Fic: Promised - Chapter 51
Title: Promised
Author: neddiheht (Ashavan Doyon)
Artist: ritalaura2000
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: All ATWT characters the property of P&G/Telenext. Harry Potter and the characters associated with that universe belong to J. K. Rowling, Warner Brothers, and Scholastic. No copyright infringement intended. No profit made from this fiction.
Characters/Pairings: Noah/Draco, Luke/Neville, Luke/Noah, Draco/Harry. Some mention of other fun pairings not involving Luke, Noah, Draco or Harry.
Word Count: 205,207
Warnings alternate universe, graphic sex, arranged marriages, mpreg, some mention of non-consensual sex. This is a Nuke fic set largely in the Harry Potter verse and combined with a Drarry pairing.
Summary: Luciano Grimaldi was a perfectly happy young wizard. His family carefully neutral during the war, he has found happiness in the years since Voldemort's fall with herbologist, hero, and friend of the Savior, Neville Longbottom. Only he's just been informed that in the tradition of ancient pure blood families, he was promised at birth, in an offering to keep his family safe, to the son of infamous American Death Eater Winston Mayer.
Noah Mayer is a very unhappy wizard. In love for years with fellow Death Eater Draco Malfoy, the two young men have secretly found solace and love in each others arms, dreading the day they knew would come. They are promised, in the traditions of the oldest families. Promised to young wizards who didn't know. Married, for all intents and purposes, almost at birth to strangers who will doubtless hate them. Now they must surrender to duty and obligation. Now they must turn their backs on a love they know and risk everything for what might be. Noah always knew he hated pure blood traditions. This was why.
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Chapter 51
"Luciano... I should go."
"I want you here. I promised you dinner with my family. And awkward and frustrating as this is, it is dinner with my family," said Luke quietly. They had made it as far as the enclosed porch, but not into the house itself. Outside Holden and Lily were still talking softly. Luke ran his hand up and down Noah's arm. "That was amazing what you did out there. Removing the Dark Mark, that's supposed to be impossible."
"Doing impossible things... please tell me that's not what you want of me..." Noah looked away. "I am not good at this. I was not good at it with Draco, and I..."
"I think you're doing just fine," said Luke, leaning up to kiss the dark haired man on the cheek. "Don't get upset at yourself just because my parents are being... difficult. They don't mean to be, they're just," Luke sighed at Noah's sudden stare. "Well. Okay, so they meant to be. You were a Death Eater, Noah."
"I was," said Noah softly. "And I have said before... I do not regret it. I took my vows to the Dark Lord to protect Draco because I love him." Noah turned to seize Luke's shoulders, looking at him suddenly intense, his blue eyes suddenly piercingly bright. "There was no other reason, Luciano. I am... I am a rather poor dark wizard."
Luke shook his head and cupped a hand against Noah's cheek. "Bubby... I saw your hex work. For a rather poor dark wizard, you cast a rather effective curse."
"It doesn't frighten you?" asked Noah plaintively.
Luke shook his head. "Surprised me, maybe," said Luke, patting Noah's cheek before seizing his arm, "My Hufflepuff. But no... it doesn't frighten me."
"It should..."
"Come on inside. Gram made dinner. It'll be fine."
Noah shook his head. "They'll never accept me," he said quietly. "Even without the mark, it's all they'll ever see."
"It's not all that I see, Noah," said Luke, his voice a whispered breath. "Does it bother you that I see this mark instead?" Luke pulled up Noah's sleeve to reveal the silver tracery that extended down from his hand. "That I see the promises you made to me? That those are more important?"
"Luciano... I... I meant my promises. You know that..."
Luke smiled at Noah. "I am bound."
"I am thine," breathed Noah.
Luke leaned forward and kissed him briefly. "Come on, bubby. Gram's sweet potatoes are not a dish to be missed."
Noah gulped and followed Luke back into the kitchen. Emma smiled softly at both of them.
"Holden and Lily coming?" she asked.
"I don't know," said Luke. "They... given that they arranged this... they have not been..."
Emma's forehead wrinkled. "Luke, give them time. I think there's more to your young man than they know."
