still love me the same

your smile's forever in my mind and memory

honey your soul can never grow old, it's evergreen

Rabastan had suggested a stroll down along the beach after dinner. He had roped Zoë into helping. Ori and Eri were cleaning up and dressing the boys, too. He had given both rings to the teen. He really hoped she would not lose them. That would be heartbreaking. He was really pleased with what he had found. When choosing rings for the witches, he had enlisted them both, but not for selecting their own-- he'd asked for advice on what to get for the other. Emmaline's ring was simple, but beautiful: a three carat pear solitaire platinum  ring. Unique, but classy--and not the ten carat behemoth he had initially had it in his mind to acquire. Andromeda's was much muchier. The center stone was marquis cut and just over four and a half carats. It was vintage--and very, very sparkly. He hoped she would like it. He wanted them both to be happy with the choices-- and not simply because he was giving them to them. 

The sun began to set over the horizon, bathing the world in beautiful oranges and reds. It was a beautiful sight, but his eyes kept drifting from one side of him to the other. No matter how beautiful the sunset was, it had nothing on either of the women holding his hands. He paused as they neared the water. "I love you," he whispered, brushing his lips over Andromeda's temple and then Emmaline's. The Lestrange took great care in showing affection to both women equally.  They were both so important to him. While certainly he had fallen in love with Andromeda first, he too had fallen for Emmaline. She was a missing piece in their lives. She was to be the mother of his child. They all had a place together-- and were better for each of them being there. 

His heart was thundering in his chest. This was the single most terrifying moment of his life. He had not been anywhere near this nervous either of the times he had been in front of the Wizengamot. They could have sentenced him to the Dementor's Kiss... But somehow this moment was bigger for him. It was scarier, but in an  amazing and wonderful way. Bloke truly had a romantic's heart. "Just a second, loves." He slipped his hands free of the women's grasps and went down on one knee. "Andromeda-- Emmaline-- I have something I would like to ask you." Pale eyes were lifted to the women, waiting for them to turn to face him.

They were having his children. Why was he so bloody nervous?! Logically it made no sense. He believed both would say yes. He called them his wives already. Why was this moment so nerve wrecking?! He could not even begin to understand it, but the man believed with his whole soul that he had found the family he had been searching for his entire life. He had things that he wanted to say, but they were getting all jumbled up in his head now. He pushed away all the prepared words and just began simply: "I have sworn to put you and our family first always. I would take a blood oath. I would swear an unbreakable vow. Neither would raise my commitment, because it is already absolute. Your protection and happiness are everything to me." He spoke with fervor, pouring his heart into the words he offered to the women. Rabastan wanted this moment to be precious, perfect and everything the women  deserved. They were true goddesses in his eyes. He lived every day to lift them up and support them.

He drew a breath and calmed his nerves, finding the words came easier now that he had began. "I spoke to you before Andromeda, months ago, about what I believed a marriage should be. Duties and traditions have a place in life, but I see more than that from a marriage. I want a partnership where each takes care of the other, giving and challenging to make us all the best that we are capable of becoming. And love. I want a life filled to the brim with love-- I walked away from a loveless relationship, because I could not live without it. And now, that has become that I cannot live without you. Either of you." His eyes were getting a touch watery as emotion manifested itself. The love he felt was so powerful that words were inadequate to describe it. He wished himself a poet so that he might be eloquent enough to explain the depths of how he felt to the women. Some might not understand their relationship, might judge them, but his heart was filled with the purest expression of affection, devotion, passion, and altriusm for Emmaline and Andromeda. They were cornerstones in the foundation of his world. 

@andi  & @emmaline
805 • pants + an unbuttoned white button down
tattoos are showing

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

into your loving arms

Kiss me under the light

of a thousand stars

Andromeda didn’t quite know what to think about everything that was happening in their lives. Had it all changed? Yes, of course it had. Everything about her life had changed. Her marriage had ended. Her boys were splitting time between here and with their father. She didn’t trust whatever witches he had parading around that castle when they were there. But there was nothing that she could do about it. There was nothing that she could do about any of it. She couldn’t change the way that everything had worked out. And if she had to do it all again, if she knew that that was the only way that she was going to end up here… She would.

Because she wouldn’t give up those boys for the world. They were the one thing that she would fight for, more than anything else. She would fight for her children. All of her children. The boys. The little girl that was hidden under her dress. Zoë. Teddy. Even Emmaline’s older children, if she had to. There was nothing that she wouldn’t do for them. And she knew that her love for them would always be so strong. But there were two other people that she hadn’t seen herself loving.

