Chapter 102

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Heather had been surprised when Thomas didn't attempt to contact her like he had last time she'd left him to go and stay with Tim. At first, she kept her phone turned off for most of the day unless she knew Tim or Sarah would be trying to call her, but after a while with no messages left from Thomas she started to leave the phone on to see if he was calling but just not leaving a message. Sarah called daily, and frequently two or three times per day, and had initially had trouble believing what had happened and tried to talk Heather into admitting that she might have been mistaken or over-reacted. Heather had been upset about it and didn't know how to get her daughter to believe her. Months went passed where they didn't hear much from Sarah but every contact she had with Heather and with Tim ended in an argument before Hadrian felt that he had to step in and try to get Sarah to see the truth, knowing that the situation was too emotionally charged for them to continue to let Sarah harass her mother and that she wasn't listening to Tim either.

"Sarah, do you realise that you're not only condoning your father's abuse of your mother by denying that he could do anything wrong, but continuing it on his behalf by continually bringing it up and trying to bully your mother into recanting her description of what happened?" Hadrian asked bluntly.

"What!" Sarah squawked in protest.

"Your father attempted to hit your mother. She managed to avoid the blow and someone prevented him from trying again, but she has left him because this is the second time she believes he intended to hit her and she wasn't sure that the assault would stop at a single blow this time or that it wouldn't happen again next time they argued and she didn't feel safe being alone with him. I understand that you don't want to believe that it happened but it did," Hadrian said bluntly.

"Dad would never…" Sarah began.

"It happened Sarah, I do have proof if you need to see it," Hadrian interrupted shutting down her argument.

"But she's going to divorce him, break up our family forever," Sarah said miserably.

"Sarah, your mother isn't going to break up your family, the Admiral had already done that by assaulting Tim and Heather," Hadrian said wearily.

"He didn't hit Mom, your agent was mistaken, he couldn't have meant to hit her," Sarah argued.

"My agent is trained and experienced in family violence issues. She wasn't mistaken," Hadrian replied. "Your mother understands that you love him and don't manage well with change or conflict in the family. She says it's okay if you don't want to believe that your father is capable of assaulting his wife but I'm telling you that your harassment of your mother needs to stop right now. If you cannot talk to Heather without arguing about this then I have recommended that she hang up and stop answering your calls until you see reason. Every time you bring it up and argue about it you're basically telling her that you think she's a liar and worse than that you're giving her the clear message that you think that she should return home and let the Admiral hit her. That she deserves being hit. What would it take for you to support your mother leaving your father? Does she have to wait until he puts her in the hospital before you believe her? Break bones? Because I can tell you from the speed of the punch, he swung at her it would have broken her cheekbone or her jaw if he hadn't been stopped. And he didn't stop himself, your mother had enough evidence to have laid charges and had the Admiral dishonourably discharged from the Navy if not imprisoned for assault," Hadrian said.

"I didn't mean to hurt Mom but are you sure it isn't safe for her to go home. She loves him," Sarah said sadly.

"Does she?" Hadrian asked. "It's hard to still love a man you can't respect, let alone someone you are afraid will hurt you. You wouldn't stay with a boyfriend like that just because they apologised and promised not to do it again, not after the first time they hit you let alone the second."

"No but he hasn't hit her, he was stopped in time and he's horrified that it happened. He is genuinely sorry, I'm sure he isn't lying about that. There has to be a way to fix this," Sarah begged.

"Unfortunately many men who hit their wives are genuinely sorry about it afterwards but it doesn't stop them from doing it again next time they get drunk or high or lose their temper," Hadrian said bluntly.

"But Dad's not like them. He never drinks or uses drugs because he doesn't like losing control," Sarah said.

"Sarah, you're not seeing it, yes your father normally likes to be in control not only of himself but also of everyone around him, and when he doesn't have the control he thinks he needs he lashes out. Your mother isn't going to follow his every order like a junior officer, she will make decisions he doesn't agree with and when she doesn't agree he has the right to make those decisions for her, he will lose his temper and become violent again," Hadrian said sadly.

