Chapter 67
Molly entered the darkened room as the house elf that had led her there slipped out silently. She let out a soft sigh as she saw her husband. The heavy drapes had been pulled, shutting out what little daylight there was, making the fire in the grate and the single candle setting on the desk before him the only sources of light. She went to him quietly. When she was closer she saw the newspaper on the desk before him. It was folded so that only the Author's note from the two articles showed. He was just sitting there, staring at it.
As he noticed her, he looked up sharply, anxiety evident in his eyes. She patted his shoulders, trying to force a smile. "No change. Just wanted to tell you that the twins should be arriving back soon. Delse says they just passed the outer perimeter." He had said he needed some time to himself and left the others shortly after the twins had left. She hadn't told him when their hands on the clock had briefly slid over to Mortal Peril. It had almost made her heart stop, but the hands had slipped back away from that dreaded spot after barely a moment.
He just nodded silently, his eyes resting once again on the passage before him.
"Arthur?" She asked gently, reaching out and putting her hand on his shoulder.
"I've failed one of my children, Molly." He said softly.
Molly sighed, "We didn't know. None of us knew, dear."
"Exactly. And that's my fault." He said softly, "I let my foolish pride blind me. One argument and I turned my back on my own son. What kind of a father am I? And now he's in danger and what kills me the most is knowing that, had I just swallowed my pride, I could have been there for him... protected him."
"Oh, now... don't be so hard on yourself. Reconciliation takes two, and he's hardly made an effort either." She knew she'd said the wrong thing before the words even finished leaving her mouth.
Arthur had dropped his eyes again, a few tears that had been threatening spilling down his cheeks. "He has." He said so softly she barely heard him. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "He's been writing since a bit before Easter. Barely a week goes by that I don't get at least one letter. They're sitting, collecting dust in a little box under the bed back home. I never even opened them. I returned the first letter, but when it just kept coming back I stopped bothering. Just threw it in the box along with all those that followed and never gave them another thought." He ran his hand over the article on the paper before him. "How could I have not known my own son wrote this? It should have been so obvious..." he said, his voice breaking slightly. Molly slipped her arms around him, holding him comfortingly.
After a moment, she patted him on the back, easing up on him. "We should get going. I expect they'll be arriving soon."
Without another word Arthur nodded and rose, wiping away the tears that had escaped him. His face hardened anxiously as he headed for the door.
> > > > >
They gathered up outside the main back door, since that was the direction the twins appeared to be approaching from. They scanned the sky, waiting a bit nervously. The snow had at least let up quite a bit. There were still huge, fluffy flakes drifting down around them, but the light of the sun was finally able to filter through enough to make it evident it was still daytime and they could see quite a ways.
"I'm glad they took the Thestral at least..." Delse said a bit nervously. "They didn't have wards with them, but I gave temporary permission for entrance into the ground by air using the Thestral as the key. The flying creatures we have shouldn't bother them either since the Thestrals are guests of the master of the grounds. If they've got the gargoyle with them, then they'll definitely have no trouble. Even if it's injured, none of our creatures would attack one." She said reassuringly, but she couldn't quite hide her worry. The grounds were quite dangerous for those who entered unprotected, even without her activating the defenses.
They all got quite nervous when they finally caught sight of them. There were nine large shapes approaching. Their nerves eased a bit (though a few hands remained on wands just in case) when they got closer and they were able to see that it was most definitely the Stallion Thestral in the lead, and two of the other forms appeared to be the twins on their brooms.
They all stared in disbelief at their entourage. None of them had ever seen even a single gargoyle before Kulia's had arrived... and yet now there were half a dozen coasting in for a landing, four with cloaked riders. They had thought all gargoyle would look pretty much the same, but the new arrivals showed quite a bit of variety in both size (one being even larger than the Thestral Stallion, another so small it was surprising it had been strong enough to bear the small figure perched on its back) and shape. One had a long, slinky, cat-like body, yet another was short and stocky, the rest ranging in-between. The largest even had long spiraling horns protruding from its head that gracefully arched back, spike-like spurs along its jawbones, and what looked like thick scales lining the underside of its neck and trailing on down to cover his underbelly like armor.
Hagrid looked ecstatic.
"I ran into some family. They heard the cry for help as well. Hope you don't mind my bringing them along. I still have to remake the portkey to my home, so I really had nowhere else to take them." Kulia said as she slipped gracefully off the Thestral's back.
The Thestral hurried past them for the door, obviously tired and very uncomfortable with the growing light level. He was more tolerant to light than many of his kind, but he didn't linger in it when it wasn't necessary.
"No problem at all. We're just relieved you returned safely." Delse said, then looked over at one of her elves. "Make sure the Thestral is dried off and cared for properly, then prepare a couple more of the suites for our new guests. Open up the east wing." She furrowed her brow. The elf appeared to be listening, but it hadn't taken its eyes off of the new arrivals. When it didn't move right away she snapped her fingers, wondering what was wrong with it. It looked over at her, looking a bit startled, but nodded and dashed off.
She looked around, noticing that the House elves she had brought out to bring in the injured gargoyle if need be had spread themselves out into a line between them and the newcomers, and were now shifting to cover the gap that the one she'd ordered away had left.
Balthys slid off the back of the largest gargoyle and came up to stand beside Kulia as his children dismounted as well. He chuckled softly as he surveyed the house elves. "My family and I intend no harm to this home, its occupants or their guests." He said to them, sounding slightly formal in his declaration.
The house elves' stances seemed to ease slightly.
"The injured gargoyle is over there. She needs tending immediately." He said, indicating the large bundle on the back of the short, stout gargoyle. A few of the house elves broke off, going to fetch it, but a couple remained firmly between him and their mistress.
Delse was watching them, puzzled. "I'm terribly sorry. I don't know what has gotten into them." Delse said apologetically.
"No problem. I'm used to that type of greeting." He said, lowering his hood.
They all stared. He looked like a snow elf... but at the same time entirely different. His ears were a bit smaller, though still pointed, his features broader and more masculine than normal. His hair was a mix of snow white and jet black like someone had taken random snatches of his hair and dipped them in ink. That wasn't nearly as surprising as the short horns that peeked about an inch out of his hair and his startling citron colored eyes. When he grinned they could see that his eye teeth were not much more that normal length, but undeniably pointed.
Fred and George stared. They hadn't seen him with his hood down, and with it up there hadn't appeared to be nearly as much difference between them.
"I thought he was your brother?" Fred asked tentatively.
Kulia smiled, "Half brother. We had different fathers... obviously."
"What the bloody hell was your father?" Tonks asked somewhat less than tactfully, but with no more than innocent curiosity in her voice.
He smiled at her impudent question. "Mother had a bit of a run-in with an incubus in her youth. They seem to be particularly fond of the fair folk, but snow elf females are fertile so rarely that actually conceiving from such an encounter was extremely rare, even back when I was born. The fifteen hundreds was a bit of a high point in the recorded encounters with such creatures."
"Oh why don't you just flip out your fuckin wings and hiss at them!" Forester growled angrily, "Why do you insist on telling people?"
