The Houses Competition (or THC)

House: Gryffindor

Class: Transfiguration

Category: Standard

Prompt(s) chosen.: [Speech] "For the third and final time, yes." ; [Word] Aluminum

Word Count: 2023

Disclaimers/triggers (which would make it a high T - abuse, non-canon death): Non-canon death. And canon death

AU: Non-epilogue compliant. So, Harry didn't end up with Ginny and Hermione and Ron didn't end up with each other. Oh, and there are plenty of OCs too. And, maybe Harry is a bit OOC?

Beta(s): Copper's Mama

"Wake up! Wake up!" shouted my youngest as she jumped on me and my wife.

Aquila groaned as she rapidly blinked her eyes in a feeble attempt to evade sleep. She pushed herself up so she was sitting.

"What is it, Cassie?" she asked.

Cassie jumped towards her and said, "Don't you remember? It is my special day!"

I finally decided to open my eyes and said, "What special day, I wonder? It is not Christmas, nor is it your birthday."

Of course I remembered why it was special for her. It was the first of September and Cassie's first day of school. She was so excited that we'd had to drug her with a dreamless sleep to make sure that she won't stay up the night and keep us up too.

"No! Today, I will go to Hogwarts!" Cassie extended her arms to show her point.

Aquila chuckled and said, "Yes sweetie, we know. Now, where are your siblings?"

Before Cassie could answer, I kissed Aquila and hissed out a 'good morning' to her, upon seeing which Cassie made a gagging sound.

"Saiph was talking to me about the amount of homework I will have, but he is going to be a third year and I will be a first year, so I won't get so much homework, right dad?" Cassie asked me. Aquila had been homeschooled throughout most of her life. Actually, she hadn't been allowed to step out of the Slytherin Manor throughout her life. Yes, Slytherin. She was the daughter of Voldemort but she couldn't care less about what happened to him since she saw him more as a teacher and distant relative than anything else.

"Well, in the first year you will get considerably less amount of homework than a third year student," I said.

"Besides, you already know everything in the syllabus. So, it shouldn't be hard for you," Aquila added. Both of us had taught each of our children everything we thought was necessary, which meant the entire, improvised syllabus of Hogwarts along with the Dark Arts. If a fully-trained wizard faced any of our kids, they would have to go home with a limb or two missing.

"Okay!"

"Where are Ceph and Aster?" I asked. They were my eldest.

"I don't know. Maybe blowing apart the West Wing since it's the only one they haven't blown apart three times a row, yet," Cassie replied, shrugging nonchalantly.

True enough, a minute or two after the statement, as me and Aquila held our breaths, fearing the worst, we heard a loud BOOM! Followed by the sound of solid melting and glass shattering.

We both cursed under our breaths as we rushed towards the origin of the sounds, Cassie trailing behind us. We weren't afraid of our children since they have dozens upon dozens of protection charms on them and, if they failed, a portkey was designed to bring them to us without them saying the password. I knew that so much protection was simply paranoia, but after the Indian terrorist attack three years ago, we couldn't take any chances.

As we reached the ritual room, we saw that it had been blown apart to bits. No big surprise, it happened at least once every other fortnight. At the door stood my eldest children, Ceph and Aster both looking suitably abashed as they stared at the hem of their muggle clothes.

"What is it this time?" Aquila asked, her amethyst eyes flashing.

"An accident," Aster replied promptly which caused me and Aquila to sigh. Of course it was an accident. Every single time they blew apart something was by accident. Well...except for that time with the octopus, but that was a different story.

"And how did you cause an accident this time?" Aquila asked slowly.

I noticed that both Ceph and Aster had averted their eyes away from us at the question. Hmm...Mysterious.

"Cepheus, Asterope. How did it happen?" I asked. I never used their full names unless they did something which irritated me and they knew that.

"Well…" started Aster,

"WemayhaveputsomefairydustinthealuminiumagainforabyebyepresenttoCassie," Ceph said quickly.

"Say it again and more slowly," Aquila said.

"We may have put-" Aster started

"Some fairy dust in the aluminum-"

"Again for a bye-bye present-"

"To Cassie," Aster finished.

"That doesn't seem like an accident, Asterope, Cepheus. You have both known ever since you were six that when fairy dust is put into aluminum, it reacts very, very badly," Aquila hissed out the last part.

Both of them gulped as they looked at their shoes.

"Sorry," said Ceph.

"It won't happen again," added Aster, though I knew that they would try something again on the Christmas break.

Aquila looked resigned as if she knew what I was thinking and said, "You both are lucky that you are going to Hogwarts." Then, with the waves of our wands, we fixed the room so that it looked as good as new.

"Come on, let's go to the dining room," Cassie suggested. Ceph and Aster looked a little shocked at her appearance though no one would be able to tell that since they both were sufficient in Occlumency...and Legilimency.

"Who thought that letting them experiment with Alchemy would be a good idea?" Aquila muttered.

"You," I answered back.

As we entered the dining room, we saw that Saiph was already sitting on his chair, waiting for us. We took our respective places and the house-elves started serving us food.