Noah let out a soft chuckle. "I think it's what they do know that's the problem."
"Well," said Emma moving forward and setting a comforting arm on Noah's shoulder. "It's my house, and you're welcome here, Noah." She turned back to the stove. "Dinner's almost ready. Luke, dear, could you get the table ready?"
Noah smiled and pulled his wand tapping the table once and place settings appeared, each in perfect form, one after another. "Thank you, Emma. Your welcome means a lot to me," he said.
"Nonsense, Noah. You are family. Just, now, you make sure you do right by my grandson. That's all I want, is for him to be happy."
Luke stepped up to Noah and grasped his arm. "And you accepting him, Gram. That... I... I know it's not easy."
"Nonsense," said Emma. "I'm your grandmother, Luke. My only job is to love you, to accept you. For what you are, dear, not what I want you to be, not what your dad wants you to be. But for what you are."
"It's still... thank you."
"Sit, sit! Dinner's ready," said Emma, smiling as she carried a large dish full of pasta to the table and set it out on a trivet. She set a hand on Luke's arm. "You sit, I'll go get your parents."
"They..."
"They'll get used to it, dear. They will. Now sit, both of you. Your dinner will get cold."
"Yes, ma'am," said Noah, taking a seat and pulling Luke down to sit next to him.
Emma slipped out onto the porch and walked up to Lily and Holden.
"Well?"
"It's nothing, Mama. Don't worry about it," said Holden.
"Nothing? Lily, you bound him to that boy and now you're not happy they're together?"
Lily's eyes narrowed. "This is none of your business, Emma."
"He's my grandson, it is my business."
"I'll break it."
"No. You won't. Stop confusing the boy," said Emma. "Don't you understand? He needs you to support him..."
"But Mayer was..."
"Noah is his husband," said Emma. "That's done. Now you want to break it? I would say you're a bit late."
"But Mayer..."
"Noah will do right by our Luciano," said Emma. "You just have to let him."
"But Luke was in love..."
"I know. And so was Noah. They are trying to make this work, Lily."
"Mama, you don't understand," said Holden.
"I understand plenty. You made a mess for my grandson. Both Noah and Luke are trying to make that mess work, and now that you've made it," she gestured between the two of them before putting her hands on her hips, "you've made it difficult. Because you won't accept Noah. Who chose Noah for him, then?"
"I did," said Lily. "But he wasn't the match I wanted."
"Your son needs your support, Lily... Holden. Both of you. Now you go in there and give that support."
"He was a Death Eater, Mama!" said Holden. "If Luke had chosen him... maybe I could overlook that then..."
"He's a guest at my table!"
"But, Emma..."
Emma's voice became very soft then. "He loves our Luke."
"He doesn't!" said Holden.
"Oh, I think he does."
"Oh, Emma," said Lily, "you can't think Luke feels the same way..."
"I think he's standing up to both of you," said Emma. "I think... I think if he searches and finds the feelings there in Noah that he might allow himself to find those feelings in himself."
"You can't be serious, Mama..."
"I think he needs our support, Holden. You've always given him that. Why are you hesitating now?"
"Noah's a wizard, Mama," said Holden. "He'll be gone. We'll lose Luke to that world. We'll just be... we're only Muggles to them."
"You really think I think that Luciano thinks that way? That I would make him..." Noah stood in the porch doorway and sighed. "I never had a family. That you think I would take away his..." He turned to the side and slammed his hand into the frame of the door in frustration. "That you'd think Luke could do that, could ever feel that way. You don't have any faith in him at all! Don't you... can't you see him... all you have to do is look at him to know he'd never..."
Luciano appeared next to him from inside the porch, draping himself against Noah's back. "Shh, bubby. Dinner is on the table. It's time to eat."
"But they think..."
"But I don't. Trust me. Let's eat." He looked over to Emma. "We'd love you to join us, Gram." With that he pulled his husband back into the house.
Emma turned to Lily and Holden and shook her head, raising her hands into the air. "Fine. You two fight." She backed away and then turned and walked back into the house, opening the door to the kitchen to find the two young men sitting together, placing their foods on their plates. She smiled and joined them, spooning food onto her own plate also.
