Author's Note: Whew, sorry for the delay. My job keeps adding hours and I have had almost no time to write. I hope everyone had a lovely holiday and has a happy New Year! As always I adore any reviews and favorites, they are the bright spots in my day. I own nothing, it all belongs to JK Rowling and the creators of Merlin, but if I did own anything Morgana would be smirking a lot more and Remus and Sirius would get just a smidge more love... okay more like a fuck ton of love but who's counting.
Chapter Ten: Entanglements, Friendships, and Plotting
It was bound to happen at some point, though Morgana thanked the goddess it happened when Harry was spending the night at Malfoy Manor (Lucius was away on business otherwise she never would have allowed it). She'd noticed the appreciative looks of the two men that day in the hospital six months earlier and had given a few of her own in equal measure. Sirius had regained the weight he lost after a strict regime of potions and added to his happier outlook on life post-Azkaban, the wizard was looking downright sinful most days. His long black hair hung in waves, framing his sharp grey eyes and the stubble along his jaw. He'd taken to wearing skin tight jeans and leather jackets, deep V-neck's underneath to show off his tattoos. She'd found herself absentmindedly tracing the one peeking out from the collar of his shirt one day, the word Mischief playing into a rather delightful fantasy. Remus was a contrast to Sirius, with short, brown hair that looked perpetually like he'd just had sex, mossy green eyes that flashed amber at odd intervals, and deeply tanned skin. Even the many scars across his face and all over his body were attractive, they spoke to how much he'd endured in life. And the button-up shirts and sweaters he wore, they shouldn't be attractive, but on him, well the modest, gentle mannered young man look, with the wild wolf underneath, had her panting late at night.
So, when she decided to have a late bath while Harry was away, filling the tub with bubbles and scented oils, grateful for modern hygiene practices and the invention of a soaking tub, she didn't shy away from indulging in some of the fantasies she'd collected. The doors were locked, and she'd found a privacy spell in one of her charms books that worked wonders when she was in her office and needed the two nosy canines out of her hair.
She'd been lounging in the water, cheeks flushed as she completed the fantasy involving a cocky animagus, a jar of chocolate, and a ravenous werewolf, when the wards began to chime, marking an incursion. The loud blaring of the wards was similar as similar as she could get to the warning bells of Camelot whenever someone escaped the dungeons, such a common occurrence that the sound was imprinted in her mind. Jumping up from her bath, she reached for her plush white towels, Bitty had perfected washing them and maintaining the fresh mint scent of the soap within the dried towels. Wrapping it around her and tucking it in under her arm, Morgana flew from the bathroom, her wand forgotten as her eyes flashed gold, trying to find what had triggered the wards. Her magic led her into the parlor in front of the fireplace connected to the floo, the green flames sparking black, as a grey smoke billowed forth.
Two shapes tumbled through the crackling flames, and as they made to stand, Morgana acted, her hand outstretched as she snarled, " Hleap on bæc, " blasting them back against the wall. Waving her hand, she wordlessly cleared the smoke clouding the room, seething at the soot that stained to pristine white of her towel. Striding over to the unconscious forms slumped against the back wall beneath a portrait of Arthur and Gwen, she nudged one of the bodies, getting it to flip over to show her intruders face. A disgusted groan slid from her lips as she rolled her eyes: the face revealed to be none other than Sirius.
Conjuring a bucket of water, Morgana splashed the two men, smirking as they jerked awake, limbs spazzing out. As Sirius tried to stand up however, his uncoordinated motions from the abrupt awakening had him careening into Morgana. With a small yelp, Morgana went down, crushed by the weight of the tall man. She landed with a sharp exhale, her tailbone connecting with the floor in a loud thump.
"Shite, Morgana I'm sorry," Sirius babbled as he flailed on top of her, trying to regain his balance to stand.
Remus, who had gotten up slowly from his collision with the wall, was doubled over in laughter, tears streaming down his face as he shook, deep bellowing laughs echoing through the room.