Yes, Hermione never liked how house-elves were enslaved but in truth, if house-elves weren't enslaved by a wizard/witch then they would die because of lack of magic. House-elves don't have magic of their own. A long, long time ago, house-elves drew their magic from the ground but they couldn't do it anymore after the species was cursed by a witch. So, when they are bonded, they take magic from their master and work for them as a sign of gratitude. We had always thought that house-elves had their own magic but when we saw that Dobby died because he was free, we asked a house-elf and she told us everything.

As I was going to grab my cup of coffee, Aquila spoke up, "We are missing someone. Damien! Where is he?"

I looked around but couldn't find Damien. He was at our Manor last night. So he must be sleeping. No, Damien's not our child. He was the child of Severus and Hermione—the unlikeliest pair, but there you have it. Hermione had died in the Russian terrorist attack nineteen years ago when Damien was a year old.

Severus wanted to back down from his role as Headmaster but couldn't since the country was going through political turmoil and some Ministry bigot may try to capture Hogwarts which Severus wouldn't let happen. This led to me and Aquila being Damien's honorary parents since Ron was a Quidditch player and roamed around the world. Over the years, Damien had become one of our children rather than my best-friend's son.

I simply sighed and with a grand flourish a huge he-wolf appeared in front of me. My patronus changed when I fell in love with Aquila, whose patronus is a she-wolf.

I murmured to my he-wolf, "Find Damien and tell him to come down for breakfast, okay?"

My patronus nodded once before vanishing through the wall.

Cassie stood up at once and followed the patronus.

"Cassiopeia!" I called out but, of course, she didn't listen to me.

Next to me, Aquila snorted and said, "They get this from you."

I just gave her a grin and said, "Of course they do. Not listening to anyone is one of my specialties." This was how I met you, went unsaid.

A little while later, when I was properly awake with caffeine in my system, Cassie rushed back to the dining room, looking as though she were a bat out of hell.

"Well, I went to his room and found Teddy with him!" she exclaimed.

"That is not unusual," I said. Teddy's father, Remus, was one of the first victims of a wizarding pandemic and Tonks had been bedridden for her entire life after her encounter with the Russian terrorist leader. So, since I was named Teddy's godfather and Andromeda had died in the pandemic, we took him in. In his early age, he had only one friend of his age—Damien. So, of course, they'd remained close, even after fifteen years. Teddy randomly popped over to stay with us, claiming that the flat in the US was too empty.

"Yes, he and Teddy are friends so why is this such an international cri—"

"No, mum. You don't understand. They were kissing!"

"...they were what?" me and Aquila asked in unison.

"Yeah! I went to tell them that breakfast was on and they were all over each other and kissing! Like, proper kissing!" she hissed out the last part, her brain too over excited to form English words.

"How would you know what proper kissing is?" Saiph asked, looking up from his plate. Saiph was a very quiet kid, speaking only when he wanted to.

Cassie flushed and said, "Well, if you have been around mum and dad for half-an-hour, then you would know what proper kissing is."

Aquila looked amused while I tried to look indignant, but failed.

Damien made an appearance, his face flushed and eyes wide. He was holding hands with Teddy, and both of them looked very embarrassed.

"You little snitch! You told, didn't you?"

"You didn't seriously think The Informant would keep that bit of gossip to herself, did you?" I asked, and Cassie scowled.

"I hate that nickname," she grumbled.

"If you hate it so much, then stop being such a bloody tattletale."

"Language, Damien," Aquila admonished, but he appeared too irritated to care much. "Damien, we have something to tell you."

Teddy casually let go of his hand.

I smiled a little.

We went to one of the antechambers of the Manor and Damien sat down in one of the chairs, looking very uncomfortable.

Aquila took a seat while I said, "You know very well that Teddy's father was a werewolf. And, while Teddy isn't a werewolf, he has certain similar characteristics. One of them is marking a mate for life. If he marks you as his mate—which I'm certain he will, then there will be no backing-out. You won't be able to end this relationship at any point you want; you would become his soul-mate in the literal sense of the word."

Damien said softly, "I know."

"Do you want to continue this?" Aquila asked.

"Yes, mum."

"Even after you know the risks?"

"Yes, mum."

"Do you both really love each other?"

"For the third and final time, yes."

"Okay then," Aquila said with a soft smile as she gazed upon Damien. "You both are adults now and nothing we say or do should deter you from making your own decisions. We wanted you to be aware of the risks." Damien seemed to sag in relief.

"Remember, Teddy is our son as much as you and the others are. If either of you are hurt by the other...the results won't be pretty. Do I make it clear?" I asked. We both were very protective of all of our children so, if something serious happens to one of them, we both would go moma-bear on the person.

"Yes, dad. Crystal clear."

"Let's go then. We shouldn't keep them waiting any longer," Aquila said.

Damien rushed out of the antechamber. Aquila gave him a bittersweet look before turning to me and giving me a kiss. None of us had to read the other's mind to see what the other was thinking. They were growing up too quickly, was the thought running through both of their minds.

As our lungs demanded oxygen, we broke apart. She looked at me with a gaze full of love and fondness. I smiled lovingly at Aquila and offered my arm which she grabbed. We made our way to the dining room.

"I love you, Harry."

"I love you too, Aquila."

Just a normal day in the Slytherin-Potter family.

A/N- Hope you enjoyed this. Have a wonderful day/night.