And it was the fact that there were two of them, that shocked her more than anything else. She had loved Rodolphus. She wasn’t going to deny it. There had been such a genuine love there. But love that was not reciprocated was hard to maintain. And she had learned that the hard way. She had thought that she could love enough for the both of them. That she could make up for it by being more. By being everything. Doing everything herself. And she wasn’t sure that that was possible. She wasn’t sure that much of anything was possible, really.

But that love had shifted. It had changed. And he was always going to be her sons’ father. He was always going to be a part of her life. But Andromeda had a hard time being in the same room as him. She had a hard time breathing when he was in the same building, and she knew that that wasn’t good for her. And it really wasn’t good for the baby. But they would work that out. She would work that out. And it would get easier. With time. Knowing that the man walking next to her now loved her and wanted to protect her. That was enough to make her feel like everything was going to be okay.

They had started building this life together, before she had even realized what they were doing. Before she had even realized that she had made a different choice. And then she had very clearly realized it. She had realized that she had fallen in love with him. The kind of falling in love that she should have done years ago, decades even. She had ruined this once, a very long time ago. And they had found their way back together again. A little more broken. A little less steady. But there were going to make it work. Because she wasn’t giving up on it this time.

And she hadn’t expected to find her best friend holding on to his other hand. She hadn’t thought, when they had started, that there had been anything missing. That they weren’t complete enough as they were. But then joking about him getting Emmaline into their bed had become more than joking. And it had happened. A gentle push, and a smile, and Andromeda thought that it had been well enough received. And now they were here. Walking on this beach, on an island that they owned.

The house that they were going to build was going up on that hill… The ocean cast out in every direction around them. And Andromeda felt at peace here. She was happy. Holding his hand. Knowing that Emmaline was on the other side of him. They were in this together. All of them.

When he stopped them, Andromeda thought that she knew what was happening. They hadn’t been looking at rings for no reason, after all. They were both pregnant. They were all committed to this family. Making it just a little more official seemed the way to go.

As he let go of their hands, Andromeda reached out and wrapped hers around Emmaline’s instead. Her eyes fell to him, down on one knee in front of them, and she couldn’t help her heart fluttering just a little bit. There had been a time, not all that long ago, when this had seemed impossible. That there was no way that they could ever have gotten here. That they would have gotten to be together at all. And now they could. And they were. And everything that came out of his mouth, she just wanted to cry.

Marriage to her had never been what he saw. And he knew that. He knew that she wasn’t a very good wife. He knew what he was getting into. But he was going through with it anyway. Her free hand came up to brush her cheek and she leaned into Emmaline’s shoulder as he kept talking. She didn’t want to live without either one of them either.

@ the rest of our lives • 884 • andromeda's outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

I'm thinking out loud

Maybe we found love

right where we are

Rabastan had disappeared earlier, and Emmaline hadn’t thought all that much of it. She had come home after work, after lunch with Art, and being back in the office all afternoon, and she had taken a nap. Emmaline hadn’t felt great this morning, but she knew that she was better off than Andromeda was. The other witch could hardly stand up without feeling sick, and dizzy, and everything else that came with nausea and that wouldn’t quit. If she could avoid all of that, she thought that she would be doing just fine. And when she had woken up, she was just fine.

The boys were squealing, and laughing, and she assumed that her daughter had something to do with that. It was late enough, and they were all home, that she assumed that Sophia had gone home as well. Emmaline knew that her daughter was less than thrilled with the idea that the nanny was around all day. But she was not old enough to watch both boys on her own, and Sophia needed the job security that came with being their nanny. And she thought that, little did the younger witch know it, she had some tremendous job security.

More than her nausea, it was her guilt that had been sitting in the pit of her stomach all day. And she knew that she shouldn’t feel guilty for being happy. She knew that she shouldn’t feel bad that she had fallen in love again. But being around Art made her feel guilty. And that wasn’t fair, because he had been her friend for a long time. Nearly as long as she had been friends with Andromeda. But it was the reminder of Travis. It was knowing that she was so happy, and so content in her new life, and knowing how different that life looked.

But she couldn’t feel bad about that. She couldn’t feel bad about any of this. She had to just embrace it. Every time that she saw Zoë light up because of something that Rabastan said. Every time that she found her curled up on the deck chair with Andromeda talking about the stars. She knew that this was right. She knew that she had made the right choice, for both of them. They had been through that trauma together. And yes, her older children had too. Mallory, and Hallie, and Avery… They had all lost their father. But Zoë had been there.

