First of all, let me say it's been about 3 and a half years since I updated this fic. I admit I was a little lost on where to go. Sorry everyone. Hope you like it (if you've actually been anticipating this update for this long) To all the new readers... I promise not to let it go so long between updates again. P.S. thank my sister Grace for pushing and pushing me to work on this fic. Enjoy!
Within two weeks, Elaine and James' baby boy had arrived. Lia felt impossibly caged in without her friends visiting every day and the possibility of going out and about with them under the guise of polyjuice. Although the birth of David Albus Potter was highly celebrated by his family, friends, and the media, Lia couldn't really participate in any of the celebrations. Finding things to do at home wasn't exactly the easiest thing.
Lia started having her medical journals delivered, to keep up with the most recent healing news and research. But she could only spend so much time with work. She also spent some time pouring over baby name books and working on designs for redoing the nursery, which the previous owners of Black Manor had done in a quite garish silver and green design that was hardly considered gender neutral. She had also been in contact with St. Mungo's about a transfer as soon as she was allowed to be out and about. Unfortunately, there had been very little as far as leads on the whereabouts of her Aunt and Uncle. Mr. Potter had stopped by and personally assured her they were investigating every lead possible, but to be patient and hold tight under the protection of Black Manor until they were captured.
Patience had never been her strongest suit.
After three weeks of sitting around the house with no visitors, Lia was done with staying cooped up inside. Orion had gone into work for the day and the late September weather was too beautiful to stay inside. Tossing on a light cloak, she headed out into the garden. Trailing her fingers through the water in the fountains she passed, Lia eventually reached the wall that marked the edge of the protected property. Lacing her fingers through the wrought iron gate, she looked out over the countryside outside the walls of the Manor, squinting to focus on the distant villiage.
From the distance, she could see festival tents and decorations as well as crowds of people. Godric's Hollow was a small sleepy wizarding town, but a festival was just what she needed right now. Taking one look back at the Manor house, she lifted the latch on the gate and pushed through. Surely Orion wouldn't be back for a few hours, and as far as she knew, her Aunt and Uncle had no idea where she was. She could be back from the festival before Orion even knew she was gone.
Practically skipping, she made her way into the village. The festival was to celebrate the anniversary of Godric Gryffindor's birthday as this was his home town. The decorations were mostly red and gold, which were seasonal considering the fall colors already starting to decorate the trees. There were many wizarding children running about with flustered parents following. She saw several couples holding hands and for a moment wished she wasn't quite so alone. Rubbing her five month pregnant stomach, she reminded herself she was never alone anymore and headed for the food vendors.
Two apple turnovers and a meat pie later, she was sitting contentedly licking her fingers at a picnic table set up in the middle of the roadway. The tables around her were full of happily eating families and the general mood of the festival had completely diminished her loneliness.
"HELP!" exclaimed a distraught voice from two tables over. "My daughter is choking!" A mother was frantically slapping her baby on the back to dislodge a piece of food apparently stuck in her throat. The baby had to be less than a year old, and despite the mother's actions, the baby was still not breathing.
Going into immediate healer mode, Lia rushed over, whipping out her wand and performing the appropriate spell to vanish the lodged food and clear the child's airway.
The child immediately let out an ear shattering scream and the mother sagged in relief. Sinking to her seat, the mother coddled her distressed child while tears of relief streamed down her face. "Thank you! Oh my Merlin, Thank you!"
"Just glad I was here to help," said Lia. "I'm a healer, so the spell is second nature by now."
"I don't know how I can say thank you enough," laughed the woman through her tears as she smoothed the hair on her small daughter's head. "I'm Mariah Smith-Wiggins, and this little one is Andrea. Thank you so much! Do you live nearby?"
"Lia Black," she answered holding out her hand. "I live just outside of town at Black Manor."
"We hadn't realized anyone was living there! It's been empty for years," answered Mariah. "I'll have to have you over for dinner sometime. We live on the corner of Happy Hallow and Godric's Circle. It's right in the middle of town. I'll owl you an invite!"
"That would be wonderful. I'm new to the area and England. I would love to have some social obligations if you know what I mean," laughed Lia.
"I had best be getting this one home for a nap after that scare. Thank you again so much, and I'll look forward to owling you!" said Mariah gathering her things and heading off.
Sighing, Lia glanced at the clock tower and decided it was probably time to be heading home. She had already been gone two hours. Heading toward the manor, she left town, humming the tune from one of the bands.
The stunner came out of nowhere, and there was no one around to see her crumple and fall.
