Summary: TSHG/SSHG (It's complicated), When his son is an utter dunderhead and can't seem to see a good thing even if it bit him in the face, Tobias takes Hermione into his embrace after Eileen dies a natural death.
Beta Love: Dragon and the Storm-Battered Roof, Dutchgirl01 the Avid Filmer of Bouncy Budgies, Commander Shepard, Craver of Beefsteak, SuperDimples the Suspiciously Suspicious Slinger of Surstromming (look out, they spit!)
Fortune Favours the Bold
Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.
Marcus Aurelius
"I am sorry."
Tobias looked down with a sigh. "It was expected, but I don't think it ever gets easier. She was a good woman, but she caged a fear within that no one could seem to ease—I, most of all."
"You've never been anything but kind to me, Lord Tobias," Hermione said. "I am sorry that she could not conquer that fear."
Tobias shook his head. "She had a long life for a mortal. Not as long as some in the magical world, but—I do not think she ever wanted to be 'a crone' as she put it. I would have loved her either way."
He dipped his head. "And my name is Tobias, child. You have earned it for all the work you have done for my people and my son."
"I believe your son would disagree," Hermione said quietly.
Tobias snorted. "My son disagrees with a great many things. Breathing being the most controversial. However, your saving him eased a great deal of the anguish in my wife's heart, and for that I can only be grateful."
"I only wish I could say anyone else would have done the same." Hermione smiled, giving him a slight curtsey before turning to pay her respects to Eileen's grave.
On the top of the casket, there was a bundle of embedded closed flowers with subtle but distinctive thorns that emerged from the top. As each vampire of the nation came to pay their respects, they grasped the stem, and a trail of their blood dripped down the stem's grooves. The flower then opened as the vine stem turned to ash—an eternal tribute to one who had left them too soon— trapped forever in time.
Hermione bowed her head, and her hand gently stroked the grieving Lethifold laying on the lid of the casket.
"I'm sorry," she whispered to the Lethifold.
It was said that when the bondmate of the Lethifold died, the Lethifold grieved itself to death. It was the only way the Sang knew such a thing possible. Normally, the Lethifold did its best to preserve the life of its bondmate, and the Sang were effectively immortal— as long as they weren't stupid. The situation with Tobias' wife was—a story looked on with sympathy.
Eileen had accepted his marriage, even his bite, but never his blood. She'd fooled his body into thinking she had accepted him—enough that they had a son together—but she had never accepted immortality. She had never become his true mate.
Hermione felt great sympathy for him. He was quite old for a vampire. He was protective of his people and kept his power tightly reined. But Hermione sensed that bit of him that felt he had been denied the peace of having a true mate. Denied that ultimate trust.
Her loneliness had been only less than a mortal lifetime, and that was torment enough. She couldn't imagine being so close to perfection only to be denied it.
She reached over to wrap her hand around one of the thorny stems. She wasn't a vampire, but it was an important gesture for the wife of one of the Council. As her hand wrapped around the thorns, she grimaced, knowing it was not going to be painless.
Suddenly a hand wrapped around her wrist and painfully jerked up.
Hermione stifled a gasp of pain as Severus yanked her and away from the casket.
"What the hell are you doing here, Granger?"
"Paying my respects," she said.
Her blood was dripping down from her free hand onto the casket—and onto the Lethifold.
"This is not the place for you," he said through gritted teeth. "You've done enough here."
"I just—" Hermione began.
"Get out," Severus growled. "The last place I need to remember you is here at the grave of my mother."
There was a flash of movement as the Lethifold hissed and shot up from the casket to attack Severus' face. Hermione fell backwards as her head cracked against something hard, and blackness took her.
"Are you DELIBERATELY trying to incense me?" Tobias seethed as he glowered at his son. "You pick a fight with a guest at your own mother's funeral and injure them in front of other guests for WHAT?"
Severus lowered his gaze in shame, not making eye contact.
"You dishonour me!" Tobias roared. "You dishonour your mother! Is there anything ELSE you would like to disgrace before your mother rises from the bloody grave to murder us both?"
Severus cringed, carefully keeping his gaze glued to the floor. "No, father."
"A hundred thousand ways I can think of to string you up by your bollocks and let the crows peck out your eyes for all the times when I honoured your mother's pleas to be easy upon you," Tobias said stonily. "I did so. I permitted you to go to Hogwarts. I allowed you to figure things out for yourself, but when you foolishly endanger someone—one of our Kindred, a member of our sworn protectorate—you would test the patience of Job, the prophet Muhammad, Gandhi, and even Hades Himself."
Tobias stalked close to him, his footsteps silent as the grave.
"If you had been anyone else, Lord Nikolai would have you strung up by your own entrails for harming one of his. She is a gifted healer. One of the few that Nikolai fully trusts with the lives of our Kindred and the lives of the Sang. Do I need to send you to Antarctica to help preserve the lives of emperor penguins, or can you manage to find the door before I break your neck?"
Severus practically flattened his belly to the floor as he hastily backtracked out the door.
Tobias walked back to the neat little clinic nestled at the border between the Upper City and the Lower, the boundary between the Kindred above and the Sang below. While they often shared areas, Kindred rarely joined the Lower City unless they were sworn directly to a Line.
While few Sang would even consider harming one of the Kindred—those who were most likely to hold a mate of the Sang in the future—it was still unwise to travel there without the protection of a specific Line. If anything at all, it told any random vampire in the Lower City exactly who would rearrange their molecules should they step out of line against a Kindred under their protection.
Such acts of violent reprimand, however, were quite rare. Most vampires wanted much the same as most mortals did—to live a good life, be fulfilled, have a family or something they cared about deeply—to have a safe place they called home.
But vampires were not mortals.
They were stronger, faster, and capable of great acts of violence without even trying. Worse when they were.
The Council kept the rules.
And sometimes, when the head of a Line couldn't, they sent Sanguini to clean up the resultant mess.
As Tobias entered the clinic, it was strangely sad. Always before, Master Healer Granger had been there—her voice like the soft melody of chimes in the wind. It had always felt lighter since her arrival in the Nation. Even Nikolai—someone Tobias had always considered the utmost in detachment, smiled when she was there.
It was good to see Nikolai smile. He rarely ever did so.
Hermione had become like a daughter to him, and Nikolai denied anything had changed, but those who knew him felt the lightness about his step.
Well, that was even more obvious, now.
Walking into the clinic was like being greeted by a wall of glacial ice with a side of fire. What didn't freeze you practically singed off your eyebrows.
Tobias sighed as he walked in further to where he knew Hermione was. As he entered, Nikolai snapped his head around to growl at him, fangs bared in annoyance, and Tobias raised a brow at him.
That was—new.
Nikolai grimaced, jerking his head as his fangs receded. "Apologies."
"How is she?"
Nikolai attempted to peel the Lethifold from Hermione's head, and it hissed at him, growling. The vampire growled back, his power rolling over the brazen cloak, and the Lethifold, reluctantly, allowed him to move part of it to the side.
"She had bleeding on the inside of her brain. The Lethifold has staunched the bleeding and repaired the blood vessels. There doesn't seem to be any further damage, but—"
Nikolai sighed heavily. "I don't know why she hasn't woken up yet."
