Unofficial Portkey Archive

A/N: Ok, Em...really needs a bit o'...release. Lady Starlight has once more beaten my insanity down to a manageable level.

Chapter 13: Acceptance of Fate
*****************************Hogwarts***********************************

September 5, 2015
7:20 pm

Hermione stopped at the door of the Hospital Wing and looked at the small group gathered within, scattered across several beds and a couple of conjured chairs. Emilia was, of course, lying back against Xander. He was sitting up against the headboard of his bed, his color returned and a small, bright sparkle in his eyes as he laughed at something Rain said from her perch at the foot of the bed.

Across from them, Harriet was 'sitting' with her feet up along the headboard of the bed, and her back on the mattress, reading from a book floating over her head. Several notebooks were spread on the bed between her and Abigail at the other end of the bed. Elliot and Sirius occupied a pair of chairs set between the beds, a small table holding a Wizard's Chess set between them.

Hermione started forward and stopped, suddenly, as she looked at the set a touch more closely. She watched as a tiny version of herself dodged an attack, from what she thought absently was a rather poor rendition of Lucius Malfoy. The tiny her flipped over the top of the Death Eater's image, and snapped her hand down. A blue spark snapped from her hand, and the Black Bishop exploded.

"At least I'm the White Queen," Hermione said, shocking both boys out of their stupor. They looked up at her guiltily. She smiled and stalked forward, sliding past Elliot to sit on the bed next to Harriet's head. She leaned forward and picked up the White King, "Harry's hair needs to be a touch messier," she mused. The tiny Harry looked up and smiled at her, and she set him back down on the squares. She laughed softly as she watched the tiny rendition of herself walk over to the tiny Harry, drop a pair of Daggers and snog him fiercely.

"Aww, bloody hell, when they start that, they are on for hours..." Elliot groaned. Emilia laughed and looked up to Hermione.

Hermione's gaze slowly panned to her daughter, the one that she had born anyway, and Emilia covered her face with her hands for an instant. She looked up at Hermione, "That's the second prototype, Fred brought it by this morning...evidentially, the first version...was a touch more, um...unrestrained, with their feelings."

"I can imagine," Hermione replied wryly, she looked over at Emilia, "Em, can I talk to you, Honey?"

"Um," Emilia looked back at Xander, then at her siblings, both natural and de facto, and then back at Hermione, "sure, Mum." Hermione stood and watched as Emilia turned and kissed Xander, before she hopped from the bed, smoothed her skirt back down over her legs and toed on a pair of sandals. She followed Hermione into the hall and looked across at her mother, "Mum, what..." Hermione reached across, grabbed her hand and they vanished.

The pair reappeared halfway across the castle, standing on one of the covered flying bridges overlooking the grounds. Hermione turned around and leaned against one of the arches holding the roof above them. "We need to talk, Em...something I should have done before."

"Mum, I uh...hate to..."

"Emilia Luna...I had to learn that myself, too," Hermione met her daughter's eyes and they both laughed. Hermione slid down to the floor of the bridge, her back to the waist-high railing behind her. She watched as Emilia dropped to the floor across from her, crossing her legs and sitting Indian style. "But it is about you and Xander, though," Hermione went on, hesitantly; she looked down at her hands, and then back up at Emilia. "You're losing yourself in him, Em."

"Mum, I..." Emilia stiffened slightly. Emerald eyes hardened and faint flickers of fire lit them, "I am not going to leave him, Mother," she growled darkly. "That would seem to be a touch hypocritical..."

Hermione took a breath, "That is the one thing I would never ask of you, Emilia." Emilia seemed to collapse, and brought her knees up in front of her, wrapping her arms around bare knees and squeezing them to her chest. Hermione slowly moved over to the other side of the bridge, sitting next to Emilia, and wrapping her arms around her.

"I'm sorry, Mummy," Emilia whispered, "It's just that I almost..."

"I know, Em, I know," Hermione said, reaching up and slowly stroking Emilia's hair, "I've been where you are at...the only difference is, I had years to get used to the idea..." Hermione turned and looked off into the distance for a beat. "When we were eleven...I was twelve actually, I sat in the Hospital Wing and watched your father lying there, I thought I'd die then. I did the same thing again and again, each time with that dread just getting deeper, with him getting hurt from everything from rogue Dementors, to Bludgers, to Dark Lords. He did the same, watching as I was petrified, and then almost killed at the Ministry..."

"How is this different?"

