Chapter 26

"What are you going to do about the visions?" Cillian asked Warrington as they were walking back to the house. Warrington was still sorting through all his thoughts and emotions on the subject.

He wasn't sure how much weight he should put on the visions but then it was better to be safe than sorry. He may have wanted to use Alicia and dispose of in the start of their relationship but now things were different he loved her with every fibre of his being and he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, raising a family. Something he would have balked at only a few months ago sounded like heaven to him. The heaven sadly was being threatened by reality.

"I know its Theodore Nott, he ran in Dolohov's circles with a few other members. He also tried to attack Alicia as brunch we were attending. He now keeps his distance as he wants to save face. How long that lasts now is anyone's guess" Warrington said, he hated sharing the information with Cillian as he knew it would not help in getting Cillian's approval to marry Alicia. It was as if he was bringing Alicia into dangerous circles when the reality was that their society was small it would have only been a matter of time before Theo seeked her out and she hadn't exactly been hiding herself either.

"If he is like his father he won't give up, he was a man of many addictions. Once he got a taste of something he didn't give it up. Just like your father it's a nasty Slytherin trait" Cillian remarked.

"One I don't share in" Warrington said feeling the need to defend himself from being lotted with his father. Cillian looked at him coldly as they stopped walking and faced one another. Cillian folded his arms across his chest and sized him, Warrington kept his arms by his side as he didn't want to look as though he was challenging Cillian.

"You say that but you found a liking for my Granddaughter-"

"My affection for Alicia is nothing like Theo's or Dolohov's" Warrington told him.

"We all become like our fathers" Cillian said.

"Only out of choice. I am not nor will I ever be like my father." Warrington said in a firm tone. He refused to be compared to his father in any way or form.

"Oh aye, you chose to run away instead of picking a side then you come back and pick up the first broken bird you could find-" Cillian started but Warrington cut him off.

"For the love of Merlin, why does it always come back to the war? If you want me to pick a side I would have fought for the light but like the witches and wizards would have believed my convictions? I was the son of one of the highest ranking Death Eaters, a Slytherin. We are apparently Dark wizards who can never be trusted. So yes my mother asked me to leave to continue my studies and I left, yes it was cowardice but I chose to live than be made an example of, you know what happened to pure blood children with Death Eater for parents during the first and second war." Warrington said.

"I do" Cillian said. It was common knowledge that the children took on the dark mark of Voldermort's and swore their allegiance or they were brutally killed as an example to make the other children fall into line.

"So either way I would have died brutally and in my opinion for nothing. But right now, here I can finally make a difference and be the man I want to be thanks to the sacrifices of others. I honour the lives lost by making restitutions to their families to the communities around them. I'm making my legacy now so that when I pass onto the next world Alicia and my progeny are proud of their name." Warrington said trying to prove he was more than his father, he was better.

"I don't need your resume of good quialities" Cillian told him.

"Apparently you do because you don't approve of me for whatever reason. Sir, I love your Granddaughter like I have never loved anyone before. I will spend the rest of my life with her even if you never give me permission to marry her. I want to marry her to legitimise our relationship in the eyes of the law and for my child. So that if something were to happen to me I would know she and my child were taken care of for life without having to worry about anything. I want you permission to marry her but I feel as though 6 weeks will not be enough for you and I don't know how to convince that marrying your granddaughter is not out of vanity or to boost my public profile" Warrington told him.

A silence fell between them, Cillian looked at him thoughtfully for what seemed like an hour to Warrington but in reality was probably two minutes when Cillian finally spoke.

"You talk a lot" Cillian remarked before he turned on his feet and started walking again. Warrington closed his eyes for a moment and knew where Alicia got her stubbornness from. He was hoping in some small way Cillian would give him some kind of sign that he was making some progress in getting his approval.

"I really love this room" Alicia said as she and Maura returned to the large living area with the kitchen, dining and lounge in one large room. Maura had given her a tour of the whole house and her ideas for the house and rooms she had designated solely for Alicia and Warrington decorate. Including their own bedroom that was partially furnished and too white for Alicia's tastes. After the tour they returned to the back room and reclined on the lounge with a fresh pot of tea and scones.

"I'm glad, may I be blunt with you?" Maura asked Alicia who took a sip of thetea. She was already rugged up with a blanket as her body was still goosebumped and shivering from sickness.

"Sure" Alicia said as she was pretty sure Maura was always blunt with her when it came to asking questions. She placed the tes down just case Maura was going to shock her.

"I want you and Warrington to stay here with Cillian and I" Maura said.

"Maura-"

"I know you want to stay in England with your friends and Cassius but he can floo travel to work. This house is large enough that we wouldn't be on top of each other or getting in the way. I tell you this because I'm concerned for your health and I feel you are too distracted in England and you haven't got a healthy balance of work and life. I think with Cillian and I here to guide you you might be able to find that balance" Maura said with a warm smile.

