Chapter 21
Luxury of Time
She was one of the forty-nine vampires around the world whose existence was allowed, since she had her bloodlust well under control. After the rigorous exterminations the Order of Illumination had conducted over the past few years, she had also moved up in the age ranking to settle among the eldest vampires in existence. Before her transformation, two hundred and forty-one years ago, she had been a twenty-five year-old half-blood witch, and the mother of two.
Her husband had been from a pure-blood family of vampire hunters, which had something to do with her transformation. In retaliation for the destruction of many of his spawn, a vampire had attacked her and drained her within in mere inches of her life, intending to turn her. He was foiled by another vampire calling himself The Confessor, known to be a champion of good. He slew her attacker, and reluctantly, upon the insistence of her husband's family, granted her a vampire's eternity with his own blood. It was an odd request at first glance, but Ron knew what they must have been thinking. Many vampires had trouble killing up to a year into their unlife, but almost all of their minds were eventually perverted by the bloodlust, turning them into sociopaths. However, all of The Confessor's offspring sired previously had successfully resisted the call of evil and controlled their bloodlust—hence the vampire hunter family's request. Thus this lady vampire had remained a part of her living family ever since, her feeding needs being taken care of by a large pool of volunteers consisting of her many living descendants.
Though all Rangers had heard the story of Madame Isabelle d'Orléans, few had ever actually had the pleasure of meeting her in person—and a pleasure it was. Her dress strongly reminded Ron of the ones he'd seen in a Muggle movie Hermione had made him watch once, about two French nobles seducing people and wrecking their lives for their personal entertainment. The gown was made of teal green silk with decorations in pink silk and embellished with hundreds of little silk roses. The gown's extremely low cut coupled with a corset pushing up her breasts made her a very enticing sight. Resisting forms of entrancement had never been his strong suit, and Ron thanked his lucky stars that she wasn't evil, for he instinctively knew that he would have walked into her embrace without too much resistance if she had asked for a nibble on his neck.
Ron felt someone nudge him in the side, and he snapped out of her reverie, meeting Harry's exasperated green gaze.
"Let's not act in a way that would have made the wives jealous had they been here, shall we?"
Ron felt his face warm up. He nodded mutely.
"That goes for you too, Ranger Larsson," Harry snapped at Rolf, who was still openly ogling Madame Isabelle.
"Why? I'm not married," Rolf muttered in reply, not even looking away from Isabelle.
"Is your name Larsson?" Isabelle's misty-grey eyes lit up and her full red lips quirked upwards in a smile. "I knew a Ranger named Martin Larsson. Family of yours?"
Rolf nodded. "My uncle."
"Hmmm, I can see the resemblance. How is he?"
"He was killed in action years ago."
"Oh, I am sorry."
"It's been a few decades, so my family's already come to terms with his death. But thanks anyway."
"Why are you Rangers 'ere?" the young witch who had reluctantly let them into the mansion and led them to the library, interrupted. "Madame Isabelle 'as done nussing wrong!"
"Don't worry. We don't mean her any harm." Harry turned to Isabelle. "I'm Harry Potter. Rolf has already introduced himself in his own uniquely rude way, and the gentleman with the red hair is Ronald Weasley."
"Charmed," Ron said in a squeaky voice.
She nodded graciously. "It is an honour to meet you at last, Mr Potter and Mr Weasley. And you too, Mr Larsson. Welcome to Calais. To what do I owe this visit? It has to do something with the vampires in England, c'est pas vrai?" she asked, speaking much better English than her descendant had.
Though wizards didn't know as much about vampires as they would like, all experts agreed on certain assumptions based on observations made in the past. The elder and more powerful the sire, the more quickly the spawn gained power as well. The Confessor must already have been old when he had sired Madame Isabelle, for she had begun to manifest certain powers normally acquired after at least a hundred years mere decades into her unlife. No one knew exactly how old The Confessor was now, but even in the earliest records about him dated six hundred years ago, there had been accounts of feats that Anastasiou hadn't been capable of at the peak of his power. Isabelle's renowned ability to sense other vampires hundreds of miles away was quite remarkable for a vampire as 'young' as she was. Sires could sense their spawn, and vice versa, but only vampires roughly three times as old as Madame Isabelle was now had been known to be able to sense 'unrelated' vampires. And since she lived on the outskirts of Calais, the town Crawley in the southeast of England was well within her sensing range.
