Mia and Alexia

"Alexia! Sweetheart, it's so good to see you again," Dorea exclaimed as she wrapped the woman up in a tight hug. "You look much better than last time. Taking your potions, I see."

Alexia smiled softly and nodded into the hug. "It's hard not to when you can tell if I did or didn't. My mum spent a few years yelling at me about my potions and… it's not an experience I want to relive."

"Let the girl go," Charlus chuckled. Dorea hummed but released Alexia, only for her to receive a tight but quick hug from Charlus next. "Now, where's that partner of yours?"

"He'll be along soon," Alexia assured him. "We've apparently got an assignment right after we're done here, so Bertie's getting him up to date on that. I can get started again on the machine whenever you'd like."

"Oh, not yet, of course," Dorea laughed lightly. "It's dinnertime. Have you eaten?"

Alexia hesitated. "We've been working all day. Bertie's had us all over the place collecting- running errands. Jamie would be so irritated, but I haven't eaten since… breakfast, I think."

"Just like Mi," James said from the door, rolling his eyes at her. "Since your me isn't here to nag you, get in there and eat or I'll hex you."

"Insufferable in every universe," Alexia made a face at him and closed the portal behind her with her ring - it was a new device that would help her jump through universes. It had been Sirius's idea, and she was endlessly thankful for it. She was taken into the dining room, where she found a lively debate going between Mia and Draco.

"I'm just saying-,"

"Actually, you're yelling-,"

"It's not possible!"

"It is because I know of it happening!" Mia yelled at him. Her face was red as she glared at him. "You're such a prat."

"Don't raise your voice at dinner, dear," Charlus requested firmly as they took their seats. "We have a guest."

Mia's eyes landed on Alexia as she was forced into a seat by Fabian. "Didn't realize you were coming so early."

"We've never actually set up a specific time to meet before," Alexia pointed out. "There's a chance time actually does run differently in our universe and just by milliseconds that added up to minutes or even hours. It's only noon in my universe."

"Why are you here, Pip?" Gideon asked curiously.

"DOM business," she brushed off the question easily, earning stares. "What? It is. If I tell you guys, my vows will kill me."

"It's okay, she's here to help us," Mia assured them. "And you can tell Draco I'm right. It is possible for a muggle to metabolize certain potions, spells, and curses, right?"

Alexia nodded. "Yes, of course it is. What sort of idiot would think otherwise?"

"That one," a girl that seemed vaguely familiar said, pointing at Draco with a snort. The woman next to her smacked the back of her head.

"Don't pick fights with Malfoy, Kat."

Alexia's eyes widened at the sight of the woman. "Miles? Jessica Miles?"

"...yes?"

"Shit," she laughed. "I met you once in my universe. You were a coroner handling Moony's parents. We snuck in. I think you got knocked over when we were caught and chased out of the morgue, though."

Harry grinned at her brightly. "Did you just say you got chased out of a morgue?"

"Never did that," Mia tilted her head. "How'd it happen?"

"Ah," Alexia shifted slightly. Everyone was looking at her, and she couldn't really blame them. She was different and interesting. It wouldn't hurt to tell a story. "Okay. It's not the happiest story I have, but it does involve the angriest Alphard ever got at me."

"Well, that's a story I have to hear," Sirius laughed. "That old man never got pissed at me."

"He didn't give me the same luxury," she said. "So I should mention that Alphard knew all the details of my trip to the past, not to mention my reaction to suffering loss and going through grief. I was… not the most thoughtful at this time. Sort of reckless and angry at the world."

"Why's that, dear?" Charlus asked gently.

Alexia tried for a smile. "Fabian and Gideon were my brothers. I went to them for anything and everything, and I had… found them in their flat after apparently being murdered by Death Eaters."

"Shit," Gideon muttered. "We're dead?"

"Actually, no," she shook her head. "I'd faked your deaths. Or rather, future me had done that. For a few years, all I knew was that I'd gotten there just a few minutes too late to save you. To this day, the sight of you dead on the ground…" Alexia coughed a bit. "Anyway, I wasn't in a great frame of mind. The day this happened, I was at an Order meeting."

"They let you in Order meetings when you were a kid?" Ron wondered in shock. Alexia shook her head quickly.