Balthys gave a deep sigh and rounded on his son, walking over to him and lowering his voice. "Because I'm not ashamed of what I am. You shouldn't be either."
"Why not? Every other snow elf that crosses our path is ashamed we were even allowed to live! We're freaks if you haven't noticed! We should be back on our island were we belong! Mom may have been a treacherous bitch, but at least she had more sense than to go parading me around!"
Balthys' hand whipped out, slapping his son's cheek. "Don't talk that way about your mother!" he said sternly.
Forester just glared at him, then shook his head, "You still think she's coming back. That's really fucking pathetic. She's gone, and I say good riddance!" He growled, then turned and stalked away. The gargoyle he had been riding quickly fell in behind him, following silently.
Balthys just stood there, still facing away.
Carys sighed, looking over at the somewhat stunned onlookers. "Sorry about that. Mum ran off when she was knocked up with Forester. Kept him til he was about eight. She just shoved him in the attic like some dirty little secret and tried to pretend he didn't exist. It really messed with his loaf. She just brought him back and dumped him off when she got tired of having him around. She stayed a couple of days and then split in the middle of the night again. She's not exactly the maternal type."
"Don't you talk bad about mum!" Celestial said crossly.
"Oh what are you going on about? You're lucky she only waited three years to dump you off!" She looked over at the others, "Like I said, mum stayed a couple days when she dumped off Forester."
Celestial folded her little arms across her chest, glaring up at her sister.
Kulia had gone over to Balthys, who was still standing there with his back to them. "Are you ok?" She asked softly.
He took a deep, shuddering breath. "She just... she has emotional issues..." He said softly, "She'll come around. She will come back..."
Kulia's eyes teared up. "You fell in love with her..."
He dropped his eyes. "No matter what I look like... no matter what is in my blood... I'm still a snow elf in my heart." he said in a hoarse whisper.
She wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight. He slipped his arms around her, hugging her back.
"I pray when you choose... you choose with much more wisdom than I have." he said in a low, aching voice. He held her for another moment, then released her and straightened, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. "This isn't the time for this." He said, turning and going back over to the others.
"Forgive me." He said penitently. "I'm sure the long standing issues of my family are not what is of interest to you right now."
Arthur stepped forward, "Did you see what happened?"
"We got there when the battle was nearly over. We tried to fight off the attackers, but they managed to apparate away with one of them. The other got away on the back of the other gargoyle, but I don't know where they went. They were both cloaked heavily against the cold, so I'm afraid I cannot even tell you which one was taken and which escaped."
"Which...?" Arthur asked, looking puzzled.
"Percy or Penelope. I believe those were the names..." He said, glancing over at Kulia, who nodded in agreement.
"Penelope?"
"Percy's wife." Balthys replied, perplexed. "Are they not relations of yours?"
Arthur was looking stunned. Molly looked like she might faint. Kulia shot a glance over at the twins. They were both pointedly avoiding meeting her gaze. "Yes... Percy is their son, but they've been on the outs for a while so they weren't aware he had married."
His eyes darted over to the twins as well, but then he just nodded. "I see. Well I hadn't intended to inform you of such a thing so abruptly. My apologies."
Arthur just nodded, still too stunned to speak.
Balthys looked over at Delse. "I know your earlier acceptance of us as guests was without full knowledge of our nature. I'll not hold you to it. We can find our own accommodations."
Delse waved it off. "Don't be ridiculous! There's nothing within a good hundred miles of here. We have more than enough room. Besides, we're family now, so I insist."
Balthys looked a bit surprised, glancing over at Kulia.
Kulia smirked, leaning closer. "She's shagging a shadow demon, and the others are getting quite fond of it as well. I don't think a little incubus blood is going to phase this crowd."
Balthys smirked, looking over at the others. None of them looked all that frightened of him. He was rather used to everyone being shocked, afraid or at least disgusted. It was quite a nice change.
Delse had been watching Forester pensively as he kept walking, growing more and more distant. "Um... you should really probably get him back... Even with a gargoyle, the grounds aren't very safe."
Balthys chuckled softly, "He's a quarter snow elf and a quarter incubus. Unless you have a nundu out there, he'll be just fine."
Delse looked thoughtful. "No... I'm pretty sure my late husband got rid of that when it took to eating the smaller dragons."
> > > > > > > > > > >
Draco had been a bit nervous at the thought of trying to heal perfect strangers at first... but once he'd started on his first 'patient' a strange sort of calm had settled over him. He knew the spells and he'd seen some pretty grievous wounds in his life (though most of those had been on his own body). Still, even he was surprised with how well he was handling this. He didn't flinch or get horrified by even the worst of the wounds he had tended. It was simply another challenge, and he was surprised how few were beyond his abilities. He'd only had to get a more experienced healer twice, and he'd tended to nearly twenty people already. His eyes had gotten him a second glance a number of times, but thankfully no one had appeared to recognize him. Draco suspected the demon had done a bit more than merely changing his hair color.
Darien's knowledge of Green Magic had even come in rather handy. He'd been passing by where one of the ranking Healers was having no luck removing a curse that was slowly killing a woman. Darien recognized the curse and took over almost immediately, pushing past the onlookers and starting to cast as soon as he reached her. She'd been alarmed when tendrils had shot from the tip of his wand. The plant-like creation formed a denser section over the wound, then spider webbed out around her, securing itself as the dense central portion sent thin, splinter-like thorns down into her skin. The pain of the punctures was negligible in comparison to what the curse was doing to her, but it had alarmed her. The woman's husband nearly had his wand out before the Healer caught hold of him, recognizing the spell. When Darien was done casting, he'd simply told her to leave it where it was, and that it would come off on its own once it had finished drawing out the curse, then walked away as they stared after him in shock.
Draco smirked as Darien eased back into the back of his mind. Tact and fair warning might be preferable in the future. If you've forgotten, us living folk prefer to have some explanation before someone comes bursting in and casting at us.
That curse is like poison. Darien replied patiently, You have to get to it as soon as possible. If it had reached her mind there would have been no saving her. Sometimes politeness is not an affordable luxury.
Point taken, but just try not to do anything that will get us cursed or bludgeoned by people we're trying to help, ok?
I'll try. Darien replied mirthfully.
Draco spotted a man who hadn't been tended to yet and headed over. There were still a few more wounded trickling in as volunteers sifted through the wreckage of Diagon Alley and recovered any that were still breathing. The man had a rather nasty wound on his leg that looked to be caused by flying shrapnel from stonework. He pulled over a chair and set to work. It was tedious removing the stone shards but he got the major ones and healed the wounds they left easily. Simple physical wounds were easy enough.
"That should hold it for now." He said, using a cleansing spell to clean off the blood and double checking his handiwork. "I've taken care of the major wounds and stanched the internal bleeding. We're just doing triage here, but you'll need a bit more work. Someone will be along shortly to collect you and take you to a room so they can finish putting you back to rights. They'll check for any remaining bits and you'll need deep tissue healing. Hopefully one of the regular healers will be able to tend to you within a couple of hours. If you start feeling pain before they get to you, just pull the call cord and someone will bring you a draught."
