demetrius mulciber is coming apart at the seams (scrubbedraw) wrote in blurred_lines, @ 2009-05-12 17:22:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! [1980-05] may, corbina lestrange, demetrius mulciber |
Who: Demetrius Mulciber and Corbina Lestrange.
When: 12th May, 1980, early evening
Where: Mulciber Manor
What: Something wonderful!
Rating: PG
Status: Complete
Demetrius had come to his parents' house about an hour early, taking some time to clean up his old bedroom (the house elves had gotten into it and he didn't exactly appreciate their love of reorganizing the things he had left behind) and pilfer a bit of his father's potion store. Though at about three minutes until six, he was in the sitting room (sitting down, as one should be in a sitting room), wringing his hands and shifting uncomfortably. There was always a level of nervousness associated with seeing Corbina. Though this time he was so convinced he was doomed to fail, he was half ready to go home and drown his failure already. Even if he hadn't actually failed yet. Leaning back on the couch, he nearly let out a yelp as he jumped up quickly. He'd forgotten about the pain. Leaning on things was rather uncomfortable, though Healers had told him repeatedly the pain would fade over time, though never subside. He wasn't convinced completely. People are often so convinced they'll be in pain all their lives, but only because they couldn't fathom being in anything but pain, a more patient, relaxed Healer (as opposed to the main Healer of his ward) had told him before he left. Though he realized that tonight wasn't the night to dwell on his pain. He could worry about that tomorrow or later. Looking at his watch again, he sat down again, his back perfectly straight but neither his back nor side touching any part of the couch. It couldn't be that hard, it surely wouldn't be the death of him. It was Corbina, out of all of the women he knew, he was easily the most comfortable around her. Demetrius took a deep breath. "It's not going to be that bad," he told himself quietly. He could feel his parents' eyes on his back, but he didn't want to acknowledge that they had entered the room at the moment. Corbina Lestrange didn't get nervous. Apprehensive at times, yes, and occasionally worried for the sake of others, but dinners and meetings for tea were something that occurred so often in society that even though she was having dinner with the boy who was courting her, to Corbina it simply felt like she was having dinner with a friend. After a week of playing runner for the Death Eaters (or as Rabastan had called it, playing house elf), it felt comfortable to return to this sort of normalcy, despite how much Corbina had enjoyed herself, actually fighting for the cause, rather than sitting along the sidelines cheering her support. Corbina wasn't a cheerleader by any means, and although she, like everyone, had gotten hurt during the battle, wounds could heal, and she wanted to continue to fight like she had that night. That night, though, she had a dinner to attend. Corbina was lead into the room Demetrius was waiting in with his parents, wearing a light green dress and flat shoes, trying her best to stand at the fine line between appearing shorter than she was while still standing up straight. "Good evening," Corbina greeted everyone, her eyes lingering a moment longer on Demetrius. He was looking much better than he had when she'd seen him in St. Mungo's. Instead, though, she complimented his mother. "Your dress is absolutely lovely, Mrs. Mulciber." Anastasia smiled, returning the compliment in regards to Corbina's dress and then turning away. She said she would return momentarily when dinner was actually ready. Demetrius sighed in relief, watching them leave. He stood up once the door closed behind his parents, pulling his watch out of his pocket and checking the time. "I'm guessing three minutes," he told himself. That probably sounded odd to anyone listening but it made perfect sense to him. If he had a time limit, he wouldn't be a coward and not actually go through with it. So three minutes before his parents came back and they actually sat down and had dinner. "How are you?" he asked, the first word he had actually spoken directly to her since she had arrived. He was always more comfortable in his own (well technically his parents' own) home than he was out in public. It was easier to relax. Though at the moment Demetrius was far from relaxed, he would just have to forget his tension and go for it without so much as a second thought. Though on second thought... No. Second thoughts were stupid. "I have something for you," he added with a bit of a smile, fidgeting absentmindedly. Merlin, Demetrius was spastic tonight. Corbina brushed off