"I'm doing the best I can. I eat more now than I have before, I'm resting-"

"I know but all I'm asking is that you take the next three days to seriously think about staying here. I also know your grandfather would love it if you stayed. I would like us all to be closer as a family, to be here for you while you're with child and I think it would help if Cillian got to know Cassius here in the home environment than the occasional visit. " Maura said.

"So staying here would make not only you but my Grandfather happy." Alicia said. Maura gave her an understanding smile.

"Alicia, you have been hiding yourself away from your friends and family because you were ill. You have been for years and now you're going to recover but at the same time grow a child within you. It's going to a frightening and joyful experience. It's something you should be around your family for to support you and guide you in the next few months" Maura told her. Alicia knew what Maura was saying held a note of truth as Alicia was used to hiding and now she was getting better it was like she was waking up for the first time in years. It was incredibly frightening and disheartening because she felt she had missed a great deal of her youth in those four years she would never be able to make up for.

"I-" Alicia didn't get to start her sentence when the front door opened and Cillian's voice travelled into the room.

"So you agree with me?" he asked as he came into the room followed by Warrington who turned around and looked at him.

"I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with you" Warrington to her Grandfather.

"Merlin on crutches you're so bloody neutral about everything it's annoying" Cillian told him.

"Actually I'm not I just know when to keep my mouth shut on certain subjects" Warrington said with a smirk as he walked over to where Alicia was. "You don't look like you have moved since I left" he remarked as he leaned over and kissed her in greeting.

"I did, Maura took me for the tour of the house and is currently feeding me a large afternoon tea" Alicia said gesturing to the spread on the table. Warrington sat down next to her on the lounge while Cillian mumbled under his breath while he moved around the kitchen behind them. Alicia wondered what the two were disagreeing on this time.

"She has to fatten up there's nothing on her bones for the baby to eat" Maura said cheekily as she pushed the plate of large scones towards Alicia.

"You make it sound like the baby is a parasite that will eat me alive" Alicia said with a chuckle as Warrington picked up a scone earning a dark look from his mother as he was not the one she wanted to offer a scone to.

"Cassius definitely was when I carried him" Maura told Alicia.

"I don't doubt that" Cillian said from the kitchen.

"Thank you Mother, I feel really loved" he drawled sarcastically as he carved the scone in half and smothered it with jam and cream.

"Well it's an alien experience, everybody gushes about how you're supposed to feel loved and content and somehow the world gains this new perspective when pregnant blah blah but I never got it. Now when you were born and held you was more special to me then those nine months. So small and precious" Maura said with a soft smile as she reminisced.

"Then he grew up tall and ugly" Alicia quipped before she picked up the other half of Warrington's scone and dressed with half the amount of jam and cream Warrington had.

"I always knew you were with me for my brains" Warrington said adding to Alicia joke. Maura pursed her lips as her reminiscing moment was ruined while Alicia and Warrington enjoyed the moment.

"Well anyway enough about that. Tell me what did Callaghan say? Was he dressed this time?" Maura asked changing the subject.

"No" Warrington said between bites of the delicious scone.

"Which reminds me that he took the left over lamb stew in the fridge" Maura said to Cillian, the old man gave a smile as it seemed a lot of their leftovers disappeared into Callaghan's stomach at least he made the dishes reappear clean on the bench.

"Callaghan explained to me why it was best Alicia and I stay here for the time being" Warrington said before he took another bite.

"You want to stay? And commute to London every day?" Alicia asked incredulously, she had found floo travel over long distances incredibly nauseating not too mention tiring.

"You make it sound like I have to travel 12 hours by train when really all I'll be doing is travelling by floo an extra three minutes" He said to her with a smile.

"It would get tiring" Alicia told him. Warrington had a feeling Alicia wanted to argue it out and he didn't want an audience of his mother and Cillian watching them and adding their 10 cents into the arguement when it was really between him and Alicia.

"Would you two mind if I stole Alicia away for some privacy?" Warrington asked, he finished his scone and rose from the lounge and turning to look down at Alicia.

"Dinner is at six" Maura told him as Warrington pulled Alicia to her feet.

"I see my mother hasn't made it far into this room" Warrington said as he closed the door to their room that Alicia directed him to. The room was on the second floor of the house and had long windows that allowed a large volume of light into the room. All white washed walls and mahogany floorboards. The bed was king size and dressed in luxurious white linen. His mother was never one to scrimp on anything. It was covered in an inordinate amount of useless pillow but other than that the room was bare. It didn't have a wardrobe or side tables for the bed, a dresser and vanity were also missing.

