"Yes, Father," Zara said in a nasally tone, mocking… Herself? "Oh my god, he's such an asshole!"
Bellatrix took another long sip of her mimosa as her eyes drifted back towards the obsidian and redwood clock hanging above her guest's head in the dining room, just to the left of where she'd been impaled recently. Regulus had practically begged Hydrus and Bellatrix to host a meeting between him and Zara to clear up any misunderstandings between them after what had happened recently, and unfortunately Hydrus had agreed. For some reason her little shit of a cousin was late to his own peace talks. Maybe they should've left him in the Ministry jail cells…
"I mean it, seriously, he just grabbed me by the throat and!" The demented woman began to strangle the air with one hand. "Pop! Like I didn't just get that top, he totally ruined the collar!"
"Right." Bellatrix had long since grown to ignore the whispers regarding her own sanity, but the next time she heard them she might just introduce them to Zara instead. "I'm sure."
"You're not listening to me," the vampire said with a huff and a pout. "How'd you like it if someone did that to you?"
Her first thought was of Hydrus potentially doing it, and in a much different context, so she had to put the smile that bloomed on her face to another task: a threat. "Even if your father was strong enough to attempt such a thing, my love would end his life before he got the chance."
"Hmph. That doesn't make it any more fun for me." Zara rolled her eyes. "Even if you're probably right; Hydrus scared the moonlights out of Daddy."
Like that was a surprise. The only person on earth who couldn't be brought to their knees by the full weight of her little water snake's magic was Albus Dumbledore himself. Even Bellatrix, who loved the feeling almost as much as she loved being embraced by the man directly, couldn't withstand the brunt of its weight.
Just as she went for a deviled egg, one of several dishes prepared for the brunch, the door to the dining room opened and Regulus strolled in. His boyfriend Octavius had come as well, towering over the rest of the room's occupants like a giant.
"There you are!" Zara said, leaping to her feet and startling Regulus into backing away into his lover's chest. "You're never gonna believe what happened! Oh my god, so—"
"I will cut you in half again," Bellatrix said, cutting the bratty vampire off. The girl pouted back at her. "Sit, cousin, and I will explain."
The last thing she wanted to deal with was listening to the exact same rant for the third or fourth time.
"Very well," Regulus said as Octavius pulled his seat out for him. "Sorry for our late arrival."
'Oh you're going to be,' Bellatrix thought as the two men settled in across from her and Zara. "This one showed up at breakfast a while back, annoyed Hydrus, and he threw her in a dungeon as punishment.
"Oh my god it was the worst."
Bellatrix's eye twitched. "Her father came looking for her, Hydrus explained what happened and that he didn't appreciate the vampire lord threatening his uncle, and the man said that he never intended to kill you."
"Bullshit," Regulus snapped. "He—"
"Thank you!" Zara interrupted, pointing at him and grinning a smug smile at Bellatrix. "See? I told you—"
"Ossa Crispum." Bellatrix wrenched her wand in a rotating motion, and Zara's head turned around several times in a motion that would've killed any mortal creature. "As I was saying, he claims all he wanted was to make sure his 'magpie' was alright, and when he found out Zara said he wanted to kill you, he told us to keep her and invited us to visit whenever we wished."
"Magpie?" Regulus scoffed. "Bellatrix, I've watched that man kill a lot of people for a lot less than what I did. He is not someone who would want to make sure I was alright."
Bellatrix drummed her fingers along the table, trying to decide what to believe. On one hand, Hydrus had seemed quite certain that the man genuinely meant no harm to them. On the other, it would make sense for the vampire to suddenly mean that when he found out just how powerful her love was. Still, it was hard to imagine someone as 'terrifying' as Regulus had described would manage to raise a daughter as pitiful and pathetic as—
"There!" Zara had finally managed to finish cranking her neck and head back into place, and took a deep breath. "Why is everyone so mean to me!"
"Zara, sweetie, you know we love you," Octavius said, speaking up for the first time since the 'meeting' began. "But sometimes you can be a bit much."
"Oh, I can be a bit much?" Zara gave an exaggerated scoff. "You know I can hear your hand rubbing on his pants, right?"
Octavius's face flushed bright red even as Regulus just rolled his eyes. "I'm touching his leg, trying to comfort him."
"I'm the one who needs comfort!"
"Enough!" Bellatrix snapped. "Everyone just shut, up."
And Hydrus had the nerve to call her childish.
"I promise, Bellatrix, Lord Raalbs is not to be trifled with." Regulus was looking her in the eye for once, a rare feat for the normally timid wizard. "He might just be the most powerful vampire in Europe, aside from Dracula himself, obviously."
"Nah," Zara said. "He's, like, I don't know, tenth? At best? Maybe?" Her nose wrinkled. "All those awful girls at the meetings never hesitate to remind me."
"I don't care if he was Dracula," Bellatrix said with a huff. "There's no way he's stronger than Hydrus, and that's all that matters."
"All that matters for Hydrus, maybe," Regulus muttered. "The rest of us normal folk might have to worry a bit more."
"It'll be fine," Bellatrix dismissed. "Especially if he's as terrified of Hydrus as Zara says he is."
"Who's terrified of Hydrus?"
Bellatrix turned to see Giannis had come in, rubbing the sleep from his eyes despite it being nearly noon. He walked over to her and climbed into her lap, yawing as he settled in. The annoying vampire beside her immediately crooned a high-pitched sound that tempted Bellatrix to spin her head around a few more times.
"Oh my god, who's this little thing?" she asked.
"I'm Giannis," the boy answered. "I'm eight, I like runes and animals. This is Bella, she likes me and Hydrus. That's Uncle Reg, Sirius says he likes stealing. That's…" He did a double take at Octavius, as if just now noticing the man. "Who are you?"
"I'm Prince Octavius Aaldenberg," the man said, earning an eye roll from Bellatrix as he clung to a title that was worth less than any sort of crown he could call his own. "I'm Regulus's boyfriend, I like him and working out."
"Oh." Giannis turned to Zara. "That's Octavius, he likes Uncle Reg and working out."
"Oh my god!" The vampire reached out a hand towards the child's face which Bellatrix immediately slapped away. "I could just eat you up!"
Regulus glared at her. "Zara!"
"It was a joke!"
Bellatrix sighed as the woman who was older than everyone else in the room combined continued to argue with Regulus and Octavius. She had Kreacher bring her a plate, and began to fix it up with various foods from around the table. Giannis made a face when she included a few half-stalks of celery filled with cream cheese, but she'd long since made sure he knew that she wasn't one to be bought or bartered with when it came to his diet.
