Chapter 28: Deep Thoughts

He wanted her help, Claire was surprised. Then again, she was surprised about a lot of things. Like why he had knocked on her door of all things. She saw the way he had avoided eye contact with her a few weeks the couple of times she ran into him, she really had thought he left the resort.

He looked better than he did the last time she saw him. He didn't wasn't so thin and it appeared he had shaved off the goatee he had been wearing. He looked better without it. He had a nice jaw line that shouldn't be hidden and she could see there was a small cleft in his chin. She also noticed just how tall he was. She wasn't wearing any heels when she answered the door. .

Or really anything other than her robe which she had haphazardly thrown over the negligee that Gil had ripped off of her an hour or so ago.

She may have inwardly smirked when he noticed he seemed a little tense when he realized Gil was over.

Served him right, he had his chance.

That was harsh of her, but him rejecting her still hurt for whatever reason she didn't know why.

"Help? You want my help?"

"I…" He said, "Can you meet me in my suite. I'll explain."


Admittedly, she was curious which was why she had put on some clothes and met him in the penthouse of all things.

She didn't know how he had the freaking penthouse. She was wealthy, but the amount of money to rent such a place was obscene.

Then she remembered he said his name was in the news maybe it had a connection with that. The name Black seemed so familiar.

"Claire, I'm glad you came."

He then motioned her to follow him and she saw a dark haired woman laying on a chaise lounge that was sleeping. She had a blanket thrown over her other than the dark curly hair Claire couldn't really tell much about her.

She raised an eyebrow as he grabbed his wand and murmured something, likely privacy charms.

"Cissy is exhausted," he said.

"Cissy?"

"My cousin," He said. "She's the reason I want to talk to you, though we probably should do it in the other room. I didn't even realize how exhausted she was. Not that I'm surprised. She needs the rest."

"Why do you need my help with your cousin?"

"Have you made contact with the local veela community like you mentioned earlier."

She nodded. "I have…your cousin."

"Is pregnant. Her husband is a carrier."

She glanced again at the sleeping form. "Is she?"

She didn't even need to finish he nodded her head.

Inwardly, she blanched. Turned veelas as they called them were rare. The only one she knew was Lisle and she had told her she had almost died before the transformation fully took. It was bad enough going through it in puberty. She remembered how awful it felt developing into something you were either stared at or sneered at. She heard it was even amplified for a turned veela. And unlike her transformation which seamlessly happened overnight, a turned veelas transformation wasn't that easy. Especially considering that once they changed into a harpy they could not change back until they gave birth to the child. Given the nature of the form that was easier said than done especially since most turned veelas had no control over their form. Hell, she was born a veela and still hadn't been able to fully transform.

"Is termination an option?" She had to ask. It was probably the woman's best option. Even though it would not stop the change she would survive. She wouldn't have to go through the whole harpy process for one thing. She had heard about some women being stuck for months in said form. She didn't even want to think about what his cousin would have to endure with pregnancy hormones and veela hormones all at once.

He shook his head, "She probably should but she won't. And I can't fault her with that she had such issues conceiving the son that she has."

Fertility issues…somehow she felt she could relate even though she had never had a child. Jean Luc and her had wanted one so desperately…

Six little rose bushes. No, seven.

Not now…

"Is she even sure?"

"Yes," he said. "She had blood work done and has been dealing with symptoms. It will be a full transformation"

"I'll have to talk to the coven," she said. "They may be able to help her. They've been able to help me."

"I'm glad to hear that," he said. "Cissy is like a sister to me so any help you can provide is appreciated."


Emma Granger had a lot to think about after her conversation with Ted Tonks and had to think through her options, but one thing she didn't have was time.

She looked at the information Ted had given her regarding her daughter's biological father.

Remus was alive.

Alive and apparently clueless about her per Ted.

What had Petey done?

Did she even want to talk to Remus?

A part of her wanted to, but it wasn't like he would remember her. And who knew how he'd react to Hermione.

Hermione. They only had a couple of months and then she would be viewed as a common garden rat and they would obviate her mind to try to keep her from transforming at all.

They viewed that as humane.

Those fuckers.

She was going to talk to Andromeda today about it, Ted had mentioned there was another possible solution. She just had a feeling she wasn't going to like it.

This year was really shit. Between all this and now she had been served with papers from Dan of all things.

A part of her just wanted to get the divorce done with, but she was annoyed with the fact that Dan wanted to be the primary conservator of their daughter and wanted the surgery and everything else.

