Chapter Twenty Four
Hermione watched with deep amusement as James Charlus Potter was laid carefully in Sirius' arms. Her husband was beside himself, about to lose his shite with pride. "Oh, Merlin," he said, taking hold of the newborn. "I can't believe this. He's… Dorea, he's bloody perfect. He's going to make you so proud, I just know it."
The tired looking woman laughed a little. "I'm sure," she said. "For now, if he wants to make his mother proud, he can focus his efforts on letting her get some decent sleep in the coming weeks. I've heard all the horror stories, you know, about babies being up all night."
"I can come to stay for a while," her husband offered without even hesitating, "if you like, I mean. I can give you and Charlus a hand."
Minerva, the new baby's Godmother, spoke up. "She doesn't need you underfoot. I already told Albus and Armando that I'd be taking the week following the birth off to stay with Dorea and Charlus. She'll have me and Trian there."
Sirius, who knew full well not to push Minerva, sighed and offered a nod. "Of course, Minerva. Just let me know if you need help with anything. I'll be available."
Hermione spoke up. "Once James is a bit older, I have a couple of friends who also recently had children. We might arrange playdates, if you're amenable, Dorea."
"Anyone I know?" the Potter woman asked.
Hermione considered the question. "You may have met Eileen in passing at some point. She's a Witch. It was Eileen Prince back when you might have met her, although it's Eileen Snape now. She just had a son, called Severus, in January. She's been my nanny for some time. The other little one is Eileen's Muggle neighbor, although young Lily and her elder sister Petunia are both magical, Muggleborn or not. Lily is only a few weeks younger than Severus. I met Margot, their mother, through Eileen."
That might be twisting the truth a bit but she wasn't going to worry about it right now. It wasn't about lack of trust toward Dorea or Charlus in the least, just a matter of need to know and the less people who knew about her safehouse in Cokeworth, the better as far as she was concerned. Most of the family presumed that Filius and Caelum were watched by Eileen at her home, rather than at a property Hermione owned in the same neighborhood, and she was doing nothing to dissuade their assumption.
"Well considering most of my friends' children are grown," Dorea commented, "it would be lovely to connect with other mothers who have children James' age. Merlin knows that he and Trian will likely be inseparable as they grow up, but it would do my son good to have a larger friend group."
Hermione nodded in agreement. "I'll consider the rest of my social circle and see what I can do to plug you in with other mothers who have children about James' age. If memory serves, Lyall Lupin's wife recently had a son as well - just a few weeks ago. If you pretend not to know me she may be willing to socialize."
Sirius nodded. "As I understand things, Hope Lupin isn't as politically concerned as her husband. That might be worth looking into. She's a Muggle, actually, but she does know about our ways given she married a Wizard. It would give James a good perspective on other ways of life."
Charlus nodded. "It may be worth looking into, but I'd not go behind a man's back. I'll speak to Lyall myself about it."
"Didn't Bernard Vance recently have a daughter?" Sirius asked. "Emmeline? She's about Trian's age, I believe."
"The Vances are in the Resistance, right?" Minerva said thoughtfully. "They'd be good ones to connect with."
Hermione forced herself not to smirk, remembering her husband admitting to a short fling with Emmeline Vance after a girl he'd been seeing at Hogwarts broke things off with him. He'd been hurt and looking for comfort. He hadn't really had romantic feelings for Emmeline, but they'd got on well enough, and they'd shagged fairly relentlessly for a few weeks, just prior to her being killed in early nineteen eighty.
"My sister-in-law, Katrina, has a son called Brandon that's a bit older than Trian," Minerva remarked. "She's pregnant again, as well, so given a few more months there will be another one from her. I'm hoping for a girl this time. My brother Mal says he and his wife are also trying for a baby, finally, so within the year there may be some more playmates from that end as well. Needless to say, Dorea, James will not grow up short on children near to his own age to play with."
Charlus grinned. "Minerva, if you end up with a niece, perhaps we could discuss betrothals between our son and your niece."
The Scottish woman scoffed. "Charlus, if you want to join the Potter bloodline with the Ross one willingly, you've lost your damn mind. That's a recipe for disaster. Can you imagine the temper on a child of that union?"
Dorea laughed. "I'd really rather not. I love you Minerva, truly, but I agree with your sentiments. It's terrifying enough to consider the Potter and Black genes together and what sort of temperament James will develop. Let's not add the Highland Scot temper to that already volatile mess."
