A/N: Hello, people!
I don't own Harry Potter or Hannibal.
I have no beta.
ENJOY!
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Slytherin's Keep was a welcome view upon reaching the wrought, iron gates. Will stared up at the large fortress that housed him for two years in the most influential time in his life. He remembered all of the things he'd learned while there. All of the little lessons passed onto him from both of his fathers. Harry by a gentle, guiding hand and Tom by a stern but pleased countenance.
The fortress was made of grey stones and was covered in trailing vines that tried their best to cover the high arched windows. The gates surrounded the land, much like those of Hogwarts did. Spells and enchantments kept all that lie within from Muggle eyes, instead disillusioning the entire plot of land as a dark and dense forest with multiple compulsions to stay away from. A forest that was so ominous that it made the Forbidden Forest look like a child's playground.
Judging from Abigail's startled gasp and mounting worry, she was seeing the forest. She also clutched his jacket sleeve tightly, looking to him for confirmation.
Harry turned back to give them a wink, before waving a hand and stepping through the gates, which dissolved upon contact to allow him to enter. Tom followed, leading the seven canines through as well. Will held Abigail's hand and carefully pulled her through the invisible portal between the Muggle world and the Magical world.
Her worry and fear melted away into wonder and excitement. She was finally seeing what Will was seeing. Off to the left was a small pond that Will knew housed its own tribe of Merfolk. To the right was a maze that was trimmed into different designs every year in order to make it challenging. Obviously magical plants resided within in order to make the journey more exciting.
"You grew up here?"
"Something like that. I'll tell you more about it later."
She nodded, stubbornness coming over her features. Yes, she certainly wasn't going to be forgetting anything. She was feeling mischievous and was most likely planning to bombard him when he was emotionally at his weakest. It was something he'd do in order to flesh out pure honesty. He couldn't fault her for it. It was a Slytherin mindset and he'd been reared in a rather biased version of the very same mindset.
"Come on," he said gently, pulling her toward the double doors, knowing she'd prefer to find the bedroom she liked most first and foremost. He didn't even know how long they'd be staying. They could live in the home as his parents - most other wizarding children did as well, rarely ever leaving their ancestral homes - but he did have a home all his own given to him by Harry and then there were the various family manors all over the world that they could use for when they went traveling.
He'd have to think about it later, Abigail's emotions were all over the place, though thankfully on the more pleasant end of the emotional spectrum.
The dogs were sniffing around the grounds already, though Winston seemed to want to remain closer to Will than the rest. Will's eyes landed on the dog door that appeared on the bottom of the double door on the right side. Of course the fortress would make accommodations for their canine companions.
"Will! Will!"
Abigail was tugging on his arm and gesturing toward the pond where several heads were poking out of the water in order to get a good look at the people who were visiting the fortress. The Mer-chieftainess was among them, her grey/green, coral crowned head was the oldest and largest among the lot.
"I'm sure they'd like a nice greeting," he advised the teenager, honestly finding her awe amusing.
Abigail raised a tentative hand and waved three times slowly. The smaller heads, probably the newly hatched mer-young popped up just a little higher, their tiny arms waving wildly in their excitement. The leader nodded calmly toward them, before making a few sharp, shriek like demands to the young ones, who all looked forlorn, but followed her lead, dipping below the water with flamboyant flicks of their majestic tails.
"Mermaids?" Abigail asked, breathless.
"Merfolk," Will corrected. "The females are mermaids and males are mermen. The young are typically called mers by Magizoologists."
"What about the noises?"
"Their language. Under the water it's rather angelic. You'll get plenty of time to acquaint yourself with them. Their very nice and since Tom generally brings in fresh fish for them to hunt, they live in relative luxury. He even made them an underwater castle out of the rock bed."
Her excitement was palatable, like an unripened strawberry. Emotions always felt and tasted different to the various empaths. The tartness of her excitement was even stronger now.
"Let's go see the inside. I hope you like children, because they have two sons."
She immediately looked and felt wary. The honeydew flavor made his nose wrinkle.
"Okay, they are twins, or so I've heard. I haven't actually met them, but I have corresponded with them on several occasions and sent them gifts on their birthdays. Their names are Salazar and Godric. Tom named Salazar and Harry named Godric. I will tell you now though. Godric is more like Tom and Salazar is more like Harry. Don't let their eyes worry you either, it's natural or so I'm told."
