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+------- Thread: Never Say Never | Malia (/showthread.php?tid=852)
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RE: Never Say Never | Malia - Julia Barlowe - 02-03-2026
"You laugh about it now. When half the castle turns to stone the first night she becomes a student, I suspect you'll be singing a different tune."
"And I suspect you'll be there with your smirks and smug 'I-told-you-sos'." Her smile widened, soft brown eyes rolling lightly. Kathryn was different in all the ways that mattered to children of her age. As it was, kids could be cruel, for no reason other than to be so. Differences in clothes, looks, mannerisms or behaviors were prime picking for those who were on the hunt for a target. Her daughter had already been the subject of such cruelty, and Julia still kicked herself for allowing Kate in that environment at all.
She had to accept that Kathryn wouldn't be the same as she was as a girl - or even as Rosalie had been. Social graces and mannerisms wouldn't come easy to the little blonde - and if they did they'd be so different from what was expected in their circles that it wouldn't be looked at as grace. Julia would be lying if she said she wasn't worried about Kate's upcoming first year, but she had faith that her girl would navigate it well.
"You're always finding work for me to do, don't let a baby stop you."
It drew a laugh out of her that she didn't know she needed. The past few days, since finding out she was carrying Maddox’s baby, had been fraught with uncertainty, peppered with serious moments where she contemplated the life changes that were on the horizon. His levity in the moment offered her an opportunity to let some of that go, to breathe and just let herself settle into the comfortable dynamic they’d always had.
That he was taking this in stride, despite how panicked they’d both been in the immediate moments of finding out, meant the world to her. “There’s not much, I assure you. I have a half mind to believe she does it when I’m not looking anyway.”
"This is a family. I think we can both admit it's been a family longer than the last two days."
It had been, yes. In all the best ways. Even platonic, she and Maddox had made the best team. Children aside, they had been a pair to rival all others. When there were moments of happiness, they shared them. Moments of sadness or stress, they held each other through them. Without even realizing it, the two had entangled their worlds together. Was it any surprise the rest came so easily?
“You’d really want to sell your home?” she asked gently. “That’s a lot to ask of you. And the kids.” Morgan especially. Julia knew the girl was like Kate in the small ways that most young girls were. They liked familiarity, they liked their space and the rooms designated as their own.
She thought for a moment, before pursing her lips. “I’m not against the idea,” she said, the scent of ginger beginning to waft through the small space, settling the persistent nausea already, “But I’d still need to spend a bit of time at the castle. Benji - he’ll need to stay there. With James.” She didn’t like the idea of being away from her son. At Hogwarts they spent nearly every evening chatting for a bit about their day, and back at home they took all their meals together and spent family time playing games.
She wouldn’t be abandoning him, and would spend as much time at Arundel as possible during school breaks to be close to him, but the idea stung a bit all the same.
“Did you have any ideas of where? Or when you’d want us to move in together?”
RE: Never Say Never | Malia - Maddox Barlowe - 02-06-2026
It really was this easy, wasn't it?
The jokes, the laughter, the little jabs that they never thought to take seriously, understanding instinctively that neither ever meant harm. There was something to be said for the relationship they'd cultivated over the years without ever noticing. It was understated, a little irreverent and entirely theirs. Maddox had learned to find comfort in the little things they shared throughout their day-to-day, and it greased the wheels now.
Hearing Julia laugh, it reminded him that despite the many changes heading their way, some things would remain the same. They would be the same. The woman who'd brought him so much joy wouldn't stop doing so because they were bringing in a baby. The friendship that had weathered so many storms wasn't suddenly on the brink of collapse.
He prepared the tea, then crossed the room to hand it to her.
“You’d really want to sell your home? That’s a lot to ask of you. And the kids.”
"I suppose it is," he conceded, sinking into the free chair across from her. "Evander will hardly notice. Just another place for him to rip through. Morgan..." It was their home, the home he'd taken her to when they met and again to stay when her mother passed. She'd helped him build a home where before he'd only had a house, but life was full of such changes, and he never wanted his daughter to anchor her identity and sense of love to structures rather than the people within them.