"Get off of me you mutt," Morgana hissed, shoving at the man on top of her to get to her feet. Only too late did she realize her towel had been caught by the zipper of his leather jacket and was yanked free from her body as she moved. Cold air rushed along her bare form, and Remus suddenly stopped laughing while Sirius blinked slowly at the newly revealed flesh.
A slow red blush crept up Morgana's chest, infusing her cheeks. She damned her body's reaction to the situation, humiliated by the sense of embarrassment, seeing it as weak and beneath her. Cocking an eyebrow, she planted a hand on her hip and leveled a glare at the two suddenly still and speechless men. "Is there a reason why you two set off the wards as you came tumbling through the floo?"
"Ah…" Remus cleared his throat as he stepped forward, his mouth rapidly drying, "We might have had a bit to drink at the Leaky and forgotten the password."
"So you forced your way in?" Morgana sneered as Sirius rubbed at his head before shrugging in agreement with her statement, "For future reference, the wards would have killed anyone else who tried that. You two were lucky that I keyed your magic into the schematics so it would recognize you in case something like this happened." Shaking her head, Morgana made to turn around and head to her room, she'd been having a perfectly relaxing bath and then the two idiots she'd fantasized about had to come along and ruin it.
The two in question were having a hard time formulating words as they stared at the woman before them. Though they'd been inebriated as they came through the floo, they were quickly sobering from the blows to the head and wet wake up. The pale nude form of the woman in front of them also helped. They'd admired her in her form fitting dresses and loose loungewear over the months but the sheer amount of unblemished skin showing now was tantalizing. From her various remarks of how often she'd fought Merlin, Camelot, and other allies, they half expected her to be riddled with scars, but the only flaw they could see was a small star shaped scar along her breastbone. Her dark hair was dripping down her body, water droplets sliding along the column of her neck down to her small breasts and pale stomach. She had muscles they'd never noticed too, refined from some form of activity though they hardly saw her leave her office or the library. Dark grey and green bordering on amber eyes trailed down her body, noticing the contours of her body and the defined muscles of her thighs and calves. They trailed back up her legs to the curve of her ass, pupils dilating at the dip in her back and the way the water slid down it.
"Ahem," Morgana cleared her throat, interrupting their perusal with a quirked eyebrow and a slight sneer, "Are you two done? I'd like to go get dressed now."
"No," Sirius blurted out as Remus ducked his head muttering "Yes."
Shaking her head at them, Morgana summoned the crumpled towel from the floor and walked away. She'd known they found her attractive, but she hadn't expected such a blatant lust as they studied her naked form. As she stepped into her room, she wondered what might have happened had she stayed. Would they have acted on the desire? Would she? She froze for a moment as she dried her hair, her breath caught in her chest at the thought of Sirius on top of her, Remus watching, but quickly banished it, returning to wringing the water out of her hair. No good would come of such fantasies, they barely knew each other, and the focus was to be on Harry not on her.
Sirius and Remus were also wondering about the could haves and should haves, but in a decidedly more... productive manner. They were half-clothed, hands in each other's pants as they worked each other furiously. Panting in Remus's ear, Sirius gasped as he came. The frenzy to get off started by Morgana's abrupt exit finally over, Remus buried his face in the other man's shoulder as he groaned out his own completion. Sitting there for a moment, their thoughts mirrored each other and without having to speak, they acknowledged that living with the witch was definitely going to be more difficult from here on out.
"I love you Moony."
"You too Pads."
Their relationship in the past had been open, the two men together yet perfectly okay with the other going off and shagging random women as long as they came back home to each other. They'd tried a relationship with Marlene McKinnon, but the war claimed her before it could progress beyond sex. That was the last time they'd shared someone, and the last time they'd each had feelings for someone besides each other—until now.
