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Draco and Kathe sat on a balustrade of the castle, high above Kathe's domain of Let. The setting sun cast shadows on the ground below as it shone through the trees of the surrounding forests. Small white clouds raced across the blue sky. A crow landed on Kathe's shoulder and he petted it, running his fingers along the soft black feathers of its back. The two men made a striking pair. The stranded wizard and the ruling immortal Witch Lord. Both with white blond hair; Kathe's short and spiked with dyed black tips and Draco's longer locks swept across his forehead. Two pairs of storm grey eyes watching the sunset, the vivomancer's ringed in a brilliant yellow.
Kathe raised his glass of white wine to his lips, taking a sip he turned to observe Draco. "So in summary, you're telling me that you did a bad thing for a good reason."
Draco summoned the bottle wandlessly and wordlessly and poured himself another glass of wine. He twirled the stem of the glass in his hand, an attempt to hide the anxious thoughts flitting through his mind. "Not exactly, I did numerous terrible things because I felt powerless to do anything else." He paused, watching a pair of crows swoop past as they chased each other. He sighed and added, "And now I deeply regret it. If I'd been braver, wiser, less of a fool, less of a prat. It wouldn't have come to this."
"I'm confident whatever is in your past it doesn't compare with what I did… To her." Kathe flicked his eyes towards Amalia, who was sat chatting to Hermione on the ground below; the dappled sunlight dancing across their skin as a breeze stirred the leaves above them. The crow took off from Kathe's shoulder with a loud caw and flew to Amalia. It landed on her head and began to preen her hair, running its beak along each strand.
"I somehow doubt it," Draco replied.
"Try me."
Draco shrugged. "I was rude to her, bullied her for her looks, her intelligence, her background." He took a deep steadying breath. "Then worst of all, I watched her being tortured by my deranged Aunt and did... absolutely nothing." He closed his eyes, trying to shut out the despair he felt towards his previous inaction.
"Doesn't come close," Kathe said nonchalantly. His black feathered cloak rustled as he hopped to his feet, balancing on the railing as light on his feet as a bird.
Draco looked up at him, intrigue vanishing his internal morose reflections. "But, you are together?"
"Yes," Kathe said simply, his lips quirked up in a smile. The yellow mage mark gleaming against the grey of his eyes. "She forgave me… eventually."
Draco waited. He vanished his wine glass and gripped his hands together in his lap.
"I betrayed her," Kathe stated. "I used her to get revenge on another. I disregarded her feelings, her safety, just so I could get what I wanted."
"You regret it?"
Kathe tipped his head on one side, like when his crows observed something they didn't yet understand. After a long pause, he said, "Yes and no. I regret the harm it has done to her, the flashbacks she experiences. I'd change that if I could. But I don't regret getting vengeance on my enemy, that was worth it." His grey eyes cold as steel, fixed on the sleeping volcano just visible on the horizon.
"And now?" Draco gestured at the women sat on the ground below them.
"I apologised. I admitted I did wrong to her. I don't deserve her," Kathe said softly, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he looked fondly down at Amalia. "Then, I offered her the world," he laughed and unfurled his cloak in an elaborate bow. His voice went to a murmur, "She's wonderful, truly amazing. Brave, intelligent, beautiful. She loves me."
"And in my situation?" Draco asked, his eyes fixed on Hermione. The witch below laughed as she stroked the crow in Amalia's hair. Hermione was everything Kathe described. Brave, certainly, Draco had watched her tortured and she hadn't broken. Unparalleled intelligence, he could admit now that it was jealousy that had led to his mocking of her at school. And beautiful, he longed to run his fingers through her hair, gaze into her eyes, press his lips to hers. "Would that work for me?" he whispered.
Kathe winked at him. "You'll just have to try it and see."