A family was better than a house. The family he wanted to give her, the love he wanted expanding, was worth more than their front lawn in Norfolk Broads. "I'll talk to her. She's a great kid with a lot of love to give, even when she doesn't realise it herself." As had been the case with Evander. Morgan turned out to be an amazing big sister.
He nodded his understanding when she explained Benji's unique situation, giving a wistful sigh at the end.
"Sometimes I forget you're fancy aristo types with actual ivory towers." It was a joke, but it came with its own truths. He'd never seen Julia for her wealth and her family. When they were together, she was just Julia. For their plans to work, however, "just Julia" needed to take into consideration her family once more.
His family now, he supposed, in some ways.
“Did you have any ideas of where? Or when you’d want us to move in together?”
"Nothing concrete, I've only just started thinking abuot it." They still had time, but many of these things would take their own time. "Somewhere still out in the countryside. The clean air and open meadows will do the children some good, and I don't suppose I'm much for the noise of the bustling cities." Julia, from what he knew, wasn't either. She could easily have rented or bought something elegant over in London but chose to remain in the rustic castle out in Arundel. "As for when...we'll have the trials and our duties here. Safe to say we won't be comfortably moving in until the summer. We can start looking at listings before then. See if anything catches our eyes."
He reclined in the chair, pausing for a moment.
"There is...something else."
RE: Never Say Never | Malia - Julia Barlowe - 02-08-2026
He really could be the sweetest, couldn't he?
She thanked him, taking the warm mug between her hands. Eventually, the nurse had said, her all-day-sickness - because morning it was not - would taper down and she'd feel more like herself again. In the meantime, tea was her lifeline when every other scent and taste resulted in her gagging violently.
It wasn't very becoming, she had to admit. Whoever said pregnancy made a woman glow hadn't felt the onset revulsion when a roast chicken was placed in front of them.
"I suppose it is. Evander will hardly notice. Just another place for him to rip through. Morgan...I'll talk to her. She's a great kid with a lot of love to give, even when she doesn't realise it herself."
"Of course she is," Julia agreed, taking a sip of the hot tea and deciding it needed a little something. She drew her wand, flicking it towards the cabinets and held out her hand for the jar of honey that floated itself down. "However I can help make it easier for her, I'm happy to do so." She didn't want any of their children feeling discarded or disenfranchised - an easy thing to happen when families were shaken up in this way.
Benji - she'd have to ensure he would be alright in all of this. As much as Kathryn carried trauma from abandonment, she knew her son did too. He hid his better - but it was there. Still, he was a young man now, moreso than a child. Enough for James to start including him in the family business.
"The towers are stone, actually. I'll take you up one next time, so you can see for yourself." She grinned, leaning forward in her chair a bit to run her hand along his knee. It was reassuring that Maddox seemed to be taking this all in stride - a stark change from the reaction they'd both had at the initial news.
It told her that things would be fine in the end, and that this baby was something she could start feeling excited for.
"Somewhere still out in the countryside. The clean air and open meadows will do the children some good, and I don't suppose I'm much for the noise of the bustling cities."
She hummed in agreement, her mind recoiling at the idea of raising a family amongst the streets of London. Plenty of her sort did - Rosalie's parents had had a nice flat in Westminster at one point - but it wasn't what she had envisioned for her family.
Kate would do well with the open space, plenty of countryside for her to go...search for the things she liked to collect. Morgan too, Julia supposed. Evander would need a big garden to play and run around in, and if the new baby was anything like him, well...
It'd be a miracle if they still had a garden at the end of their second year.
"I think summer works well. The baby's due in May, so I'll need to leave Hogwarts before the end of term. I'll stay with my family until the birth." She squeezed his knee and leaned back in her chair. "You could come visit me on weekends, sunshine. Bring me treats and all the administrative gossip I'll be missing out on." It was another thing she loved about them; their humor, dry and lazy always seemed to match up. She pointedly avoided touching on the trials, unwilling to let her mind go there again, when they had so much to plan for.
The idea of Maddox being sent to Azkaban and all their plans falling apart wasn't something she thought she could stomach.
"There is...something else."
Brown eyes sparkled with amusement for a moment, as her dimples deepened against her tight smile. Julia reached for her tea, her eyes never moving from his, even as she took a long sip. When she was finished, she merely raised an eyebrow at him.