Orion glanced at the clock again. Still fifteen minutes to go. Sighing, he looked down at the next report on his pile. Signing off on these was tedious and he was tired of doing desk work. Maybe when everything with his wife was cleared up, Mr. Potter would have an interesting assignment for him.
Fifteen minutes and two reports later, Orion tossed his coat over his shoulder and headed for the doors, only to be stopped by Ron Weasley. Suppressing a roll of his eyes, he let his superior ramble on about finding some rare chocolate frog card. Eventually excusing himself, he headed for the lifts and flooed home.
The manor felt empty, but glancing outside, he figured Lia was probably in the gardens. However, a quick search, including a human revelio spell proved that Lia was nowhere to be found. Flooing James and Teddy's places proved futile as neither Vic or Ellie had seen his wayward wife. It wasn't until the second sweep of the gardens that he noticed the back gate ajar and took off in the direction of town, quickly noticing the fair.
His auror robes immediately set him apart from the festival goers, and when he asked a vendor if he had seen a woman with Lia's description he was quickly regaled with the story of her heroics.
"But have you seen her since luncheon?" he asked, becoming exasperated.
"Well no, I somewhat recall her waving at the apple turnover vendor on the way out of town," said the man nodding to the woman at the next cart over, where indeed, a heavenly smell seemed to originate.
The woman, a Mrs. Podmore, confirmed the story, and Orion's heart began to race. Heading back toward the manor, he soon spotted the area of disturbed grass with traces of magic. Shooting off a patronus to headquarters with his suspicions, he began tracking where they had taken his wife. Because at this point he was certain in his gut, they had taken her.
Lia woke up with a headache feeling thirsty. Rolling over, she went to reach for her wand, just to realize her hands were bound behind her.
"I think she's waking up," came the voice of her Aunt Cruella, causing her to realize what must have happened. Her blood felt cold in her veins and she curled her legs up in front of her, feeling the firm pressure of her pregnant belly against her thighs. The baby.
"Good evening darling niece," came the calculating voice of her Uncle, forcing her to open her eyes and meet his gaze. Looking around, she could see she was in a cellar somewhere, the floor was dirty and cold. She would know since she was laying on it. Her aunt was lounging on a dusty sofa, while her uncle stood above her holding his wand. They both looked more haggard than she had ever seen them, and their clothing less than perfect. Both were grinning though.
"We're so glad you could join us," said her aunt, rising from the sofa and heading to a cabinet against a wall.
"Let me go," Lia demanded. "This has all been a misunderstanding, which you will regret. If you let me go, I'll give you time to escape. For family's sake."
"Escape, why-ever would we need to escape? When that abomination dies at your hand, we will have done you a favor. I don't think we'll regret anything."
"That's just it, my baby is not an abomination. Not by your standards or anyone else's."
"Stop it with your sniveling. If you drink this potion willingly, the abomination will be no more, and you will be free to go. Otherwise, we'll have to kill you both, and no one wants that, darling," commanded Aunt Cruella with a coaxing tone.
"But my baby is pure. My husband is pureblooded. There's no reason for you to do this!" begged Lia as her aunt poured a potion into a goblet.
"LIES!" snapped Cruella. "I'll have none of them. Now drink the potion willingly and you will not be hurt. Unfortunately the mother must be willing to drink this one for it to work. We thought to spare you, but you are trying my patience."
"Hurry up now, Lia. Be a good girl and drink it up," said her uncle Lucifer as Cruella set the glass in front of her and cast a spell to untie her wrists.
"NEVER!" snapped Lia. "If you will only wait for my child to be born and listed in The Book of Pure. I swear on Merlin's grave my husband is pureblooded."
"Stop lying to protect your muggle! When we're finished with you, we will find him too!" demanded her uncle, slapping her. The crack of that slap was followed with the distinctive crack of apparation.
"We weren't expecting visitors," said Aunt Cruella slowly, her eyes rising slowly toward the ceiling. "Go see who it is. I'll work on convincing the girl it's in her best interest to drink the bloody potion."
"Of course my love. Perhaps when I return, this entire blot on the La'Blanc family tree will be obliterated." Turning, her uncle opened a door and headed up a set of creaking stairs.
"Drink up, darling. You won't like any of the other means we have to rid you of this abomination."
Lia tried to protest, wishing she could somehow prove her child was pure blooded as that was the only thing that would appease her insane aunt and uncle.
"Look who it is!" cackled her uncle, dragging an auror by the collar of his robes down the stairs.
"Orion!" gasped Lia. He'd come for her, even if his rescue attempt was unsuccessful.