"So what can I do to make things better?" Sarah asked in a small voice.

"Forgive your mother for leaving an abusive situation, and really listen to her next time she talks about your father, let her bring it up when she's ready to talk about it and believe what she says. Heather has never lied to you," Hadrian replied. "You can still remain in contact with your father and try to support him as he gets used to living on his own. Just don't expect Heather or Tim to feel sorry for him. As far as they're concerned he brought this on himself."

"But that won't help Dad, he starts his new command next month, who's going to go and help him get settled?" Sarah demanded.

"There's nothing stopping you from offering to go with him and help him settle into the new house, and nothing stopping him from paying the movers a bit extra to complete the unpacking as well, thousands of single sailors manage to cope with being relocated every year," Hadrian replied.

"Getting divorced will harm his chances of being promoted to Washington," Sarah said.

"I think at this stage the divorce is inevitable, though Heather might agree to leave it at a legal separation if he doesn't harass her about coming back, but he wouldn't have been sent back to San Diego if they were considering promoting him in the next year or so anyway," Hadrian said. "It won't be your Mom's fault that he isn't promoted further, he has a lot of prejudices that the powers that be don't want represented among the policy makers for the Navy," Hadrian said honestly.

"Tim told me that too, but how do you know?" Sarah demanded.

"Tim knows because he has met SecNav and the Admirals on his immediate staff and read the changes in policy they are making. Changes your father will clearly disagree with. Your father's homophobia, dislike of women deployed into a warzone and general intolerance to others personal beliefs is in direct opposition to the new policies," Hadrian told her.

"So it is Tim's fault. If he hadn't come out as gay then Dad wouldn't have reacted the way he did and cost him the promotion he's worked for all his career," Sarah said scowling.

"There are multiple things wrong with that belief, firstly Tim didn't force the Admiral to attack him. Admiral McGee made a conscious choice that day and had to go significantly out of his way to visit Tim at his desk, secondly while the promotions hadn't been finalised at that time, Admiral McGee was already not on the list of people being considered," Hadrian said bluntly.

"Why not?" Sarah asked.

"Because his actions in attacking me and abusing his wife aren't totally out of character with his behaviour to his subordinates, he doesn't respect other people the way people making decisions that are going to affect the lives of thousands of naval officers and enlisted men should," Tim said joining the conversation.

-o0o-

Thomas was prepared to give Heather as much time as she wanted to settle down before she came back, unlike last time his memories of almost hitting her had not been removed though the method that Auror Sherrington had used to stop him had been obscured. So, he knew that not only had he almost hit his wife but that Heather and at least one other person had witnessed the incident and recognised his intentions. Considering what had happened and the fact that Auror Sherrington had left him with the knowledge that Heather had the evidence to press charges or to apply for a restraining order against him, either of which would end his career, Thomas thought it best to give his wife a week or two to herself before trying to convince her to come back. He cursed his transfer to San Diego again for a new reason, knowing that Heather had already been reluctant to move that far from their daughter and her son, let alone to give up having the support of friends on base if they fought again. He had just returned home from a long and frustrating day to a dark and empty house and decided that he'd given her enough time and would call her after he had eaten.

The doorbell rang and he went to collect his takeaway which was pretty much all he'd eaten unless he chose to eat in the mess, since Heather had taken all the kitchen equipment with her and he was heartily sick of it but he didn't want to eat in the mess too often and advertise that there was something wrong at home. Instead of the teenaged delivery driver he was expecting, a court clerk was standing there to serve him the divorce papers. He almost tore them up and threw them at the clerk who seeing the look in his eyes took a hasty step back. "You'll have to pay for a replacement copy if you destroy those Sir or you won't know when the court date is set for."

"There will be no bloody court date, I'll make her see reason and stop this foolishness," Thomas declared.

"Yes Sir but please for your sake don't tear them up until she changes her mind," the clerk said, knowing better than to overtly disagree with someone who'd just been served unexpectedly.