"It's not, not really," Hermione admitted after a minute, she continued to run her fingers along her daughters hair, before she started speaking again, "We never talked about this, about how much worse it is, about how the fear can get so thick in the middle of the night that the only way you can sleep is to hold onto them and damn near try to crawl inside them just so you can feel safe."

"I don't care, Mum," Emilia whispered. She looked up and back towards her mother, "I'm not running..." she sighed, bringing her hands up to scrub at her eyes tiredly.

"I see you moved your ring."

"Yeah," Emilia muttered, "Is it going to cause you and Dad problems?"

"If it does, we'll deal with them," Hermione replied quietly. She paused for a moment, watching as Sirius' owl swooped by the bridge, pausing to hoot a soft hello at them, before continuing her late afternoon hunt. "We never meant for you and your brother to have to deal with this shyte... Rita or some other reporter with nothing else better to do following you everywhere...Have you and Xander even had a date that wasn't in a purely Muggle part of the country...besides Hogsmeade that is?" Emilia shrugged.

"Its not that big of a deal, mum," she muttered. She slowly pushed to her feet and paced over to the other side of the bridge, looking down at the grounds far below. "I'm not sure that there is a me without him anymore," Emilia said, looking down at her ring; that glowed for a moment, as her eyes lit and faded. "I'm not sure that there was before the bond established."

"Seems like that sometimes, doesn't it?" Hermione mused in reply, not bothering to get up to cross to her daughter. Emilia turned around, looking back towards Hermione. "I remember back when I got the letter," Emilia grinned and Hermione conjured a single yellow canary that flew over and landed on Em's shoulder, trilled a brief song and vanished with a pop. "I'm not that old, Em."

"No, Mum, I'm sure in three, four hundred years you'll be telling me the same thing."

Hermione stuck out her tongue, before sighing, "I remember when I got it," she went on, "And I made mum and dad take me to Diagon Alley, after Minerva explained it, of course, just so I could learn all about this place...And I remember that almost the first book I read, was this book...Magical Events of the Twentieth Century. It was the first place that I met your dad, I suppose. And then, I read all these others, interspersed with my new textbooks, of course, and I felt I knew him. Merlin, I was so wrong...I think I was more of a fangirl than Ginny was then."

"I can't believe that, Mum, I've seen you two, you..."

"I learned that he has faults, Em," Emilia started to object, but Hermione shook her head quickly, "I know that you know that...you've seen them, but that's not the point. In some ways, it's more, normal, for you to have fallen for some random boy you started to date...You don't already know every habit, don't know instinctively the way he likes his tea, or how many Chocolate Frog cards he has, or why enclosed spaces still scare him..." Emilia swallowed heavily at the last, but Hermione did not notice.

"But I do, mum," Emilia whispered, "What do I do?"

"Just be careful, Emilia...Lord knows that I'm going to have to have this talk with either Sirius or Harriet, yet..."

"You think?" Emilia giggled slightly. Hermione snorted and held her arms out, closing them around Emilia as she knelt next to her mother and buried her face in her shoulder. "I'll try, Mummy."

***************************Canton**********************************
9:30 pm

Jane Granger grimaced slightly as she looked over another patient's files and sat back on her couch, scrubbing at her eyes tiredly. She looked up as Roger slipped in the room, and stopped along the back of the couch, bending down and kissing her upside down. "You know you look all sexy when you get annoyed, dear," Roger waggled his eyebrows and she laughed.

"Hush you...I'm an old woman," Jane objected, and he rolled his eyes, vaulting over the back of the couch and landing on the other side. In fact, Jane's comment was somewhat fatuous, between modern twenty-first century Muggle and Magical Medicine, both of them looked as if they were much closer to well-preserved mid-thirty-year-olds as they might have been in the last decade of the last century. The new longevity record for Muggles was one-hundred-fifty, held by a woman in California, while there was a raging debate on the Wizarding side in the appropriate journals on current average mortality, some theories were stating that two hundred, to two-fifty should be the new, average.

No one had quite sussed out the impact that would have on either society.

She stretched out along the couch, letting her head fall in his lap, she closed her eyes as he began to lightly comb his fingers through her hair. "So...do you think our granddaughter or daughter will get hitched first?" Jane asked quietly and he laughed.

"Well considering our other one just went and did it...who knows," Roger replied, still laughing faintly. "How's Hermione taking it?"

Jane shrugged and made a quiet contented sound before she rolled onto her side, scooting up a tad to let him play with the bare strip of skin at her hip. Roger started to run his fingers under the edge of her sleep pants and she snuggled down further into his lap, getting more comfortable. "Keep that up, Mr. Granger...I won't be responsible for the consequences."

