And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make

Scorpius’s hands trembled as he reached for the door handle and, pulling away, realized that he had lost his nerve yet again. He had begun making a stop here after work nearly two weeks ago, and yet every time he lingered at the doorway, not even daring to look in through the show window. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to go in; everything within him begged to walk through that door, make his purchase, and then make good use of it. Even before he’d started coming to stand outside the door, he’d been saving every spare Knut he could, praying that it would one day be enough. Eris had recently given him a larger-than-usual Christmas gift (which was always, unfailingly, money) and he’d been able to stash away a whole ten galleons of it toward the day when he would finally work up the courage to actually open the door.

With his back against the wall, he watched the people passing by in the streets – witches and wizards of all ages. He saw mothers and fathers with their children, still too young to be in school. He saw truant teenagers, hanging off each other and making lewd gestures. He watched aged wizards with long, white beards teeter around, leading their wives through the busy crowd. It made his heart ache to see it, and yet he couldn’t use that hurt to push himself through the door behind him.

The tinkling of a bell pulled him from his thought and suddenly there was a hand on his shoulder. “Scorpius Malfoy, if you do not get in this shop and do what you’re going to do, I will report you for loitering.” The voice was vaguely familiar and Scor turned to find Raj Devrai’s smiling face.

“Raj!” Scor cried, feeling the tumbling of his stomach ease a bit. “First off, don’t let me ever hear you call me Malfoy again. And second, what are you doing here?”

Scorpius hadn’t seen Raj since the day they had graduated from Hogwarts, but the boy had never been too far from his thoughts. Once upon a time they’d been the best of friends – Ravenclaw’s studs who weren’t the least bit interested in all the girls sighing dreamily after them. At least, that was how Scor liked to remember it. He didn’t mind deluding himself over harmless things every once in a while.

“‘S my dad’s shop, mate. I’ve been working here ever since I gave up my dream of being an engineer. What was I thinking, anyway?” Raj asked, laughing at himself.

“You were thinking about that pretty little Muggle girl,” Scorpius replied, remembering vividly the late night conversations in Ravenclaw tower. “And you said that there was too much turmoil in the wizarding world for your liking.”

Raj’s eyes darkened for a moment at the memory of the dark things that had happened around their sixth year. “I was right, then,” he said solemnly, before shaking the look from his face. “Now, if you don’t come in and buy something, I’m going to call the Aurors to come and interrogate you for suspicious behavior.”

Scorpius’s eyes bulged and he looked left and right as if he expected them to be appearing already. “No, no, no, no, anyone but the Aurors. They cannot see me here.”

“Hmmm,” Raj said thoughtfully, leaning against his storefront. “Running from the law, are you? Maybe I shouldn’t let you into my shop after all.”

Blushing, Scor shook his head and looked down at his feet. “Vena can’t know I’m here,” he muttered quietly, as if he were afraid of being overhead.

“Vena?” Raj asked, tilting his head to the side curiously. A look of recognition then spread across his face along with a look of disbelief. “Really? Still? You’re here to buy something for Venomous Riddle?”

Scorpius snorted indignantly. “She’d kill you if she caught you calling her that. And yes. An engagement ring, in fact.” He was nearly sick just saying the words and he wondered how he’d made it to the age of twenty without dying of anxiety. He hadn’t always been this nervous, had he? He didn’t think so.

Raj stared blankly before pushing open the door and waving Scorpius in. “You, my friend,” he sighed, shuffling in behind his customer, “are insane. But you’ve come to the right place.” He took his spot behind the counter and splayed his hands across the glass. “Diamonds, I’m guessing?”

Feeling embarrassed, Scor frowned and shook his head. “I don’t have much money and –,”

Raj cut him off immediately. “No. Absolutely not. You’re walking away from here with whichever ring you want. If you’re going to get married to a Riddle at the age of twenty, you’re walking out with the best you can get, for however much you can give me.” He smiled and began tapping each lock on the glass with his wand, muttering password charms as he went.

“You don’t have to do that, Raj, really. I mean, this is a business, you know, you can’t just give things away...”

“Consider it a late Christmas present then,” Raj insisted as he began to take the velvet ringholders from their places.

Scorpius moved his mouth in vague syllables of disbelief, but he had known Raj for enough years to know that he wouldn’t take no for an answer. “I don’t know...I have no idea what to say...” he muttered, lost for the words that would express how grateful he was.

