WALK THE LINE
Aurora's House
Venice, Italy
November 21st
2022 A.D.
Albus and Athena walked through the door of Aurora's house to find that everyone had already arrived back but apparently, only a few minutes ago as they were still getting settled.
"You all right?" Aurora asked, walking over and kissing Albus lovingly. She ignored Athena completely.
"Fine." Albus smiled as Athena pushed passed them, not wanting to be anywhere near their affectionate exchanges.
"You're not fine, Albus." she said sternly. "when was the last time you slept?"
"I don't know, what day is it?" Albus suddenly realized just how tired he was. He hadn't looked in a mirror for a quite a while and probably didn't realize just how knackard he actually looked. "Where's Lincoln?" he asked noticing that his smell was absent.
"Hermione stayed at the Ministry to help organize the preparations. I told him to stay and keep an eye on her." Aurora explained.
"Good idea."
"Where are the Anomalies?"
"One got away, the other left for good." he said, giving Athena a glare for good measure.
"What?! The slimy bastard wanted to mate with me!" he defended again.
"Well, you can't really be surprised about that can you? Everyone wants to mate with you!" Hugo stated absently.
Athena actually grinned. "You know, you're starting to grow on me Hugo."
"I could grow inside you if you like!" he winked at her and received a clip round the back of his head from his father. "Oww!"
"When this is over, we are getting you some serious help, Hugo!" Ron huffed. Even he seemed to be getting a little worried about his sons attitude.
Aurora ignored the horniest of the Weasley clan and turned back to Albus. "You should get some rest."
Albus looked at Aurora's bedroom door and couldn't help but think it would be very welcome. She took him by the hand and led him towards the door while Athena looked away in jealousy. Once inside she closed and locked it behind them. She started, in very servant-like way, to help him take his boots and shirt off while planting the occasional kiss on him.
Her eyes had narrowed slightly giving her that amazingly seductive and driven look that he loved so much.
He realized that he might not be getting any sleep after all but he didn't mind. He always had energy for this. She gently laid him down on the bed and started kissing him. She moved away from his lips and began licking and sucking his earlobe.
"We haven't done this in a while." she purred.
"Exactly, I need practice." Albus grinned back as she started kissing down his neck.
She traced her tongue down the center of his chest, past the bullet wound scars on his stomach until she reached his belt which she quickly undid and pulled away. Seconds later his trousers were lying in a heap on the floor next the other items of stripped off clothing. She stood up slightly and pulled her own top off revealing a slightly lacy black bra.
With a seductive smile on her face, she stripped off her trousers showing her black French panties below. A second later she was back on top of him with her tongue in his mouth and her hand moving wildly about his body. She always felt warmer than him, almost overheating somehow but amazing either way. Her skin was smooth and smelt beautiful. Her scars only made her look worthy of endless respect. Despite her strength, she was being extremely gentle at the moment. More tender than he was used to from her. She usually liked to be the one in change.
Albus used his fingers to gently start slipping her underwear down her legs when suddenly, just as his energy and eagerness had completely returned, she stopped and pulled back looking worried.
"Albus..." The passion that had quickly over taken her seemed to have vanished without a trace. "what about the baby?"
"What about it?" Albus said as he tried to move closer to kiss her again but she moved away.
"What if it can see?" she did the unthinkable and actually pulled her underwear back up.
Albus was now looking like a confused and sad puppy that had just been denied a wonderful meal. "See? See what?"
"Your penis," she was completely serious.
"My..."
"Charging towards it like some kind of...womb monster!"
"Womb monst – sweetie, you're what...four, five months away from giving birth? I think it'll be okay!" Albus was pleading because unlike her, his sudden arousal wasn't going anywhere.
"What if it's not? That's the kind of thing that could scar a child for life, Albus!"
"What?! My first memory was from when I was four!" he still wasn't going to give up. "It'll be fine!"
"But what if it does?! What if it gets...poked or something...in the eye?!" she was clearly undergoing some sort of pregnancy paranoia stage that Albus had no idea about. "I just...I just don't feel right about this."
"I'll be really quick...I promise...you won't feel a thing!" he begged but she just shook her head, still troubled.
Albus sighed looking down at his own crotch apologetically. "Okay...we...don't have to..." it was torture.
She hugged him gratefully. "Thank you for understanding."
