Tough lover
Disclaimer: I don't own dragon age or harry potter.
Summary: Iron bull was a mercenary and not one for a long-term relationship, he didn't care for love for a long time, until he came across a day care containing an escaping toddler, little did he know that he and the child's mother, a new, young Inquisitor would end up on one wild ride together.
Hey lovelies
I'm sorry for the lack of updates on my end but I've had a bunch of things happen to me all at once and I'm not going to explain here but here's a new story, read review and enjoy.
Love
Snow
Chapter 1: in the beginning
Iron bull was a curious, he heard about the day care members of the inquisition, military, even mercenary groups would leave their children in their care of. He believed it to be a rumour, but there it was not even four doors down from the Singing Maiden, with bright painted handprints on the windowpanes, along with several young attendants in bright blue aprons chasing after the children. Bull sat outside of the Singing Maiden when he felt something small collide with his leg, when he looked down, he was surprised to see that it was a toddler crawling for everything he was worth, hair colour changing rapidly as he redoubled his efforts causing Bull to laugh at the boy's effort and scoop him up, all the while the toddler was still trying to crawl in mid-air, hair starting to flash between red and blue in frustration.
"easy there, little man" said Bull clutching on to the toddler by the back of the peculiar one-piece article of clothing he was wearing.
"Teddy, there you are!" came a relieved voice from one of the workers who was sprinting up to Bull and taking him from the mercenary.
"he really has energy" commented Bull lightly, watching Teddy squirming in an effort to escape.
"I know, we just wish he'd put his energy into something other than escaping the playpen" the woman explained before she thanked him for stopping Teddy's escape before carrying the toddler back to the day care.
As the day continued to roll on, Iron bull continued to watch the world go by, and he quickly noticed how often the toddler, Teddy escaped the day care, while he did find it amusing he did have sympathies for his watchers especially since they had to chase after him, he also watched as parents came and collected their children as the afternoon went by, until Teddy was the only child left at the day care. It made Bull wonder if his parents where running late, until just as the shop keepers where putting their merchandise away and the sun was starting to set a young woman came running to the day care.
"Momma! Momma!" came the high-pitched voice of Teddy, as an attendant carried him out to her. This exclamation of momma from the toddler surprized Bull, not wanting to believe that this young woman was the boy's mother, sister maybe but not mother.
"hey, sweetie, I'm sorry momma was late, I had to much mean paperwork to do" she said in a warm gentle tone.
"Inquisitor! Before you go, we need to discuss something with you" exclaimed the attendant, causing the pair to go inside.
Bull was now even more shocked, that young woman was an inquisitor! But she had to be only a teenager at the least! It was a surprize to say the least, yet he wondered how she had managed to earn such a high rank so quickly.
It was ten minutes before the woman exited from the day care with an agitated expression on her face carrying a sleeping Teddy, quietly plodding down the street. This was when Bull managed to get a really good look at her appearance, she was fairly short for an adult, with long raven black hair, trailing behind her in the spring breeze, skin paler than white marble and eyes the colour of Malachite's, she was wearing a long brown leather coat, white blouse, black trousers and brown riding boots, her entire look was completed with a sword hanging from her belt, a rapier if the ornate hilt had anything to go by, it gave Bull the impression that she was a spoilt princess. little did he know how untrue his impression was.
Meanwhile, Inquisitor Eve Belduke formerly known as Iris Eve Potter, The girl who lived, the woman who conquered, was tired, she had been in Thedas for nine months and only now was getting used to things, she had worked hard to get her position and had made a better life for herself and Teddy, she wondered why she had to be the one to move and start over. Eve sighed sadly as she looked down at her son, she was in despair knowing that Teddy would never know Remus or Tonks, he was her of his generation, after the war things did change both for the better and the worse.
It all started with a mere trip to Gringotts and the reading of the wills of not only her parents but Sirius too, she had learned of many things, not only had people had been stealing from her but it was the people she had trusted most that had stolen from her, Dumbledore had stolen close to three million galleons and used it to pay Ron and Hermione as well as Ginny to be her friends as well as keep her isolated from others in order to prevent her from learning the truth, there was an illegal marriage contract between her and the Weasley family which was immediately voided, the goblin debt collector Ballbreaker was quite happy to retrieve all stolen funds with interest, as well as void the contract.
