Here's three-remember, people, reviews would be great!

Dance beneath the stars

as you drink in the night.

Let the thunder overtake you

as lightning fills the sky.

Feel the force of nature

penetrate your skin,

spin with the world

as the magic sinks in.

—Christy Ann Martine

When Hermione returned with Callidora and Evan, each of them laden with bags, she called out for Carina; there was no answer. Cautiously, for she did not know what would happen, she sat her own bags down in the entrance hall and edged around the corner and past the living room; the two confused teens did the same.

"What is it?" whispered Evan. "D'you think they're waiting to prank us or something?"

"That happens a lot at our house," Callidora added.

"I don't know," Hermione said softly, creeping down the hallway. "It happens sometimes, but not very often, and always because of Teddy and one, or all, of the triplets. But I don't think that's it. Let me see…" she opened the closed door to the playroom, for it had been silenced so that the children could make as much noise as they wanted without disturbing anyone. When she looked inside, she straightened and laughed.

She was not worrie. She knew exactly what had happened. The children had, it seemed, conned Carina into playing a game of "Chase", in which their mother would shift into her alternate form and chase them around the playroom or even the house, and then attempt to "eat" the one she caught unless the others "killed" her first. It had been a game invented around a year ago when the triplets were younger, and it had stuck ever since. Sometimes, Hermione even joined in. (Though in those instances, when she was caught, Carina would shift back and kiss her, which would then cause the children to make faces and demand they continue the game. Teddy only smiled)

"What is it?" the raven haired girl beside her peeked around the corner, and the sight she saw made her jaw drop. "Bloody hell, why is that here?!"

The black furred wolf's ears pricked up at their voices, and the child pinned beneath it's paws, Caelum, glanced over as well. It bared its teeth.

Evan made his way forward slowly, wand drawn, and Hermione realized that he thought he was saving her children. Teddy sat calmly in the corner, watching with a hand over his mouth to cover his snickers, and Rigel and Rose were both smushed together in a beanbag, watching with bright eyes and flushed cheeks.

"Stupefy!" Evan shouted, brandishing his wand, but the wolf only leapt to the side and straight for him; he yelped and attempted another spell, but when he hit the ground, it was not a wolf leaning over him, but Carina, teeth bared in a snarl.

"Wicked," breathed Callidora, putting her own wand away. "I'm an animagus."

"I am," Carina said without missing a beat, getting to her feet and scooping Caelum up into her arms. "You're not."

"We were playing chase, Mummy!" Rose cried, rushing forward to embrace Hermione around the legs.

"Yeah!" agreed Rigel, rushing over to do the same. As Hermione smoothed back his dark hair, he grinned up at her earnestly; she realized that one of his teeth was missing. "It was fun!"

"When did you lose your tooth, darling?" she asked him, tilting his head up so that she could see it better.

"While you were gone, Mummy," Caelum piped up, and his raven haired mother carried him closer with a roll of her eyes when he tapped her shoulder. "I knocked it out on assident."

"Accident," Hermione corrected him, but smiled nevertheless at her sons. "Well, despite the circumstances, I bet you're glad you'll be getting a visit from the tooth fairy, Rigel."

"Uh huh!" the boy grinned again.

Rose tugged at her sleeve. "Mummy, when will I lose another tooth?"

"When one of your brothers knocks one out," Carina told her, a small smirk curling at the corner of her lips when the girl immediately turned to Rigel and pointed at her face.

He shook his head quickly, taking a step back. "No way, Rosie, I don't hit girls."

"Mumma?" the little brunette turned to her other mother. "Will you knock one of 'em out so I can get a visit from the tooth fairy, too?"

Hermione noticed something flash through Carina's eyes, and the woman actually recoiled. She, it seemed, could not speak for a moment, until she finally managed as firmly as she could, "No."

Rose pouted.

"We got all the clothes," Hermione cut in hastily. "Don't worry, I didn't let them get any prank objects, either. I don't think I want to know what would happen if I had."

"You don't," the two teens said in unison.

Carina hefted Rose into her other arm, and when Teddy came to stand by them to join the conversation, Rigel scurried to her side as well; they made quite a sight, all the children dark haired (though not near as dark as their mother's, which was black, bar Rigel, who did indeed have her hair) and fair skinned, the boys with gray eyes and Rose with brown. Even Teddy had dark hair, though his amber eyes glinted in the light as he grinned at Callidora and Evan, shifting his features to that of a pig snout.

"This reminds me of what Nymph does," Evan laughed. "How are you a metamorph, Teddy? I forgot to ask. Is Carina one, too?"

