Chapter 47: Mother of Truths

Bella frowned as she looked at her son who seemed to be ignoring her best he could. She still had no idea how she could tell him the truth.

"Harry," she said looking at him.

"Claire, I'm not in the mood to duel." The boy said in a polite tone, but he was obviously upset.

It was clear to her at least he had been crying. It reminded her a lot like she used to look after getting a roll with mother.

She sighed heavily, "I know you're upset about the engagement."

Or re-engagement really since she was still technically married to Sirius. But since she was legally Claire Du Pres now, they'd just go through the ceremony again. That and she sort of wanted a real wedding, odd as it seemed. Not one totally choreographed by Mother and Aunt Walburga. She still had nightmares about that monstrosity of a dress all these years later.

The new ring was a definite upgrade for sure.

But if she told her son this, he'd think she was crazy.

The whole situation sucked.

He looked at her, "I'm not mad at you, Claire. Really."

"You can be mad at me; it won't hurt my feelings." She said grimacing at how repressed Harry seemed at times.

She knew it was from those filthy child abusers he grew up with. Never was she glad she had suffered all those burns now since while they merely marred her they had killed Petunia Dursley. It was the least that bitch deserved.

"I don't know if it's anger that I feel towards you," He finally said after a long moment.

"But you're upset about the engagement?"

"She's only been dead for less than a year." He said, "Doesn't that seem wrong to you?"

Bella wanted to tell him she was right there, that she'd never leave him again, but she knew he wouldn't believe her. And even if he did there was her shields to consider. While impressive for a twelve year old, they were nowhere near the levels they needed to be to protect such sensitive information.

Twelve. He had just turned twelve. She had missed so much.

"Claire…" She heard him say, "Don't cry. I don't have any issues with you really."

"I'm not crying," she said even though she was about to bawl with how unfair everything had been. "And you have every right to be upset with me. I understand, Harry. I understand that you miss your mum."

That you miss me.

Harry gave her a dubious look.

"Would you believe me if I said there was more to the story?" .

"Is there?" Harry said, "I asked Dad if you were pregnant, and he said no."

"Pregnant?" She said sort of shocked what a ridiculous thing to believe, but then again, they had only been "dating" for a few months she could see the rushed conclusion.

"I'm not pregnant, baby." She said even though a part of her wanted to stop the drought today. Besides, she wasn't even sure she could get pregnant. She had so many issues in the past just being able to have a child and God knows what Potter did to her when she removed Harry from her womb. She had never gotten pregnant from the Dark Lord and she knew it wasn't for want of trying…she still didn't quite believe Sirius's theory that the bond had essentially provided the ultimate protection for her.

She shuddered trying to rid those memories from her head. Sirius knew about what had happened, but not the extent about it. There were some things she couldn't talk to him. She had been trying deal with it with the mind healers at the lodge, but there was only so much she was willing to talk about at this point.

Like it was not her fault. She told herself and yet…and yet she always found a way to blame herself when she remembered.

She quickly blocked out those thoughts though and focused on her son.

"Then what's the reason?" He asked.

She sighed heavily. "It's a little unbelievable if you really want to know the truth, baby."

He gave her a weird look. "Try me."

"What?" She was a little off guard.

"This year has been unbelievable on a whole, so I'm sure whatever you have to say isn't going to surprise me that much."

She smiled sadly knowing what had happened to him. Sirius had finally filled her in on everything and she had half a mind to floo to that school and curse Albus Dumbledore to bloody death for his ineptness. Imagine, a first year getting almost killed by a troll. Well, there actually was a first year that died and then what happened to poor Hermione.

She felt so bad for that little girl. Probably because in a way the girl reminded her of herself. At least on the dueling field. Hermione had that same tenacity she had had all those years ago not to get hurt again. She even had the same thoughts of first year Transfiguration that she did.

Of course, Harry took after his father when it came to bloody Transfiguration. The boy had been impressed with stupid Padfoot….because why not?
Seriously, animagi were overrated. Especially, when you were married or re-engaged to one that had major dog breath in the morning.

"Claire?"

"Precautions will need to be taken before we can tell you anything."

"Precautions?" Harry said.

"Yes, precautions. This is the sort of thing that you won't be able to tell anyone."

"To why you're getting married?"

She nodded her head.


Andromeda raised an eyebrow when Sirius said he wanted her to meet his new fiancée.

She still couldn't believe he had moved on this fast.

From first impressions alone Claire Du Pres appeared to be a very different sort of veela than what her sister had become. And very different from Sirius's usual type—or she should say Bella.

