* ~ The Eighth Year Universe Series ~ *
PART FIVE
Blame it on Hate
We Live This Life, Breath to Breath
The chapter title is from the song:
Bleed Red by Ronnie Dunn.
On Christmas morning, Theo was in a state of shock. Nothing huge had happened; it was playing out similarly to other Christmases. Granted, in the past, Sadie and Theo had watched the twins open their stockings, and then they had gone over to Draco and Hermione's for Christmas Day or vice versa.
This year, however, all four of them were together with all four of their children. Caspian was still asleep; Merlin knew how he was sleeping through this. Elladora, Almina and Charlus were all sitting cross-legged on the floor with a stocking in their hands that was full of little treats.
Theo breathed in shakily and felt a hand clasp his. He smiled weakly at Sadie, who was sitting up on his right side, a cup of tea in her free hand.
From his left side, Draco nudged him and whispered, "This could have been a hell of a lot different, you know? If you hadn't come back."
"I don't even want to think about how this Christmas would have looked without you, Theo," Sadie said softly.
Theo sighed and shook his head, "I didn't think I would see this Christmas; I really didn't."
Almina looked up and beamed at him, "Daddy, look!"
Theo smiled brightly at her, "Wow, baby, lucky you!"
Almina grabbed Ella's hand to show her the new toy, and Theo swallowed the lump in his throat. He looked around himself, at his family, and he felt unbelievably grateful.
"I never expected to get out of there," Theo admitted, turning his head to look at Sadie, "To get back to you, but I did, and I didn't just get back to you, Sadie, I think I finally found myself."
Theo looked over at Draco, and Hermione, who was sitting on his other side with a cup of tea. It was refreshing to be so open, to all sit in bed watching the kids open their presents and for nobody to care.
"I guess it took me dying for me to figure out how I feel about everyone in my life," Theo admitted.
"And for them to work out how they felt about you," Hermione added, nudging Draco knowingly.
Draco didn't even roll his eyes, "When someone dies, you realise how many regrets you have, and it's not very often you get the chance to make those things right."
Theo nodded, a smile coming to his lips, "Which is why I won't be scared anymore. I'm not scared of my feelings. I'm not scared to admit that I love all of you, that you're the family I never thought I would have. And I won't be scared to do what's right, to do what I want to do with my life. I've been given a second chance, and I'm not going to waste it."
Sadie smiled tearfully and kissed him on the cheek, "Neither are we," she promised, squeezing his hand tightly.
"Mum, look!" Charlus said, drawing all of their attention away.
"Cool, Charlie!" Theo grinned, pulling his son onto the bed to play with his new model broomstick.
Draco smiled broadly too and picked Cas up when he began to whine and wriggle in his crib.
When they left school, none of them would have twigged it. Nobody could have expected a door in the basement of number 12 Grimmauld Place to lead to this weird, wonderful, colourful family that they could not imagine their lives without.
Christmas morning was more hectic in the Potter household – chiefly because there were more kids, and Harry and Neville definitely counted in that category.
As always, Neville and Lilly had spent Christmas Eve at Potter Manor after the big gathering with the Black-Notts. They had a similar Christmas morning as they all lounged around in Harry and Daphne's stupidly big bed.
Thea was awake, and she was kicking around on the floor, attempting to roll over.
Her older siblings were happily engrossed in their presents. Harry helped Teddy set up the toy he had gotten - a detailed dragon reserve with tiny model dragons that breathed real fire.
"Whose having more fun, do you think?" Daphne asked as she sat in the middle of the bed, a cup of coffee in her hand.
"Definitely Harry," Neville chuckled.
Lilly made a non-committal noise of agreement.
"Still feeling sick?" Daphne asked conversationally.
Lilly nodded.
"Drink your ginger tea then," Daphne said in what the others called her 'Mum' voice.
Neville bit back an amused grin as Lilly rolled her eyes, made a face and sipped the tea.
"Last night might have been a bit much," Neville said, lowering his voice so that only Daphne could hear him.
Daphne turned to Neville and raised an eyebrow, "For her? She barely had to do anything."
"Being pregnant doesn't affect my ears, you know?" Lilly quipped sarcastically.
"Well, you didn't," Daphne said, shooting her friend an amused look, "And it was good news all round, don't you think? I mean, you feel a little green, so maybe you did over-exert yourself a little. But Neville did well. No problems on that front like you thought right after the hospital."
Neville went a little red, and Lilly shook her head, shooting Daphne an amused look, "You know he hates it when you're so forward and blunt."