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Over a year and a half since Morgana had taken custody of Harry and Morgana couldn't believe how quickly time had passed. Shaking her head as she stared at the calendar that marked the start of a new school year and new school for Harry, she marveled at how far their relationship had come since then. Harry, who once used to look to her for permission to eat, let alone play and do other things a five-year-old should do naturally, was now hell on two feet. His sixth birthday had come and gone in a flash and now he was starting primary school. He technically could have the year before, but she'd decided to homeschool him so that they all could cement the bonds that were forming. It had been the best decision she could have made as he blossomed into a shy but still outgoing child. She'd caught him in the attic last week, hiding among the dust and boxes of old gowns from Camelot that had mysteriously appeared. They were supposed to go have dinner with the Patil family, but Harry had decided Padma and Parvati were too mean, that their teasing about his hair and scar meant they were mortal enemies and so he couldn't possibly have dinner with their family. It had taken everything in Morgana not to burst out laughing at that, she'd kept her lips thinly pursed as she called in reinforcements, sending Sirius and Remus up after the boy.
Living with those two had also taken some time to adjust, but they'd been invaluable. Morgana was able to start focusing long-term on protecting Harry and maneuvering about the political minefield of pureblood society as she had built in caretakers with the two men. Sirius adored spending the time with his godson and Remus was pleased he was back with his pack and so they didn't complain. There was another rather tense layer with them living together though, especially after the bath-towel incident (coined by Narcissa and Elladora over drinks the next night). Harry was positioned very skillfully between the three of them, and the adults were rarely left alone together for very long. Though the instances where they were, were rather memorable.
Harry was oblivious to any tension between his guardians, happy to bask in their constant attention and love, and he embraced their rather smothering actions. Morgana had taken to walking him to the local school for his lessons every morning, the ten-minute walk filled with jokes and stories of her past. Either Moony or Padfoot would pick him up at the end of the day, they'd take a walk around the local park or go to a small bookstore across the street from the school. He'd made friends with a girl in his classes after the first few months too.
The teacher had singled him out for family tree day when his picture showed a rather eclectic family: Mum and Da: Lily and James Potter, Uncle Padfoot and Uncle Moony and Mumgana, Siblings: Draco, Nev, and Luna. He'd painted each name with their own color, and had a rainbow under Padfoot and Moony's names, and wrote Mumgana in bright purples and greens.
"Harry, why don't you explain why you drew your family tree like this?" Mrs. Engle called him to the front, her brown eyes tired under the fluorescent lights.
Standing up from his desk, Harry scuffed his sneakers along the floor as he walked to the front. He was wearing a green polo that Mumgana said brought out his eyes, something that Padfoot and Moony said he got from his mum. He rocked back and forth in front of the class, his hands sweaty along the paper as he held it out to show his classmates.
"So, this is my mum Lily, she's in green cause her eyes were like mine. My da James is in red, cause that was his House color," he moved his hand to point to the other names, "Uncle Padfoot is in pink and purple cause Uncle Moony says those were his favorite colors, and Uncle Moony is in blue and pink cause Uncle Padfoot says those were his favorite colors. Mumgana is in green and purple cause that's what she wears a lot, well that and black. Her name's actually Morgana, but she said I could call her Mumgana. Drake is in green and silver cause he says those are his best colors. Nev's in red and gold and black cause he's brave and loyal. Luna's in blue and grey cause she's like the sky."
"Harry, I meant why don't you explain who exactly the people are," Mrs. Engle cleared her throat and Harry blinked at her, his eyes widening in confusion.
"Um… so my mum and da died when I was a baby," Mrs. Engle gave a slight gasp at that, but Harry ignored her and continued, "I lived with my Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon after that, but they weren't very nice. Then Morgana came and adopted me, and with her came Uncle Sirius and Uncle Remus who told me to call them Padfoot and Moony. They were friends of my mum and da. They live with us," Harry paused and looked over at his classmates, he'd made friends with a boy named Justin, but he was now frowning at Harry and that was weird, but Mrs. Engle was nodding her head, and so he kept going, "Drake is my cousin, but he's more like a brother. Nev is my god-brother. And Luna is like my little sister, though she's actually Drake's cousin. And they're all my family."
