Thank you so much for all your reviews! It really makes my day! I'm sort of nervous about this chapter because you guys are meeting the sixteen year old twins…:/ tell me what you think!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I do own Zosimos and Leilani.

"Happy birthday Zosimos," I said, kissing his forehead. He opened his eyes.

"Thanks Mum," he said, groggily getting out of bed. He was nearly six feet tall and all but towered over me. Leaning down, he kissed my cheek. I smiled at him.

"My baby is sixteen today." Zosimos rolled his eyes at me. I watched as he got ready for the day. He looked over at me and noticed I looked particularly worn out.

"Mum, are you alright?"

"Yes, darling, I'm fine..." He could tell that wasn't completely true.

"...Dad?" He asked knowingly.

I smiled a little. He always knew. "Yes. But you don't have to worry about me." I made my way to the door.

"I love you."

I smiled and looked back. "I love you too, son."

My son was cruel and merciless to all his opponents. He was as evil as his father. He wouldn't care watching people get hurt; he rather enjoyed it in fact. But he loved me and his sister dearly. He would not let any harm come to Leilani at all, and she could be a bit reckless. When my husband hurt me, he always seemed to know. He'd always do whatever he could to help me.

"Happy Birthday Lani," I said, kissing her forehead. She rolled over and stretched.

"Thanks Mum." She leaned up and kissed me on the cheek.

"Sixteen. I can hardly believe it."

"I know. I can't either." She was smiling excitedly. I smiled at her. "What'd you get your brother?"

She smiled hugely. "Come see!" She went over to a dresser and opened it. I looked inside and saw a book. I picked the tome up and studied it. It was a book all about animals and how a wizard/witch could connect with them. It was a very powerful magic that Leilani had a gift for. Zosimos always felt second best in that subject around her and she knew it, so this would mean so much to him. Leilani cared enough to want to help him. Ever since Leilani was about four years old she had a special connection with any animal she came in contact with. She could control Nagini even though she couldn't speak parseltongue, like her brother could.

"Oh Leilani. He'll love it!"

"I hope so." Her eyes were sparkling. She really did care about her brother, even though she teased him to no ends and even though he was extremely over-protective of her.

"He will." I kissed her on the cheek and walked to the door.

"Love you Mum."

"Love you too."

Around noon, I was looking for Leilani. Zosimos was already at lunch and she was nowhere to be found. Voldemort wasn't very patient, as everyone knows, so I went to find her. As I reached the door to a small library, I heard voices.

"Lani..." I pressed my ear to the door, but the voice stopped. Cautiously, I opened the door. A spitting image of Draco Malfoy was kissing my daughter. His hands were on the wall her back was against. She was kissing back enthusiastically. I went to speak out, but couldn't. Her face; she looked so happy; purely so, not evilly so. For the first time in thirteen years she was blissful without evil intent. Draco's son Scorpius wasn't going too far with her either; he kept his hands respectfully on the wall. He pulled away from her and she smiled.

"Scorpius." They must've noticed movement from me, because they suddenly turned, eyes wide.

"Mum please!" Lani said running to me. Her eyes pleading she asked, "Please don't tell Dad!"

Scorpius had turned more pale than usual. He had good reason too. The last boy Leilani liked, Voldemort found out and...We never saw him ever again.

I looked at both of them. "I won't. But be more careful." They smiled gratefully and Lani hugged me.

"Now off to lunch." Scorpius went to leave too, but I stopped him.

"You make her happy. You hurt her and I'll hurt you…With the help of my husband." Scorpius gulped and then left.

The kids were enjoying their sweet sixteen birthday celebration. They had some kids their age around such as Scorpius Malfoy, Randy Zabini, Lisa Nott, and Francesca Goyle. After a while, Voldemort took Zosimos outside and motioned for me to come. I followed; only because I wanted to be sure nothing bad was going to happen to my son.

Outside, there was a beautiful unicorn. It was grazing, its horn glinting in the sun. A unicorn is very powerful. Its horn contains more magic than 20 wizards combined. It was a pure white and its coat just glistened. It had a powerful build, muscles rippling when it walked. Its mane and tail were silver and perfectly combed. My breath caught just looking at it. It looked up when my husband snapped his fingers and it had bright blue eyes filled with intelligence.

Voldemort looked at Zosimos, who couldn't take his eyes off it. "She's all yours."

Zosimos looked up at his father. "Really?" He nodded and Zosimos smiled. "Thanks!"

"Go on," he said giving Zosimos a little push. My husband and I watched as he walked toward the gorgeous horse.

"What do you think?" my husband whispered to me.

"...I'm impressed," I admitted. He smirked at me, but I ignored him.

Zosimos slowly touched the animal's neck and she looked at him straight in the eye. Slowly, ever so slowly, he reached with his other hand and touched the horn. Keeping eye contact, the magic began to work. It looked like pixie dust from the muggle movie Peter Pan. It flowed around horse and owner rapidly and then disappeared. Zosimos let go of the horn and smiled.

He had connected with the unicorn, so now it was bound to him. He was her master. She watched as he began to walk away. She followed him like a puppy. He stopped walking and she rested her head on his shoulder. He turned around and she walked right in front of him, inviting him onto her back. He smiled and gently grabbed a handful of her mane and pulled himself up. He didn't have to control her like a muggle horse and rider. The magic made a bond between them. She knew what he wanted before he asked her. She broke into a gallop and headed toward the wide open field.