“You can say what kind of a gem you’re looking for, mate. Diamond, ruby, sapphire, topaz, emerald...”

“Emerald!” Scorpius nearly shouted, before covering his mouth quickly in dismay. He hadn’t meant to be so enthusiastic. “I mean, she’d like an emerald, I think.”

“Oh, right, Slytherin, yeah,” Raj noted, recalling. With a flick of his wand, the emerald-bearing rings were front and center, ready to be looked over and glinting in the soft overhead light. Scorpius couldn’t help the sharp intake of breath that the simple sight of the rings caused.

“Sweet Merlin on a stick, Raj. They’re gorgeous.”

“Well, that’s kind of the point, isn’t it? This one here, it’s an emerald-coated pearl, and the band is done in silver and platinum. Oh, and this one’s goblin-made, so the band is gold, not silver, but the emerald is a beauty, hand-cut. And this one,” Raj noted, pulling one from the slit it was nestled in, “is absolutely ancient. We can’t figure out why it hasn’t lost its luster. Father cut it and put it in the setting, but it’s never been polished or charmed. It’s just....always been perfect.”

“How much does it cost?” Scorpius asked warily.

“You don’t want to know, buddy. If you can give me fifty Galleons for it, I might not be stabbed to death by my father. It’s worth...oh, about 15 times that.” Raj shrugged nonchalantly and reached for one of the individual black velvet boxes with “Satash Jewels” scribed across the top in golden letters. “Should I wrap it up?”

Scorpius nearly fainted at the idea of paying only 50 galleons for something that was worth so much more than that. He had come here expecting a tiny little diamond set in a thin band that would just serve his purposes, yet here he was looking at a ring that seemed perfect for Vena, and it was practically being given to him. Sure, 50 galleons was plenty of money, but for a ring like this? He should have been paying 750, which he probably couldn’t have saved even if he’d waited a decade. “There’s no way you can do that, Raj. That’s just...it’s just stupid. You’re a Ravenclaw!”

With a shrug, Raj began to tuck the ring into the box, smiling broadly all the while. “I’ve learned something since I left school, Scorpius. The money I make here really isn’t that important. I have plenty of it already, and it’s not making me any happier. That ring is going to make Riddle happy, and when she’s happy, you’re happy, am I right?”

Scor nodded slowly and held his hand out to accept the small black box, still not even registering the weight of what was happening. He took the bag in his pocket out and pushed it across the table. “It’s fifty-eight galleons and a few spare sickles and knuts.”

Raj shook his head and shoved a hand into the bag, retrieving the eight leftover galleons from the price he’d asked and handing them back to his old friend. “Take her out to dinner. Do this the right way.” He winked and Scorpius, too shell-shocked to think or argue, turned to leave the shop.

***************************************************************

The weight of the box in Scor’s pocket was killing him as he sat at the dinner table, glancing around at all of the diners in fancy dress robes. He felt out of place in the robes he wore for work, which were not exactly new. He kept looking up at Vena, who was eating her food and probably talking about something that had happened at work, although he hadn’t heard a word she’d said all night. When she stopped talking, he squirmed, looking at his glass of wine and wondering why he’d ordered it. He hadn’t eaten a bit of his steak or drank anything since he’d stepped into the place; he was sure he’d be ill all over his own feet if he did. Finally, knowing that he couldn’t put it off forever, he looked into his girlfriend’s face and took a deep breath.

“So, tonight is a special night.”

Vena Riddle sat at the table glancing around the room as she talked to Scor. Only half noticing that he wasn't really listening. She felt slightly out of place, everyone was wearing fancy dress robes and she and Scor were just wearing whatever they had been that day. She took a sip of wine and then nearly ended up spitting it everywhere. Having never actually tasted the drink before she hadn't been expecting nor particularly liked the bittersweet taste. Taking a bite out of the meal in front of her she continued to tell Scor about her day and the idiot who had been caught attacking a Muggle villiage. She had been quite surprised when the Ministry had allowed her to train to become an Auror but they had and she was pleased. As there wasn't really anything else she had thought about being. She was also thankful that her use of dark magic when it need didn't hinder her.

She glanced around the restraunt once more, wondering how long Scor had been saving up for it. As neither had very much money, Vena never had and Scor giving his up when he disowned himself in their sixth year. Not that they needed much money, that made do with what they had and Scor's sister Eris could helped them when she could, as long as her father didn't find out.

