An Escape

by avery-wren

#26 in my Multiverse Series. Pulled away from her appointment, Alexia quickly finds out that Feliks has escaped. She goes looking for him with Antonin and the help of Mia, but what she finds is the last thing she expects. TW at the beginning of the story.

Hello! I just want to add a quick trigger warning for a small scene here. It's going to talk a bit about being infertile, as well as abortion. It's only a small part, but I know those topics can be very sensitive, so I wanted to give you a head's up.

Enjoy!

Alexia, Mia, Estelle

Instead of heading straight to Russia, Alexia had been pulled back down to her office via Patronus from Bertie. It was, as usual, cryptic and distracted. Irritated, Alexia hurried down and was visibly irritated by the time she walked into her office.

She stopped short in her door and glared at Bertie. "Seriously? Is this what you consider me taking the afternoon off?"

"Alexia, great!" Bertie grinned at her. He sat at Antonin's desk and looked much too excited to see her. "How is your brain?"

"Fucked," she answered shortly. She waved at the girl sitting across from Bertie. "Bertie, seriously? What's she doing here?"

His brow furrowed slightly. "The damage should have been healed, Dolohov."

Alexia made a face. "Yeah, unless you have a repetitive memory eclipse issue. It's fine, okay? She's handling it. Are you going to tell me why… Estelle, right?"

Estelle waved lazily. She looked irritated as well and held a large - and dark, Alexia realized - book in her lap and didn't bother looking up from it at the two adults.

"Why is she here? I need to get to Russia."

Bertie offered her a smile. "Great! Take her with you. It's fascinating - it happened without you here! She dropped from the ceiling onto your desk."

Alexia glanced back and grimaced at her desk. It definitely looked like someone had fallen on it. "Okay, let's send her back."

Bertie waved at the door to the Multiverse room. It opened, and she could see Draco cursing at the machine. "It is broken! Don't worry, Dolohov. We can fix it while you take care of your family."

"Bertie, in case you forgot, I'm not heading to a family reunion," she told her boss. "Antonin's dealing with Feliks. I'm just coming to check on them."

Bertie laughed. "Well, it's not as if he's torturing your cousin! She'll be fine. Much better off with you than here, don't you think?"

She couldn't argue that. Bertie wasn't the first person she'd trust to watch a kid. With a sigh, she turned to Estelle. "We need to get going, then. If things get out of hand, I'll take you to my aunt and she can watch you."

Estelle took her time bookmarking her book, putting it away, and getting to her feet. She brushed off her robes and looked at Alexia. "I might be young, but I'm not a small child. I can take care of myself if I need to."

Alexia sighed as she led the teenager out of the DOM. They went back up a few floors to get the International Portkey to Russia that they'd need. "I get that. All of us could by your age. That's not the point, though. The point is that you shouldn't need to take care of yourself."

They took the portkey to Russia's Ministry, and Alexia had to smuggle Estelle out with the Invisibility Cloak - which she'd borrowed from Harry three days prior - and walked with her until they got to the Apparition point.

"I understand that," Estelle allowed. "Dad says something similar. What are we doing, exactly? Who is Feliks?"

Alexia didn't reply until she'd Apparated them to the house in question. As they walked to the door, she sighed. "Feliks is a cousin. To be exact, he's Antonin's first cousin. They're actually the closest related people left in the family, barring Uncle Kir and I. Feliks is… you were there, right? When we were all taken?"

"Yes."

"Feliks is the man that took me," she explained. "He nearly killed me. We decided to study him for a few reasons. He was… inappropriate with me, so I stopped coming as much and left it to my husband, but I can tell Antonin's getting frustrated, which is why I promised to come check on him today."

Estelle frowned a little. "I find it odd that you married Antonin."

Alexia rolled her eyes. "Yeah, everyone does. I don't need a lecture about how dangerous he is, he's not dangerous to me, so-,"

"No," Estelle interrupted. "No, it's not that. Antonin is my best friend, one of. I know he's got feelings for me, I just didn't imagine there was a version of me that loved him, too."

"Oh," Alexia nodded at her as they walked through the house. "Yeah, well, I wasn't exactly fond of him when we first met, in this time or the past. There was a lot involved that brought us together. And I remember your Antonin. I met him when we went to the future after landing in your universe. I won't tell you what happened because that's… not a good idea, but he did help me."

