AN: And here is the first chapter of 2025. Thank you to those of you who have supported this story.

Chapter 25: Black Sister Problems

Bern, Switzerland

What the hell was wrong with her?

She didn't understand why she had such a strong urge to use her allure just then.

Not that she had much control over it at this point. Which was one of the reasons she was here. Maybe she really should look into joining staying at the coven.

She knew she wouldn't though. She usually didn't have a lot to do with her own kind. Yet, seeing that man with that little boy. A part of her felt ridiculously possessive and she didn't even know them.

She had only arrived this afternoon after a very terse farewell from her brother in Lyon.

"I'm surprised you're here," she said when he flooed in.

She forgot how he towered over her for some reason she imagined they were much closer in height, but he was a good eight or so inches taller than she was. Maybe because she usually wore heels.

She even had ordered some ridiculously high ones for her trip to Bern even though she was sure she'd fall in them as soon as she wore them. Her balance had seemed off even since the incident. Almost as if she wasn't used to her body.

Oh, did she hate being short.

And so weak. All her muscles had been unused. Despite weeks of therapy, she was nowhere near where she used to be. It didn't help she lost an obscene amount of weight. Her once glorious curves were all but gone, she looked like a freaking little girl.

"You look better," he said eying her.

"It would be hard to look as bad as I did before," She muttered back. "I heard you were here during the worst of it. Thank you."

He nodded frowning as he looked at her. "I always forget that you were one."

Her knew he meant her being veela.

"I forget myself," She said. "I haven't exactly looked bewitching lately."

He raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know how to explain it," She said. "Being burned and beaten to death plays havoc with my memory."

"There are places you could live you know with others. I think there's one in the Alps and maybe Nice. You have the resources where…"

He knew he was referring to some of the veela covens that Apolline had mentioned. Apolline had helped her make occasional trips to one to help her sort things out, but she did not want to live there. At least not yet. Learning about her own kind one thing, but she wasn't sure she could commit herself to a life of isolation from others. Besides, the village was nowhere near as luxurious as the resort where she planned on setting up base.

"I'll be fine, Lucius. You don't need to check in again. Your services are done. I'll survive."

He gave her an odd look but nodded before leaving her to pack her things. He wanted about as much to do with her as him.

The man, Sirius, didn't seem to react much to the allure. Though, she wasn't even sure she did it properly. A part of her felt so relieved he didn't even blink on eye on her. He seemed so focused on his son.

Baby.

She grimaced hearing that stupid voice again. It had become fainter in recent days. She was hoping that that was the end of it. Being able to see herself in the mirror again had helped a lot.

She felt more like herself. Whatever that was.

Still, a part of her wondered what he didn't find appealing. She wasn't that bad looking. The swelling on her face had subsided and the hair tonic had worked as described and she now had actual hair again not the down like feather covering she a little more than a month ago.

Nope, back to silky long white gold of her hair like Maman's. It had grown to a respectable shoulder length. She'd like it longer, but she could at least style it now and it did look fairly fashionable in the plait she had put it in.

Merlin, did she love fashion.

She had always been interested in baubles and what nots, though a part of her cringed at her even thinking this.

Ridiculous.

Soon she'd be back to her old self. Maybe move on with her life after she recovered. She was glad he had died. She still hadn't believed she let him touch her.

Pet.

That voice. She still wanted bathe in bleach for some reason when she heard that name.

It didn't help that she had nightmares. Often, she couldn't remember what they were about, but they were likely about him. They always were.

Pet, punish yourself….her screaming. Him touching her thinking she didn't know. That laugh. That laugh.

It will pass.

She hoped.

Regardless, she had things to do like check in with the coven. Maybe, just maybe, they could tell her what she did wrong with her allure and why she felt something when she saw that man and his adorable little boy.

Baby.

She was late. Super late. As in months late. She tried to remember her last period. Was it in January or February? It was before Valentine's Day.