The betrayers where publicly arrested and charged, for theft, attempted line theft, use of illegal substances (they tried to use love potions on her as well), as well as a slew of other charges, this led to them spending ten years in Azkaban each, by this time Eve was fed up with everything, so with the help of the goblins she left for Thedas, when she arrived she studied literature, language, maths, philosophy and exorcisms, swordsmanship and so much more garnering the attention of the advisors who hired her out right allowing her to work and raise Teddy safely, one thing that irritated her was her fellow Inquisitor Zacarias Barnham, he was constantly asking her out, inviting her for drinks it got to the point to him cornering Eve in her office and her kicking him in the crotch in order for her to escape.
Another thing that bothered her was the amount of time she had to devote to her job, meaning she had less time for Teddy, so she made arrangements for him to go to day care so he could learn how to interact with other children, only for Teddy to suddenly turn into a mini Houdini and continually, an enchanted playpen was purchased to no avail, and when she collected that evening she was threatened with Teddy's expulsion if she couldn't teach him not to escape. Angry with this threat Eve suggested some parental barrier spells to keep the children in the day care, effectively embarrassing the owner who kept headbutting the desk muttering the words "stupid" over and over again as Eve paid for Teddy's week in the day care and took him home.
"I really don't know what to do with you Teddy, I know you don't want me to leave you at the day care but I have to work and you need to learn how to be with other children" Eve said softly as she approached an opulent manor house, a footman opening the door as she arrived.
"Welcome home Ma'm" he said warmly as she entered the house.
"Thank you, Maxwell, you can retire for the night, as can the rest of the staff" replied Eve quietly, pulling off her coat and hanging it up, "Has Fenrir been fed?"
Fenrir was a rare black nakk that Eve had rescued upon her arrival in Thedas, a magical wolf like creature that could transform from the size of a kitten to the size of a shire horse and he was fiercely loyal to Eve, yet wonderfully gentle with Teddy, he acted not only as a guard but a powerful mount as well. While Eve was at work Fenrir was left to wonder the manor and its grounds, he enjoyed curling up in warm places while in his small form both inside and out. Sometimes he would try and smuggle his way into Eve's place of work by climbing into her coat pocket, however he would always be caught at the last second.
"Yes, he has, and as you wish Ma'm, I've taken the liberty of preparing a pot of tea for you and cook has prepared the young master's dinner" said Maxwell kindly smiling as he left to relieve the other staff of their duties for the night. Eve headed towards the kitchen grabbed teddy's dinner (mashed vegetables), and walked up to the dining room struggling between carrying Teddy, who wouldn't stop squirming, and carrying his dinner.
Once in the dining room and the bowl of beige mush was placed on the table and set Teddy in his highchair, Eve sat down beside him and began to feed him, however Teddy decided to be difficult and try to avoid eating, Eve sighed, knowing it was going to be a long evening.
In the meantime, Iron Bull was lying in bed with his latest "partner" for the night, his mind wondering elsewhere, towards a certain green-eyed Inquisitor she was an enigma, strange and new, and a virgin if his nose didn't tell him any better, that toddler wasn't hers by blood any way. If he was honest with himself, he thought the girl to be quite fetching in appearance, sure she was short, but she was slim and quite aristocratic in appearance, while she gave off the appearance of the spoiled princess there was an air of tiredness and anger that only came with being a warrior, it didn't seem fitting to her, he wondered if there was more to her than met the eye, only time would tell especially since he didn't know if he'd end up working with her.
In the night
Eve was in her private library, while Teddy was in his cot in the nursery, dreaming a vivid and colourful dream. Eve was catching up on her magical learning, tonight she opted to focus on healing spells and potions, revising everything, even getting in some practice on some of the most basic spells, Sutura the suturing spell for open cuts, the multi-purpose Sana spell, however she quickly learned that if she wanted to heal specific wounds, like bruises she'd have to say Sana Contrition, however the hardest spell to learn was the bone setting spell, Ponite ossa fracta, this spell was particularly difficult mainly because if you set the bones incorrectly, it'll be painful to correct the mistake.
As the night went on Eve gave reading a rest and went downstairs and out onto the terrace overlooking the gardens and looked up at the stars, watching them glitter beautifully with each passing second. Eve enjoyed watching the stars especially the dog star, it made her think of her late beloved godfather, she missed Sirius and Remus terribly, and it got worse every day. sighing Eve turned around, went back inside and went to bed, completely oblivious to what fate had in store for her the next day.