"Shall we address the elephant in the room?" Tobias asked.
Nikolai raised a brow. "Planning a safari?"
"Perhaps."
"Very well."
"Why is my wife's Lethifold attached to her head?"
"Technically, it's attached to all of her."
"But why is it attached at all?"
Nikolai shrugged. "Honestly? No idea. Everything we thought we knew about Lethifolds said they died shortly after their bondmate. All I can think of is—maybe it didn't fully bond with Eileen. Or—maybe this is some part of Lethifold bonding we have never seen before or at least haven't recorded. Let us face it, Tobias. We have never in our recorded history had someone marry, have children successfully, but not become the other's mate. It's simply not—done."
"Then how were we able to have children?" Tobias asked, frowning slightly. "It is impossible to sire a child unless there is a bond."
Nikolai let out his breath slowly. "I'm not saying there wasn't genuine feeling and even a bond—of sorts—but, Dracul, this is awkward."
"Tell me about it." Tobias rolled his eyes over to peer at him.
"You took her blood, and it satisfied the bond enough so you didn't bleed all over everything trying to prove yourself, but she never took yours—essentially, your body was fooled but hers wasn't. Since she was mortal, fertility wasn't really a problem to begin with. Normally, it's something we worry about as two Sang—"
Tobias levelled a half-puckered expression at his old friend.
Nikolai splayed his fingers. "I don't know, Tobias. Your relationship with Eileen was—different. You had genuine love for her. And she for you. I think that truly mattered. But as to the sudden dedication of your Lethifold to Hermione, I have no idea. Tobias—"
Tobias lifted his head, eyes narrowing.
"Did you and Eileen have a—falling out?"
Tobias blinked. "No more than could be expected considering she was dying."
"No, I mean—after you had your son," Nikolai asked.
Tobias shook his head. "We had fights, sometimes. Concerning the schools. Living in Cokeworth instead of the Nation. Stupid things. Nothing she ever went to bed angry over. She was just so stubborn about our son going to Hogwarts. I bent for her—it seemed better than to argue so much over a school."
"It must have been—maddening," Nikolai said after a while. "Having her so close but—"
"Yes," Tobias said, closing his eyes. "I would have given her the world, but she was so afraid she would become my slave in blood. She loved me, but she could never trust our blood. Vampire blood. Our immortuiology. The power I had over my Line—as any of the Council have over their Lines. She could never trust that I wouldn't, even unintentionally, make her do something she didn't want to do."
"I think that is the core of what bothers your son so much," Nikolai mused. "That loss of power. That loss of—a sense of control, even for all the right reasons. The thought that there might be even more abuse for one who has found himself the kicking sack of multiple people time and time again."
Tobias closed his eyes. "I would murder him if he still breathed. That white-bearded scortum of a man. But—you may be right. I think that is why he takes the potion to prevent himself from self-Turning."
"He—what?"
"He wishes to reject his heritage," Tobias said grimly. "To live the life his mother always wanted him to."
"Did she ever actually say that?" Nikolai asked, frowning.
"No," Tobias said quietly. "But I heard the stories that Severus was told. Knew the dreams he had. When he had that crush on the redheaded girl from down the street—his mother encouraged it. I look back on it now, and she never seemed to want our son to get too attached to someone from the Nation."
"But she loved you," Nikolai said.
"Me, yes," Tobias agreed. "But not what I was."
Nikolai put a hand on Tobias' shoulder. "I am sorry."
Tobias frowned as he noticed the Lethifold had snuck back into place, swaddling Hermione like an infant and covering her head. He reached down and tenderly brushed some stray curls from her face.
"She did not deserve this," he said softly. "She has helped our Nation of her own free will. Since it was my son that did this, it is my duty to see her well again. Or—"
Tobias closed his eyes. "Ease her passing if that is the fate ordained for her."
As Nikolai walked back into the private room they had set aside for Hermione, he found himself rubbing his eyes like a child to make sure he wasn't dreaming.
Lethifolds were gathering around Hermione, and every so often, they would stick a "tip" of their cloth near her mouth and deposit a concentrated drop of Lethifold milk on her lips. They'd wait for the drop to seep into her mouth, and then another would repeat the gesture.
As Nikolai approached, a hellhound raised its head from Hermione's side and growled at him, lips pulling back from its teeth. Several sets of eyes glowed around her as multiple hellhounds stared at him from various spots in the room.
Tobias was slumped in the visitor chair, his head tilted back in a way that screamed severe neck cramp later. A book was open in his lap, half escaping to the floor. To add to the image in his mind that would be burned there for at least a century, Tobias' mouth was gaping open as if he was about to start snoring.
Nikolai shifted with rapidly growing discomfort.
"Tobias," he hissed.
Nothing.
The hounds were all staring at him.
"Tobias!" he tried again.
Now, the Lethifolds were staring at him. Which was, without a doubt, thoroughly unnerving considering they didn't even have eyes.
Nikolai considered his options. Tobias was a warrior first and foremost, and whatever action he would take in that first second of waking up unexpectedly would probably end about the same way for him as waking up Sanguini—the assassin. He could try to find Rada and have him wake Tobias up, but—that would mean talking to Rada.
Then, blessedly, a babyfold that was creeping across the ceiling to explore lost its bearings and fell onto Tobias' face with a splat, sliding down his face with a squeegee sound.
Tobias awoke, one eye first and then the other, plucked the errant babyfold off his nose, shoved it into the book as a living bookmark, and set the book on the table.
The babyfold made a sad sound as Tobias stood up and looked around.
"You brought hellhounds?" he asked, bemused.
"I thought they were yours," Nikolai said.
"Have you ever known me to have hellhounds with a wife that believed they were Dark creatures that wanted to devour her soul?"
"Point," Nikolai admitted.
"I would blame Mihail, but he's on assignment in Nice," Tobias said. "And Rada prefers Chiroptera."
"So where did all of these—"
Tobias' eyes widened suddenly. "I think these are hers."
Nikolai jerked his head. "I did not Turn her. How would she even awaken a trait like that?"
Tobias frowned. "Well, she did bleed on the Lethifold."
"That hardly awakens Dark affinities," Nicolai said.
One of the Lethifolds fed Hermione another drop of Lethifold milk as the two vampires watched.
They both looked at each other, gobsmacked. "Oh."
Tobias tended her every day, washing her up, changing her bed, turning her body, and changing her gown. The Lethifolds performed a sort of maintenance on their own, wrapping around her, moving her, and even moving her limbs around like a puppet—though how they knew of such things boggled him.
It was something Hermione would have done with her own patients, but how did that knowledge get passed onto the Lethifolds?
The hounds all waited patiently, taking turns being the one to lay down beside her and prop her up, though, sometimes they became a bit distracted by chasing the yowling cats off the fence or down a nearby street.
Tobias used those moments of peace to bathe her, change her bed linens and clothing, and brush out her hair to keep it from getting tangled. He would talk to her as though she were awake, telling her stories of his lifetimes, even confessing to some of the acts of stupidity committed in his childhood, back when surviving one's youth was far more challenging than in more modern times. He told her stories of his Triumvirate, how they had gone from enemies to allies, how war had changed him. How it had changed them all.