For a Muggle, Abigail had pretty good control over her emotions when she put forth the effort to keep them in check. It was like she locked them into a box and sealed them away for a while, suddenly going blank. The suddenness of it had worried him enough that he had to look at her to verify that she was indeed still standing beside him. He'd never known somebody without Occlumency training who could do that.
That was unsettling, although… perhaps a blessing in disguise.
He'd have to contemplate it later.
Meeting the twins had been a trip and a half. Salazar and Godric looked very much like Tom, but had the bright red hair that Harry's mother had possessed. Also, they had heterochromia. One eye crimson and the other eye the same Avada green that Harry was so well known for.
Harry's eyes had once been like his mother's, but having come into contact with the Killing Curse not only once but twice in his young life, had distorted the coloring, making them as deadly looking at the Killing Curse. They glowed in the same manner as well.
Salazar, being the very manifestation of Gryffindor, was upfront about his interest in Abigail right away. He looped his arm through hers and lavished her with praises on her beauty and asked her if she was single. Godric was more covert, cuffing his brother upside the head and grabbing the young woman's hand away from his twin in order to place a very gentlemanly kiss on the back of it. He proceeded to smirk devilishly and introduced himself as Godric Selwyn Slytherin-Potter.
Before Abigail could respond, Salazar pushed his brother out of the way in order to follow up his introduction with one of his own. Salazar Emrys Slytherin-Potter.
Will promptly broke up the squabble that no doubt would have taken place had he not stepped into their line of view. The boys, probably having only seen photographs of him before, looked excited to see him, jumping on him the moment they realized who he was.
He was filled with the bitter, raw beets, flavor of guilt, realizing that they were basically his adopted brothers and he'd never bothered to come over to meet them, so caught up in his own life. He'd been remiss and he didn't like being in the wrong.
Young boys were always excitable and they completely forgot all about the pretty girl - which was totally fine with Will - in order to bombard him with all kinds of questions. What were American Muggles like? Did he have a boy or girl-friend yet? Was he even going to have his own children so they had someone to protect? That last one had been rather cute.
"He has a boyfriend," Abigail assured them, retaking their attention.
Will was going to intervene but the boys had already shot off questions on who he was and where he was at.
"The things is, boys, they want to be boyfriends but are worried that the other doesn't feel the same way so they dance around each other a lot."
Salazar was the one to look at Will like he was insane. "If you love each other like mum and dad do, why don't you just marry each other already?! You have a daughter and what mum says every family needs so you need to make it of-of-official."
Godric was nodding, "Yes. It would be prudent to claim each other before someone else comes along."
Will turned his mortified gaze to Harry, who was standing not too far off, grinning like a loon. He shrugged at the accusing look Will was sending him. "I can't help it if they think that family is important."
"Mhm," said Will, not convinced.
Anne, the Head Elf for Slytherin's Keep, popped in. "Dinner bes done."
The boys whipped around, already running for the dining room. At Harry's cleared throat, they slowed down to a barely acceptable skip, but giggled the moment they were out of sight, footsteps moving faster again.
Harry rolled his eyes affectionately and Will could feel the pure joy radiating from him. Taste the odd sweetness of chocolate on his tongue.
"Come on then, the Elves will take your luggage on up. Abigail can choose her room after she's eaten. Mind you, not every meal will be like this. I do fancy cooking every now and then and I prefer not to get lazy simply because we have servants."
Harry had never appreciated it when people assumed that he was lazy. He'd had a trying childhood and half the people in Magical Britain thought his life was all fairies and unicorns and they couldn't be further from the truth. Harry was probably the hardest working person Will knew.
Will linked arms with his adopted daughter and pulled her along after his father, murmuring about the origins of the portraits that waved as they passed. Abigail's wondering eyes were filled with amazement.
Tom was already sitting at the head of the table and Harry was at the other end. Will and Abigail sat across from the boys on the other side, near the mantle. Will closest to Tom because he was used to Tom's brand of humor, leaving Abigail at the mercy of Harry's mother henning.
The hearth was alight with flames provided by the House Elves. The food blossomed on the plates and Will enjoyed how Abigail was simply amazed by everything she saw. The cutlery, the dishware, the food, the interior of the room. It was all overwhelming, true, but she was handling herself rather well.