Hermione felt herself breathe a sigh of relief as Dorea summarily dismissed the idea of betrothing her son to a McGonagall. She honestly hadn't thought of Charlus and Dorea betrothing James to anyone at all, but now that she thought of it, by the time James and Lily died in Alpha, him going to Charlus and Dorea had not been an option because they were already dead. It was fair to assume that they'd already been dead for some time, potentially even long enough that they'd not have been around to approve or disapprove of James' choice to marry Lily Evans.
Tension filled her as she realized that preventing Charlus and Dorea's deaths might well mean that she had to contend with Pureblood tradition in that they would want to arrange a marriage for their son. If so, how in Merlin's name was she going to wrangle that? Lily was a bloody Muggleborn! For as much as Charlus and Dorea were lovely, open minded people and did not think less of Muggleborns in the slightest, they were still Purebloods with Pureblood ideas, and when it came to it, she did think that they'd prefer their son marry a young woman who came from a Wizarding background.
The question then became one of what it would take to convince them to accept Lily Evans as James Potter's wife, because if they didn't, then Harry Potter might never be born, and if Harry wasn't born, Voldemort would rain hell down on this world, and everything she was working for would be for naught.
Later, as Hermione and Sirius were leaving the hospital together, Minerva remaining behind as she was meant to go home with Charlus and Dorea in a few hours, her husband let out a heavy sigh. "I've been so caught up in James' impending birth I completely forgot about the fact that Severus and Lily were coming too. I feel like a total arse. Are they both alright?"
She hooked her arm around his, leaning into her husband and smiling. "They're both lovely, and their mothers are well. Eileen and Margot have turned into the best of friends these last few months, especially since Margot learned of the Wizarding world, and they're leaning on one another a great deal these days. When I drop into Baker Street to see the boys, it's seldom that Margot isn't there with the girls. Severus is adorable, I must say. Not that Lily isn't cute, of course, but I guess I expected that from her. I never would have looked at Severus all grown up and expected that he'd have been such a charming baby."
"Well you certainly wouldn't have dared suggest it to his face," Sirius snorted, "especially not Alpha Severus."
"Not if I'd wanted to keep breathing," she laughed. "The most Beta Severus would have done would have been hex me a bit, though. More likely, he'd have just been grumpy for a bit. Oh, Sirius, I miss him. So much. Seeing baby Severus here, now, just makes the ache that much more."
He seemed to understand, his brow furrowing as if he was in pain. "Yeah," he said. "At least your odds of saving Severus are decent. Me on the other hand… Merlin, I feel like starting today it's a bloody countdown."
Hermione sighed. "I'm not saying it's fair, Sirius. I'm not saying it's right. I'm just asking that you focus on what you believed was most important when we first met, and let that be enough."
He gazed at her for a moment, and then his eyes widened a bit, as if his purpose in life had somehow been forgotten and now he remembered. "Harry lives," he whispered.
She nodded, and leaned up to kiss her husband. "Harry lives."
Somehow, Hermione mused, she thought that her husband's poor attitude of late was coming to an end. His priorities had shifted from Harry to James when they'd first arrived in the past, as if the boy who'd one day be his Godson had mattered less than the best friend who would sire him. Now, it seemed that Sirius was remembering why Harry mattered to him in the first place, and that in order for Harry to even be born, things needed to happen a certain way, and that she'd need his help for those things to come to pass. Harry would live, in due course, and when Voldemort came calling, Harry would live again as fate dictated he would. She'd make sure of it.
Then, after all was said and done, Hermione and Sirius would ensure that Harry lived, and not just survived what came after the loss of his parents. He'd be healthy and happy and have all the love and support that Alpha Harry never had. He'd grow up safe and secure, unlike Beta Harry, never knowing the kind of constant warfare that the boy they'd known in that alternate reality had experienced.
Harry would live.
Melok was well aware that when the boys were at the Muggle house in Baker Street, Hermione employed Charms to disguise the Goblin half of Caelum's heritage. She never used the Charms in front of him, however, and on the days that he was picking the boys up at the house, Eileen always deactivated the Charms before he arrived. It was odd, in retrospect, but in the almost six months since Eileen had been looking after the boys and they'd been doing this, he'd not once actually seen his son under the influence of the charms.
Until now.
"Caelum?" he asked, voice raspy with shock. It was startling, truly. Gone was every trace of Goblin in his son, and the only hint of himself remaining were the green eyes they shared. He seemed to have mimicked his brother's look a great deal so far as the shape of his face, although his jawline was a bit more narrow and defined. It took Melok a moment to realize he'd seen that shape before - it was akin to Hermione's.