"Last time you said that...Anna showed up nine months later..."

"Not this time," she grinned at him. She sighed, and closed her eyes, letting her head fall to the side again, "Hermione's going mental...not that, that's a surprise," she allowed. "She's determined not to interfere...it's not like everyone from the Familiars to Dumbledore hasn't seen it coming...but she doesn't want Em to have to go through some of the things that she had to."

"As far as I know, Xander doesn't have a big nasty Dark Wizard after him, does he?"

"It's only Saturday, there's still time in the week," Jane replied with a faint, tight smile. Her smile brightened, "Hermione's got both at the same time." Jane laughed softly, and Roger grinned. "Honestly, she's doing fine, she's still more worried how Em and Xander are going to take this year, Dumbledore still hasn't said anything about their sleeping arrangements."

"They have invisibility cloaks, right?" Roger mused, not even pausing on the fact that the magical solution was the first to come to mind. "It's not like Neville will say a bloody thing anyway, as long as the two don't make a issue of it...Its not like they all don't know went on that last year..."

"Yeah," Jane sat up and tucked her feet under her bum as she curled under his arm. She settled under his arm, "But the kids were all of age then...not that makes damn bit of difference really, they are all sixteen, old enough...hell Luna was living with Ron, by then. Hermione's not wanting to have to pull out the 'betrothed card', even though they are an old enough family to force the issue. Hell, Arthur's on the Governors' Board..."

"Speaking of that...is Molly still giving them shyte about Harriet?" Roger asked, running his fingers along her side.

"You know her, she's got some version of reality in her mind and hers must be the way it is. Harriet, herself, told her that she would rather be at the Hollow..."

"That wouldn't have anything to do with the fact she just might have a teensy little crush, on my grandson, would it?" Roger said insightfully. Jane snorted and slid from his arms, standing, and turning back to kiss him quickly.

"I'm going to fix a bit of tea," she explained, straightening, and starting towards the kitchen, she looked back over her shoulder as she gained the door, he nodded, and she pushed on through into the kitchen. "Remus and Tonks are coming over tomorrow for lunch," she reminded him through the door and he nodded, even though he could not see him.

****************************Bristol**************************************

The smell of smoke and ash filled the air as a patch of air shimmered and solidified in a dark, damp alley, with a faint CRACK. A tall, thin woman gathered a long, black cloak along her frame and strode from the alley, taking a right onto the street.

She moved down it quickly, her long, almost-silver blonde hair swinging behind her, dark boots showing with each step as she moved down the Muggle street. A vagrant looked up at her, sneering and she stepped around him, ignoring the taunt he said to her. He stood slowly, some other jeer on his lips and a red light flickered across the distance, sending him sliding down into the muck at the edge of the street.

After another block, she stopped in front of a dark and shuttered door. A cracked wooden sign hung above her head, dangling from one chain, with the words "Darklings" barely visible in red. She reached out to grab a tarnished brass doorknob. A faint sparkle of light outlined her hand as she pulled the door open and stepped through into a different world.

A doorman in black, sparkling robes stepped to her, taking her coat and folding it over one arm. "It is good to see you again, M'Lady," he said in a faint Irish accent. She nodded and waited. "Your companion is waiting."

"Take me to her," Narcissa Black said with a faint undercurrent of annoyance. The doorman handed off her coat to a young boy in a green and silver uniform and started forward into a room full of small round tables covered in crisp white linen. Only a few tables were filled at this hour, but it was one particular table that they moved towards, one set back in a corner behind a subtle screen of dark green plants. Narcissa stepped around the barrier and sat, looking across slowly at the woman looking back at her with a small smile.

The black-haired woman took a slow sip from a crystal goblet of a dark red wine and slowly licked her lips, gathering an errant drop of liquid. She smiled, and Narcissa made a slight face, "What do you want, Bella?" she said darkly.

"Is that any way to greet your beloved sister?" she smirked faintly. She took another sip of her wine, "I would think that you would be grateful for a chance to meet with me, to step on your native soil once more."

"Hardly," Narcissa snapped dryly, lowly, she looked around quickly.

"Of course I have a privacy charm up," Bellatrix said with a faint, slightly mocking laugh, "do you think me a fool?"

"In a word," Narcissa paused as a waiter appeared and set a glass of red in front of her and vanished, "yes. I am taking my life in my hands the instant I stepped back in England. I am free only on by the grace that none of the Aurors bother to look for me. I am risking that freedom by even stepping onto this soil, let alone meeting with the woman who stupidly attacked Potter's daughter in Diagon Alley in broad daylight."