If she let him have his way, he'd wind up looking like Aunt Walburga.
Just when she was about to kick everyone out thanks to the way Octavius and Zara had begun sniping at each other over their clothes, yet another guest entered. Two guests, in fact.
'Great,' she thought as Giannis bounced out of her lap to go give the first man a hug. 'Just what I needed.'
"Good afternoon, Bellatrix," Dumbledore said, smiling at Giannis as he bent over to return the child's affection. "And I see Regulus and Octavius are here as well, what a pleasant surprise."
Giannis finally came to his senses and ran back to her, though that might've just been because he had more food to eat. The other guest, Sirius's friend Remus, awkwardly glanced about the room, hopefully feeling like he didn't belong there. Hydrus was still being unreasonable about the man, even looked up to him despite properly treating the other werewolves he owned like pets.
"Albus," Bellatrix said, finally acknowledging his presence. "To what do we owe the pleasure?"
"May I?" Albus asked, gesturing towards the seat at the opposite end of the table as her, directly facing where Hydrus would sit when he came in. Bellatrix's face pinched a touch as she nodded. "Wonderful. Remus and I were hoping to meet Hydrus in regards to his plans for the land you and he acquired after the unfortunate incident with the goblins."
"He's busy at the moment."
Busy sleeping. He'd stayed up all night and it wasn't until Bellatrix woke up in the morning to find him missing from their bed that he finally got some rest. For some reason he'd been working himself to death lately, and his biggest fixation was the stupid numbing spell he'd had her help translating. That and learning to control his overpowered magic again, which he still hadn't asked for her help on…
"I see, that's alright. I was hoping to speak with you as well." Bellatrix raised an eyebrow at his words. "Due to the nature of Remus's, well, nature, we were hoping you wouldn't mind coming in to act as a substitute teacher when he needs to recover from the full moon." The ancient warlock's eyes twinkled. "I figured you'd appreciate getting the chance to spend extra time with Hydrus."
Bellatrix giggled. At first she'd thought the man had yet again proven his ever-growing senility, but this was perfect. There was no way Hydrus could say no if Dumbledore was the one asking.
"Ooh," Zara chimed in, earning a glare from Bellatrix. "Are you a werewolf?"
Remus stiffened. "I am, yes."
"Oh my god, are you single? We have to go out." The vampire turned to Regulus and Octavius, grinning wide and showing off her fangs. "It's the perfect way to get back at Daddy."
"What?" Remus's head and neck were craned back, wrinkling his features. "No, thank you."
"Why not?" She sounded offended at his offence. "I'm way out of your league, you should be grateful."
"Now, now, Madam," Dumbledore said. Bellatrix could've practically kissed the old codger, just on the cheek of course, with the way Zara's face fell into horror at being called that by one who looked so old. "I'm afraid my coworker here isn't experienced enough for someone like you. Perhaps I could be of more assistance?"
He finished off his soul-crushing 'fliration' with a wink, and Zara crumbled. "N-, No, thank you."
Despite the undead woman's dour and dismal destruction, Giannis was as bright as the sun with the way he clapped his fork and knife onto his plate.
"Done!" He exclaimed. "I can talk about runes now right?"
Sirius had been the one to introduce that rule, something Bellatrix had initially been impressed with until she learned it was actually the Bones woman's idea. Before she could remind Giannis that everyone had to be finished eating, he'd already hopped off her lap and ran over to Dumbledore, holding out a wooden bracelet. The ancient warlock took it with a bemused grin, turning it over in his hands and squinting at the runes laid into the inside of the artefact.
"Isn't it cool?" Giannis asked. "I was tired of having to wear all those different bracelets, so I combined 'em all into one! It makes it so anyone can put their magic in, talk to it, and then I'll be able to speak and know the language too!"
Bellatrix blinked. She'd never heard of something like that and, based on the looks the headmaster and werewolf were giving the boy, neither had they. Dumbledore had adjusted his spectacles and was looking at it even closer now, and Remus had leaned over to do the same.
"Dobby had to bring me some more books," Giannis continued on. "But between those and Hydrus's bones—"
"What?" Remus said. "You figured them out?"
Giannis cocked his head to the side. "What do you mean?"
"He's referring to the runes on Hydrus's bones," Dumbledore said, mouth hanging open ever so slightly. "You figured out how to use them?"
Bellatrix's eyes danced back and forth between the old man, the werewolf, and her son. At first the old coot had been impressed, but no more so than the way Arcturus used to look at Sirius. Now he was practically stunned. Remus had gone from avoiding getting too involved with the situation, looking as out of place as a house elf on a throne, to grabbing hold of the headmaster's hand so he could point out one of the runes. Giannis had just gone from curious to confused.
"Just the ones where I knew what they did." The boy shrugged. "I saw they were scrunched up cus Hydrus lost a bit of his arm, so I knew some of them had to be for moving the others around and making new ones, so I used those."
"Incredible," Dumbledore breathed out. "May I?"
The boy's trademark smile returned to Giannis's face. "Yeah!"
The bracelet began to hum with power as the ancient warlock poured his magic into it. He began to speak in a language that Bellatrix had never heard before. It came in a rhythmic, nasally flow with clicks and pops interspersed throughout. When he was finished, the wooden artefact came to a still as well. He handed it to Giannis and the boy slid it onto his wrist. The Greek child closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and began to speak the same strange language.
"Incredible!" Dumbeldore repeated and exclaimed. "Giannis, you've just spoken a language that has been dead for centuries, spoken only by myself and a lovely woman who lives in a cloud."
"A cloud?" her son said, not at all impressed by the language itself. "How'd she do that?"
"Her and her husband performed some alchemy—"
"What's alchemy?"
"Alchemy is the art of using transmutation to—"
"What-tation?"
"Transmutation can be thought of as magical chemistry, it involves isolating and combining magical reagents—"
"How?"
Before Albus could keep skipping down Giannis's never-ending trail of questions, there was a knock at the door. Bellatrix breathed a sigh of relief, today was Sirius's day off, which meant he was probably at the Potters, which meant it had to be Hydrus this time. "Come in!"
The person who walked in was neither her love nor his annoying father. It was the Tankle girl.
"Oh!" Hellena said, seeing the crowd of people there. "Hello Professor Black! Hello Professor Dumbledore! Hello Giannis! Hello Aunt Zara!"
Bellatrix's neck nearly replicated what she'd done to the vampire's as she spun it to face her. "Aunt Zara?"
"Mmmm," Zara hummed over the rim of her margarita glass before setting it back down. "Her mother does some modelling for me. You should see the legs on that woman, go all the way up to her shoulders I swear."
