The Peverell Legacy
A/N: I own nothing, especially not HP. Welcome to another fanfic, Italics are for thoughts and Bold is for spells. Here's chapter seven, enjoy!
Chapter Seven: In which Rita Skeeter is played like a dime store fiddle
Rita Skeeter had been very surprised when she received an invitation to a luncheon at the home of Narcissa Malfoy. The reporter had arrived at the home of the witch widely considered the murderess of her husband to find Narcissa and her sister Andromeda waiting for her with a witch she'd never seen before. "Ah, Rita Skeeter, the greatest propagandist the Daily Prophet has ever had. So nice to meet you." The young woman said though the smile on her lips did not meet her eyes.
"My fame precedes me, I see." Rita gave a tight lipped smile in return, "So, who is the well-informed woman before me?" She looked at the other women for a moment then turned her attention back to the stranger, "You must be well-connected as well, friends with the Lady Malfoy and her wayward sister, I am fascinated."
"My name isn't important, what is important is that I have something you will find fascinating." The woman said, leading Rita into the Manor, "I'm sure you've heard about the unfortunate disappearance of the Carrows?"
"I have." Rita said, "Two well-connected and wealthy members of a powerful family, a family that has a rumored predisposition for each other over non-related lovers." She allowed herself a small smile, "Whatever would they have to do with this little get-together?"
"Very simply, I have a gift for you; their signed confessions. Every wanton misdeed going back to the Dark Lord and beyond." The woman guided Rita to the parlor and there, sitting on the table, was a stack of parchment. "Alecto's confession is on the top, then there is a marker between the end of hers and the beginning of her brothers."
Rita's eyebrow raised, "And how did you get those?" Curiosity over took the reporter and she picked up the papers, noting with distaste the dark red scrawl. "This is written in blood, isn't it?" When the woman grinned in place of an answer Rita held in her shudder. "Tell me, why didn't Madam Bones receive this?"
"Amelia has a less...red copy." Narcissa Malfoy told her, "However she is concerned that the blood status of the culprits would allow them to get out of their just rewards."
Rita looked over the confessions, sitting down as she pored over it. This was, easily, the biggest scoop she'd ever been given. But it was also, easily, the most dangerous thing she'd ever been given. "I can't print this, if I did I wouldn't live to collect the paycheck."
"I'm terribly sorry, but I don't remember asking if you could do it." The woman said to Rita, "I expect this to be printed in tomorrows edition." She looked away from Rita to the others, "I didn't accidentally ask her permission did I?"
"Not that I am aware of." Andromeda replied
Narcissa pretended to think, "You did not."
She smiled, "I didn't think I did. Now Rita, you will print this and I have three very good reasons as to why you will do it." Rita watched as the woman held up a finger, "The first reason is that you know you want to pin those slimy bastards to the wall." A second finger came up, "You know the things in those confessions, even if you don't print them someone will and then you are still a target, only you are a target without the benefit of our protection."
"And the third?" Rita asked watching as the woman's smile grew slightly larger.
"Eric Dross."
Rita felt that name strike her like an actual blow across the face. She hadn't thought of that name in decades, "How do you know that name?" She demanded, rising and bringing her wand up. Three wands were pointed at her and slowly she set her wand down.
"Eric Dross, class of '65. A Ravenclaw who vanished around 1969." The woman continued, "You were the same year and House weren't you?" At Rita's stunned look, she continued, "His body was never found, it was as if he just stopped existing.
"I-if I do this?" Rita began, the color gone from her face, "If I do what you want-"
"Then you will be protected, you will be famous, and Eric Dross' file will vanish once more." She looked at Rita, "You give your Oath to publish the confession and not to reveal your sources and I will give my own Oath to destroy the copies I have of those records and never tell a soul about them."
"How did you even find the school records?" Rita asked as she sank back into her chair.
She shrugged, "You hid them well, placing them in the list of students that were expelled. However all records at the Ministry are subject to inspection."
Rita had her answer then, "You're an Unspeakable. But that's impossible."
"I was, I may even become one again." She shrugged in a way that infuriated Rita, "All you need to know about me is that I'm dedicated to make sure that the Death Eaters and their master never darken our world again."
Rita had no argument left. The respective oaths were given and Rita left with a copy of the confessions. After she left Padma looked at the master copies she had. "The silly bitch didn't even bother trying to read my mind and I know she's a practicing legilimens."
Andromeda smirked, "She did, she tried to read mine. I believe she thought that you seeming to have all the cards, Cissy being the clever bitch she is- no offense sister."
"None taken."
"Cissy being the clever bitch she is that she would be prepared, but then there was poor simple Andromeda Tonks, the cast off Black sister. She tried rooting through my mindscape and got nothing but images of Nymphadora's finger paintings." Andromeda said with a laugh, "She went through a period where all her drawings looked like they could be mistaken for blood spatter."
