I woke up a few hours later to the sound of laughter. It was a really nice way to wake up after the events from earlier. Shifting back to normal, I sat up in bed and stretched my arms above my head. It seemed like everyone but Ace was up and about, Marco sitting in a chair across the room with a book in his hands. Figuring that the girls were with Hadrian, I got up and made my way over to my husband, looking over his shoulder to see what it was that he was reading.

"Remus dropped off one of the books he and Sirius went through, yoi."

I blinked and looked at Marco before looking back at the book in his hands. From the text he was reading, it was one of the darker books on soul magic. The page he was on detailed how one could go about suppressing a soul bond.

"I doubt Molly would be able to get her hands on this information," I told him. "To my knowledge, very few books in circulation today would have this kind of detail, and all of them are very expensive."

"But could Albus?" he asked.

That had me pausing. The old coot probably could get his hands on a book like that. Shit. Why hadn't I thought of that? We would need to be even more vigilant with the boys from now on.

"You're right." I moved around the chair and sat on the arm of it, leaning against Marco's shoulder. "Hopefully we'll be able to deal with him and Molly soon enough. I'd rather focus on our boys surviving the next task."

Marco shut the book after marking his spot and pulled me into his lap. He then buried his face him my hair before speaking. "Everything will be alright, pretty bird. We'll figure out a way to make sure nothing happens to Ace, yoi."

"Yes, but I would really like to go home. Being back here is reminding me why I hate the politics of being the Lady of a Noble house."

I relaxed into him and let out a sigh. I would rather be back on the ocean fighting Marines than dealing with the bureaucracy of the wizarding world. However, we still had to deal with the tournament, Dumbledor, and Voldemort. Which reminded me.

"Death visited me in my dreams today," I started. This got Marco's attention and had him pulling back slightly to look down at me. "He told me how to make sure that Voldemort dies for good this time."

"What did he tell you?"

I stayed silent for a moment as a shiver ran up my spine at the thought of how that mad man had managed to stay alive all of these years.

"He severed his soul and placed the fragments into different vessels. These need to be destroyed in order for him to truly die. He made six in total, but two of them have already been dealt with."

"And the other four, yoi?"

"One of them is hidden in the Room of Requirement. Once we find it, we can use it to locate the others. We'll need to speak with Sirius about speaking with his family's house elf, too. He apparently knows where one of them is."

"We can do that now. Sirius is in the other room with the girls and Hadrian teaching them a game."

I raised my eyebrow at that. What game was that stupid dog teaching my children? It better be age appropriate or else I was going to have him neutered.

"Let's do it. And then we can see about confronting Crouch and Bagman."

~MotP~

Convincing Sirius to call for Kreacher had been harder than I had thought. He really hated that house elf, and the feeling was mutual. Thankfully, the girls were distracted enough playing gobstones with Hadrian to be paying any attention. Marco went off to inform Oyaji about Death's visit while I handled talking with Kreacher in the kitchen. He still wasn't fully comfortable with the whole house elf thing, but I understood his dislike. It was too similar to slavery even if the agreement between the two species was mutually beneficial.

"Kreacher, answer all of her questions truthfully," Sirius ordered the old elf.

The creature sneered at him but said nothing, turning to me as I stood there with my arms crossed over my chest and a frown on my face. I had to treat him like I would a misbehaving child and act like the pureblood my mother raised me to be.

"Kreacher, have you ever seen an object that reeked of soul magic?" I asked, keeping my tone harsh and clipped.

The poor thing seemed to pale before turning to glare at Sirius. Almost like something was his fault.

"Look at me when I am speaking to you," I commanded. I didn't like using that tone of voice with my own house elves, but this one had been with Sirius' mother. It was the only tone I could think of to get him to stop what he was doing.

"Apologies, Lady Potter," he grumbled. "Kreacher will answer. Master Regulus ordered Kreacher to help mad wizard with task and then return to him. Mad wizard took Kreacher to cave and made Kreacher drink bad potion. He then put an item like Lady Potter described into the basin and left Kreacher to die. But Kreacher was ordered to return to Master Regulus." Kreacher paused as he seemed to get a bit emotional. He really had loved Regulus while the man had been alive.

I glanced over at Sirius briefly to see him clenching his fists so tight that they had turned white. It wasn't hard for me to figure out why. He was most likely about to hear how his younger brother had died if Kreacher's emotions were anything to go by.

