AN: I do not own Harry Potter. The only things in this story that are mine are the OC's. Reviews, Favorite and Follows are appreciated.
Web of Lies Chapter Ten
Monday; Night of the full moon
He was in so much pain as he pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes, trying to stop the already killer headache from becoming worse. The wolf was howling to be free, enraged by the constant pain and began forcing its way to the surface, clawing its way free of the cage it was in when the human side was in control. Stumbling out the door of the small cabin, he began shedding his clothes off as his bones began to snap and change shape. Sharpened claws scraped over a badly healed scar across his stomach and he glanced down at it, memories that seemed to belong to another person coming to the surface of his mind. The wolf's fury shredded what little was left of its mental cage, ripping through the mental blocks placed around their shared mind. A howl filled with rage and sorrow ripped from his throat as the wolf took over fully. The change complete a large, honey-brown wolf stood where the man had been moments before.
POV=Change=
In the empty Headmaster's office, the crystal wolf wobbled as cracks began crawling over its crystal surface and swirls of green and gold magic flowed through the crystal, slowly at first, then faster. The figurine shook hard enough to fall from the shelf, shattering in a shower of golden sparks as the magic that had been inside fled the room. Dumbledore burst into the room in pajamas that were a horrid shade of greenish-yellow, like pus. Noticing the shards of crystal and taking note of the missing wolf, he cursed and banished the shards so he could walk over to the shelf, staring up at the three remaining on the shelf. "I'm no longer strong enough to keep them from finding ways to remember," he murmurs, not noticing the pair of silver eyes peering at him from under the cupboard closest the door or Phineas' painting disappear.
POV=Change=
Tuesday
Ragnok studied the three boys that AJ had brought in when she'd gone to find what was left of her Magical family from an orphanage under a Frozen Time Ward, two days ago. "I'm going to have the three of you take a Heritage Test so we can see who you are in the Magical World, as well as how old you're supposed to be in this time," Ragnok says and the three boys nod, taking the seats across from him when he motioned towards them. He placed all the things they'd need in front of them and started giving them the instructions on what to do, watching the boys as they followed what he said perfectly. Ragnok stared at the three Heritage Tests sitting on the desk in front of him before glancing at the three boys sitting across the desk from him, especially the blonde in the middle. "'Valerius Grindelwald, son of Gellert Grindelwald and Voltan Grey. Born the sixteenth of May in the year nineteen-forty-two.' That would make you fifty-two stuck in a thirteen-to-fourteen-year old body and, unfortunately, we can't do anything about that. But you do have several blocks on your power and those can be removed."
"Wait," the blonde says as Ragnok realized the boy was really confused. "I was in that place for fifty-years, I thought it was just a couple of years?"
"Frozen Time Wards keep you from noticing the world outside the Ward changing, slows down how fast you age inside the Ward," Ragnok explains and the blonde whimpers, leaning back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling. "I'll give you a few minutes to take that in." He looked to the other two before standing to grab the Heritage Test in front of the younger-looking one of the two and sat back in his chair as he looked it over. "'Corvus Gaunt, son of Morfin Gaunt and Temperence Hollings. Born the twenty-second of November in the year nineteen-twenty-three.' That would make you seventy-one and you also have blocks that need to be taken off. I assume that you were at the orphanage longer than Valerius?"
The boy nodded, "I've barely changed since then but Valerius was barely a few years old when he was brought there."
"At least you've changed a little bit, I haven't changed at all," the third boy growls running a hand through his black hair.
Ragnok glanced at him before picking up the parchment with his Heritage Test on it. "'Lucan Ripper, son of Jackson Ripper and Lisa Silvers. Born the sixth of February in the year nineteen-nineteen.' Age you would be today, seventy-five and you seem to be stuck somewhere between fifteen and sixteen with quite a few blocks, as well. Judging from the fact that you haven't changed at all, I think you were the Ward's intended victim but why?"
"My grandmother thought I'd turn out like my grandfather and my father," he murmurs, pupils shifting to x's for a second before going back to normal as he leant back in his chair. "They thought that the best way to keep that from happening was to lock me away from the world."
"Ah," Ragnok says setting the parchment on top of all the others on his desk. "If the three of you could wait here a moment, I need to check on some things."