She'd give him the surgery if she could have her daughter. She frowned as she though about her conversation with Ted.

"Did he ever formally adopt Hermione."

Emma shook her head. "No. I just gave her his name. There's no father on the birth certificate either."

"And he knew he was not the father?"

She nodded. "Yes. I was six months pregnant when we got together. We got married two months later. It was a bit spur of the moment, but it seemed so perfect at the time."

Though it was clearly wrong. She had learned pretty quickly the only thing she and the man had in common were love of dental hygiene and their daughter.

"Well, we could get DNA done that should establish paternity since there was no formal adoption we might be able to argue that he has no parental rights. And then there's the fact he's muggle…"

She looked at him. "You want to use his blood status against him?

"It's not using it against him it's following the law."

"Will they…"

"Wipe his memory of her probably yes." Ted said. "But at this point do you really have a choice based on what he wants?"

No, no she didn't. A muggle hospital wouldn't know what to do with Hermione.

Ted continued, "It would probably help if you also resumed contact with the biological father."

"What…."

She was then told about Remus and his current whereabouts.

Emma was glad she was okay, but furious that her brother had done something which is why she had asked for a meeting with him.

She didn't know how much information she could get with him, but it was worth a try.

"Emma," Healer Tonks said looking at her. "You're early."

"There was another relapse," she said. They seemed to be getting more and more frequent when she visited. Hermione was barely able to last to sunrise last night.

Andromeda cursed and motioned Emma to follow her into her office so they could discuss her daughter's case.

"Ted told me that we're running out of time."

"Unfortunately, the ministry is strict on their being status laws. And I'll be honest, I have some concerns myself."

"He said there was another option…"

"Yes. It's one that has some serious consequences, but it would revert her system back to where she'd be human for most of the time."

"What do you mean most the time?"

"Your daughter as I mentioned has a mutated passive lycanthropy gene. If that gene was to become active it's likely that the infection would kill the part of her that is a rat."

"But…"

"But she'd likely be a werewolf herself."


Narcissa woke up in a haze as she realized it was morning. Did she sleep here all night?

Apparently.

She groaned as her stomach rumbled before running best she could to the bathroom to puke.

The morning sickness had been fairly severe this time around which wasn't that big of a surprise given she was having multiples.

When she got back, she literally collapsed on the lounge again when her cousin appeared with a cup of tea.

"It should help with the nausea," he said looking at her. "I take it that has been that severe throughout the entire pregnancy."

She nodded as she took the tea it did help a lot. Pretty soon she'd be hungry again. That was usually how it went. Puke up her guts in the morning and then eat a ridiculous amount of breakfast.

"I'm surprised he hasn't noticed," Sirius said.

"I think he thinks the vomiting is from grief and stress," she said. "I thought it was too to be fair. And like I said, he hasn't been home much between his sister, the school, and dealing with the ministry."

" I talked to the veela," He said.

"Does the veela have a name, Siri?" She asked, "I'm sure she doesn't like being referred to as a veela like she's some sort of livestock. You'll probably refer that way to me soon enough."

It was sad a part of her dreaded how she would be treated once…once she transformed. She knew how society was. She knew Odette had been treated. How Lucius's half-sister had been treated. She knew how Lucius felt about them. She remembered all the rants about how were vapid creatures at best at worst manipulative harpies. Would he treat her the same way?

She didn't think Lucius would be like Abraxas or that man who had burned his sister, but….she wondered if he would still love her. And for that matter, if she'd be able to recognize herself.

It was weird, but she had always thought of veela as inhuman. She never said it out loud, but she had always looked at them in disgust at what they could do. It felt almost shameful now. She'd never view her daughters like that, but herself…well, she didn't know.

"Her name's Claire Du Pres." Sirius said answering her question, "I just I have my reasons for calling her what I do."

Interesting. And for that matter she recognized the name.

"Oh, the same Claire that Harry mentioned went to dinner with you where you put your foot in your mouth."

"Cissy, don't. You know it's been too soon. It will always be too soon."

"Harry said she was pretty."

"Of course she was pretty she's a veela." He said rolling his eyes. "I don't even like short blondes. They're not my type."

Narcissa rolled her eyes. "Siri, I was just kidding. I know how the allure can be. Not that you were affected by the allure I'm sure.

"I'm sorry," he said. "Azkaban, you know. How is my son by the way?"

"He's at Andi's and doing fine. He's gone through most the first year theory. In another month or so we'll check his core and then see if we can get him started on his practical."