"Kreacher returned to Master Regulus and told him of what the mad wizard did. Master Regulus ordered Kreacher to take him there. He then…Master Regulus ordered Kreacher to feed him the potion. Kreacher did not want this. Master Regulus would die if Kreacher did that. But Kreacher could not refuse an order. So Kreacher gave Master Regulus the potion. Then…then Master Regulus ordered Kreacher to take the item and leave. To destroy the item after he replaced it with a fake. Infiri dragged Master Regulus into the water, and Kreacher tried to save him. But Master Regulus ordered Kreacher again to leave and destroy the item." Kreacher grabbed onto his ears and started to pull on them harshly, likely as a punishment for himself. "Kreacher could not destroy the item, though. Kreacher tried. Oh, Kreacher tried to fulfill Master Regulus' last order. But the item cannot be destroyed by means that Kreacher has."

I watched the elf for a moment before looking at Sirius. He was paler than the day he escaped from Azkaban. I knew that he had tried to hate his brother for staying with their parents, but one can only lie to themselves for so long. He would always love his baby brother. And now he knew that he hadn't been as consumed with the lie Voldemort preached as he had thought. I then looked back down at Kreacher.

"Kreacher, do you still have this item?" I asked.

The elf looked up at me with wide eyes before he slowly nodded. Good.

"I am looking into a way to destroy the item, along with others like it. Until then, I want you to keep it hidden. Only hand it over to myself or Sirius, is that understood?"

Kreacher looked almost ecstatic at my words as he bowed low to me.

"Kreacher will do as Lady Potter wishes. Lady Potter is going to fulfill Master Regulus' last wish."

Kreacher then bowed to Sirius, a first in my book, before he popped away. Most likely returning to the Black family manor. I stared at the spot the elf had been for a moment longer before I looked over at Sirius. A few tears had fallen down his cheeks.

"Oh Siri…" I muttered before moving over to him and pulling him into my arms tightly. This was all probably difficult for him to process. "Why don't you go back to your room for a bit? Moony would be best to help you process everything Kreacher said."

The man didn't even say anything. He just squeezed me tightly before leaving the kitchen, heading for the room he was sharing with Remus. I watched him leave and leaned against the counter with a sigh. At least we knew where two of the items were. That only left two more, which would be a bit difficult to find even with using the other items to do so.

"Are you okay, pretty bird, yoi?"

I opened my eyes, not even realizing that I had closed them, and blinked at seeing Marco standing in the entryway to the kitchen.

"Well, I now know where two of the items are," I told him. "Sirius and I also found out how his little brother died. While I wasn't very close with him, we were in the same house in school. Siri took it harder though. He spent the last few years thinking that his brother had been a big supporter of Voldemort, but that doesn't seem to be the case now. His last act was to try and destroy the soul fragment that's held in the item his house elf now holds."

Marco hummed and walked over, pulling me into his arms.

"I can't imagine losing faith and trust in one of my brothers and then finding out that it hadn't been what I had thought it was years later after their death."

"The worst part is, I know that he blames himself for not trying harder to convince Regulus to leave with him when he ran away. He didn't want to leave him with their parents, but he couldn't stay in that house any longer. His mother was a mean bitch, worse than Big Mom when it came to how she treated her sons. Always pitting them against each other and favoring Regulus just because Sirius turned out to be the black sheep in his family."

Marco pulled back slightly and looked down at me with a raised eyebrow. We both knew how bad Big Mom was, especially when it came to how she treated her children. The woman was a monster and a terrible parent in our eyes.

"Is he doing okay, yoi?"

"He will be. I sent him to Remus. His soulmate is the best option for helping him process everything that he learned today."

Marco nodded and then pulled me back into his chest, resting his head on top of mine. We stood there for a little while before finally pulling apart. There were still things that needed to be done today. Like me giving Crouch and Bagman a piece of my mind about the second task. I would need to figure out if they were in the castle or at the Ministry first. Maybe a trip to Minirva's office was in order.

~MotP~

"Thank you for joining us, gentleman."

I kept my face passive as Crouch, Bagman, and Albus arrived in Minirva's office. After speaking with the woman, the three of us decided that it would be best to meet in her office. Especially after we had explained why we were upset with what had been decided for the second task. The woman had understood our concerns after Marco explained devil fruits to her. While she still had many questions, this was more important to get situated.

Crouch and Bagman seemed a mix of annoyed and fearful as they took a seat across from me and Marco. Albus just kept up his usual air or grandfatherly worry, though he seemed to refuse to sit.

"Miss Potter, I'm sure this meeting would be better held in my office," he intoned. Almost as if he was talking to one of his students.

"I think not, Headmaster," I countered. "This is a very sensitive topic, and I have already warded this room with Professor McGonagal's permission. Please, sit so that we can get on with this. I'm sure we all would like to get back to what we had been doing previously."

