits hadn’t been stopped. She could still talk to the spirits. There was nothing magical about that. Or if there were, it was so deeply a part of her, that she didn’t need to be able to feel her magic to understand it. To understand them. She liked ghosts though, they often had something to tell her. They were helpful, at times, when it came to preservation as well. She often learned more about a structure from the local hauntings than she did from the living.

But Kate was glad to be free of her Ministry job. It had been nearly a year now, and she had no desire to go back. Lady Anička had promoted her, and she thought that that had helped. Having more responsibility at the magazine meant that she had less time to be in the Ministry anyway, and she would much rather have been writing. As strange as it was, she knew that it was what her mother would have preferred for her as well. She wanted her to be more proper. She wanted her to marry, and have children, and everything that a lady her age should have had well in hand by now.

If she were being honest, she wasn’t sure what she wanted. Certainly not a stuffy pureblood marriage that was only for the purpose of having an heir or two. If she had children, she wanted to have them for the right reasons. She wanted to have them because she wanted them. Because she had finally decided that she was ready, and that she could handle it. When they had lost magic, she had known that she had to be more careful. There was no magical safety net if she fell too far. Not anymore.

She had had to make a choice, and she had. No more alcohol. Alcohol hadn’t been her poison of choice all of those years ago, but Kate would never risk that slip back into the things that she couldn’t control. She was better like this. She was testament to the fact that you could get your life back on track. Losing her brother to that coma had messed her up. And she had had to figure out how to be a person without him. Sometimes she thought that that was why she put so much distance between herself and Davina.

They had both had to learn to be without Griff in their lives. And she thought that they had figured it out in much different ways. Davina’s had been… Healthier. And now she had everything that Vitalia wanted for Kate. And that was a hard concept to embrace. The fact that to her mother, Davina was perfect, and Kate came up just that much short. What would she do if she knew that she had actually gone with Kirk for those couple of weeks? That she had run away with the halfblood pirate and his muggleborns? Have a heart attack, most likely…

Something like that was most likely to kill her mother out of pure shock. “Of course he did…” Blue eyes rolled a little bit as she shook her head. Lucius Malfoy was probably the last person that Kate hoped got to keep their magic through all of this. She had heard that his mother worked up here in Scotland now, but staying here was quite different. A fact that she figured he had let slip by accident, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy would always have to be Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy.

Her smile changed when he mentioned her job and she nodded, “I did. Thank you. I really enjoy it. Who would have thought we’d turn into this? Respectable adults. The both of us.”

@ space cowboy • 643 • catherine's outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

SPACE COWBOY

I KNOW MY PLACE, AND IT AIN'T WITH YOU

SUNSETS FADE, AND LOVE DOES TOO

Draco did not have too many friends. He had loads of acquaintances, but he only had a few friends--and the woman in front of him, she was his best friend. They had been through a lot together. She understood a lot of the suffering that he had endured. She had gone through the same. The pair of them, they matched in the damaged that darkened parts of their soul. It drew them together. It made them close. It had led to them finding physical comfort with one another more than a few times. Coat closets had been more common for them than beds when it came to shagging--and though there was love between them, it was not the sort that was manifested through those acts. He loved her, but he wasn't in love with her.

He never wanted to lose her, but he could not really make a relationship--in the romantic sense--work. And truthfully, he did not want to try. He did not want to think of opening his heart to the woman in that way, because if it didn't work, he didn't want to even think about that. They needed one another to be what they were. What they were worked and he was thankful for it. They had the sort of friendship that persisted. It did not need constant tending to remain strong. He could see her today and tomorrow and not again for a month or two and they would be the same. The trust between them would not erode. The natural chemistry and ability to talk to one another would not change. Time did not touch them.

