September 12th, 2003 New Orleans, Louisiana
They had taken over his house.
There were toys in the living room. There were... girly things in the bathroom. He wasn't even sure what half of them were but he had learned that if he decided to bathe in any bathroom other than the one attached to his bedroom, never, ever use the shampoo. It reeked of flowers and made his hair... fluffy. (She claimed it just had added body but he wasn't blind or stupid. It was fluffy.) And he did not want to discuss the time he decided to use her body wash.
Audrina had made enough money to afford her own house just from the sales of her first album. Her second had been released that very day and was already looking like it would surpass the first.
They had celebrated with a nice dinner of pizza and take-out Chinese.
Randal's suggestion that they have anything but pizza and take-out Chinese had been ignored and he found himself eating General's Chicken and watching as the girls played a board game and Audrina sat in a chair with her knees pulled to her chest, staring out the window.
After the girls went to bed, Randal brought Audrina a glass of wine.
"Would you... like to talk about it?" He winced in anticipation.
She shook her head but took the wine.
Randal knew what her problem was but telling her that he knew that it was the anniversary of her marriage to one of the Redheaded Bastards.
Randal had learned that she was unable to speak of him. Ever. For any reason. This had fascinated him because he realized when he bombarded her with questions, she would turn a shade of purple that he had never seen before (but had used as inspiration for a particularly lovely dress he had made for her), seem to start choking on her tongue (the first time had alarmed him and he had believed that she was having a seizure) and sometimes get a nosebleed (he did not like that at all and spent 20 minutes holding her head back until it stopped). If she tried to write his name, her hand shook so uncontrollably that all that came to the paper were scribbles. And trying to pluck the name from her head resulted in both of them having headaches.
Whatever they had done, they had either done a very good job on or they had completely messed up.
Randal had, however, learned to read Audrina. On September 12th and May 2nd, she got a bit weepy but never this bad. So he brought the entire bottle of wine into the living room, poured himself a glass, got a book and sat down to wait for her to make the first move.
Half a bottle of wine later, she did.
"It's my anniversary."
"Oh?" He didn't even look up.
"And all day, I've been thinking that I am actually accomplishing something but he's not here to see it." Her chin wobbled. "He didn't love me like I loved him and his family hated me and his sister called me a useless twit that couldn't managed to walk and chew gum at the same time and I miss him so damned much!" She ended on a wail and threw herself at him.
Sadly, when she threw herself at him he was (1) not prepared (2) not looking (3) holding his wine glass (4) had a mouthful of wine (5) and had just readjusted himself so that his legs were not crossed which meant that (1) his crotch was not guarded (2) he was still in the motion of uncrossing so he was unsettled.
All of these things resulted in a calamitous moment of total and complete chaos.
Audrina slammed into him, jamming her knee into his groin. He gasped, inhaling wine. He choked and sprayed wine all over Audrina. The force of her hitting him through him backwards and the couch fell over so that their feet were sticking straight up in their air.
Audrina, dripping in wine and sobbing like a child, clutched Randal's shirt. Randal moaned in pain and tried to grab the injured part of his anatomy.
"Woman. You. Are. A. Menace!" he groaned.
Audrina just continued to sob and clutch at him.
"I can walk and chew gum at the same time!" she wailed. "I can!"
He fought the urge to start sobbing along with her.
It was another thirty minutes before Randal managed to remove Audrina from him and then get himself off the floor. He groaned, truly feeling his age and almost wishing himself back to Azkaban, and limped to the sidebar. There, he poured himself a drink, downed it and then poured another one. Audrina was seated on the floor beside the fallen couch, wiping her face with the back of her hand.
He glowered at her.
She sniffled at him.
"Audrina, go take a shower and then we will talk." he ground out. "You are covered in wine and are dripping on the carpet."
Once she was gone and he heard the shower going, Randal doubled over, holding his crotch.
"Ah God." he moaned. "Damn that woman and her indescribably sharp knees!"
He grabbed the ice bucket from the bar and sank into his chair, holding the ice bucket in his lap. He sighed in relief and let his head roll back, closing his eyes.
"Daddy?" He jumped, opened his eyes and yanked the ice bucket away. Danielle stood in the doorway, her stuffed dragon clutched in her hand and her eyes bleary.
"Yes, Angel." he said, clearing his throat.
"Aunt Audrina's crying in the bathroom. She woke us up. She's really, really loud." Randal cursed.
"Alright, Angel. I'll take care of it." he promised. She nodded and trudged back to her room.
Randal walked into Audrina's room and knocked on her bathroom door. He could hear her wailing away in there. "Audrina, let me in." He knocked again and tried the doorknob. It was locked.
