scipio minor

𝐕𝐈𝐈. 𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔢𝔪𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔢𝔪𝔦𝔫𝔤

❛ 𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔢𝔪𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔢𝔪𝔦𝔫𝔤 ❜
december 1998
MALFOY MANOR
⋅ ﹙ ♚ ﹚ ⋅

𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐆 and scheming.

Scipio stared at the still hot water in the big bathtub, reluctant to sink his body into the warm and comfortable shell. Didi, a female house elf who was head of the housekeeping in the Manor, who had made the bathroom ready for Scipio's bathing time, left the room in silence before he could thank her.

The dinner of last night had been just that, excruciating. Scipio had been lost in his own heated thoughts while eating the simple shepherd's pie. It had not been to Lucius standards of course. He'd been foaming about how delicious and delicate the meals in French were. Scipio could beat the shit out of that man. Deep down inside himself, his anger was growing again till hard and sharp ice. His mother had tried to put up a conversation between the three, but everything that Scipio wanted to force out of his mouth were curses. He'd been glad to be released from the dinner table. Before going to bed, he'd put some silencing and repelling wards up around his room. He'd asked Didi, who'd dropped off some freshly washed clothes, if he could take a bath tomorrow evening during dinner to escape another torment of having to endure Lucius's company.

The door next to his desk led to his own personal bathroom. It was big and high, just like his bedroom. Both walls were covered with dark green wallpaper with silver and black decorations of little dragons, feathers and scales. A nod to the family colours and animals of the family. And just like in his bedroom, there were big windows facing the West. During bath time, georgette black curtains, that let little light inside, were drawn back to create privacy.

The bathtub and the sinks were the colour of silver and had feet made of black ebony. Scipio didn't know if it was real silver, but considering that even the doorknobs were silver, the sinks might be too. There was one big mirror facing the door and sideways from the windows, enveloped with silver bows and shining in its reflection. There was a little toilet hidden away behind the door, but still as beautiful as the silver bathtub. Didi had lightened up lavender scented candles on the little side tables that also carried soap and oil bottles. It illuminated the room more romanticly than cold and dark.

Andromeda and Ted lived in a normal house without all this extravaganza. It was modest and homey. Their bathroom was small and only equipped with necessity and revolting against luxury. Scipio had lived with them for such a long time, it made the privilege before him feel strange and out of place.

He undid his black bathrobe and threw it on the ebony chair Didi had already put his pyjamas, underwear and towels ready.

Open and bare. The mirror revealed everything he tried to hide. The scars on his arm and his throat, but also the little ones, spread across his entire body, caused by everything he'd endured, that were slowly fading because of time. There was also the breakdown of his muscles. He once was fit and strong, but now there was only the memory of it left on his body. He was thinner and his skin whiter. His shoulder blades were sharp against his skin. There was some muscle tissue developing around his stomach and arms, but it was faint as Ted told him he needed to start at a slow tempo with the advised exercises for the rest of his body. The signs of recovery were barely visible.

He put one foot into the steaming water. His cold skin tingled against the hot bottom of the bathtub. His other foot followed quickly and biting on his bottom lip to not let out a soft scream, he took the sides of the bathtub and let himself down into the water.

It took a while to get accustomed to the hot water. First it was burning his skin and next it eased his muscles. When he was younger, Scipio felt like he was floating in the middle of the Great Ocean. He could sit on the bottom and still be underwater. At the age of twenty, the ability to do so had faded with his age.