Ron nodded. "That's right. We were hoping that you could tell us more about them. Like how many there were, for example."
Madame Isabelle's thin eyebrows drew together and she pursed her lips as she contemplated the question that had been posed to her. She brought her small hand up to her face and idly began to twirl the lock that fell free from her French twist on the left side of her face. Ron forced himself to look away, afraid that he would be far too captivated by her to hear a word she was saying when she answered his question. He looked around the library instead, letting his gaze drift across the rows of books.
"I cannot tell you exactly how many," she finally said. "There were between twenty five and thirty. Three of them I sensed twenty years ago, and they were a little older than the others, but still young. I know they used a … what do you English call it … a Portkey. One moment they were on this side of the channel, and the next moment they were in England."
"Are vampires that young capable of putting someone under their thrall?" Ron asked.
"Non. Not even if they had a very old sire. They were too young."
Ron knew that meant that they had to have either a wizard ally or knew a wizard unscrupulous enough to deal with unregistered vampires.
"Can you still sense them?" Harry asked.
"They are beyond the reach of my senses now, but they travelled the normal way before they went too far. They went north. That is all I can tell you."
"You've been a great help nonetheless," Ron said. Now he knew that the vampires could travel by Portkey, and that they had the services of a wizard or witch skilled enough to create stealthy Portkeys. There were very few wizards in the world who knew how to do that, and even fewer crooked ones, since most of the legitimate ones were his colleagues in the Order of Illumination's Artificer Division. If he could find out who had helped the vampires, the witch or wizard in question might identify some of them, giving Ron even more to work with.
"Would you like a cup of tea before you go?" Madame Isabelle offered. She gestured to the fidgety young witch sneaking surreptitious glances at Rolf, who in turn was sneaking glances at Madam Isabelle's cleavage. "My niece makes wonderful tea."
Rolf shook his head sadly. "Sorry, but we can't breast—err—rest before we complete this mission."
"There's reason to believe that those vampires might have abducted an Auror. We don't have the luxury of time," Harry explained.
Madame Isabelle nodded in understanding. "I wish you luck. I hope you find the Auror alive."
XXX
"Honestly, Rolf, didn't your mother teach you any manners? You stared at her cleavage the entire time."
Without waiting for a reply, Ron activated the special Portkey that all Rangers carried. It was keyed to whatever Cruiser was their mobile base, and took them straight to it. Harry activated his Portkey own Portkey and saw Rolf do the same, and they simultaneously arrived in the Draco's designated arrival square. It could accommodate up to four people simultaneously teleporting in, but with Ron still in the square it was a bit crowded.
"Couldn't help myself, Ron. I'm a breast-man—although I have to admit that Wendy's breasts were a bit too much even for me," Rolf continued the conversation. "But if a woman flaunts 'em like that, I can't help looking."
"That's because you're a pig!" Maaike's voice rang good-naturedly, followed by snickers from Rashid Farouk and Tariq ben-Hamoud. The remaining two Combat Ranger members of Harry's team, Nestor Gaitan and Benjamin Paradou, wisely held their tongues and pretended to inspect some of the floor panels.
Rolf scowled at Tariq and Rashid. "What are you two laughing at? I seem to recall both of you expressing your frustration about your local Muggles' insistence on covering up their women. You like skin even more than I do."
Harry smiled. While Rolf was right, Tariq and Rashid would never be caught saying that with a woman present.
Rolf turned to Maaike. "And you are just bitter because you'd never have a chance with me!"
"As if! I'm not the one who has to resort to a partner old enough to be my parent," Maaike retorted shrilly, though her statement was immediately followed by a flash of regret. Harry knew she hadn't meant to bring it up, but Rolf's taunt had bruised her ego. However, she shunted her regret aside to continue her verbal assault.