I watched as they went further away and Voldemort put his hand on my shoulder. I flicked it off, like I usually did. He didn't say anything which was unusual.

Next, Voldemort called Leilani outside. She looked at me questioningly and I shrugged. She turned her gaze to her father and he pointed up in the sky. We both looked and at first didn't see anything. I saw it before she did; a speck on the horizon. As it came into view Lani gasped.

The creature had all the build of a horse but with wings. It was the powerful Pegasus. It was more dangerous than the fairytale Pegasus muggles read about. Sure, it didn't have as much magic as the unicorn, but the magic it had could be very dangerous. Pegasus' were often used in battle because of their flight advantage and how all their magic could be focused into a weapon. If a Pegasus was against you, it could kill you with a single look. That's where the expression 'if looks could kill' originally came from.

This Pegasus was a beautiful pale blue with wings like fluffy clouds. Its mane was a dark brown; almost black. It landed in front of us and its big brown eyes examined us. Voldemort gave Lani a little push and she stepped forward. I could feel a concentration of heavy magic coming from her; she was focusing very hard on using all of her animal connection power to bond with the Pegasus. A Pegasus is much harder to bond with than a unicorn because it is less peaceful. The Pegasus was smart and looked away from her. Leilani reached out her hand to the side and slowly moved it back to herself, the Pegasus trying to resist the magical pull but not really succeeding. Lani walked forward and the Pegasus snorted.

"He's fiery, that one," Voldemort warned. Leilani's lips just curled into a smile as she took two more tentative steps toward the Pegasus. He watched her out of the corner of his eye. She began whispering what sounded like nonsense, but the horse turned his head to look at her. She began whispering more rapidly and her magic was swirling invisibly around her like wind; her hair rising and the magic whipping at her clothes. The Pegasus' mane and tail began to be blown by the wind/magic and the magical energy in the air was high.

I looked up at Voldemort and he was watching her with a look that said, 'and this is why she's my daughter'.

The Pegasus suddenly walked forward and placed his head on her shoulder. The magic began to buzz around them and then suddenly stopped. The bond was complete.

Later on in the evening, something happened that turned the somewhat pleasant atmosphere dark. A young boy was brought up from his cell to be tortured just for the fun of it. He was about seventeen. When I saw him, I almost died. I had thought everyone was dead.

I was wrong.

There, standing chained yet defiant, was Harry's godson, Teddy Lupin. I knew it was him. He looked so much like his father except for his turquoise hair of course. My breath caught looking at him. The poor boy was already bruised and cut, but his eyes were so defiant I almost smiled.

Then Lani and Zosimos began to torture him. The cruciatis curse. Teddy's face contorted in pain and my heart skipped a beat. My eyes kept flitting back and forth between the looks of entertainment on my children's' faces and the look of pain on Teddy's. My children began applying the curse more harshly and Teddy's knees buckled; he was held up only by the chains that bound him. I turned and ran.

I ran upstairs and into my room, out onto the balcony. I noticed I was shaking. I let the cool air whip my face as I cried. I sobbed and gripped the railing tightly. It was all too real. I'd seen them torture people before but never someone who I directly knew and loved. True I had never really met Teddy, but I knew his parents. I cried for me, for him, and for what my children had become. I heard a soft chuckle from behind me.

In the next second, Voldemort's cold hands enveloped my middle from behind. I shoved him, still in hysterics. It had no effect, as he just held me too tightly against himself. "Awww, poor Hermione," he whispered into my ear. I continued to try to escape his strong grasp, crying my eyes out. "Do not worry; the Lupin boy will join his parents- in good time."

"NO!" I screamed at him, trying to hit him, but he grabbed my arms and used them to pull myself even tighter against him. I broke down into choked sobs again and I could sense him smirking evilly.

"Yes, unless of course, he submits. You know, so many of your old friends would still be alive today if they had submitted to me." I felt a stinging sensation in my heart at the harsh reminder of everyone I had loved and still do. "And today, you've noticed that the twins are truly what you feared most; mine." I squeezed my eyes shut in denial, still sobbing. He laughed and I shook my head. "Yes Hermione, they are mine. You know it. You saw it in their eyes; they enjoyed torturing all you ever stood for." His voice was harsh and he gripped my arms more painfully.

From below, I heard Teddy scream louder than I had thought possible. I stopped sobbing, my whole body tensed, listening. Then there was silence. After a minute or so of denying what I was thinking, Voldemort said, "It seems the boy didn't want to submit after all."

"N-no," I breathed, eyes wide in horror. Inside of me, something was breaking. All these years of pain were finally catching up with me. This topped it all off, this was more than I could take. My twins, my husband, Teddy, Harry, Ron... "No!" I yelled, tears once more leaking out of my eyes.

"There's no more hope Hermione." I shook my head, although I felt his words to be the truest thing he had ever said to me. "You are mine."

Those words broke my resistance straight through. My last thread of myself was lost. I couldn't take it anymore. I broke. I stopped pulling away from his grasp. I felt numb. I would later realize that my eyes had adapted a dead, dull look. He looked at me, not quite believing that he had finally done it. Then he smiled triumphantly and laughed. He spun me around to face him, held my chin in his hand and kissed me. I didn't resist. Nothing mattered anymore. Why should I resist? I didn't help him, but I didn't resist either.

I was his.