Albus wasn't actually sure if he did understand but he decided to finally give in. He lay there in bed trying desperately not to think of anything to do with sex but unfortunately he seemed to be falling into Hugo territory and it was all that was on his mind. It didn't help that she had decided to stay with him the whole time, lying next to him with all her beauty while being wrapped under a shroud of penis fear.
He was certainly happy once he felt his exhaustion creeping back into his body and causing his eyes to become heavy again. An Anomalies body was hard wired to run more powerful for longer than a normal persons but it still needed to be recharged every once in a while. Eventually, he dropped off into a much needed sleep.
He woke up about three hours later feeling very thirsty for some reason. He wrestled with himself about leaving the bed for a while then decided to just get it over and done with. He got up and walked towards the door and that was when the sound first floated into his ears.
Heavy breathing and grunting.
He pushed open the door just a crack. It was pitch black in the living room and completely silent except for the breathing. He peaked around to see Athena, flushed red with sweat all over her, rhythmically moving up and down on some one. Not just someone...James.
Her trousers were lying in a pile on the floor and his was wrapped around his ankles. Every now and then he would give out a moan of pleasure that only seemed to make her enjoy it more. She looked like she was in complete ecstasy as she took hold of a clump of his hair and continued to ride. Her dirty blond hair bounced around and stuck to her face while James' hands moved up to her chest.
Albus felt something terrible boiling up inside him. That horrifying rage that lived within was returning. Seeing him with her was fueling his anger by the bucket load. He snapped.
He burst through the door and walked straight towards them. Without a seconds hesitation, he brought his fists down on his brothers head. The traditional and blood curdling crunch followed by a red mist.
Then his eyes shot open and he bolted up in bed.
"Albus, are you all right?! What's wrong?!" Aurora asked quickly. She was by his side looking worried.
That was the weirdest and most frightening nightmare he'd ever had. "Yeah, I'm fine. Weird dream."
"Dream or vision?!" she demanded to know.
"Defiantly a dream."
"How do you know the difference?"
"Because the visions are always worse." he admitted.
It defiantly wasn't a vision. He could always shake off the effects of a nasty dream or nightmare within minutes, sometimes seconds. The visions stayed with him, constantly jumping in and out of his mind. This was already beginning to fade.
He would never hurt his own brother and certainly not for something a stupid as sleeping with Athena. Still, he wondered why that had made him so angry. He cared about her but not enough to ever hurt his own brother for getting with her. She was like a sister to him. That's what he assured himself anyway.
"How long was I asleep?"
"About six hours." she said checking her watch. At some point during that time, she had decided to get dressed again. "Lincoln and Hermione just got back. I thought I come in and check on you. You looked so peaceful." she said in a slightly unusual and girlie tone.
Her hormones were obviously still misfiring in someway. She wasn't usually this worrisome or sensitive.
Albus sat up knowing that he wasn't going to be getting back to sleep anytime soon. He got dressed in to the clothes that were still lying on the floor. He couldn't be bothered to grab some new ones. His stomach rumbled a bit. That was yet another thing he hadn't done in a while, still he'd happily put it off for some actual intimacy with his girlfriend.
He got up and walked out into the lounge. It was only just getting dark outside. Yet more proof of how inaccurate his dream had been. Everyone was still milling around, doing this and that. Hermione had a large stack of papers out at the table with Harry and Ron looking over them.
Of course Ron was actually stealing a glance at his wife every once in a while. It was obvious that he missed her but still hadn't forgotten what had happened. It certainly didn't make it any easier for him to be stuck in a house with the person that actually slept with her. He seemed to be holding strong though.
"We're ordering pizza, what do you want?" James smiled, walking over with a floating quill and parchment next to him.
Albus looked at him a bit nervously for a second before snapping out of it. "Err...hot and spicy."
"Aurora?"
"Oh, just a plain cheese and tomato for me...and garlic bread...two...with cheese..." both Albus and James raised their eyebrows slightly. "What? I'm feeding two!"
James shrugged it off as the quill jotted down the order. "Violet, what you having?"
"I'm not hungry." she snapped back without looking.
Albus looked confused and James looked awkward for a second before shuffling closer to Albus and whispering in his ear. "She and Lynx had a fight while you were asleep."
They moved away quickly as not to be heard. "What, why?" Albus asked.
James looked around to make sure he wasn't being listened to. "Lynx caught Violet staring at Athena's arse...which, in all fairness, I don't think is such a crime because lets face it, she does have an amazing arse!" Albus felt a twinge of annoyance in his stomach as James spoke but brushed it off. "But Lynx didn't take it so well. They had a bit of a shouting match downstairs. Lynx thinks that Violet fancies Athena and then Violet accused Lynx of still having a thing for Aurora and then it just got worse. Lynx hasn't come up since."