She had been at lunch with him that day. She had been the one that had been in the Emergency Ward. Her head buried in Emmaline’s stomach; Emmaline’s own buried in Andromeda’s shoulder… They had been there, together, through all of that. There had never been a time when she hadn’t been able to count on Andromeda being there. And Andromeda and Rabastan together… They were everything that Emmaline hadn’t known that she was looking for. She had never in her wildest dreamed, pictured that this would be her life. She had never dreamed that she would be having another baby.

And here they were…

Everything about this was so far beyond what she thought her life was going to be. But it was moving again. They were moving again. For three years she thought that she had just existed. That she had gone through the motions of her life. And so, had Zoë. They were almost like ghosts of the people that they had been before. And she knew that she had finally taken that step forward. And in doing so, she had pulled Zoë forward with her. She wouldn’t have dragged her into this. She wouldn’t have forced this upon her. But she hadn’t had to.

Their lives were untraditional. Her daughter’s life had always been a little untraditional. A working mum, and a stay-at-home dad. No dad. Now two mums, and a stepdad. Little siblings. She was so proud of her. But there was a part of Emmaline that was proud of herself. That was proud of the fact that she hadn’t let the reality of this being so far outside of her comfort zone, scare her away. Of the fact that she had never even considered something like this, until it was happening.

Her life was boring, plain. So very different than the life that Andromeda had lived. And yes, there was tragedy in it. She had lost the man that she had loved so dearly. But she had realized that she didn’t have to only have one great love. She could love again. She could love differently. She could love more. And she had. She had let them into her heart, and she had fallen hard for them both. Her best friend, and the father of her unborn child. They were her family now too.

Walking along the beach, she hadn’t really known what was happening when he let go, until he dropped to his knee. And for just a moment, Emmaline was sure that she needed to leave. That this was a moment that she wasn’t supposed to be a part of. Until he said her name too. Until Andromeda took her hand. And she realized, in that split second, that she was in this too. That he wasn’t just talking to the woman standing next to her. He was talking to her too. And Emmaline felt her eyes start to well up with tears.

@ forever loves • 900 • emmaline's outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

still love me the same

your smile's forever in my mind and memory

honey your soul can never grow old, it's evergreen

The Lestrange was a bundle of nerves. Rabastan wanted to get this moment right. He wanted to say every perfect romantic word. He wanted to be enough for both of them. They were more than he could ever truly deserve, but the man was than willing to live every day of his life from now until his death trying to be worthy. Perhaps that could be enough. Perhaps his devotion and support would bring them the joy and happiness they so deserved. He would never take them for granted. Not for one day. Not for one minute. Rabastan had been given such a gift--this chance at life and family with these incredible women was worth every struggle and sacrifice he had made in his life. 

He looked up from bended knee at the beauties. Love shone in his eyes and he felt sure that they knew he would lay down his life in a second for them and their family-- but more than being willing to die for them, he was dedicated to living for living--to ensure they had the best life possible. He tried to lay out an explanation for them both about the sort of marriage that he wanted, that he required. He had spoken to Andromeda at length about it in the days before they had gone beyond emotional companionship to physicality. But he needed Emmaline to know, too. Because he was not here to just ask for Andromeda to become his wife. He was asking for Emmaline's hand in marriage, as well. Polyamory was rare, but legal based on old patriarchal wixen laws--at least in the arrangement of multiple wives to a single husband. 

He looked from one to the other back and forth as he spoke. His eyes were glistening as he professed his love for the woman. "No matter the cliche of the words, I can say with absolute conviction and complete honesty. You--both of you--complete me.  We together are something beyond what I ever thought I would find. The love I know because of you two is greater and more powerful than any force or magic or drug that I have every experienced." He drew a shaky breath, doing his very best to control his emotions. They were getting the better of him. This moment was so important to him. He wanted it to be memorable and beautiful. He wanted it to be a tale they would love to share with friends and family. He wanted it to be as perfect as they were. 

Rabastan was smiling brightly as he gazed up at the women--even with watery eyes, he looked as happy as a man could possibly look. His whole person seemed to glow with love and devotion. He was so blatantly enamoured. "Emm- Meda--" He prayed out their names, softly with a sweet sincerity. "You are to be the mother of my children. We are already a family. You have given me the greatest gift I can imagine---and still, I'm here to ask for more. I come to you now to ask for the honor of being your husband. I will never desert you. I will never harm you. I will always protect you. I will always place your happiness and well-being as a guiding priority for my life. Every day, you and our family will guide my decisions, my choices. I am a man utterly and completely lost in love. Will you marry me?" Pale eyes were lifted to the women, searching their faces as a discreet lifting of his hand gave the queue to Zoë to escort the boys over. The toddlers came running, as best  as their little legs could carry them. Jewelry boxes were clasped in tiny hands as they did their best to make haste through the sand. It was adorable truly, but Rabastan could not actually see them coming since he was facing the two witches and the children were approaching from behind him.