POV=Change=
Thursday Night
Rabastan Lestrange sat in the center of his cell, staring out at the small sliver of sunset he could see and ran a hand through his black hair, blue eyes empty as memories swirled around in his head. His mind seemed to settle on the memory of his, Frank and Alice's son, the first time they'd been able to see each other after Dumbledore's machinations had become all-out war. What made his imprisonment worse was that he'd been accused of attacking his wife, his husband and planning to kill his own son, being tossed into Azkaban without a trial was just the icing on the cake after that. Knowing that outside this place his son and the rest of the Wizarding World believes he tortured the two most important people to him caused his heart to clench in his chest. As the different colors of the sunset began to fade, he felt the awful chill of the Dementors moving through the prison. Forcing all of his happy memories down deep into his mind, he covered them with every terrible memory he had and moved to the back corner of his cell, away from the cell door and untouched tray of food.
POV=Change=
Saturday
AJ, Hermione, Luna and Isadora used the portkey McGonagall gave them to get to Diagon and glanced around before they all headed to Gringott's. AJ stopped at the bottom of the stairs up to Gringott's before turning to the others, "You're father is here with him, Iz, as well as, Lord Malfoy."
They nod and she turns, ascending the steps at a quick pace, that the others kept up with easily. "Do you want us there in the room when you meet with him?" Luna asks and AJ shook her head, glancing around the place for Ragnok.
The old goblin was standing at the back with Brokenaxe as they spoke quietly to each other and AJ led the group over to him. "Master Voclain has asked for a private meeting with you, Lady Sinclair?" Brokenaxe informs her and she nods, glancing at the others over her shoulder. "If they wouldn't mind, we can place them in the same waiting room as Lord Greyback and Lord Malfoy?"
"That would be just fine, Master Brokenaxe," Hermione says as she and the others nod at AJ before following Brokenaxe. AJ nodded back before following Ragnok down another hallway, leading in the opposite direction.
POV=Change=
Hermione glanced around the room Brokenaxe had led them to before stepping inside, feeling the glamour she wore fade away as she glanced at the other two occupants of the room, stepping to the side so Luna and Isadora could come in. Isadora squeaked happily and attached herself to Hermione's side as Luna rolled her eyes, looking over the Lords Malfoy and Greyback. "Have I ever mentioned how awesome you look when you're not wearing your glamour, Gem?" Isadora asks, delighted that no one outside the room could see the occupants of the room.
"Yes," Hermione murmurs patting her silver curls, "several times, in fact." Quickly herding the other two over to the couch across from the one the two men were sitting on, she nodded her head at them both. "Hello, Lord Greyback, Lord Malfoy," she says as the two men stood from the couch at their approach.
"Hello Gemini, Luna..." Lucius stops in his greeting when he didn't recognize the silver-haired child with them.
"Isadora," Fenrir murmurs drawing the attention of the room and Hermione cocked her head at him, wondering if Harry was right, Fenrir had been unable to prevent Remus from being taken while he was pregnant with Isadora.
The silver-haired girl stared at him with an unreadable look on her face before taking a deep breath, easily identifying the scents in the room. "You don't look like your pictures," she finally breathes and Luna smiles softly, taking a seat on the couch.
Fenrir coughed to hide a chuckle as he and Lucius sat back on the couch as the other two girls followed the small elf's example. "That glamour is useful when I need to keep this identity secret," he murmurs and Isadora nods.
POV=Change=
"I will need to speak with you and Lord Slytherin once you've taken care of your business," Ragnok murmurs indicating a large door off to the left.
AJ paused beside the door Ragnok indicated as the one they'd be having their meeting in, turning to inspect the door before pushing it open. "Hopefully, this won't take forever," she breathes before stepping into the room, feeling the magic-canceling wards strip away the glamours hiding her Creature features and stretched both sets of wings out to their full extent, rubbing the blood-red, eye-like jewel that'd appeared between her horns.
"That was unexpected," a smooth, dark voice says from across the room as a man with chocolate-brown hair, red and blue eyes that swirled lethargically, stepped from the shadows across the room from her. "I wasn't expecting it to rip my glamours away, either, but yours hide a lot more than I thought."
Looking at Tom Riddle with un-glamoured, red, Demon eyes, she smirked. "I can pick and choose which features come forward when my glamours are ripped away," she murmurs pulling the door closed behind her before moving closer to the other occupant of the room and they began to circle around each other, inspecting and searching for weaknesses in each other. "You're a Hydra King, the angrier or more annoyed you get, the more and faster the red in your eyes moves, you also have small, almost unseen, patches of scales on your vital points. I bet they're really strong, as well."