"Audrina! Open this door!" he yelled.
She continued to wail. He cursed again, pulled out his wand and unlocked the door. He glanced back over his shoulder. Danielle and Fred were watching from Danielle's bedroom.
"Go back to bed, girls." he ordered. Then, he took a deep breath, prayed for strength and entered the bathroom.
Audrina was seated in the floor of her shower, sobbing for all she was worth. While she cried, her hair changed colors. Red to blond to brown to green to blond again to purple to black and back again to restart the cycle. He shook his head to clear it and walked to the shower.
"Audrina, you woke up the girls." he advised her.
She tried. She really did try but she just kept sobbing. When Audrina cried (and she cried for any number of reasons that were too numerous to count but did include sad movies, sad books, a Lost Dog notice on a tree and because she was very happy) she did not cry in a sweet, feminine manner. No. Audrina sobbed and wailed. Her cheeks got blotchy, her nose ran like a sieve, her eyes almost swelled shut and her hair always, somehow, ended up plastered to her wet, blotchy cheeks. And she did all of these things unapologetically and for as long as she felt the urge.
Sighing impatiently, Randal grabbed a towel from the bar, turned off the water and, wrapping Audrina in the towel, scooped her up. He walked to her bed, sat down on the edge and, holding her on his lap, started rocking back and forth like he had when Danielle had nightmares.
When she finally stopped crying, she looked up at him with her swollen but yet somehow wide, innocent eyes. At the moment, they were very, very dark and her hair was even darker.
"I don't want to be alone tonight." she whispered.
"Fine. Get dressed and you can go sleep in the room with the girls. They are probably asleep again by now and Fred was in there with Danielle." he shrugged.
She shook her head. "No. I want to be with an adult tonight." She tilted her face toward his. "I want to be with you."
A voice in his head demanded to know what the hell she was doing but he was frozen as she pressed her lips to his.
He was many things but a man was one of those things and right now, he had a gorgeous, naked witch on his lap that was pressing against him, kissing him.
Something was buzzing in his head. Something loud and insistent. He groaned and pulled the witch closer to him. The buzzing grew louder and he could hear a voice under it; a voice telling him not to stop, to do this.
And he could remember his revenge. He could remember it and knew that this was it. He had started it when he ruined her. He had continued it when she became dependent on him. He was the reason she had clothing. He was the reason she had food and a roof over her head. He was the reason that she could care for her child. The reason that she no longer had to work long nights at a seedy club. He was the one that she depended on.
And now, she would be his whore. Already, she was begging him. He could do anything to her and she... she would let him.
She would beg for more.
One of the redheaded bastards' widows would be his whore. She depended on him. Their child depended on him.
He could use her and then leave her in a worse state than she was before. She and the brat. He could destroy them both.
Randal ripped his lips from hers.
"No!" he pushed her off his lap, onto the bed. She stared up at him with those wide, innocent eyes as he pushed himself to his feet and went to her dresser.
"Randal..." she began and then stopped, biting her lip. He pulled a nightgown from the drawer and walked back to the bed. He quickly pulled it over her head and then pulled her arms through the sleeves. She let him, blinking in confusion. A lock of hair fell over her forehead. He pushed it away and caught her face in his hands.
"I am not your husband." he said, his voice harsh. "And you are not my wife. You do not love me and I do not love you. And I am not doing this."
The buzzing began to quiet.
"But Randal... I can be." she said, her voice cracking. "I can make myself look like anyone you want. I will. I don't mind. Just-just don't leave me. I can't be alone tonight. I can't!" She grabbed at him. "I can make myself look like her and- and I can close my eyes and pretend that you're him and that way, for one night, we can have who we want! Just don't leave me!"
He closed his eyes and breathed slowly. "Audrina, if we do this, someday, you will hate yourself. And so will I." He sat down beside her, forcing his breathing to remain slow and controlled. Then, surprising even himself, he reached out and put his arm around her shoulders. She leaned against him.
"Please just stay in here with me tonight." she said, her eyes on the floor. "Just to sleep, okay?"
He nodded.
That night, as the two slept beside one another, gaining comfort through the knowledge that they weren't alone in the dark, Audrina's song "Forget Me" went to number one on the Wizarding Charts.
* * *
November 16th, 2003 New Orleans, Louisiana
"What in the world are you two doing?" Audrina asked, blowing on her hands to warm them as she stood on the back porch, watching her daughter and Danielle climbing the fence. Danielle reached the top first and held her hand out to Fred to pull her up.
"Watching the new neighbors, Mum." Fred replied, perching next to her friend.
"That's rude, girls." Audrina said, shifting her bare feet. "And are you sure you're warm enough?"
