Well, here's another chapter and here's to the hope you guys check it out and like what I've got planned as much as you liked Blackest of Souls, don't forget to review!

"Most things are forgotten over time. Even the war itself, the life-and-death struggle people went through is now like something from the distant past. We're so caught up in our everyday lives that events of the past are no longer in orbit around our minds. There are just too many things we have to think about everyday, too many new things we have to learn. But still, no matter how much time passes, no matter what takes place in the interim, there are some things we can never assign to oblivion, memories we can never rub away. They remain with us forever, like a touchstone."
Haruki Murakami

When Carina awoke, it was still rather early, judging by the clock on the wall and the darkness outside, so she did not move. Not that she really could have, anyway, with Hermione wrapped around her like a koala, legs tangled together, arms locked firmly around Carina's waist.

Just to test if she really could move, the raven haired woman made to roll away; the plan failed, of course. Her wife only latched on tighter and, somehow, ended up on top of her, brown hair strewn about wildly; Carina spluttered for a moment and then spat out the hair that had managed to get in her face, brushing it aside.

She tipped her head back for a moment to stare at the ceiling, rolling her eyes, before she lowered it again to press a kiss to the head tucked into the crook of her neck.

Hermione could be a deep sleeper sometimes, nowadays, which was surprising considering the war; however, people healed. Carina did not have her tremors, nor her nightmares, for they were rare now, and she could sometimes sleep through the night without the smallest noise awakening her. That, she supposed, was from being a mother and a soldier; she had always had heightened senses, to boot.

She did not know what she was going to do about the two teens in her rooms; frankly, she did not think she liked them very much. They were a bit spoiled and far too mischievous for their own good, she had noticed, but she supposed that came with being raised by Sirius and Marlene Black. (Or was she still McKinnon there?) She would never know.

Carina was mildly worried that they were not the only things to come from the dimension, though from what she had seen it appeared that they were; however, she could not shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen. What if something had come through? What if something somehow came through the portal again, like a portal jumper, who would be able to regenerate it simply for that purpose? That was the only thing that could regenerate the portal, unless someone magical poured all their energy and magic into it, which would end them up either dead or in a coma.

She absently stroked Hermione's hair as she pondered, her free hand moving to fiddle with her wife's fingers; Carina sighed.

If something did come through, it could affect all of us. My entire family. The kids. I don't want that to happen, but there's also a chance nothing could have come through and I'm simply over analyzing everything; but, then again, why would I feel like this if it were nothing?

"I can hear the gears in your mind turning," came a hoarse whisper, and she flickered her gaze down to see Hermione lifting her head and regarding her with bleary eyes. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing," Carina murmured back, completely aware of every move Hermione made as she shifted forward, releasing her hold on the raven haired woman's waist and propping herself up, forearms on either side of her wife's head. Brunette hair fell around them like a curtain, and Carina only watched.

"Nothing?" Warm breath ghosted over her lips. "Are you sure it's nothing?"

"No," the raven haired witch admitted quietly. "But we'll see."

"You can tell me anything," the brunette leaned in closer, suddenly seeming wide awake as she looked her in the eye. "you know that, right?"

"I know."

"Good." Hermione leaned down and kissed her; Carina tangled a hand in her hair and pulled her down closer, feeling warmth spread throughout her from her head to her feet. When her wife pulled away, Carina felt her lips twitch. "Am I crushing you?"

"If this is you crushing me, I'm certainly not complaining," the younger woman finally smiled. "In fact, I'm liking it a lot. It would be better if you were a little," she grabbed Hermione and pulled her farther down, so that they were pressed together. "closer."