Their friendship was something he could count on to weather whatever life took them through...and it was good to have something dependable and unchanging. It was good to have Kate. He trusted her, which was why it was nothing to him to tell her about the situation with his mother. It wasn't like people didn't know. There were whispers. Draco did not contribute to the gossip, but he did not speak up to deny it either. It brought him some level of satisfaction for his father to be embarrassed by it. The man deserved much worse in his son's opinion. Draco was more than happy to let talk of his patriarch to fall away with only a few exchanged comments. He did not like to linger on the fact that his father had his magic.  It was really annoying. He was a bloody number cruncher. He did not need his magic to do his job.

Draco noticed the visual change in his friend as he spoke of her job. It was good to see her glow like that. He was proud, and it reflected on his face. "Good- it is important to enjoy how you spend your days. I'm happy for you." He was, too. Genuinely. He did not love what he was doing at  Hogwarts, but he had been very passionate at his work with Lucent and now this new opportunity with Magnus Everlight, opening up a research facility. That was something to get excited about. That was what he wanted his legacy to be.

She called them respectable adults and he laughed. "Somehow we managed it. Though most days not even I'm sure how." His grin grew as he joked with her. Draco did know how, of course. They got where they were through dedication, hard work, and by making the right choices to overcome mistakes of the past and unfortunate circumstances. His work with Everlight was a big part of him trying to right old wrongs and make the world a better place. He was eager to share that with the people he cared about. So, he decided to extend Kate an invitation to visit. "You should come by Desiderium. We have most of the place up and running now--see what we are about, the work we are doing. I don't know if there would anything of interest for your HOME readers, but we have mazioologists and herbologists doing some interesting things with some really gorgeous plants and creatures."

@ sure, you're a respectable adult • 678 • outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

SPACE COWBOY

I KNOW MY PLACE, AND IT AIN'T WITH YOU

SUNSETS FADE, AND LOVE DOES TOO

Life was a complicated thing, and Kate had honestly expected nothing less. People that thought that it got easier as you got older were either crazy or liars. She hadn’t quite figured out which, but she was certain that there was more to it than that. She thought that it was something that they were just going to have to try and figure out on their own, all of them. None of them were the same. None of them had the same reactions to things. No one lived the same life that you did, and Kate had to wonder if maybe they weren’t all a little crazy when it came down to it.

Being just a little crazy made it easier to get through life though. They had to figure out what was going to come next. They had to figure out how to handle everything that was thrown at them, and this Epidemic was just another challenge. It was just something else to try and work through, and she was glad that she wasn’t a potioneer. Or an alchemist. Or a spell inventor. She was glad that she was a journalist. That she was an occultist. That the things that she did, didn’t take magic. She could continue to work.

And she was glad that she wasn’t still in the Ministry. It wasn’t that she would have hated working for Andromeda. That wouldn’t have been terrible. But she didn’t belong there. She was far too free spirited for that place. And the more Death Eaters that had come sweeping into the place the more Kate had wanted out of there. She wasn’t that person. Yes, she was a Yaxley, and she knew exactly what that meant. She knew what was expected of her. But she also knew that she could be happy without that. That she didn’t want that. Not the rigor, and the structure. She wasn’t that person. She didn’t marry because she was told to. She didn’t do anything because she was supposed to.

She was the wild child. And she knew that there were plenty of people that thought that she was too wild. That thought that she was going to ruin the family name with her antics. But she had never done anything that was going to be too catastrophic. She hadn’t helped the muggleborns escape or anything like that. Not that she was going to be the first to turn in the one that Kirk had helped escape either. But that was an entirely different story. That was something that she didn’t want to think about. They were safe with him, and that was all that mattered in the end.

Kate wasn’t going to get anyone hurt. She wasn’t going to get anyone in trouble. She didn’t care if they were going to run off and go sailing around the world instead of turning themselves in. that was fine. They could do what they wanted. She wasn’t the police. That was her brother, and even Griff knew that there were things that you just let go. He hadn’t gone after the Potters after all… There were things that were just too important. Things that mattered more. And family would always be one of them.