Silence echoed along the classroom as the kids stared at Harry. Mrs. Engle stood up from her desk and ushered Harry to his seat. He sat back down and put the tree on his desk. He'd spent hours on it, Morgana and Padfoot helped with the painting, but no one said anything. The bell rang for lunch after awhile and Harry dug his backpack out of his cubby to get the lunch Bitty had packed for him. Pulling out the lunchbox, Captain America across the front, he turned to go sit with Justin and some of the other boys, when he noticed them crowded around his desk. Frowning, he walked over to them.
"Hey," he muttered, as Justin picked up his family tree, his face all twisted.
"Why's it all colorful and stuff, it looks like a girl drew it," Justin wrinkled his nose, his big nostrils flaring.
"Cause it looks cool, Padfoot helped me do it."
"You call your uncle Padfoot, that's so weird, you—you weirdo," one of the boys jeered. Justin nodded his head up and down really fast in agreement.
"Yeah, this looks like a girlie project, are you a girl Potter?"
Harry blinked at Justin's sudden turn, he thought they were friends, but he was just like Piers who abandoned him for Dudley within minutes. Tears burned at his eyes, but he bit his lip, he wasn't going to cry, he wasn't.
"Leave him alone," a soft voice broke up the laughter that surrounded Harry. Looking up from his feet, he saw a giant bush of brown curls in front of him. Beneath the curls was a small girl with big brown eyes and two overly large front teeth. She shifted from foot to foot, her own Princess Leia lunchbox dangling from her hands.
"Nobody asked you Hermy," one of the boys snapped at her, taking a step forward to knock her lunchbox from her hand. The box hit the floor and slid underneath Harry's desk, prompting him to move.
"Leave her alone," Harry curled his hands into fists like Moony taught him, he had to stand up to Justin, he was being a bully, "She was trying to be nice. And you're being mean."
"Aw did we hurt your feelings," one of the boys broke off to circle the girl while the others pushed Harry into another desk.
Harry winced at the pain in his hip from hitting the desk, he'd had worse, but it still hurt. His day had been great up until this, he didn't get why Justin had started being mean, why he'd joined these other boys and turned into a bully. He thought that life would be better than when he lived with the Dursley's, but it looks like there were Dudley's everywhere. Why him? Why'd he have to deal with this all the time? Something inside him burned, it wasn't fair. Justin was being stupid. Those boys were being stupid. And the girl was just trying to help, and they were pushing her around. His hands clenched tight and a wave of something swam through his tummy, and suddenly Justin and the boy next to him were running away, yellow liquid trailing down their legs as they raced to the bathroom. Turning to help the girl out, he gasped as she was sitting at her desk, her lunchbox open and a napkin placed on her desk. The boys who were bothering her were hiding in the corner of the room, blue and pink polka dots covering their hair…she had magic, she was like him!
Picking up his lunchbox from where it landed, he walked over and sat down at the desk next to hers and got his lunch out.
"I'm Harry, Harry Potter," he reached over and held out a hand.
"Hermione Granger," she shook his hand before digging into her lunchbox, pulling out a juice box and began to drink.
"Thanks for, helping," Harry started to eat his cucumber and tomato sandwich, blinking at her wide grin in response.
"Of course, they were being rude. And I thought your project was very special," she ducked her head and took a bite of a carrot, the silence between the two of them broken up by the occasional crunch of carrots or slurping of a juice box.
"Want to read a book before they all come back?" Harry asked as he finished up his lunch and was immediately attacked in a flying hug by the girl next to him. Squealing she turned and ran to her cubby, pulling out two books.