Hermione at first had squeaked, but was now smiling down at her, their noses brushing, their eyes locked. "You…"

"I what?" the smile turned into wide grin, but Hermione shook her head, features smoothening out.

~~~xxx~~~

"You're gorgeous."

Carina actually flushed. "Hermione…"

"You are," the brunette lifted herself up a bit and trailed her fingers down Carina's bare side, where her shirt had ridden up sometime during her sleep, and over one of her scars. The hand ghosted up her side, her arm, and then over the scar on her face. "You're so beautiful it hurts sometimes."

And she was. The most beautiful person Hermione had ever met.

"Beauty is but a vain and doubtful good," Carina quoted softly. "A shining gloss that fadeth suddenly; a flower that dies when first it 'gins to bud. A brittle glass that's broken presently…"

Quoting Shakespeare to me? Two can play at that game, Rina.

"Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind."

Eleven years ago, or even ten or nine or eight, such a thing as this would never have happened. But they had both changed for the better, had healed (if only somewhat), and to be quite honest, were infatuated with each other. Hermione saw the way Carina looked at her, the way she was looking at her now, the smile returning as she responded with, "I would not wish any companion in the world but you."

Hermione actually laughed. "You closet sap."

"Only for the lady," Carina flipped them over and hovered over Hermione, dark hair brushing the sides of the brunette's face as it spilled over her shoulder. She did not move again, merely stared, until after a few moments her smile grew, white teeth flashing from between her lips, and Hermione felt her heart stutter. Carina leaned in closer, their lips nearly brushing. "You know something?"

"What?"

"I'm hungry."

Hermione scowled and shoved her chuckling wife away. "You really know how to ruin a moment."

"We can have a moment in the kitchen," the raven haired woman was already out of bed and standing by the door. "Coming?"

The brunette rolled her eyes fondly and followed along, their hands brushing as they made their way down the stairs and to the kitchen. Carina sat down in a chair and waved a hand; ingredients began to spill out and the oven clicked on.

Everything began to prepare itself, and Hermione raised a brow at her. "You do realize how lazy that is, don't you?"

"You do realize you're the one who wanted a moment, don't you?" Without warning, the older woman was pulled down onto Carina's lap, and there were a pair of lips attached to her neck.

The moment was short lived, however, when loud footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs, and Hermione and Carina both groaned when they realized that Teddy was awake; Hermione leaned back into her and shut her eyes in exasperation.

The now black haired boy burst into the kitchen then, and when he saw that breakfast was being prepared, grinned.

"Great!" he exclaimed. "I was hungry."

"You," Carina pointed at him. "Are a terrible child."

"What did I do?"

"You exist, you little mongrel!" She waved her arm, but he only laughed and came around to the chair to hug them both, kissing their cheeks.

"Morning to you too, Mom. You too, Mum."

"Hello, dear," Hermione greeted, finally opening her eyes and sighing, though she felt a surge of affection for the boy. "Sleep well?"

"Fine," Teddy shrugged, before bouncing on the balls of his feet, hands behind his back. "Can I go wake the kids from last night up?"

"I don't think—"

"Do it," Carina cut across her. "Go wake the triplets while you're at it. Have them assault the girl while you dump a bucket of water over the boy."

Oh no. Those poor kids...

"Got it," Teddy grinned, and he raced away before Hermione could protest.

"Carina!"

"What? They're infuriating," a kiss was pressed to her jaw, but when Hermione struggled, she was released.

"That doesn't mean we let our children assault them! They're guests!" the brunette shook her head and made her way to where Carina's mug of coffee was attempting to float over and snatched it from the air, passing it to her wife as she grabbed her own tea.

Carina took a long drink of the coffee and leaned back in her chair, tipping her head back and closing her eyes. "I give it ten seconds."

Hermione seated herself at the table. "Until?"

She knew perfectly well what would happen, however, and so the raven haired woman did not answer until they heard a considerable racket from upstairs; there were unintelligible screams, shrieks, and howls of laughter before there was what sounded like a herd of elephants running down the stairs.

"That."

Teddy came bursting through the door first, then Rigel, Caelum, and Rose, who were quickly followed by a thoroughly soaked Evan and a very tousled looking Callidora, whose hair was strewn about at odd angles, clothing wrinkled, and one side of her shirt slipped down to reveal her shoulder. She, it appeared, had had a very rude awakening.

Rigel threw himself into Carina's lap, followed by Rose and then Caelum, making the woman grunt and her chair to topple over; she fell to the floor with the three strewn over her and spread her arms, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Hermione raised her brows and leaned over her. "Are you alright?"

"I…" there was a pause. "Am happy I put my mug down."

"Mumma, we woke 'em up!" cried Caelum, and she let out another grunt as he bounced earnestly on her leg. "I helped Ted get that guy!"

He was pointing to Evan, who had adjusted his glasses and pushed his hair back, glaring, though not altogether angrily so much as rather exasperated and playful.

"Yeah!" Rose exclaimed, and she leaned in very close to her mother's face, grinning. "And me and Rigel went and got her," she pointed to Callidora, who made a face at her. "and we beat her up!"

"I didn't beat her up, Mumma," Rigel corrected, sticking his tongue out at his sister. "I just helped roll her off the bed. Rosie did all the beatin' up."

"Do we get a galleon for doin' it, Mumma?"