"Mum's even taller than me," Hellena said with a smile. "Prettier too!"
"Oh shut up, you know you have a job if you want one." Zara waved the girl off. "You look just like your mom, it's perfect."
"Zara's a fashion designer," Regulus said, answering about the tenth most relevant question running through Bellatrix's over taxed mind. "Real big in Spain and Portugal. You wore one of her dresses back in eighty-three for that thing the Carrows threw that—"
"Oh my god, you did?" Zara grabbed hold of Bellatrix's arm, moving her up yet another spot on the list of people she wanted to kill. "Oooh, I bet you looked so gorgeous."
After putting her back down a few places, and pulling her arm free, Bellatrix turned to Hellena. "Why are you here?"
"I invited her," Giannis said. "You told me to quit going to people, that I should be inviting them to me instead, so I did."
"Good boy," Bellatrix said automatically, trying to give him praise for doing what she asked. "But in the future, you need to ask me or Hydrus before inviting someone."
"I did!" Giannis whined. "Hydrus said it was fine!"
Bellatrix took a deep breath. She wasn't sure what was more likely. Either Hydrus had agreed, and didn't tell her, almost certainly because he didn't think it was important and forgot. Or Giannis hadn't exactly asked, but had come close enough to it that he could claim to have misunderstood whatever half answer he got. Either way, the girl was here now.
"What did you invite her for?" she asked, rubbing her forehead.
"For this?" Giannis said, holding up the bracelet like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I need to be able to speak Spanish so Burro can understand me."
"Burro?"
"That's Mr. Jasiel's chickcharney's name." Giannis handed the bracelet to Hellena. "Here, just put your magic in it and talk a bunch in Spanish."
Bellatrix just sighed for what felt like the thousandth time today in this chaotic and uncontrolled brunch that Kreacher just kept bringing more and more dishes out for. She went for another sip of her drink but found it empty.
"Here," Zara said. "I got you."
Without giving her a chance to protest, Zara reached into her clutch and pulled out a flask which she unscrewed and began to pour into Bellatrix's cup. The Black heiress was about to protest, but both Regulus and Octavius had stood and were holding out their own glasses now. Zara giggled and filled those as well.
"You two are lucky your beautiful sister loves you so much," she said as she finished topping off Regulus's. "What do you say?"
They both droned out loud and sarcastic thank yous as they settled back into their seats, already sipping. Bellatrix looked them both over, then at Zara, then at her glass which she sniffed. It didn't smell poisonous, and she knew Hydrus was upstairs and could probably cure her of just about anything that wouldn't have already killed her cousin and his boyfriend, so she took a sip.
Arcturus would've hated it. It was a smooth, fruity vodka that went down so fast and easy it almost surprised Bellatrix.
She'd have to move the annoying vampire a few more spots down her hit list.
"See?" Zara said. "You're gonna love having me around."
"Having you around?"
"Well, there's no way I can go back to Daddy now," the vampire said. "Not for, like, at least a decade."
"Absolutely n—"
"Oo, my turn!" Zara interrupted before snatching up the bracelet Helena had just passed to Giannis. He let out a 'Hey!' but the bratty woman was already rambling away in German to Octavius. "Vielleicht sollten wir Ihnen eines davon besorgen?"
He glared at her. "Ich spreche ganz gut Deutsch"
"Oo," Hellena said, almost sounding exactly like her 'aunt'. "Ich auch!"
First Bellatrix turned to Dumbledore and the werewolf for help, but the pair were just staring at the bracelet, muttering to themselves. Her next, and probably last resort with the way Giannis was watching the bracelet glow, was Regulus, but instead she found him just about to light a thin cigar. She kicked his shin as hard as she could under the table.
"Not around Giannis!" she ordered as the man gasped and the cigar fell out of his mouth. "What were you thinking?"
"I'm thinking you inherited a certain skill from Grandfather," he hissed, cradling his leg. "Seriously, just say something next time."
"Hmph." She stuck her nose up in the air. "I shouldn't have to."
"There we go." Zara handed the bracelet back to Giannis, then cooed, "Try it out, my widdle wiebling."
Giannis put it on and once more closed his eyes. After a few seconds longer than the first time with Dumbeldore, he opened them back up and began to speak. All the adults watched in awe as he moved from Greek to Spanish to English to German to whatever ancient language the headmaster had shared with him. Bellatrix applauded when he finished and the boy swung his hands up in the air in delight.
When he did so, the bracelet went flying off his wrist and crashed into the chandelier, shattering it and sending a shower of glass crashing down towards them. Bellatrix reached for her wand holstered on her thigh, but the brittle shards came to a stop on their own. Or at least, she thought they had till she saw Dumbledore's hand outstretched towards them. Slowly, as if pushing back the hand on a clock, he turned two of his fingers in a circle and the chandelier repaired itself.
Bellatrix turned her attention to where Giannis had been and found him crouching on the ground, hands over his head, trembling.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sor—"
He was cut off as Bellatrix enveloped him in a massive, smothering hug. She'd thrown Zara to the side and scooped the boy up as fast as she could, and was holding the still-balled-up child as tightly as possible. It was hard to call it cradling him, considering the awkward angle and his uncomfortable pose, but it was close enough.
"It's okay, baby," she whispered. "Momma Bella is here, everything is okay, shhh, shhhhhh…."
"I didn't mean to," the boy said. Or at least, it's what she thought he said, it was hard to hear with his face crushed against his knees. "I promise I didn't mean to."
"Bella knows," she cooed. "Momma Bella knows everything, she knows you're a good boy, it's okay, baby. Momma Bella's good, precious little baby."
For the next several minutes she continued to whisper in her baby's ear, continued to rock him back and forth as he slowly unwound into a more comfortable position in her arms. Once he'd stopped shaking, stopped muttering apologies, stopped invoking a new flavour of madness that even she had yet to have experienced before now; she sat back down with him in her lap.
"There, all better," she said. "Here dear, have some more pudding." As she began to feed him, her attention turned to Dumbledore who was studying the bracelet. "What happened?"
"It seems that as we added more languages to the artefact, it grew in size," he muttered. "I'm assuming that was where the runes on Hydrus's bones came into play?"
It broke her heart when Giannis didn't enthusiastically begin ranting out an answer, but instead just nodded as she fed him another spoonful of pudding. "I didn't make them small enough, I guess."
"Giannis, this is still an amazing creation," Dumbeldore tried to assure him. "If every invention and advancement in history came to us in the first try, there would be no point at all to the study."
"It's worthless now," Giannis argued. "It's too big for me."