the fidgeting for the most part. She was used to it -- Demetrius was always slightly flaily when over-excited about something, although he had never quite been at the same level as Barty Crouch at that. He was probably simply relieved to finally be back at home: not at the hospital, not on the grounds of Hogwarts standing guard in front of an empty castle. "I'm well," she replied, almost on instinct. She was doing well, it wasn't a lie in the slightest, but even if something had been troubling her, her answer would have been exactly the same. It was nearly time for dinner. It wasn't time for discussing minor woes. "You're looking much better; I hope that you're feeling the same -- wait, do you?" she asked, forgetting pleasantries for a moment at the thought. "That's good," Demetrius said, running a hand through his hair absently, it seemed like it had gotten longer since his stay in the hospital and it now did almost nothing but hang in his face. "I feel mostly fine, thanks," he said quickly. "And yes, I do," he continued, reaching into a pocket and pulling out the rather small gift he had obtained. It wasn't flashy by any means, really, a simple silver boot knife, at a glance. "I got it from Borgin and Burkes before...it burnt down," he said, extending the rather unconventional token of affection towards her. Pausing for a second, he chewed on his lower lip. "Be really careful. It's cursed, so try to avoid accidentally cutting anyone you actually care about with it. There's a countercurse, which is the only thing that will properly heal the wounds. It's on a piece of parchment in the casing. I haven't even looked at it, you'll be the only one that will know it," he said. Demetrius had admittedly been rather pleased with this find. "I would be perfectly content knowing you'd never actually needed to use it, though. I'd prefer you not be forced to actually use your hands in a duel, but you can never be too careful, right?" he said, nodding slightly, consciously trying to keep his hands from moving too much of their own accord. Corbina had to admit that she was surprised. It wasn't often that girls in their society were given gifts that didn't fall under the broad category of "various types of jewelry." And while she would have appreciated that nonetheless (she was still a girl), she was rather touched that he'd gotten her something that might actually turn out to be useful in a combat situation -- or even in an every day situation, should their opposition begin to get more gutsy. And perhaps she was more like her sister-in-law at times than she usually thought. "I'll be careful," Corbina nodded, glancing to make sure Demetrius's parents weren't still lurking before accepting the gift, something telling her that his parents walking in on a knife exchange wasn't a situation that she wanted to deal with just then. "The cursed bit of it is extremely clever. Thank you," she replied with a smile, and after a moment of internal debate, hugged him. Demetrius smiled a bit, relaxing slightly. Though the brief moment of relaxation was interrupted when she hugged him. Demetrius wasn't exactly used to being hugged, the closest physical contact he had received in a long while had been his Healers wrestling him into bed one night when he had felt particularly obnoxious. But hesitantly he wrapped his left arm around her and returned the hug. It was actually sort of nice- hugging someone while he was sober. "I thought it was rather clever too," he agreed, pulling back from the hug and checking to see if his parents had reentered the room yet. He figured he had about a minute to finish all of this. "So, I sort of have a favour to ask you," he said. He was surprised she couldn't hear his heart pounding in his chest. It was making his side feel uncomfortably hot again. A favour, really, was that the best he could come up with? It wasn't a favour he was being completely ridiculous. Taking a deep breath, Demetrius decided it would be better if he just said it and got it over with instead of being nervous and playing word games or something. "Maybe not so much a favour as will you marry me?" A few seconds of silence later, Demetrius sat down rather suddenly and just burst into laughter. He was just an idiot sometimes. While Corbina had never been a particularly verbose person, it took a lot to stun her absolutely silent. She realised, after a moment, that her jaw was hanging open in shock, which she immediately fixed. No one would blame Demetrius for taking back a... sort of proposal, considering the potential bride presently was gaping a little like a goldfish in shock. Not exactly an attractive look. Demetrius had begun laughing hysterically before Corbina had a chance to reply, and was thankful for the extra bit