"Thank you." The man said a bit wearily, obviously weakened from bloodloss. "My daughter... we got separated..."
"What is her name?"
"Abigail. Abigail Litton."
Draco blinked, furrowing his brow. "I think I know her... short little thing with mousy brown hair? She goes to Hogwarts, doesn't she? Fourth year Hufflepuff?"
The man blinked up at him. "Yes. How did you know?"
"I go to Hogwarts as well. She filled in for the seeker on her House team for a couple games while he was recovering from a particularly bad hit he got from a bludger in practice. She was pretty good. They were daft to take their old seeker back when he was recovered and give her the boot, but considering I'm on an opposing team, I didn't object!" He'd also seen Blaise leading her into the Room of Requirement a couple months back, but he didn't feel this man really needed to know that.
"You're a student still?" He asked in surprise, glancing down at the robes he was wearing.
Draco glanced down as well. "Yes... well this is my first go at this job really, but you could say I have a rather extensive background." He said, quickly covering, "Situation like this they have to utilize anyone with training. My wife and I just came today to get a pregnancy test performed."
"You're married?"
Draco grinned and nodded, "Just got married yesterday. Got a wife and a baby on the way all in one night!"
The man smiled. "Congratulations. Sorry you had to have something like this happen right when you're just starting your healer training. I hope it doesn't make you change your mind!"
Draco glanced down at the bloodstains on his robes. "It's been a bit of an initiation by fire I suppose... but... " He looked around at the wounded and other healers in the room. "I never realized how gratifying a job it could be... I mean a couple of the people I've helped... they might have died if I hadn't helped them... it's kind of a profound thought." He said introspectively.
His gaze fell on a small figure laying on a pile of blankets across the room. He stared, his eyes widening in recognition. The man followed his gaze. "House elf. There were a number of them. Don't know what they were doing in Diagon Alley, but they're the only reason there were this many of us left intact enough to make it here. As soon as the Death Eaters started attacking they worked together to put up some kind of shield... covered almost an entire block and none of the Death Eaters could get through it. It shocked the ones who tried pretty bad. Not even the Avada Kedavra could penetrate it! Never heard of anything able to deflect that curse. Most of the survivors here are the ones who were able to make it through into that shield. We passed through it like it was nothing... I don't know how it could tell who to let through... it was amazing."
"It wouldn't let anyone with the Dark Mark pass. It worked. Bloody Hell, it worked!" He said with a touch of awe, letting out a little laugh.
"You know the spell they used?" He asked, surprised.
Draco grinned. "I should. I helped teach them. That's my elf. My wife's brothers have a shop on Diagon Alley and I gave them six elves to help out for the holiday rush. Never even thought about them knowing that spell. All of my elves know it, but they've never had a chance to test it. I can't believe it worked!" He said, starting over towards the elf. He paused, glancing back, "I'll keep an eye out for Abigail and make sure they send her to your room when I find her." He said quickly, then hurried off.
A cloaked figure that had been silently observing them started moving after him. It stopped as Gladys clamped her hand on its shoulder, turning it around. "I thought that was you." She growled irritably, taking the figure by the arm, propelling it forcibly towards the door. "If I see you here again when you're uninjured, you won't stay that way!"
The figure glanced back into the room before the doors closed, shifting its head subtly in Draco's direction. A second figure that was standing in the shadows nodded back in acknowledgment and started drifting over in Draco's direction.
> > > > >
"Thyra. Hey, Thyra." Draco said gently.
The elf stirred, blinking her large eyes open and trying to focus them. "Master!" She squeaked, the glamour upon him not phasing her in the slightest. "Thyra is getting up." She said, shakily trying to rise.
He quickly pushed her back down. "Rest."
"Thyra is sorry master. I is being weak. The other elves is being at the shop. I is not wanting to leave my post, but I is not being able to stop them from taking me."
"You're exhausted. Let them take care of you. I heard what you and the others did. That spell couldn't have been easy on you."
"Master is not being mad at Thyra?" She asked, blinking in surprise.
He grinned. "Are you kidding? I've never been prouder." He said sincerely, stroking her bald head affectionately.
Her eyes filled with tears of joy. Considering the family she had served all her life, she hadn't heard many words of praise before.
He placed his hand on her chest. He could feel her muscles twitching from overexertion and strain. The spell had used far more energy than many elves were capable of maintaining for long, and they appeared to have encompassed more area and held it much longer than he would have thought possible. He muttered softly in elvish, tapping the back of his hand with his wand. Blue light sprang from his hand, flowing down into the elf. Slowly, her muscles relaxed and the strain eased from her face a bit. He regretfully pulled his hand away after a moment. He knew she could use more, but that would have to be enough. The spell was incredibly draining, feeding his own magic into her directly, and he knew he would still have need of his magic today. He stroked her forehead as her eyes drooped tiredly. "Sleep for now." He said softly, "I'll be back for you when I'm done."
"Yes master..." She said softly, drifting off even as she said it.
He draped a thin blanket over her, tucking it around her gently, then went off in search of Abigail.
He searched for nearly ten minutes before he caught sight of Abigail. She was laying on a gurney near the corner and Becka was at her side with her back to him. He slowed as he approached them. Becka's shoulders were shaking slightly and as he looked Abigail over he realized with a cold trickle of fear that her chest wasn't rising and falling.
He came to a stop beside Becka. She glanced over at him and he could see a tear sliding down her cheek. She quickly looked away, taking ahold of a sheet with hands that were trembling slightly. She didn't say a word as she draped the sheet over the girl. Draco closed his eyes and let out a pained breath. The worried, anxious look Abigail's father had worn when asking after her plagued him. For some reason he felt guilt welling up inside him. He'd told her father he would find her. Had told him he would send her back to him.
"She insisted I help the woman she came in with first. She kept her cloak closed. I had no idea her wounds were so bad. By the time I was able to get to her there was nothing I could do." Becka said, still staring at the shrouded form, her voice strained and aching. "I've never lost one before. I know it happens to every healer sooner or later... but..." She looked over at him, her bottom lip trembling, her eyes full of pain and brimming over with tears.
He sighed, reaching over and taking her into his arms. She pressed her face to his shoulder, breaking down and sobbing as he held her comfortingly, tears stinging in his own eyes. After a moment, she pulled herself together, pulling away and sniffling. "There's no time for this now." She said, wiping away the tears angrily. "Help me get some dividers around her until they can take her away. It's too distressing for the other patients to see sheet covered bodies laying about..."
Draco grabbed her hand as she made to go over to fetch the divider against the wall. She turned back towards him, surprised. "You go and take a breather. Splash some water on your face. I'll take care of this." He said gently.
She looked around at all of the work she still had to do, all the people who still needed help, and finally nodded. They needed help from someone who was calm and in control of their emotions and she needed to gather herself properly before she could tend to them competently.