"I know," Daphne grinned, "That's why I do it."
Their conversation was interrupted, thankfully as far as Neville was concerned, when Alastor bounded over, "Uncle Nev! Look! My new book!"
Neville smiled broadly, "Wow, Al! A pop-up plant book? That looks great!"
"Read it!" Alastor said eagerly. He thrust the book in Neville's face and climbed onto the bed.
Neville tucked Alastor under his arm and opened the book up, reading the words and pointing out all of the plant parts to him.
"If he ends up in Hufflepuff, I'm blaming your husband," Daphne murmured as she shuffled over to sit with Lilly.
"There's nothing wrong with Hufflepuff," Lilly said diplomatically.
"You're being judgemental again. Does this mean you're feeling better?" Daphne asked.
Lilly yawned and nodded, "I'm fine. It's morning sickness, nothing to do with over-exertion, but I am 22 weeks pregnant with twins, you know?"
Daphne chuckled, "I know. Just think, next year, this will be you."
Lilly smiled at that as she looked around the room. Neville and Alastor were still engrossed in their book. Teddy was killing himself laughing about the fact one of the model dragons had just burned off half of Harry's eyebrow. Andrea was playing with a wooden puzzle she had gotten, and Thea was still wriggling around in her new play-gym.
"I can't wait," Lilly said honestly.
Daphne grabbed her hand and smiled broadly, "You're going to do great. You know that, right?"
Lilly looked over at her friend, "Yeah, speaking of that. I was going to wait until the date was a bit closer, but I wondered if you would be my birth partner?"
"Me?" Daphne asked, her eyes wide, "Not Neville?"
"Neville, as much as I love him, might get a little green," Lilly said, smirking in amusement, "He can patch up an Auror missing a leg in the field, but a baby's head coming out of there and he'll be out cold."
Daphne laughed out loud at that, "True, and I mean, of course, I'll be your birth partner. I would be so honoured to be the person who's there with you when you bring your boys into the world."
"I know you would," Lilly said softly, "That's why I asked you."
They were still holding hands, so Daphne tugged Lilly towards her and enveloped the smaller woman into a hug.
"Guys, look at Thea!" Harry yelled.
Everyone's attention shifted to Thea as she cried irritably and threw herself over to one side in frustration. She flipped over onto her stomach and looked around in shock as if she couldn't believe she had done it.
The others all cheered and clapped. Alastor jumped off the bed to lie down in front of her and say, "Clever Thea!"
Daphne and Harry's eyes met, matching grins lighting up their faces, and they knew at that moment that although this year had been sent to test them, it was all going to be uphill from here.
In the lazy days between Christmas and New Year, most of the gang had to go back to work. The Aurors only got Christmas or New Year off, and since everyone who had young kids had gotten Christmas, they would all be on New Years Duty.
As Hermione said, she still had to work because crime didn't stop for the holidays, and therefore lawyers were always required.
It was late one night after they'd gotten home from the Ministry that Theo brought an idea up with Draco.
"I need to burn something."
Draco looked up at his best friend and raised an eyebrow, "I know Hermione's being a little intense right now, but don't you think that's a bit extreme?"
Theo snorted, "You think Hermione's power trip over getting a Wizengamot seat is why I want to burn something?"
Draco frowned, "Then why do you want to burn something? And that something better not be a building, by the way, because we're Aurors, and that's arson."
"You're an Auror," Theo corrected, "I'm just a consultant."
Draco snapped his book shut, "You work for the DMLE; therefore, you are liable if you set a building on fire."
"Even if I own it?" Theo quipped.
"Yeah, Theo, it's still arson even if it is Nott Manor," Draco said knowingly, crossing his arms over his chest.
Theo rolled his eyes, "You used to be fun, you know that? And look at you now, all important and Auror-like. Honestly, Harry Potter tells you that you'll make Head Auror and all of a sudden, you disapprove of setting small fires."
"When have I ever approved of setting fire to familial homes?" Draco quipped.
"Oh, we're going there, are we?" Theo asked, raising an eyebrow at the blonde, "Who talked you into selling Malfoy Manor to the Ministry instead of burning it down again?"
Draco rolled his eyes, "That was just after the war. I was young and impulsive then. I didn't have Hermione's annoying moral conscience rubbing off on me yet."
Theo sniggered, "Is that an innuendo?"
Draco threw a book at him, "You're an idiot."
Theo grinned, "But it's a valid point, right?"
"No, it's not a valid point at all," Draco argued, "You talked me out of selling Malfoy Manor, and you were right to do so because look at it now; it's Lupin House, a sanctuary for orphaned wizarding children."