"Not bad," Tom murmurs looking her over as well. "I'd be more impressed if I didn't know that Blood Demons carry the memories and knowledge of their entire bloodline in their veins."
AJ cocked her head to the side, studying him before she stopped moving and gave him a small smile, extending her hand to him. "I'm Aurora Jezebel Prince-Black-Sinclair, it is an honour to meet you, Lord Slytherin," she breathes and he nods, shaking her hand.
"Tom Marvolo Riddle-Slytherin," he says as they released hands and he bowed his head slightly in her direction. "It is an honour to meet you as well, Lady Sinclair."
POV=Change=
Lucius sat and watched Fenrir get acquainted with the daughter he'd never gotten to meet and saw that she may have been a little, female copy of Fenrir but she was more like Remus in personality. "She's already got him wrapped around her finger," Hermione murmurs glancing across the room where the two of them sat away from everyone else.
"I think it's cu..." Luna's voice cut off before she could finish her sentence and her eyes clouded over as magic washed through the room. "The Magic Stealer will lose, the Chosen Three will rise and peaceful era bring." Luna's eyes cleared as a spherical object took shape in front of her and floated there, glowing softly as it slowly solidified into a smokey, glass orb. "That's the first time that has happened, none of them have ever done this before."
"It's because this one is of great importance," Lucius breathes as the orb continued to float in the air before slowly falling to the coffee table.
POV=Change=
AJ and Tom sat across from each other, speaking quietly when the door was suddenly pulled open and Ragnok stepped into the room. "I would like to inquire if the two of you are done with your discussion?" he asks and AJ stood from her seat, confused before glancing at Tom who had an equally-confused look on his face.
"Yes, we were just passing the time until our allotted hour was up," Tom breathes trying to figure out why the old goblin was being civil and respectful, instead of his normal gruffness.
Ragnok nodded, glancing at AJ who glanced at Tom before nodding, as well. "If the two of you would please follow me," he says leading them out of the room and towards his office. AJ felt a tremendous amount of power the closer they got to Ragnok's office and Tom shifted when he felt some of the uncontrolled magic from ahead of them begin wrapping around AJ.
"Mine," an angry snarl sounds from up ahead of them and that power increased around AJ as a pitch-black blur sped straight at her from the shadows down the hall.
POV=Change=
Marcus was in the Room of Requirement, hiding from Professor Sinistra and running a hand through Percy's hair as he slept with his head in his lap. While he was reading he didn't notice as deep blue eyes with diamond-shaped pupils slid open until Percy made a noise similar to a purr and pressed his head back against Marcus' hand. "Hmm," Marcus breathes continuing to play with Percy's hair as he kept reading and Percy raised an eyebrow, moving so he was leant against Marcus' stomach, taking a look at what he was reading.
A Demon's Mate: What to Expect. Percy chuckled, "Considering the fact that you're the mate to two Demons, expect lots of jealousy towards other people and murderous intentions if someone tries to take you away from either myself or AJ."
"Yeah, that was chapter one and two, providing several different scenarios on what different types of Demons reacted to the situations," he whispers as he continued to read playing with Percy's hair. His attention shifted to where the door was slowly appearing, as if the room didn't want to open for the person trying to get in and he Disillusioned himself and Percy seconds before the door was pushed open. "Hide thisss room," he hisses to the room as Dumbledore appeared and the room became blank and empty before the old man stepped in.
"Damn that girl," the old Wizard growls as everything disappeared. "Ordering my school around as if she owned the place. Reveal the room I want." Percy had to smother the urge to laugh when the room filled with chamber pots and hideous, mismatched socks. "Stupid, little bint. I command you as Headmaster of Hogwarts to reveal to me the room I requested."
The room changed again but not how he wanted and Marcus had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing as a huge portrait of Dumbledore in a pink, frilly tutu appeared on the wall to their left before beginning to dance. Dumbledore snarled something unintelligible before stalking out of the room, slamming the door behind him and as soon as the door faded out of sight, Marcus broke the spell on himself and Percy, searching the room for any spells Dumbledore may have cast. Once he knew it was safe, he started laughing uncontrollably as the portrait disappeared and the room returned to how it'd been before Dumbledore's arrival. "I have the distinct feeling that, that portrait was AJ's idea," Percy snickers laying his head against Marcus' stomach as the bigger boy nodded. "I don't even want to know what'll happen when Ronald tries to get inside this room."