When she had gone, Draco went to work moving the nearest divider around, his heart heavy. He placed it at the end of the gurney, bending the last section around a bit, trying to make as small a space as possible to give others room. He spotted another divider against a nearby wall and went over to get it. He had to go the long way to get it back around the gathered patients, some of which were simply sitting or laying on the floor. When he finally got it back and started to move it into place he froze. Blaise was standing on the other side, between the wall and the gurney, staring down at Abigail's shrouded body. His eyes were a brilliant white that all but glowed, the flashes of color he had seen before now blazing and swirling around like smoke in the wind. Draco looked around, then slipped around the divider and pulled it into place, enclosing them. He quickly pulled out his wand and cast a silencing spell on the dividers, then turned back to Blaise.
"Blaise! Where have you been?" He asked, moving closer.
Blaise seemed to know he was there, but didn't act as if he heard his question, intent only on the body before him. "Fix her." He said softly, continuing to stare down at the shrouded form.
"She's dead." Draco said sadly, "There'd be no point."
He looked over as the outside sounds suddenly returned. Pax was slipping between the dividers. The sounds ceased abruptly as he moved the divider closed again.
"Fix her." Blaise repeated, still seeming oblivious to his surroundings.
Pax looked over at him, his eyes beginning to glow. "What are you waiting for?"
Draco looked between them. They both seemed perfectly serious. Pax gave him a light shove towards the bed, then slipped around him, going up to the head of the gurney and peeling away the sheet, dropping it on the floor. Draco moved closer, then hesitantly opened her cloak. He flinched at the sight. He couldn't figure out how the girl had remained conscious when so badly injured, let alone able to walk in on her own and talk coherently.
"Get cracking!" Pax said with a smirk, "Not like she'll stay fresh!"
Draco looked over at him, puzzled, "Her insides are a wreck! I can't fix this! I wouldn't even know where to start! I wasn't exactly conscious when they had to go poking about through my innards, and the diagrams I've seen hardly looked like this mess."
Pax rolled his eyes, reaching over and grabbing Draco's head, sinking his talons in without preamble. Draco's mind spun as a torrent of information flooded through it. It was even more disorienting than when Darien had done it. At least those thoughts had been familiar and human in origin. When his mind settled he found he knew the human body inside and out. Every last organ, muscle and bit of sinew was mapped out in his mind in explicit detail for males as well as females.
"Today if you please." Pax prompted with a smirk.
Draco blinked his eyes open, staring down at the girl before him once again. He instantly recognized every bit of exposed tissue and knew exactly where it should go. He brought his wand to bear, removing several large chunks of sheet glass and starting to magic her insides back together.
After a moment, he was shocked to his core as she took a breath. He looked up and saw Pax cradling her head in his hand, holding it carefully still. It was apparent that the talons of the hand nestled under her head were embedded in her. "Don't get too excited yet. Just tapping the primitive portion of her brain that controls baser functions like breathing and heartbeat. It's a lot more complicated to do manually than you'd think, so I hope you don't mind if I don't chat much..." He said, a look of concentration on his face.
Draco quickly went back to work and within a few minutes, he was closing her up. She would need some work for the finer repair, but he was confident that he had done a good job.
"Blood replenishing potions." Pax said, eyes closed in concentration.
Draco went over to the emergency cart against the wall and rifled through it until he found the requested potion, grabbing a couple and returning. He waited as Pax propped her up, then opened her mouth and poured in one of the doses. Pax shifted his hand slightly and she swallowed mechanically.
"Another." Pax said.
Usually the doses were given spaced apart by at least fifteen minutes or so, but from the look of her robes, she didn't have enough left in her to allow for much leeway in the matter. He poured another dose down her throat and watched as Pax made her swallow again.
Pax watched her for a moment until a bit of color returned to her pale cheeks, then nodded. "Well, here goes." Pax said, easing his talons out of her.
The breath sighed out of her, and she lay there lifelessly for a moment. Then her chest rose weakly. In a moment, her body had taken over, settling into a shallow, but somewhat steady breathing pattern.
"So we have a live vegetable. Now what?" Draco asked in exasperation.
Even as he spoke, Blaise was shifting closer to the girl. He slid his hand under her neck, tilting her head back a bit and gently opening her mouth. Draco watch in stunned surprise as Blaise leaned down and appeared to kiss her. Suddenly the fine hairs on his arms rose as the air around him seemed to crackle. Blaise slipped his arm around her and she took a sudden, deep breath.
He eased his lips from hers, but continued to hold her for a moment, running his hand down her back. "Stay put now, naughty girl..." He said softly, a little smile slipping over his lips as he gave her a gentle peck on the forehead and released her, shifting away from the bed.
"What did you do?" Draco asked, staring at the girl. Her breathing had deepened and settled into a steady pattern.
"Just putting back what she'd lost." Blaise said, glancing up at Draco. His eyes had eased back to half-turned, looking like they usually only did when he was drunk.
"You put her soul back? How did you even get her soul?"
Blaise smiled. "It came to me of course. All the lost ones do, but hers was particularly eager. Seems she has a bit of a crush on me. Guess that 'present' I gave her for her fifteenth birthday made a bit more of an impression than I thought..."
"'All the lost ones'? What does that mean?" Draco asked, looking Blaise over worriedly. He was acting a bit more himself now, but his slightly distant, utterly calm manner was still rather disconcerting.
"The souls that didn't know where to go. Expelled from their bodies too quickly and left confused and alone. This place is full of them. I've found well over a hundred already..."
Draco's eyes widened, then darted around. "I haven't seen any souls wandering about."
Pax snorted, "Well you wouldn't have, would you? Souls are only visible to normal blokes like you if they've been pulled from their body before their time by a magical creature like a demon, wraith or Dementor. Ones that go naturally because of the death of their body would be invisible to you. Otherwise you'd be seeing them all over the place, now wouldn't you?"
"Oh..." Draco said softly. It made sense. He'd seen a number of people die, and had yet to see a soul drifting away from one of them. He looked up at Blaise. "Are you alright?"
Blaise sighed softly, closing his eyes. "Tired..." He said with a definite edge of weariness, his face looking a bit paler than usual, "Very tired... but there's too much left to do. We should get moving."
Draco reached out to feel his forehead, but Pax immediately seized his hand, pulling it away from Blaise. "Are you mental? Don't touch him!"
Draco pulled his hand away and glared at Pax. "What's your problem?"
Their attention was drawn over as Abigail stirred slightly. Blaise reached out, brushing her cheek. Her eyes fluttered open, going immediately to him. It took her a moment to focus on him, but when she did she blinked in surprise. "Blaise...?" She said uncertainly, her eyes shifting around somewhat dazedly, "What...?"
He smiled down at her. "You should rest. It will all make more sense once you've had a chance to settle back in."
"Settle back in?"
"You should sleep now. It will make it easier on you." He said before she could ask too many questions. "I'll see you at school."
"But..." She started, but Pax gently touched her temple and her eyes fluttered and closed as she sank into a deep, peaceful sleep.
