A/N: Thank you so so much to ImsebastianstanButter, alfieHewie, Jessie, Guest, and P3rsyGreen for your reviews, it's so nice to get feedback so thank you! And welcome to all the new followers/favouriters, I hope you're enjoying the story so far :)

Chapter Thirty-Four: Ambivalence

Aneirin and Arianwen had only managed to get a few hours of sleep before they were awoken by Betsy the house elf, who informed them that visitors were waiting in the formal sitting room. After hurriedly dressing herself and running a brush through her hair, Arianwen walked out of her bedroom and started down the corridor. She heard a door open behind her and turned to see Aneirin emerging, fastening his cloak around his neck as he went.

"Who's here?" he asked as they proceeded to make their way down the stairs together.

"I don't know," Arianwen said groggily, rubbing her eyes in an effort to make them wake up a bit more, "Betsy didn't stick around long enough - she was going on about needing to make tea."

Aneirin made a grumbling noise of agreement in his throat, it seemed neither of them were particularly talkative in the morning. They could hear the low murmuring of voices as they neared the embellished gold doors of the formal sitting room but Arianwen couldn't quite make out who was inside just yet. She pushed the doors open and entered, Aneirin in tow, to be met by four grinning faces.

"Surprise!" They shouted slightly out of time to each other. Arianwen beamed back, her friends: Brianne, Owain, Carwyn, and Gwyn had come to see her.

Brianne was the first to attack her with a hug, followed by a kiss on the cheek from Carwyn, a ruffle of her hair from Owain, and finally a tight hug from Gwyn. Whilst the others were greeting Aneirin and passing on their condolences for his late father, Gwyn caressed the side of Arianwen's face and whispered, "I've missed you", before bringing his lips to hers. It was only a brief kiss but it was all Arianwen needed to spark a tumultuous sense of guilt in her gut. After all, it had only been a matter of hours since it had been Draco that she was kissing, and having sex with, and expressing her unrequited love for-

She blinked hard, wishing the thoughts to leave her mind.

Fuck. I'm going to have to tell him.

She stepped back from Gwyn, trying not to let her discomfort show on her face, and invited her guests to take a seat. She'd only just poured their tea and opened her mouth to speak when a loud wailing sound reverberated through the room, projected magically through a gramophone near one of the tall arched windows that lined the outer wall.

"What the hell is that?" Owain groaned. He pressed his hands to his ears to block out the sound, just as the others also mimicked the movement.

Aneirin glanced meaningfully at Arianwen. "I'll go," he said, giving her a pointed stare. She watched his retreating back and sighed deeply, she'd been hoping she wouldn't have to tell her friends about Llewyn so soon.

"Well?" Brianne demanded. "What is going on?"

"It's a bit of a long story."

"We've got time."

Sighing once more, Arianwen paused for a minute longer before launching into the rather complicated story of how she came to acquire a young dependent.

"Right," Brianne started slowly, her eyebrows raised so high they nearly joined with her hairline, "so you're just going to tell everyone that you happened to have a child the summer before last and expect them to believe you?"

Arianwen, who had had barely three hours sleep, could not help but feel a twinge of annoyance at Brianne's disbelief. She couldn't do anything about the situation now, so what was the point in being negative about it?

"It's not actually that implausible," Carwyn reasoned; his face slightly scrunched up in thought. "It's not like anyone actually saw you much that summer, your uncle pretty much kept you under lock and key."

Arianwen smiled gratefully at him. Carwyn, whilst a little pompous and self-important at times, had always been the voice of reason and when he spoke, the others would generally take notice. She cast her eyes over to Gwyn; he was watching her silently, his mouth pressed shut and his eyes hard. His reaction concerned her, especially as she'd left out any mention of Draco in her story, meaning that his reaction was only going to get worse.

"Gwyn?" She probed gently. "Can I talk to you outside for a minute?"

He jumped slightly, his honey brown eyes focusing on her properly. "Um sure," he mumbled, following her through the door on the opposite side of the room to where Aneirin had exited; she didn't want Aneirin overhearing their conversation from the stairwell, she had a feeling it wasn't going to be pretty.

"Are you okay?" She asked him gently when the door had closed behind them.

Gwyn blinked. "Am I okay?" he asked bewildered. "Am I okay? I've just found out that my girlfriend is about to announce to the world that she's a mother to a fourteen-month old baby! And what-what am I supposed to be the father of this child in your plan? How exactly did you see this working?"

Trying to keep her tone steady and not snap back, Arianwen asked, "Would you want to be his father?"

Gwyn let out a harsh laugh and ran his hands through his hair. "I'm eighteen years old, Arianwen, what eighteen-year-old wants to be a father?!"