"That's okay, baby," Bellatrix spoke into his ear. "You can just give it to Hydrus as a gift, I'm sure he'd love it."
Giannis looked up at her with his adorable little eyes. "Really?"
"Of course," she said. "I promise, Hydrus will love it."
"What'll I—"
Bellatrix's head snapped up with a grin that nearly split her face. Hydrus had almost entered the dining room. His hair was untidy, but it gave him a rather cute appearance, and she certainly wouldn't mind combing it for him while he ate. His eyes slowly swam over the brunch crowd, and then he shook his head.
"Nope."
He slammed the door shut.
Her jaw dropped.
"Absolutely fucking not," Hydrus muttered as he turned on his heel.
"What?" Sirius backed away awkwardly from where he'd been trying to get past him. "What's going on?"
"Go in at your own peril," the time traveller muttered as he stepped past his father. "I'm going out for lunch."
There had been just two people he wanted to keep as far away from Dumbledore as possible, at least when he was also around the old man. One was Hellena and the atheistic approach she took to segues, just like Dumbledore. The other was Remus and the way he barged through his emotional walls, just like Dumbledore. Now both were seated on either side of him at the Black heir's dining room table. Add in his klepto- and ego- maniacal uncle, his uncle's meathead boyfriend, a four-hundred some-odd year old vampire with the maturity of a thirteen year old heiress, and his future wife and adopted child?
"Absolutely fucking not," he muttered once more, heading towards the floo.
"Wait, I'll come with you."
He nearly snapped at Sirius to leave him alone, but he remembered Dumbledore's words and pleadings. "Fine."
"You won't regret it," Sirius said, immediately wrapping an arm around Hydrus. "I'll take you to a place I know, best food in the entire world." He yanked Hydrus into the floo alongside him. "And it's free, too."
"Why would it be fre—"
"The Potter Bungalow!"
Before Hydrus could react, they were whisked away. The home they stepped out into was… Rustic? It seemed to be a log cabin with wrought iron cut outs and Native American pottery for decoration. A deer head that even the burliest of bears would've had trouble getting its teeth around was mounted on one of the walls, with four oak-like antlers sprouting from the top of its head. There were a few portraits of an old couple that Hydrus only vaguely recognized, but with the context and portraits of his real parents surrounding them, he had a pretty good idea of who this home belonged too.
"Mum! Dad!" Sirius called. "I'm home!"
Hydrus tensed, deciding the first thing he'd do the next time he saw Dumbledore was tell him that his idea of getting closer to Sirius was an idiotic one. He didn't have hardly a moment to prepare himself before an old man came half-walking, half-waddling into the room.
He was missing more hair than he had left, carried himself with a bowed over posture, a good bit of a gut, and as wide a smile as possible.
"Siri!" The man let out a phlegmy laugh as Sirius met him more than halfway across the room. "There's my boy!"
The two men embraced, and the former Potter lord clapped his adopted son so hard on the back that Hydrus almost drew his wand. When they finally released each other, Hydrus took a step back when the old man's eyes turned to him.
"And you! You must be my newest grandson!" The man made his way over and Hydrus prepared himself. "C'mere, you."
"Wait—"
There would be no waiting, it seemed. The man lifted him up into the air with a bear hug so tight that Hydrus had to admit the man would definitely have to be the truest great-grandfather Apophis could ever ask for. Even a boulder python, what many considered to be the 'bigger and badder brother' of the rock constrictor, couldn't compare to the grip. Hydrus knew that for a fact. He'd had his arms shattered into pebbles by one, once.
"Ha!" Hydrus had braced himself for the incoming slap to his back, but he still stumbled a step forward when it was delivered. "How are ya, son?"
"I'm fine, grandpa."
"Woah woah woah." Sirius had reared up as soon as he'd said that. "How come he gets to be grandpa already?"
"Cus I know it'll annoy the shit out of you," he replied. Fleamont began to laugh a hard, phlegmy laugh again and it nearly drove him into a coughing fit. "Are you alright?"
The old man waved him off as he slowly straightened up. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Had bad lungs ever since a bout of dragon pox back in the day."
"Here," Hydrus said gently. He laid a hand on his grandfather's back, and began to push his magic into his body. "This might burn a little bit, but bear with it, and cough when I tell you to." The former lord tried turning back to look at him, but Hydrus gave him a firm thump and said, "Now!"
Fleamont coughed, and Hydrus could feel the mucus loosening from his lungs. The man was practically drowning in the stuff. Four or five more thwacks to the back would probably do the trick, too many more and the lungs wouldn't have any of the stuff at all, and that would be bad. He wasn't sure why it would be bad, but Madam Pomfrey had made it very clear that it would be back when he went through his rotation of learning healing magic from the witch. Once he was done, he focused as hard as he could on the visualisation of the phoenix, of Fawkes's tears gliding down his feathered cheeks, and healed the mild burns left behind by the process.
"There," Hydrus said. "Take a breath, how do you feel?"
If he'd messed up the working, it would be easy enough to fix. A 'bogey' related curse to invigorate that portion of the man's lungs, some more of the phoenix's direct nature to influence the after care, everything would be fine. When the man took a long, deep inhale through his nose and breathed it back out through a smile, Hydrus's heart finally relaxed.
"I'll be damned," Fleamont said. "Sniffer hasn't worked this well since I was your age!"
"I'm glad," Hydrus said with a small bow. "Anything for my grandfather."
"Oh fuck you," Sirius said.
Hydrus couldn't stop himself from laughing at that. He tried to stop it, but it had been far too long since he'd blown on off any of the Black madness's steam. At the very least he didn't devolve into a cackling mess like Bella often did, but it was still enough that when he finished he had to wipe a tear from his eye.
"I see you boys are having fun." He looked up to see an elderly woman, no doubt his grandmother, had arrived. "You must be Hydrus."
"I am." He nodded his head. "You must be Grandma Euphemia, it's a pleasure to meet you."
He made his way across the room as Sirius just glared at him. The woman's hug was much gentler than her husbands, and Hydrus had to lean down to reach her. When he let go of her she reached up and placed a hand on either side of his face, turning his head back and forth.
"Too damn skinny," she muttered before huffing at Sirius. "Why aren't you feeding him?"
"He does his best," Hydrus said immediately. "But he promised me there'd be the best food possible here; can I convince you to prove him right?"
"Damn right it's here." Euphemia grabbed hold of his arm and began to drag him away. "C'mon, I'll show ya."
"Ha, I think he won her over even faster than you did," Sirius's dad said. "Boy's a charmer, just like his old man."
"Yeah," Sirius muttered. "Sure."