"AJ said something about him turning green and silver," Marcus murmurs as he returned to running bis hand through Percy's hair but set the book on the arm of the couch, "kind of like what she did to both sets of twins."
Percy made a humming noise before both of them froze, AJ's magic reaching out for them with Bill's and another, unknown magic. "Is that..."
POV=Change=
The power that coiled around AJ felt feral but her magic wasn't responding negatively to its presence and she closed her eyes, feeling the magic out with her own. She heard the snarl from down the hall as the magic around her became possessive, "Oh," she murmurs, eyes snapping open in time to see the black-haired blur come to a stop in front of her. Staring up at the teen with one gold eye and one silver eye, she lifted a hand to his cheek as her magic reached for Bill, Percy and Marcus as it began blending with the magic of the teen in front of her. "Hi, my name's Aurora Snape."
"Lucan Ripper," he breathes closing his mismatched eyes, leaning his head into her hand as he covered it with his own. "There are three more, one's already here and the other two are on their way."
AJ hummed as the magic from her other three mates began mixing with Lucan's and her own, Bill's tall, well-muscled form appearing behind Lucan, Elven features on full display. Lucan tensed, magic lashing out before disappearing once he realized the presence behind him wasn't a threat and he calmed, opening his eyes to look down at AJ. "I take it back, Marcus, you're mated to three Demons," Percy breathes from her left as she felt Marcus' presence appear closer to her back, "and he's likely to rip people apart for just looking at you wrong."
Lucan smirked, moving so fast that AJ was suddenly sandwiched between him and an unglamoured Marcus before he leaned down to kiss her. "Percy, what Demon has x-shaped pupils?" Marcus growls as Bill moved closer to Lucan, pressing his nose against Lucan's neck to get his scent.
"Death," Percy answers as he joins their little huddle, pressed against AJ and Lucan's sides, the Death Demon's free arm wrapping around his waist. "I'm going to transport us to Bill's flat."
Bill closed his eyes as tendrils of darkness wrapped around them all before they were suddenly standing in his living room and he raised an eyebrow when he saw that Lucan was kissing Percy now, AJ having pulled Marcus down to kiss him, too. Chuckling under his breath, Bill leant forward, pressing small nips and kisses to the crook of Lucan's neck, opposite side from Percy, soothing the harsher nips with the tip of his tongue. This caused Lucan to break the kiss with Percy to growl softly, arching his neck to give Bill more access to the area and Percy moved to do the same on the other side.
POV=Change=
Tom and Ragnok stared at the space the mateship had just been occupying before the goblin snapped out of it, glancing at Tom. "If you would come with me to my office," Ragnok says as he turned to continue on his way to his office, "there's someone you need to meet." Tom nodded before following the goblin towards his office.
POV=Change=
Remus stumbled through one of the hidden entrances, wary of the public entrance now that his memories were returned to him and the wolf snarled inside his head, pacing the confines of its new, freer space in his skull, at the reminder of just what had been taken from them. Eyes blazing with golden fire, he stalked over to a teller that wasn't working with anyone and pushed his hands into his pockets as his nails began lengthening into claws. "Is there anything I can help you with, Mister Lupin?" the goblin asks and Remus forced down the rage at hearing him use that surname. "Or would you respond better to Consort Greyback in your agitated state?"
"The second, please?" he growls softly and the goblin nodded, signaling to a taller goblin with black hair standing against the far wall, observing the rest of the room.
Once the other goblin had joined them the smaller, teller goblin whispered something to him and he turned his attention to Remus. "It is wonderful to see you back in control of your own mind again, Consort Greyback, I am Brokenaxe," the bigger goblin says and Remus gave a quick dip of his head. "As it just so happens, your mate is present in the halls of Gringott's, would you like to speak with him?"
Remus' heart stopped beating for a second at the information that Fenrir was in the bank before it began to race and tears began to well up in his eyes. "Yes, yes, I'd love to see my husband," he answers and Brokenaxe nods leading him down the hallway towards the room where the others were waiting for Lord Slytherin and Lady Sinclair.
Stopping outside the room, Brokenaxe glanced back at Consort Greyback, "I'll go in and get him, so the two of you can have a private moment without the other occupants of the room watching you," he says and Remus nods, feeling tears prick at the corners of his eyes as the goblin disappeared into the room.
