Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait peeps, I've been busy busy busy and every time I thought of doing this chapter I've felt like curling up into a little ball and weeping like a little girl, but as you can see, I got over it and am once more motivated into actually doing stuff that doesn't involve work and reading :3

On another note, there have been some people from who have pm'd me about some of the scenes they want to see from earlier chapter that weren't put in because I either forgot about them or they just didn't fit into any of the chapters. I can say that in these last 7 chapters, there will be many of you who are disappointed in what is shown and what isn't so I have decided to work on a series of one-shots that coincide with this story containing scenes that have caught the reader's attentions but are not dealt with. If you have any - and it doesn't have to be Tobias orientated - send me the suggestion in a review, telling me the scene and the chapter that it occurred in and I'll start planning.

Chapter 50

Bill rubbed a hand over his face as he read the parchment that had appeared on his desk.

"How big are the odds that this meeting is good news?" he asked as the fire behind him flared.

"I think there are lower odds on Hagrid being the offspring of a goblin or a dwarf then there is of this meeting being called for happy news," Charlie said with a grim smile.

"That's what I was afraid of," Bill sighed. He pulled his face from his hands and straightened in his seat. "What do I owe the pleasure of your visit to?"

"My boss heard about what is going on back home," Charlie replied as he took a seat. "He wants to talk to either the Lord or Skotadi."

"What for?"

"Charlie rubbed his temples. "Did you know that Romania is a predominantly dark community?"

Bill nodded, watching his younger brother closely.

"I didn't," Charlie snorted. "I didn't care. To me, getting away from The Burrow was the most important thing."

Bill smirked in agreement; that was the reason he had taken the International Gringotts job rather than the one with the Unspeakables, after all.

"It also seems that the reason some people are better at handling dragons than others is due to their receptiveness to dark magic," Charlie threw a half-grin at Bill. "Guess who was the most surprised when Gerda – that's the Hungarian Horntail that Tobias pulled in his fourth year - picked me up by the back of the shirt and placed me in the very centre of her barely-out-of-the-shell hatchlings."

Bill gaped at his younger brother. Charlie snorted.

"Yeah, that was the look on everyone's face. Anyway, Fredreich wants to see about setting up a trade contract with the British Ministry when The Lord wins."

Bill raised an eyebrow, "When?"

"When," Charlie stated. "The Romanian Ministry is willing to send aid if – or when - The Lord requires it."

"And what does the Romanian Minister wants in exchange?"

"Support if Romania is ever in the same position as Britain is and a handful of Dementors for their worst prion."

"That's it?" Bill asked in disbelief.

"That's it," Charlie said.

"Then let's get started on writing all this down for Tobias to put into his report for The Lord. At least someone will have good news to report at this coming meeting. I just wish it was me," Bill chuckled.

Lunch for The Pack was silent and tense. Luna and Ginny had appeared over an hour before hand looking as though someone had painted them in whitewash before trying to remove it after it had mostly dried. Neither girl would say what had happened, only telling the pregnant teen that he would find out in the next day or two, depending on how long it took their healer and overseer to do their reports and send it. It surprised no-one when Tobias announced there would be a full Pack meeting three days from today and vanished to write meeting notices to their missing members.

If none of the older Pack members ate much, no one said anything; after all, they would soon be seeing just how far the soon-to-be ex-Headmaster had fallen in his attempt at keeping his pawn under his control. It also shocked no one when, instead of a full meal, Dobby appeared beside Tobias with a mug of thick liquid.

"Master Tobias can have this today instead of food," the elf squeaked, 'but you must eat what you get for dinner."

"Thank you Dobby," Tobias muttered, "What is it?"

"Soup," the elf answered before popping away.

"I could have guessed that," Tobias grouched as he looked into the yellow mug at the vibrant orange-red content. He took a tentative sip and hummed softly at the taste of it. Without warning, an identical mug appeared before each Pack member. Together, they pushed away their plates and grabbed the bug before them. When Tobias raised his mug for another sip, the rest of The Pack followed, humming in enjoyment of the slightly sweet taste of tomato, carrot and celery.

"That was surprisingly filling," Greg stated as he put his empty mug down.

"Is why we give to pregnant Master," an unfamiliar voice squeaked.

Everyone turned to see twin female houseleves standing behind Dobby.

"Soup filling and tasty and nutritious. All good for growing baby and mother." The other female said.

"Thank you," Tobias said with a soft smile. "It was lovely."

The three elves blushed and vanished with a click of their fingers, vanishing the empty mugs at the same time.

The Pack chuckled weakly, only to stop and pale when the food vanished and Amelia stood.

"Those fifth years that have not yet been seen, please stay in your seats," she called out. "We know who you are and punishments will be given if you do not stay. Sixth years also please remain seated. Everyone else my leave."

If Tobias' grip on Draco's hand tightened drastically, the blonde did nothing except squeeze back gently. It was time.

Amelia resisted the urge to scream. She had read out the names and tent numbers like she had for all of the other year levels and chaos had reigned. She rubbed her temples and grit her teeth against the pain as an annoyingly loud voice protested yet again.

"SILENCE!" she snapped, surprising herself when the noise level dropped. "It has come to my attention that, like in my time in this school, it is NOT the house of Slytherin that is problematic."

