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Prologue: Casus Belli
"Good work today, Vic,"
Victoire Weasley flashed a grateful smile toward her elderly, arthritic supervisor. Her face was streaked with dirt, and strands of her strawberry-blond hair were beginning to make their way haphazardly out of her plait, but she looked radiant all the same. She stretched out her sore muscles before chirping goodbye to old Arnold Scamander. It was her last day of work before her leave-of-absence and she'd finally managed to usher the orphaned bicorn back into his magically-enforced pen. The magical creatures reserve where she'd been working for the last few years had become a home for her, and she knew that she would miss it terribly. She certainly didn't want to take a leave of absence but her condition made working with potentially dangerous creatures less than ideal.
Victoire's hand hovered over her belly, which had swollen considerably in the last 6 months.
Her first child.
Even now she could scarcely believe it. There had been a warm, rosy glow about her life since the day she had found out. As she scrubbed the dirt from her face and from under her fingernails, she thought of how happy Teddy was. She thought about how he had started whistling and planting flowers in the garden and writing little letters to their child in a small notebook that he kept in his back pocket. Teddy had always been nothing short of a prince, but his current joy was like the sun and it was infectious.
The sky was a lovely shade of pink. Dusk was her favorite time of day and she took a moment to appreciate the hint of chill in the air, the one that promised fall. Normally, Vic would simply apparate home or use the floo network back in the caretaker's quarters, but the physical strain of those particular modes of transportation posed a risk for the baby and Vic was taking no chances. A number of people had offered to escort her home but, if she was being quite honest with herself, she was sick of being treated so delicately. It was bad enough that Teddy had become fanatically overprotective. It seemed she never had a moment to herself anymore whether it was her mother insisting she spend the next few months at the Lupin household or her brother popping in every day after work or her best friend sending her baby name ideas every 20 minutes.
She had been taking a car out to the reserve every day. It was a bit ridiculous but Uncle Ron had taught her when she'd realized she couldn't very well apparate or floo or portkey in during her pregnancy. As she made her way to the roadside, she was so lost in her musings that she barely even noticed the whispered incantation.
"Imperio."
Notes: Reviews would be lovely if you would be so kind.