His lips were like Hermione's, as well, and his hair was a mess of wild curls like hers, although Caelum had opted to keep his naturally dark hair color he'd inherited from his mother, so opposite his brother's nearly blond hair which had been inherited from Regulus Black. The ears and nose were almost the same as Filius', although as Caelum stood to walk toward him, Melok noted that he'd maintained his own more wiry frame rather than trying to manufacture a wider build.
"Yes Father?" Caelum asked.
Melok was torn between hurt and touched that Caelum had clearly opted to utilize some of Hermione's traits in his human disguise. Belatedly, it crossed his mind that this might well be a mimicry of the disguise he used all the time, and in that case, it was Hermione who was imposing her features on the boy. That he wasn't entirely sure he was alright with. To be honest, he wasn't entirely sure he was alright with Caelum doing it, but he was definitely sure he wasn't okay with Hermione making unilateral decisions to impose her features on his son. She may well be the only mother they knew, and he accepted that, but she was not Genia, and if Caelum was going to appear human, it should be Genia's features that should be showing through. Not Hermione's. That wasn't right.
Not wanting to take his anger and frustration out on the boy, he cleared his throat and put his hand on his son's arm. "It's not kind to abuse Golems, Caelum, especially when you don't need them."
"I just wanted to practice," the little boy sighed. "I want to show Mernte that I can do my own disguises! I can even change things to how I like them, instead of just doing what she does."
"So this… look you're wearing now," he pressed. "That's not how you look when you're with Eileen?"
Caelum sighed. "No."
He waved his hand, offering a frustrated huff, and before Melok's eyes his son's features changed. The jawline shifted, the hair straightened, and the shape of the lips morphed just slightly. Now Caelum looked nearly identical to his brother, except for the fact that his hair was dark and his cheekbones were set a bit differently.
"Isn't that better?" Melok asked, pleased with this look.
Caelum stomped. "No. I look too much like Filius. I don't look anything like Mernte, and I hate it. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!"
Well, one thing was for sure, his younger son had no issue making his feelings known. "For the moment," Melok muttered, trying to diffuse the situation, "how about we just let the Golems go and you let me talk to Mernte about your look and we'll go from there?"
The boy closed his eyes, squinting hard for a moment, and then the Golems scattered and Melok sighed in relief as his son appeared normally a moment later. He didn't look thrilled, however. "I still don't look like Mernte," he pouted.
"Mernte isn't your mother," he reminded his son critically, "so that would make sense."
Caelum, who had been outside playing a bit ago and still had his shoes on, kicked Melok hard in the shin, and then proceeded to run out of the room and out the back door, no doubt hiding in the treehouse out back. Melok winced, the Goblin strength in the little boy not nothing even now, and he proceeded to limp his way to the living room. He spotted Filius on the sofa, reading a book. "Filius, would you be a good sport and go out back and check on your brother for me?"
Filius eyed him, raising an eyebrow in a manner that was so like Hermione that it was almost baffling considering the fact that she contributed no genetics to the boy. "What did you do?" his older son asked.
He sighed, sitting down. "I said something I should not have said. If he's concerned about being punished for kicking me, he need not be. I'll own up to this one. I deserved it."
Filius stood up, placing his book on the end table. "What did you say?" he asked, looking exasperated.
"He was upset about not looking like Hermione," Melok explained. "I merely stated that it made sense he wouldn't as she is not his mother."
His older son scoffed at him. "You're right. You did deserve that. Mernte is our mother. You're… you're a toerag!"
Melok looked at Filius incredulously. "What is a toerag and where in Merlin's name did you hear that word?"
Filius looked sheepish. "Uncle Sirius? He said it's basically the same as calling someone a prat."
The Goblin sighed. "Of course it was Sirius. Alright, go. Console your brother. I have to Floo your Mernte and solve the latest parental crisis, which evidently involves somehow splicing her genes into you two to prevent total emotional meltdown."
Filius grinned. "Is that actually possible? Because that would be awesome."
"Out, Filius!" Melok snapped.
The boy scurried out the back door, not needing to be on the receiving end of that particular tone more than once. As soon as he was gone, he stood up and Floo'd Hermione, asking her to come over. He was still in the process of limping back to the sofa when she came through. "What happened to your leg?" Hermione inquired with a frown.
"Your son," he grumbled.
"Which one?" she asked.
"The one very upset about the fact that he doesn't have any of your genes," he grumbled, "and who thinks lashing out at me for pointing out the reality of the matter is a great way to cope with those feelings. I'm giving him a pass for this time, because he's four and I could have used more tact."
Hermione groaned and flopped on the sofa beside him. "How did this even come up?"