"Maura wants us to make the room our own. So you wanted to talk to me in private" Alicia said, she had been about to fold her arms across her chest and get snippy with him but he was quicker and moved toward her with his usual grace and pulled her into his arms and covered her mouth in a powerful kiss, a penetrating kiss embuing every emotion he felt that afternoon into it.

He lifted his lips just a fraction off hers. "I love you" he told her.

"Wow what was that kiss about?" Alicia asked incredibly dazed by the kiss and his close proximity her arms had uncrossed themselves in the kiss and were holding onto his jacket for dear life as he held her close.

"I think we should stay here" he told her, he looked at her with emotions she couldn't name but was mesmerised to say the least.

"I know, what exactly did Callaghan tell you?" Alicia asked him.

"More like showed me" he said with a soft smile on his lips, his hands slid slowly up and down her back.

"If seeing me dead on the floor makes you kiss me like that we seriously need to talk" Alicia said she attempted to withdraw herself from his arms but he held her tight and smiled.

"No, something else entirely different" He assured her.

"What?" she asked out of curiosity.

"You were alive with our son" he told her.

"Son? You think we are having a boy?" Alicia asked him, she couldn't help but amused but also a little suckered into his world and feel a sense of warmth grow at the knowledge even if the source was less than reliable.

"Yes, with my eyes and your smile" He said.

"What else?" She asked him.

"That was it." he said as he kissed her again before she could ask him any further questions. She melted in his arms enjoying the pleasure for a few moments before he drew back and looked down at her again.

"Ok but what about this business about staying here?" Alicia asked.

"Temporarily moving here for the time being is smart" he said.

"smart?" she asked as it didn't make any sense to her.

"For your health-"

"Oh don't start with that malarkey Callaghan spewed about my blood being connected to the earth-"

"I was going to say here you have clean air, sunshine and my mother and Cillian to fatten you up" he told her.

"You want me fat?" She asked him raising an eyebrow at him.

"Yes, with a healthy child. I also want us four to establish proper bonds as a family before he comes into our lives. Something that can only made when we all see one another on a daily basis, so when our son is born we are a close and warm family"

"Really? You have some high hopes. You and my grandfather are going to be close and warm, hugging and crying in this scenario?" Alicia asked with a chuckle as that would definitely be a sight. Warrington made a face at her comment about hugging Cillian.

"We won't hug each other but I do think we can manage a friendship of sorts. I want this child to grow up with all of us around like one big dysfunctional family" he said, he left out the part where he really wanted powerful and highly skilled protection his mother and Cillian could provide for Alicia. He was not so smug to think he could keep Alicia safe all by himself.

"Dysfunctional we can do, but do you really want to be here permanently in my Grandfather's house?" Alicia asked.

"Well we can have two homes, the one in London and this one here can't we?" he asked.

"Living part time between London and here" Alicia said not convinced that he was into making the hallmark family life.

"Callaghan said that we are all connected to our homelands, that you will recover more quickly on Irish soil connecting with the Eart-"

"Oh shut up, I don't believe in that woo woo talk" Alicia told him she squirmed in his arms trying to escape as she really didn't want to hear about Callaghan and his theories of people being connected to the earth's energy and wherever they were born and grew up was the focal point of their access to that power.

"Fine, I still want to try this. Living here half the year and half the year in London but for the pregnancy we stay here. I would feel better if you weren't completely left alone" he told her, not letting her go as he

"I'm not alone in London" Alicia told him. He gave a sigh and closed his eyes for a moment before he looked at her.

"Please let me have this" he said as he ran a hand through her hair before cupping her face. She leaned her face into his palm and gave a nod as she closed her eyes.

"Ok this time, but can we not have a white bedroom?" She asked, Warrington laughed and pulled out his wand.

"That I can fix, what colour would you like?" he asked.

"Dark teal walls, keep the architraves and ceiling white please" She told him, he gave a flick of his wand and the walls darkened to a rich teal colour. Alicia smiled at how it changed the tone of the room before she looked to Warrington. "Perfect" she said.

"Yes, I am" he said, Alicia playfully smacked his chest.

"Don't be smug, you only waved a wand around" she told him.

"I'm very good with my wand but you're right I should take care of you, you should really be lying down. Preferably naked with me" he told her. Alicia laughed as he moved them towards the bed.

"I want Theo's head on a platter" Warrington told Montague two days later, he had returned to London for work leaving Alicia back in Ireland with his mother and Cillian. He and Montague were sharing lunch where he was sharing what he knew in regards to Alicia's visions and his own. Not to mention his suppositions and what Callaghan had told him.

"How medieval, so two different visions and you believe cloistering Alicia away in Ireland and going after her would be killer will save her but also put you in prison. You sure you're a Slytherin? Because this sounds stupid and reeks of Gryffindorishness" Montague said his nose scrunching at the notion.

"That is not a real word" Warrington told him.