"Looks just like ya too," he continued. "Don't need no oaths to prove that one's straight from the source."
"Just don't tell him that," the Black Sheep said with a snort. "Kid wants nothing to do with me."
He knew he was being dramatic. Hydrus had been opening up more to him, like with the whiskey they shared on the roof. But it was like that little bit had made him want more of his son's trust than ever before. Plus, getting him to spend even a minute of time not working had been like trying to lure in a niffler with a counterfeit knut. The… The time traveller, or whatever he was, wasn't wasting a single second of his summer. Still, Sirius knew for sure it was undeserved whining on his part when his dad smacked him upside the head.
"You kidding me?" The former Potter lord said. "That boy loves you something so fierce I damn near pissed m'self earlier."
Sirius furrowed his brows. "What?"
"Ha!" The old man wrapped his arm around him, definitely not to lean on him to make the trip easier, as they walked back to the couch and plopped down. "All those years being an auror and you still ain't got the sense."
"Right," Sirius grumbled. "How I could possibly forget 'the sense', how silly of me."
"It's a real thing, son," Fleamont said. "You spend enough fighting for your life, you start to know when the curses are coming long before the wands are raised."
"Right," Sirius 'agreed' for the thousandth time. "What's that got to do with anything?"
"I ain't never been so sure I was about to die than when I gave ya that pat on the back." His dad shook his head. "That lad's got the devil in him."
Sirius tensed. "I promise, Hydrus wouldn't—"
"Course he wouldn't!" Fleamont interrupted. "Don't mean it wasn't what he wanted to do for that half a clock's breath."
Sirius opened his mouth to try and say something else, move the conversation along, but his dad kept going.
"And you see the way he jumped in to defend ya when Mum started to chew you out for not fattening him up?" Fleamont shook his head. "Nope, that boy loves you sure as sure."
"If you say so."
It wasn't like the old man was the first person to try and tell him that. Lily had told him countless times that Hydrus just needed time to get used to things. Amelia had sworn up and down that she was sure the boy, 'even if he's just like you and acting like an idiot', did love him. Even Hydrus himself had said that his original father, a man Sirius was either confident or desperate enough to believe was himself, was his hero.
It just didn't feel true.
After all, the rest of his family hated him, why wouldn't Hydrus?
It was hard to mope for too long sitting next to Fleamont Potter though, especially now that Hydrus had taken away extended coughing breaks. The man was ranting in a mix of euphemisms, double entendres, and expressions so convoluted that by the time Sirius figured out what the hell he was talking about he'd missed three more. As minutes turned to hours he wasn't sure if the man was talking about baseball, some muggle sport they played here in the states that his dad was obsessed with, or how to tell if a man was lying or not.
"...feeling like a cat in an oat milk dairy farm," Fleamont finished. "What about you, how's your retirement treating ya?"
Sirius snorted. "Hardly a retirement. I'm busier than ever. Between Hydrus, Bellatrix, and my Uncle Cygnus I'm either going to die of overworking or papercuts."
"Yeah, that's the way she goes." His dad gave a sagely nod. "Why do you think I dumped all that rigamarole onto Jimmy as soon as I could?"
"I'm doing the same as soon as Hydrus is outta Hogwarts," Sirius agreed, trying not to laugh at the nickname that no one besides James's parents knew about and used. "Still on the hook for the next three years though."
"It'll go by before you know it, trust me," Fleamont said. "When you're all done you should convince your brother to do the same thing, then both of ya can come move out here with me and your mum."
"Yeah I don't think Harry will go for that," Sirius said, bemused. "It's hard enough to keep the kid's feet on the ground, let alone in an office."
"Well," Fleamont started. "What about Iris, that's only—"
"Last I heard she's planning on becoming potions master like the git." The Black Sheep shook his head. "Sorry, old man, you're stuck waiting till at least after Dahlia graduates."
His dad began to grumble. "That's the problem with this damn family, none of us have the good sense to just do what we're told."
"Fleamont!" Sirius's mum's voice called from the other room. "Get your ass in here and set the table."
"Yes, dear!" The man shot one look at Sirius who held up his hands at the warning. "Come on, you're helping."
When they got to the kitchen-dining room combo Sirius was surprised to find Hydrus with an apron on and seasoning what looked to be a massive pot of stew. Euphemia was carving up and buttering rolls, shooting suspicious glances at the 'teen'. His son gave the pot a hefty stir, then sampled it and nodded.
"Here," he said. He dipped the weathered, wooden spoon that was almost completely flat from wear and held it up for the old woman. "Try it."
Sirius's mum leaned forward and took the small sip, then smacked her lips a few times. "Fuck me sideways and call me a daisy, that is better."
Hydrus smirked victoriously and dunked a label in the pot before picking it up. "Put a cover down so we don't burn the table, Sirius."
"A what?"
"Use this." His mum threw a towel at him and Sirius quickly spread it out across the centre of the table as Hydrus set the pot down. "Alright everyone, let's eat this magic stew of Hydrus's."
"Please," Hydrus said as the stew began to stream out of the pot and into his bowl while he was still sitting down. "I was just working with the art you had already started."
Fleamont chortled as he began ladling out some soup for himself. "Boy might look like you, but he talks like James."
Hydrus stiffened, and Sirius rolled his eyes. He didn't know what on earth had started the row between his son and best friend, but… Wait, he did know what had started it. James had teased Sirius about something in Greece, something so minor that he didn't even remember it now, and Hydrus had jumped to his defence. Just like Fleamont thought he'd done with Euphemia.
"Eat!" Sirius jumped at his mum shouting at him and immediately began filling up his own bowl. "I swear, if it weren't for the fucking half decent NEWTs hanging on my wall I'd think there wasn't a brain between your ears at all, Siri."
The Black Sheep just grinned and began to dig in. He'd long since grown used to the kind and caring woman's vulgar and vitriolic verbiage. It only took a few spoonfuls to realise that his mum hadn't been kidding, this really was delicious. He took a long, deep drink of the broth to get more of the flavour.
"Damn, son," he said, too stunned to even care about the wall Hydrus always tried to put up between them. "Where the hell did you learn how to cook?"
"In front of a stove."
Euphemia slapped Hydrus's side. "Don't be a smart ass to your father."
"I won't, grandma."
She slapped him again. "And don't lie to me."
Hydrus cocked an eyebrow at her. "I'd've gotten two if I told you the truth."
"Damn right."