The woman was petite and was dressed similar to how Cissy would've used to dress before she had turned into a veela, Except she doubted that even Cissy would've wore mini robes made out of what appeared to be dragon hyde….it seemed very French especially with how low cut they were. Though she knew her cousin liked it with the way his eyes were staring at the woman's boobs. Also, the boots she wore were ridiculously high. How she kept her balance in those things she did not know how, but those things had to be at least three or four inches.

Sirius had requested a meeting while the kids were out being tutored by Remus. Apparently, even Draco had been dragged into going. How Sirius had gotten her sullen nephew out of the house she did not know.

The family pensieve that was sitting near them.

Andi raised an eyebrow.

"It's better if you watch," Sirius said. "What you're going to see if unbelievable and it's probably best if you watch it rather than one of us telling you. We'll both swear an unbreakable vow to what you're going to see is true.

"Is that really necessary?"

"It's necessary, Andi. After you see the memories, you'll see why."

"Okay…" She said as they both swore the vow.

Thirty minutes later, she literally tackled Claire who she knew now to be her big sister into a big hug.

"Bella?"

He sister nodded. The woman looked nothing like her sister, yet she knew from the memories that she was indeed Bella. That Lucius—the bastard—had blood adopted her as his twin sister for some odd reason and then let them think she died.

She smirked thinking of what her sister had done. If nothing else castrating Lucius Malfoy proved who the woman was. Even if the Bella she knew would never be caught dead in said minirobes. Though she could sort of understand the tall boots now. Bella had always been tall. The new height probably annoyed her half to death.

"It's me, Andi." She finally said. "It's really me."

"I…" She looked at them, "How long have you known."

"A few weeks." Bella said. "I…I came to a realization with Lucius and I finally figured out how to tell Siri with the duel you watched."

Andi rolled her eyes. Of course it would be a duel. It was always about dueling with Bella.

"What about Harry?"

"We're still figuring out how to tell him," Bella said with a sigh. "His shields aren't great. We thought about maybe using the Fidelius charm which is one of the reasons we wanted to talk to you first."

"You want me to be the secret keeper?"

They nodded.

"I…well, obviously, I'll do it."

"That's not the only reason why we asked you to come here," Sirius said. "There's something else we have to talk about."


"It should be medically impossible," Andromeda said looking over the scans that had been done over Narcissa.

"And yet there were two more heartbeats when Bella ran her scans earlier."

"You sure you didn't accidentally run them on yourself," She said looking at her sister.

Bella rolled her eyes, "Do I look pregnant with twins?"

Nope. She was probably skinnier than she ever saw her, save for maybe her Azkaban days. Still, it made more sense than two babies randomly popping out of nowhere as she told both of them.

"Humor me," Andromeda said as she waved the necessary p spell over Bella's stomach. Surprisingly enough, two hearts appeared one was pink and the other was blue.

"What the.." Bella looked at Sirius. "I am on the drought."

"It happens…" Andromeda said. "Sometimes it's not foolproof which is why multiple methods of contraceptives are suggested, especially for veelas who are notorious for being ridiculously fertile. Especially when they are with their mate. Did you use any other contraceptive spells?"

"I haven't in a while." Sirius said. "Besides, the drought…"

Andromeda rolled her eyes. "So I guess the good news is no quintuplets for Narcissa and twins for you. How everyone is having multiples these days I do not know. I'm guessing it's a veela thing. Everything seems to be these days."

"But I thought I saw two blue hearts. I'm having a boy and a girl…." She said before looking at Siri, "We're having twins."

"We're having twins," he said before getting out his wand. "And we need to do a whole battery of tests now it appears."

She rolled her eyes, "Siri."

"He's right," Andromeda said. "You've had several miscarriages. Tests do need to be carried out and you'll need to start a potion regime to counter any ill effect the drought may have had on the fetuses."

"I'm fine," She tried to say. But none of the healers in her family would hear otherwise.


"I still can't believe it," he told her after Andi left his hand on her still flat stomach.

She couldn't believe it.

She was pregnant. With a little boy and a little girl.

Somehow despite taking contraceptive potions she ended up pregnant with twins. She hadn't had any symptoms. The particular drought she was taking made her periods less regular, so it wasn't like she had really paid attention much when missed her period. She hadn't bled since she had started sleeping with Sirius. Her last cycle had been after she finished with Gil the Dope. Now that she thought about it though her breasts had been tender and a little swollen, but nothing as extreme as what Cissy had experienced. Then again, she wasn't that far along and she wouldn't be changing into a veela. She already was a veela and already had control of all of her powers.