His heart was thundering in his chest. He had felt it fight to escape the confines of his rib-cage before, doing its very best to go from him to those that truly had ownership over it. One little one bumped into him on the way past, but managed to stay upright. The jewelry boxes looked the same, but he had absolute confidence that Zoë had given the right box to the right boy before sending them off towards her mothers. The precious babes held the boxes aloft with a chorus of them crying out "FOR JEW, FOR JEW!" It was difficult to keep a straight face with that echoing over the beach, but Rabastan was too nervous to actually laugh. He was waiting for them to say yes-- or at least hoping against hope that they would. 

@ you are the ones I need
795 • pants + an unbuttoned white button down
tattoos are showing

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

into your loving arms

Kiss me under the light

of a thousand stars

If she could have gone back, and done it all over again, she would. Andromeda would do it all over again, and if she were being honest, she didn’t know what choices she would make. How different the future would have looked, if she would have done one thing differently… And she knew that that sounded selfish, and conceited, and in a way it was. But in another way, she wondered if it were true. Would he have followed his brother after the Dark Lord if she would have gone to him that day? Would the world have changed, would he have been home with her that night, and not torturing the Longbottoms?

Would it have made a difference, could Frank and Alice have been more a of match one on one than three on two? Andromeda knew that she would never have those answers. She would never know if she could have kept him safe, kept him with her. If they could have protected one another. Raised a family. Had a life. She could have been a doctor. He could have been anything he wanted to be… They had had their whole lives ahead of them, and she had ruined it. She had ruined everything. But it wasn’t that simple.

She couldn’t turn back the clock, and just wish everything to rights again. And who was to say if it would have even been right? She wouldn’t have had Dora. She wouldn’t have had Teddy… None of the babies that she had lost would have been those babies. Arcturus would never exist. Roarke wouldn’t be hers. There was a good chance that Roarke wouldn’t exist either. If she could change everything, Rodolphus might not even be alive. He may never have survived the war. Or Azkaban. Blair might still be alive… Everything could be different. Everything could change.

And she knew that thinking like that was going to make her crazy. Because all of those things had happened. Ted had died. Dora had died. Teddy didn’t want anything to do with her. She and Rodolphus were divorced. Blair was dead. Everything, and everyone that she loved got destroyed, and it was always her fault. She was the common factor. She was the thing that was killing them all. Wasn’t she? Was she the reason that they were all dead? It certainly felt like it could be the truth. That she was the reason that everything crumbled.

But this wasn’t going to. She had vowed to herself that she was not going to ruin this. And then she almost did. She had been so close to screwing it up. She had been so close to losing him for good. And she hadn’t. She hadn’t lost him. She had chosen him. In the midst of all of that chaos, she had chosen him. She had known what to do, and she had hesitated. Andromeda was not going to say that she hadn’t hesitated. But she thought that was only natural. She had been married to his brother. She was mother to his brother’s children… Though she had done the math, and she had made the decision unknowingly pregnant with his child as well.

This baby was their new start. This life that they were building here, on this island. That was what she wanted. That was what they all wanted. Because it really was all of them. Andromeda had been in love with him for longer than she wanted to admit. She knew that she had crossed a line, but she also knew that she hadn’t done it first. Keeping tabs on Rodolphus had never been her priority. But people talked. And when you were the Minister for Magic, people really talked. She might have fallen in love with his brother, but if Rodolphus Lestrange had ever loved her, that love had died in Azkaban.

But Rabastan did. And she knew that. She knew that he loved her. It wasn’t just that he said it. It was the way that he acted. The way that he treated her. Far more than just the words that could come out of his mouth, though she hadn’t realized how desperately she had missed hearing them, it was the kiss to her temple when she was distracted. And the fact that they never ran out of bananas. And the way that he adored her sons. There was so much love there, and she wanted that. And she thought that children deserved that. That they deserved lives that were filled with so much more than their own ever had been.

And she knew that she was going to say yes. When they had started talking about Emmaline’s ring, she knew that there would be one for her too. That marrying them both was going to happen. And she was okay with that. They wouldn’t be the family that they were if Emmaline, and Zoë, and the rest of her kids weren’t a part of it too. Marrying them both was right. It was what they needed. What this family needed. When she saw the boys come running towards them across the sand, she couldn’t help but smile even more. The corners of her eyes crinkled with the way that she smiled at them, and without even thinking about it, she let go of Emmaline’s hand, and dropped to her knees to meet her son.