Albus felt another hit in his stomach as he thought about Lynx and Aurora getting together. He knew that Lynx had liked Aurora before Violet and that Aurora had admitted to thinking about a lesbian experience at least once before but It was odd. Two incredibly beautiful woman getting it on was the fantasy of almost every single heterosexual man in the world and yet it just made Albus feel uncomfortable. "Oh." was about all he could think of to say. He also decided not to mention any of this around Hugo.
"Yeah...It's weird, they argue just like normal people." James said absently.
"They're lesbians James, not aliens!" Albus hissed. His brother seemed to think they they, like him, were a completely different species.
James just shrugged and went back to taking pizza orders while Albus walked over towards Hermione.
"So?"
"I'm working on how to make Operation Firegate work for both the Wizarding World and the Muggles. It's going to take a lot of work though. The good news is that Tannis says that Hogwarts can be open again after New Years." she reported.
"Good. With the Army guarding it now, it's probably the safest place in Britain." Albus said. "that's where all these lot will be going as soon as I can get them a bit better trained. It's more secure than this place."
"Yes, but we still have so much to do. Sending out notices, practicing evacuation drills, organizing our own troops. It'll be difficult, nothing like this has happen since...well since..."
"Since I came along?" Albus smiled.
Hermione nodded nervously. "I mean, we were looking at a possible attack then, not a full scale war! Everything needs to be changed. Re-routing the entire Floo system to ports outside the country certainly won't be easy." she said shifting through her papers.
"I know. That's why I did it for you." Albus stated casually.
Harry, Ron and Hermione looked up at him in shock.
"You can do that?" Ron breathed.
"No, not me," he smiled and looked up at his father. "arrest any drunk Cajun's lately?"
Harry's face dropped. He knew something was off about that!
"I knew you wouldn't believe me that there was going be a war unless the evidence was right in front of your faces so I got him to help me make sure things were ready for a possible evacuation...if we needed it," Albus explained. "he got himself arrested so that he could plant a device inside the Floo hub. Once it's activated, it'll redirect the network to travel to any port outside the country. Unfortunately, that does mean emany/em port so that means people will be popping out of Floo points all over the world but, well, at least they'll be away from the fight."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Hermione asked.
"Because the Military started attacking Hogwarts and it sort of slipped my mind." he grinned, obviously pleased with himself.
An hour later, they were all sat around the enlarged dining table with several pizza boxes in front of them. Except for Lynx and Violet of course. Violet was sitting in front of the television, still sad and grumpy from earlier while Lynx was still refusing to come up stairs. Aurora, in her heightened hormonal state, seemed extremely concerned for her friends.
Although she was a very loving woman, she wasn't usually the sensitive type and would bottle up her own feeling rather than seem the slightest bit weak in front of others. But at the moment, she would get to the verge of tears if something upset her and would act like a ten year old when something exciting happened.
Albus wasn't the only one to notice that or the fact that she was eating at twice the speed of everyone else.
Conversation ranged from everything from what happened at the bank to the terrible weather over England to the American economy but somehow it always moved back towards the impending war and what they were doing to try and stop it.
"The Muggles obviously aren't happy that they will be supplying the bulk of committing forces." Hermione said.
"Well, wha' boo they expec'?" Ron said quickly swallowing his pizza. He still had a nasty habit of talking and eating at the same time. "The Wizarding world has never needed an official army before. A police force is enough to keep the peace and in the event of war, there would be a...militia. They have millions of professional soldiers!"
"It's true. Muggles spend massive amounts of money on arms and supplying other armies." Ginny agreed.
"Well, they obviously understand that the wizarding world is a great deal smaller than their world. The entire global population of Witches and Wizards could fit into Scotland. They're not happy about it but they'll do it. One thing the Muggles have always been good at is war." Amelia remarked.
"Well, as long as everyone remembers that we're all on the same side, that's what matters." Harry stated.
"They do," Albus sounded slightly amused. "it's strange that people are only ever truly united when it's against a common enemy, don't ya think?"
It was cruel but true fact and It seemed to create a sudden amount of unwanted unease. Oddly enough, it was Draco that tried to break it.
"I've never had pizza before." he said simply.
"You silly uncultured Pure-bloods." Albus laughed.
