Disclaimer: I only own the plot and my OCs. Anything you recognize as not mine belongs to their otherwise respective owners.

Author's Notes: And welcome back! Today's chapter is a shorter one. But we get to meet somebody new! How exciting!

I will note, though, that I will not be tolerating any bigoted comments. Not that I think my readers are the kind of people to make those comments, but y'know. Just in case. :)

As always, I hope you enjoy. Until next chapter,

~TGWSI/Selene Borealis

~daughter of briganti~

~meet me in the woods~

~chapter 18~

10 September 1995
Hogwarts, Scotland, Great Britain

While she (nor Theo and Ginny) didn't forget about what Luna had said, the revelation did not take as much priority as it perhaps should've for Hyleth for the remainder of the weekend. She was a bit too busy with...other things, if you knew what she meant.

She and her mates didn't leave the married wing for all of Sunday. The house-elves brought them their food directly to their common room, something which Theo was thankful for; his morning sickness was especially bothering him that day, although he fought off most attempts for Hyleth to take care of him, telling her to make sure that she gave his cousin "the honeymoon she's waited for her entire life and deserves, as much as that's possible here."

They did receive some visitors after dinner: Cedric and Tonks. "I talked with my parents and your dad about us getting married yesterday, after you guys left but before they did," the metamorphmagus said.

Hyleth was hesitant to ask. "And?"

"Well, I'm seventeen now, I can do whatever the hell I want," Tonks replied cheerily. "But my mum is fine with it. Your dad is too, I think. I told them we were thinking about an October wedding, if I'm supposed to be your lucky spouse number four."

Hyleth groaned. "Tonks."

"What? Do you have somebody else in line that we don't know about, because – "

"I think it's best if we aim for November or December," Cedric interrupted her. "Gives more time for me to tell my parents and them to come around."

"Alright, alright," Hyleth said. She sighed. "Do you have a date?"

"October 21st. It's a Saturday, to continue the theme."

"That doesn't give you a lot of time to change your mind."

"I already told you, Potter, I'm not doing that."

The next morning, due to their absence the previous two days, their classmates, naturally because of what had recently transpired, were a bit interested to look at Hyleth and her mates – and they were not disappointed. It was a repeat of the start-of-term feast, as students gasped and murmured at Luna's mating collar and how she sat down between Hyleth and Theo at the Gryffindor table. Most of the professors, either having attended the wedding or heard about it, were not as surprised; the only exception was Umbridge, who looked downright furious.

Hyleth did her best to ignore her.

Of course, the arrival of that morning's edition of The Daily Prophet along with the mail did little to help the matter. The headline read: HYLETH POTTER, GIRL-WHO-LIVED, MARRIED FOR THE THIRD TIME AT AGE FIFTEEN! HER THIRD SPOUSE, HOW THIS IS POSSIBLE, & MORE!

"Jesus, Potter," a seventh year beta Gryffindor, who she honestly didn't remember the name of, said, presumably a muggleborn by his choice of swear. "Where do you get off?"

She didn't so much as bat an eye as she helped herself to the breakfast spread. "I have no idea what you mean."

"Three spouses?"

"Polygamy is legal in the wizarding world in certain cases beyond just scent-matches," she reminded him. "I'm sure you can read more about them and which one applies to us in the Prophet."

"But – "

"Sorry, I don't do interviews."

Theo snickered as the seventh year sat back down, his face flushing. "Spoken like a true Heir Apparent."

Angelina, meanwhile, went to Hyleth, "So, this is what you meant when you said 'you'll find out.'"

Hyleth smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, Angelina."

She snorted. "You're not, but it's fine. I get it, I guess. Congratulations."

"Thank you."

There was still nothing delivered for Theo from his father, or his brother, but there was a letter delivered for Hyleth by Archimedes, the barn owl that Sirius had gotten Remus earlier this year as a birthday present. She knew, though, which one of them it had to be from; her father must've penned the letter while he'd been at Grimmauld Place.

"Well, what does it say?" Hermione prodded.

