Title: Will Mother Magic Forgive Us Now?

Pairing: Lucius Malfoy/Jamie Potter

Heiress Jamie Potter's magic went wild when she turned sixteen. Unknown to her parents, the Black family Seer powers had been passed down to her by her mother. And to better view the world—past, present, and future—a Seer's shields dissolved when he or she came of age to properly utilize the gift.

Jamie clutched her head and screamed. Her soul felt naked to the surroundings, nothing to protect it from the raw input of the world and the other students in Hogwarts.

"What's wrong?" Lily Evans asked. "Jamie, what happened? What's wrong?"

Convulsing, Jamie continued to scream and cry. Her roommates alternately attempted to help her, find out what was wrong, and sent for Professor McGonagall.

Jamie had never taken Divination. She hadn't recognized the signs because she had always assumed her magical inheritance would come from her paternal line. She was, after all, Heiress Potter—not Heiress Black. And now her ignorance was exacting a brutal price.

Desperate for anything to stop the pain, Jamie reached out with her magic. It evaluated everyone it touched, and then pressed farther through the castle, picking up speed and urgency as it went.

"Jamie? Jamie!" Lily sounded frantic as she sat beside Jamie on the bed, trying to hold her still. She didn't use any spells, likely afraid that she would make Jamie's malady worse.

Just when Jamie was about to give up hope of finding anything with which to shield herself, her magic brushed against an enormous well of magic. It wasn't Light. If Jamie wanted to keep her sanity, she didn't have time to care about what that meant. So Jamie latched onto it and siphoned the magic from its source. She yanked it by the fistful and buried herself in it. She borrowed so much magic that a rippling gray veil began to cover her body, pushing away all who attempted to approach.

"What's going on?" Professor McGonagall asked.

Too busy struggling to shield herself, Jamie didn't answer.

Lily said, "It's her birthday, Professor. I think she received an unexpected inheritance." Lily's voice was thick with tears as her hands fluttered outside the gray veil of magic. "She was screaming in pain, Professor, and I couldn't do anything!"

The agony of so many souls and foreign magics touching her lessened as the shield around her strengthened. Jamie whimpered and shook. If her parents had possessed even an inkling that she would receive Seer powers, she never would have been at Hogwarts on her sixteenth birthday; they might not have allowed her to attend Hogwarts at all. Too many Seers had been kidnapped or driven insane for the Potters to chance the loss of their only daughter.

"It hurts," she whimpered.

"What hurts, Miss Potter? What's happened?"

Jamie couldn't answer McGonagall's second question. If news of her powers got out.… She shuddered, and it had nothing to do with the pain. She couldn't think of a single pureblood family that wouldn't scheme at the lowest of levels to have their own personal Seer—one bonded to the family and unable to betray them.

"I need … I need …" Jamie squeezed her eyes shut and folded the borrowed magic more tightly against her. It was so thick now that a gray haze colored all she saw when she opened her eyes again.

"Here," Lily said, before attempting to hand her a glass of water; it couldn't pass through the shields. She ended up setting it down on the nightstand, where Jamie picked it up. "Drink this. Your throat … it must hurt terribly." Lily was pale and shaking, arms wrapped around herself. "You were screaming for almost half an hour, Jamie."

"That long?" she rasped. It had felt like much longer to her. Then again, the countless flashes of visions that were all jumbled together in her head and made no sense surely contributed to her distorted understanding of how much time had passed.

Lily's smile trembled. "Can you tell me what—?"

There was a shriek of surprise by the doorway, and then Jamie's other three roommates all jumped on their beds and closed the hangings. Lucius Malfoy stood in the doorway; his posture reeked of predator. He was decidedly rumpled, as if he had climbed out of bed, thrown on the nearest clothes, and sprinted all the way to Gryffindor Tower from the dungeons.

"Mr. Malfoy! How did you get up the staircase to the ladies' dormitories? You will leave at once!" McGonagall snapped, scowling. "You'll be serving detention with—"

Lucius strolled past her as if she wasn't still speaking, deducting more points from Slytherin by the second. He spared a glance for Lily, whose face was now as red as her hair. However, Lily didn't dive behind her own bed hangings; she stayed at Jamie's side.

"I'll pay for the damage to the Guardian Portrait," Lucius informed McGonagall.

"Damage? What damage, Mr. Malfoy?" McGonagall shook with rage, something Sirius Black, Jamie's favorite cousin, hadn't been able to accomplish in five years.

As Lucius's eyes trailed over her, Jamie was oddly grateful that she was wearing her nicest nightgown. It was gold and embroidered. It made her look like a woman, not a child. With every step closer he took, her pain faded a little more. Lucius eyed the gray veil of magic and hummed. "Heiress Potter, now would be the appropriate time to explain why you've siphoned my magic."

"I …" Jamie stared at her hands.

"Jamie—"

"With all due respect, Miss Evans, my question was meant for Heiress Potter," Lucius interjected.