Iron bull couldn't sleep, his mind kept wondering back and forth from that afternoon to the toddler and his mother, the inquisitor, it was odd, he never paid that much thought to a person before, he could sense there was something was off about her, it was like lightening hanging in the air, he didn't like it, or know what to do about it. So, he decided to wait and see if he was assigned to do some jobs with her, if only to get some idea of what her true colours where.
The next morning
Eve woke up, washed dressed and did the same for Teddy, after feeding Teddy, Eve dropped him off at the day care, and went onwards towards Skyhold and to work. Working as an Inquisitor was a stressful job, from interrogations to the paper work, everyone cursed the paperwork, and Eve still had yet to be given a field job. However the worst thing she had to deal with was a fellow Inquisitor called Zacarias Barnham, he always came by her office either to ask her out for drinks or lunch and every time she'd decline, but he was persistent, to the point she'd have to kick him out of her office (or in the balls she wasn't picky) and lock everyone else out, while she focused on her work.
Iron bull was confused, he'd received a summons to Skyhold for a job, while normally he'd go and ask, but today he was summoned and he didn't know why. He'd never been summoned before so it had to be important for him and the Chargers to be involved. When he and the Chargers arrived at Skyhold, they were told to wait in the atrium while the advisor went and spoke to the Inquisitor they'd be working with. It was a ten-minute wait before the mercenary group before the advisor returned with the Inquisitor, much to Bull's surprise it was the young female Inquisitor he saw the previous evening.
"Gentlemen, meet Inquisitor Eve Belduke" said the advisor introducing her to the group
"Are you sure that she's the one where working with?" asked Bull, raising an eye brow in curiosity.
"Yes, are you questioning my judgment?" responded the advisor.
"No, it's just, what about her child?" countered Bull, however before the advisor could say anything, the Inquisitor cut across them.
"My son will be fine for a few days, I have people who can look after him while I'm working, anyway the community we're being sent to needs our help and skillset, both physical power and diplomatic power" explained Eve, irritated that she was being talked about like she wasn't stood before them.
"don't forget spiritual power, after all you are our only qualified exorcist as of yet" exclaimed the advisor, as if he was a proud father to a gifted child.
"Well, I've done the research and training, but I don't know if I can handle doing an exorcism on my own yet," said Eve nervously, looking down.
"This is why I've enlisted the help of Iron bull and the bull's chargers to join you on this job, seeing as it'll also be your first time in the field" said the Advisor calmly, trying to reassure Eve.
"It's not that, exorcisms can be dangerous not only to the person going through the procedure but the surrounding people too" explained Eve, warily.
"then it's a good that you know, it'll make you more aware of the situation" crowed the Advisor, causing Eve to sigh. She knew he meant well but it was still nerve wracking to think that she'd be having her first field job, and she'd be reliant on complete strangers for back up.
"Anyway, when do we set off?" Interrupted Bull, before the Advisor could say any more.
"tomorrow morning" said the Advisor bluntly, after he managed to calm down, handing her a scroll, containing a brief about their job, location, information about the afflicted and potential dangers and observations from the priest who required aid.
"looks like a case, similar to one from where I came from, someone's bought a possessed item then the entity tricks them leading to the person nearly getting possessed themselves" Eve muttered under her breath as she read on.
"So how do we deal with it?" asked one of the chargers.
"we need a lot of holy water for one thing and probably fire, salt and silver" said Eve listing ways to fight demons and spirits, making several members of the Chargers shudder as she continued to mutter.
"why don't you go home and prepare Inquisitor Belduke" said the Advisor, calmly before turning around and heading back into the maze of corridors.
"Well, you don't say?" said Eve, sarcasm echoing through her voice, before she turned around and walked towards her office to collect her coat and any necessary paperwork.
"Cushy office" came a voice from behind her, it was Iron bull.
"Not that cushy" she replied.
Bull looked around the office, it was a decent sized room, with a large desk inside and a cosy looking leather chair, floor to ceiling bookshelves and a few cabinets for her documents, a few small knick-knacks randomly displayed throughout the room, and on the desk was a framed, detailed image of the toddler he had seen the previous day, her son.
"I've never seen portraits like this before" said Bull softly.
"People keep saying that, and I keep telling them I don't know the artist" she replied picking up the portrait, and smiling, the photograph of her son was probably one of her most prized possessions, she remembered the day she took the photo, it was a happy day.
"Well, best get going" said Eve with a chipper tone as she left the room, shutting and locking the door. Bull walked with Eve back to the atrium and was once again greeted by the Chargers.
"So where do we meet tomorrow?" asked one of the Chargers.