While he was being immersed in the foreign thoughts and emotions broadcast by the rising tensions, Harry's still managed to feel his own surprise. He thought he had been the only one to know about Rolf's affair with Commander Kovalenko. He had been a bit shocked when he unexpectedly picked up a broadcast from Commander Kovalenko's mind a few months ago, due to her initial guilt over sleeping with Rolf. However, to his knowledge, Rolf hadn't been with Commander Kovalenko for quite a while.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Rolf said quickly, though the way he had just blanched told the onlookers a different story.
"I always knew you were a sleaze-bag, but I never expected you to try and sleep your way to the top!"
"Bloody hell, Rolf. Found yourself a sugar-mama, eh? Who've you been shagging, and can you put in a good word for me the next time you meet her?" Ron laughed, blissfully unaware of why Maaike's revelation was so serious. But how could he have known? Unlike the business with Wendy and Padma, this secret had been kept quiet very successfully, though Harry had a hunch that it was mostly due to Commander Kovalenko's Intelligence Division experience. Ron didn't realise that Maaike meant Rolf sleeping his way to the top in the Order of Illumination.
Rolf hadn't heard Ron, though, because he was so outraged by what Maaike had implied. Before Harry could silence him, he defended Commander Kovalenko. "Irina would never show favouritism because of our relationship."
"Bloody hell, Irina as in Commander Kovalenko?" Ron cried out after adding up the fresh information
Harry winced. The cat was out of the bag. It was time to do something he had never done before, namely, pull rank and give orders. "This information doesn't leave this Cruiser. That's an order!"
Suddenly feeling suspicious, he used his special vision to peer into the upper deck, which confirmed his suspicion. The pair of artificers and the healer, Rachel Esklove, Cirilo Roverano, and Vania Goumas respectively, were all huddled around the speaker at Rachel's pilot console.
"That goes for three of you upstairs too. I know you're listening in, and I'm deadly serious about keeping this between us." Glancing back at the Rangers surrounding him, he continued. "I want everyone but Maaike and Rolf upstairs … now!"
Rashid, Tariq, Nestor and Benjamin vanished to the upper deck faster than one could say Quidditch.
Ron lingered for a moment. "I'll call Citadel C&C and request that they devote three Orbital Eyes to scanning the south-east of England of for residual imprints of stealthy Portkeys," he offered. "I'll also ask Rachel if she still knows how to make an extract of residual energies. If she's rusty she'd better brush up, because once we get the Portkey's signature, we can run it against possible wand signatures in our archives. I don't think it'll lead anywhere, because I have a feeling that the Portkey's maker was clever enough to use a stolen wand to pull it off."
"Do you think it's someone we know, then?"
"I'm hoping that it is," Ron said seriously. "Better that than someone crafty enough to have learnt creating stealthy Portkeys under our noses."
"Good point," Harry conceded. "Go do your thing."
After the levitation circle had taken Ron to the upper deck, Harry rounded on Rolf and Maaike. "Now I want you two to talk about this, find the root of the problem and pull it out. The two of you used to be thick as thieves," he added, citing the main reason why he had asked for Rolf's transfer into his unit.
When Riyadi decided that the drawbacks of keeping the disruptive pair of Ramos and Larsson despite their frequent juvenile antics began to outweigh their teamwork benefits, he split them up. George had been sent to Khan's team, where he had immediately settled in. Rolf, however, had found it difficult to find to find his niche in his new team, and when it became evident that things weren't working out, Harry had volunteered to accept him into his team in anticipation of Maaike's return from her project in England. She and Rolf had always been competitive, and the fact that he had felt Maaike's hot breath in the back of his neck in the Martial Division's unofficial ranking had kept Rolf working hard, lest he be beaten by a girl. Aside from that, her humour and fanatic love of Quidditch that rivalled Rolf's own love for the game gave them a lot of common interests, leading to a friendship second only to Rolf's friendship with Geo.
It was painfully obvious, however, that that were some underlying issues disrupting their communication. "Well?"
Rolf and Maaike both looked at him uncomfortably, and Maaike spoke up first. "Can't we talk about this privately?"
"I'm afraid not," Harry said sternly. "If it affects the functioning of my team, it's my business too. If you hadn't behaved like children, you wouldn't be in this mess."