"We're fine, Aunt Audi." Danielle told her. "And they're watching us, too, so it's okay."
Sure enough, a pair of brunette boys popped up, face-to-face with the girls.
"Hi!" one chirped.
"Hi!" Danielle replied, smiling.
"I'm Jason and this is Brandon." the boy said happily. "We're twins. Who are you?"
"I'm Fred and this is Danielle." Fred replied. "That's cool! I wish I had a twin!"
Audrina made a choking noise.
"Are you alright, Mum?" Fred asked, glancing back.
"Fine, dear." Audrina smiled at her and began backing into the house. Randal looked up from his newspaper.
"Problems, Princess?" he asked, reaching for his coffee.
"The girls are spying on the neighbors." she reported, watching from the French Doors.
"Yes, I heard that we were getting new neighbors." Randal sipped his coffee. "Some Quidditch players and their families bought the houses around us. It's gotten quite a following these days."
"Mmm." Audrina leaned against the door. "Not surprising. Enough Europeans came over to start anew. It stands to reason that they would want their sports. And you know the Americans. They just seem to enjoy sports." She made a face. "Especially if someone can get hurt."
"That's human nature, Audrina." Randal told her. "What is that charming shirt I saw in town the other day? Ah, yes. 'It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Loses an Eye... and Then It's Frikkin Hilarious'." He shook his head. "That shirt sums up human nature."
"You're such a cynic, Randal." Audrina sniffed.
"I'm a realist, Princess." Randal really did not feel up to doing this so early in the morning.
Audrina snorted and pointed a well manicured finger in his direction. "What you are is cranky."
"So the girls are spying on the neighbors?" Randal went back to his paper.
"Yes." Audrina glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "It's alright, the neighbors are spying back."
Randal snorted.
"Yes, when I came back inside, the girls were talking to two little boys. Twins, they said. Brandon and Jason." She waited.
"I hear that the real estate in Atlanta has become quite nice." Randal said finally. "And they have homes that don't have neighbor boys because they don't have neighbors."
Audrina hid her smile by turning back around. "They're just little boys, Randal."
"Little boys turn into teenagers." Randal said darkly. "And teenagers get... funny ideas. They should all be locked away."
"Until when?" Audrina was having a hard time not laughing.
"At least until my daughter is safely ensconced in a convent... or an all-girl university."
Audrina burst out laughing. "God, Randal! You are going to have to eventually let her go, you know that don't you?"
He lowered the paper and glared at her. "Never."
The door burst open. "Daddy! Brandon and Jason are going to come play!" Danielle announced. The twin boys had successfully climbed the fence and were now heading inside after Fred and Danielle. Without waiting for an answer, the four raced toward Danielle and Fred's bedrooms.
"Did you see that?" Randal slapped his paper down.
"See what?" Audrina asked.
"They managed to climb that fence in no time flat and immediately ran into our house like they owned it and went straight for the girls' bedrooms!" He stood.
"What are you doing?" Audrina asked, chewing the inside of her mouth.
"Something I should have done as soon as I moved in." Randal replied, striding toward his office. "I'm having barbed wire installed on the top of the fence... and a moat... with alligators."
Audrina couldn't answer him; she was too busy falling to the floor, laughing.
It took some work but Audrina managed to keep Randal from actually turning their home into a compound but she did almost lose the battle when she heard the girls and their new friends heading out again.
"We're going to go play now! Goodbye!" Fred called as they left.
Randal marched to the window and glared out it.
"I think they're a bit young to be leading the girls into a life of debauchery." Audrina observed.
Randal grunted. "Boys are never too young. And those girls are sweet, innocent and naive."
Half an hour later, the two girls marched back inside with their noses in the air. Danielle's bow was hanging haphazardly from her hair, Fred's coat was torn.
"See?! See?!" Randal yelled, leaping up. "It's already started! They're already coming home with their clothing half torn off!"
"What happened?" Audrina asked in a much calmer voice.
"Stupid Tommy Harris and his wretched little snail of a friend, Scott, started teasing our new friends." Fred explained.
"And then they started teasing Fred about her name." Danielle added.
"Said it was a boy's name." Fred scowled.
"And they made poor Clarice cry." Danielle frowned. "She's our new friend, too."
"And Brandon and Jason didn't know what to do." Fred continued.
"So we had to do something." Danielle huffed.
"What did you do?" Audrina asked, her eyes worried.
"Made them cry." The girls said together. With that pronouncement, the girls linked arms and started up the stairs. "We're just going to change clothes and then we're going back. Clarice's dad is going to give us ice cream!" Fred called.
"But it's cold!" Audrina called after them.