Narcissa didn't know why it took her this long to realize this may be an issue. She was usually so good about taking the contraception drought but the past few months…had she forgotten? When was the last time she was due to take it. It was entirely possible with everything going on between Harry, Draco, and Bella's death she had missed a dose.

She frowned.

She didn't even think it was possible given how difficult of a time they had conceiving Draco.

Yet, she was having symptoms. Her mood for one thing. She had been extremely agitated as of late and melancholy. Of course that could've been in part due to losing Bella and Draco being Draco, but….she was usually more collected than this. She hadn't wanted to eat for the longest time either, everything came right back up. Again, she thought it was just grief but now…now she was wanting to eat all the time when she wasn't sick. She had a ridiculous amount of breakfast an hour so, even more than her growing son and yet still was hungry.

Sweets. All she wanted was sweets. She hated sweets. She ate an appalling amount of cookies yesterday when she dropped off Harry at the lodge, and now all those pancakes covered with a gross amount of syrup. Even Draco had made an odd remark about her eating which promptly got him hit with a stinging hex, though she quickly apologized. Hitting with a hex was so unlike her, but she got so irritated lately especially when her own son said she was going to get big as a house if she kept eating. Really, he deserved it.

She groaned as she heard her stomach growl confirming that it wanted a yet another helping of pancakes. So hungry.

And then there were her breasts. They were incredibly sore and were ridiculously swollen. The rest of her felt bloated as well. She also noticed some of her robes were fitting rather snug in the stomach and chest areas as of late. Maybe it was from eating too much junk, but she couldn't even get her favorite ones over her stomach this morning. Her traveling robes wouldn't button up properly around the chest the yesterday either. And there was something else…something she didn't even want to think about was a possibility yet.

She frowned as she held her wand out in front of her. A part of her didn't want to perform the necessary charm, but she knew she had to do it sooner than later. She needed to know.

She remembered performing the charm several times in the past, it always turning up negative except when she had Draco that one time. That one little blue heart. It had felt like such a miracle then, but they had made precautions to make sure…

No precautions were taken this time when they didn't even think having another child was a possibility.

No need to panic until the charm was done. Taking a deep breath she murmured the incantation.

There were three.

Specifically, there were three pink heart beats appeared in front of her and she turned and she almost vomited when she saw them.

Fuck.

She was pregnant and it looked like with triplets at that. Three girls and she almost certain based on the blonde streak that appeared in her hair this morning after breakfast that at least one of them had the gene. One of them was veela. And she had a feeling she would become one too with the pregnancy.

She frowned vaguely recalling reading in one of her medical texts about how the veela gene could be pass from the child to the parent during pregnancy. Sometimes it was just certain aspects like conjuring fire or having the allure. Sometimes it was everything, meaning going through the entire transformation. And it was permanent. Even after giving birth the mother would still be veela. There were theories to why this would happen. That the baby would need an adult veela to guide them to life, that pregnancy would awaken a dormant gene. She really hoped she could hide this. Besides that, she hoped she could survive it. It wasn't just the stigma that made them take precautions to make sure that Draco was a boy, it was also her life. The changing process wasn't exactly easy. Especially if it was a full transformation. She shuddered as she thought about what could happen to her.

She wondered what she was going to do. Termination was not an option for her. She had wanted another child for so long. The timing now wasn't right coupled by Lucius's veela genes, but she was still extremely delighted. Besides, even if she didn't have the babies it wasn't going to change what happened to her. Her body was still going to go through the change. There was no going back from that. It was not going to be an easy experience by any means. Even if it would be considerably easier to survive it if…no, she would not. She refused.

She knew that would not be what Lucius wanted. Just having him willingly try for Draco had been an ordeal in itself. It had been the only time she had ever sided with Abraxas on anything when he more or less demanded they try for an heir.

Frowning she looked at the blonde streak in her hair. It was similar yet different to the Malfoy blonde she had wore for all these years. It was almost effervescent looking. Like veela hair. She hoped a coloring spell would hold for now. She didn't think it would in the future knowing that it was magic that was changing the color. She might read about whether or not muggle dye was safe to use with pregnancy. She did not want her condition getting out, especially if it was just her hair that changed.