Estelle's eyebrows raised. "Really?"

"Yup. Nikita had… the point is, Antonin got there and sent him away. He's a good person, Estelle."

"Stella," the younger girl reminded her absently. "He's never told me about his family. Feliks, Nikita, are they all bad?"

Alexia snorted. "Just about, yeah. Even my father… Antonin is good. He's incredible. Uncle Kir could be worse, but I don't love him. Some of them seem better the more I'm around, like Simeon and Nikolai. Some of them put up with me, like Yuri. Then there's Feliks and Lev, who both hate me a lot."

"Well, you are essentially a muggleborn married into an aggressively pureblood family," Estelle rationalized. "They'd probably rather let themselves die out than let a muggleborn woman change things."

"And that's almost exactly what Feliks said to me when Antonin and I sealed our bond," she rolled her eyes. "Alright, I'm going to head down. I'd tell you to stay here, but I do not want someone showing up and grabbing you, so stay close to me and do not interact with Feliks."

While Estelle nodded, Alexia went to remove the wards on the basement door. She tensed when she found they were already down. Antonin put them up even while he was down there, so she was immediately on guard. Raising a blood shield, Alexia pushed the door open and slowly started making her way down the stairs.

At first glance, nothing seemed wrong, aside from Feliks missing. It didn't even look like there was much of a fight, really. As she turned the corner, she tensed at the sight of Antonin on the ground. She rushed over to him and dropped to her knees. "Antonin!"

There was blood on his head, and it looked like he'd been hit with something heavy. As she began healing him, she cursed under her breath. She'd never once seen him beat in a fight, but she'd also fought Feliks herself. He was dangerously good.

"Try Caput Sanandum," Estelle suggested quietly. "With a flick motion in the wrist."

Alexia did as she suggested and breathed out in relief when it worked well. She pulled out her dittany and dropped some in the cut on his forehead. After that closed, she cast Rennervate and watched her husband wake. As his eyes blinked open, she stroked his cheek softly. "Look who's getting the head injuries now."

Antonin looked confused, and she figured that was fair. His hand came to grab her wrist, and though it was a tight grab, she let him. "Alexia."

Her eyebrows raised a little. "A little hit on the head and you call me by my actual name. Who knew?" There was a short pause before she spoke again. "Where's Feliks? What happened?"

Antonin looked over himself slowly, seemingly checking in on his body. He looked surprised that he wasn't more hurt. "He escaped."

Alexia groaned and tilted her head back. "Jamie's going to fucking lose it. He's going to try and sue you, Antonin. If Feliks even looks at me the wrong way, James is either going to sue you or kill him."

"Alexia," Estelle said. She moved over and handed over a wand. "This looks like Antonin's."

"It is, thank you," Alexia smiled and handed the wand to her husband. "Why the hell wouldn't he take the wand? He's been down here for months, unable to use magic, and he didn't take the wand?"

"I did curse him," Antonin told her slowly. "But that is all I remember."

Sighing, Alexia looked back at her alternate self. "Stella, I think I should take you to my aunt while we figure this out. I don't want Feliks getting his hands on you. He's despicable. If he knows there's potentially another Dolohov girl out there-,"

"But I'm not," Estelle told her. "I'm a Black."

"Yes, but was your muggle father named Ruslan before he changed it to Richard?"

Estelle stared at her. "You remember I was six when I came to the past, right? All I remember about my muggle father was how he treated me, Alexia."

Sighing, Alexia waved her wand and cast a House spell. Black and Potter and Dolohov appeared over Estelle, and Alexia cursed colorfully. "Well, this is fucking great. I should've left you with Bertie. Antonin, is my ring working again yet? Maybe I can send her home that way."

"No," Antonin told her shortly. She didn't question it- it was probably fair that he was stressed. The last time Feliks had been free, he'd stabbed Alexia three times and nearly killed her.

"Alright, so she stays with us. Do you have any idea where Feliks would go?"

Antonin's reply was cut off by a stag Patronus flying into the room. James's panicked voice came out. "Ash, you need to come home. Something's wrong with- with Lily, she's- the baby is- just come home."

"Fuck," Alexia cursed loudly. "Damn it. Alright, we're going to Potter Manor, and then we'll look for Feliks."