Vena glanced up at Scor again as he said something. And noticing how twitchy he was frowned though she smiled slightly a moment later. Not too sure of what to say she just nodded to show she was listening.

Slightly disappointed that Vena hadn't added anything to the conversation to ease his nervousness, Scor knew that he would have to say something worthy of the occasion, but he knew he was only going to end up tongue-tied and embarrassing himself. He cleared his throat several times and then took a sip of his wine, spluttering at the taste but glad for the cool feeling in the back of his throat. “Um,” he began, and immediately stopped. That was no way to begin a proposal. He shook his head and mopped at his cheeks and forehead with the fancy cloth napkin on the table. “Vena,” he began again, but stopped there too. She knew her own name. He stopped, closed his eyes, and tried to focus on what he felt, besides anxious. It was that which he was trying to express, and he had to do it, or else spend the rest of his life regretting it.

“Look, we both know that I am terrible at being straightforward. So I’m going to do this the roundabout way that I do everything.” He nodded swiftly at the decision and began. “When I met you, everything in my life went completely wonky. I didn’t know who I was anymore, or even who I wanted to be. I had thought that I could put up with the way I’d been living, and you proved me wrong. I couldn’t go on the way I had been. A world with you in it was a complete different world from the one I thought I lived in. You changed the way I saw, heard, felt...everything that I’d ever thought was true was suddenly so wrong that I knew you were the only answer. And....oh, bugger.” Pulling the box from his pocket and kneeling down to the floor, Scor popped it open to reveal the ring.



“Will you marry me, please for the love of Merlin, so I don’t look like a fool?”

Vena's eyes widened and she drew her hand in front of her mouth as Scor pulled out the brilliant ring. She sat there for a moment completly taken away both by it's beauty and by Scor kneeling on the ground. Tears brimmed on the edge of her eyes and with some effort took her hand away from her mouth to clasp it in Scor's now free hand. "Yes," She said her voice shakey. "Of course I will." She beamed at him, having never actually expected it. Sure they had been together since sixth year, but that was only four years ago. If someone had told her before she met Scor that she would find someone she loved she probably would have laughed in their face. She'd never expected she would fall but when she did the feeling was elating. "Oh dear God I will." She said again looking straight into his eyes.

Scor felt the undeniable urge to cry and he had to look away for a moment. As much as he wanted to spend this moment and the rest of forever staring into Vena’s eyes, the feeling was just too much and he had to spend a moment looking off into the midst of all the high-end witches and wizards in the restaurant, completely oblivious to the turn his life had just taken. When he looked back up at her, he could feel a single tear leaking down his face, but he didn’t care. It had been a long time since any lingering ex-Malfoy pride had caused him shame from tears. Pulling the ring from its box, he slipped it onto Vena’s finger and smiled as it naturally molded itself to fit her finger and her finger only; it was just another one of those great things about magic. “Thank God. I think I might have just about killed myself if you’d said no,” Scor admitted truthfully. This was the one reason that he’d been pushing himself through work and life for the past few years, just trying to get by until this day when he could really make Vena his. “I love you so much,” he whimpered, losing himself to the tears again. He felt like a complete spaz, crying here on the floor of an expensive restaurant in his dusty old assistant librarian’s robes.

"Why would I say no?" She asked him helping him to his feet and staring at the ring on her hand. It really was breath takingly beautiful and stunning. She inwardly wondered how much it had cost and what Scor had needed to give up to get it. "I love you too Scor." She said leaning over and kissing him.

“I dunno, maybe because I’m a complete dweeb with no money and a boring job?” Scor asked as he got to his feet. Every molecule in his body seemed to sing when Vena kissed him and he thought that for the first time, things were going the way that they ought to. He would finally and completely distance himself from the life he used to have and start his own family, perfect and complete withing Vena and himself. Sitting back down in his chair, he stared at Vena for a long moment and then stuffed a bit of steak into his mouth. “I have never been so hungry in my life,” he uttered, chewing on the meat. He’d worked up quite the appetite in all of his nervousness and now that he’d gotten the most important moment of his life over with, he figured he had no worries about being sick.