All of the memories from the last eleven, almost twelve, years, the years of calling his mate a monster and the years of hating himself, breaking the promises he'd given to both his mate and his friends were beginning to swirl through his mind. He was barely holding back the flood of tears that wanted to escape when the door opened again and his mate, unglamoured, stepped out into the hall with Brokenaxe, coming to a surprised stop just outside the door as it snapped closed behind him, eyes glued to Remus. "Fe-Fenrir," he murmurs and tears begin slipping from his eyes when he notices the barely-perceptible flinch the older Werewolf tried to hide at the sound of his voice, his vision began to dim. "I'm sorry for everything I've said and done, Fenrir."
Remus' eyes rolled to the back of his head as he began to fall and Fenrir moved to catch him, pulling him up into his arms. "Remus," he breathes pressing his lips to his mate's forehead as he breathed in the scent of the man he loved.
"Let's get him to the infirmary, Lord Greyback," Brokenaxe suggests quietly and Fenrir looks at him over his mate's head, a growl rumbling through the hall before the Werewolf nodded.
POV=Change=
A small, black, silver-eyed snake slid through the door of the Room of Requirement, head moving from side-to-side as a black, forked tongue scented the air and finding only Harry in here. "Massster Harry, do you happen to know where Missstresss AJ isss?" she hisses as she slithered up the leg of the couch so she could curl up in his lap.
"I have no clue," Harry murmurs tensing when the amulet on his necklace heated up again for like the seventh time in the last hour and a half. "But thisss thing isss being weird." He pulled the necklace off and set it on his lap next to the small snake. "Ssso, how did the ssspying go today, Casssimira?"
The small snake hissed quietly in suppressed anger and hunkered down in his lap to stare into the hearth. "We ssshould probably wait until AJ isss here when I anssswer that quessstion," she hisses before lying down and going to sleep.
POV=Change=
Tom stared across the desk at the teenager Ragnok had told him was his cousin and tried to ignore the guilt his newly-awakened feelings was were trying to shove down his throat. It's true, Morfin Gaunt was a terrible human being but he'd killed his cousin's father and, apparently, he should've felt bad for that, not just now, but also then, before he knew about Corvus. The office was silent as the two of them stared at each other and Tom glanced around the room to see that Ragnok had left the room before rolling his eyes, looking back at Corvus. "I'm Thomas Marvolo Riddle-Slytherin, it's nice to meet you, Corvus," he says holding his hand out across the desk and Corvus stared at it for a moment before shaking it.
"It's nice to meet you, too," he says as he pulls his hand from Tom's. "What should I call you?"
Tom watched the teen for a moment, "Tom or Marvolo is fine, I answer to both," he says before reaching out with his magic to see if AJ had returned yet so she and her group could get on with their day. Not finding her, he stood and glanced at Corvus, helping him stand from his chair and they walked out of the office towards the room the others were in.
POV=Change=
AJ hummed tiredly as she rolled over, putting her head on Percy's chest as Lucan moved to cuddle against her back. Marcus rumbled in his sleep from the other side of Percy, a giant, silver-feathered wing stretching out to cover them all and AJ felt at peace for the first time in a long time before she remembered that she was supposed to be helping the girls find accessories to go with their dresses for the Yule Ball. "Damn," she hisses rolling over Lucan and Bill to get off the bed, looking around the flat for her clothes. All of her mates made disappointed noises before starting to do the same thing, having been called away from what they were doing when she'd met Lucan. "I'm heading back to Gringott's so the girls and I can go through the jewelry in my vaults, I have to go by the cottage later to see the twins."
"I have to go back to Gringott's to speak to Ragnok about the vaults my grandparents left," Lucan murmurs running a hand through his hair as he buttoned up his shirt one-handed and seemed to be looking around the bedroom for his black jeans.
Bill grumbled into his pillow as Marcus smacked him with his wing and rolled off the bed, walking off into the bathroom buck-naked. "Was off work today," he says as he reappears in a clean pair of boxers to stare at Marcus and Percy still lying in his bed, tossing Lucan his pants.