"It applies as it seems Alicia is rubbing her Gryff-"

"Finish that sentence and you will be very sorry" Warrington warned him.

"Sore spot discovered and marked off limits. Did you ever consider that Theo isn't the one who will try to come after her? Dolohov had a lot of fan boys back in the day and Alicia is quite a woman" Montague commented.

"And you would remember who those fan boys were?" Warrington asked ignoring his comment about Alicia. He and Montague never talked too much about the war days, Montague had taken the mark and become a spy for the Death Eaters luckily where he had been posted never yielded any real information as he was in the healer program.

"Warrington think about this. You can't make a few men disappear" Montague told him.

"I was going to deter them from their course of action" Warrington said, he didn't think of making them 'disappear' but maybe relocate them far away from Alicia in a very dangerous part of the world never to be seen again.

"Well from what I recall Dolohov had 6 fanboys, 4 of which are serving life sentences in Azkaban. The other two… well one is Theo and the other was some guy from Ravenclaw can't remember his name" Montague said.

"Theo will" Warrington said.

"You sure you want to do this?" Montague asked him.

"Theo is a small man with little power in our world and when I find him I'll remind him of that fact" Warrington said.

"Haven't you got someone following him?" Montague asked.

"I did, but apparently Theo eluded him somewhere in eastern Europe. But they'll find him again" Warrington said, he looked at his pocket watch noting the time and that he would have to go home in Ireland in half an hour to make it home.

Meanwhile in Paris, Aleksandra Warrington sat in her lush drawing room in her townhouse enjoying her perusal of the local papers as she like to do when a house elf knocked and came into the room bowing his head.

"Your Ladyship, that young gentleman is back again and refuses to take no for an answer" the elf said in an aristocratic voice. She preferred her house elves to appear well educated and behave properly instead of speaking like small children and looking like kicked puppies.

"Then toss him out" Aleksandra said not looking up from her pages.

"He said that he wished to discuss a woman named 'Alicia Spinnet' and her association with your grandson's future nuptials and family" the elf said. She knew the man must have harangued her elves for a long time to have the elf come and tell her this. She sat back in her chair and looked to the elf as she wondered why anyone would want to discuss her Grandson's affliation with some lowerclass gold digger. But then since she had worn out her welcome with Cassius any news about was worth listening to.

"Fine, see him in and bring a tea tray" She told the elf. The elf bobbed his head.

"Yes your ladyship" he said before he disappeared a moment later he came back into the room with a man in his late twenties. Her eyes roved over him taking in every detail from his suit to his haircut. He looked like a gentleman but his shoes were just a little too scuffed for her liking. He also looked vaguely familiar but she couldn't place him until the elf announced him.

"Mr Theodore Nott" the elf said. Aleksandra kept a neutral face but inwardly frowned as she recalled his family and how they were social climbers and also had poor taste in their habits.

"Your lady ship" The man said with a bow.

"Yes, yes, say what you have to and then be gone. I have better things to do with my time that have to deal with your impertinence at not following social strictures" She told him impatiently as she knew whatever he wanted to tell her would be irrelevant and meant to stir her into parting with money.

"Yes, you must be busy with the preparations of your grandson's upcoming nuptials" Theo said as he took a seat in an arm chair opposite her.

"We both know my Grandson has made no announcement of that. So you said it to get my attention as it is commonly known in our circles that I disapprove of his dallying with that woman of ill breeding" Aleksandra told him.

"Though it is only a matter of time which is why I am here, I wish to offer my services in removing the woman of ill breeding from your grandson's grasp" Theo said, Aleksandra looked to him and raised an eyebrow.

"Oh dear you want her as a chew toy as well?" She drawled sarcastically she wondered what was so special about the woman as there were many beautiful women in the world of better breeding than Alicia Spinnet.

"Chew toy, no. But I do want her for other reasons, I just lack resources" Theo said.

"Interesting, why do you want her?" Aleksandra asked.

"Does it matter? I will be taking her away from your grandson and he will be free to be matched with a more suited partner. One of your choosing, if you don't help then imagine the future of the Warrington bloodlines being tainted. All those years of selective breeding wasted-"

"Right, so you want resources to take her for your own. How do I know if I help you she won't just come back and ensnare my grandson again?" Aleksandra asked playing with the idea of maybe ridding Alicia from her life before she polluted the Warrington bloodlines with a mongrel child.

"She won't, I'm very committed to possessing her for the long term" Theo told her. Aleksandra eyed him for a moment knowing she would not get any further information.

"I see, well I will consider your offer and let you know. You can go now" She said dismissively. Theo nodded and rose from his chair, he pulled out a business card and placed it on the table beside his chair.

"My card so that you can contact me when you become interested in my proposition. Thank you for your time" he said and with that he left the room.