of time that it bought her before she had to answer. "I..." Was that really him proposing? Merlin, she would have to make something up when people asked how he did it. Would she be getting a ring eventually, or was the knife it? It was nice, but not exactly something that one proposed with. Her mother and sister would murder her. "In theory or are you asking?" Taking a really, really deep breath, Demetrius tried to stop laughing. "I'm really sorry about that," he said, calming himself down and standing back up. The laughter had made his injured side hurt and he winced, resisting the urge to put some pressure on it. Another deep breath. "Sorry, I'm sort of an ar-" he stopped. "I'm an idiot. I'm sorry. I don't know why I was laughing." Another deep breath. "Let's just say that one was a theory question. Now I'm actually going to ask and I'm not going to be a moron about it." Taking a step closer to Corbina, and looking her dead in the eyes (he noticed that he was just barely taller than her, they were practically eye-level at any rate) he sighed slightly, trying to bite back a goofy, ridiculous grin. "For real this time, Corbina Lestrange, will you marry me. Maybe?" he asked, pulling the ring out of his pocket and offering it to her. He wasn't going to actually put it on her finger, just in case it didn't fit and ended up cutting her or something absurd and painful like that. It seemed like it had been ages ago that he had dragged Severus to look at rings with him. Months and burn scars later, he was actually presenting it to the person it was meant for, and he still felt really silly for it. "Better that time!" Corbina replied with a slight smirk, hoping to put Demetrius more at ease with the situation. It felt strange that he had worked himself into hysterics while she had remained (almost) completely calm the entire while. Had her friends taken their proposals this in stride when they had happened? Had her family? She would be Corbina Mulciber. Corbina Avara Mulciber. It didn't feel quite as natural as Corbina Lestrange, but she also hadn't spent twenty years growing up with the name. She cared for Demetrius, though; he was a friend, and that was more than many girls of her stature had in potential spouses. ...And the ring was quite nice, too. Much nicer than what she would likely get if she said no and wound up paired with Graley -- "Yes," Corbina nodded almost immediately as that final thought entered her head, taking the ring from Demetrius and sliding it onto her finger. "I will." Demetrius laughed a bit at her comment, though not the hysterical practically-high nervous laugh of a few seconds before, a more at ease laugh. The worst part was over. It was difficult to dwell on having to do one specific thing for even a few hours, and he had been stewing over this whole proposal business for nearly a week. It was difficult to stay calm at times. The moment she actually, really said "yes", he couldn't hold back a smile any longer. Very aware that it made the small scar he still wore on his face utterly noticeable, he found himself trying to contain the grin but failing rather spectacularly. Looking over his shoulder quickly to make sure his parents weren't gawking at them from the doorway (though he had a feeling they had been listening), he hugged her quickly, not the same as the one-armed hug from earlier. Relief had really overtaken him and he was actually completely relaxed for once. "I wonder what's holding up dinner," he said absently. It had probably been more than three minutes, maybe his estimate had been off. Oh goodness, that was slightly pouncy of him. Corbina let out a small laugh as he hugged her, his relief obvious and his glee a little bit hilarious, but Corbina appreciated it. It seemed utterly odd that someone was excited about marrying her. "Let's just keep the practice proposal between us, and I think we'll be good." Personally, she found it amusing, but didn't want to have to deal with the way that society would talk if they caught wind of it. "Curious. Perhaps we could go investigate?" "...That would probably be for the best, I don't think any of my friends would ever let me live that down," he agreed. Demetrius wasn't going to breathe a word of the first attempt, not even to Severus, which would prove difficult considering he told Severus practically everything. But that was an embarrassing moment he couldn't share, certainly. "We may as well go in there and wait if we're actually going to have to wait any longer," he reasoned, looking towards the door that led to the dining room. Taking a few steps in that direction, he tried to force himself to look neutral before he had to face his parents. It was proving difficult, but he managed. He was excited, to say the least. |