Vena had to laugh as she sat down and Scor started to shovel food into his mouth. She too repicked up her cuttlery and continued eating her meal. She kept glancing at the ring on her finger every now and again as if she expected it to magically disapear when she turned away. "You're not a dweeb." And I don't care about money never had." She told him seriously then with a smile added. "Though your job could be jazzed up slightly, you enjoy it. We can't all have exciting jobs where the most interesting thing we do all day isn't find a non-fiction book in the fiction section." She teased him slightly a smile on her face the whole time. She poped a peice of the meat into her mouth and took another ginger sip of the wine. Decided it didn't taste as bad the second time but grabbed her glass of water off of the table.

Feeling more at ease now that Vena was teasing him, Scor stopped scarfing down his food so quickly and actually tasted it enough to know that it wasn't really that much better than it would be at a cheap restaurant. He frowned at his glass of wine again and surreptitiously tapped the glass with his wand, turning it to pumpkin juice. "Excellent," he muttered, taking a large swallow. "You know, I really did have an issue today with this book that was based on a true story, but wasn't true itself. I was absolutely stumped on where to put it, so I just chucked it on the "recently returned" cart and hoped no one will ever need it." He shook his head at the thought and knew that that sort of careless work would never make him head librarian. He'd have to buckle down sooner or later if he ever wanted to make any money.

"So," he began, the thought just occurring to him, "a real wedding. When do you want to have it?"

"That," Vena said in reponce to his question. "Is a very good question which I do not have an answer to." She put down her fork to contemplate it which actually took quite a lot of restraint because she kind of actually just wanted to jump about. Which she was pretty sure she had never wanted to do in her life. She gazed out the window assesing the weather, even if the weather of today would have no real impact on the weather on the wedding day. "Maybe when the weather's slightly warmer." She mused more to herself then to Scor. "But not too warm." Then she smiled and rolled her eyes at herself. "Not that the weather matters much I suppose." She took out her wand and like Scor changed the contents of her drink, after twirling it about for a moment she put it back in her pocket.

Scorpius caught himself smiling faintly as he watched Vena twirl her wand before putting it away. It was one of the first little quirks that he'd noticed about her, and to this day it always caught his eye. It was one of those things that was so distinctly Vena that he couldn't mistake it, and for that reason he loved it. He nodded at her response and considered it. "I mean, I suppose it would be easiest to do it in the spring, but it might be too rainy then. Besides, that's only a few months away. Unless you want to do it that soon, of course." For most couples in the world, money was the main reason for delaying a wedding, but with magic, almost everything could be charmed into existence and back out of it in the space of the ceremony. Everything except the food, of course, and they'd surely figure something out for that.

"Hrm," Vena considered it taking a drink of water and absent mindedly picking up a peice of her salad with her fingers and popping it into her mouth. "Maybe a little closer to summer?" She asked thinking it through. She didn't want it to be too soon because chances were that they would forget something important and stuff it all up. "May? June?" They were on the border of summer, the weather starting to get hotter but not yet as hot as it would become. She finished her meal thinking for how nice the restruant was, the food didn't particularly live up to that standard. It was alright and didn't taste awful but it probably could have been a little better.

Scor nodded slowly and smiled, chewing on a particularly tough piece of steak that he had come upon. The summer would be a good time for guests to come; any of the school-age kids would be out, as well as any professors that might pop up. "June would probably work," he mused as he finally swallowed his last piece of steak. "We'll have to figure out who we're inviting," he noted as he washed down his steak with the remaining pumpkin juice in his glass. Rubbing his stomach, he pulled his money out of his pocket and counted it up silently. He appeared satisfied with what he found and stuffed it back into his pocket, grinning. "Want dessert?"

"Alright June," Vena said with a nod and then zoned off slightly thinking about who to invite, obviously it probably wouldn't be the largest wedding because while Scor probably could name a few dozen people to invite Vena really couldn't, but that was mostly because she'd never really gotten on with people when she was younger. She had a few work friends that she could invite though. "I'm alright," She said in reference to Scor asking about dessert. She picked up her drink and drank the remaning contents of it. "Havn't really ever been that fond of desert anyway."