"So?" They called in unison.
A door closed and Randal doubled over laughing.
"Oh yes. They are so sweet and innocent." Audrina rolled her eyes. "That Harris brat is two years older than them, Randal!"
Randal just kept laughing.
He wasn't laughing when he came home the next day to find three little boys sitting across from his daughter, Fred and a blond girl.
They were all about the same age.
And were discussing brooms and Quidditch. Apparently, all of these children's parents played on the team and they had already discussed the two players that weren't related to them.
"Daddy! I need a broom!" Danielle cried, whirling. "What do I have to do to get one?"
"We'll discuss it." Randal replied warily, eyeing the children.
"Randal, this is Clarice." The blond girl smiled sweetly. "This is Brandon." One brunette waved. "Jason." The other brunette waved. "And P.L." the black haired boy smiled hesitantly. "This is Randal Montague, Danni's dad." Fred beamed as she finished her introductions.
"I'm Danni now, Daddy." Danielle said sweetly. "Danielle is just too big a name."
Randal turned on his heel and walked away.
Audrina was reading a fashion magazine at the kitchen table.
"We're moving to Atlanta." He turned and walked away.
Audrina's laughter followed him as he stalked to his room. He had to research the best brooms for his daughter.
* * *
November 23rd, 2003 New Orleans, Louisiana
Audrina dropped a plate when she saw him.
He dropped his broom.
Randal rolled his eyes.
Ah. Young love.
How... disturbing.
"H-hello." Audrina stammered and then noticed the broken plate. "Oh, blast!" She knelt and began picking up the pieces. He knelt as well.
"Hello. I'm Peter Delainy." he smiled at her. She blushed as their hands made contact.
"I'm Audrina Winterbourne." she managed to say without tripping over her own tongue.
"Fred's mum, yeah?" he smiled at her. He looked as flustered as she was.
"Yeah." she breathed and then blushed harder. "I'm Fred's mum. And you're Clarice's dad."
"And I'm going over there as soon as the two of you can get out of my way." Randal interjected. "Honestly. There are children present and the two of you are already looking like you're about to break into a song worthy of some horrid Disney monstrosity."
"This is Randal. Ignore him. I usually do." Audrina broke from her spell and scowled at her manager. He rolled his eyes again and stepped over them. He paused, glanced back and pointed his wand at the mess. All the shards immediately gathered together in front of them.
"Why's Mum acting like she's going to start singing some stupid Disney Song?" Fred asked him when he joined the new neighbors, his daughter and Fred at the table.
"I believe that she was dropped on her head a few times as a child." he replied serenely.
"Mr. Montague, excuse my rudeness but are you and Audrina... together?" Nadine Dumas asked carefully. Her son, P.L. was actually one of the better behaved ones in the mob of children that had decided his house was their house. Nadine played Keeper on the Quidditch team that had formed in New Orleans while her husband, Marcel and a man named Henry played as Beaters.
"She is my client." Randal replied calmly. "We are not romantically involved."
"Oh." Charlene Hastings said. "I'm sorry but we had just wondered." Charlene played Chaser on the team with another woman named Dianne Jennings and her husband, David.
"Randal saved Mum and I from abject squalor and poverty." Fred chirped.
"Her babysitter got shot. Domestic dispute." Danielle, or Danni as she insisted that they call her now, nodded sagely.
"He came and got us in the middle of the night and brought us here. The next day, he bought us new clothes because he said that our clothes were not even worth the effort it took to pack them." Fred continued blithely. "Because Mum was no good to him dead and since he was all she had and he had no faith in the foster care system, he would end up raising me and he had absolutely no interest in doing so. So it was in his best interest to just move us in."
"Eat your peas." Randal ordered the girl. She smiled brightly and did as ordered. Danielle looked at Clarice.
"Your Dad looks like a prince but my dad acts like one." Then, she continued to sort her carrots into two piles. "A really, really snarky prince." she added, scowling at one carrot whose cut had, apparently offended her before passing it down to one of the dozens of cats that lurked around their back garden in hopes of a meal.
Randal responded by shoving a roll in her mouth.
In the doorway, true love was blooming in all it's glory.
And Randal secretly felt a bit pleased.
* * *
Christmas Eve, 2003 The Burrow
Coming here had been a mistake.
Charlie accepted that fifteen minutes after he got here. Surrounded by his happy, exuberant family with their growing families had been a bloody awful idea.
And then it got worse when he saw the mantle and the small altar his mother had set up there. Well. To be fair, it really wasn't an altar. It was just that Fred's picture was pushed out further than usual, his wide smile and laughing eyes seemed more evident for some reason and right next to it was a picture that his mother must have gotten from Valentine Larkin. Mia in her black leather jacket held Fiona up for the camera, helping the infant wave one chubby arm before she hugged her tight and beamed.