"Is this the part where you ask me to marry you?" Her tease fell easily as her thumb circled the rim of her mug, ridding it of the lipstick mark left behind. "I hate to have to inform you that my dowry's been all used up."
RE: Never Say Never | Malia - Maddox Barlowe - 02-11-2026
Was there anything Julia could do to make it all smoother for Morgan? He didn't think so, not at first. His daughter had always been rather...spirited and, at least in the past, had been known to speak before her understanding and empathy could kick in. There was no need to make a bad situation worse or poison the well before anyone could have a drink. He'd do what he could to ease her into things before recruiting Julia.
If things went the way he'd been mulling over, Julia would—should both be willing—become her mother. Merlin knew the girl needed one. He did what he could, but on his own, Maddox was aware there were life lessons he simply wasn't able to teach her. He trusted his best friend with that job. Smart, fierce, headstrong and firmly knowing who she was. The woman possessed many traits that he wouldn't object to her passing on to his daughter, but he also knew to bide his time.
"The towers are stone, actually. I'll take you up one next time, so you can see for yourself."
His lips quirked upward at the corners. "I think we can both agree I've had my fair share of towers. There are easier ways to keep me captive, love. Carboard boxes show particular promise."
"I think summer works well. The baby's due in May, so I'll need to leave Hogwarts before the end of term. I'll stay with my family until the birth. You could come visit me on weekends, sunshine. Bring me treats and all the administrative gossip I'll be missing out on."
May.
That was...enough time. They would have to begin searching straightaway, making it a good thing they were already on the same page with so much. Something out among the rolling hills with crisp, clean air and perhaps herds of creatures like the mooncalves. Both Morgan and Evander were likely to miss going out to see them, but new beginnings called first for, often bitter, endings. They could close on something, begin preparing it for the baby and the children, pretend he didn't have a trial looming and get things underway by the time school let out.
All reasonable and perfectly doable.
"I'll visit, if only so you don't completely lose your mind without news of our competent colleagues. Dreadful gossip that you are, you'll only go mad without me in your ear."
He'd visit. As the time for delivery drew closer, he knew he'd become antsy. There was a lot that could go wrong, and given the history of Julia's own mother, Maddox knew he would prefer to remain in the know. It was unlikely he'd be able to impact the outcome, one way or the other, but he'd never been a man to sit idle and wait. He'd see her whenever his schedule allowed, and once school let out, he'd help her with the final move.
Maddox spotted the glint of amusement in her eyes. He was hardly an open book, but Julia had always had a good read on him. Now proved no exception. He watched the mischief form in her eyes before she ever spoke.
That brought its own comfort, he supposed. The man was neither a bleeding heart nor a hopeless romantic, valuing efficiency and practicality over frivolity. He hadn't brought roses to her office or fireworks to set the roof on fire, only a desire to spend whatever remained of his life with her while they embarked on their new journey together.
"Is this the part where you ask me to marry you? I hate to have to inform you that my dowry's been all used up."
"A shame," he mused, feigning contemplation. "I suppose we'll have to postpone the proposal until James can come up with a new one then."
Blue eyes crossed the small distance between them, sincerity creeping in.
"What do you say?"
RE: Never Say Never | Malia - Julia Barlowe - 02-11-2026
"I think we can both agree I've had my fair share of towers. There are easier ways to keep me captive, love. Carboard boxes show particular promise."
"Noted." Her smirk met his own, musing that it wasn't the first time she'd thought to toss him in a box and cart him to the healers. If she didn't think he'd immediately transfigure back into his human form, she'd have done it already. The number of times she'd scooped him up by the scruff just to find herself on her tip-toes gripping his shirt collar was numerous.
If he ever acted up though, maybe she'd threaten him with the family dungeons.
"I'll visit, if only so you don't completely lose your mind without news of our competent colleagues. Dreadful gossip that you are, you'll only go mad without me in your ear."
He was kidding, but she was serious. She'd never been pregnant before, but Julia imagined being thirty-six weeks along and listening to Gretchen and Edith take polite jabs at each other day-in and day-out would get tiresome quickly. Her sister-in-law was an opinionated woman, and while she and Gretchen had been on good terms over the years, it had gone sour almost from the moment of the summer garden party. Edith was an incredibly protective mother, and she'd had it out with Gretchen on numerous occasions over not doing enough to make Rosalie feel safe and loved enough to stay.