Thomas threw the papers onto the ground but luckily they landed inside the house and he'd already signed his receipt of them so the clerk was able to leave with a clear conscience which he did with more haste than he'd like to admit. He was used to people being angry to receive their divorce papers or civil court summons but the rage in the Admiral had frightened him.

Thomas stormed into the house and rang Heather.

"What the hell are you thinking? A Divorce at this stage of my career will kill my chances of being promoted onto the hill," he demanded.

"Hello Thomas, please stop yelling if you wish to have a conversation. As to what I was thinking, I decided that I didn't want to be married to a man who was willing or emotionally able to hit his wife and that it would be better to make a clean break," Heather replied speaking softly and slowly to hide her anger and her anxiety.

"I didn't hit you," Thomas roared.

"But if Linda hadn't been there you would have, and this isn't the first time you've nearly hit me. I don't feel safe being alone with you, the fact that you still can't speak to me without yelling at me every time you disagree with my actions is only proving that I'm making the right decision," Heather said calmly but firmly.

"Then stay away if fyou're too much of a coward to come home, but this is going to ruin me," Thomas yelled.

"I'm not talking to you while you are yelling orders at me. I am not an incompetent or unruly subordinate," Heather said before disconnecting the call and turning off her phone.

Tim looked in a moment later to check if she was okay.

"Did the Admiral ask you to come home?" Tim asked.

"No he hasn't, this is the first time I've heard from him since I left. I've filed for divorce. Thomas would've been served today and he called to protest, and demand I retract the filing, he was willing for me not to return so long as I didn't legally end the marriage," Heather said calmly.

"I hate to say it but you might be better off staying married, at least that way you have the possibility of divorce papers being refiled to hold him at bay," Hadrian suggested.

"You mean threaten him into leaving me alone?" Heather asked.

"Yes, it's ugly but if it increased your safety it would be worth it," Hadrian said.

"I think that you're wrong, the fact that you backed off on demanding a divorce will give him false hope that you'll come home and also gives him the opportunity to file first claiming abandonment," Tim said.

"Tim, even though your mother chose not to file charges the night she left, Auror Sherrington did submit a report about the incident and she was careful to also submit a magically sanitised version that could be presented in court if it came to that. Besides, it doesn't matter whether the Admiral manages to welch out of paying alimony, we can more than afford to support Heather. What matters is her safety, what would be more likely to make her safe from him, having the divorce finalised or having the threat of it to stop him coming after her?" Hadrian said.

"I honestly don't know," Tim replied. "I'm worried that he'll delude himself into thinking that he can change her mind about moving back in with him if she doesn't finalise the divorce but other than a restraining order which she would have to prove another attempt to hurt to before she could get one, she wouldn't have a reason to make him hesitate to come after her."

"Well there's no hurry to decide that, Heather's safe enough here and if she moves out then I will ward any other house or apartment she wants me to," Hadrian said.

"But then she becomes a virtual prisoner in her own home," Tim objected.

"I think that once the Admiral gets over the shock and humiliation of the divorce or once Heather makes it public among all her friends then he won't have a reason to try to convince her to come back. She can always threaten to tell her friends why she divorced him. That will probably be enough, and if it isn't I can magically compel him to stay away from her," Hadrian said.

"But there was a reason you didn't want to do that to force him to stay away from me," Tim objected.

"Yes but there's no chance that Heather will run into him through her job causing the compulsion to fail like there is with you. There is a minor risk she'd see him at Sarah's but we could easily ward Sarah's apartment to warn us that he is there," Hadrian said. "For that matter I could add a notification ward to all my properties in this area, then if he is told what neighbourhood you live in, he'd have difficulty hanging about the shopping centre without triggering one of them."

"Could you do that without causing electronic interference?" Tim asked.

"Yes, it's a very small ward and none of my other properties are anywhere near as maxed out on wards as this house," Hadrian replied.