Scoprius leaned back in his chair and let the moment really sink in. In June, he would be married. No to someone his family had picked out before he could walk and talk, but to a girl that had swept into his life like a whirlwind and had fortunately never chosen to sweep out. It was enough to make him a little dizzy, but he was happy nonetheless. Nodding as his (it felt so strange to think it) fiancee declined dessert, he put up a hand to the passing waiter and asked for the bill. He wasn't sure that he could fit down any of the chocolate mousse or creme brulee that the restaurant offered, anyway. Paying their ticket with most of the money in his pocket, he was pleased to hear the jingle of leftover change as he stood to leave. He'd never felt so fortunate in his life than on this day: lucky in love, lucky in friendship, and somehow, for the first time in four years, lucky in finances. He walked around the table and pulled Vena's chair out for her so that she could stand. "Ready to go?"

Vena smiled as Scor pulled out her chair and she stood up worming her right hand into his left. Her smile widened slightly as the thought the word fiancee, she'd had never thought that one day the word would apply to her. Though of course she'd never really thought of marraige at all when she was younger. The two of them left the restruant and went out into the street outside. "Can we walk back instead of apparating?" Vena asked him swinging their arms slightly, she liked being outside and walking at nighttime.

Scor felt a rush of butterflies in his stomach when Vena took his hand and he wondered if the jitters he got when she was close to him would ever go away. He hoped that they wouldn't, because every time that little rush of nerves came he remembered the first time she had kissed him, or the first time they had said that they loved each other. Some of Scor's friends, and Reginald, the man that ran the library, always told him that he didn't know what he was missing out on, marrying the first girl he'd ever really been with. He thought they were stupid, though; he had given his heart to her and he didn't he would ever take it back, even if she no longer wanted it. She was his first love and he would never let that go; he'd been willing to sacrifice his family and his name for her.

The lights in the street were beautiful, but nowhere near as pretty as the stars. Of course, Scor didn't like looking at the stars much anymore; they reminded him of who he used to be, and they especially reminded him of the man who was once his father. He had loved Astronomy as a student, but he had found, ever since he had disconnected himself from the Malfoys, that the skies only made him think of what could have been. No matter how wonderful his life was now, there was always that niggling worry in the back of his mind that things could have somehow worked out better. "I don't mind walking," he said absently, but honestly, he would've preferred to apparate and get away from the night sky that screamed his father's name down at him mercilessly. He never talked to Vena about all of these things; she had never known real family, and so she wouldn't understand the way that he somehow missed his life with them, no matter how miserable they had made him.

Vena nodded and smiled and hand in hand the two of them set down the street, the sounds on their footsteps echoed dimly around them. Vena glanced at the moon for a moment trying to work out what cycle it was in and probably ending quite a way off of it. She prefered night to day because in her opinion it was much prettier, while not brighter prettier. Because you could sea the stars and the moon and some things were different in the dark.

They walked through the streets not talking much to eachother but each thinking about different things. Vena's thoughts spiriraled around the fact of actually getting married and maybe raising a family. She smiled slightly at the thought. It didn't takelong to get back to their flat, which was positition quite near the city. Because there were muggles walking by Vena fished the keys out of her pocket instead of using her wand. Muttering as she dropped them she picked thtem back up and unlocked the door. After hearing the little click she pulled the key out and swung it open.

The flat was small and only had a few rooms but neither of them really minded. Vena mostly just liked having her own place to live in, as as a child she had been in an orphange and then stumbled upon Riddle House at a later stage. Vena entered dropping the keys on the bench next to the door and then sidesepping to allow Scor to enter.

Scor was unnaturally relieved to reach the door of their flat, enough so that he found himself suppressing a laugh as Vena fumbled with the keys. He knew she wasn't used to having to use them, but it was still laughable to watch her drop them before she finally got it right. In all honesty, it was a little bit hypocritical for him to make fun of her for having trouble doing things the Muggle way; he'd had a lot more trouble with that than she had because of the way he'd been raised. "Home sweet home," he muttered as he entered the house and kicked off his shoes, glad to be out of the public eye. No one really watched him anymore, like they had when they were young, but he still felt uncomfortable going about in public. "I feel like I should owl Raj a thank you note," he pondered aloud as he dropped down on their worn-out sofa.

Vena kicked off her shoes, dumping them by the door. It was easier if she left them there to slid them on before walking out the doors in the morning. She pulles her hairtie out of her hair and let it drop down. She shook her head to cause the part to even out. At the mention of Raj Vena glanced down at the ring on her hand. She supposed that he was the jewler in queston. The ring made her hand feel somewhat heavy but she didn't mind. Not in the slightest. She yawned softlyand sat down next to Scor leaning on his shoulder and drawing her feet up onto the couch. "If you do," She said softly. "Tell him I say it's beatiful." She smiled again nestling into Scor. "Thank-you," She said raises her head and kissing him on the cheek.