He sighed. "Caelum sorted out how to manipulate Golems on his own. Wandless and silent. Clearly he's got a gift for it. He was using them to arrange his own human disguise. Something about wanting to show you that he could do it himself when he was over with Eileen. He showed me that he could do the disguise that you set up for over there, and he showed me that he could make changes that apparently he much prefers."
She raised an eyebrow. "Changes? Like what, green hair?"
Melok frowned. "No. Like your curls, your lips, and your jawline. He's been studying your features, Hermione, and has adapted them into his own. He wants to look like you."
She couldn't help the smile that played on her lips. "That's actually really sweet. He'd be adorable with a mass of curls on his head, too, I imagine."
"Sweet or not, it's disrespectful to Genia's memory," the Goblin said. "If he wants to adapt his features a bit, fine, but he should be looking at pictures of his mother and sorting out ways to look more like her. Or if he wanted to match his brother a bit better, even pictures of Regulus."
Hermione frowned. "It's a damn disguise, Melok, not a permanent change. It's not as if utilizing my features in a temporary manner is asking Caelum to forget who gave birth to him. For Merlin's sake, you're overreacting."
He crossed his arms. "I already allow my sons to address you with a maternal honorific, Hermione. To have them look like you as well? Caelum especially! Genia died bringing him into the world. He cannot forget her. He can not!"
"I am not debating Genia's value. Nor am I suggesting that Caelum and Filius are not her sons." She paused, scoffing. "You know what? It's not like they're my sons at all. Merlin forbid the boys want something to connect them to me, or me want something to connect them to me! It isn't as if I've been a mother to them every minute of every day from the moment Genia died or anything."
It was at that particular moment that Melok realized he'd fucked up. His throbbing shin protested as he shifted his position and moved over to where Hermione was sitting on the opposite end of the sofa, and somehow sensing that there were no words to apologize for being this much of a toerag, as Filius had put it, he just kissed her.
Hermione melted into the kiss, her hand caressing his face as their tongues danced. His knee planted firmly between her legs and she toppled backward against the arm of the sofa, his hands moving over her waist and pulling her close. Finally, they pulled apart. "I'm sorry," he said softly, peppering slow kisses along her jaw and down her neck.
"That's not fair, Melok," she whimpered. "I can't stay mad at you when you kiss me."
He sat up a bit and looked into her eyes, smirking. "I know."
Orion had Trian for the afternoon, and Minerva was relishing in the rare free time and enjoying spending some time with Hermione, the first chance they'd had since her son's birth for the pair of them to do some harmonic magic exercises. They were at the Lost Henge in northern Scotland, about eighty kilometers west of Hogwarts at present, attempting to use their harmonic to charge a ward stone.
"Right then," Hermione instructed as she signaled for Minerva to join her, kneeling on the ground. "On my mark, channel your magic into the ward stone. Repleo vis. Our harmonic should amplify the effect. Ready?"
Minerva nodded, following her instructions. "Ready."
"Mark!" Hermione said, holding her hand above the ward stone, just as Minerva was doing.
This sort of magic was always wandless, the raw energy which went into the ward stone needing not to be diluted by going through a wand. One needed to be at least somewhat accomplished with wandless magic to be able to charge a wardstone, and Minerva had only just gotten to that level of competency that Hermione felt she'd be able to manage. "Repleo vis!" she uttered, getting almost dizzy as the magic poured out from her hand and into the stone, mingling with Hermione's magic and after circling through the stone, cycling back into her in a continuous loop, allowing the pair of them to maintain the magical energy they needed to keep charging the ward stone.
"Well done, Min!" Hermione praised, grinning a little.
"Bloody hell," she muttered, the waves of magic coursing through her over and over, the familiar sensation of her partner's magic making her feel half drunk, and arousing her in a way she'd seldom experienced. Her eyes fluttered closed for a moment, and her memory dug back months and months to the night she'd shared with her friend, not long before learning that Hermione was a time traveler and that she was expecting a child who, in another life, she'd given up and who'd grown up to become a time traveler in his own right, and marry the woman she'd taken into her bed.
One would think that knowing Hermione Black was literally her son's wife would make her less attractive in Minerva's eyes, but it didn't. When the harmonic was ripping through her like this, all Minerva could think of was what it felt like to have those brown eyes looking at her with want, or how Hermione had looked so uninhibited as Minerva's lips had meandered their way all over her beautiful body.
"Fuck," Hermione breathed, her hand coming into contact with Minerva's wrist, amplifying the harmonic between them and the arousal it was stimulating. "Min."