"I need it," Jamie stated. The thought of releasing it and not having the shield of magic around her was terrifying. The gray haze lightened, then turned translucent, as Lucius's magic lay against her skin like an invisible layer of protection.

Lucius raised an eyebrow. "How long, exactly, will you need my magical protection, Heiress Potter?"

Jamie hated how weak she felt. She was top of her year in Defense. She had received the highest ever-recorded score on the Defense O.W.L. last year when she took it early. She was the fifteen-and-under dueling champion of the British Isles. Yet, without Lucius's magic surrounding her, she could apparently no longer function.

"I believe I'll need it"—she met his gaze and prayed honesty wouldn't cost her—"until I die."

"Miss Potter, surely you're over—"

"It's against Malfoy Family Law to offer such protection to someone that is not a current or intended member of the family," Lucius said.

Wait, what? That had been the most roundabout probing on whether a witch would be receptive to a wizard's proposal that she had ever heard in her life. Jamie didn't love Lucius Malfoy. She had never interacted with him on more than a superficial level. However, he was what her magic found and clung to when insanity encroached and self-protection was an impossibility.

"Mr. Malfoy—" McGonagall might as well have not been there for how much attention she was receiving.

"Rumor has it that you're engaged to Lady Narcissa Black," Jamie said, wanting to make sure she had properly understood him.

A look had never been as derisive as the one Lucius wore then. "Rumor also has it that you and Heir Black eloped over the Yule Holidays."

Lily snorted. "I know. Sirius started that one himself to keep Pettigrew away from her." She blushed again. "Sorry for interrupting!"

"I'm not engaged."

"And I'm not bonded," Jamie countered.

Lucius studied her intently with a serious mien. "Would my magical protection be worth giving up your dreams of bonding with someone you love, Heiress Potter?" Lucius queried.

"Do you consider yourself unlovable, Heir Malfoy?" Jamie asked. His parents couldn't have taught him that; it was the most poorly kept secret that Malfoy parents were overly indulgent with love and gifts when out of the public's view.

"No." He stared at her as if she had said something surprising. "I'm a Dark wizard, Heiress Potter. Could you truly love a Dark wizard?"

Jamie knew he expected an instant response, which were typical of Gryffindors, so she took the time to think about it. They would celebrate the holidays with different rituals, customs, and traditions … unless she forsook her heritage to learn the Dark. Given her mother's bloodline, and the inheritance Jamie had received, that might be the wisest path for her to take, regardless of whether Lucius offered his protection permanently or ripped his magic away from her.

"Dark or Light, how could I not love a wizard who forfeited his own chance to bond for love to offer me his protection?" Jamie countered. A glimpse of the future came to her then, and it sent her heartbeat racing. It overflowed with love and joy.

"Show me you mean that, Heiress Potter, and my magical protection is yours."

"Mr. Malfoy! How dare you insinuate that she—?"

Jamie groaned. McGongall's inability to catch the nuances of a conversation was an absolute curse at times. Lucius had asked for an expression of trust, not that she bed him!

"Will my inheritance suffice?" At Lucius's acknowledging nod, Jamie donned the wrap that matched her nightgown and led him to the farthest corner of the dormitory. Telling people in general frightened her, but informing Lucius felt right—especially since he was going to be her bonded lord. She needn't worry about neglect or unhappiness at his hands. The love would come; she knew it would.

"Why did you siphon my magic, Heiress Potter?" Lucius asked, eyes occasionally straying from her face to take in the rest of her. It was appreciative, but not a leer. Her skin warmed instead of crawling.

"Our firstborn is going to be your heir, Lucius," she whispered, dropping his title. It didn't feel right to use it now. "His name will be Draconis Lucius Malfoy. He'll have your hair and eyes and my smile. He's going to make the Slytherin Quidditch team as Seeker in his first year. He'll be a spoiled brat, but we'll love him anyway."

"Our firstborn?"

"Yes, our firstborn."

Lucius grabbed her hand. "That implies there will be more children, Heiress Potter. The Malfoy Family has only produced one child per generation—"

"Since Lord Perontius Malfoy accidentally caused the death of one of Mother Magic's Chosen, bringing ill fortune on the entire family."

"How could you possibly know that?" Lucius asked, sounding wary.

"Because I've Seen it," Jamie replied. "I've Seen what happened as a result of it."

Lucius grasped her shoulders. "What else do you See?"

"Mother Magic's forgiveness, Lucius. I See Mother's Magic forgiveness," Jamie whispered. "I See prosperity, a way to save your father from a fatal illness, and your mother from a fatal riding accident. I See our sons and daughters, and their sons and daughters."

"Why now? After all this time, why will Mother Magic forgive us now?"

Jamie wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him. "Because you offered protection to Mother Magic's most fragile Chosen, without any ulterior motives. You offered while believing that I would never love you."

Lucius hugged her back then; his grip was gentle and strong at the same time. "Thank you, my lady, for stealing my magic."

She recalled the faces of her and Lucius's future children. They were many. Jamie's lips curled in a smirk. "It will be my pleasure."