He told her of Eileen—how they met. How he'd loved her, and how he wished he'd known what he could have done to ease her fears. He told her stories of Severus as a boy—headstrong and stubborn. How he'd seen so much of himself in him, but there was no war or imminent threat of death to mould his son into a warrior—not the kind he had had. His regret in failing to develop a closer relationship with his son, but he also confessed he had no idea how it could have been better.
Days, weeks, months, even a year passed, but Hermione remained locked inside her body.
He'd often dream of her—walking along the old beaches of Greece and Rome at his side.
Talking.
Her hand in his.
He would remember such peace. Such blissful normality. Then, he would wake up and find himself alone. Alone save for her unmoving body.
"I don't want to wake up anymore," he said to her.
"Why?" she replied, her smile so radiant in the moonlight of the dream world.
"If I wake up, you'll be there, but you'll be still and quiet, and then I think of Eileen and—I feel so guilty. Like I am betraying her," he touched her cheek, his long black hair blowing in the wind. Here, there is only you and I."
A sad sort of smile tugged about her eyes. "I will be here. Lord Hades teaches me patience along with Latin and languages I have never heard save from you and the occasional visitor. You have all the time to grieve as you need to."
"Hades?"
"He teaches me in this place of Morpheus," Hermione said. "He sends me His creatures to keep me company."
Tobias huffed, understanding. "The Lethifolds. The hellhounds."
"You see them?"
"In the waking world, they are there, watching over you," Tobias said with a bit of relief that there was a reason she was attracting Lethifolds and hellhounds.
"Heh," Hermione chuckled. "It must be crowded."
"It is a full room," Tobias admitted, "and very warm."
"Nikolai must be so worried," Hermione said with a downward turn of her face. "I am sorry he suffers because of me."
"We all worry for you," Tobias said. "We've tried everything to wake you up."
Hermione turned her head away, her curls falling about her face. "Not everything."
Tobias jerked awake, the pile of snoozing babyfolds in his lap startling in all directions as the book he had been reading to Hermione fell to the floor. He looked towards her, and she was still.
A sharp ting, ting, ting caught his attention and he saw the glittering flash as his hand reached for and caught—
His wedding ring.
He stared at it in his palm, remembering the day he had first placed it on his hand, thinking that was where it would rest until the end of his days. Thinking that Eileen would be there at his side until the end of his life—whenever that would be.
He had no idea she would refuse him.
No idea she would accept his love but not his blood.
It was utterly inconceivable. Demeaning. Demoralising.
To be rejected in this one thing his instincts demanded every time she was close—to wrestle with them every time she was near him.
She would yield to his bite, but every attempt he had ever made when succumbed and instinctively offered her his blood, she would refuse, purposely turning from it.
Rejecting immortality.
Rejecting him.
While he knew she loved him, a part of him felt as though he somehow wasn't enough. And maybe—maybe all she had been was the sweet torment of possibility that would never become reality. A hint of a dream.
Or a lifetime of torture.
Tobias hissed suddenly as the ring in his hand grew hot. Hot enough to burn him. He released it to the floor, and it blazed a comet down to the floor like a meteor hitting the atmosphere. It turned to a tiny puddle of molten metal as it landed on the floor, splattering in a ring like a metallic tear.
He stared at the glittering splatter as the gem setting shattered, the gemstones within turning to dust.
One of the dozing hellhounds let out a loud, ripping fart, startling itself off the nearby chair.
Tobias opened a window, his face scrunched with distaste.
But when he looked back to where his wedding ring had spontaneously committed suicide, the floor had a pockmark as if acid had eaten away at the wood and stone beneath.
All he could do was stare in disbelief.
Sanguini ran his wand over the crater in Hermione's infirmary room, his brown eyes flicking from place to place.
"It—burned your hand and then turned to plasma?" Mihail asked him carefully.
Tobias slowly rubbed the space between his eyes. "Yes."
Mihail jerked his head up.
"What?" Tobias said, frowning.
"Rada!" Mihail called, a strong pulse of power going out like a missile.
Rada stepped out of the shadows an instant later, half-dressed, hair dishevelled, and one eye crimson and the other brown. "You bellowed?"
Sanguini jerked his head toward Tobias in a "well, look!" gesture.
Rada frowned, rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, and stared. His head jerked back in astonishment. "You—look like—you."
Tobias stared at his friends in obvious confusion. "Care to explain that better or at least in Latin?"
Rada and Sanguini stared at him, silently trying to come up with words and instead ending up with something resembling a wheeze shared between friends.
"When you were married, old friend," Rada said very slowly as if navigating a glacier on Everest. "Your aura was distinctly dimmer. Different. We—assumed it was the bond between you and Eileen. Shared power, since she was mortal, being more about you sharing your power with her rather than your power increasing as it normally would amongst a bond between Sang or consummate mates."
"You had the lion's share of your power, your memories, your—unique you-ness," Mihail said, struggling for eloquence and landing more around prehistoric man. "And when you had a son, and he had but a mere fraction of your power, we again assumed it was because the relationship was so different, that he had basically taken a part of your power in being born. It made sense on paper." Sanguini scrunched his face and rubbed his nose with his hand.
"So, why are you staring at me like I sprouted at least twenty hydra heads?" Tobias asked, looking baffled.
"You're back to normal, my friend," Rada said, his face pinched as his lips puckered. "You are our Tobias again."
"What are you really saying?" Tobias asked, his eyes narrowing.
"Whatever enchantment was upon you siphoned some of your power and—a part of you—broke," Sanguini said. "You were never as into non-vampiric magic as I. You wouldn't have felt it as I would have. Inside yourself. I think when you married Eileen, what she desperately wanted, what she loved most was the idea of a child. And her desperate wish magically combined with your blood and essence, which most desperately desired to bond to her, achieved something quite extraordinary. It gave her a child, created not in the traditional way, but through magic. Wish magic."
"You're saying that my son is merely a wish made form?" Tobias asked, frowning.
Rada and Sanguini exchanged uncomfortable looks. "Yes."
Rada rubbed his hair in a rare nervous tell. "It explains how you managed to have a child without her being Sang. Something we had assumed was simply because she was mortal and thus still fertile."
Sanguini grimaced. "It explains why Severus was always so inexplicably—angry. Your essence is meant to be you. Shared with your mate as it is with us as your Triumvirate. It is not something that is meant to be caged and forced into a mortal body."
Tobias' jaw tightened suddenly. "Where is my son?"
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Tobias propped Hermione up against himself as he tenderly brushed her hair. "My marriage was a lie," he murmured as he brushed and wove a new braid in her hair, giving her the intricate warbraids that Sanguini favoured even in the present time. "I believe she genuinely loved me. I loved her—but she loved the idea of a child more. It explains why she could never willingly bind herself to me. She was already bound. Bound to a dream that my essence helped her to obtain. Let's not talk about how I was basically arguing with myself all these years."