It took them ten minutes to get to Potter Manor. The trio walked in and followed the screams to James and Lily's bedroom. Alexia ran in and froze at the sight of Lily writhing on the bed in pain. "Oh my god…"

"What the fuck is happening to her?" James asked his sister. He held Lily's hand as the woman's stomach was shrinking down. "What's happening to our baby?"

Alexia ran forward and began taking scans. When she got the results, she stared at them as a mirror exploded behind her. "I am so fucking sick of this! James, get away from her."

"Alexia, wh- no!"

"Get away from her!" Alexia yelled. James backed up, startled, so she sliced her arm with her dagger, floated it in the air, and dropped it on Lily's stomach, and cast. "Puer Serva!"

The blood immediately sunk through Lily's clothes and then, startling them, her stomach. It was only once the blood was gone that Lily's pained screams ended and she stopped writhing on the bed.

"What the hell did you do?" James asked, though less aggressively this time.

"That looked like…" Estelle's eyes widened at Alexia. "Is that a good idea to do?"

"Jamie, she'll be fine," Alexia ignored her alternate self. "And so will the baby."

James looked at his sister with a frown. "But what the fuck happened? How'd you fix it?"

"It's a spell sometimes used to stop miscarriages," Alexia told him slowly. He just stared at her, so she sighed. "Look, Jamie, knowing what was happening won't help, so-,"

"She looks like she's not even pregnant!" he waved at Lily, who had passed out almost immediately as the pain had left her. "How do you even know she still is-,"

Alexia tipped her head back. "Because the spell I used- look, your baby was being… unconceived. She was disappearing. She wasn't going to exist anymore, so I-,"

"She connected the baby to her life force," Antonin told James. "To ensure that the baby will not die in utero."

James's eyes widened. "But Lexi, you can- if you die, she'll-,"

"I'm not going to die again," Alexia put her hand up. "I'll at least stay alive until she's born if that helps. After that, she won't need my help, so lacking my life force, as Antonin put it, she'd just rely on her own. Honestly I'd even bet that if I were otherwise unavailable, she'd just rely on Antonin or you."

"That sounds a lot like some dark bonds I've heard of," her brother told her slowly. When she didn't reply, he cursed and rubbed at his forehead. "Why did this happen, Lexi?"

"Because everything is fucked up," she waved at Estelle. "She just appeared, but nowhere near me. Something happened in Russia, and now- now your baby… I'm sorry, Jamie. I'm going to get in touch with Rose and the Doctor the second I can. I'm just in the middle of like five crises right now."

James rubbed his forehead. "Just go, Ash. Thank you for… helping her. I'll get Healer Markward over to look at her."

"Thanks, Prongs," she smiled softly. Before turning to leave, she gasped. "Oh! Where are my glasses?"

"On your bed," he replied. So, she picked up her glasses and put them on - she didn't realize one could see things so clearly - and left Potter Manor with Antonin and Estelle. With no other ideas, they made their way to the Ministry once more. Upon getting there, they went straight to the Auror offices.

"Alexia," Amelia said in surprise. "You're back."

"Yeah, Feliks Dolohov is out," Alexia told the woman without pause. "Not sure where, but… y'know, last time he was free, he tried to kill me, so."

"Pip?" Fabian looked at her from his desk. "Did you just say-,"

"Yes, I did," she confirmed. "I wanted to give you guys a heads up. We're going to go looking for him, but-,"

"D'you think it's a good idea to have your tiny look-alike walking around here?" Sirius wondered. He was walking up behind them and frowning. "You've got enough enemies, Ash, I don't think she should be wandering around. She's a kid."

Alexia made a face at him. "Padfoot, that is the least of our worries right now. Can you go home and be with James and Lily? I have to handle this but they need someone."

"Yeah, but what-,"

Alexia didn't give him time to ask. Instead, she led her husband and her alternate self back down to the DOM to see Bertie, who was sitting in the Multiverse room, watching Draco work on the machine. "Bertie, shouldn't you be helping?"

"No," Draco answered for Bertie. "Did you know he has no clue what he's doing?"

"What?" Alexia blinked. "Of course he-,"

"He broke the transmuter," Draco glared up at her. "Even Bertie isn't stupid enough to break something on purpose, Dolohov."

Alexia rolled her eyes at him. Bertie definitely had broken it on purpose, she knew that much. "Whatever. Bertie, Feliks hasn't stopped by for evil shit, has he?"