Marcus seemed to be studying the still-sleeping Percy rather intensely and AJ, finished dressing, crawled up onto the bed to straddle Percy, keeping her body weight off of him. She leaned her head down to sniff at his throat where their mate bands had appeared, a different-colored band for each mate. Not finding anything, AJ licked the same patch of skin she'd just been scenting and purred, moving so she was laying beside him, an arm draped protectively over his midsection as she cuddled into his side, purrs getting louder. "Perce was in heat?" Marcus rumbles questioningly and AJ nods, purrs deepening as her eyes changed to one demon and one dragon, both sets of wings appearing behind her.
"Until we know for sure if he's pregnant or not, he doesn't leave the cottage unless he's escorted by one of us," AJ growls as she rolls off the bed, creature attributes disappearing with the movement and the others rumble in agreement as Bill slides back into bed with Percy and Marcus who laid one wing over the three of them. Lucan and AJ studied the three on the bed, both wanting to rejoin them but knew they needed to go finish what they had planned for today.
"The sooner we finish, the sooner we can get back," Lucan murmurs and AJ nods, grabbing his arm before flashing them to Gringott's, startling Ragnok who was sitting at his desk.
POV=Change=
The old goblin took in the sight of the mating bands on the necks of the two teens that had just appeared in his office with a raised eyebrow. "I assume Lord Ripper is back to finish his paperwork and you, AJ, are here to take the girls down to your vault?" he growls and both teens nod. "Miss Lestrange, Miss Lovegood and the little Greyback are in the infirmary with Lord Greyback and his Consort. Lord Malfoy, Lord Slytherin and Mister Gaunt are with them."
AJ nods, kissing Lucan's shoulder before leaving the room and quickly made her way down into the depths of Gringott's towards the infirmary. As she drew closer, she could hear the sound of raised voices and quickened her pace so she could see what all of the yelling was about. "I'm sorry, Lord Greyback, but I cannot help your mate until his mind has healed, if I try to do anything now, he could end up brain dead," a tall, female goblin snarls at a tall, broad-shouldered, silver-haired man.
"Heal his mind then," the man snarls back and AJ raised an eyebrow as she looked around the room, seeing Brokenaxe leaning against the wall watching the scene with a smirk.
"I'm not a mind healer and the goblins that are, are not here at the moment," she growls, black eyes glowing angrily. "Why don't you see if the Demon'll help you, now that she's here?"
At that, all eyes turned towards AJ where she was standing by the door and the silver-haired man, that she now realized was Fenrir Greyback, stalked towards her. "Help him," he growls as he comes to a stop a few feet in front of her, "please?"
AJ glanced towards the man lying in the bed and felt her gaze soften when she saw Isadora curled into his side, turning her attention back to Fenrir as she nodded her head. "I'll see what I can do," she murmurs walking past him towards the bed. "Gemini, Luna, Isadora, do you three want to go down to my vault while I see if I can help Remus?" Isadora looked like she wanted to say no but Luna touched her shoulder and Isadora nodded, sliding off the bed to stand with the two older girls. AJ walked over to them, slicing open the pad of her thumb with a fang and pressing a bit of her blood onto the backs of their wand hands. "Will the three of you be okay going by yourselves?"
Gemini smirked at AJ and Luna giggled, "We'll be fine, Brokenaxe'll come with us, just in case, though."
"Okay, when you get down to my vault, Xaddus should let you by because you carry my scent, to open the vault door just press the back of your hand to it, it should let you in," AJ breathes patting Isadora's curls and giving the other two a small smile before watching them leave with Brokenaxe. Turning back to the man in the bed, AJ glanced over the men sitting on the other side of the bed and then at Fenrir who was standing at the foot of the bed. Moving closer to the edge of the bed, AJ placed her hand on Remus' forehead.
POV=Change=
Narcissa was sitting in her Parlor and doing needlepoint as she hummed along with the radio, thinking over the letter she'd received from Draco at breakfast. It was rare for a Malfoy to have multiple mates but nothing to be feared and knowing that her son hadn't known how to tell her and Lucius made her a little sad. She mailed Draco almost immediately after she'd read his letter, she just hoped it eased his fears and she had put off telling him about her pregnancy to ease his fears about having two mates. The floo went off and an elf popped into the room, "Lady Augusta Longbottom is here to see yous, Lady Malfoy," she says.
"Can you show her in here, Tippy, and have some tea sent up when you return to the kitchens?" Narcissa breathes and the elf nods, disappearing as Narcissa places her needlepoint into the basket by her feet before closing it and pushing it to the side of her chair. The elf returned with Augusta and Narcissa stood from her seat to greet her. "Thank you for agreeing to have tea with me, Augusta," she says and Augusta gives her a small smile.