He dipped a cloth into the basin and washed her face. The hellhound was dutifully laying perfectly still so the basin Tobias had placed on its back kept the water warm. He blotted her skin dry with what he thought was a fluffy towel, only to realise after he'd done it that it was actually a fluffy Lethifold. The Lethifold wrung itself out after and floated off.
He vanished the water, set the basin aside, and gently laid Hermione back on the bed, propping up her head with the pillow. He grimaced as he brushed her war braids away from her face. "I miss you. I want you here. With me."
The tingle of once unaccustomed magic flowed between his fingers—magic that had once been latent and buried. Magic that had been returned to him with the "death" of his son. Returned with interest.
Because buried within that return of himself, was a feeling that he thought singularly lost to himself: love.
Love for "Granger" that his son had believed was a betrayal to the one he had had for Lily Evans for the majority of his life. The love his mother had thought "better" than forming an emotional tie to a Sang.
Only now, Tobias realised his son would have never found a genuine love that could have led to a successful mating. His mother had created him out of a desperate wish for a child, out of Tobias' love for his mate. "Severus" didn't have the ability to completely love anyone anymore than Tobias had the moment they had become separate entities.
And there—was there reason he had stopped bleeding in the Sang's rather obvious "courting" gesture that would prove he would be able to provide for his mate eternal.
Had he Turned her—
Severus would have disappeared.
She would have lost her dream.
And he would have been stuck forever with a woman that had loved an idea over what was real and right in front of her.
Provided she hadn't just lost her mind completely from the trauma of a deed she probably hadn't even realised she'd done.
An eternity of insanity.
Tobias would have been forced to end her—just to spare her from an eternity of mind-breaking guilt.
Or the Council would have—
After having to deal with an insane HIM and possibly his Triumvirate as well.
And now, another witch lay before him—a victim of his "son" whose violence could only be attributed to the desire to protect his late mother's dreams by proxy—even as a part of him had recognised that Hermione was—special.
It was a drama worthy of the ancient poets that would end up as a twisted mural buried deep in Pompeii.
But should he even be given a second chance with yet another witch when he couldn't even trust in the normal tells such as bleeding from the eyes?
His Lethifold had already defected—
"I love you," he whispered. He dipped his head, his mouth gently covering hers in a kiss.
A warmth, carried with the thickness of honey, seemed to pass between his lips, spreading throughout his body like the memory of sunlight on his skin when he was a much younger, mortal man. His body shuddered, and when he pulled back he saw the drip of blood on her face as they trailed down her cheek.
Tears.
His tears.
He blinked furiously, unable to fathom what was going on in any way that made sense.
Hermione stirred from under her swaddle of Lethifolds, her eyes fluttering open. The brown of her eyes shimmered with the wetness of her tears. "Tobias?"
He crumpled at her bedside, his hand—fingers tapering into monstrous claws even as he cupped her cheek with his hand. His black eyes filled with an ethereal red light. His mouth parted slightly in a hiss, his gums aching as his fangs extended with the exquisite pain and pleasure combined. Torn between handling her like fine porcelain and bear crushing her against his chest, he pulled her oh so carefully to his chest, a smothered sob caught in his ribcage as one hand fanned to cradle her head.
"Hades said you'd figure it out eventually," Hermione whispered against his neck.
Tobias' eyes widened as he clutched her tighter. "Am I to be the punching bag of the gods forever?" he murmured into her curls.
Hermione's fingers wove into his hair with a warm smile. "Only if Hades has to pull out his bident and spear you in the rump to get you to see what he's offering you."
Tobias grimaced. "And what is he offering me, exactly?"
He grunted as a babyfold took a tiny bident and jabbed him square in the arse.
Hermione's face twisted with a suppressed laugh as she bit her lip. "Me."
"Where did that little blighter even get a bident?" Tobias muttered.
Hermione chortled. She closed her eyes as she lay her head against his chest. "I fear I'm going to be a bit useless for a while," she said weakly. "I'm surprised I can even lift my arms."
Tobias winced, dipping his head so his hair fell across his face like a curtain. "I—I could—" His face twisted with the gravity of the past and what had always been rejected. "My blood would help you. Heal."
He turned his head away.
Hermione brushed his hair away from his face. "Like a transfusion?"
Tobias grimaced awkwardly. "Like—drinking it."
"But, I'm not a vampire," Hermione said, her brows knitting together.
"You do not have to be Sang to gain the benefit," Tobias said. "It is how my Triumvirate heals each other, but it requires—trust. To offer the blood is—simple. To take it—You would be trusting me not to thrall you. To ensnare you. To abuse you."
Hermione pressed her index and middle finger to his bottom lip. "I trust you."
He slowly put a claw to his neck and drew it across his skin. He drew her to his neck, cradling her head with his hand as he stared into the wall as if to inspect the particles of mortar with a microscope.
Still.
Anticipatory.
Dreading what had always come before.
Or dreading what had always not come after.
He stiffened as Hermione's mouth closed over the offering, his fangs lengthening with the painful ecstasy of the warmth of her mouth over his skin. While he didn't breathe, he gave a sharp intake of breath as his body shuddered, and he clasped onto her, drawing his arms around her.
He gasped as a shiver tore through him. She wasn't like her.
Not like Eileen.
Not like—Lily.
Not like every bloody person that had ever seen him once and immediately pissed themselves.
He squeezed his eyes shut, tears flowing from the edges of his lids as a ragged sob escaped his throat like the groan of a dying thing.
Hermione's head jerked up from his neck, a trickle of his blood smearing across her lips and down the corner of her mouth. "Are you okay? Did I hurt you?"
It was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen in his life.
Right before he passed out.
Tobias groggily opened one eye to find Rada staring at him over steepled fingertips. Sanguini was helping Hermione back from the loo. She was standing, albeit weakly, using Mihail's arm for stability.
"You're such a drama queen, Tobias," Rada scolded, shoving a bloodfruit onto his friend's fangs. "Drink up, or would you prefer me to puree it and spoon feed you like a toddler?"
Tobias glared at him but drank down the juice obediently.
"She's—walking?"
"I should hope so considering how much blood we've given her," Rada said with an arched eyebrow.
"W-e?" Tobias said carefully.
"You, Mihail, and I," Rada confirmed. He shoved another fruit onto Tobias' fangs. "Drink up. Your brain is obviously addled with blood loss."
Tobias gave Rada the silent eyebrows of speculation over the bloodfruit stuck to his face.
"Don't be insufferable," Rada said. "We all took turns feeding her our blood to ensure she could stand with assistance."
"She—accepted blood from both of you?" Tobias was having a problem with maths on every level possible.
"Is Tobias okay?" Hermione asked as Nikolai lay her back on the bed and took more vitals and other scans with his magic.
"He's fine, child," Nikolai tutted. "He's just having a problem remembering what normal is, if he ever even knew."
A few hellhounds placed their heads on the mattress, tails wagging.
"Must I wear this target on my head?" Tobias muttered.
"It's what you get for sharing blood with your mate before you were emotionally prepared to do so," Sanguini admonished him as he sat down in a free chair. "She was worried she'd killed you."
Tobias' mouth closed with a snap. He looked toward Hermione with concern. "I'm sorry!"