Charlie was now feeling a bit less than festive.
But he smiled and he was good old Charlie for everyone.
After everyone went to bed, he came back downstairs and opened a bottle of a very nice liquor Tom had sent him. He poured a glass and smirked after the first sip. This was nothing. It actually tasted a bit like juice.
He passed out on the second glass.
In his dream, he was walking through a field of tall grass toward a cliff. A small figure was seated on a rock, her back to him. He sat down next to her and looked over. Mia was peeling a pomegranate. She held out a jewel-like seed on her fingertip.
"Want a bite?" she asked, her pretty eyes sparkling at him. He leaned over and took her fingertip in his mouth. She laughed lightly and, taking her hand back, continued peeling.
"Everything's so wrong now, Mia." Charlie said after watching her for a moment.
"Yes." she agreed.
"I miss you." he continued.
"I miss you, too." She looked at him through her hair and then went back to the fruit.
"It's actually a berry." she commented. He blinked. "The pomegranate. It's actually a berry. I read that somewhere." She held out another seed. He took it in the same manner as before. "And they are all through mythology. Persephone ate six seeds and had to live in the Underworld for half the year." She fed him another seed.
"What do I do, Mia?" he asked plaintively.
She shrugged one shoulder. "I don't know. I think that's really something that you have to decide for yourself." She fed him another seed. "But I do wish you would live."
"How do I do that exactly?" he asked and accepted a fifth seed from her.
"Hmmm." she pursed her lips and began removing a sixth seed. "I assume you just want a suggestion?"
"For a start." he agreed, taking the next seed.
"Go out and be around people." she handed him a seventh as soon as he had eaten the sixth. "Go to a concert. Go to a festival. Been awhile since you saw a Quidditch game." She fed him an eighth seed. "Oh hell, go over to the states and go to Mardi Gras!" She fed him a ninth.
Charlie chuckled. "And what about work?"
"There's more to life than work, Charlie Weasley." She scolded and fed him a tenth seed. "And you are still alive. Stay that way. Do you hear me?"
"I hear you." She leaned over and kissed him. "No more seeds?" he asked.
"Ten is enough for now. Nine and one just in case." she replied and kissed him again. She pulled back just a bit, her nose still brushing his. "You have to open your eyes, Charlie Weasley. It's all staring you right in the face but you aren't looking for it so you don't see it. Open your eyes, Charlie."
He opened his eyes and she was gone. Standing in front of him was his brother, Fred. He was tossing a pomegranate from hand to hand and grinning. Charlie eyed the pomegranate suspiciously.
"Not really keen on eating pomegranate seeds from your fingertips, Fred." he said and Fred laughed.
"Not really keen on feeding them to you that way, big brother." He tossed the pomegranate to him. Charlie caught it and eyed it.
"What's with the pomegranates?" he asked.
Fred shrugged and smiled. "It's your dream."
"Are you taking care of my girls?" Charlie had to ask.
Fred shook his head. "Not where I am. But I think your Mia can take care of herself quite nicely. You know, that last night aside. But she was working at a disadvantage there. He had her baby."
Charlie grunted and tossed the pomegranate back.
"Nah, that's yours." Fred smiled. "Not mine." He studied his brother a moment. "But I will say this. Smart girl, your Mia. If she was anything like what your mind conjured up. Go have some fun. Concerts are always good. Mardi Gras is supposedly a lot of fun. Go have fun, big brother. If you stay in Romania, you'll never see things that are right in front of your face."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Charlie demanded. Fred smirked.
"It means open your eyes."
Charlie's eyes popped open and he immediately yelped. Three of his brothers were staring down at him.
"Oh good. I was worried we would have to explain to the children why Uncle Charlie's comatose body was left alongside the gifts." Bill drawled.
Charlie sat up, wincing. "That drink of Tom's packed a wallop. I had two glasses and feel like I've worked my way through a case of fire whiskey."
George's eyes widened a little when he saw the bottle. "Dragon's Breath? You drank two glasses of this?" He leaned close to his older brother. "Can you see me?" he inquired in a loud, slow voice. Charlie growled and knocked him aside.
"I need a shower." he muttered and made his way upstairs.
That evening, Charlie shocked his entire family by nonchalantly agreeing to go along to see some singer that had gone to school with Fleur in Paris. He had been sorting his green beans into two piles: a pile that were not shaped weird that he would eat and a pile that were shaped weird that he would get rid of.
"It may be fun." he shrugged. He looked around at everyone, taking in their shocked looks.