"A little, half-blooded slag of no consequence..."

"Our prejudices cost us dearly, sister," Narcissa hissed, "I am tired of the old ways, they have cost me a husband, a son and a home..."

"You should hold your origins as sacred sister...your own grandson sullies himself with a Mudblood, in your house, the grand Malfoy Manor and you sit here..."

"What do you want, Bella?" Narcissa cut in tiredly, and took a deep drink of her wine. "Because of you, and my husband...I have never even met either of my grandsons...I am tired of it all." Narcissa took another drink of her wine.

"It is better that you haven't, your son is a blood-traitor, he..." Narcissa took a breath and started to stand, only to stop as Bellatrix reached out and grabbed her. "I need to gain entry to the manor, sister...you owe me, it was only my actions that allowed you to save your son."

"Only because I entered into an Unbreakable Vow with Severus," Narcissa growled back, but sat anyway. She crossed her arms, "What do you need, Bella? Draco, himself, would kill you as soon as look at you, let alone look at you, let alone what his wife will do to you..."

"It is not your concern as to what I need, only that I need entrance into the house," Bellatrix said snappishly, "All I need to know is that you will grant it."

Narcissa stared at her for a long moment, "Very well then, Bellatrix, then we are done...if I see you again, it will be so I can trade you for my freedom...I am sure that the Ministry would much rather have your head on a pike instead of mine." Narcissa stood, "I will make the arrangements, there are certain...items that I must procure...good night, sister, I know how to get a message to you." Narcissa took a step back and vanished with a soft CRACK.

Bellatrix smiled at the now empty chair across from you. "Yes, my sister, you will most certainly see me again." She took another drink of her wine, finishing it and gesturing for another.

*****************************Ministry of Magic****************************

September 6, 2015
2:15 am

Harry sat in a soft pool of light, cast by an Illumination Sphere hovering over his shoulder. Beyond his desk, the confines of his office were only dimly visible, as he slowly paged through stacks of reports on the activities of known and suspected dark wizards and their associates. He slowly closed the folder in his hand and looked off into the dimness, into a corner where, even though he couldn't see readily see her, he knew Hermione was slumbering lightly on the couch, and her head pillowed on the arm, facing him.

He had tried to send her home hours ago, after she had arrived back from her talk with Emilia at Hogwarts, but to no avail. Not that he had really thought she would go. Over the past eighteen years, neither had willingly been separated from the other, for almost any reason, and a pitiably little one such as getting some sleep would never be reason enough for that. And it was not as if either could hardly sleep without the other's presence anyway.

Harry knew the instant her eyes flickered open, unseen in the shadows, "What time is it?" she groaned, stretching like a cat and sitting up. She read the answer from his mind and stood slowly, pacing over to the desk and pulling the folder from his hands. Hermione read the title and sighed, "They'll be there tomorrow, Love." She pushed his chair back from the desk and dropped on his lap, effectively separating him from their work, and curled up.

"I know," Harry muttered, not quite meeting her eyes. Hers flicked heavenward, before she bent her head to kiss him, and settled back against his shoulder. "I remember when I was the one who had to drag you away from stacks of parchments."

"I had two kids," she replied with a faint grin, "I learned."

His fingers slipped up under the hem of her jumper, lightly running along her ribs, "And I had nothing to do with you learning to relax?"

"Honestly...maybe a little," Hermione allowed and he laughed quietly. She lightly rapped the back of her head on his shoulder and sighed quietly as she snuggled up into his arms. Harry let his head flop to the side, and stared at the offending stacks of parchments for a long, tired series of minutes. They passed silently as Hermione sat, content to play idly with his fingers. Without warning, Harry's face split in a huge yawn, and she looked up and back, crooking one eyebrow.

Fine, we'll go home, he smirked faintly as he tightened his arms around her, it's Sunday, we can have a bit of a lie-in...Since we won't be...disturbed.

We'll see, Hermione replied, not that she had any objections to the stated goal, or the implied one. Her eyes flickered and they vanished without moving, the office suddenly silent and still.

The light from the orb slowly faded, automatically dimming as it found no one there. Just as it almost faded totally out, a new parchment appeared on Harry's desk with a soft POP: "Report on 5 September 2015 sighting of Narcissa Malfoy..."