Hyleth read the letter carefully. "It...he says that her father...has agreed. More than that, actually. He says they've decided on December."

Hermione gasped. "December?"

"'Guess Cedric'll have to be November," Theo noted.

"It's soon," Hyleth said as she folded up the letter and put it in her robes' pocket, knowing what Hermione was thinking. "But it kind of has to be."

"Does he say what she thinks about this?"

"That's not how it works. Usually, she'd be taken home to be told, either on the weekend or out of school for the day," Theo informed her. He jerked his head towards the Slytherin table. "But, it doesn't seem like that's how her father did it for whatever reason, judging by her reaction."

Hyleth followed his direction. She found Isra Shafiq easily enough; she was a beautiful omega girl, with upturned dark brown eyes, perfectly arched eyebrows, and a light brown skin tone. She wore a black hijab – and now that Hyleth got to thinking about it, she always kept her school robes closed. Sitting next to her was Lyra Fawley, who had walnut brown hair and hazel eyes. It wasn't unsurprising that they were friends, given that they were in the same year and house, and not to mention Heirs Apparent for their Houses. They'd probably been friends since early childhood, as Theo was with Daphne Greengrass and Diana Runcorn.

Isra Shafiq was looking at Hyleth with an expression of utter shock. As the female alpha watched, Lyra Fawley turned her head, noticed her friend's behavior and how she was looking at Hyleth, and appeared to ask her a question. Isra shook her head.

Then, she brought her right finger and thumb to her lips. She presumably whistled, as the long-eared owl that must've delivered her letter swooped down from the rafters and perched on her shoulder. Isra got out a piece of parchment and what looked to be a self-inking quill; she wrote quickly, looking up at Hyleth every now and then, yet it was obvious to Hyleth that she had to be putting a great level of care into her words.

She gave the letter to her owl when she was done with it. Miraculously, only Lyra Fawley and maybe a few other students noticed the owl's short journey to deliver the letter. Lyra Fawley leaned in close to Isra, again to probably ask her what this was about, but Hyleth stopped paying attention to them momentarily as she read this letter, too:

Dear Hyleth Potter,

My father has written to me about what he and your father have agreed upon. He has also explained what you are, and told me to set up an unchaperoned meeting between us this week – a great honor and show of trust in you. Would tonight at eight o'clock be agreeable? If so, I will be waiting for you outside the Slytherin common room. If you do not know where it is, I am sure your husband can show you the way.

Sincerely,

Isra Shafiq

Hyleth looked up from the letter, and saw that Isra was observing her much in the same way she had been. She nodded. Isra nodded back.

It was decided, then.

Monday's classes were tedious, but not nearly as exciting as they had been the previous week. Hyleth made sure to keep her mouth shut during DADA, not willing to let Umbridge get a rise out of her as they covered Chapter Two: Common Defensive Theories and Their Derivation of their book, had a short and incredibly boring "discussion," did a quiz, and were assigned yet another essay as homework. She was additionally one of the first students to leave the classroom, so the beta woman could not call for her to stay behind for one reason or another.

By ten to eight, she was standing in front of the entrance to the Slytherin common room under her Invisibility Cloak; she didn't want one of the other Slytherins to see her and wonder why she was there. She could still remember the last time she had been down here, when she'd been polyjuice'd as Pansy Parkinson – and eurgh, was that not a memory she really wanted to recall right now.

One minute before it was time, there were no students coming or going from the common room, so she took off her cloak. Exactly sixty seconds later, the stone entrance opened, and Isra Shafiq exited, alone.

"Hyleth Potter," she spoke. Her voice was musical, lilting.

"Isra Shafiq," Hyleth said. "It's nice to meet you. I, um, brought you some flowers." She brought out her left hand from behind her back, revealing a small bouquet of coral-colored roses. Dobby had bought them from the flower shop in Hogsmeade earlier, per Theo's advice.

"She doesn't know you," he'd said. "You need to make a good first impression."

