Listening to: The Flaw in the Plan-Ministry of Magic
Alas, my dear readers, as the school semester draws to a close, so does this story. A chapter or two until it's done, then, dear readers, I must be frank. I have plans to write another, but time constraints have prevented me from starting.
And now, down to business. The war claims its first victim from within the walls of Hogwarts itself in the next couple of chapters. Now…who was betting on the names of Abigail's kids?
Chapter 29
Crouch was over-again. It seems that he has a mind to take Avalon for himself and auction it off to the highest bidder. Such a thing will never happen so long as the Keeney family still lives.
-from the journal of Abigail Amaryllis Keeny, Domina Avalonae, July 1972
Lucius Malfoy was patient. He glanced at the clock, then back at the cards in his hand. Narcissa and Andromeda had been in the same room as Abigail for over fourteen hours already. He sighed. When Draco had been born, Narcissa had simply gone into her room with the midwife, then a few hours-six to be exact-he'd seen his son for the first time.
But, twins were always more complicated then single children. Arthur Weasley-the last to go to bed at this time, had said as much when he and his wife came through the doors. Molly Weasley had vanished into Abigail's room without so much as a hello, but Arthur had pulled out a deck of Muggle cards and asked if anyone wanted to play a game called poker.
Six hours later, Draco had appeared looking as though he'd run straight from London at the news. Moments later, Severus had appeared through the Floo- somehow Draco had nearly ended up in Diagon Alley instead of the Titanica. He'd promptly demanded updates, saying that everyone from Professor Slughorn to Colin Creevey had tried to stop him from coming. Now, Draco sat passed out in a chair, snoring with a noise to block out everything except the occasional shouts from behind the closed doors as desperation provoked a new bout of complications for Abigail.
Figuring that Ted was most likely only feigning wakefullness, as he sat there, one arm holding his head, the other, with his cards already half-fallen onto the floor, he glanced back at Neville, who'd been crooning softly to a rather child-like plant in the pot next to him. Neville had fallen asleep, splayed out on the floor like a discarded rag doll.
It was nearing midnight and he figured that if it wouldn't be tonight, then perhaps tomorrow when he heard silence from the room. Then, a wail. The door banged open. Ted jumped at the sound and fell out of his chair, as did Draco. Neville simply waved his arm is if to say, "No, thanks," and continued snoring. Molly ran past him, looking worried.
"What's going on?" Draco asked. "Is Abigail okay?"
Lucius had no answer.
{PAGEBREAK}
None of them slept that night. Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny sat in the Gryffindor common room gathered around the fire, checking their watches constantly. Hermione had a book propped open on her lap, but wasn't reading. Ron was half-heartedly playing chess with Ginny, while Harry alternately paced and sat down for a few moments before resuming his pacing. All of them were waiting for news. Hedwig, sensing the tension, hooted occasionally and Harry would stroke her feathers. Just after midnight, a tapping noise came from the window. Harry walked over-much to Hedwig's disappointment-and let the owl in. The owl he recognized as Tufty- Draco's eagle owl. Tufty hooted to Hedwig in hello and waited for Harry to untie the letter from his leg. Once Harry had freed the letter, Tufty ruffled his feathers and took off with Hedwig for a rest in the Owlery. Harry unrolled the parchment and read the news.
"Well?" Ginny said, looking from where Ron's knight was attacking her bishop. Harry grinned.
{PAGEBREAK}
"Twins," Ron told Ernie McMillian importantly, lathering his sausages in ketchup. "A boy and a girl."
"What are their names?" Parvarti Patil asked, leaning in.
"Eileen and Arthur." Harry replied, proudly brandishing the photograph that had arrived this morning. "Abigail's doing fine-"
"Except when they nearly lost her," Hermione said, primly folding her napkin, "Given that Arthur was nearly breeched." Ron and Ginny rolled their eyes. Draco had described the event (well, it was more his mother's account of what had happened), in detail, but delight echoed in every word. Arthur was breeched and was holding things up so to speak, by trying to force his butt through first. It was only when Mrs. Weasley arrived that they were able to put him back into an easier position.
"Bet you anything they're not going to have more for a while." Ginny said, when the photograph had been shown to all who wished to see it, and the rest of the school finally left to eat their own breakfast.
"Why?" Ron asked. "Fred and George both came out-"
"Ron, I can tell you, if I had a baby that was trying to force his arse out first and as such, was causing me to have trouble, I'd expect to be treated like the queen for the next five years." Ginny said, shuddering at the thought of having a baby stuck like that. "And Fred and George nearly had to be a C-section."
"C-section?" Ron asked.
"When they cut her…" Harry said, "you know, open and pull the kid out that way." Ron put down his fork. "It's disgusting, but it keeps both mum and baby alive." Ron pushed his plate away, looking slightly nauseous.
"Thanks for that." he said, laying his head in his arms. "For scarring me for life."
{PAGEBREAK}
He was sure that he was going round the bend, if he hadn't already. For the tenth time today, he heard the sounds of people talking behind closed doors. When he checked, no one was there. His first instinct told him that it was house-elves. But he knew, after a long and hard lecture (punctuated by many interruptions by Hermione Granger) that under no terms did house-elves serve the Keeney family.
Andromeda (and he was sure she was mistaken) had long since told anyone who would listen that it was ghosts. Well, ghosts didn't just disappear. Could they? The Bloody Baron was notorious for scaring some Slytherins senseless after they got into some trouble.
He supposed it depended on the person. And from all reports (and plying Ted with drinks so that he would talk) Aster Keeney had, on numerous occasions, scared James Potter, Marauder extraordinaire senseless.
And after all, it was her grandchildren in the house…mansion…hideout….whatever you cared to call it. So, he supposed, it was maternal curiosity. "What the hell do you think you're doing here?" Or it could be that she was peeved that he had even been allowed in here.