"Oh yeah, my father would have had me rushed to the poison department at St. Mungo's if he ever found me eating Pizza." Draco retorted.
"Well, there are a few calories in it but I don't think that -" Aurora giggled but was cut off before she could finish.
"Oh no, he would have poisoned me and sent me there for eating such 'filthy Muggle food!'"
"He would not!" Scorpius jumped in playfully.
"Well...no...but he might have thought about it." Draco smiled.
"Draco..." Athena spoke up. "what it like to stand on the other side of the line?" she actually did sound interested and didn't seem to just want to get a rise out of someone but unfortunately that's the effect it had. "You were a Death Eater?"
"Athena." Albus said warning her not to continue.
"I'm asking for...educational purposes. You say we're all on the same team, I just want to know what the ones that aren't on our team this like. I want to know if it makes a difference?" she wasn't the slightest bit ashamed of her question even though Draco was clearly affected by it. "Fine. I'm sorry, forget I asked." she grumbled.
"Well, it depends you see..." Draco seemed to have ignored the last part. "they're two kinds. The true believes and the ones that have doubts. I suppose I've been both...so you're right. This could be educational." he seemed determined not to stop, to get everything out.
Scorpius suddenly started to look pale. He loved his father and he didn't want us to hate him because of his past misdeeds. He had certainly never heard his father speak openly of them before. He would usually just brush it off as something that was in the past, dodge the question completely or sum it up in a single sentence.
"You see...I believed, in every sense of the word that I, we, Pure-bloods, were superior. It always just seemed...right. I never questioned it...I never believed that there could be a reason that we weren't. I hated other people for thinking differently," he actually looked up and stared Harry straight in the eye. "I hated you," he moved to Ron. "I hated you," then to Ginny. "and you..." finally he found Hermione. "but especially you." he didn't stare for to long. He wasn't trying to intimidate them, he was trying to be honest with them.
Everyone listened completely.
"You all just seemed so...stupid for actually not believing that Pure-bloods were better. Like it was the most obvious thing in the world and yet, you couldn't see it... Then of course, he came back...and I felt...secure, protected. You lot had spent your lives fearing him and being afraid to say his name but what did I have to fear? I was a Pure-blood. I knew he wouldn't hurt me." he seemed to remember everything so vividly. Harry and the others were being given an incite that they never believed they would get. "While everyone else was scared or disbelieving it, I got to walk around with this invisible shield around me...just like you did...before he returned," his eyes had found Harry's again. "of course, standing on the side lines, knowing you were untouchable was a little bit different to be thrown into the middle of it without a choice. Everything changed after the Ministry. We were Pure-bloods but that didn't matter anymore. We were failures and treated like insects...by all of them..."
He grabbed his drink and took a swig.
"Then I was given a chance, a chance to make it all right. First I was excited but I got scared...whatever I tried, failed and I knew what failure meant. Failure meant my entire family being executed....I almost gave up...and then...just after you'd ripped my chest open which seems to have become a family tradition," he smiled at his son who was still looking scared.
Rose tried to grab hold of Scorpius's hand under the table but he wouldn't let her and actually edged away slightly. He suddenly seemed to think that he didn't deserve her anymore or at least that she deserved some one so much better than a Malfoy.
"I was lying in the hospital wing and it suddenly came to me. I knew how to make them work. But then something else happened... It suddenly dawned on me that I would actually emhave/em to kill someone...and I wasn't sure that I could do it. I suppose, in some way, I'd always doubted that I'd be able to actually kill Dumbledore but now, with this massive possibility, it wasn't so far fetched anymore..." he again looked up at Harry. "well, you know what happened next."
With his throat becoming horse, he drank again.
"I think he only broke my father out of Azkaban because he wanted to use our home...and to ridicule us from time to time for his own amusement. It was hell and I was so glad to go back to Hogwarts. I couldn't have survived a year in that house. But while I was there, I started to realize that slowly but surely, he was taking over everything. The only thing that stood in his way, was you." again he looked at Harry. "Once you were dead, there was nothing left to stop him and when that happened...he wouldn't need us anymore. His failures... That's why I was afraid to give you up in the Manor because I knew that our fates were strangely locked together. If you died so did we."
Harry honestly couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"When the battle finally came, you were in the school, I knew that was my only chance. If I delivered you to the Dark Lord, all would be forgiven. My parents would be safe again...in the Room...poor Crabbe..." for second his eyes actually seemed to well up slightly. "I never even got to tell him I was sorry...him and Goyle, they were true believers like I was...but then, they never had a reason to doubt...they had never failed. I knew, even before the Dark Lord was killed that...it was already over for me. If he won, I was dead, if you won, I was dead...as good as dead anyway..."