"It was a complicated situation. I went as my older self, and I was disguised and claimed to be someone else. Dumbledore gave the news that despite being put in hiding, the Lupins had been tracked down by Greyback. He'd killed them. I left and went to tell Remus right away. Obviously, he was… crushed."

"This is a depressing story," Kat muttered to Jess. Alexia laughed slightly.

"It wasn't a happy time in my life, to be fair. Anyway, Moony was distraught. He wanted to go see them, but they were in St. Mungo's morgue, and him being a werewolf, he wasn't allowed in anymore. Jamie and I decided we'd use the Invisibility Cloak to sneak him in. We got there and I came up with a plan.

"Another thing you should know is that less than a week prior, there had been a pretty bad raid. I'd gone and recognized the muggle area as Spinner's End. An Order member went to get Severus's parents while I went for Lily's. There were a lot of them there and I… I didn't get them out in time. I also got hurt pretty badly trying to get to them. Someone hit me with something that made me bleed a lot. This is all relevant because that day, they forced me to go to St Mungo's to be healed. That was when I, uh, might have yelled a tiny bit at a Mediwitch until my Mum got there and told me I could go let Lily know what had happened."

"After nearly being killed, your mother let you go back to school?" Dorea asked, horrified. "She'd better have some damn good reasoning."

"She did," Alexia said calmly. "Because I was ready to hex my way out of there, and I promised to come back after telling Lily. She knew I'd let them heal me then, and I would've only hurt myself more by hexing my way out. It was calculated on both our parts."

"Bloody Slytherins," Sirius said to Mia. She smacked his arm.

"I'm a Slytherin, idiot."

"You don't count."

"So what does that have to do with the morgue?" James asked as he shoved food in his mouth, disgusting everyone around him.

"Well, turned out, the mediwitch I threatened? She was on desk duty that day," Alexia laughed as everyone began to understand. "Yeah, she wasn't too pleased with me. To get through, I may have lied and said I was with Alphard and working in the DOM. She tried to question why a teenager would work with the DOM, but all I had to say was what I say now about vows and she backed off."

"Seriously?" Draco scoffed at her. "She didn't ask for any identification?"

"Ah, see, I should've wondered about that," she admitted with a short laugh. "But I didn't. She gave me the badge for the elevator and sent me on my way. I smuggled everyone down and we got into the morgue. I went in first and that's where I met Jessica. I got a firsthand look at what Greyback does when he's pissed off and it honestly relieved any guilt I had for yeeting that motherfucker out a window during the Final Battle."

"Language," Charlus scolded lightly. She smiled fondly but otherwise ignored it.

"Remus wanted to see, so he was about to come in when my badge flashed off," she continued. "Which meant it was deactivated. The damn witch - sorry, Dad - she'd gotten in contact with Bertie, I found out twenty years later, and he'd told Alphard, who had them send security after us. We actually managed to make it out of the morgue and all the way to the main floor and doors when my stupid brother tripped. Of all the times to trip, he couldn't have waited until later?"

"Hey!" James exclaimed. "Those floors are slippery."

Alexia rolled her eyes at him. "Anyways, Remus went back to help him up, but it was too late. Security caught up, and we couldn't very well leave because it was dangerous for Remus to be there alone, even with Jamie also there. We ended up in some office where Remus had a panic attack, James was pissed at me, and Sirius tried three times to bribe the guards to let us go, which just got us in more trouble."

"Hey, at least he was problem solving!" Sirius called out, earning a laugh from his godson and a stern look from both his parents.

Alexia paused as she felt her bond strengthen with her husband arriving in that universe. He knew to wait for her so she continued. "I was pissed because I was tightly restrained and I bruise easily. Plus, no one else was tied up that bad. I spent the… hour? Longer? That we waited telling the guards to get Alphard. I guess I didn't really need to do that, because obviously, he already knew. He showed up finally and had everyone but me untied and released, and he was pissed. He sent everyone back to school, and I told them to go to Pollux's office because that old bastard didn't care enough to give detention for leaving school."

"Alexia," Dorea scolded. "That man is your uncle."

"That man tried to force me to marry Sirius when both of us loudly protested," Alexia sat back with a scowl. "Then, I was forced into a contract with Regulus that we both knew was wrong, with an order to have a child as soon as possible when I am physically incapable of doing so, and we all know the consequences of breaking a contract like that."

There was a beat of silence before Mia spoke. "You never told me that."