Hermione giggled as the hellhound shoved his nose into her palm. "I'm alright, Tobias. I promise."
With a stunned expression, Tobias realised that she was. He could feel it in his bones. The soft tickle of her presence lay just outside his awareness as if waiting for him to open the door.
"Consummation can wait till you have better stamina," Rada tutted. "Use the recovery time to catch up on some courtship since you're bleeding over everything to prove your worth."
Tobias sighed. "How do you manage to make me feel like some randy teenager with more fang than sense?"
Rada shrugged. "Avid practice over the centuries," he said.
Nikolai tucked Hermione in with the Lethifolds. "There, she's doing well. Tuck yourself in next to her so the bond remains convinced of this, and we'll all take turns feeding her blood to facilitate a swift recovery of muscle tone and general body condition." He waved a wand and the bed expanded into something larger.
Tobias stared.
Nikolai switched to sign language from a few different countries before doing a basic point, you, point, bed, sleep.
"It's okay if he doesn't feel comforta—" Hermione protested.
Tobias snapped out of it and immediately stripped off his shirt, tucked himself in behind her, and drew her against him.
Mmmf, Hermione mumbled and was asleep instantly.
Rada and Sanguini shook their heads together and walked out of the room as Nikolai tutted and turned off the light. "Good night."
"It's nice to be able to enjoy a day away from the Nation," Hermione said with a pleased sigh. "Not that it isn't nice there, in its own way. A day out with a stop at the Leaky seems strangely luxurious."
Tobias smiled, a small tug of his lips that for him was perhaps a broad face-eating grin. His hand alighted on hers on the table, his large fingers curling around her smaller ones. "It pleases me to see you out in the world. Smiling. I am honoured you would choose to spend such time with me."
"Seems awfully silly not to, considering you—want to be a part of my life."
Tobias tilted his head. "I—I wish I could express how powerful it is that you openly desire me in your life. Not just in private places."
Hermione let out her breath in a huff. "Believe me, I'm far more impressed that you want to spend that time with me. No one ever really wanted to before. Unless—"
"'MIONE, THERE YOU ARE!"
Hermione squinted one eye in a toothy grimace.
"Oi, where have you been lately? Mum has been driving me bloody mental with her constant nagging. Now that you're back, we can get married, ya?"
Tobias' head moved very slowly to the right to stare at the interloper.
"EEAAGH!" Ron yelled. "You're supposed to be DEAD!"
The corner of Tobias' mouth twitched upward. "That's not a very nice thing to say."
"Ronald," Hermione said with a forced polite smile. "This is Tobias, my fiancé."
Tobias' eyes flicked to Hermione's, a flash of crimson flickering across the black. His eyebrows lifted ever so slightly before his carefully schooled expression fell back into place.
"Your fian—haha, that's funny, 'Mione," Ron cackled, leaving behind him a sizable crowd of admiring, jealous witches that were all staring daggers at Hermione. He threw something at Hermione, and she caught it instinctively. There was a bright flash of sizzling red magic, and Hermione fell onto the table, clutching it, her entire body shaking violently.
"Now, let's go get married," Ron demanded, thrusting his hand at Hermione.
"I. Loathe. People like you," Tobias growled as he stood. He took one finger and loosened his collar and his buttons down his chest. "This is more Mihail's domain, but I'm sure he'll forgive me for borrowing a little of his—influence."
He tugged open his clothes to expose his chest, tilted his head back so his hair flicked backwards in a wave, his mouth opened ever so slightly in a sensual o. He took one finger and pressed it to his lips and dragged it across his mouth and then down his chest.
Every witch and wizard in the area instantly began to moan and grope and fondle each other, not caring one whit who might be watching. The witches that had been so eager to murder Hermione swayed on their feet in their feverish lust and need.
"Take him, and show him just how much. You. Love. Him."
The witches hungrily swarmed all over Ron as he yelled and shrieked in fright. They ripped off his robes and clothing, leaving him in his heavily freckled starkers, and dragged him away, fighting each other for the right to claim Ron's body as they went.
The moment they left, Tobias snarled, shaking his head as if to rid himself of the abrupt personality shift, and scooping Hermione up in his arms, he Disapparated with a crack.
Shocking Mad Orgy Descends Upon Visitors To Diagon Alley
Mass Wave Of Pregnancies Amongst Young and Old Blamed On Auror Ronald Weasley
"WEASLEY!"
Ron jerked his head up as Harry yelled at him from the Head Auror's Office.
He heaved himself out of his chair and walked back to the office, letting out a gusty sigh. Harry was sure in a crappy mood. He'd probably feel better after having a few beers after work.
As he entered the office, Harry lifted his head from a pile of parchments and stared hard at Ron. "Get your pasty arse up to Kingsley's office immediately," Harry snapped.
"Harry, what the—" Ron began.
Harry's fierce green eyes locked with Ron's. "Kingsley said he wants to see you. Now."
Ron walked out muttering, "You really need to get laid, mate."
As Ron walked into the Minister For Magic's Office, he stormed past a large group of office workers on the way there. All of them were whispering furtively to each other, jerking their heads to talk about him behind his back and pretty much in front of him as well. He walked into Kingsley's office proper, and Kingsley gave him a seriously unfriendly look as the door closed firmly behind him.
A muscle in Ron's neck twitched uncomfortably as Kingsley set down his quill.
"Mr Weasley, I fear that I must relieve you of your duties as an Auror at once," he said. "You attacked the mate of a Council of the Undead Nation in plain sight, right there in front of Merlin and everyone, forced them to call upon their power, and you threw a cursed ring at Master Healer Hermione Granger in an attempt to force her to marry you. It was a blatant act of war, and only by some sodding miracle are they accepting only ONE thing instead of declaring war upon Wizarding Britain itself."
"Money?" Ron asked, his face dour.
"You," Kingsley informed him with a curl of his lip.
"I don't answer to no Undead Nation," Ron hissed, his ears turning red.
"You answer to ME, Weasley," Kingsley said through gritted teeth. "And you WILL report to the Undead Nation."
"Why have I never heard of this Undead Nation?"
Kingsley narrowed his eyes. "It is strictly need to know, and you didn't need to know until now. And you will give me your warrant card and identification."
Ron's face was bright red as he reached into his robes.
Just before he Disapparated.
Suddenly Ron was slammed hard into the nearest wall in the Minister's office and Tobias scrubbed the surface with Ronald's body before crushing the struggling wizard's windpipe with his fingers.
"Mister Weasley," Tobias said as Sanguini, Rada, Nikolai, Advardus, Gareth, Aku, Zaidu, and Layra stepped out of the shadows. "We were hoping you would try to run. Lady Layra, have Brunhild, Isolde, and Camille prepared the Council chamber?"
"Yes," Lady Layra said, her eyes narrowing. "Lord Maksim is waking Lord Marcus to prevent—unnecessary deaths. Lady Antonia is—putting on her fancy claws."
Tobias' eyes flashed, mirrored by his Triumvirate. "You have hurt that which is mine and by extension that which is ours. I would tear out your throat myself and hang you by your entrails leaving you just alive enough to suffer for a thousand days, but since it is no longer just about me, your fate will be decided by the Council. May the gods have mercy upon you, for I will not."