*************************Hogwarts**********************************

September 9, 2015. (Wednesday)
8:20 am

After a few more days of recovery, Poppy and Parvati had finally agreed to let Xander back into classes, and out of the Hospital Wing. In the end, it was mostly Poppy that had delayed his return, Parvati had said he was alright for class work, though not Quidditch or DADA practical work, on Monday morning before she had returned to St. Mungo's for the day. All of that was all well and good, especially as it finally relieved Rain, Harriet and the other Gryffindor sixth years of the burden of note-taking and handing off homework assignments for both Xander and Emilia, as she had, somewhat despite her mother's words, not been all that attentive in class, when she had even gone. She had yet to make a DADA class.

The Professor, Grayson Harriman, had given her a pass.

This morning, however, was Potions, and all of them were in attendance. Rain watched as Emilia periodically glanced at Xander, watching him like a hawk. She shook her head slightly and looked over at Harriet, to find her intently watching the swirl of colors in their cauldron. Rain sighed; This is going to be a long year.

At the front of the classroom, which was rather cleaner and somewhat better lit than under the previous professors, Draco looked around the room and adjusted his deep black robes around his slender frame, as he examined the class. To this day, despite or maybe in defiance of the incessant cajoling of his new family, he insisted that the color was to hide stains. No one believed him. He started to pace about the front of the room, "If you have not already ruined it, your potion should now be a red color, blending to blue." He looked at Emilia to find her once again looking over at Xander, "Miss Potter, as we are about to add powdered Tsemaus scale to your potions," he paused as several students not-so-covertly dug through their Potions ingredients, "can you explain why we did not use the more common kelpie fin extract in the mixture?"

Emilia blinked as she looked up at him, "Kelpie fin extract would react explosively with the Snapdragon root, the Tsemaus scale, while similar does not have the Cinnabar that often accumulates in Kelpie scales."

Draco nodded and frowned slightly at some thought as he held her emerald gaze for a beat, "Five points to Gryffindor," he replied, and resumed his pacing, "Very well then, add your scale and bring the potion to a simmer." He smirked darkly, "And then we will have a bit of a quiz on what you should have read last night." A faint groan answered his words as he flicked his wand and exam books appeared on desks. A series of questions wrote themselves across the board at the head of the room with another flick and he sat behind his desk and threw his feet up. "You may leave when you are done, your potions will be waiting for you next week, when you can take them off the heat."

Emilia sighed quietly across her and Xander's link and he smiled as he looked down at his desk, So, Em, when did you read this chapter?

Fourth year, she whispered back, as her quill started to blur over the paper without seemingly to even pause to gather a thought. Stop reading the answers from my head, Xander.

You won't share, Xander pouted and started in on a question about Asperil and its uses to lessen the side effects of certain wormwood-based potions. I thought we were supposed to share everything...

I already have to put up with the moon, love, Xander replied. She gave him a quick smile and reached down under the table, squeezing his leg for an instant before she returned to her paper. He smiled covertly and concentrated on finishing his paper, mostly ignoring the answers to each question that flitted across the back of his mind as Emilia wrote out the answers in her head.

She finished a few minutes later and waited, content to just watch him as he finished his own paper. Emilia twisted a small braid set with several small colored beads, around and around one finger, the same as her mother wore in her own hair most days. Hermione had never really explained what it meant, only that she loved Emilia's father very, very much. Emilia had only found out this summer that it meant that Hermione was part of a bonded pair, the custom from the times of the founders when rings were not always practical in the warrior covens of the time.

Xander looked up as he finished and glanced to the door with just his eyes. She bit her lip and nodded. She gathered her gear and stood, sharing a glance and faint nod with her "sisters". She followed Xander out into the hall and headed down it, towards the stairs out of the still rather dismal dungeons and up towards the more livable areas of the castle.

Emilia looked over at him out of the corner of her eye, Xan?

Yeah, Em, he replied distractedly as he stepped around the corner and paused as he looked back to find Emilia still standing at the base of the stairs leading upward. She rested her hand on the brass doorknob of a closet and looked at him, crooking a dark eyebrow.

Come here, Xander, she said, her 'voice' an octave lower than normal. She leaned back against the door, letting her outer robe fall open and slowly brought her right leg up, bending it to rest the sole of her Mary-Jane on the door behind her. Her skirt rode up with the movement, as she stretched her arms above her head.

Xander stepped over and rested his hands on the door on either side of her head, Was there something you wish to discuss, Emilia Luna?

She let her arms fall down, slipping between his to work their way under his robes. Just that, I really miss you, Xander. Her fingers slowly worked into his rear pockets, pulling him closer. Her head cocked to the side, just enough to clear his nose, and kissed him, groaning faintly into the kiss as her lips opened automatically, letting his tongue mate with hers. She let one hand fall back to the knob and turned it, before she pushed him back just enough with the other to let it open. She quickly stepped around the door and pulled him into the closet by his tie.