Her eyes snapped open, green meeting brown as they both stared at one another breathlessly. Clearly, Minerva mused, she wasn't the only one feeling the effects of the harmonic. "Hermione," she whispered weakly, twisting her hand so she could grip the other woman's wrist. She didn't even think as she began pulling the other woman toward her.
Hermione let out a whimper but didn't attempt to pull away, not even when Minerva stepped into her personal space and began kissing her. No, she just kissed Minerva back, passionately, the two kneeling women toppling to the ground, wrestling for dominance there in the dirt as they continued dueling with lips and tongues and teeth.
Years of being a mistress had left Minerva not giving a toss about being the other woman, as it were, but she knew Hermione took her vows seriously and could not in good conscience allow things to progress further between them unless there was some conversation about what it meant and potentially about getting permission. They'd not be the first pair of lovers to have the consent of a spouse to see one another outside of a marriage, after all, and while Minerva knew Walburga never would have allowed Orion to see her, Sirius might be amenable to Hermione being involved with herself. They were all good friends, after all.
She groaned as Hermione's fingers began deftly unbuttoning her blouse, and she knew she'd run out of time to put a stop to this. "Hermione," she panted. "Bloody hell, we need to stop."
The other woman stilled almost at once, then took a deep breath and nodded. "You're right. Damn. I'm sorry."
Minerva sat up and grabbed Hermione's hand. "Don't mistake me. I didn't want to stop, Hermione. I just… I've done the dirty little secret thing. I'm not inclined to repeat the experience. You know how I feel about you, and if we had Sirius' permission I'd gladly jump your bones any time we had a free moment…"
Hermione laughed. "Right. That's happening. I'm sure your son is going to be on board with the idea of his wife shagging his mother. Get real, Minerva."
She shook her head. "I realize in a technical sense Sirius is my son, but he's also not. I didn't birth him, and I didn't raise him, and I'm not bloody old enough to be that to him. Trian is my son, and besides the point, it's not as though Sirius isn't perfectly well aware we've already shagged. So what if we'd like to go at it again? We needn't give him a bloody report every time it happened."
"Are you suggesting we be lovers behind his back?" Hermione asked, looking incredulous.
"I do believe I was already clear about not doing so behind his back, Hermione," the other woman frowned. "I merely meant that we needn't go shouting to him that we'd shagged the morning after. Once we had permission he doesn't need to know when it happened."
Hermione stood. "Min, if I asked him for this, he'd say yes simply because he's a self sacrificing idiot who'd do near anything to make me happy, but I know him and I know full well that us together would make him utterly miserable, so I can't ask this of him. I can't. I'll not deny the chemistry between us and you know full well how I feel about you, but please, don't ask me to hurt him like this. It's hard enough that he doubts my love for him every time he sees my bloody Patronus."
Minerva frowned. She was familiar with Hermione's Patronus. It was a Scottish Deerhound. "What does your Patronus have to do with anything?"
Her mentor offered a weak smile. "It was an Otter for the longest time, which was a good companion to my Fishing Cat Animagus. Then I ended up in Beta and I met your counterpart there. That's when I first learned about the harmonic between us. Merlin knows I was close to your Alpha counterpart, but I was young and naive and I didn't understand why I felt such a draw to her, although looking back I suspect she did. Beta Minerva, well, she was known for her candor, a trait I'll admit I picked up from her. I respected her a great deal and we became good friends in the six months I was there. Minerva, your counterpart in Beta was an Animagus just like you and just like your Alpha counterpart, but her form wasn't feline. It was a Scottish Deerhound. I didn't realize my Patronus had changed until we got here. Leaving her behind broke my heart. I wasn't in love with her, but I did love her. Sirius, however, believes that only a deep romantic love can force a Patronus to change, so him seeing my Patronus…"
Minerva nodded, understanding. "... makes him believe you were in love with my Beta counterpart, and therefore that you'd have the potential to fall in love with me. Damn."
"Do you understand why I can't ask this of him?" Hermione asked, looking sorrowful. "It's not that I don't want to, it's just…"
"... that you'd only be enforcing his fears and insecurities," she finished. "I do understand, Hermione. I don't like it, because I crave you like a bloody drug, but I do understand."
Hermione walked up to her and pressed a lingering kiss to the side of her mouth. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
Then, before Minerva could respond, Hermione disapparated, leaving Minerva all alone. With a sigh of frustration, the Scottish woman righted her clothing, and turning on her heel, apparated to Roland Wood's flat, intent on venting her frustrations to her brother through Kinship, knowing that unlike her biological brothers, he'd offer understanding and alcohol rather than teasing and told you so's, the latter being the last thing she needed right now.
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