The red head thought that if anyone understood that, it was Draco. He was probably her best friend, and she didn’t think that there was anyone that she could attribute a more precise sense of what family meant to. He had done everything that he had done in his life because of family. He had made the choices that he had, because of family. And she didn’t think that there was any reason to really question that. Still, when he spoke of his mother, she knew that she was privy to things that no one else was. He wouldn’t share things like that with everyone.

“You seem plenty happy enough with that place.” Her smile remained bright as he spoke of his company and she was proud of him for it. "I’ll have to come by, maybe in the spring once all of your herbologists have everything blooming. I’d love to see it.” She would too, she wasn’t simply humoring him. He was so passionate about his work, she wanted to see everything that he had done, in all of its glory. “You’re what… Improving today for a better tomorrow?” She didn’t exactly know what the purpose was, but she thought that knowing Draco, it was some save the world type of project.

@ mr save the world • 753 • catherine's outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

SPACE COWBOY

I KNOW MY PLACE, AND IT AIN'T WITH YOU

SUNSETS FADE, AND LOVE DOES TOO

Kate had been by his side for along time now. She got him and he liked to think he understood her, too. They had chemistry and in another life might have been man and wife. Perhaps if they had not had so much damage, particularly the same kind of damage they could have made it work in this one. He certainly loved her, which was more that some husbands could say for their wives. And she was a fantastic shag. There were more than few reasons why they could have made a life together work. It just had never exactly played out that way for them. 

That was alright. What they had was precious in its own right. A true friend was an invaluable and precious thing. He was honored to be able to count Kate as his best and closest. She was undeniably who he would call if he had a body to bury, just like she was who he would go to if he was stricken by a devastating heartbreak. Draco trusted the woman. He knew that she would give him honesty when most wouldn't. There was trust between them. It had been cultivated over a lifetime.

It was really exciting to share with her about Desiderium. He was so proud of the project and what they were going to do there. It made him proud. It validated him and made him feel a bit less guilty about the Malfoy wealth that had been restored to the family when the Death Eaters over threw Durant. The muggleborns were still enslaved, which nauseated him, but at least he was using funds out of the Malfoy vaults to better humanity. For the last two years, until the travel ban went into effect, he had been using funds out of those vaults to sneak muggleborns into France. Funding and supporting the Sanctuary helped assuage part of the guilt that burdened him over the subjugation of those of lesser blood statuses. Nothing could take it away-- not completely. Especially while the registration was still in effect. But he still tried to help as he could. With Lucius still holding the Malfoy seat for the Wizengamot, there was little Draco could influence in respect to legislation. 

But, he could fund Desiderium. He could work on improving efficiency and effectiveness of potions and treatments. He could do his part to cultivate knowledge and progress. He nodded his agreement when she commented he seemed happy with the project. "I definitely am." He was. It was the most proud of anything that he had been in his adult life. Because this was his. He was guiding the direction the organization would take. He was going to make sure that good came from this. "You should. They will be delighted to have someone appreciate their efforts." Desiderium was not open to the public, for obvious reasons. So, it would be rare for someone not employed by the research firm to grace the greenhouses. Perhaps he should look into allowing tours, if there would even be interest by the public for such a thing. 

Draco could not deny the assessment that Kate made of what they were trying to do at Desiderium. His grin grew and he rolled his eyes. "I'm not sure I'd go with quite such a cliche description." He shrugged. "But that's not far off. We're not-for-profit, so the goal is to advance knowledge. There are things that corporations and businesses and even hospitals cannot really afford to invest in pursuing, because there would just never be a profit in it. These are the advancements that must be made by someone willing to fund the progress. I'm willing." And he was. He would happily empty the Malfoy vaults to better the world. His family did not need all of that wealth. His mother would not even really suffer if he did manage somehow to spend the exorbitant fortune the Malfoy vaults held, because far, far more rested within the Black coffers. So really, there was no downside that he could see in what he was doing. It was good to make up for all the bad that those with tattoos like his on their arms had caused. He believed in this penance. 

@ miss fancy writer lady • 707 • outfit

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