Luckily, the spell worked. She then looked at herself in the mirror. No one could tell she told herself. It just looked like she might have put on a few pounds from stress eating, she wasn't that far along. Yes, but she was having triplets. Merlin, triplets. She'd be huge by the time she gave birth. Probably larger than Molly Weasley was when she had the twins and that woman had been the size of a barge.

Her impending Molly Weasley-ish size was the least of her concern now. It did explain why her favorite robes no longer fit. It just wasn't all the sweets she had been gorging on lately, though that probably didn't help.

She wondered how long she would have before she'd have to use some cosmetic concealing charms or a stomach concealing band. There were some maternity robes that wove them in that would help for a while, but even she doubted their effectiveness with triplets. Regardless, they would hide the pregnancy until she figured out what she was going to do or at the very least until she wanted to talk about it with someone.

"Mother, are you in there?"

Draco.

She forgot he was home for Easter.

It wasn't like he had his own bathroom. They had tons of bathrooms in the manor and rooms. They wouldn't need more with three children on the way.

Three children.

Narcissa couldn't help but throw up all her pancakes.

She was having fucking triplets.

Narcissa looked like she was going to be sick. At least Andromeda was pretty sure she was when she came to visit her that day. She was to meet her other nephew at this time and they were supposed to bring up Harry.

That was probably what was doing it.

That and she had been unwell it seemed since Bella's death.

She knew it had hit Narcissa harder than her and of course Harry and Sirius.

She was glad her nephew was spending some time with his father in Switzerland this week. It would be good for both of them.

Both seemed to come alive when they were with each. If only Bella…

"How is Draco doing?" She asked Cissy.

Cissy shrugged before taking a bit of the biscuit she was eating. At least she was eating. "Alright. A little sullen. I think he's still mad that I lectured him after what happened with Longbottom."

"Still?"

"He holds grudges like Lucius," Narcissa said rolling her eyes. "His grades have improved though. Apparently, he's thrown himself in his work which I'm not complaining about. His Transfiguration grade is still to be desired though."

She nodded. "How do you think…"

"He will react to Harry. I don' t know really. It's not like we are going to tell him everything."

Everything meaning that Harry was once upon a time Harry Potter. They had all agreed, Harry included. The less people knew about his past the better. Harry did not like the idea of being known for the scar that was formerly on his head and just wanted to live in peace.

Andromeda couldn't blame him.

It would be hard enough for him being the son of Sirius and Bellatrix. Not that he was aware of his parents' sordid history. They hadn't had the heart to tell him. Besides, Sirius should be the one to tell the boy his story at least and Bella's since wasn't there.

"Have you heard from Sirius?"

Narcissa shook her head. "Not since I dropped Harry off yesterday afternoon. I didn't have time to fire call this morning I was otherwise occupied."

Narcissa did seem distracted.

"Is it about the Granger case?" Andromeda asked. "I know the potions aren't working as we hoped and we're getting near the six month mark…"

Narcissa shook her head again even though they both knew that was an issue. They were going to have to talk to Emma Granger soon about her options.

"It's such an arbitrary number," Narcissa said taking a bite of the biscuit. "Six months. I don't even know how they get that."

The six months they were referring to was the girl's being status. It was such a silly concept, but the ministry was insistent in using it in cases like this. When someone could potentially lose their humanity. Though the girl had moments even sometimes a week of clarity, she still identified more with her rat form. Which was no wonder with everything that was going on. If she still was like that in a couple of months, she'd likely be declared a beast which would change how she was treated amongst other things.

It was a travesty, but honestly Andromeda did occasionally wonder if the girl would recover. After the incident between her parents last month, she had barely managed to stay human past sunrise at the last full moon and had taken on more rat qualities than anyone would like to admit.

"Have you mentioned to Dr. Granger that you're in contact with Lupin?" Narcissa said.

"I'm thinking of having Ted tell her something, I honestly don't know where I can even begin with Lupin. Obviously, I can't tell him anything."