Needless to say, Julia planned to spend her days in the gardens or her rooms where she was less likely to be caught in the crossfires.
Maddox stopping by to bring her a laugh or two would certainly be a good break from the monotony. "I suppose I would. Don't know how I ever lived without you before."
There was some truth to her words, though she wasn't likely to admit it.
She waited a moment, watching as he put on a little show, musing over the dowry neither of them would ever see and was likely being spent on who-knew-what in Syria. If it had all lead her here, then it was money well-spent, she figured.
Besides, Maddox wasn't the sort of man who'd accept anything but her. He was a prideful man, and she admired it about him. He was a man who knew who he was, who didn't make apologies for it, and certainly made no efforts to hide any part of it.
Was it any wonder she'd always found him easy to love?
"What do you say?"
What did she say? Julia's smile grew until it reached her eyes, her dimples deepening in her cheeks so profoundly she could feel them. The woman could be a romantic, and certainly appreciated a sweet gesture, but this felt perfect didn't it? The two of them had always been simple, easy, warm and full of adoration for each other. There had never been any drama - not between them anyway - or hysterics.
In all of it, he was still her best friend. Her Maddox. Her sunshine.
She brought her lips to his, brushing them for a soft kiss. "Yes."
RE: Never Say Never | Malia - Maddox Barlowe - 02-11-2026
"Noted."
Why did he have a feeling he would live to regret that? Because she was Julia, that was why.
The woman, despite his many insistences to the contrary, had never shied away from treating him like the feline he wasn't. Take a nap on her lap a time or two, sprawl liberally on her desk while she worked, and suddenly the idea was stuck so deep that nothing he did could dislodge it. Suggesting boxes was only adding fuel to an already egregious fire and gave him something else he would now have to contend with.
As if being picked up by the scruff of his neck wasn't enough.
"I mean this with all the sincerity of a man who's known you long enough to understand the depth of this statement: you are well and truly a menace."
One he hoped would be forced to slow down as the baby grew. If she could scarcely spend her time in the library, the chances of her finding work for him to do in there decreased exponentially and to his liking. The chances of her trying to scoop him up and put him in a box would decrease nicely, too. At some point, fussing with him would become not worth the effort, and he certainly wouldn't be complaining then.
"I suppose I would. Don't know how I ever lived without you before."
"The answer seems simple to me. All those fancy galas, the afternoon tea in lavish gardens, ancient buildings with long-forgotten history and a woman determined to keep them relevant – all pretence. Waiting for your life to begin, and I took my sweet time letting you find me, understanding I'd never know peace after."
That was an easy version for some to believe – those who didn't know them very well. So many that he knew believed women waited around to be discovered and that they waited to be chosen so life could begin. He confessed he harboured the same sentiments, not overtly, but subconsciously. It was the belief of nearly every 20th-century man that women existed to be taken from their fathers and brought to care for a man's home. Sentiments had begun to shift after the war but too slowly for such ancient and ingrained philosophies to flee.
Maddox wasn't a particularly philosophical man. His change had nothing to do with deep thinking and silent contemplation. He'd just been shown a world that was different. During his time globe-trotting, he'd met many women who weren't waiting for a man to pick them off the shelf and assign them value. They were what society deemed 'wild and loose', but they were simply women who chose to partake as freely of life's pleasures as any man did. He realised that, for a long time, he had thought less of them. A good time but nothing to be taken seriously. It was how he'd viewed Rose even after she'd had his child, given the circumstances of their meeting. Even then, he'd never thought she was sitting around waiting to be chosen.
Julia wasn't either.
The woman was firm in who she was and how she intended to enjoy herself, but she was more than that. She was the teacher who taught him the strength of a woman who refused to be truly possessed. Not in some abstract pamphlet like they sometimes gave out when he visited London but in visible, tangible ways daily. She wasn't waiting for him or anyone else, and that made their union more precious to him.
It wasn't ill-fated, not borne of desperation or need, but mutually wanting.