Padma joined the sisters in laughter, "On that lovely note I have a man and a child to go see."
"You mean a man-child and a child, don't you?" Narcissa asked with a wry grin.
"Something like that." Padma said before vanishing with a soft crack. She arrived in the backyard of their home and stepped inside. It was the picture of domestic bliss, if the homemaker in question had a very strange idea about the words 'domestic' and 'bliss'. Harry had his younger self and Tonks tonight, all night in fact as Andromeda and Ted were going to celebrate Ted winning a case. Harry was going over his notes for the lesson and doing his best not to laugh at the antics of Tonks.
She'd put the baby Harry in a dress and put him inside a toy pram, she was currently engaged in pushing him around. Padma alerted Harry to her presence by laughing behind him, "You aren't going to let him forget this are you?"
Harry laughed and pulled her into his lap, "Of course I'm not. I've been memorizing it so that later when they are dating I can bring this up." Padma giggled and kissed him.
"That's rather devious of you Professor Peverell," Padma said laughing, "I wish we had a camera. But I suppose a memory will work just as well."
Much later, after the children were put to sleep, Harry and Padma were able to talk about the day. "So, she gave the oath?" Harry asked as Padma sat on the chair in front of her vanity applying lotion to her legs.
"She did. Apparently the cow tried to read Andi's mind. Luckily our friends are very powerful witches and all she got to see was the rather disturbing paintings from Tonks' early period." Padma told him as she ran her hands over her legs. She noted the interest with which Harry was paying attention to her nightly ritual and grinned, "Would you care to help me hit a hard-to-reach spot?" She asked as she stood and walked over to the bed, she placed her foot on the edge of the bed, putting her calf at his eye level.
"It's hardly a difficult to reach spot, but I will never turn down a chance to touch the woman I love." Harry said as his hands traced her calf and then up past her knee. Padma stifled a groan as Harry's hand traveled slightly higher, fingertips brushing the edge of her knickers. Or they would, had said garment been worn.
It was then that the bedroom door opened. Padma gave a very undignified squawk as she fell forward trying to cover herself and landed hard on Harry's waist. Tonks stood at the doorway, "Jamie was sick on his bed." She told them solemnly, holding the baby in her arms.
"We'll be right there." Came Harry's voice from above Padma, "Dora, will you take James to the bathroom and take his shirt off? I'll bring a clean shirt while Auntie Pad cleans the crib." The little girl nodded and once again they were alone. "There is no birth control as powerful as children," Harry muttered as they rose from the bed.
Padma grabbed her dressing gown, covering the much shorter silk robe she usually work to bed, "Makes you wonder how the Weasleys do it. So, what did you feed him to make him sick?" She asked as she grabbed her wand from the nightstand.
"Hanged if I know love, it was the same food as always. Sometimes kids get sick at night, it just happens." Harry had been wearing his flannel pajama bottoms so he needed only to grab his wand, "One good thing, while you've been out making sure that I don't have to fight more than absolutely needed I've had the time to read a few of the books Ted recommended about being a new father."
She smiled at that as they stepped into the nursery. Harry hadn't been the most stable person during the years after the war. He had worked a few years as an Auror before a few strong words from Hermione and Luna had convinced him to retire. Their mission, the one that had brought them together as a couple had in fact been one of his last. Neither of them were particularly well-adjusted and she knew that. Padma was ruthless now, unwilling to give any known threat a chance to make anyone else hurt the way her sister did.
For Harry though, she supposed it had been the strain of an abusive family, then seven years of someone trying to kill him, followed by his time as an Auror where any wannabe Dark Lord went after him in order to make a name for themselves that had led him to where he was now. Harry didn't want to fight anyone he didn't have to. In fact, she knew that once the last Horcruxes were dealt with and Riddle was finally permanently defeated, he would probably never raise his wand for anything except self-defense ever again.
That was fine. He deserved the peace and she would leave the entire world, as her friend and former colleague Millicent Bulstrode had termed it 'ankle deep in blood, head first' if it meant that her man got that peace.
Harry selected a new top and left to bring it to the bathroom. Padma looked at the crib, thankfully it wasn't as bad as she had feared. A simple cleaning charm had left the bed dry and a modified breath freshening charm removed the sour smell from the mattress.
Harry came back carrying his younger self, now sleeping once more, in one hand while holding the hand of Tonks with the other. "All better." He said quietly as he placed the baby in the crib. Tonks went back to the bright purple sleeping bag she had brought from home and slipped into it.
"G'night Harry! G'night Aunt Pad!" Tonks said as she settled back in the bag.
Harry and Padma returned the sentiment. Padma stopped long enough to kiss the sleeping baby on the head before she and Harry returned to their bedroom. "I wonder why I'm not 'Uncle Harry'." He mused as he slipped into bed.