"She is," Teddy answered him, and when his nose shifted back, his shoulders drooped and his smile faltered. "But she's not my birth mum. We...we're cousins."

"Really?" the dark haired boy across from him (Hermione realized, then, that she was in a house full of dark haired people with herself being the sole light haired brunette as opposed to her children's darker brown hair) frowned. "Who's your mum and dad, then?"

"Nymphadora Tonks and Remus Lupin."

"Nymph?" Callidora looked and sounded surprised. "And Remus, really? But Remus isn't married, and Nymph is with Charlie Weasley."

Hermione watched as Teddy's smile completely dropped. "They-they aren't together there? I don't exist?"

"No." Evan shook his head, looking mildly apologetic. His frown deepened. "And, actually, Remus and Nymph don't talk much. Not really. Order meetings don't happen anymore, and while she's around for dinner a lot and she and Remus talk then, they're only friends."

"Oh." The younger boy swallowed, more bothered by this than he would admit, it seemed. Hermione moved forward to pull him into her side, running a hand over his hair.

"Different dimensions, Teddy," she reminded softly. "A lot of things aren't the same. Don't take it to heart."

She could hear Carina whispering to Evan and Callidora, and the next thing Hermione knew, her youngest children and the teenagers were gone, and Teddy was standing there between she and Carina, looking incredibly lost.

"I just thought that they were meant to be together, you know?" the eleven-year-old sighed. "I thought no matter what dimension, they'd still be together and some sort of me would be there."

"Hermione and I aren't together there," Carina told him after a moment. Hermione glanced up at her. "I don't think we ever became friends, even, the way they speak. No one is always meant to be together, not everywhere."

Even us. the thought struck Hermione, who had spent seventeen years of her life knowing this woman, and six of those married to her. It had not occurred to her that, in another dimension, another time, she may have chosen Ron Weasley instead of Carina, and then...Carina would be...No. I can't think of that now.

She tried to change the subject, if only for the sake of their son, who still seemed rather dejected. "How is it that they're younger than we are, Carina? I never asked you. I wondered, but the excitement made me forget. Shouldn't we be the same age?"

The raven haired woman seemed to sense what she was doing and shook her head. "Time travel and dimensional travel sometimes go hand in hand. Not enough that a time traveler could travel dimensions, but enough that someone from another dimension could have come from a past dimension, which would mean twelve years ago, in this case."

Hermione frowned. "That makes sense, but yet, it doesn't."

"It doesn't have to. It's just the way it is."

"But—"

"It's the way it is."

"Carina—"

"It's the way it is, Mum," Teddy finally spoke up.

"Teddy!"

"Mum!"

"You're ganging up on me, really?"

"Of course not!" Her son, however, smiled at her, betraying his previously solemn face.

Well, at least he's in a better mood.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Oh, he is," Carina confirmed instead, before she reached down to scoop the boy,who let out a startled yelp, into her arms. She grunted and sagged under his weight, but forced herself to straighten again and tilt her chin up as she briskly brushed by her wife. "My side, my child. Isn't that right, Lycus?"

"Mom!" Teddy struggled for a moment, but when he realized he was not going to be released, stopped and suddenly stared at her, a grin working its way onto his face. "What did you call me?"

And here it's started, Hermione sighed fondly.

When the triplets had been born when Teddy was eight, the boy had felt left out, for everyone else had a traditional Black name, and though he treasured his own due to the link it provided to his birth parents, he felt left out. So, Carina had drawn out a book when they got home, and they looked through every name they could think of; they had come up with Lycus Castor Black for his alter ego, and the child had loved the name ever since, especially when he found that Lycus meant wolf. It had been yet another link to his father and a running nickname for him ever since.

"Lycus. You'd think you'd know your own name," the raven haired woman scoffed. "Merlin, I didn't raise you to be a fool, did I?"

If her lips hadn't twitched halfway through, Hermione would have thought her to be a bit harsh, but then again, even without, she knew Carina was not cruel to her children.

"No," he shook his head, and his grin only widened.

"Then you're on my side?"

"Definitely!" Teddy glanced sideways at Hermione. "Sorry, Mum."

"I'll get you for it later," his brunette mother teased, and watched as Carina trudged down the hallway with the boy in her arms; the effort had to be painful, but her wife was anything if not persistent.