Rolf looked at Maaike. "Would you like me to go first?"
Maaike shrugged. "Be my guest."
"Okay. First of all, Ir—Commander Kovalenko and I aren't seeing each other anymore. Part of the reason she was attracted to me was because I look like my uncle, and I guess I dug her because of an Oedipus-thing."
"She not your mother," Maaike remarked.
"No, but it's the same Quidditch pitch. It's a lot like giving a foot-massage to—"
"If you use that foot-massage anecdote again, I'll hex you into oblivion," Maaike warned.
"You mean you'd try!" Rolf shot back.
"You think I can't take you?" Maaike challenged, and Harry strategically cleared his throat to cut short an escalation.
"Rolf, you were saying that you and Commander Kovalenko weren't involved anymore. Please continue."
"All right. Err, well, after we got the tension out of our systems, we went back to a normal professional relationship." Rolf looked at Maaike. "But how did you find out, anyway?"
"When I came back for an evaluation in March, I wanted to visit you so we could catch up. When I couldn't find you, I used a Sentinel Globe to look for you," she quickly added. "But I was wearing goggles, so I'm the only one who saw the data-feed of the Ruby Dragon."
Rolf, who had tensed up after Maaike uttered the words Sentinel Globe, relaxed again. Harry knew why, since Hermione had once told him that a handful his fellow Rangers had inadvertently watched part of his first night with Ginny through the Sentinel Globe..
Maaike continued. "Seeing you and Commander Kovalenko made me upset because … well … you've never had a relationship with a female Ranger before that."
Rolf grinned. "Not for lack of trying, though."
Owing to his gift, Harry knew that was a little white lie, for Rolf had in fact bedded another female Ranger shortly after he had been recruited into the Order. Hopefully no one would ever find out about that. Not a day went by that he didn't somewhat regret being a Mind Reader. The advantages hardly outweighed the drawbacks.
"It also bothered me that you never tried anything with me." Maaike laughed nervously in a vain attempt to bleed off some tension. "It didn't bother me before, but actually seeing you with another woman who is a Ranger—I remembered that you wouldn't touch me even when I threw myself at you after the New Year's party, five years ago. Adding to this that Rick has just more or less told me that he wanted to move on—well, I suggested the break-up, but I suppose it still stung that he agreed so readily." She paused to arrest her rambling and collect her thoughts before continuing. "I guess it has all festered inside me these last few months, and when you said I'd never have a chance with you, it kind of struck a nerve."
"You shouldn't take what happened, or rather, what didn't happen after the New Year's party personally. I told you afterwards that I don't take advantage of drunk women, didn't I?"
"Yeah, and that was a lie," Maaike retorted sourly. "You took advantage of an old school-friend easily enough three years ago. You even bragged about it to Geo."
"She was hardly a friend. It was revenge for all the grief she's given me about my acne in our school years," Rolf said defensively. "If it makes you feel any better, I've had some sleepless nights thinking about getting together with you, but I didn't want to risk wrecking a great friendship," he added earnestly.
"Really?"
"Maaike, I may mostly hit on our pretty colleagues, but the truth is that looks don't matter to me that much. For the better part of my teens my face looked like the Himalayas, and I thought I'd never get a girlfriend. So it wasn't your looks that made me steer clear of you. I also knew you had a boyfriend, and I didn't want to wreck your relationship with him."
"I'm glad we cleared that up." Maaike gave Rolf as much of a smile as she could manage in her embarrassment, and stuck out her hand. "Looks like silence isn't always golden after all, eh? Friends?"
Rolf looked at Maaike hopefully as he engulfed her hand in both of his. "Since everything is out in the open, I thought we might try going beyond that. What do you say? Feel like taking some risks? Neither of us is getting any younger, and we're at a nice age to settle down a bit."
Maaike's eyes widened. "You're serious, aren't you?"
Rolf blushed. "I wouldn't say all this myself in front of a witness if I weren't."
Harry could no longer restrain a chuckle. "You know, Hermione told me that Geo and Lilia got formally together after a row very much like the one you two just had."
Maaike turned to Harry. "I didn't say I'd go along with it."