Isra stared at the flowers. "Thank you," she murmured, accepting them. "They are lovely. Do you mind if I – ?"

"No, not at all."

Isra took the flowers back into the Slytherin dorms. She came back out a few minutes later. "Come," she said. "I know a place where we can talk, unless there is another you would prefer."

"Wherever you want to go is fine."

Isra led her to an alcove in the dungeons that was surprisingly rather comfortable. It had a window offering a view of the Great Lake underground, with magical, bioluminescent sea grass growing in front of it. The only fauna were a few fish swimming around, and there weren't many of them; no grindylows or merfolk, like Hyleth had encountered last year during the Second Task.

"I always knew my father would arrange my marriage one day," Isra started off slowly, staring at the window rather than at Hyleth. "Still, I always thought it would be to a foreign alpha. Perhaps my father's first cousin, Beaumont Blishwick, once he married his first spouse. Never could I have expected it would be to you, Hyleth Potter...or that you would be a Child of Briganti."

"I'm sorry?" Hyleth offered up.

The edges of Isra's mouth twitched. "Do not be. It is unexpected, but not unwelcome. I trust my father; if he thinks this is the right match for me, then it is so. Besides, you are a more suitable candidate for my consort than most."

Hyleth chuckled nervously. "In what way? I mean, you're going to have to share me with twelve other people."

"You say that like it is a bad thing, but it doesn't have to be. Marriage to you offers me a greater independence than I might have otherwise had," Isra said. "It means our children will have many siblings. Polygamy is not all bad. But, as for what you asked..." Isra looked out at the hallway, making sure no one else was around. Then, she rasped: "It means our children will almost assuredly be Parselmouths."

Hyleth's eyes bulged. "You're one, too?"

"Yes." Isra glanced down at her lap. "I knew you were not the one who had opened the Chamber three years ago. I am sorry that I never came to your defense. It was not right of me."

"No...it's okay," Hyleth said. "If you'd said anything, they would've gone after you, too."

"Yes, it is why my father told me not to. Before he changed his surname, Salazar Slytherin was a Shafiq. Did you know that?" At Hyleth's shake of her head, Isra smiled. "Most do not. It is not a secret that my family likes to discuss. As much as we are Dark, we have never been fond of what he did. We don't hate muggles, or the muggleborn; we simply want to practice our traditions in peace. It's why my family came here a hundred years after Muhammad's – peace be upon him – death, why my ancestor, Asra Shafiq, was born here and became Wulfnoð Peverell's wife.

"But that is neither here nor there," she continued. "My father wanted me to get to know you, as do I. We are going to be bonded for the rest of our lives, after all."

"What do you want to know?"

"How about we introduce ourselves?" Isra suggested. She lifted her chin. "My name is Isra Noor Shafiq, daughter of Lord Firdaus Shafiq. My mother was a foreigner, like most of the omegas that the alphas in my family marry; she was from Saudi Arabia. She died shortly after giving birth to me."

"Sorry."

"Again, don't be," Isra replied. "You know what it's like to not have a parent, too. Hmm, what else...English is not my first language, I didn't learn it until age four. My family speaks Arabic at home, which is both our manor here in England and our one in our ancestral home in Saudi Arabia, where we spend the winter and spring. I have a pet snake named Ghadir, which means 'stream;' she is a desert cobra. My favorite person in the entire world is my grandmother, Eleanore Shafiq, née Blishqick, but my best friend is Lyra Fawley – who, I take it, is another potential candidate for your spouses, since she's also an Heir Apparent to a Founding House?

"Yes, that's what I thought. I think you will like her, if her father agrees for her to marry you as well," she hummed at Hyleth's confirmation. "Oh, and my favorite food is chocolate. The darker and bitterer, the better."

"Noted," Hyleth said with a crooked grin. She knew she was going to have to do quite the run at Honeydukes on their first Hogsmeade trip of the year; Theo, Ginny, Luna, and Tonks were also huge fans of sweets, and she knew Cedric had his own affinity for Sugar Quills. "Um, my name is Hyleth Potter...as you already know. I grew up with my mother's relatives, but really, for now, the less that's said about that, the better...my godfather, Lord Sirius Black, took custody of me the summer before last after I helped get him exonerated. But – and I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone this – he's actually my other biological father."