"No, but I'll keep my eye out!"

"Great," she muttered. "Where would he go?"

"There are multiple properties in Russia," Antonin told her. "As well as where he stayed when he lived here."

Alexia made a face. "Wonderful. Let's go."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"I don't know, and I don't care," Mia replied sharply. "Can we please move on? I need to talk to Theo about our duties this year. McGonagall just sent over the list."

Regulus exchanged a glance with Avery and followed her down the hall. "I know you're mad at her-,"

"That's a fucking understatement," Mia muttered.

"-but you made a promise, and it's not her fault to begin with, from what I understand."

Mia turned to glare at her fiance. "Are you- Regulus, you don't exist anymore!"

"He does," Avery corrected her. "Adelaide's husband doesn't."

"That's what I said."

"No, you're upset because you're scared of losing Regulus," he disagreed. "And you made a commitment. No matter how scared you are, you know Alexia may be in danger. You don't leave your friends in danger, Mia."

Mia scowled at them both. "You're fucking irritating, did you know that?"

"Yes, Little Lion," Regulus grabbed her hand within his own and led her down to their Multiverse machine. It was clearly on the fritz, and Alexia's screen was cracked - not off, but cracked. "Do you know how to-,"

She tapped her wand to her ring and made a face as a portal opened up. "You're both coming with me."

The three jumped through the portal and came out the other side in an unfamiliar place. Looking around, Mia turned in a circle. She stopped short at the sight of Alexia cursing rapidly in French. "Oh great, you're in a good mood."

Alexia's head shot up. "Mia? How- no, why? You're- you were-,"

"I get the gist of it," Mia rolled her eyes. "Unfortunately, as pissed as I am at you, I do still give a shit. What the hell's going on? What's Estelle doing here?"

"Mia Potter," Antonin said slowly. He was looking at Mia oddly, in a way that made her tense.

"Dolohov, what's wrong with your husband?"

Alexia bristled. "Feliks escaped and gave Antonin a bump on the head. He's fine."

"Feliks escaped?" Mia tensed. "Shit. Fuck. Okay, how can we help?"

"I don't know!" Alexia threw up her arms. "I didn't fucking know him, guys. All I know is what he wanted from me. We barely interacted before that when he told me I'd destroy the House. And- fuck. I don't know how to track someone I don't know, okay?"

"Okay, calm down," Mia told her. "I've got an idea. I don't know if it's a good idea, but… try calling your family magic."

Alexia paused a beat. "Which one?"

Mia rolled her eyes. "The Dolohov one. Merlin, I forgot you're a member of every fucking House in the Wizengamot. Call the Dolohov family magic. It was helping you in that other place, right?"

"Before I got cut off from it and had a seizure, sure," she muttered. Still, she took Mia's advice and called Sara. When the thestral appeared, she touched its head and breathed out slowly. "Sara, help me find Feliks."

Instead of leaving to do as she asked, Sara stood there, twitching. She was between Alexia and Antonin and didn't seem to know what to do. Estelle stepped forward, confused. "I don't understand. Our family magic would go immediately. Is it… broken?"

"It might be," Alexia said softly, sadly. She stroked Sara's head and sighed. "She's never done this before, even with everything going on. I don't understand."

Mia crossed her arms over her chest. "I'll take your husband and Regulus and we'll start searching whatever places Dolohov owns in Russia. You stay with Avery and Stella and search London. If he's out, he's probably looking for you."

"I will not leave her-,"

"Yes, you will," Mia snapped. "You know this place best and if she goes to Russia and he's there, she's farther away from family and friends that can help her. Even you have to see it's safer for her."

"She's right," Alexia told Antonin softly. "I'll get Fabian and Gideon to help me, too. I'll be safe here. Mia's a damn good fighter and a Legendary, too. Go with her and get him under control again."

Stiffly, Antonin gave a short nod. With that in mind, Mia took Regulus and Antonin back to Russia. It took nearly twenty minutes to get there and she was sticking to Antonin unlike ever before. "So, Dolohov, tell me. You and Lexi plan to have kids?"

Antonin stiffened. "I'd prefer if we focus."

