The Fallout ....
It had been days since they'd last seen Phoebus, they had been unable to find him, just waiting for news of him for so long. Anything could have happened. What if they couldn't find him? What if they did but they were too late?
Bella and Lucius were all but out of their minds, as was Axe. Her and Bella had wanted to keep Phoebus's disappearing act from Lucius and her husband, but as the hours passed they'd had to tell them what had transpired. Vittoria had done her best to placate them all to tell them all that she was sure he was fine but the more she said it the more she doubted herself.
The hours had turned into days and the days passed with no word from him, slowly they had all had to face the possibility that they may have lost him.
Vittoria's head was swimming with thoughts as she walked through the hospital in search of Phoebus. What if it was now him she found in a hospital bed? What if she found his lifeless body? She couldn't bear this any longer, it was torture.
She'd already checked the hospital when he first went missing but at the time he and the girl were nowhere to be found.
She didn't know what she'd do were she to actually find her reckless grandson. Part of her wanted to throttle him, the other just wanted to hold him tightly. She could only hope he was safe, hiding somewhere, and the Dark Lord hadn't actually set his daughter out to trap her grandson in some awful plot to kill him.
Then another awful thought crossed her mind, what if he had done as his father had done all those years ago? When she and Axe had forbidden him from seeing Bella ever again? He had said she was like family to him, clearly he was besotted, whether that was genuine or because of the girls Vela powers remained to be seen. Vela's could easily drive a man to killing himself - what about a young impressionable man like her Grandson, her Phoebus?
No! A shiver ran down her spine. No, she couldn't think upon it, she couldn't bear it, she shook her head, willing the thoughts to dissipate.
She had asked the hospital to inform her if they heard anything about Phoebus, or the girl.
Finally she had been contacted and informed that the girl was now here after being admitted, no one was to be told and it was being keep very hush hush, but being the owner of the hospital did indeed have some perks.
Just as she'd suspected, Theodore had arranged to bring the girl in. Vittoria was just making her way towards the girls room when she saw a tuft of thick brown curl hair out of the corner of her eye, her heart sunk it couldn't be? She whipped around to see that it was indeed her feckless grandson.
She couldn't deny the relief that washed over her to see him alive, seemingly unhurt. She rushed over, making her way to him, though she couldn't be seen with him, not like this, not here: she was too well known. So she walked behind him silently, making sure not to alert him, she waited until he was completely alone and no one was looking before she grabbed him, turning and apperating them both away with a pop before anyone noticed.
Vittoria took them to one her many apartments, she'd had it long before she married Axe. Her father gave it to her as a present for her seventh birthday, to help her build her property portfolio, she'd always cherished it deeply because it was the first thing she'd properly owned. That being said, she also knew it would be the last place any one else would look for her and for now, she wanted to be alone with Phoebus. Before her wilful Grandson could escape or pop off once more she was around him casting every charm she could muster. Making sure no one could come in - nor out of the property until she decided they could.
She clicked her fingers and summoned her most trusted elf,
"Go and tell Mistress Malfoy that I have Phoebus, tell her he is alive, he is safe and that I will send for her when I am ready, you are not to bring anyone here nor tell anyone where we are. You are not allowed back until I summon you, I forbid it, do you understand?"
"Yes Mistress." The elf squeaked and popped from sight.
Finally, she threw her arms around her Grandson and hugged him, truly so grateful to know that he was alive, "I am so so happy you're ok, well, alive, you certainly don't look ok." she held him tightly for a long while, before pushing him back to arms length and shaking him,
"How could you be so stupid, oh my darling boy what have you done?" She sighed defeatedly, releasing him. "Don't even think of running, you don't know where we are, and you are trapped with me, until I say otherwise. Do I make myself clear Phoebus?" She said to him sternly, raising her eyebrow at him.
Phoebus didn’t have time to react, to yell out for help. Instead he felt the familiar discomfort of side-apparition. He was nearly sick, barely holding it together as he registered the sight of his grandmother. He didn’t move, only his eyes watched her casting her charms. How could he begin to tell her she was who he was looking for in the first place, how he’d just left the love of his life all but fighting for her life as she underwent a change no one anticipated, that his only proper friend was there too, only hoping he wasn’t killed by the worse of the two factions currently after him.