Unable to keep her temper at bay, Arianwen's cheeks reddened and her fists clenched. "Well don't be one then! I don't need you, I can look after him just fine on my own!"

"Don't be so stupid!" He shouted, taking a few steps back and shaking his head wildly. "Don't be so bloody stupid, Arianwen. You cannot look after a baby all by yourself!"

Arianwen glared at him. "I'd rather look after him alone than with someone that resents his very existence!"

"Well what do you expect? It's not like you consulted me on this! You're basically forcing a fucking child on me! Have you any idea how selfish that is?" Gwyn yelled back.

"I'm not forcing anything on you," Arianwen snapped. "The baby has a father already."

Gwyn curled his lip, confused. "What are you on about?"

"Llewyn already has a father."

"What? Your uncle? That's a bit sick-"

"No." Arianwen interrupted loudly. "His father is Draco Malfoy." She was met with a blank face in response. "Draco and I had sex last night, so when I changed Llewyn's DNA to reflect that of my own, some of Draco's was mixed in."

"You slept with Malfoy?" Gwyn hissed, his rage at such a peak that his whole head had become a worrying shade of scarlet. "You fucking slept with Draco fucking Malfoy?" He was walking towards her slowly, and for the first time, Arianwen felt afraid of him.

She stepped back shakily, until her legs hit the back of the sofa and she was forced to remain. "I'm so sorry," she choked, anger quickly turning to regret. "I'm so sorry."

"So this is what it feels like?" Gwyn said quietly, his shoulders hunched over. Just as quickly as it had come, his anger abated. "This is what it feels like to be cheated on?"

Arianwen opened her mouth to speak but found she had nothing to say.

"Is this your way of getting back at me for cheating on you three years ago?" He accused.

"What? No of course not! No, I just-I don't know! I just-" she made a strangled noise of exasperation, "- I just love him! I can't help it. I love him."

Gwyn glared so forcefully at her that she felt her knees buckle and her legs wobble dangerously, threatening to give way at any moment. "Fuck you, Arianwen Gwydion." He strode over to the door and flung it open, shouting over his shoulder, "FUCK YOU!" Before marching across the room and out of the house.

Arianwen made a feeble attempt to run after him, but was stopped by Owain's strong hand upon her chest. They had heard enough from the other room to understand what was going on, and all three of her friends were staring at her with a mixture of disgust and disbelief. "Don't," Owain warned, "just leave him be." And with that, both he and Carwyn followed after Gwyn.

"Oh Merlin," Arianwen whispered. She cast a pleading look at Brianne, begging her to stay. She raised a shaky hand to cover her quivering mouth, her eyes widening desperately at her friend. "Oh Merlin, what have I done?" Tears began to fall thick and fast, and Arianwen's knees really did give way this time. "What have I done?"

"It's okay," Brianne called soothingly, deciding to comfort her friend rather than abandon her as the others had. "He'll be okay. You just need to give him some time." She knelt down beside her sobbing friend and wrapped her arms around her. Whilst she acknowledged that Arianwen was very much in the wrong for sleeping with another man whilst in a relationship with Gwyn, she also knew that Arianwen had never truly moved on from Draco. The brunette took a deep breath and stared blankly at a spot in the carpet just behind Arianwen's bent head. In some ways she felt responsible herself; it was she that had encouraged Arianwen to give Gwyn a chance after all. She hugged Arianwen a little tighter.

They knelt on the floor like that for what felt like an age, and it was only when Brianne couldn't feel any sensation in her calves that she insisted Arianwen try to sit on the sofa and have a cup of tea.

Arianwen swirled the hot liquid in its cup mindlessly, battling with herself over whether to admit one last thing to her best friend. Eventually, she looked up and was met with Brianne's sympathetic smile. "There's something else," she started carefully.

Brianne cocked her head to one side questioningly. "What is it?"

The blonde sucked in a deep breath, held it for a moment or two, then released it, allowing her heart beat to slow a little. "I'm pregnant."

Brianne merely blinked, her eyes wide. A strange noise escaped her mouth, her lips remaining agape even after the noise had been emitted. "Pregnant?" She repeated finally, stunned. Arianwen nodded. "And-and you're going to keep it?" She whispered.

Arianwen looked down at her hands, rolling them over one another a few times before clasping them together tightly in her lap. "I don't know," she replied truthfully, "I need to think about it."

"Duchess!" Betsy's voice called from the hallway. "Duchess! The Marquess needs your help with young Master Llewyn, Duchess. He is needing feeding!"

"I'll be right there, Betsy!" Arianwen called. She looked worriedly at Brianne. "Promise me you won't tell anyone? No one knows apart from you."

Brianne nodded. She stood up and pulled Arianwen into a tight hug. "I promise, and I'm here if you need me or if you need someone to watch the little one."