"You won't?" Rolf asked, looking crestfallen.
Maaike rolled her eyes. "I didn't say that either. I wouldn't mind giving it a try, but you need to work on your sensitivity. Let's take it one step at a time."
"One step at a time's good," Rolf agreed.
Maaike turned to Harry. "Now that you've solved our issues, would you mind giving us some time alone?"
Harry stepped onto the levitation circle and shot the potential new couple a mischievous grin. "We'll be in England soon, so please don't take a leaf out of the Kellys' book right now. Keep it decent."
Maaike's outraged reply was cut off as the levitation circle quickly carried Harry to the next deck, where he saw everyone except Ron cloistered around Rachel's pilot console. Ron sat next to the main communications console, wearing a headset and talking to whoever was on duty in Command and Control.
"Gee, Harry. Who would've thought that you're such a good matchmaker? By the way, thanks for making me sixty Galleons richer." Rachel Esklove gave the other Rangers a superior smirk. "I told you guys it was sexual tension. Cash will be fine, but gift certificates from Concordia's finest jewellers are also welcome."
"Oh, they're going to kiss!" Vania Goumas said with a look of utter disgust on her face.
Harry followed her gaze and noticed that the others were watching images from the lower deck. "So much for taking things slowly."
"She said one step at a time, but not how quickly those steps would be taken," Nestor Gaitan pointed out.
Harry reached over and flicked the console mirror's switch, causing the mirror to go to its normal reflective self. "Give them a bit of privacy, Rachel. The other Rangers don't spy on you and He Who Must Not Be Named."
Rachel scowled. "Not funny."
"Then you see my point. Now take us to Crawley."
"Not London?"
Harry shook his head. "The bureaucrats can wait, but magical trails grow cold quickly."
XXX
Ginny had just been sliding Ironheart's hand off her bum and up to her waist when Hermione interrupted their dance with the shocking news of Wolfe's return. Now they sprinted up the final flight of stairs that led up to the Imperial Tower's observation deck, and Ginny was a bit surprised to be having trouble keeping up with a wizard in his eighties. Still, they reached the landing together, and both briefly froze in their tracks as they saw Wolfe. He was facing away from them, but it was undoubtedly him. His hair was longer than Ginny had ever seen him wear it, gathered in a braid that ended up roughly between his shoulder blades. Two forelocks were braided as well, dangling next to his face and giving him a bit of a wild look.
"Max, it's so good to see you, my boy!" Ironheart burst out and swept forward towards his grandson.
Wolfe met him halfway and engulfed his grandfather in a hug. "I wish it were under better circumstances. I just dispatched several mercenary assassins hired by Yamato and the Duchess of Astirian to kill Nicolai and Mary … and they had a contact within the city. One of the local patricians—I don't know who, yet— decided to help the duchess in exchange for future favours. Long story, but let me say hello to Ginny first."
"I was beginning to think I was invisible," Ginny said, pretending to be offended as she walked over to Wolfe.
Wolfe gave her a weary grin. "I didn't mean to be rude, but you know me. I have a compulsion to get to the point quickly."
"You're forgiven. So, how have you been? Aside from the fight just now."
"Very busy. Yamato entered the employ of Duchess of Astirian about ten months ago. It quickly translated into some nasty weapons for the ducal forces' forward scouts. So far my powers have prevented the resistance from taking more casualties because of it, but it's only a matter of time before Yamato's workshops start churning out more and heavier war machines. I wanted to take things easy, but I've heard some very plausible rumours about dreadful war machines being built, and now I don't have the luxury of time anymore. That's why I'm planning to raid his workshops very soon. I need to slow down his weapons production long enough for the rural towns to throw off the last remnants of mutual mistrust and rally together under the banner of freedom."
"I take it your campaign has been going well, then?" Ironheart asked.
Wolfe nodded. "The resistance really got a boost when I pushed my powers and mastered the phoenix Animagus form. A few weeks after I pulled it off I could be everywhere at once, and the best part is that, as a phoenix, I can teleport everywhere my duplicates have been. That's how I came to Shamballah. I sent ahead a duplicate, and teleported when he got here—but I'm straying. Basically I keep several of my duplicates as liaisons in several towns and all the resistance encampments. It made it much easier to get everyone organised, not to mention neutralise the ducal spies within the resistance's ranks. And if a town came under assault, I could teleport there and summon few dozen duplicates to assist in the defence."