Blaise brushed her hair away from her face affectionately, then sighed, moving out from behind the bed.
"Where are you going?" Draco asked in surprise as Blaise reached for the edge of the divider.
Blaise looked back at him and smirked. "Same as you I'd wager. I'm going to help people."
> > > > > > > > > >
"I don't understand it." Molly sighed in exasperation. "I know it's been fifteen years since I added a hand to this clock, but I'm sure I did it correctly..." She sighed again, then got up, taking the clock and returning it to the nail the house elves had put in the wall to hold it. She folded her arms across her chest and shook her head, puzzled. Ginny's hand was on 'Hospital', but the new hand containing Draco's picture rested firmly on 'Work'.
"Maybe it needs a bit more hair to work properly." Arthur suggested, trying hard not to look at Percy's hand, which still had not moved. The only solace the clock provided was the knowledge that he was not dead... at least not yet.
It was a testament to how much emotional strife Molly had been through recently that she was able to remain calm in the face of such trying times. As long as she had something to do, she could keep her mind of of what might be happening to her child. "No, I used a good three strands," Molly replied, "And it was much longer than the hairs I got from the children when they were babies. Maybe it'll right itself once they get back. I've never set a hand while the person I was adding was away."
"That's probably it, dear." He said softly. He was trying to sound supportive and encouraging, but his heart wasn't in it. The arrival of their new guests was the only thing keeping him from returning to their room once again. Somehow he felt it would be rude.
"Soon as they all get back I'll be getting hairs from the others as well. Seems we're all pretty much family now. I'm going to need a bigger clock..." She mused.
Arthur flashed her a little smile. That was a bit of an understatement. He looked over at where the wounded gargoyle lay at the far side of the room. Kulia was sitting tailor fashion, cradling its head in her lap and stroking its fur soothingly. Charlie and Balthys were both crouched beside it, avidly discussing gargoyle anatomy and how it compared to that of a dragon. Balthys showed him some new spells while they worked on tending to the gargoyle's wounds. Celestial was sitting on the other side between Tonks and Hagrid, watching avidly though somewhat tiredly as she lay propped against the side of her own small gargoyle. The other gargoyles had remained outside (much to Hagrid's disappointment), flying up and stationing themselves around the roof on the main portion of the Manor. Celestial and her father had both doffed their outer vestments, but still wore the light trenchcoat-like jackets that had lain beneath. Celestial's hair was a bright pearly white with just a sprinkling of black hairs, as if they were merely highlights in reverse. Her hair fell in a smooth flow, showing no evidence of horns.
Carys didn't have horns either... but they had still been a bit surprised when she took off her heavy cloak. They knew Carys and Forester's hair hadn't looked as bright as Kulia's, but the lack of light in that small alleyway had effected the twins' sight even more than they realized.
"So, how are you related?" Carys asked brightly, leaning over the back of the couch Ron was sitting on and peering at him intently, her long hair flowing down like a sheet of shimmering pearly pink. It was almost bubblegum colored, but much lighter.
Ron shifted a bit uneasily, she was draped over the couch very close to him, her shoulder brushing his. "Um... Fred and George are my brothers. They're the fathers of Kulia's twins."
"Ace!" She said with a brilliant smile (He noticed her eye teeth matched her father's, as did Celestial's). "That mean they're going to have orange hair?" She asked, reaching over and stroking his hair.
"Um... maybe. The color is usually referred to as 'red' or 'ginger' actually. It's dominant in my family, but I don't think we've ever had mixed species children before, so I'm not sure if it'll carry over... the white of a snow elf's hair seems pretty dominant..."
Carys grabbed up a snatch of her own hair and glared at it. "Tell me about it! Everything else those berries touch turns blood red, but will it work on this bloody stuff?" She huffed slightly, then dropped the bit of hair and started playing with his again. "I love the color of your hair... it's so rich and vibrant... I didn't even get any black hair. Just plain dull white. Mum was a blonde. Well, it was more like white hair actually, but she wasn't really old or anything. Just in her blood." She was staring at him intently again, shifting closer and staring at his face from mere inches away as if she found it fascinating.
"You have pretty spots..." She said with a grin.
He blushed, as much from her extremely close proximity as her words, "Um... freckles. Yes, well they tend to come with the hair color."
"I have spots too!" She said eagerly, "See?" She pointed to the bridge of her nose, then to her high cheekbones. From that distance, he could make out a few tiny little freckles spattered about. "Oh, and I have a bigger one too!" She said, and too his surprise, she shifted the rest of the way over, sliding down the back of the couch as she deftly twisted around to land on her back, her head coming gingerly to rest in his lap. She quickly untucked her shirt. He blinked as she pulled it halfway up and pointed out a small birthmark that was about the size of an average freckle near the middle of her flat, pale white belly.
"Um... that's very nice..." He said, shooting a somewhat furtive glance over at Pansy, who was sitting at his side. She had her hand over her mouth and was obviously trying hard to cover her amusement at how embarrassed he was getting at the girl's overly 'friendly' attention. "I'm Ron by the way. Don't think we were formally introduced... and this is my girlfriend, Pansy." He said, putting a slight emphasis on the 'girlfriend' part.
Carys looked over at Pansy and smiled. "Hi. I'm Carys."
"Pleasure to meet you." Pansy said with a smirk.
"So, does he have those spots all over?" She asked Pansy curiously, reaching over and pulling up the hem of Ron's shirt.
He quickly put his hand on his shirt, pressing it back down. "Ya. Pretty much all over." He said quickly. His ears were burning as he glanced over, seeing Bill and the twins cracking up silently across the room. His mother didn't seem quite as amused, but was holding her tongue. His father seemed a bit too distracted to even notice. Hermione's reaction was the only one he found truly odd. She was watching Carys almost as if she were viewing a particularly fascinating nature show.
His eyes were suddenly drawn over as Balthys rose from where he had been crouching. He had been working on the gargoyle for a good twenty minutes or so, and it looked as if the position it had forced him to maintain was less than comfortable. He did some stretches, then finally removed his thin jacket. He looked to have some kind of black cape on beneath, which Ron thought odd. How many layers of clothing did he need? Then he realized it wasn't a cape. A huge, bat-like wing stretched out, followed by the other. They all watched in fascinated silence as he flexed them and worked the kinks out. When he was done, the wings settled back neatly against his back, taking up surprisingly little room. He noticed their stares and grinned, "Sorry about that. Haven't had many places to stop and stretch properly along the way. Gets a bit cramped being pent up under a bunch of heavy clothing."
He then knelt back down and went back to work as if it were nothing to have a pair of wings with a wingspan of a good ten meters sprouting from your back. It was a true statement to just how large the room they were in was that he had been able to spread them to their full extent without at the very least knocking something over. Ron had thought Forester was just joking about wings before, but apparently not. He looked down at Carys, who seemed quite content with her current position, "Do you have wings too?" Ron asked curiously. He hadn't seen any sign of them on her, but Balthys was able to make his really compact, so he wasn't sure.
She grinned wolfishly, "Would you like to check?" she asked with a definite suggestiveness to her tone.