He watched her plan to send for his mum, and a chill broke him from his stillness, in fact he began shivering. He wasn’t ready for this, why was he so stupid? How could he think he’d be able to talk to his grandmother and find a way put of this alive? Was he really this daft—?
Then she hugged him and he broke.
His shoulders shook with his quiet sobs, hugging her back tightly, he hadn’t known how badly he’d needed that until now. All the crazy things that happened in the last few days coming at him in waves, all the information he’d learned overwhelming him. Though it was a struggle, he managed to hold himself together as Vittoria released him from her embrace.
“I—“ he tried, before another soft sob escaped him “Tori please—please understand, I can’t d-do this without her.” He choked out, gulping down the emotions threatening to spill out of him.
Her command to not run away made him let out a short, mad, laugh as she shook him; “Run!? I-I was looking for you!” He wiped his face with his sleeve as another shaking, humourless chuckle left him. needing to take a deep breath but not able to. “Im so sorry, she wasnt okay…there was…there was so much going on. She—well, she wasnt well after her father. And then she and i told each other—well that we loved each other—and Theodore and I needed to take her to hospital because—well now she’s got this other thing—and—oh nan I dont know where to begin…”
She could feel her resolve faltering as he broke down in front of her, she couldn't imagine what he'd been through in the past few days, but given the state of him, she knew it wasn't anything good. All she wanted was to hold him and tell him it would all be ok. How could it be though? This was bigger than anything she'd ever fixed for him before, this may beyond even her vast talents.
Her heart hurt once more as he spoke of needing this girl, she could only imagine what she'd done to him, the ways she'd forced herself inside of her Grandsons head.
She quirked her eyebrow as he said he'd been looking for her, "Well, I suppose that's something, maybe there are some brains left in there hmm?" She said, ruffling his curls.
Vittoria gasped as he spoke of loving the girl, she was further unconvinced when he spoke of the girl loving him in return,
"What other thing? Where have you been? What's happened? We've spent days looking for you. When they told us you were in the hospital, we thought she'd hurt you, that her father had hurt you, or perhaps." Vittoria said sighing deeply before continuing, "Worse still, that you had hurt yourself." She said sadly, memories of Lucius's pervious attempt flooding her memories.
She shook her head, needing the memories to fade so she could focus on the task at hand, she waved her hand, summoning some soothing tea, "Here, drink this, it will help you to calm down, have you eaten? Well, regardless, you need to eat." She said, more to herself, she waved her hand once more summoning some calming cake on a plate with a fork and handed it to Phoebus. "Eat this, it will let you calm down and think clearly so we can get to the bottom of all this." She said, patting him on the shoulder gently.
Another shaky, breathless chuckle left him as she ruffled his hair, managing a small shrug. He sniffed, focusing on breathing as deeply as he could as she asked her questions. It was a stab to know who upset they were while he was away. It was more of a shock to learn it’d been multiple days since he’d seen them all last. It simultaneously felt like hours and millions of years.
“I…no I haven’t hurt myself. I promise..” he wasn’t going to tell his nan he had planned to hurt himself. He needed to help calm her not make her worse.
“Okay, okay, I’ll start from the beginning…” he sat down in the nearest sofa, placing his elbows on his knees and looking down at his hands. “She was…her father asked her about me. But she lied to him. She convinced him that we’ve got a platonic agreement where we’re pretending to be together so she’s left alone. She didn’t leave unscathed though she was really hurt. And we met up and she and I—well I already said…” he didn’t think it prudent to remind his nan that he and Mia are in love.
He was going to continue but she was presenting him with tea cake. Phoebus let out another mad-sounding laugh as he took it; this was getting more surreal by the moment. He wondered where he’d hit his limit and really start losing it. He didn’t protest though, taking a few moments to eat; sure it was laced with something as he felt himself take deep breaths he hadn’t been able to just moments ago.