Xander chanced a quick glance around the closet, which was lit with a strange source-less light from above, and was rather larger on the inside than seemed to be necessary. Several shelves were filled with random cleaning products, and a pair of unused brooms sat in one corner. Emilia looked at him, smirking faintly and flicked her wand at the door. It flashed white, and a soft click came from the lock. "Xander..." Emilia licked her lips absently, watching as Xander took a quick, deep breath. She shrugged her robe off and it fell to the floor with a soft thump. "I need you, Xander."

Her chest visibly hitched as she watched as the whites slowly vanished from Xander's eyes and twin needle sharp fangs extended from under his lips. "We need to be quick," he murmured, "I hate to do that to you..."

Emilia's eyes lit, and her hair started to float, tendrils escaping the bushy tail it was pulled back in, "I've been wanting you all morning, Xander," she murmured and took two steps to him, grabbing his head and kissing him, crashing him back against a cabinet of supplies. She giggled against his neck, her eyes half-closed, and her fingers started to rapidly work at his belt, giving up after a beat and vanishing it with a quiet pop. Emilia's eyes opened fully as she felt her skirt being pushed up and Xander's fingers lightly tracing along the outside of her thighs.

"You don't need these do you?" he murmured, she shook her head quickly, and gasped as she felt her knickers rip away. He tossed the scrap of fabric to the floor of the closet, and kissed her almost savagely, a faint growl slipping from his lips. Her eyes bored into his and a faint smirk danced across her lips as she finished undoing his trousers and reached into his boxers, stroking him several times, before she pushed his trousers and boxers partially down his legs.

Xander's growl increased. He MOVED and Emilia squeaked as she felt herself be spun around to face the door. She smiled and slowly worked her rear back as only to freeze as strong hands grabbed her hips. One of them left her hip for an instant; she felt her skirt flip up. Inconceivious, she thought hurriedly, and felt the warm flush along her nerves as the charm took hold. She panted for a moment, her eyes glowing more fiercely, before she looked back over her shoulder to meet his eyes.

His eyes slipped closed as he slid into her, and she let out a soft yelp. She held his gaze as her thoughts swirled and intertwined with his, her heartbeat matching his without a thought or conscious command.

Xander started to move without a word, already speeding up to meet her at a wordless look in her eyes. She whimpered softly, forgetting that she had silenced the room, as she tried to move back against him, only to be stymied by his hands on her hips holding her still.

A soft, mewing sound slipped from her throat as she braced her hands against the door, "Fucckkkk," she groaned as Xander moved faster. He panted something, probably her name as he moved even faster, his nerves alive with the shared sensations crashing along his nerves. Her eyes slipped almost closed, as she let her head fall to her chest, and small rivets of sweat trickled down her neck, and inside her shirt.

She shook her head, flinging her hair back as she felt her stomach tighten, a tingling settling at the base of her spine, or perhaps Xander's. Emilia let one hand slip down from the door and settle between her thighs, touching where they were joined.

"Oh....Goddddd," Emilia gasped as a rush of fire filled her nerves and went limp, shuddering and clenching around him. A wave of faintly visible light ripped out from her, sending cleaning supplies tumbling to the ground. Xander moved twice more and groaned, shuddering and letting go into her, unconsciously holding her to him.

He staggered back a step, still holding Emilia to his lap and felt his back hit an empty wall. He slid to the floor, cushioning her against him, and sat with this back against the wall, panting into her neck. Emilia looked up and back, and pulled his head to hers with a shaking hand. She broke the kiss after a beat, and with a look, they shared a quick, breathless laugh.

Emilia shook slightly as she curled up in his arms, still mostly seated in his lap. She looked around the room, which was almost totally discombobulated, and let her head fall back against his shoulder. Their breathing slowed from near pants, and the glow faded from her eyes as Xander's eyes returned to merely human. Emilia muttered a cleaning charm, and a brief breeze ruffled her disordered skirt. "We go that long again...it could kill us," she commented after a long moment.

Xander grinned faintly, and kissed her neck, "But what a great way to go."

Emilia barked a laugh, and fell silent again. "What are we going to do tonight, Xander?" she whispered, grabbing his hand and running her thumb over the back idly, "I can escape my room if necessary...come up to yours, I doubt Elliot or Bob would care...if they know what's good for them..."