Theo gave Draco a sceptical look, "And how is Nott Manor ever going to become a sanctuary for anyone? My mother died in the basement; the evidence of her murder is burned and scratched into every surface of that bloody room! The attic is full of dark magic artefacts that should have been destroyed years ago, artefacts that could do disgusting things in the wrong hands. Yeah, I could pay a team of curse breakers to go in there and gut it, but there are booby traps everywhere, death curses guarding other cursed items, you name it. The place is a hovel of crime and darkness. I would never send a curse breaker in there, not least Daphne."
Draco raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I know I pretend I don't like her, but you know I do," Theo said with a roll of his eyes, "She and Astoria are the only link to my mother I have left, and if I'm honest, she kinda reminds me of my mother. I love her a little bit, even more so now she's named her kid after me."
Draco grinned.
"And if you ever think about telling her that, I would caution you to think about all of the blackmail I have on you," Theo finished.
Draco's grin turned to a grimace, "Yeah, okay. My lips are sealed."
Theo smirked, "So, the fire?"
"I get your point; Nott Manor is a shithole that deserves to be burned to the ground," Draco agreed, "But morally, I don't agree with it."
"If I tell you why I want to burn it down, you won't have to worry about your morals anymore," Theo promised.
Draco looked at him pointedly, "Go on?"
"The building needs to go," Theo said, "But there's nothing wrong with the land, and Harry wants to build a wizarding junior school."
"Like a pre-Hogwarts?" Draco frowned.
"Exactly," Theo answered, "It needs to be near Lupin House so that all the kids there can get to it easily, but it can't be on the grounds of Lupin House because it's ministry owned and therefore, it will take forever for planning permission to come through."
Draco smiled knowingly, "But they could walk to the Nott estate from Lupin House, and the site of a house you despised could become a place of learning for children everywhere. Theo…that's actually a beautiful sentiment."
Theo rolled his eyes, "Or maybe it's just my excuse to burn the place down."
"It's not, and you know it," Draco said matter of factly, "What about Sally and Lacey?"
"Oh, Sally's doing great now. She's not just a housewife anymore. She's got her Wizengamot seat, and she's finally using her brains to become a lawyer," Theo said offhandedly, "They've moved to Nott House."
"The big one in London?" Draco asked.
"Uh-huh," Theo replied, "She offered to buy it from me, but I told her not to be so stupid. I just signed the deeds over to her."
"You've come so far from the boy who hated his stepmother," Draco said. The smile on his face was a pretty proud one.
"Does Sally know that you want to burn the place down?"
"Yes," Theo replied, "I spoke to her and Lacey about it."
"And what's their opinion?" Draco asked.
"Merlin, Draco, you're so judgemental. Sometimes it's like your my wife, and Sadie's my mistress," Theo scoffed.
Draco gave him an exasperated look.
"And you look like Hermione when you make that face," Theo added with a grin.
"Just get to the point," Draco urged him, prodding him in the chest with his wand and leaving a singe mark.
Theo could tell Draco was getting genuinely impatient, so he continued, "Sally and Lacey don't care. They both hated my father about as much as I did. Sally agreed with me when I said I wanted to burn it down. She just told me not to involve Lacey because it was kind of a crime, and she didn't want Lacey getting caught up in it."
"It's not kind of a crime; it just is a crime," Draco remarked, "Come on, you were an Auror for long enough. You're friends with all the guys who work the Arson department."
"Exactly, so they aren't going to arrest me, are they?" Theo quipped, "They enjoy taking my money at the poker table too much."
Draco shook his head in disbelief, "I swear, sometimes I think you need medication," he muttered under his breath.
"So you're not going to help me do it?" Theo asked, for the first time, a hint of disappointment slipping into his voice.
"Of course I'm going to help you do it, you idiot," Draco retorted, "You're my best friend. I'd do pretty much anything for you. I'd die for, I almost have a few times."
Theo smiled broadly, "Nice speech, very heroic. It's making me even more attracted to you. Do you wanna make out for a minute?"
Draco bit back an amused smile and flicked a jinx in Theo's direction.
"Ow!"
"I was going to finish that with; I'll help you do it, but I won't be happy about it, you idiot," Draco said fondly.
Theo chuckled, "We'll have a look through the study and the library, empty it of anything important. I'm sure there are a bunch of one in a kind books that would make the princess happy."
"What about the portraits?" Draco asked curiously, "Is there anyone you don't want to burn to the ground?"