"Well, I'm just asking because I know the last time I saw her, she told me she was worried she was pregnant," she continued. "Said that with her job, it's too dangerous. The machine isn't safe for pregnancy, and with the state of the multiverse, she couldn't take time off to have a kid, so she was going to-,"

"Kill it?" Antonin asked sharply.

Mia's eyes flashed. Something in her was screaming, so she pressed him a little harder. "She had an appointment with a muggle doctor for the day after she saw me. That was weeks ago."

He seemed to be trying to calm himself by taking some deep breaths, but it clearly wasn't working. "She claimed she is infertile."

"Well, you remember how it happened," Mia tilted her head at him. "Don't you?"

"Of course."

"You tortured Lexi," she said slowly. "You almost killed her. It left a lot of lasting damage, including her uterus."

Antonin's eyes flashed furiously. "He did this to her? He is the reason she cannot bear my heir?"

"Ha, I fucking knew it," Mia muttered. Her wrist snapped to the side to curse him, but he put up a shield far too quickly. "How the hell did you do it, Feliks? Couldn't be Polyjuice, you were locked up."

"I woke up this way," he replied. "Finally, I was able to overpower my ridiculous cousin and-,"

"And you thought you'd take his place," Regulus scoffed at him. "You think Alexia won't notice the bond with her husband is missing?"

"Avada Kedavra!"

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"What's going on?" Alexia asked Avery as they walked through the streets. "Mia's being weird."

Avery looked at her hesitantly. "I believe she has an idea about where your cousin is that she… thought best to look at without you."

"You're irritating," she rolled her eyes at him. "Here, in Mia's universe, even Addy's you can be irritating. Emilie's you isn't that bad."

"Avery is my friend," Estelle told them. "And he's perfectly tolerable. I think you're just easily irritated."

"Yeah, well, when the survival of the entire multiverse lands on your shoulders and you're distracted because your psychotic cousin broke out and wants to use you as an incubator, feel free to judge me."

A large patronus of a dog flew in front of them. "Ash, get to- Merlin, get to the DOM. You need to get us down there. Mia's dead."

Panic filled Alexia's chest. She didn't hesitate to grab Avery and Estelle and - ignoring the muggles surrounding them - Apparate straight to the Ministry. They landed in front of the elevators and she found Sirius banging on a locked elevator with Regulus, who held Mia in his arms. "Fuck. What happened?"

"Get us down there!" Regulus demanded.

Cursing, Alexia swiped her Unspeakable badge and opened up the elevator - which had only locked due to Sirius trying to get into it - and led them inside. With a relatively dangerous spell, she sped up the elevator until they got down to the DOM. Once there, she looked around at the doors quietly for a moment. Finally, she swiped her badge once more at the door three ahead on the left.

Rushing toward the Veil, Regulus gently put her on the ground. It didn't take long for him to tell Sirius what to do. Alexia watched in wonder as Mia shot awake again. Regulus grabbed her tightly in his arms, but Mia's eyes met Alexia's. "He's not your husband, Lexi."

"What?"

"He's not your husband. Fucking Feliks looks like Dolohov and that means your husband is missing, too."

"He- how-what?" Sirius stared at them. "Does this have to do with Lily being like two weeks pregnant again?"

Alexia grimaced. "It might. We haven't been watching home for any sort of multiverse issues. We should have been. I suppose this somewhat confirms our theory of Feliks being to me what Antonin is to you, Mia. But-,"

"If he's Feliks, where's your husband?" Estelle wondered. "I know where my Antonin would go."

"No offense, kid, but I think Lexi's adult husband would go somewhere different than-,"

"Probably not, because I assume both of their mothers died," Estelle snapped. "Antonin goes there when he's upset or- or in trouble. When his father asked him to join the Dark Lord, he-,"

"His mother," Alexia whispered. "I think I- I think I know where that is. I've never been, he's never really told me, but I saw it when we bonded. A small house in- in Denmark. I think I can get us there."

"Some of us should look for Feliks," Avery told her. "In case he gets too far away."

"We're not going to get very far without Antonin. I- there's a lot I still don't know about him, I'll admit that, but I know he knows this family best. Besides, if- fuck. I need to get to him."

"I'll stay back, get Fabian and Gideon and set up a search for both of them," Sirius told her. "You guys go ahead. Send us a patronus if you find him."

"I can't take all of you," Alexia looked between them. "Mia, I… I know we're not good, I know Addy could've been you, but… this is my husband."

