@serastarless mack & sera.
These parties put Mack in his element, he could dial the setting from drunk, volatile and moody to drunk, charming and cheerful in mere moments. There wasn’t a person there that didn’t know Mack was in the Malfoy Manor. Women woo’ed over the poor soul that lost his father at such a young age and men clapped him on the shoulder, congratulating him at how well he was handling being the man of the family. Mack played along as the ideal pureblood elitist child, smiling and laughing at the right jokes. And skillfully avoiding the topics of marriage. He charmed the socks off the young women, but all the while waiting for the only young woman in the world he wanted to be with right now.
On the outside Mack was the perfect picture of composition, telling anyone that was willing the listen about how he had just been with Paris and Tristan. Yes, Bellatrix had as a matter of fact just told him all about that time Rodolphus had proposed to him. Calista and Seraphina had just gone to the ladies room, he was keeping an eye on their drinks for them. Lucius, Rodolphus and Rabastan had just snuck out for a cigar, don’t tell their parents. On the inside, Mack couldn’t stop thinking about just those people. He had wanted to go with them, spread some chaos and fear. Apparently it was exactly that reason why Rodolphus voted to leave him behind.
It didn’t take much longer for it all to become too much for Mack, excusing himself from Christian Borgin who was trying to convince the young Yaxley to sell an enchanted music box that Corban had once owned. Mack had been in the Malfoy Manor enough over the years to know the shortest route to the stables. That’s where he was when he heard the footsteps he would be able to pick out of a room filled with people, stood in a stable with horse shit stuck to the bottom of his brand new shoes and white horse hair scattered over his grey suit.
‘‘Finally, I was starting to contemplate leaving. It’s no party without you…,’‘ Mack trailed off as he turned around to grin at Sera, the grin freezing on his lips and his expression stilling. The grin turned into a somber wry smile, dropping the horse brush in the bucket he had hung over the stable door and stepping out. Mack pressed the door shut behind him, carefully latching it shut (after all, Lucius would hang him by his balls if he let one of his horses escape) and stepping towards Sera. Mack stopped when he was toe to toe with her, stroking his fingers gently down the side of her face.
There was nothing he could say, Mack knew the haunted expression in her eyes. He knew that from having it himself a year ago. Now their roles were reversed, and it was Mack’s turn to take care of her. Just as Sera had taken care of him.
seraphina parkinson was a death eater. there was no if, and, or but about it. she’d taken her dark mark with the express approval, no encouragement, of her father. had that been the dream? no. did she know what it was going to entail? yes. did that mean she was prepared for it? never. after finding out the truth of her birth, it was the safest option. it was a shield of protection that’s price was her service. seraphina parkinson knew her place, and it was to do as she was told no matter the circumstance.
when paris said that he needed her help, there had been no hesitation. there had been no pausing nor questioning. this had been the expectation from the very beginning, and it was time to follow through. eye for an eye. what sera hadn’t expected was the weight that came with it. the blind panic seeing calista injured. the way her stomach turned at the sight of the violence. how it felt like something inside her was cleaved apart with every blow that she had to make. how did all her friends do this without batting an eye?
the last thing sera wanted was to return to the party, but here she stood in the malfoy manor with all the pleasantries and decorations. it felt out of place to be in her sparkling party dress now. she felt like she was going to throw up. “where’s mack?” she croaked out instantly. that was the only person that she wanted to see now.
it took almost no time for her to make the walk out to the stables. sera had been wandering around this mansion for the better part of her life. the familiar sounds of steady brushing is what pulled her out of her thoughts first. her hair was dull, black, and whipping in the cold winter winds. when she spotted him stepping out of the stall, her eyes were just as grey as his.
all it took was the one touch on her face for sera to completely collapse into him. the sob that she had been choking down finally bubbling to the surface and pouring out of her. “what did we do?” she asked pointlessly. sera knew exactly what they had done.