"Ahh, so you know each other. The blood traitor friends, each of you marrying a muggle instead of each other. And now you can die together," laughed her Uncle. "The blood traitor Blacks finally get what they deserved. Ironic isn't it?"
"But he's the father of my baby, he's my husband," protested Lia to no avail.
"We'll give you a few hours to decide if you want to drink that potion," said Cruella, casting a spell that bound Lia's wrists in front of her. "Then maybe we can use your little friend to help persuade you. If you haven't made the right decision by then. Darling, let's go upstairs, I'm famished."
Her aunt and uncle left them on the floor, hands and feet bound. Looking over, Lia could see that whatever battle he'd had with her uncle had likely ended with a stunner to the face. His eyes were both blackened and his nose looked broken.
As the creaking of the stairs quieted, they held their breath, hearing the footsteps above disappear. Finally they were alone.
"Orion!" she hissed, suddenly thankful that they hadn't gagged them as well. "Are you alright?"
"Just my pride is wounded. He caught me unaware, popping out from the hidden doorway like that," mumbled Orion.
"Pride, isn't that what got us here," laughed Lia hollowly.
"Too proud to accept the pureblooded groom, too proud to agree to an arranged marriage," he agreed quietly.
"Why do you even care if I was just an escape for you?"
"I could ask you the same question, luv," shot back Orion.
"Who said you were an escape?" protested Lia.
"Well was I?" he asked, wanting to know at last if his wife had only married him to escape an arranged marriage with ironically enough, him.
"Well was I?" she parroted, raising an eyebrow, looking over at her husband who was tied next to her but staring straight ahead rather than at her.
"On three?" he finally said, looking over and meeting her gaze. She nodded, setting her mouth a little firmer. "One… two… three…"
The silence in the room was deafening.
"You didn't say anything."
"Neither did you…"
The two sat in a simmering silence for a few long minutes, Lia wishing she could storm out and that they weren't in this impossible situation. Finally Orion broke the silence.
"Lia?"
"What do you want Orion?" she snapped back, still only barely holding off tears.
"I want you to tell me one last thing. Tell me the first thing you thought, the first time we met. Because I'll tell you what I thought. I thought… that is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my entire life," he confessed almost reverently.
"Is this a strategy – why are you telling me this now?" demanded Lia.
"I guess at the end… you start thinking about the beginning. I just thought you should know the truth. So tell me- the truth."
"I thought… I thought… that is the most beautiful… muggle I have ever seen," she said, deliberately filling her voice with spite.
"So it was always an escape… even from the beginning," he whispered, the hurt seeping into his voice.
"Why are you doing this now!?" she suddenly demanded shrilly. "Do you actually think our story has a happy ending?! My aunt and uncle will be back in a matter of minutes to hours to murder us!"
"Honestly?" asked Orion with a hint of irony in his voice. "Happy endings are just stories that haven't finished yet."
They both sat and pondered this thought for a long while. Lia eventually fixing her gaze on a crack in the ceiling and forcing it to remain in focus, refusing to allow tears to blur her vision.
"Was it at least hard lying to me all those months?" he said, once again initiating conversation.
"For an auror you were amusingly naïve and easy to deceive," she shot back.
"Low blow Lia," he said shaking his head.
"As if you weren't lying to me as well! You know, guys are all the same! There can be fifty betrayals in a happy relationship as long as they're all his!"
"You're right, I did keep things from you. But I was honest about at least one thing," he retorted.
"Oh and what was that?"
"How much I love you," he turned and whispered in her ear, getting as close as they could without toppling over. "I'm so fucking sorry this happened. It's all my fault."
"Are you kidding me?" sobbed Lia, finally breaking. "This is all my fault. If I had just stayed at the manor!" The tears that had been threatening finally broke, and streamed down her face.
"If I had waited for James to come as back up," he protested, wishing he could wipe away her tears.
"Merlin, we're actually going to die for this ridiculous misunderstanding," sobbed Lia, leaning into his shoulder, her tears dampening his shirt.
"For the record, I still love you, and if knowing you know that is the only happy ending I get, then so be it."
"Damn you, Ryan. I love you too," sobbed Lia into his chest.
So I FINALLY figured out what to do. I know you've all been waiting for this update for AGES! Thanks so much for reading, and since you appreciate my update SOOO much… maybe you could write a short review and let me know what you think? I love hearing from you. Also, don't forget to check out my new Katie Oliver story as well as the recent updates on Can you Keep a Secret! Hoping to update this story again soon. I know that this is sort of a cliffhanger. The more reviews, the more likely I am to update soon ;) (I'm guessing ETU is about 2 weeks?) Thanks, Lia