Mia nodded quietly and got to her feet. "Reg, Avery, stay with Stella. Don't argue, because we don't have time for it."

"Mia-,"

"I'll be fine."

"You just died!" Regulus argued loudly. "I watched you die, Mia! You clearly aren't fine."

"I am now, but if we don't hurry, Lexi's husband could be next," Mia snapped. "And if I die again? Sirius is here. So just let me help my fucking friend and then we can go home and you can yell at me for being reckless."

"Mia!"

Mia grabbed onto Alexia, gave her a short nod, and held on tight as Alexia Apparated them away. They landed roughly, and Alexia stumbled over to throw up on the floor. Mia made a face at her. "Really? Isn't that a little dramatic?"

Once she'd wiped off her mouth, she glared at her friend. "You try Apparating with a side-along to a place you've only glimpsed in a memory from your husband. It's harder than it seems, Potter."

"Okay," Mia put up her hands. "Let's take a breath. So we're here, where would he be?"

"I don't know," Alexia admitted. "Let's just… stay together."

With a shrug, Mia grabbed Alexia's hand. At the weird look she got, Mia rolled her eyes. "Physically holding one another seems to be our best bet at staying together, multiverse-wise. I think I'll make it a habit while the multiverse is going to shit to hold onto you, since that's how we got out of fucking purgatory."

"Fair point," Alexia muttered.

It didn't take them long to find him. He wasn't actually in the house - rather, he was outside in the garden. He stared at the flowers, uncomprehending and unmoving.

"Antonin," Alexia breathed. She rushed over to her husband, dragging Mia along, and touched his cheek. He didn't move, and her gut twisted as she cast a few diagnostic spells. It came up with one spell that had been cast on him, and it made her pause. "What's… Efferant Universa Animo? I've never heard of it."

"Oh, shit," Mia cursed. "Well, the good news is that this is easily removable. The bad news is that apparently, Feliks was trying to wipe his mind."

"He what?"

Mia waved her off and then quietly waved her hand at Antonin. A green light poured away from his head, and he blinked a few times.

"Hermione…"

Alexia breathed out in relief and kissed him without pause. When their lips parted, she pressed her forehead to his. "If this is even a little bit of how you feel when I'm… fuck. How do you feel?"

Antonin frowned, looking between them. "What happened?"

"A lot," she answered him quietly. "Feliks got out. He looks like you, Antonin. He killed Mia. We're lucky he didn't know she could come back."

"Reg got hexed too, according to Sirius," Mia added. "Pretty bad Diffindo, but your cousin has shitty aim. He was healed before I even came back."

Antonin grabbed Alexia's face in his hands. "Did he hurt you, Dorogaya?"

She shook her head quickly. "No. But when we realized what happened, I had to find you. He tried to wipe your mind. I have to wonder why he didn't Obliviate you."

"It'd take too much time to erase his whole life permanently," Mia answered for him. "If I'd been locked up in a basement for as long as he has been, I'd move quick, too."

Antonin got to his feet and looked around. He was tense and made his way back into the house and toward the floo. "Go to your aunt's house and stay there. I will get you once he is back under control."

"No," Alexia said sharply. She grabbed his arm, but he pulled it away. "Damn it, Antonin, I'm not going to leave you to fight him alone! He already got you once-,"

"And he won't get me again!" he snapped back at her. When she took a step back, he did as well, looking startled by himself. "Hermione- Alexia, there are those in our House that would aid him in our murders. I will not allow you to-,"

Alexia scoffed loudly and glared at him. "You won't allow? Are you fucking kidding me?"

"I will not allow you to be killed!" Antonin yelled. "Feliks has crossed the line and he will be-,"

Mia finally cut in, also angry now. "This is the line? Not when he fucking stabbed Lexi? Merlin, I can still imagine her fucking blood on my hands, Dolohov. I've seen her near death way too much and I, for one, think it would be really fucking stupid to leave her in a house with a muggle that your family most likely knows about. Stop being a jackass because you're sad we saw your- whatever the hell this place is. You're smarter than this, or did that spell take a bit more than we expected?"

Antonin took a step toward her, but Alexia moved in his way. She stared up at him furiously with angry tears in her eyes. "Antonin, today is not the day for you to lose your shit and threaten her. I know you were going to, I could feel it in your mind. I've been told I have more brain damage from the memory eclipse-,"

"What the fuck?" Mia asked her loudly, but she was ignored.