Hydrus chuckled and finished off his bowl, and more of the stew came pouring into his bowl. Sirius watched as his son continued to speak amicably with his grandparents about both the stew and how his school year had gone. Fleamont said he'd thought Sirius had been 'hitching a chimney to his outhouse and blowing smoke up his ass' with how he described the finale of the Triwizard tournament, Hydrus asked if he hadn't read about it in the papers, and Euphemia was telling him about how all newspapers were for is selling politicians and their lies. While Hydrus began to try and sell them on the Weasley Word, Sirius stood.
"Where are you going, dear?" his mum asked.
"To get the rolls," he answered.
"Oh damn it, I forgot—" She was cut off when Hydrus flicked the stump of his arm, sending the bread cascading over just like he was able to do with the soup. The rolls stacked themselves into a neat little pyramid beside the pot. "Ha! Ain't that a neat trick."
"I try," Hydrus said as one of the doughy morsels floated directly into his bowl. "By the way, Grandpa, you were in the war, right?"
Sirius and his mum both froze. Unlike with Arcturus, the war was a subject that you never, under any circumstances, brokered with the former Potter lord. If he himself brought it up you were usually fine so long as you didn't press, but that was it.
"I was," the man said, missing all the mirth his voice usually held. "Why?"
"Do you know a Gregory Herschel by any chance?" Hydrus asked, not at all bothered by the tension at the table. "Apparently he was close enough with Lord Arcturus to come to his funeral."
Fleamont scoffed, and Sirius breathed a sigh of relief at the tone. "Of course I know Greg Herschel! Everyone knows Greg."
"Really?"
Before Hydrus could dig into the subject more, a pop signalled the arrival of a house elf. Unfortunately that elf was Kreacher.
"Lord Master Hydrus." It bowed to his son. "Lady Bellatrix is requesting your presence. She wishes to inform you that the guests are gone."
"If that's what she wishes to inform me, what's the truth?" Hydrus asked, and Sirius shivered at how smoothly his son had swapped to his more formal, drawling tone. "Who all is still there?"
"Everyone is being gone besides the filthy werewolf and the old warlock." Kreacher said, its shoulders slumping in relief now that it didn't have to not-quite-lie to its master. "The old one is quite insistent he sees you."
"Damn it," Hydrus muttered. "Alright, hold on a sec."
He floated the rest of his roll into his mouth, chewing it down in just a few bites. Next he drained the bowl of soup so fast that Sirius was absolutely certain he hadn't chewed at all, just swallowed down whole pieces of carrot and potato and beef like a snake. When he was finished, his son vanished away what little had gotten onto his lips and leaned over to his grandmother.
"Grandma." He kissed her on the cheek, then nodded at his grandfather. "Grandpa." He flipped Sirius off as he put the end of his crippled arm on Kreacher's shoulder. "Deadbeat."
Before Sirius could even try to muster a retort, the pair vanished away. "...Love you too."
"Don't mind him, son," Fleamont said. "You of all people should know what teenagers are like."
'How the hell does he deal with this secret and keep a straight face,' Sirius wondered. "I didn't even know he existed, all I've done since finding out he exists is try to be there for him, and he calls me a deadbeat."
"You mean he picked something you couldn't possibly actually be offended by to use as an insult?" Fleamont asked in a tone that silently implied twice as much as Euphemia could've cursed up regarding Sirius's intelligence. "I'll call the coast guard to come save you from being so far up shit's creek."
"Idiot," Euphemia added.
"Yeah, yeah," Sirius sighed. "Love you both too."
"The positioning is paramount," Albus said, his tone brokering no room for doubt. "One wrong move and it could spell disaster. Each piece must be perfectly aligned to achieve our goal."
"What if—"
"You must not let hesitation guide your hand," the ancient warlock lectured. "Be firm, and certain." He could tell his student was still wavering, so he cupped the boy's hand and together they sat the final piece down. "And now, all that's left to do is—"
Giannis pushed his hand forward without waiting for him to finish, and like that the dominoes were off. Albus chuckled at the boy's enthusiasm and stepped back to appreciate the series of events they'd just set in motion. The dominoes tumbled over one another until they reached a hair-triggered clothes pin that, when it snapped shut, knocked a ball forward and sent it rolling down a series of tracks towards the next trigger.
When it had become clear Hydrus wasn't just popping down to the corner store, the headmaster had decided to put his time to good use. He and Giannis had been working on this machine for several hours now, and as various items that the warlock had conjured up or Giannis had asked Dobby to bring them went toppling into one another and falling over and launching others into the air, the child's smile grew all the wider. It had taken a while for the boy to completely unwind from his earlier panic attack, but now he was jumping up and down like nothing had happened.
Now that had been a sight. The normally callous Bellatrix Black had gone mad in a fit of mothering extremity, holding the Greek child more like a spider would its recently wound-up prey than any sort of nurturing figure. Still, it had seemed to help her 'baby boy', so Albus hadn't stepped in.
"Almost there…" Giannis muttered as the last few pieces, some old blocks he'd practised his runesmanship on, went slowly wobbling into one another in a much more magical version of the original domino trail. "Go!"
The last one fell over, hitting a wire, and dropping a leftover deviled egg from brunch directly onto the bed in front of Apophis's sleeping form. The basilisk's head snapped forward and it wasn't until it had swallowed the treat whole that its eyes opened. It hissed at them both and yawned, extending its mouth to a massive and terrifying degree. Giannis beamed back then turned and pulled on Albus's robes.
"It worked!"
"Indeed it did," he replied. "Well done."
The little project had stemmed from Albus trying to explain to Giannis how failures lead to other failures like dominoes until you reached success. The headmaster wasn't sure how much the boy had learned about prioritising progress over perfection, but at least they'd had some fun.
The door to Giannis's room opened, and Hydrus stepped in. "Oh good, was worried Remus would still be here."
"He's in the other room with Bellatrix discussing some potential grants and scholarships for students who come from disenfranchised peoples and races." Seeing the way the teen cocked his eyebrow at him, Albus continued. "I figured if he can convince her, he can convince anyone."
"Fair enough," Hydrus said. "Can't say he's the betting favourite in that match though."
"Such is often the case for a man like him." Albus reached over and ruffled Giannis's hair. "Hydrus and I need to go and discuss some business matters. It was a pleasure, as always, getting to spend time with you, Giannis."
"Yeah, you too," the boy wasn't paying him or Hydrus any mind at all as his eyes shot back and forth across the contraption they'd built, no doubt planning for the next one already. "Maybe if I used a…"
Albus and Hydrus stepped outside and shut the door. "That child of yours really is something else. Did you know he's managed to incorporate some of the runes from Magic into his own creations?"
"Doesn't surprise me."