"My grandfather, maybe," Theo mused, then he grinned, "We could put his portrait across the hall from the portrait of your grandparents."
"Yeah, because the girls are going to love that," Draco said dryly, "Our grandfathers reminiscing about their love affair across the hall, a bit of a slap in the face, isn't it?"
"Implying we have a love affair?" Theo grinned.
Draco gave him a long-suffering look.
Theo chuckled, "What we have isn't an affair. Our other halves know about it. Sometimes they even enjoy it," he waggled his eyebrows at Draco.
"I swear to Merlin, I'm going to kick you out," Draco said, with no actual irritation in his voice.
"I won't put my grandfather's portrait opposite yours," Theo conceded, kicking his feet up in front of the fire, "As much as anything, it's not fair to our grandmothers."
Draco looked up in surprise.
Theo elaborated, "There were four of them. My Grandmother died in 1972 and then my dumbass father never commissioned her to be in the painting of my Grandfather because she was a Longbottom," he said irritably.
Draco knew where this was going now, so he nodded.
"The rest of them, my Grandfather, both of your Grandparents, they all died in 1995 or 1996," Theo continued, "It was unfair enough that they had to live without her for 24 years. I'm not going to keep them apart for eternity by putting his portrait there."
Draco sighed and looked down, "Theo…."
"We don't need to talk about that today," Theo muttered, knowing where this was going.
"Yes, we do," Draco argued, "Because we haven't talked about it yet, and we need to. What Lucia did to you…what I did to help stabilise your magic wasn't enough to fully replenish your magical core, was it?"
"No," Theo answered honestly.
"So that's going to have repercussions," Draco said, his eyes on Theo's, "And we haven't talked about what they might mean."
"I know what that means, Draco," Theo admitted, tearing his eyes away from his best friends, "I'm the Gertrude Longbottom of our family."
Draco swallowed; he knew what that meant, "How long do you think you…" he trailed off, unable to finish the question.
"I've done the calculations," Theo said, still looking at his feet.
"Look at me."
Theo looked up into Draco's grey eyes where a storm was brewing, "If I'm lucky, I'll get to 70."
Draco grabbed Theo's hand and pulled him into what Theo expected to be a hug. Instead, Draco kissed him, which took Theo by surprise – it wasn't that they hadn't kissed since that night in the thunderstorm because they had done. Generally, in the dead of night, when Theo had woken up in a cold sweat from a nightmare, unsure if he was in the real world or back in his nightmare world.
But this was the first time since he had taken the memory suppressing potion at Halloween.
All the same, Theo kissed Draco back once he got over the shock. His hands instinctively went to the side of Draco's face as Draco's got lost in Theo's messy dark hair.
It wasn't a long kiss, but when it ended, Draco didn't immediately pull back. He rested his head against Theo's and said lowly, "I want to focus on how long we have with you, not how long we're going to have to live without you."
The sincerity of the words made Theo emotional. He pulled back and nodded.
"I haven't told Sadie," Theo said quietly, "I can't, Draco, I don't know…I don't know how to."
"Don't tell her," Draco advised, "She'll spend the rest of her life worrying if you do. I can handle the knowledge; it will just make me appreciate every moment all the more. But Sadie…it would break her down over the years."
Theo nodded and met his eye again, "So this one stays between us?"
Draco bowed his head, "I think it's better that way."
Theo nodded and cleared his throat, turning away to wipe his eyes on the sleeve of his cardigan hastily. When he turned around, he had composed himself and, to distract from the emotional moment, he said;
"So when are we setting fire to this house?"
Sadie sighed and threw her quill down.
On the other side of the table in the library, Hermione looked up, "What's wrong?"
"I can't finish this book," Sadie admitted, rubbing her eyes and leaning back in her chair.
"Do you have writer's block?" Hermione asked, reaching for the coffee pot, "Because I know some tips for that."
"It's not writer's block, exactly," Sadie confessed, "It's just that there is so much research to do, and it's bogging me down. Does that make any sense?"
"I think so," Hermione mused, "Like when I have a big case. I get so bogged down in the files that I can't start putting the defence together. Sometimes I need to give the research to someone else, get them to extract the relevant points and give me the cliff notes, otherwise I get too involved, and I start to lose sight of the point."
"That's exactly the problem!" Sadie exclaimed.
"So get a researcher," Hermione said.
Sadie frowned, "A researcher?"
Hermione slid a cup of coffee over to her friend, "You know, someone to read their way through that huge stack of books for you? You start writing a draft copy while they draw the important points out. Once they are done, you can add those points into the draft copy, but it means you can start writing sooner rather than spending the next month researching."