“I told her about who I am, who mum and dad are. And she feared she would out us to her father because she can’t outright lie to him—as you know. So she thought the best thing to do was…well—she thought if she killed herself then she could protect us.” He sighed, swearing he could feel the potion keeping his emotions at bay, “I found her before it was too late. Theodore and I took her to the hospital. She was okay but then—nan shes a Veela. She’s going through some change? I don’t have all the details… apparently though, since they’re creatures of love and shed been so void of it , her change is coming in late. And uh… well since she’s in love it…it triggered the change.” He bit his lip as he looked at Tori, letting all the information sit in the air, sure that if he continued to speak he’ll say the bits he’d purposefully omitted from his account.
Vittoria sat down next to Phoebus on the sofa, watching him closely as he spoke. She was relieved as he said he wasn’t hurt, she still scanned him with her eyes nevertheless. She wanted to make sure for herself he wasn’t marked or bruised. Though he didn’t seem to have any external injuries, he still looked, well, awful. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something had happened to him, so feared the girls father or indeed the girl had done something to him, some kind of torture, mentally, he was well known for those things after all.
Her heart all but fell out of her chest as he continued, this couldn’t be, this was far worse than she could have ever anticipated. Though she was relieved to see that the cake and tea seemed to be helping him to calm down.
“You tricked her? Phoebus, how could you let her go to her father knowing who you truly were? How could you be so risky? Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” Vittoria groaned, holding her head in her hands for a moment.
Though she was up and looking at him once more as her need to quell her thoughts with answers brought her back from her despair,
“So aside from her not knowing who you truly were. She lied to her father? I know she can’t lie to him, we all know that, oh Merlin, what have you done?” Thoughts of how the Dark Lord would react once he knew, flooded her mind.
Though she’d love to think otherwise, she wasn’t stupid, she knew he’d find out.
“She cannot lie to him! So how did she lie to him? How do we know he doesn’t already know, your parents could be in danger as we speak!” Vittoria spluttered.
Vittoria physically shook as he spoke of the girl trying to kill herself so she didn’t give him away, that couldn’t be, she couldn’t, she wouldn’t care about him that much, she wasn’t capable, surely?
If that was true then as soon as her father found out she was injured and read her mind they would all be done for.
The more he spoke, the further she felt herself falling into hopelessness.
“No!.” Vittoria shook her head, “No! She can’t have done that, you must be mistaken, she must have tried to kill herself for another reason, you have to be wrong.” Vittoria said, her voice wavering.
“A VEELA!!!!!” Vittoria shouted, unable to keep herself at bay any longer. “No! This is too much, this is too far. Are you sure? Who told you, perhaps they’re wrong?” She said, hoping that anything other than this was the truth.
They’d all heard rumours of course, but it was always that she was half Veela, half of the benefits, charming and beautiful. Yet unable to change, or transform into a beast, a reckless, angry, killing machine. This couldn’t be true, this had to be some kind of nightmare she was yet to wake up from.
“We can’t do this Phoebus, this is too much, don’t you understand? She can’t be in love with you. Even if she is, she cannot be, he won’t let her, he’ll kill us all just to teach her that she isn’t allowed. Whether he’ll kill you first or she will by transforming and pecking you to death is up for debate.” She grunted, ruffling her hair anxiously. “We have to leave, we have to get your parents and your grandfather, we have to vanish, go into hiding, make sure we use all spells available to make sure no one knows who we are.” Vittoria said hurriedly, her brain swirling with the countless hoops they now needed to jump through to save themselves, to protect their family.
Phoebus froze, shit, he fucked up. He really fucked up. All he could do is watch his grandmother negate everything he’s just told her. As she should, of course, no one would imagine Damia to be anything but the image she portrays to the world. He should’ve known better than to just go out with everything—was there veritaserum in the tea shed given him…?
He flinched she began yelling, his lips pressed together in order to prevent himself from spilling more stupid shit. On the other hand, he could let Tori spiral like this, she was going to drive herself into a conniption. After he gathered enough bravado, he stood, gripping his nan’s shoulders and having her look at his face
“Tori! Please! I completely understand why you don’t believe me, I do, I promise. But please, I need you to hear what I’m saying, I am telling you only what i know to be absolutely true, without a shadow of a doubt—give me more Veritaserum, I wont argue. I am telling you the truth.” He searched her face for any indication of what was going through her head, hoping against hope that she would give him a chance.
“Let me…let me show you. Okay? Please?” He asked, “I can project it to you, you can have me put it in a pensieve. I’ll do whatever you need.”