"I'm sure he'd appreciate that," Scor replied, smiling at the thought of Raj's advice and kindness. His belief in the situation may have been a bit sketchy, but everything had worked out perfectly, and for that, he was indebted to him. Feeling her lips brush against his cheek, he turned his face to kiss her properly before pulling back and smiling. "You're welcome. It was a gift for me too, you know. Now that you've got the ring, you can't go anywhere. Mine, all mine." He grinned as he teased her. He wasn't really that possessive, as he didn't think she was the type to just walk right out of his life, but the thought of them belonging to each other, formally, was amazing. He pulled out his wand and tapped the small end-table next to the couch to see that it was only 9 o'clock. He had work the next day, but he wasn't planning on going to sleep just yet. The only problem was that there was not much to do in their small flat. "What are you going to do tonight?" he asked.

Vena smiled amused as Scor teased her, she wasn't going to go anywhere anyway. She loved Scor too much for that. It was odd in a way that neither of them had ever cared about the fact that the other was the first one they had loved. It didn't really matter anyway. She yawned softly as she contemplated Scor's question. She wasn't too sure what she wanted to do, though she did no that she didn't want to sleep yet. "Hrm,"She said opening her eyes and looking around the dimly lit room. "We could play a board game?" She asked, saying the first thing that popped into her mind. She smiled semi amused at that.

Popping up from the couch, Scor crossed over to a section of the wall just beneath a painting and drew his finger in a small square. This was the location of one of the small, magical doors that they had put around the flat for extra storage, even though they didn't have that many things. These were mostly the places that Scor kept all of his books, but this one was special: it held all of the Muggle board games that they had accumulated over the past few years. Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit (which they were both useless at, but the little multi-colored pie pieces were still fun), Chutes and Ladders, Candyland. He didn't mind that some of them were meant for children; they had been new to him since he'd never really gotten his hands on anything the Muggles put out before. "Hmm. Monopoly? Or something else?" he asked his new fiancee, waving a hand at the stack of board game boxes.

Vena smiled as Scor went over to one of the secret nocks in the house and pulled out a board game out of their small stash. As they did need something to occupy themselves and some of the time board games did the job perfectly well. Of course they had altered a few of the games slightly so they were magical. Like the places on the Monopoly board had magical names instead of Muggle ones and the cards had things to do with wizarding stuff. "Monoply is fun," She said with a smile as Scor came back over and placed the board down on the floor. Vena got off the couch and sat cross-legged on the floor by the game. As Scor started setting up the board she grabbed a monopoly peice, the one she always chose. A tiny replica of Slytherin's locket, Vena had been quite fond of that locket even if it had been a Horcrux.

She picked up the dices and rolled them in her hands. "Largest number goes first." She told Scor rolling them onto the half set board getting a three and a four. She passed the dice to Scor putting her peice of the start square.

Scor was happy to see that Vena was enthusiastic about the board game he picked. "This is going to take forever," he pretended to gripe. It really was a lengthy game, but he loved it enough that it didn't really matter. Besides, it wasn't as if they were playing for a championship; they could quit any time they wanted and go to sleep. He fumbled through the little moving pieces and wondered which to pick. Vena always picked the same one, the locket, but Scor went back and forth a lot. The last time they had played he'd used the miniature copy of Hogwarts, A History, which in all honesty was an actual shrunken copy of the book. He'd read it so many times that keeping on the bookshelf would probably be pointless, so this was a perfect way to store it and to make it somewhat useful. He looked balefully at the rest of the pieces, indecisive, and then just decided to go with the book.

Picking up the dice, Scor shook them around in his hand and had a sudden idea. There was a bit of wandless magic that he'd been practicing that would probably be cool to try out this way before he did anything serious. Lifting his fist to his face, he blew on the dice. "For good luck," he explained to Vena, before blowing on them again and muttering at them. He scattered them onto the board and smiled mischievously when they rolled to double sixes. "I go first," he said, winking at her. He'd have to write down the spell that he'd used; he hadn't read even any theory papers on magic that could both predict and change the outcome of random events. He could have everyone in the world getting heads when they flipped coins, if he wanted.