"Don't you find the sheer numbers of opponents daunting?"
Wolfe smiled grimly. "A direct battle at this point would be catastrophic for the resistance, but that's changing quickly. The resistance used to meet most ducal troops head on or with some very unsubtle ambushes, but I've taught them proper asymmetric warfare and hit and fade tactics. We've nibbled away roughly twenty percent of the ducal forces with minimal losses, and the duchess is having trouble keeping the garrisons in the outlier regions large enough to be intimidating.
"I also taught the resistance fighters that wars aren't always fought on the battlefield. Aside from waylaying most of the treasure convoys, we've raided precious metal and precious stone mines. We freed all the slaves and hauled away whatever a flock of duplicates in dragon-form could carry, before collapsing the entrances to the mines and making it very difficult for the duchess to gain access to them again. My sources tell me that she's finding it increasingly more difficult to motivate the mercenary experts who've achieved the greatest successes for her against the resistance. It was bad enough when they raised their tariffs after hearing what I was capable of, and now the duchess' resources are drying up. The people she sent after Nicolai were very skilled, and I bet she must have depleted her stockpile of wealth quite a bit to get them to come here."
"Will you change to conventional war when the ducal forces are weak enough?"
"I won't mobilise any kind of army before we're ready for a final assault on Astirian City itself. In fact, I want to draft as little people as possible. I'll keep up the guerrilla attacks and drive them deeper into their own territory until less than ten percent of the ducal troops are left. The main reason I've worked on strengthening ties between the different towns is not because I want to forge an army out of them, but because I don't want them at each other's throats after victory and the regime change. That's always been more of a worry to me that defeating the duchess."
Ironheart nodded. "Before you crack the coconut you have to make sure that the meat and milk don't spoil."
"I see Master Lei taught you about toppling governments too, Grandpa," Wolfe said dryly. "At the time I didn't think I'd ever find myself in a situation where I'd have to use this knowledge, but now I'm glad the old man taught me these things. I don't think I could have led the resistance nearly as well without his teachings."
"Max!" Hermione had emerged form the stairway and was striding towards them. "When I told Nicolai about the trouble he said that abandoning the festivities would tip off the troublemakers' contacts. He'll come and see you in an hour or so, when he and Mary are scheduled to leave the festivities. He also asked for you to cover the all the corridors connected to the ballroom's main exit, since the enemy would know that he and Mary are likely to use them, and the predictability of his departure time makes excellent ambush information. He says a second wave isn't inconceivable."
"I forgot how smart the kid is. He immediately deduced that the mercenaries had inside help, and he correctly pinpointed the best ambush time." Wolfe smiled and shook his head. "I already killed the assassins, but I'll keep an eye out in case there's a back-up wave. Thanks for message, little sister."
"I also thought I'd alert someone else to your arrival," Hermione said with a smirk, and moments after the words left her lips, Heidi emerged from the staircase, carrying her daughter in her arms. Then the three boys appeared as well, the two younger ones flushed with exertion but Robert looking like he had just finished a leisurely stroll.
Heidi thrust her daughter into Hermione's arms before lifting her skirt a bit so as not to trip when running towards Wolfe at full speed. She seemed blinded by joy, and Ginny had to get out of the way to prevent herself from being bowled over. Then Heidi was upon Wolfe, who caught her and twirled her around to bleed off her momentum before their mouths mashed against each other in a feverish kiss only long lost Soul Mates could manage.
After they came up for air, Heidi heaved a contented sight. "Mein Gott, I've missed you!"
"Not as much as I missed you," Wolfe replied huskily. Then he nodded towards Hermione. "I take it that the little version of yourself you dumped in Hermione's arms is our little girl?"
Heidi blushed and broke out of Wolfe's embrace to collect her daughter from Hermione. Wolfe chose the moment to go down on one knee and gesture the boys forward. "Come on, guys. I'd almost think you're not happy to see me!"