"Because she's calling me 'Aunt' to re-enforce the fact that she thinks I'm an old lady," Padma said, shedding both her dressing gown and then slid in beside him. "You might be reading books on being a good dad, but I've been a woman far longer than you'll have been a father. She's a sneaky one." Padma laughed softly and snuggled up to him, "But so am I."
"Trust me, I know how sneaky you are. I remember when Ginny found out where you were holding your hen party." Harry laughed, that had been a fight to remember. Ginny Weasley had left the nightclub swiftly as a trio of bowel-loosening charms, slug vomiting hexes, and a hair removal jinx courtesy of Hermione, Padma, and Luna respectively had made the fact that she wasn't welcome clear. That had been the same night that Ron had proposed to Hermione, having heard what had happened from his sister and being told by his mother that he had to choose between his family and his girlfriend. He'd chosen Hermione and Harry hoped they were happy in their old timeline if indeed that timeline existed.
"She didn't find out, I made sure she knew it," Padma explained. She leaned against him and looked up, "She knew we were dating and hated it. She hated me for 'stealing' you, even though you two had already broken up. I got so many howlers from Molly that I had to set my owl-mail to go to a banishing box." Padma yawned softly before continuing, "But I wasn't going to let them treat our relationship like this. Luna 'dropped' her invite 'accidentally' after a visit with Ginny and lo and behold, who would show up at my private party but that miserable harpy-in-training."
"She wasn't that bad at Hogwarts." Harry said, "What made her go from that Ginny to the one who nearly lost her face when she insulted Parvati?"
"Jealousy." Padma said softly as she began to doze beside him, "She wanted me to do all the work of helping your night terrors and then she would come in and steal my place. But when you didn't look at her like you looked at me, she got mad."
Conversation stilled as the two fell asleep together.
The next day Harry had to report to Hogwarts to meet with the Muggle Studies Professor and take over the class. Padma was glum as she watched him triple-check his satchel once Tonks had been given back to her mother.
"Remember what I said before; if they offer you the DADA position I will murder you. We both know that I can make it look like an accident or a suicide." She told him as she took a bit of her apple. "Just teach the class, kill the basilisk, get the Diadem, and then come back this summer without gainful employment at Hogwarts."
"I'm going to be home tonight, I have an office and that's it. Dumbledore didn't even bother offering me quarters." Harry said as he went to the coat rack for his cloak. "You two will be fine until I get back at six right?"
"Of course we will." She said, "The Prophet will have those names coming out today so Amelia will be busily collecting stray Death Eaters. Andi, Cissy, and I will be staying quietly at home. No one needs to know our part in all of this."
"Thanks to the oath she gave, Rita can't tell anyone who gave her the information." Harry said, "But Amelia knows she has it and will take steps to ensure her safety."
"She'll try. Honestly, if the bitch dies, she dies." Padma shrugged and turned to pour another cup of coffee. "I stopped giving a toss about her life once I got her to give the oath."
"Padma, we are supposed to be better than the people we are trying to stop."
"I'm much better than them. I haven't killed a single person who didn't deserve it. I killed Lestrange and that was all. She took Cho from me, so I took her life from her. I didn't kill the Carrows. They were hurt, but they are still breathing." Padma looked over the rim of her mug, "If she comes to Andi or Cissy and needs help then I suppose I can whip something up for her. Will that please his majesty?"
Harry ignored the slightly mocking tone and shook his head, "I just worry about you. That's all. You matter to me far more than settling scores with Riddle. I want you, and our baby inside you, to be safe."
"We'll be safest if every Death Eater is in jail or the ground," Padma said. She sighed and walked over to him, "I get it. I do. I understand that you worry about me. Same as I worry about you. It's almost over."
It was and he knew that. The last Horcrux would be easy to deal with. As for the wraith form of Riddle, they knew whereabouts he had been found by Quirrell, so it was just a matter of waiting for the right word to reach their ears about mysterious animal activity in Albania.
He kissed her, "I'll be home tonight. I love you very much." Harry told her as he gave her a hug. She returned it tightly.
"Just come home and don't let Trelawney grope your ass. She's drunk on her cooking sherry nearly all day if the smell from her classroom was anything to go by. From what I heard out of Horace she's a handsy drunk." Padma said, earning a smile from her man, "I love you too."
Once Harry had left Padma waited for the paper-owl to arrive. She smiled as she looked at the headline, 'DEATH EATERS CONFESS ALL!'. Skeeter does good work... Padma thought as she began to read the article. It's going to be a rough day for the 'fine folks' on this list...
The baby cried, earning her attention, it was time for him to face the world with a clean nappie and a fresh bottle. There won't be a nappie big enough for Bagnold's ass when she gets thrown out for taking bribes. She thought with a laugh as she went up to the nursery.