He tore off Ron's clothes, snapped his wand, and left the pieces on Kingsley's desk.
"You will have no need for any of that where you are going."
A stream of hot urine puddled down Ron's legs as his eyes went wide in terror, and Tobias closed his own as his tongue slowly slid across his upper fangs.
In a moment they disappeared in a whorl of Darkness.
"I apologise."
Hermione stretched languidly in their bed. "Tobias, are you seriously apologising for the most intense consummation of magic, power, and soul-binding rightness I have ever felt in my life?"
Tobias swallowed awkwardly. "Yes?"
Hermione moved closer and zeroed in on the pulse point of his neck and sank her fangs into his neck.
Tobias shuddered, his body twitching as the wave of orgasmic pleasure reduced him to a puddle of goo in the middle of the bed. He let out a soft wheeze.
Hermione pulled away, tongue licking her lips with a smug smile tugging at her lips. "You were saying?"
Tobias stared at her. "I love you."
Hermione placed a tender kiss on his mouth. "I love you too."
Suddenly the door burst open, and Sanguini floated in. "I just need the cursed ri—ah good, there it is." He floated it up with his wand and walked back out, closing the door behind him after saying, "Do continue. Please ignore the—ah, screaming that is about to ensue."
Hermione, having quickly learned that modesty was a lost cause around the Triumvirate, just flopped on Tobias' chest with a giggle.
Tobias' eyebrows knit together. "You take such things rather well."
"I've learned that in a life with vampires, Lethifolds, hellhounds, and Hades— that very little is controlled by me, and I can either suffer great anxiety and flail my arms or hide in a closet and refuse to come out, or I can just roll with the punches. Or die of mortification. Whichever comes first."
"I would prefer that you not die of anything," Tobias said, eyebrow lifting as he rubbed her back.
"You did your best to ensure it between you and your Triumvirate. Even Lord Nikolai threw in a few feedings to make sure I had the best possible chance of survival." Hermione chuckled. "I am grateful for the gift."
"I never—" Tobias began. "I could not even imagine someone who could fully accept what I am—the things that are important to me—so well."
"It wasn't instant," Hermione said. "I could hear the love you put in every word when you read me. When you told me stories not even knowing if I could hear them. You tended to me, asking for nothing, and I was in love with you long before I awoke. Everything I experienced in that shared dream was very real to me. I was real."
"Come here," Tobias said, pulling her to him closer as he wrapped his arms around her. "You should rest. I can feel the fatigue in your soul."
Hermione curled her hand against his chest. "You'll stay here with me?"
"Always," he said.
As Hermione's eyes drifted closed, the shrill tortured screams began to echo down the main corridor outside their shared chambers. Hermione snuggled into her mate and closed her eyes.
"Harry, you have to help find my poor Ronald!" Molly insisted, wringing her hands anxiously.
"I cannot help you, Mrs Weasley," Harry said grimly.
"Harry, we're family!"
Harry's expression puckered. "You mean this?"
Harry slammed an encasement holding a ring suspended in magic nullifying gel down on the desk in front of her. "A family of tightly bound magic. Bound magic. Olde magick. You thought, perhaps, because I was raised Muggle that I wouldn't do my research."
Molly looked down at the ring.
"I didn't," Harry said truthfully. "Hermione did after Ron threw it at her in the middle of Diagon Alley in front of a number of witnesses."
"Harry, this must be just some mistake—"
"I thought so too, until I discovered that I couldn't take my own ring off."
"It's just a magically blessed marriage!" Molly cried.
Harry smiled, but it was not a kind or forgiving thing. "I trusted you. I trusted you so much that I pushed away the one friend I had who didn't care about my fame, my money, or my reputation. I rallied behind Ron and his "meant" spiel because I figured that if it could happen to me, then it could happen for Hermione too, and I was an idiot. Willfully blind. And all for my stupid want of the ideal family. I will spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to Hermione for that gross act of stupidity. But there is one thing I can do to at least bring her some justice."
Auror Savage walked in with a younger Auror.
"Molly Prewett Weasley, you are under arrest. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in Wizengamot. Anything you do say may be given in evidence."
"Harry, NO!
Harry stood, his face utterly stoic.
"Harry! Stop this, PLEASE!"
"Ginny told me as I lay screaming in agony while they de-cursed me—when they realised the kiss of TRUE LOVE didn't work—that you had given her the ring. You promised that she would get everything she deserved," Harry bit out. "After I crawled out of that terrible pit of accursed magic, I did give her exactly that. A divorce. I severed our magic forever."
"No, Harry! No! The grandbabies! They'll DIE!"
"They just vanished," Harry said coldly. "Our children were only constructs created by Dark magic and a desperate wish. How many lives will simply vanish because of you, Molly? What will happen when Arthur finds out you ensorcelled him and divorces you? Hrm? Think of that as you rot in Azkaban."
"It wasn't MY family spell, Harry!" Molly screeched. "It was from the Prince family grimoire!"
Harry's lips pressed into a tight line. "That doesn't make it any better." He watched with cold eyes as Molly was dragged away sobbing.
"Come in, Harry," Hermione invited, gesturing for him to enter.
Harry walked in, dragging his feet. "Molly is in Azkaban," he said wearily as he sank into a comfy armchair beside the hearth.
"I'm sorry," Hermione said.
Harry shook his head. "You warned me. So many times. I'm the one who's sorry. Sorry I never listened to you." He ran his hand through his perpetually messy hair. "Do you want to know the best part of it? Molly got that bloody grimoire right from Dumbledore's office. He'd hidden it there. She struggled to have Bill, turns out she had major fertility problems like a lot of other pureblood witches. Healers told her she couldn't have any more kids after Charlie, she was already pregnant with him at the time. That would be it for her. Two sons. But Molly wanted a daughter very badly. Dumbledore got called away to attend to something while she was visiting, and baby Bill knocked over that globe in his office. It broke. The grimoire was hidden inside it. She took it, repaired the globe, and hid it in the bassinet. So, she took the wedding ring, used the grimoire to bind it to the one who wore it, and then spent the next ten years trying to get it right in order to have Ginny. That's why the Weasleys managed to have so many children when all those other pureblood families couldn't."
"It was a Prince family thing—originally used to ensnare another family into marriage. To avoid the scandal of a child being born out of wedlock. Once they were properly married they could have normal children, well, in the usual way. Why Dumbledore had it I can only guess. Phineas tells a story that she came sobbing to him and asked him to hide it for her. It was a family evil that had to be hidden away. Protected from her family. He did, but once he put it in the globe, he never checked it again. Never counting on Molly's toddler breaking the prison where he was hiding it. In its pages, Molly found the spell she needed to give herself more children. Her biggest dream of all, what she desperately wanted more than anything else—a girl witchling of her own."
Harry drank down the snifter of whisky that a Lethifold shoved into his hand as it floated by. "And then, when her precious baby girl wanted the great accursed Harry Potter, well, she knew how to sort that for her. And when Ron couldn't seem to convince you that he was the one for you, well, she had a way to fix that too."