"You're about ten weeks along," Andromeda said after running the tests. "They look healthy so far. Though obviously with your history, I suggest you be extra cautious."

"We will be," Sirius said eying her.

She rolled her eyes, "Just don't get me near any red-haired hussies this time. I guess we can tell Harry that we're getting married now because I'm knocked up. I don't know how he guessed it."

They had actually decided not to tell anyone else for a while at least until she was well into her second trimester. She was afraid of another miscarriage, and she knew Siri was as well. Not that they had talked about it much.

She had already been prescribed a potion regime similar to the one the last time she was pregnant. It had seemed to work until Potter did whatever it was she had done to transfer Harry into her womb. Still, based on her past history and potion exposure, she was deemed high risk and was pretty much sentenced to a life of mostly bed rest for the next few months.

It was something she was used to sadly.

"We'll, probably have to do the actual ceremony after I have the babies. I'll be showing soon enough and with the restrictions..."

He rolled his eyes. "You just don't want to look like a midget during our wedding," He said. "I know how your feet get when you're pregnant. You won't be able to wear those obscene things."

She laughed. "I hate being short."

"Maybe I should research height potions for you."

"That would be nice," She said. "As long as it doesn't harm the babies."

"I still can't believe we're having twins," He said even though multiples were actually very common for veela.

"I still can't believe I thought Narcissa was having quintuplets she said with a laugh. Although, she could've sworn she performed that spell accurately and that there were two blue hearts. She guessed she could always perform the spell again when she checked on her.


She hadn't been on this God forsaken place in years. She tried not to remember it was a part of where she came from.

She still remembered when she found out the truth. After all those years, she thought her mother had died. Only to find out Rose Evans wasn't as dead as she thought. She had just lost herself for her lover.

She grimaced thinking of what her mother had become. What Narcissa Malfoy was becoming.

She smirked as she thought about what she had learned from Lucius and about his wife's pregnancy.

Who knew Lucy was part freak like she was. Well, she hadn't inherited the gene like Lucy did apparently.

And his brat with Narcissa as well, she thought. It was just good that Mother had tried to connect with her all those years in the past. Upset when she wanted nothing to do with her.

Why would she?

She had left her with Father and Petunia.

Father who knew she was not his from the get go. Why else would his wife run away?

"Lilith," Mother said when she saw her. "I thought you were dead. There were rumors…"

"My death is overly exaggerated," she said not preferring to go into details.

"It's been years," she said looking at her. "Last I saw you was right before your sister passed."

Ah, yes. The twin she kept. The twin she had disposed of.

"You didn't attend the funeral."

"I was indisposed," she said with a shrug. "I sent flowers."

"I got them. What are you doing here, Lilith. I thought you wanted nothing to do with my kind. Lucky you, spared the curse…"

She smirked. "You know you almost sound like dear Tuney when you say it like that. You didn't ask about her by the way. You'd think you'd actually care about your one normal daughter."

The woman frowned. "Tuney has a life away from this nonsense. She doesn't deserve to be tainted. Not like you or your sister, or me. I thought you wouldn't have to deal with any of this…"

"I'm not a veela like you," She snapped as she looked at her mother. They looked nothing alike. Her mother looked like she could be her sister at this point. If she had a sister that was blonde and had teal-colored eyes. Apparently, they had once been green…before the change. Or at least that was what Rose had told her.

"Aren't you lucky," Rose said eying her. "You look like him save for your hair and eyes. You have my eyes and my hair. Or what they were before."

Him meaning the man that had seduced her and impregnated her and caused her to turn. Funny, Lucius had done the same to his dear wife. The entire reason she was here.

"Are you going to lament about my twin again," She said. "The child you raised."

"Lilith."

"It's Lily," She said. "Father never called me Lilith. Thank God."

Even though some might say it suited her better.

She rolled her eyes. "I take it you haven't left this place since I last visited."

"Why would I?" Rose said looking at her. "There's nothing out there for me in the world not when I'm like this…"

"You mean cursed," Lily said. "What if I told you I could help you remove said curse?"

"There's no way to remove what I've become, Lilith." She said.

"Oh, but what if I told you there was. What if I told you I could cure you…"

"At what cost?"

"You don't think I'm being altruistic."

The woman laughed. "I know you very well, Lilith. I know that altruistic is the last thing you are. You are my daughter and your father's after all."

"Fine," Lily said. "I'll cut through the chase. I know you have an expectant mother living here. I want her."


Chapter 48 Preview: Parents find out about wizengamots crap laws.