"-and then I found Feliks, and fucking Estelle showed up, and then the goddamn fucking multiverse nearly killed James and Lily's baby and I had to do some really fucking dangerous blood magic to save her. After that, Mia had the audacity to die, and now you're- I can't fucking handle this. The entire multiverse is falling apart and I promised I'd protect Hermione with her curse, and Cassie… fuck, I'm going to lose her and I just- I'm about to lose my mind. I have way too much to do to- to fight with you right now and I just can't fucking handle potentially losing you. Do you understand? I will not lose you to Feliks. So stop acting like this and just tell us where he'd go!"

By the time she'd stopped yelling at him, tears were flowing down her cheeks. She stared up at him, her hands shaking at her sides, and waited as he searched her eyes quietly. Finally, he reached up to wipe away her tears and pulled her closer to press a kiss to her forehead. It took all the energy in her to keep from breaking down into tears - no matter how overwhelmed, tired, and scared she was, she couldn't break down yet, and neither could he.

They had work to do.

"When Feliks was younger, he got married," Antonin told them. He pulled Alexia into his arms and held her tightly while he spoke. "To a muggle named Celia."

Alexia jerked back to look at him in surprise. "He what?"

"He lost contact completely for a few years," Antonin continued slowly. "I never knew what happened, but I would assume Mischa killed the woman. After that, Feliks was somewhat unstable. Everyone saw it but him, our fathers and myself included."

"Merlin," Mia muttered. "I think I can confidently say I hate your family, as well as the majority of Regulus's. I remember him telling me a pretty similar story that one of his great uncles went through."

"Do you think he'd go back to her?" Alexia wondered. "Her grave or something?"

Antonin shook his head. "The home they lived in is still owned by our family. Mischa didn't bother to sell it, and neither did my father or I. I lived there during the war, and used it during school before or after meetings."

Alexia's eyes widened. "Antonin, don't you dare tell me that's where I told you-,"

"It is."

She tipped her head back and groaned loudly.

Mia looked between them and raised an eyebrow. "Okay, I'll bite. What happened there?"

"When I saved the Prewett twins," Alexia said slowly. "It was different than you. I faked their deaths first, and then I went back for them when I came back to 1998. When I went back to them, Reg and I had broken up and I spoke to Mum and Dad when I got to the past. They told me to be with Antonin if I loved him."

"They told you that?" Mia asked in surprise.

"Yeah. So, I needed a place to make the fake bodies of the twins, and Antonin told me to go to this apartment, because it would be empty. He's a fucking liar, and he was there when I got there. That's when I first told him I loved him."

"Ew," Mia made a face. "That sucks. But you think he'd go there?"

Antonin shook his head. "It is the only place he would assume Hermione does not know about. It is warded strongly, but we can still control those wards, being Lord and Lady Dolohov."

"Let's go get him."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Standing in the middle of the living room with Antonin and Sirius on either side of her, Alexia shook as she looked at the wall above the fireplace.

Come get me.

Gideon walked up quietly behind Alexia and cleared his throat. No one turned around, but he still spoke. "So, we've identified her. It was hard considering the… state of her, but it was a muggle woman named… ah, Jasmine Morris."

Alexia nearly threw up. She grabbed onto Antonin and wavered. Her words were a mere whisper. "You're sure?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry, Lexi. You knew her?"

She nodded silently.

"I'm gonna… get them home," Sirius said quietly.

"There's one more thing- er, two, actually," Gideon cringed. Alexia finally turned to look at him, and he had a difficult time forcing himself to tell her. "We found two more nearly identical crime scenes across London. We got IDs for them as well."

"And?"

"Autumn Palmer and Lila Roth."

Antonin's eyes shot to Alexia, and she looked sick. "It is not your fault."

"It doesn't matter if it is," she replied quietly. "I don't know how, but he knows. He knows about my neurologist, he knows about one of our oldest cases, and he knows about the only cousin Lily cared about. The girl Lily asked me to protect during the war, that I never told anyone about. I don't think even James knew- and now. Now I have to go home and tell Lily for the second time in our lives that because of me, someone she loves is dead. So it doesn't matter, Antonin. Just take me home."

OoOoOoOoOoOo