"I'm hungry, Mumma!"

"Mumma, I want some juice."

"Hey, Mumma, can we go to the park?"

"Mumma, can I have a hug?"

The questions came so rapidly that Hermione began to laugh, watching as Carina blinked up at her three youngest, who were now all hovering over her face with eager expressions.

She was very good with the children, Hermione had learned. When she had moved in with Carina when the other woman was nineteen and she having just turned twenty, she had seen how good Carina was with Teddy. The boy had loved her then, and she him.

When she had been the one to carry the triplets, Carina had fought off anyone who touched her with a snarl, and had went out to get her whatever she wanted or needed; she had not hovered, but she had certainly always been there. At the birth of the triplets, Hermione had seen how awestruck she was at the newborns, seen her eyes gleam in the light, the smile that had stretched across her face and not went away.

Hermione had moved in when Teddy was two, so she had had to adjust to being woken at odd hours of the night by one, or all, of the babies screaming. Carina, however, had just tiredly, automatically, rolled out of bed and went to take care of it, sometimes rousing Hermione as she went and sometimes not. There were times when the brunette would open her eyes and find Carina seated in the chair beside the large crib, fast asleep, and other times she would find her wife lying in bed next to her with a baby curled against her chest. She loved them all unconditionally, aimed to give them the best childhood possible and never once struck them; she tried hard not to raise her voice and, more often than not, succeeded. It was very rare she yelled, or, rather, got a bit loud. That had only really happened when little Rose had toddled off somewhere around the Potter home and been missing for an hour. Carina had been so worried, then, that she had scooped the girl up into her arms and not let her go for several minutes.

It was refreshing, seeing the change, the person Carina had become as opposed to the person she had been. There were still trials occasionally, sure, but they were not very often and things had been working out for the better. Though Carina was doing so well, however, Hermione had no doubt that she would kill, maim, or torture anyone who harmed her children, her wife, or anyone she cared for, period. Especially her children and her wife. This was not a sentiment to be taken lightly. Hermione had seen what Carina was capable of, seen her do terrible things, but she loved her anyway for the person she was, and not what she could be.

And so here they were, Carina now standing with Rigel and Caelum on each hip, Rose clinging to her back as she rolled her eyes and huffed, but nevertheless twitched her nose and wiggled her fingers so that their plates were filled and floating to the table within seconds. She sat each of them down in a chair and gave Teddy his plate, but she had ignored the two teenagers standing in the doorway still, watching.

Hermione decided it would be best if she took over, there.

"Grab a plate and take whatever you'd like," she told them. "I think that, after breakfast or lunch, we can spare some time to go out and find the two of you some clothes and such since you'll be staying awhile."

Callidora and Evan both thanked her and took seats at the table after grabbing plates, and when Hermione seated herself next to Carina, she could see the two already joking with Teddy and teasing the triplets, who were going along with it and giggling at their words. The two were telling Teddy all about their dimension already, and though Rose, Rigel, and Caelum did not know what was going on, they pretended to anyway.

As more talk of life with Sirius and Marlene came about, Hermione noticed the slightest frown tug at Carina's lips. There was no other outward reaction aside from her silence unless one of the children spoke to her, so Hermione put it from her mind for now in favor of planning the trip ahead.

"Carina," she said quietly, as to not disturb the conversation the others were having. "What are we going to do with the children when we take Evan and Callidora out for clothes? Should we leave them with Andromeda, or Harry and Ginny?"

"I can watch them," Carina muttered back, leaning back and pushing her plate forward. "You can take the other two out."

"Why don't you want to spend time with them?"

The other woman turned to regard her, gray eyes roving over her face. The corner of her lips lifted, if only slightly. "I don't fancy having to listen to my younger self flirt with me, Hermione. Like I said, they're irritating little buggers and I'd rather stay home with the kids, anyway. I'm not in the mood to go out. But you can go have fun with them. Things will be alright here."

Hermione hesitated. This was certainly not the first time Carina had watched all four at once, and really, Teddy was a big enough help and she knew how to keep the younger children occupied. The only time the house had been anything resembling destroyed was when a month or so ago, Carina had offered to watch James, Albus, and Lily, Harry's children, while Hermione and Ginny went out on a girl's night and Harry and Ron took care of Auror business.

That had been chaotic to come home to. Seven children to watch was easy for a mother like Molly Weasley, but Carina Black had no experience with such a thing, especially when all of them were so young, and therefore the house had been a complete mess, but at least the children had been happy and Carina only exasperated with the situation as a whole.

"Things will be alright here," Carina repeated, and she reached out to grip her wife's hand. The brunette snapped to attention.

"I know they'll be," Hermione offered her a smile, and received a small one in return as the hand covering hers pulled back. "I think we'll head out around lunch."

The raven haired woman hummed in acknowledgement and turned to listen to Rose, who had been calling out to her.