Harry immediately set to warming Abigail up to the manor, asking her questions in order to ease her worries. While they discussed Abigail's favorite hobbies, Tom engaged Will in a low conversation about who Hannibal Lecter was and why he wasn't with Will and Abigail.
Tom cast a small muffliato on them, so they could speak and hear each other at the same time.
"He's… my friend."
"A friend that stabbed you in the gut and then sliced your daughter's neck."
Will couldn't hide the wince, because when it was said like that, it sounded harsh and brutal. But Will knew the truth.
"Tom, Hannibal is a serial killer. The best and worst in American history. I was charged with making the profile and helping find him. We met on another case and he became my unofficial psychiatrist. He rubber stamped me for the field to let me get back into my job while we could still talk unimpeded by FBI restrictions. Though I was reluctant, he slipped his way inside and I thought of him as a friend."
"And now not so much?" asked Tom, brow quirked.
"It's not that. I… I had an illness. Encephalitis. There was swelling in my brain and was causing hallucinations, sleepwalking, time loss, seizures, and other things. Hannibal knew from the scent, but he had this grand idea in mind that I was as Dark as he was, but that I needed to learn to accept it. So he hatched a plan to make it worse and he slowly began exacerbating my symptoms and then he framed me for murder."
Before Tom could go on a tirade, as his face showed, Will was continuing on quickly.
"Hannibal truly believed that his way was best for me. He really thought his method was going to help me and him. That it was the only way he could get me to accept myself. And while it worked, I was angry. I felt he had betrayed me. I knew who he really was. Not only was he one killer, but he was also another. I decided that I'd play his game and bring him down."
Tom was staring at his plate, lips pursed in obvious annoyance.
"So I was released from prison when the judge for my trial was murdered - by Hannibal, because he ignored Hannibal's testimony - and with several murders popping up, they had nothing to pin me down with. No true justification. I engaged Hannibal in the game and he accepted.
My friend Jack was slowly coming around to my thinking. As a special agent of the FBI, when I accused Hannibal of being a killer, they scoured his home and found nothing. But I kept giving facts and relatable information. A member of Jack's team was killed by Hannibal in too suspicious of a way. So Jack decided to believe me and we hatched a scheme to trick Hannibal into lowering his guard."
Tom groaned, "You got emotionally involved like a Hufflepuff."
"I was already emotionally involved, Tom," defended Will. "Hannibal is amazing. I feel like myself. Like I can be happy, when I'm with him. I never feel more alive than when I'm around him. I admired him still and it was difficult to want revenge and yet want to be near him. I basically became a fence sitter and I couldn't really decide what to do. I decided much too late. He'd already known I had betrayed him that night, so when I went to him after calling and telling him that the FBI knew everything in hopes that he would leave so he wouldn't get caught and I wouldn't have to make a choice, he stayed. He confronted Jack and Alana. And then me."
Will looked away, feeling ashamed at the duplicity.
"I deserved the knife to the gut. I lied about killing someone, to his face. I understand Hannibal in a way that no one ever will. To open himself up after years of being alone and to let someone see all of him, only to be betrayed, hurts. I would know. So while I accept being gutted, I do not accept him using Abigail to hurt me.
After all that effort to keep her alive and well in hopes of repaying me for the shit he put me through, he decided that he'd cut both of us from his life in order to save himself the hurt of our memory and to hurt me in return. If I ever seen him again, I will handle that situation, but for now... I'm content to ignore it in favor of allowing Abigail to enjoy this new world she's been introduced to."
With those words, Will fell silent, allowing Tom to draw his own conclusions.
"I'd say that your relationship with this Hannibal Lecter, is unhealthy."
That made the younger wizard snort. If only Tom knew.
"Unhealthy by normal standards and perhaps a little by my own. However, I cannot say that I haven't hurt Hadrian before and he has accepted me just fine even after everything. He may not forgive me, but he loves me anyway."
Will frowned, sending his adoptive father a look of confusion, wondering what he could have done to Harry that wouldn't earn him forgiveness no matter how much he tried.
"If you ever meet your Hannibal again, I will tell you of mine and Hadrian's past. Only then will you truly understand. Seeing someone you care for even after they've hurt you, can't be properly explained. Like the hole of their absence in your very being has been filled up suddenly and you feel whole once again, but at the same time, the filling is bittersweet and leaves you hurting despite the joy in seeing them. You'll understand when that day comes."