Every eye was on her and she stood straighter.

"In my years here, everyone knew that Slytherins were evil and that the worst two families were those of Black and Malfoy,'" she snorted softly in disgust. "We were FOOLS!"

She glared at the gaping idiots around here, "The Slytherins only attacked us when we provoked them. My fiancée was a Slytherin and he got KILLED in an attack that was labelled 'a prank gone wrong'. My niece's mother was a Slytherin and she was the sweetest person you could ever hope to meet. Now, I don't care if you are Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, Gryffindors or Slytherins, you are going to stand in line outside the tent you have been assigned in the order I called your names and you will NOT open your mouths to complain, swear, argue or anything that is not yawning, sneezing or answering questions. Anyone who goes against this will be undergoing punishment from this Council due to you endangering other students, us and yourself as well as wasting the time we have in this investigation."

She noticed the youngest Weasley spawn open his mouth to argue and raised her voice.

"If you do not like our rules, feel free to write to Minister Fudge: he needs more useless parchment to use as a fire-starter in his office fireplace. Now MOVE!" She watched as everyone moved to do as she had ordered except for her niece, her niece's friends and The Pack – who had already done as she had ordered.

"Remind me to stay on your good side," Lucius stated from his position behind her, making her jump.

The councilmen and women chuckled as they moved towards their assigned tents where the Healers waited with the remaining fifth years.

"Don't you have jobs to do?" she scowled at them, only to blink stupidly when a manicured masculine hand holding a dark blue vial appeared in her line of sight.

"Headache cure," Lucius said with an understanding smile. "Medium strength. I know I've had one already today and Wu has had three. Of all of us here, you are the only one who hasn't had at least one of these since we started. We were starting to believe you weren't human for a while there."

Amelia chuckled ruefully and gladly tossed the potion back. She let out a sigh of relief. "Almost over," she muttered softly to herself as she too headed into the tent she was using. This last group was even more difficult to manage then the other years combined seeing as it was this year level's students who were the reason for them being there. Add to that the fact that The Pack, as she had started to think of them, had to be split between Healers and Algernon insisted on getting the reports of each of the individuals, as was his right as their personal healer. He also state that he, and only he, would insect Tobias.

Amelia had easily agreed, much to the annoyance of the Healer working with her. It took Amelia asking the woman if she was a specialist Healer in the field of male pregnancy. At the negative answer, Amelia snorted and turned away, knowing the prideful youngster fully understood what she was getting at.

Lucius sighed as he stood to get his next victe … erm … student. He had been, thankfully, lucky so far with those he had been assigned to sort out. As he had been the only person who had no fifth years to see, he had been the one to get the Patil twins. He was very thankful that their father had been present to glare them into submission – well, one of them at any rate. He entered the room with the second last student and closed his eyes, hoping he was seeing things. Opening them, he turned around and walked out of the tent and yelled out his frustrations. Something out there hated him; he was sure of it. He had been landed with the red-headed twat.

Amelia smiled when she stepped into the room holding the last two students to examine. She had purposefully left these two for last because not only were they the reason for this occurring but the other members of the council had requested to be present for the last one.

"Boys," she called out. "Your turn. Did you want to go together or separate?"

"Together," the newly woken blonde answered as he stretched. "It's not that I don't trust you but … I don't trust you."

Amelia chuckled. "I understand," she stated as she followed them into the soon-to-be full room.

The silence in the room acted like a malevolent presence as the parchment continued to flow from Algernon's wand. Tobias blinked at it with no interest while Draco, Lucius and Amelia glared at it and everyone else gaped as a small mountain was formed from the – now complete – list.

With a small gulp of what could have been nerves or a dry throat, but was more likely fear, Algernon flicked his wand and muttered a spell. The tension rose and thickened when only a few inches vanished.

Tobias nuzzled into an immobile Draco's side, whining softly when he didn't react to his attempts at snuggling. He pouted a little before a spark of mischief appeared in his eye.

Everyone was jolted out of their shock and anger when they heard a yelp of shock and a soft thump echoed in the small room. Turning in panic, the tension eased when, one by one, the adults in the room started chuckling at Lucius, who – at seeing Draco on the ground with Tobias on top of him nuzzling and licking his bare stomach – covered his eyes with a small shriek.

"I suggest we take this discussion elsewhere," Amelia said between chuckles. "I can tell we will not want to be here for what happens next." Most of the people in the room looked at her questioningly.

"I remember when Susan's mother was pregnant," she answered the unasked questions. "You did not get between her and her cravings, her and her bath or wake her when she wanted sleep if you not only wanted to live, but keep all your limbs as well."

Once again all eyes turned to the bonded couple, where Tobias had wrapped his arms around Draco's hips, his head on the blonde's stomach, fast asleep. The men and women who didn't know the couple well quietly left the room, followed by Lucius, who was to tell the rest of The Pack that they could enter. He knew it would be useless to tell them to leave. He smirked to himself when all the members of The Pack, including the two fifth years, were standing at the entrance.

"Tobias is asleep," he stated as he moved aside. "Ensure he wakes an hour before supper so we can pack everything up."

Neville nodded once in acknowledgement before leading the way into the room holding the bonded couple.

Words

Skotadi – Darkness