"Could you put up that many wards without harming the babies?" Heather asked.

"Not on my own but I could easily hire a goblin warding team to put them up," Hadrian admitted.

"Will it cost a great deal?" Heather asked.

"No, very little and it would be more than worth it considering that it would make you, Tim and the children safer for the next few months while I'm less able to defend us all. All the properties I own around the school, and the playgroup I take Rosie and Daisy to and our favourite park and on the route between here and all of those places have already been warded. I should've warded the rest when you came to stay with us last time," Hadrian replied feeling guilty that he hadn't.

"No need to feel guilty, Mom was perfectly safe staying with us last time. It's reasonable to take more precautions now that the Admiral has shown that he is a danger to Mom and now he has less to risk losing by coming after her," Tim said rubbing his shoulder reassuringly.

-o0o-

Hadrian continued to be much more easily tired than normal and to feel nauseas more often, though the potions were doing their job admirably as they always did. His healer was sure it was nothing to worry about, the monitoring spells revealed that the baby was doing well and was going to be a strong witch or wizard. It wasn't until the end of the first trimester that the truth was revealed. The magical scan showed two distinct magical signatures, so they did an ultrasound and sure enough, nestled hidden behind the first was a second foetus. Changing the angle of his spells Healer Roberts was able to cast the diagnostic spells on the hidden foetus as well and reassure them that both babies were genetically normal, though not identical and developing normally and that both of them had a strong magical core.

"Well I guess that explains the extra morning sickness, thank goodness for the crackers and the potions or I wouldn't be able to move without throwing up," Hadrian said.

"Then I'm extremely glad they're working and that you're not developing an allergy to either of them," Healer Roberts replied.

"Is that likely?" Tim asked.

"It's fairly uncommon but the likelihood does increase with each pregnancy and with the frequency it's used, it's fairly rare during a third pregnancy but Hadrian tells me he's been taking the maximum dose every day for the last two and a half months. It wouldn't surprise me if he does end up either allergic or immune to the potion within the next few pregnancies if he doesn't start spacing them out a little more," the healer replied.

"Well I think that with twins running around we're going to want to wait until they're three or four before I have enough energy to do this again, even having Rosie and Daisy at home is wearing me out at the moment," Hadrian said tiredly.

"Particularly as the likelihood of conceiving twins more than doubles once you've done it before," the healer reminded him.

"Is there any extra restrictions we need to know about with a twin pregnancy?" Tim asked.

"Only that with two babies, the draw on Hadrian's magic is twice as much as the draw during the last two pregnancies. I know with his magical strength that will probably still leave him plenty of magic to use but he should be more careful not to cast too many magically taxing spells, or to cast continuously for too long," Healer Roberts warned.

"I haven't found any spell that taxed my magic since my maturity, not even when I was pregnant with Rosie or Daisy, should I avoid the spells I found taxing to learn as a teenager?" Hadrian asked.

"Only if they continued to be taxing after you mastered them or you were unable to master them until after your magical maturity, many spells are taxing to learn initially because your magic has not yet mastered the most efficient way to produce the desired outcome," Healer Roberts replied.

"I would also like to see you putting on a little more weight than you did with the girls, aim for about half a kilo a week from here on," Healer Roberts said.

"Half a kilo a week, I'm going to be huge," Hadrian groaned.

"Fraternal twins have separate placenta so there's not only two babies who I hope will get to at least five pound or more each there will be at least two pounds of placenta and twice as much amniotic fluid. So yes, your stomach is going to be considerably bigger than with the twins but you'll lose it easily enough running around after four pre-schoolers," the healer said unsympathetically.

Tim laughed, rubbing his hand over the slight baby bump, "You're going to look gorgeous, and you know I promised to help you get back in shape again afterwards."

"Well as long as your husband finds you sexy, what more can you want?" Healer Roberts reminded him.

"To be able to see my feet, put my own shoes on, walk without waddling and fit through doorways and behind the steering wheel of my car," Hadrian said dryly.