"Hm," Sadie mused, "It would take the pressure off a bit too. How would I find a researcher, though?"
"Put an advert in the Prophet and then of the applicants, pick the ones you feel are most suited and interview them," Hermione answered, "I could help with that if you wanted."
Sadie nodded thoughtfully, "Do you know what? I think I will…."
Hermione smiled at her and looked down at the parchment in front of her.
"What are you working on?"
"A marketing campaign actually," Hermione answered, "For the DMLE, I felt a bit like a glorified receptionist when they asked me to do it, but when I read the brief, I understood why they asked me."
Sadie peered over to look at what she was doing, which was writing in boxes on a sketch she had done. It was of a heart with a bottle of amortentia inside it; a large red circle with a cross through it was placed above the heart.
Underneath, in large writing were the words:
"LOVE POTIONS DO NOT EQUAL CONSENT."
In smaller writing underneath were two sentences:
"Coercion through magic is illegal.
Combined with the use of love potions, it is RAPE."
"Good," Sadie said, "I'm glad they are taking the problem more seriously, and I also understand why they asked you to head it up."
Hermione smiled over at her, "I'm an advocate, apparently."
"Oh, you're definitely that," Sadie said with a fond smile.
Hermione chuckled and got back to her sketching.
Sadie looked down at her research and shut the book; she wasn't going to get anything else done tonight.
"What do you think Draco and Theo are doing?"
"Something they shouldn't be," Hermione replied dryly.
Sadie frowned, "Shouldn't you sound a little more concerned about that, considering that you're a lawyer and all?"
Hermione glanced over at Sadie, "Should I be concerned about our husbands doing something they shouldn't be doing? Uh, I hate to tell you, Sadie, but if I still worried about the people I loved doing things they shouldn't be doing, I'd be grey by now."
"There actually are a few bits already that are going a little grey-"
"No, there aren't," Hermione cut in sharply, "It's the light in this room, okay?"
Sadie chuckled, "Whatever you say. But I do feel a little wary about what the boys are doing, if I'm honest. I mean, they couldn't even get a cover story together. When we asked them where they were going, Theo said the library and Draco said work."
"And then they thought we were stupid enough to buy it when Draco said they were going to the library at work?" Hermione quipped; she shook her head.
"That combined with the fact they made out again a few nights ago-"
"What? Did they?" Hermione asked, looking up in surprise.
"Uh, yes. I thought I'd told you that, sorry," Sadie cringed, "I was speaking to one of the elves this morning, and I asked why Draco and Theo were so late to bed the other night. She said they were acquainting themselves in the kitchen."
Hermione made a face, "That doesn't mean…?"
"No, she meant that they were kissing, and one of them was crying," Sadie said with a wave of her hand, "It was probably Theo. I don't know what they were talking about, but I expect it's a follow on from Christmas. It was an emotional day for all of us, after all."
Hermione nodded thoughtfully, "Do you think they ever will, you know?"
Sadie frowned, "I don't think so. But they don't try to keep secrets from us, I mentioned the kiss to Theo this morning, and he just laughed and said something cheesy about how I was a better kisser anyway."
"I'm not concerned about that," Hermione admitted, "Just curious, I suppose. I've come to accept that the relationships between the four of us are complex. I think we all love each other, but not necessarily in the same way."
Sadie nodded, "And that's a good thing. You can't compare Theo's relationship with Draco to his relationship with me because it's entirely different. Each relationship is unique, which is why you can never love two people the same way. You love each person differently because of who they are and the uniqueness that they draw out of you."
Hermione smiled, "That's beautiful. It's what makes you such a great author, the way you string words together."
Sadie smiled and got to her feet, "That being said, what do you think they are doing?"
"I honestly don't know, but whatever it is, they'll have a good reason for not telling us," Hermione said as she shut her sketchbook and got up, "Because, as you said, they don't keep secrets from us."
Sadie nodded, "How much do you want to bet that what they are doing is illegal and that they don't want to tell us because that would make us accomplices?"
"I highly doubt it's actually illegal," Hermione said, crossing her arms over her chest, "Draco is an Auror."
Sadie fixed Hermione with a knowing look, "Yes, and Theo is a bad influence."
Hermione considered this for a moment, then sighed, "Point taken."
"Good thing they happen to know a hotshot lawyer on the Wizengamot really, isn't it?"
Hermione gave Sadie a long-suffering look, "Funny," she retorted dryly.
Sadie smirked in response.
~ TBC ~