"You're so sure that it'll come?" asked Will.
"I know it will. But it won't come when you're deliberately searching him out. It never works like that.
While I am skeptical of this man, I will allow him to explain himself and not use prior formed ideas of him to cloud my judgment. You're drawn to him. You care about him and I can relate in a sense, so I will do you this favor."
Will smiled, "Thanks, Tom."
Will and Abigail found themselves sharing tea with Harry a few days later and it was then, that she finally asked what Will had been dreading.
"Was I the teacup?"
Placing his cup on the saucer, Will straightened and nodded. "Yes. We'd had a discussion about him shattering the teacup. About his selfishness in wanting me to be attached only to him. He severed my ties to everyone else in my life, took you away when we bonded, took the idea of the child I may have had with a woman we both knew, away. He tried to justify himself and said that you couldn't have lived in this life. That it had to happen. Said that he would shatter a teacup and be dissatisfied when it didn't come back together. Even said that maybe one day, the teacup would reform.
And as he held me in the middle of his kitchen, he informed me that the precious teacup had come back together as a gift for me. That he never took you away, simply allowed me to lose sight of you for a while. He wanted us to be a family and through our joint betrayal, it didn't happen the way he wanted."
Harry was listening silently as Will and Abigail faced their issues.
"I'm sorry that you had to be dragged into our problems," Will finally said, throat uncomfortably tight as he staved off an emotional response.
She said nothing, simply stared into her tea as she rubbed her throat where both sides were now covered in scars from both men she viewed as a father figure. Tom had created a paste that would help them fade within time, so she wouldn't have to wear scarves or disillusionment charms all the time.
"I'm only slightly put off by it all," she said. "I think I was too trusting of him because he had experience and knew what to do. Perhaps I should have realized what he was planning to do when he asked if you would forgive him and then asked for me to come to him."
The green eyed wizard entered their conversation then, smiling lightly at the two of them. "I think you both and Hannibal are going to have to sit down and have a long discussion over everything. There are obviously some old wounds that needed healing and while I understand that you both may have been foolish or done something wrong, you also need to realize that this is a problem made by three people and should be handled with all three of you. Do not let him get away with his actions simply because 'I betrayed him' and 'I was too naive'. He was a tad too manipulative and all three of you have something to answer for."
Will sighed and Abigail sniffed a bit, eyes looking glassy.
"Do you love him?" Abigail asked suddenly, cornering Will with those piercing baby blues, emotions a well of sadness and longing.
He scrambled to find an answer, unsure of what he should say because he'd never really thought of Hannibal and love in the same sentence.
Harry was grinning into his teacup as he said, "Sometimes we hurt the ones who love us most and love the ones who hurt us most."
And that was it. That little sentence seemed to jar something within Will and he found himself nodding along with it, because it was true. Even after everything that had happened between them, Will still wanted to be with Hannibal. Wanted to run away with him where they could have a family.
"I love Hannibal Lecter."
Abigail was grinning and Harry looked at peace once more.
Blood adoption was among the least used rituals in the magical world, and least of all in Great Britain. Only few Goblins and some Ministry personnel were qualified to even officiate the ritual required. Thankfully, Will was on cordial terms with his account manager and Rhabrhach was willing to do the ritual for a much lower price than usually given.
Abigail was a trooper through it all, allowing her hand to be cut and her blood to be added to the chalice. Will's blood joined her's a moment later and the two listened as Rhabrhach spoke in a guttural voice, unknown words slipping from his thin lips.
"Drink it," he ordered, holding the glowing cup out to the young woman.
With only slight hesitance - one of her adoptive fathers cooked humans for Merlin's sake, she should be used to unnatural dishes - she consumed what was inside the cup, nose wrinkled only slightly. Will knew the feeling, having done the very same ritual with Tom and Harry over seventeen years ago.
Abigail was covered in a halo of golden light, her body making the change. She knew what was going to happen, having discussed it at length with Will and Tom the night prior. Her features would change just the slightest, making Abigail Hobbs a thing of the past and now Abigail Potter her future.
Her hair darkened a few shades, matching Will's own hair, eyes lightening just a bit and face becoming slightly more angular. She also grew a little, maybe an inch or so.
The young woman beamed at him and turned to thank the Goblin who had helped them.
Now… all they had to do was shop.
Joy.
A/N: Another is done!
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CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON. I FOLLOW BACK.