The time traveller didn't sound like he was paying any more attention to him than Giannis had been. Albus watched as he even began to silently count something out on his fingers, then nod to himself.
"Something on your mind?" Albus asked.
"Just planning out my schedule," Hydrus said. "I wasted too much of today. What is it that you and Remus need me for?"
"What has my apprentice so pressed for time?" the warlock asked, ignoring Hydrus's own question. "I'd think you should find yourself with an abundance of that now."
"I don't know." The young man rubbed at the back of his head, frowning. "But I spent nearly four hours today in a kitchen with my grandmother listening to a profanity filled rant regarding the price of petrol, and it's got me feeling antsy." He shot Albus a questioning look. "What's up with the Potters anyways? I knew they'd moved to the states, I didn't realise they'd basically become half-American in the process."
Albus smiled, he knew what they'd talk about the next time they met for one of their regular discussions, but he was definitely glad to hear the boy had spent some time with his family.
"Your grandparents were always quite enamoured with that country, their young adult years were spent in a time when America was a lot more 'happening' than Britain, what with things like jazz being invented," he started. "I suspect that had it not been for your great-grandparents and the eventual war, they would have moved there a great deal sooner."
Hydrus nodded along. "Right. Anyways, what do you need me for?"
'So hurried. The boy isn't used to peace anymore,' Albus thought morosely. "It's regarding the lands you wish to settle the werewolves on. It's rather inhospitable."
"Unless they gave us a nuclear detonation site, it'll be easy to take care of," Hydrus replied. "What's the problem?"
"The ground is as close to stone as dirt can get, there's not a river or aquifer anywhere nearby, and it's already begun the process of becoming a leypoint," Albus said. "The goblins removed their non-IWC required wards from the grounds, so magical creatures have been flocking there to die."
"That's all fine," his apprentice said. "I don't suppose you know any good city planners? The only one I know is probably just discovering how to tie her shoes right about now, somewhere in the middle of Asia."
"I believe Remus might be best to ask," Albus said. "After all, it's his people who are going to live there."
"Remus and Fenrir should both consult, but believe me when I say they aren't experienced enough to handle such things." Albus blinked at the boy's all but outright disagreement. "Water and sewage lines, schools and hospitals; every hour spent planning where they'll go now is ten hours saved coming up with solutions later when something conflicts."
"I see."
"Tell Remus what I told you, and once you've got the plans ready I'll take care of the rest," Hydrus said. "Was there anything else you needed?"
'Let's see…' Albus thought, trying to come up with something appropriately arduous and time consuming that would keep the young man from destroying himself with worry before they had a chance to speak again. "As a matter of fact, there is one thing that you can get a jump start on."
The time traveller just nodded; he almost looked relieved to hear it. "The IWC met recently to discuss a petition we received from Minister Shacklebolt, regarding a 'unique and first-of-its-kind permit to hatch and raise a basilisk'."
"Thank Magic," Hydrus muttered. "You wouldn't believe how convincing, and persistent, Apophis can be. If he no longer has to hide in my shadow, I no longer have to deal with his bitching."
"Despite my assurance of being impartial to the matter, the IWC still wants more evidence towards the actual benefits of studying basilisks," Albus said. "You'll need to come up with plausible, if not actually valid, hypotheses towards what benefits the species could bring to wizardingkind."
"Got it, I'll get someone on that tomorrow."
Albus was taken aback. "Wouldn't you yourself best know such things?"
Hydrus's magiherpetological knowledge was unmatched, as far as Albus knew. The boy had been forced to fend off and survive all manner of the reptiles in his time, and from what he remembered his apprentice saying, basilisks especially had been something he'd gotten well acquainted with.
"I know how to raise them, kill them, and use them to benefit me-kind, not wizardingkind." He shook his head. "Believe me, if they're looking for a formal write up, there are others better suited for the task."
The warlock held back a sigh. He should've known better. It seemed even the teachings that his other self had passed down that Albus actually approved of worked against him, in this case a strong penchant for delegation. Trying to get him to do something that someone else could do better, or at least near enough to as well as he could, would be impossible.
"In that case, I have only one last suggestion I'd like to make," he said. Again, Hydrus just nodded, ever the unflappable beast of burden that Albus had reared. "As excited as Remus is to become a professor at Hogwarts, it's quite clear that his number one priority is this colony the two of you are building.
"He, and thus I, would greatly appreciate you putting his mind at ease regarding your ability to transform the unlivable lands you've given him into something usable," Albus continued. "And if I might make a recommendation on that front, perhaps you could do something with the all but inhospitable surroundings of this very home, hm?"
Hydrus hummed. "I can do that. I'm sure Giannis will enjoy having a less treacherous backyard to play in. I'll invite Remus over in a couple days so he can see for himself."
"Would you like to tell him now?"
"Nope." Hydrus began to walk away. "I can't handle both you and him at the same time."
'Is that right…'
Bellatrix huffed at Hydrus. He still hadn't apologised for abandoning her at brunch, and had only given her a single kiss when she'd sat down on his lap. Technically his arms were wrapped around her, but that was only because he had one resting on the desk in front of them while the other pricked it with a needle.
"You know," he said, almost hard to hear from behind her back. "It's kind of difficult to do this with you in the way."
"Too bad," she said. "Maybe if I'd gotten to spend more time with you at brunch I wouldn't need to be here now."
He snorted. "Tell you what, let me finish this up in the next ten minutes, and I'll spend the rest of the night with you."
'More like until I fall asleep,' she thought. "Fine."
She got up and watched her love work. He was still practising the anaesthetic spell even though she was almost certain it already worked perfectly. Beside his arms on the table was a rather nasty bit of work that she'd cooked up for him, a mixture of acids and salts that should leave even a giant wailing with a single prick of the needle he was dipping into it. His crippled arm looked like a recently butchered game bird with all the drops of blood and tiny holes scattered across its surface in a perfect rectangle.
"Right," Hydrus muttered. "Now the fun part."
He moved the needle outside of the designated area he'd charmed, and Bellatrix winced in anticipation. The needle stabbed into his arm, and he hissed out a breath. A muscle began to visibly throb in the limb, the tendons in his neck stuck out, and his skin took on an unhealthy pallor. After just a moment though, the needle was back in the tincture, and then repositioned above his skin.
"Is this really necessary?" Bellatrix whined. "What's it matter if the numbing spell covers more than what you intended?"
He hissed something at her, slipping into parseltongue, then shook his head. "Yes. I once misconnected a ligament in my wrist and the only reason I noticed is because it sent jolts of pain to my elbow. It's important to know when fixing one thing is breaking another."