Maddox's arm instinctively wrapped around her when she leaned in to kiss him. While he'd never make assumptions on her part, Maddox found that he wasn't...anxious. He wasn't apprehensive, perturbed, spiralling, but filled with an inexplicable calm that he'd only ever found with her. The 'yes' that came at the tail-end of her kiss did bring him relief, but not the sort rooted in panic, only a growing sense of everything being right with the world.
Yes. She would marry him. They'd said they wanted to take things further, and with a baby coming and a move, what on earth would they still be waiting for?
Maddox kissed her again, not as softly but nowhere near the heat that typically consumed them.
Yes.
"I suppose this is the part where I say you've made me the happiest man in the world," he muttered against her lips, opting to keep her close. "Might as well make some part of this romantic."
RE: Never Say Never | Malia - Julia Barlowe - 02-12-2026
A menace wasn't something she'd been called very often. Difficult, certainly. Haughty, when the situation called for it. Pedantic, more often than she would admit aloud. But mischievous? Hardly. Julia had always carried herself with a deliberate restraint, as though life were a room full of fragile heirlooms and she alone had been entrusted not to knock anything over. If she possessed an edge, it lived in her humor. Dry as parchment, subtle enough to pass for civility until one listened closely.
She liked the idea that maybe she was a bit of a menace for the man, even if it was only in forms of putting him to more work than he preferred. Why be a man's peace, when you could forever be the fire that kept him warm and wanting?
"The answer seems simple to me. All those fancy galas, the afternoon tea in lavish gardens, ancient buildings with long-forgotten history and a woman determined to keep them relevant – all pretence. Waiting for your life to begin, and I took my sweet time letting you find me, understanding I'd never know peace after."
"Hmm," the amused sound rose from her throat and she shook her head, "It's that simple, is it?" It sounded it, and for anyone on the outside maybe it even looked similar. He wasn't far off from the life she'd led. Galas of course - endless parades of them. More afternoon teas than she could count. Perhaps it was the preservation of history and ensuring people remembered where they came from that he was the most spot-on with.
But waiting around for him? Like some little princess staring wistfully out her tower window? "I always knew where I was meant to be," she said, a knowing look accentuating the smile that still hadn't fallen. "It was you that seemed to be traveling the world in search of something, never finding it until you came here." Still, everything had seemed to fallen into place and made more sense once Maddox had lazily strolled into her life. Even with all the heartache both of them had endured over the past few years, he had always been the light, keeping her warm and cheerful.
Maybe he wasn't far off in his assessment.
After Ezra, Julia had developed a rather jaded view of love and relationships. Not because of anything her first love had done wrong, but because of the circumstances that had dictated how her life should be led, and who should lead it. As independent as she was, as headstrong as she was, Julia had always deferred to the men in her life.
The world wasn't that evolved, nor was society in believing a woman could belong to herself, or that the decisions she made should be her own. Perhaps it was easier for women from middle-class backgrounds, and she certainly wasn't putting herself up as some victim. But love had never felt like hers. It had never felt like something she could have.
Her former 'marriage' - while thankfully short-lived - felt like proof of that. He'd tried to strip her of all the things that made Julia who she was. That her love wasn't a gift, but a burden and something to be managed.
Maddox, while being a traditional man and holding those values, had never made her feel like anything less than his equal. As best friends, he shared things with her that most men would only share with their mates if at all. He didn't hold back with his teasing or little jabs. And when it counted, he protected her, whether in defense of who she was, or by removing threats that would hurt the child she loved.
What they had wasn't complicated. It wasn't toxic or high-maintenance or laced with venom and 'death by a thousand cuts'. Maddox had shown her that love could be easy. It could lay there in the quiet moments on a porch swing with her head on his shoulder. It could be there in a grin over lunch, or an exasperated sigh while putting away books. It could be warm and comforting and completely familiar.
This...was what she wanted. Unexpectedly. Perhaps it was what she'd always wanted, and she just needed him to be brave enough for both of them to take that first step.
"I suppose this is the part where I say you've made me the happiest man in the world. Might as well make some part of this romantic."
A soft laugh against his lips as she took his free hand and placed it on her stomach, her hand closing over his. He was the happiest man in the world.
"A real lover boy, aren't you?" Another kiss as she let him hold her close, before she pressed her forehead to his. His eyes were so beautiful, especially with that spark of sincerity behind them. "Careful darling. Any further and you'll be writing me sonnets."