Arianwen smiled appreciatively at her friend, truly grateful for her friendship and understanding. She kissed her cheek and bade her goodbye, then hurried up the stairs to find Aneirin and the baby - her baby.

Arianwen pushed the door to the nursery open to find a rather stressed looking Aneirin bouncing the baby on his knee and pleading with him to stop crying, his tone becoming ever more desperate. His head snapped up when he heard the door click closed, and he immediately jumped up and pushed the baby into her arms.

"He's hungry!" He announced skittishly. "He's hungry and he's had the last bottle and I can't feed him, how am I supposed to feed him? You're going to have to sort something," he gestured to her breasts, "you're going to have to feed him."

Despite the unbelievably awful morning she'd just had, Arianwen couldn't help but laugh, she'd never seen Aneirin in such a state before. "Alright," she soothed, "alright, I'll manage. Why don't you go and take a nice shower hmm?"

Aneirin nodded quickly. "Yes," he cleared his throat, "yes a shower. Good idea." and he darted from the room.

"Ow!" Arianwen squealed as she felt a sharp pain in one of her breasts. She looked down to see Llewyn trying to latch on to her nipple through her clothes. She pulled him away and walked with him at arms-length to an armchair in the corner. "Right," she whispered to herself, feeling a little awkward as she balanced the baby on her lap and pulled her robe off one shoulder, revealing her right breast, "So I just put you by here," she cradled the baby in her arms so that his face was against her breast, "and hopefully you'll know what to do…"

Thankfully, the baby did indeed know what to do, and without any further encouragement from her, he began to suckle on her breast. She was quite amazed at how quickly her body had adjusted to motherhood in order to produce milk so quickly, but she guessed that Nimue's enchantment would have enacted some sort of change in her body. She looked down at the little blonde baby in her arms; his eyes squeezed shut as all his concentration went into feeding; and found that in that moment, nursing the boy that was now her son, she was truly content.

One month later…

"Gentlemen," Arianwen smiled tightly, her eyes meeting each of those around the vast triangular table in the War room of her Carmarthenshire home, "I have called you here today to gather support for a motion that I believe should have been put in place many weeks ago. I call you here to witness a declaration of war."

Aneirin, who was seated at one of the points of the triangle, nodded gravely in agreement. The past few weeks had brought with them a continuous battery of Death Eater attacks as the Dark Lord set about trying to take the councillors allegiance by force. Arianwen's uncle, Lord Dafydd Gwydion, had been a prominent figure in the attacks and under his command, nearly a thousand innocent witches, wizards, and children had been slaughtered. Aneirin's home town of Gwynedd had been one of the areas worse hit by the attacks, and Aneirin had decided to return there full-time and take his position as Warden of the North, in order to help prevent further devastation in the region. The fact that the Death Eaters had attacked the North had, in a most horrible way, actually worked in Arianwen's favour as it had demonstrated the ruthlessness of the Dark Lord, who had supposedly been allied with the North before Aneirin's father was killed. The result was the collection of men sitting before her; every single member of the War Council (with the exception of Dafydd, who was hiding out with his allies in England) had showed up at Ty Myddfai when she summoned them, and now, she hoped, they would finally pledge their allegiance to her and her cause.

"We have allowed Death Eater scum and savages to devastate our towns and villages, to murder our men, violate our women, and torment our children. I have intelligence that the Dark Lord is calling upon the most foul and abhorrent beasts to join his side, he plans to send an army of werewolves, dementors, and giants to tear through our communities and ravage us until we have no choice but to submit to him.

Well, I will not stand for it. I will not stand idly by as our people are picked off one by one and fed to the wolves. I condemn the Dark Lord and I will fight him. I will fight 'till my very last breath to end the onslaught of terror on my people, but I cannot do it alone. I need your support gentlemen. I need you to fight by my side; I need your armies to fight by my side. If we are to defeat our most ferocious of enemies, we must unite as one powerful Welsh force. We must do battle as one! Who will join me?"

Both Aneirin and the Duke of Montgomeryshire rose to their feet and cried, "I will!" together. Their support as the Wardens of North and Mid Wales respectively held much weight, and slowly, other men around the table got to their feet and pledged their allegiance too.

Only two men remained seated, Earl Flintshire, who had always been a close ally of Dafydd, and Earl Bedwyr, Gwyn's father.

"Bedwyr!" Montgomery barked. "Do not allow your personal feelings to cloud your judgement!"

Arianwen's cheeks coloured, Montgomery was referring to her. Ever since news got out that Arianwen had a child that she'd been keeping secret, word had also got out about her infidelity; though no one knew who Arianwen's lover had been. Gwyn's father; who had once been so fond of Arianwen that he treated her like one of his own household; was now cold, snide, and unforgiving towards her. Although she knew it was what she deserved, it also hurt her that the Earl could be so callous.