"That is progress. I was thinking of maybe asking Remus to tutor him a bit with the practical applications. They seemed to really connect and I know he had wanted to teach at one time."

"Remus Lupin?" She asked.

He nodded. "Do you remember him from school."

"A little," She said not wanting to go into the fact that she was treating his daughter. She turned the subject back to Harry. "Harry really did enjoy his visit here over Easter. He seems to be opening up some more."

Sirius nodded. "Gunther says they've made some headway in therapy."

"That's good." Narcissa said, "Ugh, I really need to recast those charms and get going. Let me know when you hear from your veela, alright?"

"She's not my veela," Sirius said as she got up and groaned hearing her stomach rumble.

Of course, now that she puked out all her guts she wanted eat. That was all she seemed to do these days puke and eat and randomly conjure up sparks or develop a silver streak in her hair.

Sirius smirked, "You want me to order you some pancakes before you go?"

"Yes, please." She really was starving.

Again, puke and eat.

"Great," He said. "The resort has some excellent sugarless pancakes."

She almost blanched at the thought of pancakes being sugarless. What was the point if they didn't have sugar?


The sugarless pancakes weren't terrible. They weren't as good as ones with sugar though. She was eating her third helping of pancakes—she was eating for four after all—when there was a knock on the door.

Imagine to her surprised when a woman around her age came in the room a few minutes later.

She knew instantly who it was: Sirius's veela.

Well, she didn't expect there to be a whole coven of veelas at the resort or for that matter a Sirius knowing more than one veela.

Like all veelas the woman had ridiculously pretty hair. It was like the color that popped onto Narcissa's head every couple of days that she had been desperate to get rid of except rather than having the slight silverish tint that Narcissa's hair had this woman's hair was a white-gold. Narcissa grimaced thinking of that hair. The magic properties of it were strong, the coloring charms weren't working that well these days. Instead, she was resulting to using muggle dye. So far it was holding, she only hoped it would hold.

Granted that stuff smelt horrible and played a portion in her morning puking.

She glanced at the woman looking at her thinking she was nothing like her sister. It was an odd thing to think about, but she saw the way Siri talked about her. He may have claimed he wasn't interested but there was something…probably because she was veela.

She was admittedly attractive. She was wearing an outfit Narcissa would approve of but would not dare wear in her current condition especially those boots the heel on those shoes were quite ridiculous, she would fall on her fat ass if she wore them if she could even get them over her swollen ankles.

She frowned thinking her ass was fat. But all of her felt fat these days. It was just going to be her life for the next several months, though the stretch marks that were already starting to appear on her stomach was the least of her concern.

Still, she wanted those damn boots and that whole damn outfit. She wondered just how long that outfit took to put together.

"Cissy, this is Claire. She's the person I was telling you about."

"You meant veela," The woman said in a heavy French accent rolling her eyes. "No need to hide the obvious."

Yes, it was very obvious the woman was a veela. There was something…she couldn't quite pinpoint it what it was that she recognized about her like recognizing her own kind.

Recognizing her own kind, she shuddered.

"I'm sorry," Sirius said. "I was just trying not to treat you like livestock. It was pointed out to me earlier it was impolite."

"It is and you're putting your foot in your mouth again, Siri." Narcissa said almost laughing at her cousin's face which was turning a shade of red.

"He can't help it," Claire stated as she walked over to the armchair that was near the chaise where Narcissa laid and sat down. "He just has a way with words."

"I should leave the two of you alone…" Her cousin said grimacing.

"Oh, don't leave on my account." Claire said, "Your foot and mouthing can be quite charming."

"Well, I prefer not to be charming." Sirius said with an eye roll before leaving the room.

Narcissa laughed. "Do I even want to know?"

"No," Claire said grimacing. "It doesn't matter anyway. He told me what's going on with you. That you…you're with child."

Narcissa nodded. No need to correct her with the fact she was having multiples she had barely met the woman. And she still wasn't sure how she felt about her.

She didn't want to trust them….yet she was becoming one of them. A part of her just wanted to cry at the thought. Yes, Claire seemed so human. But….

"My husband's mother was a veela." She finally said. "We…we have a son. We knew what could happen if we ever had a daughter. I didn't think it was possible but…"

"Here we are," Claire said.

"Sirius said you're in contact with a local coven?" Narcissa said.

Claire nodded. "I had some health issues which is why I'm here. I haven't exactly been able to control myself like before and since Maman had died so young….it's helped me a lot."

"Do you think it could help me?" Narcissa said.


Chapter 29 Preview: Lots of potion talk and two people meet for the first time in a long time.