We held eye contact for a moment before he relented and sat down next to Crouch. I could see his façade waiver for a moment, but I was sure only Minirva could tell as well. Marco didn't quite know the old coot as well as we did yet.

"Lady Potter," Crouch started, "why did you wish to speak with us?"

"The second task." I turned my gaze to the man and almost smirked when he shrunk back from it. "Hadrian figured out how to open the egg and came to us with the riddle. After spending a little while helping him figure it out." I held up my hand to stop the men from speaking. "Do not even try to say that this is cheating. We all know that the other champions do not figure everything out on their own. I am not stupid, and it is not against the rules. Now, once we figured it out, it came to our attention that the Black Lake will be the location for the task. One that involves taking something most precious to each champion for them to retrieve. The only thing they would sorely miss is a loved one, and Hadrian's most precious person is his soulmate, Ace." I glanced at Marco, who nodded, and then leveled each man with an icy glare that had two of them shrinking back in their seats as a small wave of magic rolled off of me.

"L-Lady Potter, those we have each champion retrieving will be well protected by strong mag—"

"Ace has a very special ability that will kill him if he enters any body of water that reaches past his ankles!" I shouted, my magic flaring out from around me. "No amount of magic will protect him from these effects, Bartemus!"

"Now, Miss Potter –"

"It is Lady Potter to you, Headmaster! I will not allow you to use Ace in this way! You will get him killed!"

"There is no magical ability like you describe, Lady Potter," Albus corrected himself.

"That's because it isn't a magical ability, yoi," Marco added in. "He is quite literally made of fire, and being submerged in water above his knees will cause him to first grow weak and then drown. There is nothing that can circumvent this."

All three men looked at him with wide, unbelieving eyes before Crouch cleared his throat.

"You're saying that Harry Potter's soulmate isn't human? How can this be?"

I let out a huff and glared at Albus as he tried to hide the spark that flashed in his eyes. He was thinking about how he could use this against us, but I already figured into this. No matter what he tried, the soulbond would not be broken. Even if he tried to get the Ministry to rule it invalid due to this 'information' we were giving him.

"No, Ace is very much human," I stated once I calmed myself. I pulled at all of my knowledge of old families in other countries and smirked softly to myself. "He came into his inheritance when he turned sixteen, and it unlocked a latent creature inheritance thought lost in his family line. That of an elemental. As he never knew his biological parents, I'm sad to say that we don't know what line he descends from. Only that it can be traced back to eastern Asia."

Crouch and Bagman both looked horrified, though Albus seemed to be thoughtful again.

"A…an elemental?" Bagman whispered.

"Yes. A fire elemental, to be exact. This means that he cannot be submerged in water. Even with the help of magic. It will kill him." My last words were said with ice as I stared all three of them down. I was not about to back down from this. Like hell I would let them potentially kill one of my kids.

"Lady Potter, please, we can use someone else for the task. Maybe someone just as important to Mr. Potter?" Bagman bargained.

"And who would you have him save, hm? Not one of his sisters, I hope." I crossed my legs and leaned back in my chair. "I highly doubt you would survive trying to do that."

"N-no. Of course not, Lady Potter. What…what about one of his friends that he's made since arriving? That is better, correct?"

I stared the man down before looking over to Marco. He raised his eyebrow but didn't offer up an opinion. While this was a good enough trade, I wasn't quite done with these men just yet. I looked back at all three of them and leaned forward a bit.

"If any of you try to go back on this deal, I will not hesitate to end you in the most painful and public way I possibly can. Do not ever forget that I am the head of one of the oldest and richest families in Britain. I can have you begging for knuts and sickles on the streets of Diagon Alley in a matter of days with every witch and wizard knowing your most darkest and deepest secrets." I let my magic flair a bit stronger than last time before I pulled it back in, sitting back again.

I let them absorb the threat for a moment before I stood up, dusting off the elegant dress I had put on for this meeting. Hopefully they wouldn't try anything, but Albus was always a wild card. He barely looked effected by my words.

Marco stood with me and took my arm.

"Have a good day, gentleman. I do hope you keep your word."

A/N:I'm back! I am so sorry for the long wait for this chapter! Life has been so crazy recently and I haven't really had the time to work on this. Please let me know what you think. How do you like them telling Albus that Ace got an elemental creature inheritance in leu of saying anything about devil fruits? And what about the scene with Kreature? I love you all and hope to get some comments!

I did some artwork by request of one of my readers. You can find them on my Instagram under ValkyrieRaven20 or with the tag MateofthePhoenix

~Em