Robert and Henry cheered and ran into their father's embrace, but Westley sought shelter behind Hermione's skirt, and the disappointed look on Wolfe's face caused pangs of sympathy to flash through Ginny's heart. Even though he'd been showered by love and affection in Heidi's care and had made tremendous progress with social behaviour, the boy wouldn't be comfortable with his father until he was old enough to intellectually understand why Yamato had deceived him.
From the corner of her eye, Ginny saw that Heidi was about to call Westley over, but Wolfe interceded before she could do so. "It's okay. The fear is too deeply ingrained. We can't really expect him to overcome it until he's older. Don't be disappointed with him. How has he settled in at home?"
"Very well," Heidi replied proudly. "He's picking up English as quickly as only children can, and he even knows some German from when he hears me talk to Sissi."
"As in Elisabeth of Bavaria? Sissi of Austria?" Wolfe asked, a smirk of amusement appearing on his face.
"Yes, but I also had our mothers in mind when I named her Elisabeth," Heidi pointed out, as she brought their daughter over and gently passed her to Wolfe. "Kuck Sissi, dies ist dein pappie. Hallo Pappa. Möchtes du deinen pappie keinen kuss geben?"
Instead greeting her father with words, Sissi stretched up in her father's arms and kissed him on the cheek. Then she squealed out his name. "Max!"
Wolfe chuckled. "Great, she's one of those girls who won't call their father daddy. I thought that phase wasn't due until her teens."
"It's my fault. I've shown her pictures of you, but I mostly called you Max when showing her those pictures."
"Max, your hair wasn't braided when you were in Harry's form," Hermione began. "I didn't know Metamorph-magic could influence styling as well."
Wolfe's eyes hardened. "Hold that thought."
"What's wrong?" Hermione, Heidi, and Ginny asked in unison.
"Nicolai was right," Wolfe muttered as he quickly passed his daughter back to Heidi. "There is a second wave of assassins. I'm going to make them scream for interrupting my time with my kids," he added with a growl. Then he transformed into a phoenix and disappeared in a flash of flames.
XXX
Gogirl: He stopped the first wave of that attempt, yes. And Christine did help me with most of the dresses.
StarWest45: LOL, Asturia is from Escaflowne.
hootild: No, I don't make up the costumes myself. And the fighting will start in the next chapter.
lluvatar: Hey, something other than a one-worder.
justn: Well, I already knew the answer. I just forgot to put it in the chapter, which is why you were confused.
Foxfur: You're good! Yes, Mary's gown was an adapted version of the one Amidala wore at the peace ceremony in The Phantom Menace. And in case you were wondering, Commander Ironheart's was taken from Théoden in The Two Towers, Nicolai's from Faramir at the coronation ceremony in Return of the King, and Matt's from Celeborn in The Fellowship of the Ring.
Lipton: Yep, Gudrun's dad is gay. Do you think a straight guy could leave a hot number like Gudrun's mum (in her younger years before her illness) behind? ;-)
soulfire: If I don't update anymore you can assume that I got hit by a truck, or something. knock on wood
Saint Mike: Ah, so you're familiar with the Slavic naming conventions. Yep, Maria's father's surname is Sharapov, so her surname is Sharapova. LOLOLOL. And before you ask; No, I'm not one of those dudes obsessed with Maria Sharapova. :-) Oh, she's pretty enough, but I don't like my women quite that thin.
Harrypotterfan777777: It's not that I don't like sunshine reviews, but I like reviews containing some criticism better. As for losing focus to what the characters are doing, I am aware of that flaw in my writing, but thanks for pointing it out again. I write like I talk. I can skip from one topic to another seemingly unrelated topic rather easily. My plotting should indeed become a bit more linear.
But, err, what do you mean about Ginny being an Animagus? She's not an Animagus. Yeah ,she can sprout angelic wings, but I did explain how that came to pass.
Lupin123: I'll try to update as quickly as possible.
Elric Magus: Yes, she did.
Fragarach: Perhaps.
Sandya: I prefer to update a bit more slowly and retain quality rather than to update quickly and post a crappy chapter.