Shock fell over Isra's visage. "Really?"

"Yeah." Hyleth scratched the back of her neck nervously. "My papa, as I like to call him now, was infertile, and my mum...well, she wanted them to have a child, no matter what. So, she had them and my dad do an ancient ritual to conceive me."

"I know what ritual you are speaking of," Isra said. "Your mother was very interested in ancient rituals, wasn't she?"

"I guess. Speaking of, what all do you know about the Ritual of Briganti and our ancestors?"

"My father used to tell me about Wulfnoð Peverell and his wives sometimes as a bedtime story," Isra admitted. "He read directly from our book about it. Your husband's family has one as well, don't they?"

"They do, as does mine."

"I suspect yours has much more information than his or mine does. But, I do know that I will become pregnant on our bonding night. And that is alright with me."

Hyleth exhaled in relief. "Good. That makes me feel better. A few more things...I know you know who my current spouses are."

Isra's mouth lifted. "I wanted you wish you congratulations on your bonding this weekend."

"Thank you," Hyleth said. "But I thought I'd let you know who the others, so far, will be: Cedric Diggory, Tonks – she's a seventh year Hufflepuff, like him – and probably Susan Bones, a Hufflepuff in my year."

"They seem like good choices." Isra tilted her head. "But Hermione Granger isn't one of them?"

Hyleth paused. "Err...no."

"Really? I've always thought that she was in love with you. Although you hadn't presented then, the way that she looked at you during the Yule Ball...did she say 'no?'"

"No, actually. I..." She cleared her throat. "I haven't asked her. I didn't ask Cedric or Tonks, either. They were the ones to...propose to me."

If Isra had some further thoughts on the matter, any at all, Hyleth couldn't tell. She'd schooled her expression, in the same way that Theo was able to do. A pureblood family thing. "I see."

A silence fell over them. It wasn't awkward – truthfully, it was rather comfortable. Hyleth felt more at ease with Isra than she would've thought for their first meeting. Perhaps it was because knowing the omega was a Parselmouth as well had instilled a sense of camaraderie between them.

Isra took out a pocket watch. "It's almost nine-thirty," she said. "I still have homework to do."

Hyleth chuckled. "Yeah, same here."

They both stood up. "It was nice having this talk with you, alone," Isra told her. "You know, despite how famous you are, I don't think anyone at Hogwarts outside of your friends knows that much about you."

"Can you kind of understand why?"

"Of course. But, while I knew you were nice, you are far nicer than I expected you to be."

"You, too." Hyleth peered down the hallway, in the direction they'd come from. "Is it okay if I walk you back to the Slytherin common room?"

"I'd like nothing more," Isra answered.

They walked back, talking about this and that quietly. There were no other students in the hallway when they arrived at the stone entrance. As such, maybe Hyleth shouldn't have been surprised as she was when Isra gazed up at her, the fire from the candles dancing in her dark brown eyes. "Is it okay if I kiss you?"

"I – uh – what?" Hyleth stammered out. Man, you'd think with her having three spouses already, she'd be much more adept at this by now.

"I just want to make sure that I won't step on the boundaries of the mates you already have," the omega said.

"They – they said kissing was fine," Hyleth replied, recalling the conversation – it was the one where Theo had told her to get the flowers.

"Then, may I?"

They met halfway, Hyleth leaning down, Isra reaching up. Their lips brushed up against each other's, in a very chaste kiss. Isra flinched back slightly at the electric-like shock she received, as had happened the previous first times; she didn't let it deter her, however.

"Good night, Hyleth Potter," Isra whispered upon them separating.

She entered the Slytherin common room and the stones moved shut behind her, meaning it was really to no one at all that Hyleth finally said back, "Good night, Isra."

Word Count: 3,083