"Having a drink," he replied. "You?"
"Wondering if Cissa hit her head on something to allow you here." she snapped back, looking for all the worth like Morgana. Although, the fact that her hair was carefully tucked under a coif and her arms were crossed did ruin the picture quite a bit. "Et c'est la propriété de la famille Keeney.(And this is Keeney family property.) Dieu, cet endroit est allée aux chiens.(God, this place has gone to the dogs.)" He noticed she spoke French the same way Abigail did-at times, it was playful and mocking, yet could be just as gruff-sounding as German or Latin.
Another figure appeared. This one, Lucius was familiar with. In life, they had been somewhat enemies-he had been a Death Eater, but this one had been a Gryffindor. In situations where they were together, things had been somewhat indifferent due to their political differences, but things were not exactly Cold War Russia between them either. He looked somewhat strained. And after trying to keep Abigail under control for the past few weeks, he saw that those who looked after her mother fared no better.
"Aster," James Potter gritted out. "You're not still on about that, are you?"
"Son père a tué mon frère. J'ai vu ce qui s'est passé. Sauf, bien sûr, vous dites que je n'ai pas vu Abraxas Malefoy lui trancher la gorge.(His father killed my brother. I saw what happened. Unless, of course, you are saying I didn't see Abraxas Malfoy slit his throat.)"
"That's not the point-"
Whatever the point was, Lucius doubted that they would be getting to it anytime soon.
{PAGEBREAK}
The next morning, the greater part of the defense study group stumbled little by little into the Great Hall. The better part of the night had been spent celebrating-with little extras from Fred and George. But it was all in good fun. Terry Boot's nose would be reattached-with Madam Pomfrey's help and Susan Bones's hair would eventually grow back to all one length.
Severus recognized the signs, having successfully hidden them from his professors years before that Harry and Ron had definitely gotten drunk, and Hermione had been the one to hold Ginny's hair back earlier. At the moment, Seamus was staring at a cup of juice as though it held the answers to life, while Blaise Zabini stumbled his way over to where Astoria and Daphne Greengrass were sitting.
Well, well, well. Detentions galore. He noticed that some had opted to crawl back to their dorms and spend the day sleeping it off rather then risk getting caught looking undignified. He withheld a snort. Draco had been ecstatic.
Ecstatic to the point where he was now concerned that he might become a grandfather all over again in nine or ten months. Although, he doubted that Narcissa would allow such a thing to happen. Or the mutt for that matter.
At any rate, he'd be sure to take names of those who failed to attend classes in Gryffindor, given the Slytherins were all accounted for.
{PAGEBREAK}
6 January 1981
Godric's Hollow, Wales
The monotony had been getting on their nerves almost as soon as it had started. They had cleaned the place until it was as antiseptic as a hospital. Harry, their main source of amusement, these days was currently asleep upstairs in his crib. And still, despite a dozen or so new books and magazines sent over from Avalon, did James and Lily Potter find nothing to talk about.
"This sucks," he let his head flop back, finally vocalizing that which had been echoing in their heads since Aster's last visit in September.
"I was thinking the same thing," Lily said, throwing her latest embroidery project-a set of sheets embroidered with pheonixes onto the tea table. "Any news from Aster?"
"Every time, it's baby this, and baby that, and Johnson screwed up this and Campion did that." James said, summing up each and every letter Aster had sent him on a daily basis since returning to Avalon. "I'm going to be much happier when she has the kid. That way, she can, if worst comes to worst, leave it there, and come and stay here for a good solid week."
"You don't want that," Lily said, resuming her project with the air of one trying to stay occupied. "If Sirius comes over, she'll murder him. Then we'd have to replace the carpeting."
James laughed. "That might not be such a bad idea." he said. "Though clean up will be a little messy."
They shared their first real laugh since Harry had scared Mr. Tibbles by levitating the poor Kneazle onto a bookshelf. An owl tapped at the window. James retrieved the letter and set the owl-he recognized as Beaky- on the perch that they kept just so the Avi owls would have a chance to rest before returning.
He plucked the seal off with his thumb. "Must be important," he said. "She never uses parchment if she can help it." Skimming the letter, he caught the words baby, born, and last night. "Well, she had the kid," James passed the letter to Lily.
"Well, the 'kid' is a bit early." Lily read the letter. "Oh, it's a girl!"
James raised his arms in triumph. "This means, we are officially off the hook!" he said, "Now, the succession is no longer my problem, and Harry can grow up here and only meet his cousin on holidays."
"James, thanks to her mother, that 'cousin' was nearly your daughter." James flopped into his armchair. "Not my problem," he repeated. "Not anymore." Lily smacked him with the letter. "She is your problem if anything happens." she reprimanded him. "You're her next of kin."
"Lily, there's a little something called 'Avi Law' that would more likely turn over custody to Andromeda or Narcissa, or hell," he reached down to where they kept a small stash of Firewhiskey. "Bellatrix." he poured two glasses and handed one to his wife. "before they'd give me custody."
"If you look at it technically, the girl would be Severus's before yours." Lily said. "Considering-"
"-a non-existent marriage by a spy and a girl who didn't stay faithful." James supplied, downing his glass. "Or a Death Eater and a girl who wasn't supposed to have been married in the first place."
"Legally, he's her father." Lily said, downing her own glass. "Besides, this gives Harry someone around his own age who he can relate to. And I'm sure that Aster isn't as…backward…as her mother."
"Trust me when I say as soon as she can, she'll get that kid out."
Well, well, well. Another chapter done. I hope you have enjoyed this as much as I have.
Now, who's betting on the Tonks/Lupin kid?
Mischief Managed,
Sparky
Listening to: Through Heaven's Eyes-Prince of Egypt Soundtrack
