A Kind of Magic

Sixty-One

If he hadn't memorised her scent to the point of being able to recognise it among thousands of others, Peregrine would have thought he was seeing a ghost when Bella, her slight figure as dark as the shadows filling the hut, stood up from the edge of Freddie's bed and, moving carefully around the huge sleeping dog who filled the floor between the two beds almost entirely, walked into his open arms.

"What are you doing here?" he whispered into her hair, drawing her bone-crushingly close as he let his hands caress her back, encasing her in his body, unable to stop himself. Feeling her this close had already become a need, a dependence for him.

"I had to put Freddie to bed and walk Gollum instead of him, he was too tired to go out again, even though he would never admit it," she explained, giggling softly, lovingly, as she turned to the sleeping boy. "And I thought I might as well wait for you, seeing that I was already here..." she added as she glanced at him again. 

He cupped her face and kissed her deeply, stealing her breath away and making her feel unsure on her legs, something he had become addicted to as well.

"I'm glad you did," he whispered as she pressed one hot cheek into the cool folds of his cloak. 

"Goodness, I'd give anything for a shower; it's the only thing I miss from the other world..." she whispered on a sigh.

"I can't offer you a shower, but there is a perfect spot in the nearby river, where I wash every time I stay with Wilbur's pack. Come, let me show you. It's very close, we will see the hut from the river, you don't need to worry about leaving Freddie alone for a while," he muttered, taking her by the hand and leading her through the door.

She grabbed a couple of towels she had noticed folded neatly on each of the beds. "I'm not worried. Gollum might look docile but he's a good guardian, he won't let anyone he doesn't know approach his little master when I'm not around," she said as they walked into the cool, moonlit night and Peregrine closed the door softly behind them.

There were so many things on her mind, she thought as her eyes strayed to the overcast, inky blue sky. She had managed to keep the weather compliant the whole day before they reached the werewolf village, but the calm wouldn't last much longer, she could feel a raindrop landing on her cheek even as a distant sheet of silent lighting rippled above the row of trees silhouetted against the mountainous clouds. There were so many things she wished to ask of Peregrine-- about this world, about Freddie's connection with the ring, about the glimpses of the future he had gleaned from it, about... Lagon, about why had he come to break her heart in the past... Botheration! Nothing of what the man had done seemed casual any longer, and it made her feel even more used and naive. Who was Freddie's father in this world, and how did Peregrine know him? Because she was sure that he did know Lagon personally, she could feel it. 

But now wasn't the right moment, she couldn't think about a man from her past when the man she loved more than she had ever loved him stood in front of her, naked after he had made sure that they were alone and unobserved, drinking her in as his trembling, teasing fingers removed her clothes, pulling her into the the cool, reinvigorating stream...

"So, what's new about Gilderoy and Aryana?" she questioned simply, much later, looking up at Peregrine curiously once he took her by the hand again and led her away from the wide, silvery ribbon of the river glimmering like a trail of stardust in the flashes of lightning of the fast approaching storm, back towards the row of cottages in the light drizzle, her voice almost entirely obliterated by a rumble of a thunder. 

"I suppose Gilderoy is the second happiest man in both our known worlds tonight," he replied mysteriously as he pushed her back against the door of her hut softly, noiselessly, so they wouldn't wake the women sleeping inside, and kissed her deeply.

"Who is the first?" she enquired breathlessly of his retreating figure before slipping inside.

"Me," he replied without hesitation making her breath catch with a surge of happiness, overflowing her eyes in the form of a couple of tears which he couldn't tell apart from the raindrops if he saw them, even as he reached his and Freddie's hut, waiting for her to enter first. "Good night, Bella."

"Good night," she whispered back, not trusting her voice, wrapping her arms around her body, already missing his closeness. She was the luckiest woman in all possible parallel worlds, she mused as she allowed the rhythm of the raindrops hitting the moss covered roof to lull her to sleep. Meeting Peregrine was the best thing that had ever happened to her, that and having Freddie. She didn't ask for more in life than the knowledge that they were happy and that they knew how much she cared about them and returned some of her love.

Aryana, seated upon a horse not much taller than Gilderoy's Buttercup, as bright and shiny as her cream-and-honey blonde, loose hair, was waiting for them under the trees, in the spot where their horses had been kept at night, when the other travellers finally reached her after having said their goodbyes to the pack and the imposing alpha.

Gilderoy rushed to her when he noticed her eyes, shining with unshed tears, and despite their audience, the girl let herself slip off the saddle and into the short man's strong arms. 

His friends stopped and stayed behind, on the margin of the forest, giving the couple a few moments of... almost intimacy such as they had never shared before. Only once the two had exchanged strings of softly whispered words and a quick, chaste kiss, and Aryana allowed Gilderoy to help her back into the saddle, did they approach, pretending to have seen nothing. 

The storm that had swept across the world at night was long gone, leaving only a muddy trail and fresher air as evidence. That the good weather making their journey so much easier was her doing was still so surprising, Peregrine mused, reaching for Fiona's hand, as she rode at his side at the head of the group, bringing it to his lips before he recalled his wow of not letting the others to see... that he loved her. 

He needed to try harder, to school himself into the role of her and Freddie's guard and nothing else, an act which everyone, except for the two of them, and their closest friends, the companions they had gathered along the road during this quest, would believe. 

He didn't have much time, no more than five days of journey separated them from Alaric's castle now. By the old gods... he wished he could take Bella and Freddie and run with them... but there was no place where they wouldn't be found eventually, where he could make them happy and provide everything they needed and deserved. He would have to take her to court and allow Alaric to create a distance between them, forcing both of them to hide their feelings. 

He could do it. He had to... He must at least try and see how she would cope, how she would settle into her new life... and then... 

Destiny. 

He would follow his destiny wherever it took him; it was the answer to all his questions, the key to his happiness.