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Hermione became a permanent fixture at Corvus house, her love of books and defense of Harry endearing her to the adults. Her accidental magic was quickly addressed by Morgana after the girl blew up a chocolate cake meant for Remus in a fit of rage at the boys at school's treatment of Harry on Halloween. The boys at school had turned on him for his orphan status and unorthodox family, something that made Morgana's blood boil and had her hissing things about peasants when she thought no one was listening. Halloween had been particularly nasty, as they'd gathered together to steal his candy. Harry hadn't said anything until Hermione prompted him once they were back at Corvus house. The small girl let out an eerie shriek and glass exploded all around her, the bowl with the chocolate cake batter exploded in Morgana's hands, coating her and the kitchen in chocolate. Hermione's hair was sparking out, a wild frenzy of power and magic, and Morgana marked her as a secondary apprentice, after Harry of course. Remus entered the kitchen moments later, drawn by the yelling, and his eyes were subsumed by a brilliant amber as he took in chocolate covered Morgana. His attention was distracted moments later by the shrieking little witch who alternated between stomping about and hugging Harry. A few flicks of his wand and things were put to right, and Remus and Morgana sat the two children down and talked about what had happened.
Soon after, her parents, Richard and Helen were brought into the magical fold, and Helen soon became a fixture at the monthly girls' nights thrown by Morgana and Narcissa. What really happened at 'girl's nights' was unknown to Remus and Sirius who assumed that the women just got together to drink and gossip. Sirius' typifying of aristocratic women as "air-headed" was both annoying as woman, but also gratifying as it hid the coven's true purpose. Though Morgana wasn't opposed to them knowing, she also knew that they would disapprove of some of the more... underhanded methods the women used to get things done.
Sitting in her office on November 2, Morgana had her master plan laying out in front of her. She supposed it was a bit cliché that she'd created a master plan, but after so many years of watching the Wizarding World flounder and decay, she'd decided it needed an overhaul, and who better to do it than her? She'd secreted away her plans in her secondary office, hidden by a secret door in the office she used for daily affairs. After watching several spy/thriller films with Harry over the summer she supposed she was more like the M of the Bond films and that the cloak and dagger style was actually quite fun. The chalkboard she had Bitty buy months before was wheeled out in front of her desk, her plan sketched out in chalk, she'd written it in an old Celtic dialect from her youth on the off chance anyone did discover the office. Her phase one was mostly complete, Harry had been rescued and was thriving, Sirius was freed, and Dumbledore was undermined for his failures in that department, she had a strong core group of allies in the coven, and because of that had spies littered throughout the British, French, and Italian ministries.
Flicking her wrist at the board she watched the writing shift along the green surface, the white chalk dust floating about and rearranging itself to reveal phase two. With phase one being infiltration and subversion, phase two was a prolonged silent war, moves and countermoves over what Morgana estimated by her nightly visions, a six to seven-year period of time. Purebloods were slow to change and so she couldn't do too much too quickly, but she knew something was coming. Her nightly visions had her waking screaming, images of blood and muck and gore emblazoned across her eyelids as she woke, she'd had to repair the windows of her rooms on a weekly basis. The Old Religion was screaming, reaching out to her nightly to warn her of something. But she could never See what. Or if she had Seen it, she couldn't remember. She wished she had someone to talk to, but with only Harry vaguely knowing who she was, she had nowhere to turn.
Brushing her hair out of her face, she let her eyes flicker over to the portrait hanging along the wall behind her desk. The golden frame encased the shifting image of her sister, Morgause's glare a constant presence over her shoulder. When she'd first gone into the office, she'd been puzzled by why Merlin included the portrait when he'd arranged the house (her general confusion over his actions was also a constant in her life these days). But as she settled into her scheming, she began to realize her sister's presence was there as a warning. Morgause had been the catalyst in her original downfall, the one to turn her away from Arthur and convince her that she was the only one who could enact positive change. Her looming presence, mute or otherwise, kept a leash on her plans, and Morgana knew that Merlin had meant for her to be reminded of her fall constantly so that she didn't do so again. She acknowledged the benefits of it, but she knew from her long years as a watcher, that though she may have decided to fight alongside of the side of the Light, she would never be a part of it again. A loud knock at the door startled her inspection of her sister's sneer, and she quickly stood and slid through the panel along the wall into her main office, making sure the secret door was closed before she opened the door to find Sirius standing there.