"I'll collect the Inquisitor from her home in the morning" sighed Bull, "just be ready in the town square, ok" he continued before turning to Eve.
"Let me, guess you need to know where I live, so you can collect me" said Eve exasperated.
"yes" replied Bull.
"I live in the old Barde Mansion; you can't miss it" explained Eve as she put her coat on and leave the building. Bull dismissed the chargers for the night, however Bull himself decided to tail the Inquisitor, if only to know where he was going to collect her from.
The first location Eve went to was the day care, surprising the workers with the early collection.
"I'm going away for a while, so I want to spend some time with him before I go" she explained softly as she soothed the squirming toddler.
"Good luck, and behave for you mother Teddy" chimed one of the assistants smiling and waving at Teddy as he and Eve started the rest of the journey home, both unaware of the Qunari following them until...
"Man!" cried Teddy, causing Eve to stop and look at him.
"What is that Teddy" asked Eve in a soft and slightly silly voice.
"Man! Mummy Man!" exclaimed Teddy again, pointing his chubby fingers over her shoulder, causing Eve to look over her shoulder only to see that there was nothing there. Bull had managed to duck into a shop door before Eve could see him, he didn't take account of how observant toddlers could actually be.
"There's no one there, Teddy" said Eve gently, as she started walking again.
Bull sighed as he came out of his hiding place and continue tailing Eve and her son, hoping that the toddler wouldn't catch him again. He spent a few minutes following pair, until they arrived at what looked like a mansion crossed over with a castle. It looked almost whimsical with two towers and flying buttresses, everything was enclosed by a high wall, it looked quite forbidding from the outside though Bull imagined that once through the gate it gave a much kinder face, however he'd have to find out in the morning.
Meanwhile Eve had managed to sit down and play with Teddy for a while, then feed him and bath him, Teddy for the first few minutes, crying and splashing in protest, until Eve pulls out his rubber ducky causing him to squeal with joy. Once bath time was over, Eve dressed teddy in another baby grow and placed him in his cot and began to read him a story, before going back to her room and preparing for the journey.
First, Eve pulled out a small shoulder bag that she'd placed an expansion charm on and placed it on her bed then went and fetched other things she'd need, her magical tent, a few sets of clothes, her wash bag, job brief, exorcism gear, map and a few other items, she also went down to the kitchen and got some food ingredients for evening meals (she chose Chilli con carne and stew) and filled a canteen with water. Once everything was packed and ready to go, Eve settled down for the night. During the night she heard a soft pitter patter of paws come in to her room, and the small weight of Fenrir curling up at her toes.
The next morning
Eve woke up early and got ready for the start of the journey, and was speaking to the staff, she had decided to entrust them with Teddy's care before looking in on the sleeping toddler before heading downstairs and grabbing her sword and coat with a sleepy kitten like Fenrir tucked away in a pocket. Just as Eve was about to leave and loud hammering reverberated through the entrance hall.
"Whoever it is, if they've woken Teddy there'll be hell to pay" Eve growled before opening the door, only to be greeted by Iron Bull.
"You ready?" was all the Qunari could ask once he saw the look on her face.
"Yes, and if you've woken Teddy, I'll not be happy" growled Eve glaring at Bull.
"Sorry, have you got your gear?" he responded; Eve nodded clutching her shoulder bag, causing Bull to raise an eyebrow.
"You sure? I thought I'd come early to help you with any luggage" he asked.
"I've got what I need in my bag here" she replied indicating to the shoulder bag before stepping out of the manor and walking out towards the town square, with Bull hot on her heels.
Eve walked in silence once again referring back to the brief, looking at the village name they were supposed head to. Midburn was a very small village at the foot of the Hunter horn mountains a solid three days' worth of travelling, making her glad that she had Fenrir with her. Bull on the other hand, was curious about Eve's behaviour, however he'd quickly learned to not question Inquisitors actions, however there was a lot about Eve that sparked intreague, he'd asked the other advisers, Cassandra and Cullen, and they admitted they didn't know much about her outside of being a workaholic, exorcist and single parent, though Cullen mentioned that she was a more than competent sword fighter, acrobat (gymnast) and hand to hand fighter, he almost sounded bitter about it, it made Bull mentally chuckle at the Templar's petulance towards the young Inquisitor, it was like looking at a prepubescent child it was quite comical to the Qunari.
Once the pair where at the town square they were greeted by the rest of the chargers, and began their journey to Midburn, just as the sun began to rise.