~~~xxx~~~

The moment the door closed behind Hermione, Callidora, and Evan, Carina turned to find all four of her children standing in a line side by side, merely staring at her.

"What?" she crossed her arms and raised a brow. "Got nothing better to do than stare?"

"Mum told us not to ask," started Teddy. "But we wanted to know, where did you get your scars? You've so many…"

Bloody hell. Carina cast her gaze from one child to another, and decided immediately that if she was going to tell anyone, it would be Teddy. Rose, Rigel, and Caelum were too young, but Teddy was old enough to be told some things. Things like this. She did not have to tell him the whole story yet, or what she had done; he might very well hate her after, although.

"You three," she directed her attention to her youngest. "Go play in the playroom."

The three began to protest, but a sharp look had them scampering off, and she followed them, closed the door, and made her way to where Teddy still stood, nodding toward the living room. He followed along obediently and took a seat on the couch; she sat herself on the coffee table across from him and leaned forward, clasping her hands between her knees.

"Alright. What is it you want to know?"

"Just, where you got them," the boy cleared his throat, obviously unsure but still very serious about this. "And how long ago. You've had them for as long as I can remember, but Mum always said not to ask. Said it wasn't polite."

Of course she would. Though, I'll tell him nearly anything within reason.

"I got this one," she pointed to the faded scar (much like how Harry's lightning bolt scar had) on her face. "and these," she pulled up her shirt and ran her fingers along the lines crisscrossing her torso. "when I was fifteen. Harry and Draco Malfoy were dueling in a bathroom and when I found them, I tried to stop them from killing each other. Neither of them took it well, and Harry decided to block me off with a spell he had read but knew nothing about. It did this. I'd fallen back, covered in blood, and blacked out. When I woke, he and Malfoy were both gone and Snape was there with his wand out; if not for him, I'd be dead now, not alive with scars to show."

"Wow," Teddy breathed. "I can't believe Uncle Harry did that."

"He didn't know what he was doing," Carina let out a breath. "I assume he's regretted it ever since." Her fingers moved to the scar on her side. "This one I got when I was seventeen. Ron Weasley and I both got splinched, he missing part of his arm and me, my side. Hermione took care of us both. The rest I don't remember much. There was a war, Ted, so they must have happened along the way."

"Oh." He was silent for a few moments, brows drawn together, before he hesitantly asked, "Mom? What about the ones on your back? They-they look like...like…well…"

He did not want to say it. Frankly, she did not either, but she did anyway, finishing for him, "Lashes."

"Did it...was it in the war?"