"Obviously," Narcissa said. "But we may need him especially if…"

"Mother?"

A blonde boy that looked remarkably like Lucius appeared at the doorway.

Her nephew.

He looked like his father, Andromeda thought, but there were clear signs of Cissy in him. The way he was studying the room reminded him of her.

"Draco, this is your Aunt Andromeda," Narcissa said motioning the boy to come in there.

The boy greeted her with the proper protocol, but Andromeda could tell he wasn't sure about her.

She knew he had probably heard things about her. Probably heard she was a blood traitor with some of the circles he traveled in.

Cissy had complained endlessly about the fact the boy liked to hang out with the Crabbes and Goyles and that Parkinson girl.

Honestly, she was surprised Parkinson had found someone to reproduce with someone.

"Why haven't I met you before?"

Well, that wasn't in proper pureblood protocol.

Narcissa sighed, "What did we discuss about tact, Draco?"

"The blood traitor…"

Andromeda raised an eyebrow as she looked at Cissy whose wand was in the air.

"Really?"

"Draco knows better, don't you?" She eyed her son.

The boy nodded and Cissy released the spell and she glared at him, "Apologize to your aunt."

"I'm sorry," The boy said as Narcissa grabbed another cookie. She probably should get the recipe usually Cissy only nibbled at those things she had eaten three or four since they started their tea. "I was just curious to why you're here."

"She's here because she's family," Cissy said. "And we have something to discuss with you. Your cousin."

"Cousin…oh right, wasn't she a Hufflepuff with pink hair or something."

"Nymphadora graduated a year before you started school," Andromeda said. "We aren't talking about her though I'm sure she'd love to meet you. She's really good at Transfiguration."

"I'm bullocks at it," Draco said. "It doesn't help…"

"I don't want to hear about Professor McGonagall's lack of teaching skills. Not that I totally disagree with you." Narcissa rolled her eyes.

"Minerva isn't that bad…" Andromeda said but the look at her sister and nephew's face said otherwise.

"Well, Nymphadora did okay with her class at least. But that might be because she's a metamorph."

"A metamorph?" Draco said. "Really? We have one in the family."

"If you paid attention to your family history, Draco. You'd realize it's a Black family trait. Though it has skipped a few generations."

Probably because we were all marrying our cousins, Andromeda thought with an eyeroll. Although, Lucius and Narcissa mercifully weren't related. Though she was pretty sure her parents only had their eyes on the Malfoy family because of Abraxas's connection with the Dark Lord and substantial coffers. She knew her mother had concerns about Lucius's mother.

Odette Malfoy. She had been long dead long before marriage arrangements were even made, but she remembered the rumors about the woman's veela heritage.

She remembered contract negotiations being made especially that there would be precautions made to prevent having daughters—not that she believed Abraxas Malfoy had any intention of letting Lucius follow said provisions.

It seems like that term of the contract was kept she thought looking at her nephew.

"I take it you find your family history lessons about as boring as I did."

"And yet…"

"And yet you need to learn about your family," His mother said. "We weren't actually talking about Nymphadora when talking about your cousin. Although, I do appreciate the offer of helping him in Transfiguration, Andi. If she'd be willing to."

If she paid her daughter enough she'd be willing to do it. Besides, maybe if Draco was tolerable, it might push her daughter into pursuing a different path than putting herself in the line of danger all the time.

Worst thing she ever heard her daughter wanting to be an auror. Not that she told that to her daughter.

"Then…"

"Your cousin Sirius has a son your age," Narcissa stated.

"The one who was in Azkaban?"

"The one who was never convicted of anything and sent to Azkaban illegally," Narcissa clarified.

"He has a kid?"

"Yes, a son. He has had a very hard life and Sirius has just found out about him."

"Isn't Cousin Sirius in Switzerland trying to get de-Azkaban?"

Well, it appeared Draco did read the paper.

"Yes, which is why Harry will be staying here this summer." Narcissa said before polishing off the rest of her cookie.

Chapter 26 Preview: Someone goes out on a date.