"Whatever you want, Em," he shrugged, "I thought Dumbledore was supposed to have some solution." Xander sighed, "I suppose we should, try, to sleep apart...I will still have that nagging voice in the back of my mind," he added with a faint grin, and she scowled, reaching back to rap him on the back of the head.

She let her expression fall, and shrugged, "I guess. It shouldn't be so bad..." She stood, pushing off his shoulder and summoned her robe from the floor with a vague gesture. She settled it on her shoulders, and looked down at the bit of black fabric laying on the floor, and then up at Xander, "I didn't really think you were going to rip them off, now what am I going to wear, they never repair right."

Xander finished repairing his appearance, and bent down slightly, kissing the side of her hair, "It'll save us time later." Emilia rolled her eyes, but did not argue as she canceled the charms on the closet with a word. The air seemed to stretch, twisting on itself before they vanished with a POP. She gave Xander one last disparaging look, before she vanished the offending remnants and opened the door, taking one quick look before quickly stepping out into the empty hall.

They started up the stairs, reaching the main floor when Xander glanced down at his watch, "You do still have time to run up to your room, before Arithmancy," he said almost guiltily.

Emilia turned, leaned up, and kissed his cheek, "I'm good, this is an only moderately fun skirt." Her eyes twinkled as she walked backwards, and broke into a run with a giggle as he lurched at her, stumbling into a run as he began a laughing pursuit.

*************************Great Hall*****************************
Noon

Sirius rolled his eyes as he took in his sister and Xander, snuggling together on the other side of the table, a few seats closer to the Head Table from him. He shook his head, and looked back to his DADA textbook, having just left the classroom from his morning session.

He sat engrossed, even though he had already read the book twice, until a soft sound, one that he would have normally ignored, caught his attention to his right. He looked up and right, to find Harriet looking at him. She held his gaze for a bit, not blinking, "Can you pass the pumpkin juice, Sirius?" Harriet asked quietly, her voice barely audible over the bustle of the Great Hall at lunch.

She waited as he looked at her dumbly for a beat, "Oh...yeah," Sirius said, his brain catching up. He turned and grabbed the pitcher by the handle. He poured a goblet full for her without asking, and she gave him a small smile in thanks before she turned back to the book she had sitting before her on the table. Sirius watched her for an instant, his mind going blank for a moment as he watched glimmers of sunlight on her hair, before he took a breath and shook his head slightly and returned to his book.

He turned his page, and absently took a bite of a cod fillet from his lunch of fish and chips. Harriet looked up from her own book, and watched him for a minute, ignoring her shepherd's pie, before she looked down and away, just as Sirius looked up. He looked back to his book, and started to read again. His fingers started to absently move in the wand patterns described in the text as he read.

A soft, creaking sound came from the bench next to him as someone else sat down, which he ignored as he normally did. "What are you looking at, Sirius?" a quiet alto asked from near his ear. Sirius started, having pulled in his senses enough to only notice Harriet, his sister and Xander and Rain in the back of his mind, four people that he instinctively knew anywhere.

He turned, moving back from the head of sleek, dark brown hair and grey doe-eyes, as they looked up at him though artistically long lashes. "Hello, Naomi," Sirius said politely. "Defense," he added after a moment.

Naomi smiled and leaned closer, bending over his arm to ostensibly look at his book, the movement causing a bit of her blouse to gap open, just enough to expose, briefly, a bit of purple lace. "You are really good at that, Sirius, much better than me..." she smiled as she straightened, and let the fingers of one hand lightly trail over his arm. "I know that you are a year down...but could you help me in that class...I'm always behind, I don't know how I managed to get an OWL in it..."

Sirius shrugged, and looked at her. "Ummm...if you want, I guess I can, though wouldn't you rather have Em or Rain help you, they are in your year after all."

"But you are sooo good at it," Naomi whispered, her eyes subtly wider than seemingly possible. She let her fingers trail along his arm again, as she held his gaze, not noticing as Rain looked up, scowled and reached over, swatting Emilia on the knee to get her attention. Emilia looked up, her eyes slightly hazy. The trademark Potter gaze cleared and sharpened as she followed Rain's tiny gesture towards her brother. Emilia's lips tightened to a thin line as she saw Naomi still leaning close. Emilia's eyes flicked to Harriet and her stomach lurched at the look she saw there.

Emilia started to move, only to stop as Rain touched her leg again and gave her a tiny shake of her head. She started to say something, but watched as Sirius looked up and just for a beat his eyes found Harriet. "Harriet," Sirius said, "do you think that you and maybe Rain and Em could help Naomi with Defense? She needs help with it."