The healer just laughed. "Just remember that you want two healthy babies more than you need to be able to do any of those things in the short term. The discomfort will all be worth it when they're born healthy and don't need to spend weeks in the hospital in an incubator because they're too small. I want to see you again in two weeks unless you have any problems or concerns before then."

"Actually, I have a question about Teddy if you have time," Hadrian said.

"Is he unwell? You should have brought him with you," Healer Roberts said.

"No he's fine, in fact I have a copy of his health scan that Healer McCray performed when we went for admission testing to Salem for your records, but Healer McCray mentioned that he might be difficult for them to treat if he accidently partially transfigured himself or something. It didn't make much sense to me since Madam Pomfrey never seemed to have problems treating any of us at Hogwarts and you and the onsite healers at work have never had trouble diagnosing me though most of your treatments seem to be potions. I was just wondering what the problem was with Teddy? Is it because he's part werewolf?" Hadrian asked.

"I have never had any problems treating young Teddy, though to be honest there's a reason I normally use potions with you and Teddy even when there are spells that might do the job as well if not better in other people, with a potion it interacts with your own magic to create the healing effect, with a spell my magic has to overcome your magic's natural resistance before it can heal you. I don't know that I couldn't use spells to heal you, but your magic is stronger than mine and having gone through a war and Auror training it's also less dormant and amenable to suggestion than most people's so when your injured it stresses your body less not to have to fight off additional spells and I'm not sure that I could cast strongly enough to heal everything I would need to, so I use potions wherever I can and save my energy. I admit that it costs you a little more, but galleons don't seem to be an issue with you anyway," the healer explained.

"No they're not an issue and I wouldn't want you to strain yourself or be too tired to treat the rest of the patients that day," Hadrian agreed. "So Healer McCray might have had genuine concerns being able to treat Teddy if he inherited my magical strength through the adoption ritual?"

Healer Roberts frowned. "Teddy is only eight, even if he was destined to become the next Merlin, magical strength wise, no healer should have any difficulty healing him until he reaches his magical maturity. Immature magic generally responds very well to the influence of healing magic."

"Would his partial lycanthropy change that?" Hadrian asked.

"Full Lycanthropy makes healing more difficult, particularly close to the full moon, but Teddy hasn't inherited that resistance, his magic is less dormant than other children's but I couldn't say that was caused by his lycanthropy," Healer Roberts replied.

"So is there a medical reason that you would need to know someone's Myrddin ranking or score? You've never asked me about mine," Hadrian asked.

"I have magic sight so I generally do have an idea of my client's magical strength but no there's no reason I need to know. If you weren't an Auror I would have tried to heal you before turning to the potion solution if your magic seemed to fight my healing. Aurors are trained to resist outside magic so healers will always use the potion alternative if it is available," Healer Robert replied. "Why are you asking.

"Healer McCray was insistent that he needed to know my Myrddin score, so that he could guarantee he could heal Teddy. I thought at the time that he might have an ulterior motive but I can't find any proof why he wanted to know," Hadrian explained.

"You are probably the strongest wizard he's ever met, if he can see magical cores like I can he could just be trying to understand what he was seeing," Healer Roberts suggested.

"There's nothing in his school records to suggest he has mage-sight, would it be documented?" Hadrian asked.

"It would definitely be in his medical school records if he had even a weak gift in that area," Healer Roberts agreed.

"He trained at Johns Hopkins," Tim said.

"It would still be there if he revealed it, but Johns Hopkins has a very good reputation for combined magical and nonmagical healing with a strong focus on the medical potions side of things. If he had mage-sight then I doubt it would have been his school of choice," the healer commented.

"So, you're saying that he may have been accepted into the training there if his potions knowledge and general intelligence was high enough to compensate for a weaker magical core?" Tim asked.

"I wouldn't say that the average John Hopkins trained healer is weaker than healers trained elsewhere but it is possible if he was a potions prodigy," Healer Roberts replied.

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed, followed or favourited this story for your support.