"I'm sorry about Lily and Holden, boys," she said seriously. "Give them some time, they'll come around."
Luke sighed and shook his head. "I don't think they will. But I'm glad you... it means a lot to me, Gram."
Emma smiled. "So, Noah. Potions master? Is that a job?"
Noah laughed as his hands sought out the salt and pepper. "Not as such, though it can be. It's more of a qualification really."
She raised her eyebrows a little. "So what do you do then?"
"I'm... I trust you can keep a confidence?"
"That secret?"
"Well, more so than just being a wizard, which is clearly a secret you already keep. I'm an Unspeakable," said Noah.
"I... I'm sorry, I don't know what that means," said Emma looking a bit embarrassed.
Luke chuckled. "I'm not surprised, Gram. It's not exactly as explicit as potions master, is it? He studies the mysteries, Gram. Time, death, thought. Prophecy."
"And which of those do you study, Noah?"
"We study all of them," said Noah. He paused and took a sip of the wine on the table. "But my focus is not on any of those. I study love, Emma."
"And someone pays you for that?"
"The government. I rather think they believe the other mysteries more valuable, but as it was, arguably, love that won the war," said Noah with a smile, "they conceded that more study was necessary. Gets them worked up now and again to have me being the one studying it, I expect, but that was my supervisor's decision, and she's a hero of the war and a personal friend of the Minister, so they," Noah's grin became a bit bigger, "they look the other way, if a bit reluctantly."
"You went to school with our Luke?" she asked.
Luke laughed. "I went to Durmstrang, Gram. Noah was in England at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
"There's more than one?"
"School of wizardry?" replied Noah. "Naturally. We're a small community but we're not that small. Durmstrang is a well respected school... one of the best. Hogwarts..."
"You can say it Noah," laughed Luke. "Hogwarts is the best. It was led by arguably the most powerful wizard in the world until a few years ago. But it is circumspect about the curriculum."
"I don't understand..."
"What he's meaning to say," said Noah with a glance at Luke, "is that they don't teach questionable curriculum at Hogwarts. Only potions delves into anything remotely dark... while at Durmstrang they learn dark arts... blood magic, sex magic, pyromancy."
"Not exclusively," Luke cut in, "but they are taught along with everything else without prejudice."
"Meaning?" asked Emma.
"It means that my education doesn't cover how to bind someone in the way we were bound," said Noah his fingers gesturing between himself and Luke. "It means my education taught me to defend, not attack. My knowledge of such things came from my father, not from school. He was educated at the US War Wizards College... they... the government here likes to control wizards as a weapon."
Luke made a grumbling grunting sound. "I'm surprised your father let you go to Hogwarts."
Noah looked at the table. "He didn't. He refused my letter. I was given a scholarship to pay my expenses. Professor Snape came in person to deliver a second letter, to argue with my father. He's the only one who could have done it... convinced my dad to let me come."
"I thought you said Hogwarts was the best school in the world... why would your father..." asked Emma.
Luke glanced at Noah, unsure of how to answer.
Noah grasped Luke's hand and looked at Emma. "My father was a Death Eater, Emma. One of the worst. He wanted me to become a weapon. He didn't care about me learning anything else. I was a pawn. But he loved me too, after a fashion... so long as I." Noah stopped and closed his eyes. "I had to become what he wanted."
Emma shook her head. "I don't know how people can..."
"Gram. It's better, maybe not to dwell on it."
"Yeah," said Noah. "I love my dad, Emma. I do. That doesn't mean I don't know he didn't want a queer son. He was proud of me just once. When I chose to take the Dark Mark. It's not something I regret... I don't," he said, trying to ignore her shocked expression. "I did it so I could protect Draco. But it's not something to be proud of either. If I had any pride in it I would not have removed the mark." Noah squeezed Luke's hand. "So Emma... tell me. I fear I have little knowledge of Muggle occupations except as ideas. What do you do?"
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This story is written as part of the Nuke BigBang challenge. Check out the other authors' and artists' great work!