"What?" he frowned.
"Nothing." Hermione said. Everyone nodded.
"It's just..." Ron rubbed the back of his neck. "You haven't agreed to do something like this in years."
"In fact, you usually run off back to Romania as soon as the holidays are over." Bill added.
Charlie scowled at them. "Well, if you would rather I did that..."
"No! We're delighted that you're going! We're just surprised is all." Ginny hurried to add.
"Alright then. Can we drop it, please?" Everyone jumped into discussions about the upcoming plans, who would be going where and doing what and so on and so forth.
Charlie just hoped he wasn't making a huge mistake.
* * *
New Years Eve 2003 Paris, France
Danielle and Fred yelled and clapped excitedly from backstage as Audrina performed. Randal watched her with no small amount of pride.
The girl he had first seen singing in a seedy club with perhaps 15 people in the audience was now commanding the attention of well over a thousand in a packed venue in Paris.
She ended her final song, throwing her head back and punching the air with one small fist as fireworks exploded overhead.
"Go, Mum!" Fred bellowed.
"Yeah, Auntie Audi!" Danielle shrieked.
Audrina turned toward them, an exuberant smile on her flushed, damp face. She turned back to the crowd.
"I want to take a moment to thank the reason that I am here tonight." she said in perfect French. "I was living in a horrible one bedroom apartment in the worst part of New Orleans. People were killed in the hallway. I barely had money to feed my daughter and my only pair of shoes had a hole in them. He swept in like a force of nature and changed our lives. Saved them. He brought us to a nice house and let us live there with him. He bought us clothing, food and everything we could have wanted or needed. And, best of all, he gave me a bedroom that I didn't share with my daughter." Many people in the crowd laughed. Audrina looked back to the wings. "Thank-you, Randal. Thank-you from the bottom of my heart." She looked ready to cry. "Come out here and say something!"
He shook his head.
"Girls, bring Randal out here!" Audrina called. The audience began chanting his name. Randal mouthed a threat. "He's shy." Audrina told the audience. "And he's plotting to do something simply awful to me later for this." Randal mouthed another threat. Audrina's eyes got wide. "My, that is nasty. Such language!"
Danielle planted her back against her father's legs while Fred planted her hands against the small of his back. Both began shoving him toward the stage.
Once he was centered, both girls straightened and waved at the audience.
"My darlings." Audrina beamed, kissing both the girl's cheeks. "Everyone, meet Fred and Danni. Say hello, girls."
Danni took the microphone and both girls said in unison, "Hello, everyone!"
Earlier in the week, Danni had announced to her father that he had to do something about her eyes.
"People always stare and it makes me uncomfortable." she said. "Can I just have eyes like you, please?"
And so, Randal had very carefully cast a glamour charm on his daughter so that now, instead of one bluish gray eye and one black eye, she had a pair of dark eyes. Fred had copied her eye color so that now she had her mother's auburn hair and Randal's dark eyes. They looked like sisters now.
Randal had rolled his own dark eyes and known that the media would have a field day with this.
Audrina took the microphone back. "Randal, thank-you for all you've done." He grunted. Tears filled her eyes. "I love you for what you've done for us." He glowered. "Say something?"
He took the microphone. "I am going to do horrible things to you for doing this to me." he advised her. There was laughter from the audience. "I mean it this time, Princess."
But part of him was smiling as he resorted to carrying the girls off the stage and Audrina began singing an encore. He just ignored the fact that both girls were beaming and waving behind his back as they walked away.
* * *
New Years Eve 2003 Paris, France
"What darling little girls!" Fleur cried. "They are so cute!"
"Adorable." the men all said in unison.
In reality, they looked rather like little girl shaped blurs. It was impossible to actually see their features from that distance. All you could really tell was that one had dark hair and one had red hair.
"Are they twins?" Ron whispered, squinting.
"I have no clue." Bill whispered back.
On stage, the two little girls had run back out and were currently leading the crowd in the New Year's Countdown. The scarred man that had been introduced as Randal came out as well and, as the fireworks exploded overhead and music played, he lifted both girls up high and they kissed his cheeks. The singer, Audrina, kissed all of their cheeks.
"I have the oddest urge to go backstage and apologize to this singer." Ginny commented in a confused voice.
"Yeah, I don't know why but I really want to go talk to her." George nodded. Angelina looked at him, her eyebrows arching. "Not like that!" he hurried to say. "I don't know what I want to say but I just want to go talk to her."