Albus looked at Scorpius who was visibly shaking now. He was finding it hard to raise his head from the table and he looked like he was trying to hide the fact that he was crying. Rose wasn't far behind. Draco's words had so much truth in them that it was difficult not to feel the fear that he must have felt. He had lived like a caged animal for months and months and the only way he'd be released was to either become sport for the Dark Lord or thrown in a real life battle.
"For a while, I felt like it was almost as big a punishment being freed than getting locked away. After what my mother did for you, you let us loose. Suddenly I was on the other side of things now...I was the one that got mocked for my blood and my actions. I couldn't even walk down Diagon Alley without being glared at, shouted at, spat on. I wondered if that was what it must have been like for you? If I had actually managed to make you lot feel that bad. I thought about all the 'Mudbloods', 'Scarheads', 'Weasleby's', all the things I'd said to you over the years...I hated myself for a very long time..not days...years."
Now he actually did have tears in his eyes.
"Astoria was one of the only people that gave me a chance...I think she pitied me a first...then saw that she could change me...and so she did. She made my past melt away when I was around her...like it had never even happened. Then I found out I was going to be a father and once again...I was terrified. Not about having a child but about doing the most terrible thing that I could do...labeling him a Malfoy," tears were falling so fast down his cheeks now that it was hard to watch. "he would be hated and bullied and have to suffer, all because of me! Because I was such a fool!"
Scorpius suddenly jumped out of his seat and wrapped his arms around his father, squeezing him tightly. It didn't seem to matter that everyone was there, watching the legendary Malfoy's face their demons. Scorpius cried quietly into his fathers shoulder as Rose stood up and began rubbing his back, trying to let him know that she didn't think that about him. She couldn't.
"So..." Draco managed to muster. "In answer to your question Athena, standing on different sides of the line makes no difference...it's standing on the right side that matters!" while hugging his son, he managed to pull up his sleeve revealing the horrible jagged scar where the Dark Mark had been.
The place that he had sawed it off. Hermione actually gasped. What would it take for a person to slice through their own flesh like that in the small hope that it could help erase their past some how and possible help his sons future.
For a while, no one said anything. Everyone seemed to have lost their appetites. Draco Malfoy, possibly the most stubborn, pig headed, cowardly, insensitive person to ever live had just looked his eminferiors/em in the eye and told them that he was wrong and that he was sorry.
"I love my son! I love my wife! The only reason she isn't here is because I won't let her near this! The only reason I am here is because I know I wouldn't be able to convince him to leave!" Draco stated with pride while looking at his son. "So I'll stay...and be on the side that matters."
Albus stood up and walked over to them.
"We're lucky to have you." he said with equal pride.
Harry was the next one to walk over and say the same. He found it very difficult to truly hate people but Malfoy was someone he thought he'd never ever understand or respect. He had just been proven wrong. Eventually everyone showed there appreciation towards Scorpius and Draco's bravery, even Ron. Draco was an elitist, an idiot, a coward and a complete prick but he wasn't evil, he wasn't the anti-Christ and he certainly wasn't the enemy they were going to have to face. He was just a man that had grown up with the wrong ideas battered into his head and now he was had finally realized that. Of course, he never imagined that he decisions back then could have effected the brilliant son he had now and he hated the fact that they did. Still, he had been forgiven or at least, been given the chance.
Unfortunately, everyone had forgotten about Aurora...and her unusually high and unstable emotions. She suddenly burst into tears and bolt towards the bathroom, swearing loudly after kicking a chair along the way. Albus couldn't help but laugh. Once the baby was born, he would be able to tease her about this for years to come.
Soon, Athena was the only one that hadn't come to say anything to the Malfoy's but no one blamed her. She was sat, staring into space. Draco's words had raised questions with her that she had never asked herself and they were all going to just leave her to figure them out. She was after all the one that would decide the future.
They needed her to love them as much as she love Albus. They had no problem giving her a chance and maybe even there love but, as she sat there deep in thought, for the first time, she actually looked like she wanted to love them back.
She had just watched mortal enemies reconcile right in front of her and the support that followed was something she'd never seen before. She wanted to be a part of that.
Albus stood back, watching her wrestle with her own thoughts and feelings but he still couldn't help but wonder...what was that dream about?