"Thank you for inviting me, Narcissa," the older woman breathes taking a seat in the chair across the coffee table from Narcissa's, she looked over Narcissa as the younger retook her seat. "How have you been?"
Narcissa gave her a small smile as Tippy popped in with a tea tray floating in the air before her and the elf set the tray on the table before popping away. "I've been good," she answers before pouring hot water into her cup over the tea infuser filled with her herbal mix the Healer had given her. "What kind of tea would you like?"
"Earl Grey, if you have it," the older woman says watching the younger as she picked up an infuser filled with Earl Grey and placed it in the second cup.
"How have you been doing lately, Augusta?" Narcissa asks as she poured water into the second cup before setting it in front of Augusta so she could let it steep for as long as she liked and swirled her infuser around in her own cup, watching the color.
The older woman picked up her cup, swirling her infuser around in the cup as she looked around the room before her eyes were back on Narcissa. "I'm fine, all things considered," Augusta says placing her cup down on the saucer. "Did you know that my son, Alice and Rabastan were a Triad?"
Narcissa froze, blue eyes locked with Augusta's for a moment before she looked away to place her cup down on her saucer. "Yes," she answers truthfully as she looked over the plate of cookies and other small pastries Tippy had put on the tray. "Only a small group of people knew and Frank swore he'd tell you, eventually, he didn't know how you would've reacted. Then the war happened, Frank and Alice wanted to stay neutral and Rabastan, well, he joined Voldemort."
Augusta stayed quiet for a few minutes as she stared off into space and finished making her tea, Narcissa doing the same as her tea became a reddish-pink. "Do you know if Rabastan helped torture Frank and Alice?" she asks and Narcissa froze in lifting her cup up to her mouth before continuing, taking a small sip of the liquid.
"I don't know, Augusta," she answers placing her cup down. "I know he loved them, greatly, and if he did help torture them he was under some kind of curse."
Augusta drank her tea, contemplating what Narcissa had just told her and set her cup and saucer down on the table before taking an oatmeal raisin cookie off the plate on the tea tray. "I took a look through the Hall of Records to look over the trials for all three Lestranges, do you know what I found?" she breathes before taking a bite and Narcissa shook her head, placing her tea down as well. "Nothing, there is no record of trials for Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black, Rudolphus Lestrange or Rabastan Lestrange."
"What?" Narcissa breathes.
POV=Change=
Albus sat at his desk, glaring at the cabinets and shelves in his office, ice-blue eyes hard and angry. "What is going on?" he breathes rubbing at his forehead tiredly. Knocking the paperwork off his desk, he watched as it hit the floor before disappearing to Minerva's office because he didn't want to deal with it.
The past Headmasters and Headmistresses stared down at him with a wide range of emotions on their faces, from resentment and anger to disgust. "Brought it all upon yourself, Albus," Dippet says from his portrait as he relaxed back in his chair.
POV=Change=
Percy curled into the heat surrounding him, not wanting to wake up or open his eyes as he pulled the blanket up over his head and huddled against the chest in front of him. He freezes a moment later as his mind clicks on what he was lying against. 'Chest?' his brain supplies before his eyes open to slits. 'Yep, that's definitely a chest.' Glancing up, he sees Marcus' sleeping face and lets out the breath he'd been holding, dreading that he'd been dreaming about escaping Dumbledore. 'Thank the Gods it's Marcus.' He closes his eyes in relief and pressed his forehead into Marcus' chest as he relaxed back into the bed. "You awake yet, Perce?" Marcus murmurs as the arm wrapped around his waist tightens and Percy nods, opening his eyes to look up at Marcus. "Feeling okay?"
"Yes, why wouldn't I be?" he breathes and Marcus gave him a big, sleepy grin before leaning down to kiss his forehead as someone behind him gave a quiet chuckle. Looking over his shoulder to see Bill lying behind him, Percy raised an eyebrow before sitting up and glancing around the room for Lucan and AJ.
Marcus hurriedly sat up, as well, which caused Bill to chuckle and sit up also. "Lucan and AJ had to go back to Gringott's to finish up what they were doing," Bill breathes throwing an arm over Percy's shoulder as Marcus discretely moved a little behind him to help prop him up. "We're supposed to meet them at Sinclair Cottage later."