Ron blushed bright red once again.
"She doesn't have wings." A somewhat irritated voice replied. Ron looked over, spotting Forester making his way across the room. "She won the little genetic lottery there. All she got was the fangs." He paused looking them over. "And the hormones." He said, rolling his eyes. "Dad, could you put a leash on her or something?"
Balthys looked over and spotted his daughter, then sighed. "Carys, what did we talk about?" He asked with what sounded like somewhat worn patience.
Carys looked thoughtful. "Bubbles." She replied with a smirk.
"It's called 'personal space'. Humans, and most other creatures as well for that matter, need their own space. You are currently invading his."
She looked up at Ron, batting her eyelashes at him, "Am I invading your bubble?" She asked with a smirk, nestling down and nuzzling his belly affectionately.
"Um..." Ron stammered, clearing his throat, his cheeks blazing. Pansy was carefully hiding little fits of laughter at his embarrassment.
Balthys sighed and got up. He walked over and looped an arm around Carys' waist, picking her up bodily. He hauled her over and deposited her in a nearby empty recliner. "Stay." He said firmly, then returned to the gargoyle.
Carys pouted. She hooked her leg over the arm of the chair and flopped back, arms folded across her chest in an obviously petulant manner.
"You'll have to forgive her." Balthys called over his shoulder as he worked, "She's spent her whole life on an island with no one else but us and the very rare visitor or two, so she hasn't had much practice on the finer points of social propriety. Besides, it's close to the full moon and the females are a bit more effected by it. It's the peak of their hormonal cycle."
"No problem." Pansy said, shifting around a bit, slipping her legs up across Ron's lap. Molly, who had just taken her eyes off of the pink haired girl, gave her a little smile, obviously thinking the gesture was proprietary. Ron was studiously not looking at Carys or his mother, incredibly thankful to Pansy for obscuring an achingly embarrassing problem.
Since Balthys had already revealed his wings, Forester didn't bother hiding his own. He shed his winter cloak and under jacket, hurrying over to the large fireplace and settling down on the floor with his back to it just as close as he could get. His hair, unlike that of his father and sisters, was almost a dishwater blond, though still very light. His eyes were the color of sunlit grass, making it easy to see where his mother had come up with his name. Without the long winter coat they could see he was wearing a ratty pair of faded Muggle bluejeans and what looked like an old, oversized and very worn black muggle t-shirt with a faded band logo on the front. It trailed all the way down to mid-thigh on him, split in two places in the back to allow for his wings of course, with buttons somewhat crudely affixed near the small of his back to close it back up. He rubbed his arms, trying to work some warmth back into them as his wings spread a bit to gather the heat of the fire. Unlike his father's wings, Forester's were light colored, looking no darker than lightly tanned skin and haphazardly mottled with paler markings. He looked up and caught Tonks staring at them and quickly jerked them back in, making them disappear behind his back as he blushed, shifting uneasily.
Tonks crawled over closer. "Why are yours so pale?"
He eyed her warily, "They darken with age. You want black wings you'll have to check back in a couple hundred years."
"Oh." She said, settling down a couple of feet from him. "Can I touch one?"
He just stared at her for a minute as if trying to spot some kind of deception in her innocently curious request. Tentatively he extended one towards her.
Tonks took ahold of it, feeling it. She was expecting it to be tough and leathery, but it felt more like a fold of soft flesh. It was warm to the touch and she could feel his rapid heartbeat pulsing through it. She looked closer at one of the light patches. The thin membrane-like flesh thickened there. She stroked her fingers down one and he suddenly snatched the wing back. By the time her eyes could dart up, it was already tucked neatly out of sight behind him.
"Sorry. Did I hurt it?"
He glowered at the floor. "No. They're pretty indestructible." He said shortly.
"He doesn't like people looking at his scars. I think he tried to get rid of his wings before." Carys said with a smirk.
"I did not!" Forester snapped.
"Then why do they look like that?" His sister asked, grinning.
"I told you before, that's none of your fucking business! Just shut up and quit talking out your ass about stuff you have no clue about!"
Carys rolled her eyes. "What a mouth!" She looked over at Tonks. "He spent his formative years listening to Muggle music and watching Muggle American television. Knowing mum, that was probably how he learned to talk. He certainly didn't get that vocabulary from us! Not to mention the funny accent..."
Forester just glared at her.
"Dad would have straightened him out, but as soon as mum took off, so did Forester. Went off and built himself his own little shack. Dad tried to convince him to come back, but he wouldn't, so he just built him something a bit nicer and left him be. There's food growing all over the island year round and it's not like there was anything there that could hurt him, but dad gave him one of the gargoyles to watch over him anyway. We've only seen him occasionally when he comes for his share of the shipment of clothing and odds and ends from the mainland dad has flooed in each month. Forester usually tries to slip in and swipe it unnoticed though. Not much for mixing with other folk. Right little hermit."
"And you should have just left me there." He muttered darkly. "I've done just fine on my own. I wouldn't have even noticed you were gone."
Tonks' eyes widened. Forester was so irritated and distracted that he didn't even notice what he was doing. A long, slender tail that had obviously been wrapped around his waist had uncoiled, slipping out from under his t-shirt, the end lashing irritably. Tonks reached out, touching it as it momentarily came to rest near her. Forester jumped slightly, his eyes darting over. She was running her fingers over the flat, spade shaped tip.
When he didn't pull it away immediately, she grew bolder, picking up the end and placing it in her hand so she could examine it closer. The spade was about the size of the palm of her hand. It was soft as well, feeling like nothing more than muscle covered in delicate skin. It conformed to her hand, and as she stroked her fingers over it, it tentatively curled around one of them. She grinned as she stroked it, enjoying the feel of it pressing up against her palm. It reminded her of a thin, smooth tongue in a way. It was extremely supple and very warm, almost hot. She moved her examination down a bit more, looking at the tail itself. Unlike the tip, it was firm and somewhat bony. She could feel the ridges of the many small vertebrae that made the main part of the tail very flexible as well. It was narrow where it joined with the thin, boneless tip, but quickly thickened to about an inch in diameter, then stayed pretty consistent after that, thickening only slightly near the base.
"Why is it I can't even be sociable and Forester get to be fondled right in front of everyone without anyone saying so much as a word?" Carys asked plaintively.
"Leave your brother alone, Carys." Balthys said with a sigh, not even bothering to look over.
Tonks was looking from Forester, who was now blushing all the way to the tips of his delicately pointed ears, to Carys, who was looking extremely amused. "What? It's just a tail..."
Carys shifted around, hanging over the arm of the chair and cupped her hand, whispering into Tonks' ear. Tonks listened. After a moment her eyes went wide, then darted down to the tail. Carys giggled, then leaned over again and whispered for another moment before plopping back into her seat, grinning and watching her brother's discomfort with relish as she giggled merrily.
"You don't say..." Tonks said softly, her fingers stroking slowly over the spade and on down the tail a bit as she stared at it with renewed fascination, a little smile drifting over her lips.