"No."

"Why?" he finally exploded, distraught as he most likely pieced together the scenario in his mind. "Who could do that to you?"

"Very greedy, cruel people, that's who," Carina reached over to grasp one of his hands in hers, and he gripped it tightly as he listened, leaning forward in his seat. "I spent my entire life being beaten down and told I was worthless, Teddy. I didn't get a chance to know true friendship or love until I met your Mum, and then Harry, and Ron." She acknowledged the man she had learnt to tolerate, speak civilly to, for he had indeed been a good friend in her childhood. "We went through so much together, and I promise I'll tell you more when you're older, but that was the happiest I'd been in a long time. I didn't go back to those people anymore. I stayed at the Grangers, or the Weasleys, and it was amazing. And then I met my father, and I kept him company in that house of his...we helped each other."

Teddy knew all about Sirius Black and how he had been framed, knew all about his birth parents, even; he knew nothing about how Carina had been in Azkaban, however, and she inwardly debated whether or not to tell him.

"Why aren't you friends with Ron anymore?" Teddy picked up on this. He knew the man, had went with the Potter children to stay at his home, and at several other Weasley's homes, was even friends with his children, though they were younger than he was. (He much preferred Bill Weasley's children, who were closer to his age)

"You sure you want to know?"

The grip on her hand tightened, and unashamedly, her eldest son grabbed her other one and squeezed it, too, expression extremely serious. "Tell me."

"I was framed, too," she stared at their hands as she recalled the memories she tried not to think about anymore. "like my father was. I was framed by Bellatrix Lestrange, my cousin and your great-aunt, for the murders of Percy Weasley and Dan and Emma Granger."

"Grandma and Grandpa? Really?" Teddy frowned. "You got a trial, though, right?"

"Yes. I got a trial," Carina paused, studying his face; his still black hair, amber (oh, how so like Remus's) eyes, and his fair skin, unblemished and not marred like hers. She shook her head. "I got one. But they didn't test me with Veritaserum like I wanted. All they knew was that I was seen at the scene of the crime, and they wanted me locked up. So they did. I was put in Azkaban, in my father's cell, and left there for a year."

"Mum didn't vouch for you? Or Harry or Ron? No one?"

"None of them. They thought I'd went mad, and Hermione was too consumed by grief to think straight at the time. I've forgiven her. But I found out something, later on."

"What?"

"Someone did try to help me. They tried to get me out."

"Really?" Teddy tilted his head to the side, earnest now. "Who? Did it work?"

"No, it didn't," she shook her head again, and purposefully met his eyes. "But Remus tried his damndest—don't tell your Mum I said that."

"I won't." Teddy let out a breath, and his eyes shone at the mention of his father. "He tried?"

Merlin, I loved that man, she thought wistfully. He had been an uncle, a second father figure, and he had been there for her every step of the way since she met him.

"Every step of the way, he told me," Carina smiled faintly. "Until he couldn't. They'd have locked him up or had him executed for trying to help a criminal. When they found out I was innocent, I was set free. Remus was the only one I would really talk to then. I hated Ron Weasley after that, because he could never understand. Harry steered clear of me."

Teddy swallowed. "And Mum?"

"She tried to talk to me. She tried to apologize. I didn't want to hear any of it, because it hurt too much to listen, or to be near her, because then, I loved her, and I didn't want to admit it to myself. I wanted to hate her for leaving me like that, my first friend, but I couldn't."

I'm happy things turned out the way they did.

"And you made friends with Luna?"

The raven haired woman actually snorted at that memory. "It was more like she forced her friendship on me," she shrugged. "But I'm grateful. I wouldn't be here, I think, if it weren't for Luna. I'd have run away a long time ago. Is that all?"

"Yeah," the boy let out a breath and released her hands. "Yeah, I think so. I reckon I can wait for the rest. Thanks for telling me, Mom."

Carina stood and extended her hand to him; he allowed his mother to pull him to his feet, and she slung an arm around his shoulders and glanced down at him. "Now, how about we go play with the triplets?"

"Sounds good," he smiled up at her, and off the two went.