Before she could respond, he'd already stabbed himself once more, and then moved on. Over and over again he pricked himself, up and down his arm and with almost no discernible pattern. For once she wasn't actually all that confident he knew exactly what he was doing, and it was hard to blame him considering the amount of pain the process was probably causing him.
"Done," Hydrus muttered. By her count it had been just over ten minutes, but she'd forgive him. "For now I think this is as good as I'm going to get it."
"Finally." She pulled out a handkerchief and began to dab the sweat on his forehead as he healed his arm. "So you've mastered the spell then?"
"No." Bellatrix frowned. "This is as small an area as I can get while using my visualisation. Until I manage to put a limiter on my magic, I won't be able to get to the level of precision I could need."
The words were exactly what she'd needed to hear. "And how's that going? You've been working all alone to try and figure out how to restrain yourself."
Hydrus sighed and rubbed at his now unblemished arm. "Not well. Honestly I've just been doing things like practising this numbing spell and hoping the repetition helps me learn to constrain it."
"Have you asked anyone for assistance?" Bellatrix pressed, trying to get him to finally ask her for just that. "Maybe someone else knows something that can help you."
"The only person who knows what it's like is Dumbledore, and from what I gathered he just did what I'm doing, practicing magic as much as he could until his spells stopped fucking up." Hydrus shook his head. "There's no easy solution to this one, I think."
'Close enough.' She slid back into his lap and caressed her little water snake's face. "What if I told you I know a ritual that might just be able to assist you with your little problem?"
Hydrus cocked an eye brow at her. "I'd say that any ritual that can limit my power would be a curse ritual, which means it would cost something, and to take on the task of restraining a magic as strong as my own it would require something I wouldn't be willing to part with."
"Not at all," she huskily whispered in his ear. "All it would require is impaling a magically impregnated virgin with—"
Hydrus cut her off with a kiss, then slowly pulled away, chuckling. "I'll stop you right there, we're not impaling some stranger—"
"No, no, no," she interrupted. "It, it doesn't have to be a stranger, it could be someone you hate!"
He began to laugh even harder now, shattering Bellatrix's dream. This wasn't supposed to happen. Hydrus was supposed to be grateful, to accept her bargain, to worship her the way he worshipped that stupid, awful, whorish, rotten…
"I love you so much, Bella," Hydrus said, pressing his face into the nape of her neck, still releasing a few laughs. "I don't know what I'd do without you."
"What?"
"As much as I love people like Dumbledore or Sirius, I can never be truly comfortable around them." His arms wrapped around her, pulling her in tight against him. "Or even if I do relax, it always ends in these moments where I have to snap back into place, go back to being what they need me to be." He squeezed her so tight it hung her breath for a moment. "You are the only person in the entire world that I can just be myself around."
Well, it wasn't exactly what she wanted, but it would do for now. She embraced him back, content in the knowledge that she and she alone knew the real Hydrus. Not Dumbledore, not Giannis, not even Sirius got to spend time with the real Hydrus, her Hydrus, her love, all hers and no one—
"Well," Hydrus added. "You and Dobby, but believe me when I say you're a lot warmer and prettier than he is."
She giggled at the joke, and mentally filed away the little house elf's name near the bottom of her list of things to kill.
BBaRtS
Chapter 50, the semicentennial mark, and a 10k word chapter celebrate.
"Absolutely fucking not," Hydrus said as he shut the dining-room door.
"What is it?" Sirius asked.
"Nightmare blunt rotation."
Lololololol
This week we got to see Giannis's growth, Bellatrix showing some love for her son since people said she didn't feel like she particularly liked him, some very catty words and world building, some new Potters coming into contact with a lost relative, Hydrus just about mastering the numbing spell, Bellatrix's plans for the summer not going the way she wanted but still leaving her with something she didn't even know she needed, and more.
Next week we'll see who Hydrus is planning to have write a thesis paper for him, some gardening, maybe the start of the last member of the Fix-Hydrus's-Magic Club's 'reward', and more.
This chapter felt real dialogue heavy with not a lot of action going on, but a lot of things are moving forward even if it doesn't seem like it, so we'll see how people like it.
Anyways, onto reviews!
"i was informed of new chapter but no new chapter. why?" - I have no idea if this was a FF site glitch, FF sending out a notification despite notifications apparently being broken just because I edited something on a chapter, or a tease about the chapter coming in late on a Sunday lolol
"I like the twist on the twist with the vampire lord lol" - In my side project fic, coincidentally, the scary vampire lord really is a bit of a melodramatic whiner, it inspired me to double twist with this actually villainous one lolol
(That fic'll get another chapter soon hopefully, like I've said it gets the left over writing energy for when I'm ahead on this fic, this one'll never get delayed because of that one)
"it saddened me to see he [Neville] was willing to stop where he was." - I think if it were just a like, 'do magic better' class he would've been fine to keep going, but it was very much a gladiatorial duelling gym where the goal was to learn how to fight better, which isn't something he particularly cares about at all. The other Neville might've grown into the second baddest dude in the rebellion, but it wasn't because he loved violence, it was because he had no choice but to try and survive it.
"Dumbledore's theory on Giannis' golems was chilling." - We've seen cinnamon roll Giannis, potential-to-go-dark-side Giannis, but this chapter I wanted to add a moment of 'this is an abused eight year old with trauma to deal with' Giannis. Hopefully I got the right balance of 'sad, but not prophetically so' with the scene.
"Somehow I don't think Zara is going to be able to stay away..." - She's not going to be a like, MAIN character or anything, we've got enough OCs taking up time, but she'll come in handy later. Plus, I enjoyed that little throw away chat about her being Hellena's mom's employer, I love how interconnected the wizarding world feels at times, so I wanted to make sure I maintained that feel. Plus, it threw Bella for a loop, and that's always fun.
"Also, Amelia and Sirius really should get back together already. " - Giannis is working on it, he's just a bit ADD. Idk if the next big step in this plot line will happen next chapter, but it's definitely in the next one or two. Sirius still has a 'coronation' to get through, I wonder if anyone's bothered to actually tell him about it yet...
"I love the Dumbledore/Hydrus therapy" - This is something that I'm hesitating to go too hard on actually showing, and I think now that I've done a non-dramatic/storming-off session, if later on I say something like "Dumbledore had said *don't do toxic thing* in their latest meeting", even if I didn't have a scene where Dumbledore ACTUALLY said that, nobody's immersion gets broken because they're aware that those meetings/talks ARE happening, its just that we only show the important ones.
And that's all for now! Thank you all so much for the reviews and comments, for reading, and everything else. I'll see you all next weekend, love you all, lessthanthree!