Hermione stayed leaning in the doorway of the playroom, and as she listened to the thunk of what was obviously Teddy being dropped to the floor, wondered what changes would be brought with the arrival of the two new teenagers.

~~~xxx~~~

A week later, when Carina was back in the Travel Chamber in the Department of Mysteries, she found her partner, Ryan Riggs, standing in front of the portal, staring into it with his fists planted on his hips. He did not turn, but he heard her footsteps and spoke.

"Something came through."

"Yes," she replied calmly.

"People?"

"Yes."

"Who were they?"

"My alternate self and the alternate Harry Potter. Teenagers."

"You've got it under control?"

"Yes." Or, so she hoped. She had been trying to act normal, but something still did not feel quite right.

Riggs finally turned. "Are you positive? Nothing came through with them?"

"I don't know," she regarded the man she had worked with since she was nineteen-years-old. "Nothing feels right anymore. They could have. But I've seen nothing."

"If you're feeling like that, something had to have come through, Black. Nothing feels right here, either. The portal doesn't."

"It could just be the regeneration process."

"You and I both know that isn't it," he ran a hand over his face and sighed. "Their world didn't have any Dark Lords or anything, did it?"

"They said there weren't," the raven haired woman shook her head. "But there could have still been Death Eaters and that information was just hidden from them. However, I saw them fall through. There was no one else, nothing else. Just them."

Riggs began to pace. "You're completely positive? The problems that could be caused if something slipped through…"

"I know," she snapped at him, finally losing her patience. "I understand there will be consequences. Bad things will happen. But I've got my hands full. You'll have to take over the majority of the research and inform me if you find anything."

"I get it," he gave her a dry smile. "I'll get right to it. You, on the other hand, should get back to watching those kids before they cause any trouble."

Carina scowled at his mocking tone, for the man knew exactly how to rile her up with just a word. However, he meant no harm. They were both just frustrated. "That's what I was going to do; that is, after I help you begin the research."

Gone was the loving mother and devoted wife, and back was the commanding and intelligent Unspeakable. Riggs nodded at her.

"I'll get the notes."

~~~xxx~~~

"Carina, you're exhausted."

Hermione watched her wife give her a brief glance, before she leaned heavily on the windowsill, bracing herself with her palms on the edge behind her. Her raven hair hung in messy waves around her face, obviously a product of having run her hands through it several times, and there were dark circles under her eyes. It had been two weeks since the arrival of Callidora and Evan (who had both been given the surname Hunter for the purpose of their cover), and she had been leaving early and coming home at late hours, all but collapsing into bed each night.

"I'm fine," the other woman hoarsely muttered, and turned her head away when Hermione moved in close and moved to touch her cheek.

Hermione lowered her hand, frowning and rather worried. "Listen to me. You need to rest. I know you don't want to admit it, but you are exhausted—you need to sleep, Carina. Take a day off. Spend some time here."

"I have work to attend to."

"So do I, and yet here I am."

"My work is different."

The brunette raised a challenging brow. "No different than being responsible for the wizarding community here as a whole?"

"Hermione," Carina sighed and ran a hand through her hair; she ducked her head and offered an apologetic, barely there smile. The hand that had tangled itself in her own hair instead moved to Hermione's and threaded through it; the older woman leaned into the touch.

After a moment, Hermione grabbed her wife's hand and gripped it in her own. "Rest. Please, Rina. I'm worried about you."

"Hermione," came the sigh again, before Carina pushed off the windowsill and released Hermione's hand, proceeding to remove her robe and begin to change into her nightclothes. As she did so, Hermione flipped back the covers on the bed; when she turned, she caught sight of Carina standing in front of the the mirror, gray eyes staring at her shirtless form as though transfixed.

At first, Hermione did not understand why; that is, until she did.

Carina was staring at her scars. She was remembering.

"Carina," the brunette edged closer, but her wife did not move. "Carina!"

The raven haired woman blinked once and turned her head to regard her.

"Are you alright?"

"Fine," Carina told her softly, swiftly slipping on her nightclothes and making her way to the bed; Hermione followed. When they got in the bed, it was Hermione, this time, who tugged Carina in close, allowing the other woman to put her head on Hermione's shoulder. She did not protest, merely pressed closer.

"Are you sure?"

There was a long few moments of silence, and Hermione watched the way fingers curled into the fabric of her shirt. Finally, when words did come, they were abrupt, unexpected. "I had a conversation with Teddy awhile back, about my scars."

The older woman recalled telling the children not to ask about them, because it was rude and because she did not want Carina to be bothered by it. If she dwelled on the past, it would only consume her, hurt her, and Hermione did not want that.

"And?"

The brunette waited patiently for a response and did not ask anymore on the subject; there was no point. Teddy had been a curious child as she had been, she could not fault him for that, for wanting answers.

"I told him how I got them."

"Did you tell him about…?" she could not say it, could not bare to think of the time she had abandoned the person she loved so much.

