This had not been any factor at all in his mission to retrieve the dogs or his old belongings, but – well, obviously this was better, as outcomes went. And in a moment, this persuaded him that all Delia’s righteous anger and dispassion was half an act, and her old feelings for him had not just been killed off in the process of their separation, and still lingered there like embers of a flame.

Embers took some amount of patient coaxing, usually. But at the first awareness of her hands on his dampened shirt, the first flicker of success, any sense or prudence Hadrian possessed fizzled away. He wrapped his arms around her more fully, kissing her back with fervour. Surely they still knew each other too well to play games – clearly, she didn’t hate him as she might pretend to. This had to be proof that she hadn’t moved on entirely. Proof he had needed desperately, because he – hadn’t moved on from her yet either. (How did one move on, exactly, when over the years and across continents, it had only ever been her?)

“See?” Hadrian murmured, between kisses. He wasn’t sure how to word what he meant by it, see, you were wrong to leave me, you miss me, you want me – but after that breath he made no move to pull away, happy to keep going, to keep impressing the sentiment upon her until she was quite satisfactorily persuaded of it, in mind as well as in body.

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   Cordelia Emsworth

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set by bee!

It had been so long, but she remembered exactly how this felt, what to do, how intoxicating it was, especially now after going without. Delia sighed into it eagerly, responding with equal enthusiasm, ignoring his comment in favor of soaring on the feelings blooming in her chest. This was dangerous and she knew it. She had been the one to initiate the separation and there had been more than once that she regretted it, but he'd been insufferable through it all. It was such a mess, just like her feelings right now. At least she could drown out the noise for a few minutes.

Delia could feel herself getting sucked in, sinking into him all too easily and it left her reeling just as much as the kiss. Finally she broke away, hands still on his shirt, though not as tightly, breathing quick as she looked up at him uncertainly. Nothing good was going to come of this, she knew it, but she couldn't figure out what to say either. She'd kissed him, had let him get under her skin again and she knew that she would probably regret it, but right now she was too lightheaded to form a coherent thought, let alone sentence.

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stunning set by MJ

She didn’t say anything, but even when she stopped she hadn’t stopped him. It was a bitter place to be, because although there was some triumph in having provoked her to this (and it meant she had not replaced him in her life yet), Hadrian knew it would only be like pressing on a bruise for him, to have her now for a moment and lose her again in an instant after.

But that was later, and if she hadn’t broken the spell first Hadrian was inclined to capitalise on her indecision. “Now go on, boys,” he murmured to the dogs, shooing them off to play again – and then tugging Delia in the opposite direction with him, happy to pretend they were seventeen again. Did that make him pathetic, or desperate? He would rather not think about it... and his shirt was still unpleasantly damp, so he pulled it off over his head and tossed it aside (and surely that would convince her, if she still needed persuading) before he went to her waist again to hopefully remove a few of her layers too.

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   Cordelia Emsworth

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set by bee!

Delia mimicked Hadrian's dismissal of the dogs subconsciously, a hand command to send them back off to whatever it was that occupied them. She was far too occupied by the feeling in her chest, the flighty sort of haziness in her head to really put much thought into what she was doing. The tug on her body was enough to move her, following the feeling that she'd gone for so long without. She felt starved for it, more than anticipated, considering she had been the one to leave.

It was far too easy to get lost in him, it took no thought, like second nature, even after all this time. The arboretum was so close, a good place to hide away and make a mistake. Somewhere warm to rid her of the chill of the self-inflicted loneliness, if only for a little while. Whatever his motivation, Delia didn't care. There was no clear thought process on her part either, only the feeling of his hands on her waist and the rapid increase of her heartbeat.

Her hands met his chest as he tossed his shirt aside, tracing the scar from a wound she'd sewed up herself. Their story was written into their skin, the evidence right in front of her, so ingrained into her being that she could forget that the book had closed and wasn't supposed to be opened again. She leaned in, pushing him toward the arboretum gently, trailing a series of kisses along his shoulder, up to his jaw, feeling that giddy sort of feeling only an illicit adventure could spark.

This was going to end horribly.

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   Hadrian Nott

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stunning set by MJ

“Dee,” he breathed, as she touched him. There was something about the fact this was forbidden now that somehow made Hadrian want it even harder.

Delia’s nudging them towards the arboretum brought back a rush of old memories too. “You remember those first summers?” Hadrian murmured longingly, a distant gleam in his eyes, but every physical sensation in the present only propelling him further back to those heady, simple days, all blossoming love and lust and excitement and fun. After Hogwarts, spending their time here, long days in training under Mr. Emsworth’s wing, both eager to learn enough to accompany him on expeditions and more eager still (well, in Hadrian’s case, anyway) to temporarily abandon whatever botanical projects they were working on in favour of making the most of each other’s company. Talk about pressing on the bruise – Hadrian still recognised that a few of the nearby trees in the clearing they had stumbled into had endured more than a few secret etchings of their names over the years. This place remembered how tangled up they were in each other’s lives at least, even if Cordelia refused to.

And Delia had been too accustomed to wearing trousers or bloomer suits while they travelled for Hadrian to have ever quite forgotten the curve of her hips or the shape of her thighs, but while she left an enticing trail of kisses on his skin Hadrian hastened to divest her of as much of her clothing as he could, caressing her breast before undoing the buttons of her bodice and carelessly unpinning her skirts until they pooled down around her boots, getting her down to her chemise and drawers. He wanted to see her, was hungry to touch her again, and if it took pretending that things could ever be as simple again as they had once been to get there – Hadrian would do it.

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   Cordelia Emsworth

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set by bee!

This was crazy, but it was hard to expel the rush along her skin as he whispered to her. How could she forget? Most of her adult life had been spent with Hadrian by her side. They'd been so young when they'd started out that it had been so hard to imagine life with out him. Even now as they fumbled with clothes, in a familiar spot, Delia registered that she still couldn't.

But this was crossing lines, much as her body might want it, how she leaned into his touch, pressed against him, she realized they couldn't do this. It would undo everything she has stood on for the last few years. They were no longer married for a very real reason and she couldn't just forget that either. Feeling her skirts drop to the floor was the final straw.

Delia came to her senses, resisting the heat rushing through her veins and the want of slipping into easier times. She couldn't. She just couldn't. "Hadrian, I can't— She managed, though it pained her to do so. This opportunity would likely never come around again, but she knew she shouldn't. It was too hard, it would complicate things further even if she just wanted to lean in and let him ruin her all over again.

And so she extracted herself from his grasp, reaching down to gather her skirts, bodice half-hanging from her shoulders as she hastily tied her skirts up and fled.

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stunning set by MJ