"I've been knocking forever, what've you been doing," he whined, his grey eyes sweeping over her disheveled appearance, her hair falling out of a bun, deep circles around her eyes of a slightly bruised purple, her borrowed Metallica shirt (from his closet!), "You look like shit."
"Yes, well I've been busy working," she pushed past him out into the hallway only to reel back and hide behind him after seeing Lucius Malfoy at the end of the hallway, "What is he doing here?" she hissed while frantically pulling her wand from her sweat waistband and applying beauty charms.
"Dunno, the prat said something about Narcissa needing to speak with you. I stopped paying attention after he opened his mouth to be honest though," grabbing her arm he halted the shimmer of a glamor she'd been placing over her eyes, "Don't, you look fine love. You don't need to put on beauty charms for Lucius "the Prat" Malfoy."
"It's not for him exactly," she pulled her arm back, "I have to maintain a certain image."
"Why?" he cocked his head like a curious puppy.
As she transfigured her outfit into something slightly more presentable, black slacks and a black blouse, she stopped and looked at him, really looked at him. His eyes were fixed on her, his arms now at his sides, his hands twitching as he let his eyes drop to the floor. Was he jealous? She let her wand hand fall and reached out to touch his cheek, her vibrant green eyes meeting his muted grey ones. "Lucius is a pawn, and as such he needs to be presented with an image of power. I personally agree with the thought he's a prat, but he is Narcissa's husband and Draco's father, and we need him and his influence in the Wizengamot. He's partially how I moved to get you out of Azkaban."
Sirius shuffled his feet. He loathed his cousin's husband, and every time the man arrived at Corvus house, he seemed to flutter about Morgana, constantly praising her and giving her lingering glances. Remus told him to ignore it, that he only scented mild disgust on Morgana whenever the prat was around, but he had a hard time doing it. He'd grown up with Walburga ranting to him about how he should be more like the Malfoy boy, the perfect pureblood heir, followed by cutting curses and the occasional cruciatus. Seeing the prat fawn over the beautiful woman who'd saved his life and brought his pup so much joy irked him. Hearing her explanation helped a bit, but it also pointed out how 'perfect' Lucius was all over again, even Morgana had more use for him than she had for Sirius.
Morgana, unaware of the depressed thoughts of the man in front of her, finished her charms and headed to deal with the Malfoy lord, annoyed at his presence in her home, yet again.
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Remus sipped at his tea and wondered again how he ended up with kid sitting duty as Harry ran past him, shirtless and covered in green and silver stripes as Draco chased after him, his hair a garish blood orange. Hermione was sitting primly across from him, flipping through an encyclopedia of magical beasts, ignoring the squirming child she was sitting on. He caught the tail end of the fight in which Theo Nott had called her a bushy-haired swot and ended up hogtied with a jump-rope and underneath the young witch. Luna was dancing along the floor, barefoot and wearing Sirius' sparkly boa from the last showing of Rocky Horror they'd gone to the past month. There was no music, but it didn't seem to deter the young witch. Neville was calmly sitting next to him, half asleep, or at least he thought he was half-asleep.
Blaise appeared around the corner of a bookshelf, his normally gelled back black hair standing on end like Harry's was. Remus raised an eyebrow as the small boy narrowed his brown eyes at the screaming duo of Harry and Draco before opening his mouth and screaming out a vicious war cry of "Revenge!" before tackling the blonde of the two and sticking a spit wettened finger in his ear. Taking another sip of tea, Remus sighed at its lukewarm state and wondered if he could leave them alone for a moment to make a fresh pot.
"Mr. Remus sir, I have to use the potty," large bulbous blue eyes beneath pale eyelashes blinked up at him as Luna tugged on his shirt, and suddenly all thoughts of fresh tea disappeared as the collective group of children gathered around him chanting, "Potty! Potty! we have to use the potty!" Dragging a hand over his face, he wished for a full moon to have an escape from this. Where were Sirius and Morgana when he needed them? Hopefully not off snogging in a broom cupboard like he'd caught them on Halloween. Of course, he had no room to judge, she'd caught them snogging in the kitchen the night prior. A pillow hit him in the face as Theo, now freed from beneath Hermione started bobbing from foot to foot joining in the potty chant.