"She was at our wedding." Fleur said casually. "I remember her there but I-" She shook her head. "Ah well. I am glad that she is doing so well. She was always very sweet and very kind but she didn't, how shall I say this? She was very gentle and her feelings were so easily hurt. She was always the one the younger girls went to when they first came to school." Fleur chuckled. "The only time I ever saw her ready to fight was when someone was picking on one of her little foundlings. She would go from kitten to dragon when someone was cruel to someone smaller and weaker." She squinted at the stage. "I really cannot see her very well but she looks happy, yes?"
"I think so." Bill replied. She was certainly a very happy looking blur.
Charlie chuckled, watching the black haired one wiggle down and dart to the front of the stage.
"Happy New Year!" she cried, waving. The other child joined her and the two began singing some American song, dancing with each other. The audience, charmed, began singing as well.
She was a cute little thing, Charlie admitted to himself. Maybe this hadn't been such a bad idea after all.
The next morning, the papers showed two adorable little girls singing and dancing on stage. Some intrepid reporter, minus his camera, had managed to get close enough to ask the girls if they wanted to be singers like Audrina. Danielle had lifted her chin, beamed and announced that singing was fun but she was going to be a Dragon Keeper.
And the Wizarding World fell in love with two little girls from America.
* * *
April 14th, 2004 New Orleans, Louisiana
Peter Delainy was an idiot.
Randal contemplated this as he watched the buffoon with the children in the backyard. For some reason, someone had decided that instead of simply installing gates between all of the yards, the best way to keep the children from having to go out onto the street, where paparazzi liked to hunt, or climbing the fences, which had resulted in Brandon having a broken arm, was to tear them all down and create one large backyard. Since the backyards were not that large to begin with, at least now they had a nice sized backyard.
Randal had been admonished to stop calling the backyard a garden so that he sounded "more American".
"But I'm British." he replied indignantly.
"But you live in America and are now an American." Nadine chided.
"I never said I was an American!" Randal yelped.
He hadn't actually thought about it but it made him feel odd to think of giving up his nationality.
"Randal, you refuse to set foot in Britain." David Hastings said, rolling his eyes. "You flat-out refuse."
"So do Audrina and Peter." Randal retorted.
"But they don't argue about being Americans now and they call the backyard a backyard." Marcel Dumas sighed.
Randal cast a nasty look at Audrina. "Traitor." he hissed.
She kissed his cheek. "Don't be a brat, Randal. Just call the bloody thing a yard and be done with it. Honestly!"
And so, Randal found himself no longer sitting in a tiny garden but a large backyard when he decided he wanted to have his tea or coffee on the patio in the morning.
Or when he wanted to make certain that his daughter wasn't going to plaster herself against something. There were no two ways about it: his daughter had a death wish when on a broom.
The child was fearless.
The Buffoon's daughter, Clarice, clearly was not interested all that much in Quidditch but seemed determined to play to make her father happy. It was also clear that she was determined to be as good as possible to make him happy. It was all for naught in some ways since her talents appeared to be as a Keeper instead of a Seeker like her father. Randal had been annoyed enough to intervene and advise her that there was no law that said she had to be a copy of her father and that she should just be happy. She should decide what she truly wanted and go after it. It was her life and she was the one that would have to live it.
This had resulted in him being hugged enthusiastically by the child who had whispered that what she really wanted was to be an actress like her grandmother had been. Randal had patted her on the head and told her that he had no doubt she would be an excellent actress.
And he may have promised to do what he could to support her... but he refused to admit that to anyone else without a lot of prompting.
The twin boys, Brandon and Jason, seemed decent enough as Chasers. Brandon was the brainier of the two and Randal found that he genuinely liked the boy. He was constantly writing little stories that were just damned funny. He had actually written Randal his own story for Christmas and Randal kept it in his desk drawer. It had just been so... so... funny!
No one had told Fred that she was too small to be a Beater. Not until she had gotten a taste for knocking the every loving hell out of things with her bat. By that time, it was just too late. She was a terror in the air. She was a terror on land, too. Especially since she did so love her bat. Randal had realized that instead of sleeping with a doll, like Clarice did or a stuffed animal as Danielle did, Fred fell asleep curled around her bat.
Her partner in the game was, surprisingly, the quiet and steady Pierre Louis Dumas, or P.L. as the boy insisted on being called. Randal couldn't blame him. If his parents had saddled him with such a... soft name, he would have gone by his initials, too. As quiet as Fred was loud, as steady and calm as she was chaotic and excitable, P.L. tempered her in ways that no one else had ever managed. And was a perfect match for her in the sky. Together, they were just downright nasty.
And then there was his Danielle. His sweet, innocent, darling little girl.