Arcturus was excited, and nearly bouncing on his feet in front of her as she took the box from him, and she saw Emmaline crouch down to take the one from Roarke as well. Including them in this was special. It was something that she didn’t think any of them, the adults anyway, were likely to forget. But her eyes moved from the unopened box in her lap, to her son, and then back up to the man that had just asked her for the one thing that she should have done fifty years ago. “Yes…” Her eyes had softened, and she had scooped her son onto her leg as she knelt in the sand. “Of course.”

@ the rest of our lives • 1015 • andromeda's outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

I'm thinking out loud

Maybe we found love

right where we are

Choosing to love again was something that she had had to open herself up to. She had had to make that conscious choice to accept someone into her heart. And she had let Ian into her life. She had let him into her bed… And that had been something that she had had to really think about. Something that she had taken her time on. Getting her into bed was not the easiest of tasks. But he had done it. He had gotten her into bed, and it had been wonderful. She didn’t regret being with him at all. But she didn’t regret it ending either. Not in a way that was going to affect her in some profound sense. There was nothing marvelous about him.

He had been normal, and he had been sane. And really, all that had mattered to her in the end was that he had been an all-around good guy. That was what she had needed. She had needed someone that was going to pull her out of her shell. That was going to make her explore her comfort zones and learn about the person that she was going to be now. Because she knew that she was not the same person that she had been before everything had happened four years ago. She knew that she was not the one that had spent months on end, sorting things, and making things right.

She was not that person anymore. There was still an organized system to her life. But that system had never seen this coming. Emmaline had never seen something like this coming. Falling in love with her best friend was as cliché as it came. But she had. She had fallen in love with her best friend. And she had fallen in love with someone else too. The man that was kneeling on the ground in front of her somehow seemed like even more far-fetched of an idea than falling in love with Andromeda. Because she had known Andromeda for thirty years. She had seen so many different sides of her. She had lived with her as a part of her life for so long. But Rabastan…

Rabastan was new. And he was exciting, and she was happy. She was happy under his arm. She was happy holding his hand. And she was happy with the tiny little secret that she was still hiding underneath of her dress. She was happy that they were a family. She was happy that they had brought her into this. That she got to love them both. That she was a part of all of this. And it was an adventure. It was something that they were bound to get looks for. It was something that she was sure that they weren’t going to be completely accepted for.

But that was okay. She could handle it. She could handle the looks, and the whispers. She had left all of it behind once. She wasn’t going anywhere this time. She was Emmaline Avery. She was in love with a Black. And she was in love with a Lestrange. And she was going to make sure that no one had had right to take that away from her. Losing Travis, the way that she had, had changed everything. It had changed her outlook on life. It had changed how she perceived herself, and the world around her.

Losing him had meant that she had to figure out how to carry on on her own, and she hadn’t been very good at it. Emmaline had been fine. She had been going through the motions of her life, and she had been content with where she was. Btu that wasn’t what she needed. And that wasn’t what Zoë deserved. After everything that her little girl had been through, she was sure that she would move heaven and earth to keep her happy now. And she thought that the people standing here on this beach would too. She wasn’t in this alone anymore…

But she hadn’t thought that he was going to propose to her too. She had thought that they were picking out a ring for Andromeda. That he was going to propose, and that she needed to slip away. But then he had asked her too. The way that he spoke, the things that he said. They weren’t just for Andromeda at all. They were for both of them. And Emmaline couldn’t help the tears that caught on her lashes when he asked that question. Because she hadn’t been expecting it at all. If anyone would have told her that he was going to propose to her too, she would have said that they were crazy.

He loved Andromeda. Yes, they were family. Yes, she thought that they were all going to stay here together. But marry him? Marrying him was something that she hadn’t even considered. Some far-fetched idea that didn’t hold any weight. Only it wasn’t. Because he had asked, and the boys had come running along the beach. But it was the girl trailing behind them that caught Emmaline’s eye. Even as she bent down to smile at Roarke, and take the box that he was offering her, her eyes kept floating back up to her daughter.

Marrying somebody, or in this case two somebodies, was a big deal… And she wasn’t going to make this choice lightly. She loved him. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind about that. But marriage… She hadn’t been expecting marriage. “Mum…” The voice caught her attention from where she had turned back to Roarke and lifted him up onto her hip. Emmaline reached her arm out and wrapped it around Zoë’s shoulders as she kissed the top of her head. The other two were having a moment on the sand, and she let it happen. Her eyes drifted to Arcturus, content to play with the fabric of Andromeda’s dress, and her loose curls, as she answered Rabastan. And Emmaline smiled when she heard the ‘Yes’ come from the other witch.

@ forever loves • 1010 • emmaline's outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0