"Yes," was the whispered reply, and she glanced down to see Carina's eyes flutter for a moment, before she allowed them to fall closed; still, she spoke. "For what it's worth, he doesn't hate you. That's all I told him, all I was going to tell him, until he asked about my back."

Her back.

The lashes, remembered Hermione, tightening her grip on the younger woman. Those terrible scars. They were scars she had run her fingers over during many nights, mourned over the childhood her wife had never gotten a chance to have, the horrors she had seen. She had not known love, nor kindness.

"Until you." Hermione glanced down at her, startled that Carina could know what she was thinking, and though the younger woman's eyes did not open, she murmured, "I know you, Mione. Don't worry over it."

"I can't help it," the brunette sighed, and it was then that gray eyes blearily opened to regard her.

"I'm alright." Carina lifted herself up after a small struggle, for it showed, then, just how tired she really was. She pressed her forehead to Hermione's. "I'm here. Time has passed. I'll live. I'll take tomorrow off, too."

I hope so.

"Thank you," Hermione said instead, and the raven haired woman did not answer, merely dropped back down and curled closer, inhaling and exhaling deeply.

Hermione dropped her head to Carina's and held her tighter.

~~~xxx~~~

Carina sat in the meadow outside with her children, Callidora, Evan, and Hermione, relaxing with her back against a tree. She had spent the greater majority of the day taking the children flying, even racing against Callidora and Evan, impressing them with her tricks. They had had a picnic in the meadow, and so far, today had been a great day.

It was warm, there was a cloudless blue sky above them, and as she closed her eyes, a slight breeze rustled her hair.

She was at peace, finally. She briefly wondered why she had not taken a day off sooner, but then remembered just as quickly; she had been devoting her time to the Travel Chamber and Riggs, trying to discover what could have come through the portal with the teens. Something had come through, that much was true, but they had absolutely no idea what, and it was worrying. She had been stressing over it for weeks before the other night, when Hermione had gotten her to get some well needed rest and coaxed her into joining them today.

She was glad she had. Obnoxious teenagers or no, she had still enjoyed the evening thus far.

"Mumma," Rose came running over and tumbled into her lap, giggling at her fall, seemingly not bothered that she had stumbled. "Today's great, huh?"

"Yeah," Carina leaned back, watching as her only daughter rolled onto her back and rested her head on her mother's lap. "Very great."

"Mumma?"

"Hmm?"

"D'you think Mummy is pretty?"

The raven haired woman quirked a brow. "Depends, why are you asking?"

"I dunno," the girl shrugged. "You love each other lots, and Uncle Harry thinks Auntie Ginny is awful pretty. Uncle Rolf thinks Auntie Luna is, too."

"I think," Carina gazed down into the brown eyes identical to those of her wife's, and brushed some of her daughter's hair aside. "That your Mummy is the most breathtaking woman I've ever met."

"Really? How?" Rose pushed herself up and plopped herself down on her mother's lap, straddling her legs, but nonetheless getting the desired effect of being able to face her.

Carina did not know why she was having this conversation with a three-year-old, but decided she would answer anyway and chanced a glance at Hermione, who was sitting a short distance away with Teddy and the others, laughing.

"You know how it feels when you fly, Rosie?"

"Like my belly does flops?"

"Yes."

"Your belly does flops when you look at Mummy, Mumma?"

"Yes," the raven haired woman paused, thinking of another way to explain that the little girl would get. "When I look at your Mummy, she takes my breath away. But you know something?"

"What, Mumma?" the girl gazed up at her with wide, innocent eyes.

"I don't just like your Mummy for her looks. I like her for what's in here," she tapped her daughter's chest, just above her heart. "and in here." She lightly poked Rose on the temple, causing the child to giggle. "She's the smartest person I know, and the kindest, and I love her because of that. Not just because she's pretty."

"Oh," Rose nodded solemnly. "You like Mummy because she's pretty inside and outside, like the princesses in my book."

Carina couldn't resist a chuckle at that. "I suppose."

"Then, that makes you a prince." The little girl bit her lip thoughtfully, before her brown eyes lit up. "Or a knight! Yeah, Mumma, you're a knight and Mummy is a princess!"

Carina's brow shot up, and she wondered how she could have helped create a child like this, so sweet and so innocent. "If you say so, Rosie."

"I'm gonna go tell Mummy!"

The raven haired woman attempted to snatch her daughter, but the girl was already scampering away while she called after her, "Rose, Rosie, come back, no—"

But she had already told Hermione everything, and she shot Carina a wide grin and moved over to sit beside her when Rose had finished.

"I make your belly do flops, do I?" she inquired teasingly. "I'm your princess?"

Carina Black actually flushed.