Harry set the empty snifter down on the table. "Arthur divorced her while she was still on trial," he said grimly. "All but Bill and Charlie just vanished like a puff of smoke. I think this was why the purebloods were pressing so hard back in the day to forbid divorces. Maybe it was a lot more common than anyone ever wanted to believe. And now—people are going to start looking really close at their family tree for all the right and wrong reasons. It's a mess."
Hermione sighed. "I wish I could offer some words to help you," she said. "But I just don't have them."
"The sad thing is, Molly truly loved Arthur. He loved her," Harry said. "Why wasn't that enough for her? With every child, she stole part of Arthur, and now Arthur has to come to terms with the fact that his children were basically pieces of him that were stolen without his knowledge. And not all of them were—flattering pieces."
"Not all aspects of anyone are flattering, Mr Potter," Tobias said as he brought over a tea tray.
Harry's eyes widened and looked instantly uncomfortable.
Tobias narrowed his eyes as Harry hastily dashed to the loo.
He sighed, rolling his eyes.
"Meetings with you must be fun," Hermione said dryly.
"Those are the times when I'm supposed to intimidate people," Tobias said with an arched brow.
Hermione pulled him down onto the settee with her, giving him a gentle kiss. "I love you."
His expression pinched but softened. "Sometimes, I wonder how. You experienced arguably the worst part of me in my 'son'."
"I don't think he was everything bad," Hermione said. "If you think of all he'd done to make up for a rather shite start. In the end he did some powerfully good things that no one else realised. He managed to survive two megalomaniacs. He was remarkably resilient. He knew what it was to make a mistake and have true regret for it. He was able to hide his true abilities from two highly paranoid people and an entire school for years. If anything—he was protecting me as much as you, it's just."
Her face scrunched a little. "It's just he didn't always know what he was protecting me from. A true danger or the one in his mind he'd built to protect his mum's idea of the magical world."
"I loved her," Tobias said, his face pulling down. "Maybe I have a regrettable talent for loving the unattainable or the mentally unavailable. Both I and my 'son' made some shite choices in love."
"Are you saying I'm a shitty choice?" Hermione said with a squinty smile.
Tobias' face paled and his eyes widened. "Wh-at NO! You are both the sun and moon of my unlife!"
"I'm just teasing you, Tobias." Hermione smiled at him.
Tobias gawped and snapped his mouth shut. He gathered her up in his arms and held her tightly.
Harry came back from the loo and saw their embrace, and Tobias' eyes glowed ominously in his direction.
Harry turned around and dove back into the loo.
"That was Harry wasn't it?" Hermione said with a chuckle.
"Hn."
Hermione snickered into his chest. "I love you."
"Do we need to put a cot in the loo for Potter?"
Hermione sniggered quietly. "Only if you promise not to murder him if he stays overnight."
Tobias sighed heavily. "Anything for you."
Sanguini walked in with a bowl of blood fruit. "I brought the sangria—but why is there a Potter sitting in the loo reciting a prayer to Thanatos?"
"He's had a rough day," Tobias said, plucking a plump fruit out of the bowl.
Sanguini gave both Hermione and Tobias a kiss on the cheek. "Will he be staying in the loo during our party?"
"Probably," Tobias agreed.
Sanguini tilted his head. "I will—install another bathroom," he said as he stood back up, wand in hand, his long hair trailing behind him.
Hermione shot up suddenly. "Shite! I promised Lady Camille I'd make the punch!"
She fled, a trail of startled Lethifolds and hellhounds scrambling to attend her.
Tobias slumped, rolling his eyes. "Females."
"You are sure this is what you want?" Tobias asked as both Bill and Charlie stood at their father's bedside.
"We think it's best," Bill said. "He's haunted by our mother's duplicity. He sleeps all the time. Nothing we do or say seems to snap him out of it."
Charlie shook his head. "He's also haunted by his own demons. Parts of himself. Mum. Especially Mum. What she did. I can't say I understand it, but at least Bill and I—we don't carry that guilt with us."
"Once this is done, it cannot be undone," Tobias warned. "This is not a spell. An Obliviation. This erases the memories in the blood. Forever."
Bill and Charlie nodded grimly. "We will give him new memories to replace what he has lost. He deserves—peace."
"Very well," Tobias said with a sigh. "I will have Lord Aku visit you in a week's time. He will go through the memories you wish him to keep and which—you wish him to forget. Make a list. Be thorough. Once this is done, it is how it will be for the rest of his life."
"We understand," Charlie said. Bill nodded in agreement.
Tobias closed his eyes, and a red glow leaked out from under his lids. "Very well, Lord Aku will contact you."
"Lord Tobias—" Bill said.
Tobias raised his head, eyes opening. "Yes?"
"We're sorry—about your son."
Tobias sighed deeply. "He did what he could with what he had. Thank you."
Tobias swept the room, his long hair fluttering behind him.
Charlie and Bill exchanged glances. "Now we know where Professor Snape got the intimidation factor," said Charlie.
Bill nodded. "I—"
Charlie looked sideways. "Need to change your pants too?"
Bill grimaced. "Yeah."
"And Hermione married him," Charlie said, his face twisting in horror.
Bill shook his head. "She's not afraid of anything but her own failure," he replied.
"Does she even fail?" Charlie asked.
"I'm sure she does, but it doesn't stop her," Bill said with a chuckle.
Both brothers made a mad dash for the loo.
Bonus Scene:
Arthur woke up all of the sudden with a loud yell to find Draco Malfoy staring back at him with a surprised expression.
"Are you okay, Mr Weasley?"
Arthur stared at him, frowning. "Lucius' son, right?"
Draco nodded. "I'm your healer. Do you remember, sir?"
"I—" Arthur frowned. "No. I'm sorry I just had a really disturbing dream, but I don't remember one bit of it."
"Probably a good thing," Draco said. "How are you feeling?"
"Good, actually—I feel like some great weight has been lifted from me."
"I'm glad," Draco said.
"So, you're a healer?" Arthur said with some skepticism.
"I have been since I left Hogwarts. That was some time ago."
"Well I guess you are wearing the robes, I just—" Arthur frowned. "Oddly, I feel like I should remember something, but it's completely lost to me."
"It's natural after a trauma," Draco said. "The mind tries to protect itself. You did survive a war."
Arthur's eyes widened. "Oh dear. That business. Right. Are Bill and Charlie okay?"
Draco smiled and nodded. "Bill says he has the cottage set up so you can be closer to him, Fleur, and the kids."
"Oh, that's a relief. I seem to have forgotten where I lived," Arthur said, frowning in thought. "It will be nice to see the grandbabies again. I feel like I haven't seen them in ages."
"I'm sure everything will start to feel more normal as you get used to being back home again," Draco said reassuringly.
"I'm sure you're right," Arthur said. "I mean, I wouldn't be here if I hadn't needed to be," he added with a chuckle.
"Healer Malfoy," called out a trainee healer in lime green robes as he poked his head around the barrier. "M-Master Healer Snape is here to see your patient."
Draco brightened. "Tell her to come on through."
"Master Healer?" Arthur repeated with a frown.