Needing reinforcements, he stood taking Luna's hand as he called out, "Bitty, I need help," and the house elf popped in.
"Mr. Moony needs help?" Bitty cocked her head at him.
"Yes, they all appear to need to use the bathroom, could you help me sort this out?" he didn't beg, he was a grown man, he didn't need to beg for help with children.
"Uh oh," the soft whisper from the boy across from him followed by a pungent odor had him groaning and wondering once more why he was left on child duty. Bitty snapped to attention and popped Theo away, leaving the puddled mess on the floor and the rest of the children for Remus to deal with.
Harry snickered at Moony's constipated expression, his uncle's face drawn into a deep frown as Draco and Blaise began to shriek at Theo's pee incident. He almost felt bad for Moony, except, well the expression on his face as he pulled out his wand to clean up potty was so funny. Especially since Mumgana had told him that she would be late because she was off maternity dress shopping with Aunt Cissy, and he knew Padfoot was upstairs sleeping. They both told him they were leaving Uncle Moony in charge because he needed the experience, though Harry didn't quite understand that, he knew it was important for adult reasons and he didn't question it.
Picking Luna up, Remus gestured for the train of children ducklings to follow him to the bathroom on that floor, plotting his revenge for the obvious plot to ruin his sanity by constant exposure to children that Sirius and Morgana had obviously orchestrated.
On the third floor, Sirius was snoring his hangover from the night before away, oblivious to his best mate's dark thoughts as he snuffled and snuggled into the teddy bear Harry had placed into his arms hours earlier.
Across town, Morgana browsed the racks at Twilfitt's and Tatter's as Narcissa gushed effusively about her pregnancy, her desire for a second child finally realized and the coven's plan to neutralize Lucius and hers' marriage initiated. The secondary plan of getting Remus used to children so he could eventually teach, yes things were working all according to plan.
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Meanwhile, across the country, nestled in a thicket of devils snare, a shadowy form opened its red eyes as a shudder went through it once more. A new power was rising, its victory on the horizon. This century would be stained with the blood of humanity. It was marching ever closer, and once it arrived, it would leave none alive. There would be no dawn for mankind. And even the shapeless, formless specter of the once Lord Voldemort sensed it. And feared it.
A/N: Thank you to everyone for your reviews! Here's some responses to your questions/comments!
osterreicher97: OMG. Your review was so detailed and wonderful and I squealed when I first got the alert about it. I love your guesses on how Hermione will be brought into the story and her lineage and I hope my introduction of her in this chapter did her justice. Merlin is most definitely different from what we experienced in the show, I view him as a mix of the archetypal Trickster and Wise Old Man. I view what happened in canon to the Old Religion is kind of a fluctuating thing, where post Camlann it had faded into the background, the remnants fusing with the emerging new magic. Now it's come back to the forefront, from Morgana's influence on the physical world and from other factors. In regards to Morgana and her status as a High Priestess it will definitely be a factor, especially as the coven begins to meet and gain influence.
Blaze1992: She definitely thought about it, but Morgana is less impulsive now and is embracing her inner Slytherin of delayed revenge.
Sakihinata: Aw! Thanks for your review!
RRW: You are the sweetest! And yes Morgana has not forgotten the Dursley's but like I said above she favors delayed revenge, in other words she wants them to feel comfortable before she strikes and ruins them.
SakuraKoi: Thank you for your review!
Anonymous 97: Thanks for your review, I hope you had a happy holidays too!
Merlin Emryz: Harry definitely has the potential to learn the Old Religion through his mother. Lily was of Morgana's blood and used it to protect her son, and Morgana isn't going to ignore the fact that Harry is technically an heir of hers.