Forester shifted uneasily, gently slipping his tail out of her grasp. He lifted the edge of his t-shirt, letting the tail slip back under, coiling around his waist and disappearing from sight once more.
"Tails." Carys said, shaking her head. "Just hanging out there in plain sight like that. Must suck to be an incubus."
"But... aren't you all incubuses?" Ron asked uncertainly.
Hermione let out a little amused snort. "Incubi, Ron. And only the males are called that. The females are called a succuba or succubi for plural. Well, that's the correct form at any rate. Most people call them a succubus, but the 'us' extension is masculine in Latin. The name comes from the Latin succubare which means 'to lie under', as opposed to the masculine incubus which means 'to lie on top'."
"'To lie on top?'" Ron asked, furrowing his brow.
"Yes... well..." Hermione said, suddenly blushing brightly.
Forester rolled his eyes, "They are demonic sexual predators. They molest people while they're sleeping."
"Actually, the encounter might not have been sought out in most cases," Hermione said quickly, her desire to correct the overly negative description overriding her embarrassment, "But it is usually described as quite pleasurable. They don't hurt their 'victims', though some say they do draw off sexual energy in a vampire-like manner. They caused quite a bit of stir in the Muggle world during the rise of the Christian belief system, which views such activities as appalling sins and sacrilegious, but they are usually seen as being rather harmless overall. One of the nicer varieties of creatures labeled as 'demonic' really. They are also said to be very powerful magically. In fact, Merlin was said to be half incubus."
"Ya, well let's see how far he'd have gotten if he looked like me!" Forester said, ruffling his wings.
"Forester!" Balthys said in an exasperated tone.
"What? Come on! I look like fuckin Satan!"
Balthys turned, glaring at his son. "You do not look like Satan! Now stop it. We've all been Baptized, as you well know and not one of us melted or burst into flame or some bloody thing like that! If someone insists on thinking we're evil, then they can go discuss it with the priests."
"Forester had to be Baptized twice!" Carys said in a mirthful stage whisper.
"That had nothing to do with him." Balthys replied immediately, "I just wasn't sure his mother had gotten him Baptized, so I did it again just in case. It's probably just an old wives tale about that being what keeps us of incubus blood from turning evil, but better safe than sorry." He said with a shrug, "Besides, like the young lady said, even the pure blooded incubi aren't completely without redeeming qualities. I certainly never heard my mother complain."
Hermione quickly nodded. "Some people were even said to have sought out encounters with them, feeling that the energy they might syphon off was more than worth the pleasure they received in return."
Forester snorted derisively. "Who would want to have sex with a winged freak? I mean if women were so desperate for sex that they'd voluntarily spread their legs for us, then dad wouldn't have to keep mooning over mom like a lovesick school boy, now would he?"
Balthys, who had just been returning to his work, turned sharply, glaring at his son. "My love for your mother is not just a matter of other women being unavailable. I'll have you know I've been with quite a number of women in my life."
"Well you're like five hundred years old! Anyone could have found their way into a loose pair of panties or two in that amount of time!" Forester replied dismissingly.
"Not that you ever bother to ask me about my past, as intent as you are on living in denial of your lineage, but I've been married six times, and fathered twenty three children. That I know of. Not including you three."
Forester was looking at his father in stunned silence. Even Carys had pulled her eyes off of Ron and was now staring at Balthys. "Where are they? Why haven't we met any of them?" She asked once she'd shaken off her shock.
Balthys dropped his eyes, his face taking on a slightly haunted look. "Because they're all dead." He said softly, "My first two wives died of sudden sicknesses. They were Muggles and with medicine what it was back then, they only made it to around their mid fifties, even with my help. My other wives and my children died in accidents, a couple of duels, and... two I lost to wizards who sought to use them in some bloody spell or another. After my last son died when he was only in his twenties I gave up on having a family. It was just too painful when they left... I dropped all contact with other people... even my own family, and left. That's when I found our island. I've lived there ever since. Meeting your mother was pure chance. The warding spells around the island were weakening and I had to return to the mainland to get some of the supplies I would need to renew them. I went to a relative I knew would have what I needed and that's where I met her. We were no more than friends for a good five years or so before... well, before any of you ever became possibilities." He said with a small, wistful smile.
They all looked over as a house elf burst through the door breathlessly. It came to a stop as it saw all eyes turn towards it, taking a step back in embarrassment. "Begging your forgiveness." It squeaked, then shuffled a bit self-consciously over towards Arthur, holding out a slightly crumpled envelope. "This is arriving for you. It is looking urgent, so I is bringing it right away."
Arthur snatched the envelope from the elf's hand and looked at it. His name was scrawled across it with obvious haste, followed by 'Zabini Manor'. Arthur flipped it over. There was no seal, the flap just being tucked into the envelope to hold it shut. He pulled it open and took out the letter. The writing was just as hurried looking on the letter itself. Arthur tried to keep his hands from trembling as he read it. Molly hurried over, reading it aloud from over his shoulder:
I know you hate me, and I know I have no right to ask, but I have no one else to
turn to. I need help desperately. I know I cannot evade my pursuers much longer.
I assume this creature that has aided me was sent by you, for which I am eternally
grateful as without it I would surely have been captured, but it is injured and
I'm not sure how much longer it can continue on. There has been some kind of
disturbance, and most of the Aurors have left the Ministry building. I know it
inside and out and can move through it unnoticed, and for the moment it is
providing me with refuge. I doubt they will think to look for me here of all places.
I will try to meet you at your office. Please come as soon as you can. You are the
only family and the only hope I have left.
"Who's it from? Percy or Penelope?" Charlie asked quickly, hurrying over and looking over his other shoulder.
Arthur shook his head. "It's unsigned, and it's been written too quickly for the handwriting to be recognizable."
"Could be a ploy." Bill said grimly.
Arthur looked up, seeing a second elf entering the room. He held a somewhat battered looking owl perched on his arm. It was Percy's owl.
Arthur stood suddenly. "I'll be back as soon as I can." He said briskly, handing the letter to his wife and starting for the door.
"You aren't going alone!" Charlie said quickly, hurrying around and getting in front of his father, blocking his way.
Bill was right behind him, as were the twins.
"Too right!"
"We aren't letting you run off alone!"
"It could be a trap!"
"Of course it could be!" Arthur said irritably, "That's why none of you are going. I've already got one son on the wrong side of that bloody clock, I'll not take the rest of you into an unknown situation!"
"Draco's insistence that all of you remain on the grounds was for your own protection." Kulia said softly from where she sat as she gently shifted her gargoyle's head off of her lap, "Lucius isn't likely to be amused by his son marrying into your family. If he gets ahold of any of you..."
"Yes, well he may well already have one of us!" Arthur said shortly, then reeled himself in a bit as he saw the alarm and worry in his wife's eyes. "I'll not put any of my other children in danger." He said firmly.
"Absolutely correct." Kulia said, rising. "It'll just be the two of us."
"No bloody way!" The twins said in perfect unison.