"It's a little different here than in Mungo's, remember?" Draco said. "Here, we are all healers. Though I suppose I am the Healer-in-Charge of this ward, but that's just too hard to say out loud in a rush. When you get the experience of the DoM or beyond, you're most definitely a master."
"Right, how silly of me to forget," Arthur said, visibly still processing.
"Well, to be fair, you did get banged up pretty severely after that freak potions incident at home," Draco said sympathetically. "That's why you'll be living with Bill now."
Arthur's eyes widened in sudden understanding. "I—well, I always was pants at potions," he admitted.
The flighty intern returned with two figures dressed in predominant black with only splashes of green in the sash that adorned their belts. They both wore circlet laurels of the finest goblin silver adorned with different coloured gems indicating their various specialisations. They were both pale against the stark black robes, so much so that Arthur privately thought they needed to get a bit more sun.
"Hermione," Draco greeted, giving her a kiss on the cheek in greeting. "Lord Aku," he said with a slight bow.
"Ah—how is the patient," Lord Aku said with a smile. There was an oddly timeless quality about him, Arthur realised. Like a statue from some great lost civilization.
"He said he had some disturbing dreams, but he can't really remember them. He's feeling better, and all the normal scans are back with no red flags."
He took Hermione's hand and they both reached out with palms down, fingers spread as they hovered over Arthur's body without touching him.
Arthur fidgeted under their combined scrutiny, feeling more than a little intimidated but he wasn't sure why—
A babyfold shot out from Hermione's robes and schlucked up against his temple, small cilia tendrils burrowing into his head.
Arthur felt instantly relaxed. "Oh, that feels absolutely wonderful."
Aku gave Hermione a bemused look and she smiled at him as she held out her hand. The babyfold cooed and returned to her, slithering up her arm to attach itself to her back.
As Hermione's hand splayed over Arthur's face, Lord Aku pricked one finger on a fang and wiped the droplet of blood over Arthur's mouth and onto his tongue in a swift motion. His power rolled over Arthur as Hermione's call to the Realm of Hades and the Waters of Lethe combined with his blood reinforced the selective memory wipes. Their eyes glowed crimson together and then faded into the more normal brown.
They lay Arthur back on the bed, cradling his head with a pillow.
"It will take a few more times to prevent the nightmares," Hermione said as they turned to face Draco. "He'll be fully functional as he is, but if you can convince him to stay for another week, it will certainly not hurt his recovery."
Draco nodded. "Because of you, he isn't screaming every night anymore— so he is more than welcome to stay for said treatments," he confessed.
Hermione smiled. "Well, he could always get the fast track from Master Morgan in the DoM, but the paperwork would be—quite extensive."
"Look, the paperwork for the Undead Nation was extensive enough, thank you," Draco said with a distinct shudder. "I'd rather get married to Scarhead again and suffer through my mum's incessant fussing for another ruddy year."
Hermione chortled. "Truly?"
Draco sighed. "He's such a drama queen but he's worth it."
"I think he says the same thing of you," Hermione said.
"Tch," Draco muttered.
"I'm happy for you," Hermione said. "I think things are finally as they should have been."
"He's much happier working under Madam Bones," Draco admitted. "She runs a very tight ship, but a fair one."
Hermione said. "She wrangles Manfred daily. Masses of blithering idiots are nothing by comparison."
Draco baulked a bit. "True. Are there any changes you want in Arthur's treatment?"
Hermione's eyes flashed along with Aku's as they exchanged conversation rapidly. "Lord Nikolai says no."
"I agree," Lord Aku said, with a brief tug of his mouth.
"And you?" Draco asked Hermione.
"I am not feeling like a rebel today," Hermione said with a small chuckle. "No change."
"It is—creepy what you do," Draco said. "That glowing eye super fast communication thing."
"Eloquent," Hermione said. "It's faster than getting confused."
"I'll take your word for it," Draco snorted.
"No interest in an eternal career?" Hermione said with a smile.
"Ah, no, just a nice regular long life, and a time when I get to yell at young wizards and witches to get the hell off my ruddy lawn," Draco said.
Hermione laughed. "Dinner this Sunday?"
"Yes, I'll bring the blutwurst lasagna and garlic bread," Draco said brightly.
"Draco! You're cooking!" Hermione said, clearly impressed.
"Someone has to around here," Draco lamented. "Potter can't even boil water to save his soul from the Erinyes."
"As someone who lived with him in a tent in the Forest of Dean, I can confirm the truth of that statement," Hermione said, puckering her lips with suppressed laughter.
"See you this weekend then," Hermione said after a bit. "I have to get home so my mate doesn't murder someone in a fit of pique."
"That happen often?"
"Only if I don't get home in time," Hermione said with a cheeky smile.
Draco rolled his eyes. "See you Sunday. Should I bring the aged red for you, Lord Aku?"
"Mmm," Aku replied. "If you insist."
Hermione smiled, shaking her head. "Oh, here," she said, pulling a stoppered flask out from her robes. "Tonic for Arthur. Tobias said it will ease his dreams until he is able to not have the nightmares."
"Bless you," Draco said, taking it. "And bless him too."
Hermione chuckled. "I will tell him."
As the two vampires swept the room, Draco turned to Arthur, checked his vitals, and then stepped out to let him get some rest.
Hermione smiled as Tobias lay his head over her abdomen. When he pulled up, a trail of crimson chased down his cheek. She pulled him onto the bed beside her, wrapping her arms around him. Every day, the morning ritual was the same. He would lay his head against her belly, listening to the life growing within.
She snuggled into him, preferring to lie in and get some quality cuddling with her mate. Tobias, unfortunately, was highly susceptible to her needs, so sometimes one of his Triumvirate would have to come fetching—lest he take the head off the shoulders of some random unlucky page.
Hermione never saw it happen, but she was pretty sure that most of the Undead Nation had some rule written in every Handbook of Unlife that disturbing Tobias or any of their ruling Council while they or their mate was pregnant had better be a literal matter of life and death.
"Nikolai says they're perfectly healthy," Hermione said as she combed his hair with her fingers.
"And you, my mate?" Tobias rumbled. "Are you perfectly healthy?"
Hermione twirled his chest hair with her fingertip. "I'm perfectly content."
He chuckled as he captured her hand with his and pressed a kiss to her fingers. "I am glad of it."
"Minerva was visiting again," Hermione said.
Tobias blinked. "Rada?"
"Mmhmm," Hermione said. "I wonder who will drive the other mad first?"
"They're already mad as a box of frogs," Tobias said with a lip pucker.
Hermione chuckled, snuggling into him. "Madly in love, I think."
Tobias stilled. "Truly?"
"Mmhmm," Hermione said. "The Lethifolds said so."
"Well, if the Lethifolds are in on it," Tobias observed. "They're doomed."
"Fft," Hermione said, closing her eyes as she stilled against him.
Tobias smiled, pulling the Lethifold-quilt over them both and closed his eyes. Contentment was finally his.
And they lived Lethi-folded ever after…
(babyfold squeegees across screen).
A/N: Happy Thanksgiving, American folks! Or Happy Turkey Murder Day, depending—heh.