She had a talent for the Seeker position that was almost unreal. And no one had bothered to actually convince her that she was a sweet, innocent, darling little girl, either. Flanked by Fred and P.L., she could be counted on to dart all over the pitch, diving and rolling and catching the Snitch more than any 6 year old should be able to. She would get a determined look on her face, lean low over her broom and off she would go. Randal had almost had a heart attack the first time she just suddenly flew straight at the ground, pulling up at the last second. She had tossed her braid over her shoulder, beamed for the spectators and held the Snitch over her head.
Audrina had patted him on the back and encouraged him to just breathe.
On the occasions that she fell off her broom, she would hop right back on as soon as they were done patching her up. And they had to patch her up a lot. Much more than Randal would have liked.
Now, he was watching as Delainy gushed over his daughter's skills as his own daughter dug the toe of her trainers into the grass with a defeated look on his face.
It was bad enough that Audrina sighed and hummed after an evening out with him and looked at him as if the sun shone from his every orifice. And it was intolerable that they were calling him the Prince of the Pitch. But he was making his daughter miserable and causing his daughter potential problems when the little blond began resenting the other child.
Randal stalked out to the yard and put his hands on Danielle's shoulders. She looked up at him gratefully. Apparently Delainy's fawning made her uncomfortable.
"Danielle, go get snacks." he said quietly. She nodded and, with a yelled invitation to the others, darted away. Randal pretended not to notice the seven cats that emerged from the shrubs and chased after her. Peter started to walk away but Randal stopped him with a hand to the chest.
"Stop fawning over my child and worry about your own." he said quietly. Peter blinked.
"What's your problem?" he asked.
"My problem is that your daughter looked ready to cry this afternoon. She played an amazingly good game and you ignored her to gush, instead, over my child. You are lucky to have that child and need to pay attention to her." Randal sniffed. "Prince of the Pitch and Village Idiot rolled into one. How lucky we are." With that, he turned and walked away.
"That was very nice of you, Randal." Randal glanced toward the source of the quiet comment. Nadine Dumas fell into step with him. "Peter should be ashamed for how he behaves with Clarice sometimes. She tries so hard for his approval but never gets it. She's too much like her mother."
"It seems that he would like that." Randal said.
Nadine sighed. "Peter and Jade weren't together when she was killed. They lived in separate homes. It was pure luck that Clarice was with Peter that weekend or she would have died, too. Peter likes being handsome and famous. Sometimes, he forgets that he's a father first." She smiled a little. "Something you've never had an issue with."
Randal didn't bother to reply. He just watched the Buffoon and thought.
That night, Peter looked up in surprise when the door opened and then closed. Randal had already viewed him with some disdain. He lived in an apartment over Nadine and Marcel's garage with his daughter. He didn't even live inside!
"Randal, what do you want?" Peter asked, frowning.
Randal smiled. Peter shuddered. Randal rolled up his sleeves and Peter's sharp intake of breath was beautiful. It was even nicer when he scrambled for his wand and Randal had simply summoned it to his hand. Then, Peter could no longer move or speak. He lay, stiff and powerless on the couch, watching the man glide closer and closer to him.
"We're going to have a little chat, you and I." Randal purred, tapping the wands against his palm. "And you are going to listen to me or you are going to find out what kind of man gets this," He indicated the mark on his arm. "and survives marriage to Bellatrix Lestrange."
Two hours later, an Obliviated and Memory Charmed Peter Delainy was asleep on the couch. Randal had not been able to resist letting someone know his secret. Even if he had taken the memory away, at least for a few moments, someone had known who he had once been.
It had been fun.
And it hadn't been too hard to simply remove a few memories and plant a few more so that Peter felt the need to actually want to be a father. It wasn't for the girl, really, it was so that his Danielle didn't lose a friend.
At least, that was what he told himself.
The next day, Randal smiled when Peter clapped and swung his daughter around when she played particularly well.
"You did great, love!" he crowed. She looked startled but pleased. A shy smile graced her features.
"I think Danni is right." a now familiar voice said quietly. Randal didn't even bother to look at Nadine. "Peter looks like a prince but you act like one."
Randal looked at her. In his mind, suddenly, he saw a small broken body lying at his feet. Blood covered her, trickling from her mouth and nose, her ribs obviously crushed, bones protruding from her skin and tears slid from her eyes to cut through the blood on her cheeks as she begged for the life of her baby. He saw a dark child with green eyes gazing dully up at him while blood coursed down her arms. He saw a couple screaming and screaming and screaming until there was nothing human left in their eyes. He saw a kaleidoscope of images of his past in a flash.
He shuddered and ignored the stinging in his eyes and the buzzing in his head. He looked away from Nadine.
"I am not a prince. I am also not a good person. Do not make that mistake, Nadine."
He turned and walked away.