"Happened after we first met," she muttered. "I should warn you guys, my husband is here and he knows I just got… heated, so he's coming to find me. Please don't hex him. He's concerned for me. He doesn't care about you past the fact that I do."

The door opened shortly after that, and Alexia relaxed a bit at the sight of Antonin strolling over to her. The seat to her left was empty, so he sat there and waited. "We have time. Continue your conversation. Bertie will be sending more supplies over shortly."

"Great, we were missing a few things," Alexia told him. "You got everything for later?"

He gave a short nod. "We will be going to U5 next."

Alexia's eyes lit up excitedly. "Oh! Oh, I should get her a warning. She won't be happy to see you. We might have to make sure she doesn't, for her own peace of mind."

"Stop talking in code. Where are you going? To see one of the others?" Mia asked sharply. Alexia nodded slowly.

"Adelaide. I didn't realize they were in the same universe, though. The chance of that is… astronomical. The multiverse is infinite and we just happen to have them in the same universe as Adelaide?"

"I agree it is suspicious," Antonin assured her. "For now, we will be cautious. Bertie will meet us there tomorrow."

"Did you let Jamie know I'd be gone a few days?" she asked quietly. He met her eyes and they communicated silently for a minute before she turned back to the group watching them. "Where was I?"

"Uncle Alphard got there," Sirius offered. She shot him a smile.

"He yelled at me for about an hour. I said I didn't wanna bug him, and he told me I was literally his job already as he'd cleared it with Bertie. Something about how he couldn't help me if I refused to tell him I needed it. He tried a guilt trip about the twins, and that just pissed me off bad, so I yelled at him to let me go and went back to Hogwarts. Regulus and Lucius found me there that afternoon and it got awkward quick because Lucius said some shit about how bad I bruise if one isn't careful. Reg didn't appreciate that comment."

"Are we all cursed to bruise easily?" Mia wondered. "I get hickeys like a bitch. They take forever to go away."

Antonin raised his hand and silently removed a glamour on Alexia's lower neck. Everyone's eyes fell on the deep bruise and James made a face of disgust.

"Why would you show us that? That's disgusting! She's my sister!"

"She isn't-,"

"Close enough-,"

"And I did not give this to her."

Sirius let out a dramatic gasp. "Mia- Alexia wouldn't cheat!"

"I didn't cheat," Alexia shot a glare at her husband. "Uncover the rest of it before someone starts cursing people."

Antonin did as she said even though his original intent was not to show the entire thing. Once the full glamour was dropped, there was a very visible handmark wrapped around her throat. Both of them had tensed greatly and Alexia was clearly reluctant to speak.

"Alexia," James said quietly. "Who did that to you?"

"Not my husband," she told them firmly, though she whispered as she did it. "Why is my family so nosy in every universe? Can't you people just leave things be?"

"Why aren't you pissed at him?" Ron asked, pointing at Antonin. "He uncovered it!"

"I know why he did it, and I am annoyed, but I understand," Alexia muttered. "I haven't had time to put bruise paste on it in a couple days, so it's getting worse again. On top of that, I have to remove all glamours on myself when I start working in a few, so it'll be visible anyway. Better now than later, apparently."

"Lexi, is that still from-," Mia cut off at Alexia's sharp nod. "Croaker really meant it when he said it was cursed, huh?"

"Cheery conversation," Alexia screwed up her face. "Let's talk about anything else. Like maybe what you plan to do now that you're back and the war is done."

Mia let her shift the conversation when Regulus tapped her hand to tell her to back off. "A lot of us are going back to school. I am, so are Reg and Harry. Avery's gonna be the DADA professor this year, and Severus is staying on until he can be replaced."

"Oh that's right," Alexia's eyes widened. "You didn't get your seventh year! I did mine in the past. I'm sticking with my Alexia Potter records. I am kinda sad to see my Hermione OWLs and know I can't use them anymore."

"So, question," Harry told her, looking between her and her husband. "Is he like… your boss?"

"Not really," she shrugged. "In the department we're currently in, we're equals. We founded it together. Bertie is our boss. Before, in the past? Yeah, he was, but we weren't married then or even thinking about being together."

Antonin raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"Well… shut up," she scrunched up her nose at him. Everyone had just about finished dinner, and she looked to Mia. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Mia sighed and got to her feet. "Let's get started."

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