"I must agree." Balthys said quickly, "There's no reason for you to be there and no way I'm going to let you take that kind of risk." He dropped his voice, "You can't risk those babies again. It was blind luck that it was us you found in that alley instead of a group of those men waiting to kill you."
Kulia's hand drifted unconsciously to her belly and she gave him a pained expression. "My gargoyle is hurt. You heard what she read..."
"Someone else can care for it." He said gently, then turned to Arthur. "Do they check people when they enter? It might be a bit difficult to explain me to your authorities..."
Arthur shook his head. "They would hold us up for hours if they got a peek at you. No offense, but I doubt you're properly registered."
"Well, it's me then." Charlie said grimly.
"No!" Arthur said in exasperation.
"There's no more time to waste, dad." Charlie said as gently as possible.
Arthur looked grim, but let out a sigh and nodded. "Me and you then."
"And me." Tonks said, rising. "I need to check in anyway if there's something going on over there."
"Fine. Let's go then." Arthur said impatiently. He paused, kissing Molly on the cheek comfortingly, then led the way quickly out.
> > > > > > > > > > >
A/N - Sorry this took longer. Last week was terribly busy, stressful and tiring, then the weekend that followed was even worse, then of course that meant I was sick by monday. Been feeling wretched and my head has been aching like mad for days. Hard to write and edit with what feels like ice picks through your eyeballs. I intended them to leave the hospital in this chapter, but it will have to be the beginning of the next because I know that won't be a short bit (least not short enough to fit in this chapter comfortably). Gotta wrap that up and all. I'll try to get the next chapter out soon. So far as I know I should have a bit of writing time this weekend.
LMAO - In the current copy of Movie Magic, "Harry Potter's new adventures unfold" they have an interview with Daniel Radcliff (Harry) in which they say, "Dan kind of likes 'older' women!" (giggling giddily) TOLD YOU! It's a brill magazine actually. Cost $10, but it has almost literally half the mag dedicated to Harry Potter. They even have an article at the end about Harry Potter fanfic! I wouldn't use it as reference material, because they have more glaring mistakes than you can shake a stick at (Tons in the sections where they try to tell you about like the spells and people and such, and in a couple of picture captions) and that's just the ones I saw while glancing through (I even saw them misspell Voldemort! Where's their spell checker man?), but they mostly have interviews and such, and there are some more current pictures of them that make it worth it. My only real complaint (ok, other than poor research in areas) was that I only saw three pics with Draco, and only one of them (a head shot) was current. I'd really like to see how he's maturing so I can get a better mental image of what he'd look like at nearly seventeen. Ginny is also finally starting to look a bit more like a teen. I think they only had one pic of her... surprise, surprise! Man... Ron actually is getting cute... (chuckles) hey! I said GETTING. Of course, he's almost seventeen now irl... not much longer til he'll be legal! ;P What I found shocking was the pic of Percy! Now he is actually cute with the longer hairstyle! I was stunned. (can anyone tell I have a thing for redheads?) I think he looks old enough for me to say he's cute without people getting all 'Ew! He's half your age!'. Course I'm rather fond of Snape as well, and he could easily be my father! (age wise! no hanky panky with my mum!) The character isn't that much older than me, but the actor (I hate to tell ya if you don't know already) is quite nearly twice my age! Well, if he were perhaps 4 or 5 years older anyway. I still can't believe it when I look at him in his Snape getup. He looks positively shaggable. Well, I preferred him in the first movie. They changed the cut of his clothes a bit and made subtle changes to his hair and such after that I believe and he didn't look quite as attractive. I suspect too many of us lonely gals found him hot and they wanted to reinforce that he isn't supposed to be liked so they made him less appealing (though he still has his 'damn I wanna shag him!' moments anyway). Why do I always seem most attracted to the 'bad' characters? Anyway, I'm just babbling now so I'll cut off this conversation. On to the answer portion of our program:
DreamDeferred - Actually Tobias is not a Muggle. He's a wizard. In fact, his talent was too strong. That was the problem that caused the memory charms not to work properly. He and his family live on the outskirts of Hogsmeade, an entirely magical town, so they would have to be magical. Besides, they'd hardly leave Muggles running about free in their magical hospital!
Vixenfairy27 - FYI - girl. Now as to the question... No, Narcissa is not a werewolf. It is just a procedure only usually done on them, because werewolves are the only ones with which the benefits of moving the child to a non-werewolf surrogate mother would be worth the risk of losing the baby. It was developed for them to try to make it so their children might have a chance at a normal life.
Morena Evensong - About Narcissa knowing Lupin was a werewolf. Well, I'm sure she was a very bright girl, she's Sirius's first cousin, and I suspect she may have paid a bit more attention to Lupin than most :) Overall, I thought it a reasonable guess that she could have divined his true nature. Not to mention that in the little 'flashbacks' from the pensieve, the 'Marauders' didn't seem super careful with not mentioning anything. I remember them joking about it not too discretely after their O.W.L. exam and having to be hushed. Heck, if she was anywhere near them at the time then she might have overheard and found out right then! Not to mention Snape found out (quite nearly the hard way), so he may have let it slip to some of the other Slytherins. I mean he would have been more than happy to see Lupin expelled.
Tsuyoi-84 - Narcissa saw his eyes the first time we 'saw' her, and she spent time talking with Arthur and Molly when explaining about the wedding, and Arthur knew (and we know he told them about Harry and the demon at that time), so I assume they would have told her about Darien then. With this many characters, I find I'm having to let my readers 'assume' a lot, which I know isn't good, but hey, you'd all be bored senseless otherwise (as would I!).
Nanook1844 - I agree that it's irritating when people, for example, call Winky 'elf' all the time, but that's because she has a name, they KNOW the name, and yet feel her unworthy of even the modicum of respect using her name would require. And as for people who name their dog "Dog", well that's just laziness or total lack of imagination at work IMHO. The demon, on the other hand, they do not know the name of, and he has been called simply 'demon' for over 700 years and doesn't seem to have any problem with it. He has a name, but he chooses not to share it with them, and therefore accepts a 'generic' name, and they are respecting his wishes. What I think would be disrespectful would be if they tried to give him a name just because they would be more comfortable with calling him something a bit more personal. He's not a dog that they can just name as they see fit.
Dweeb - no, Blaise hasn't stolen any souls. He is merely absorbing free floating souls that have become 'lost' and don't know where to go. Most of them had just been drifting around the hospital aimlessly for years. The wraith in him draws them like a magnet.
Jenny777 - I have tried writing without ellipses or at least cutting back because people have complained about it before... but it doesn't seem to work ;P It's just how I write. Truth be told, I have no great burning desire to change it either. Like I said, it's just my style. If it annoys you just copy it into a word editor and do a search and replace and replace them all with commas or something, but I just don't feel it looks right without them. Spent too much of college online I guess, so I know how very differently people can take what I write just because they read it differently than I would. You can say the same words ten different ways and get as many different meanings out of them. I add the pauses (...) and inflections (italics and bold) on occasion because I want people to know how the words were intended to be read.