"My feelings toward the Duchess," his upper lip curled as if the word created a nasty taste in his mouth, "are perfectly valid. A Wales united behind a whore and her bastard son is not a Wales I wish to be a part of."

Arianwen tried as hard as she could to not show how much his words hurt her, but nevertheless felt a lump rise in her throat. Fortunately however, Aneirin spoke for her. "If you do not wish to be part of a Wales that rallies behind our strongest and most fearsome woman, then you should leave. Personally, I am honoured to fight with you, Duchess."

"As am I," Montgomery chimed in.

"And me," The Lord of Brecknockshire agreed.

" Hear, hear!" called Lord Caernarfonshire.

"As am I, Duchess." Earl Flintshire got to his feet and bowed his head to Arianwen. "I made a terrible mistake in allying myself with Lord Gwydion, and I hope that in pledging my allegiance to you, I go some way in repairing the frayed bonds between our counties."

Arianwen's heart skipped. She hadn't expected Flintshire to give his support; in fact, she had been afraid that their rivalry would cause blood to spill that night. "Thank you, Earl Flintshire. Your allegiance is most welcome at my Court."

The surprised faces of the councillors switched back to Gwyn's father. "So Bedwyr," Montgomery said in his usual deep, assertive tone, "what say you?"

The other man sighed in a way that made his shoulders hunch and his face look old beyond its years. After fiddling with his hands for a while, he brought his gaze upward and nodded. "I pledge." Arianwen tilted her head to him, and he grudgingly returned the gesture, his mouth tight. She felt incredibly ashamed of what she had done to Gwyn and the affects her actions were having on her political and personal relationships, but nevertheless she knew there was no time to feel sorry for herself.

"Thank you, gentlemen. Now let's go make some Death Eaters cry for their mothers."

Meanwhile in Bulgaria…

The fact that the Muggles were surprised by the cold that blasted them, wind ripping through the mountain passes, was still confusing to Draco. He would have thought that, after being kidnapped and teleported, they would have lost the ability to be shocked at something as mundane as an icy wind.

Despite having no orders as to where to collect subjects, Draco had been careful to spread out the disappearances; even if the Muggles wouldn't be able to track what was happening, he didn't want to risk their location being discovered by the magical Bulgarian authorities. The knowledge of what further punishment for his continuing failings might look like was enough to keep him cautious.

The Muggles were trying to talk to him. He didn't speak their language, but he could imagine what they were saying. Why have you brought us here? and what is going to happen to us? and, probably, the more mundane questions of where are we? and who are you? He wouldn't answer them, even if he knew what they were saying. He learned early on that it was easier if he tried to forget they were human as quickly as possible.

"Took you long enough," said Fenrir Greyback, from where he was lurking behind a rock. He could have just been lounging, hiding from the cold, but the way he sidled out into the light was so clearly a deliberate attempt at intimidation that Draco doubted it.

"Had to go further out," Draco said, not bothering to look at the other man as he tugged his cloak closer around himself. "It's not like I can just empty an entire village without someone noticing."

Greyback sneered at him, his lip curling back from his disgusting pointed yellow teeth. "Watch your tongue, boy," he said. "You wouldn't want me to have to report back that you've been slacking, would you now?"

Draco didn't say anything, didn't meet his gaze, didn't change his position. Everything was just easier if he kept his head down and did his own time.

"This all you got for me?" Greyback asked, looking past Draco to the huddled group of Muggles behind him.

"That's plenty," Draco said, and didn't manage to catch himself before adding, "wouldn't want another one to escape again, would we?"

He regretted it immediately, but especially when Greyback's clawed hand whipped up to smack him across the face.

"What have I told you about that smart mouth?" he growled. Draco tasted blood in his mouth, and kept his lips firmly closed.

A moment ticked by, and then Greyback snorted derisively into his face, his breath smelling rancid and stale; but he didn't hit Draco again, instead turning his attention back to the captives, raising his wand to force them forwards.

"All right boys!" he called, through the narrow pass that lead down to the werewolf encampment. "It's feeding time!"

Draco didn't move as the Muggles were dragged, terrified and hysterical, past him. He turned his head away as they disappeared behind the rock that Greyback had appeared from behind, and groped for his hipflask, closing his ears to the screaming that started behind him, intermingled with the hoarse, brutish laughter of the werewolves.

Perhaps, tonight, he would be able to drink enough Bulgarian whiskey to drown out the sounds, to warm his blood and ease his sleep, and stop the screaming from following him into his dreams. But no sooner had the last drop hit his mouth when he felt a familiar burning on his right forearm: a summons from the Dark Lord.

A/N: As promised, another chapter! Please leave a review to let me know if you liked it :)