"But Siri..." Naomi pouted, "You are soo good at it, after all your dad is..." Sirius' expression closed suddenly, and he stood from the table. "Siri, what's..."

"I am not my father, Naomi," Sirius said very quietly and walked from the Great Hall, with several pairs of eyes following his every move. Naomi frowned as she moved back to the Ravenclaw table, the Gryffindor one being rather unfriendly at the moment.

Harriet watched silently as Naomi sat back down at the other table, a faint hard glitter filling silvery-grey eyes, before she stood as well, leaving behind her bag and trailed Sirius to the door. Behind her, Emilia shook off her friend and stood, moving slowly around the table with dark promise filling her eyes.

Ten minutes later, without knowing exactly how she traveled the intervening kilometer or so, Harriet found herself walking along the edge of the Black Lake. A soft breeze was blowing from the north, down along the Guardian Mountains, sending her hair dancing. She shivered slightly, and wrapped her arms around herself, having left her outer robe with her books in the Great Hall.

She shrugged, and continued on, walking along a thousand-year-old trail. She stepped over a fallen limp, and watched, distractedly, as a pair of deer darted across the trail, spooked by her passage. Harriet watched her feet, seemingly fascinated by the dull gleam of her shoes as they caught bits of sunlight slipping through the overhanging canopy of the trees.

After another few minutes, maybe, she never really paid attention to time if she could help it; she stopped at the edge of a small clearing, her eyes coming to rest on an old beech tree at the edge of the lake. She took a breath, as she found Sirius sitting at the base of the tree, his head down and resting on his drawn up knees. Harriet walked across the clearing and knelt next to him, "Alright there, Sirius?" she asked softly.

She folded her hands in her lap, twisting them together, as she waited his response. "I'm not my dad, Harriet," Sirius said, his voice muffled as he reached up with both hands and scrubbed his hands through his hair ruffling it beyond normal. "I love my parents, Harriet...hell I may be as powerful as them someday, even, but I don't want to be them."

Harriet looked down and watched her hands, before she scooted closer to him on her knees, ignoring, or not noticing, the ground under them. Tentatively, she reached out with one hand, touching his hand on his knee. She held it there, until his head slowly lifted, his eyes tired and forlorn as they found hers. "I...I know," she whispered.

"Em's going to be an Auror...Xander too, but I don't know if I do...I could be, I guess, I know it's in my blood, but I want something else I think..."

Harriet moved to sit next to him and leaned her back against the tree. She drew her knees up to her chest, mirroring his posture, "In the...other place," Harriet said quietly, looking over at him without moving her head, "all of the kids would whisper, every time I walked down the hall. They all knew mum and dad...or at least thought they did, they were legends in that universe..."

"I almost would like to explore..." Sirius murmured, "To wander around the world where I would to look into things, see what I can dig up...hell, the Muggles are getting ready to launch their first starship...maybe I can even explore somewhere else." He smiled slightly, "Maybe I can find you a Snorkack or two..."

"Can I come with you?" Harriet asked, she smiled slightly as he did; she took a breath at something she saw in his face. He nodded, and watched as she returned the gesture. They fell silent, watching the ripple of the water as the sun slowly danced across the sky. Harriet shivered suddenly as a gust of wind cut through the trees, ruffling her clothes. Sirius frowned, as he clambered to his knees and shrugged off his robe. He draped it around her like a blanket. "Thank you," Harriet said, looking up at him. He shrugged and sat back down next to her.

"She was pretty," Harriet said after a moment's silence had passed.

"Who?" Sirius asked, blinking away a contemplative expression that had fallen over his face.

"That girl...Naomi," Harriet replied evenly, her voice betraying no emotion at all.

Sirius shrugged, "I guess," he replied after a beat, looking off into the distance as the squid breached the surface of the water to lazily wave a tentacle at them.

"I think that she wanted to..." Harriet looked back towards the castle, "I'm sure that if you..."

"I've seen prettier," Sirius said absently, seemingly not hearing Harriet's words. He looked towards the castle as a bell tolled over the grounds, and stood, extending his hand down to her. He pulled her to her feet easily, "We need to get to class, Harriet." He gnawed his lip for an instant, "Thank you." She smiled crookedly and started towards the castle, handing him back his robes as she walked. "You can keep them until we get back, Harriet, if you are still cold."

"I'm warm enough."

*************************Gryffindor Tower******************************

September 10, 2015
1:20 am

The moonlight spilling in the narrow, leaded glass windows cast the circular room, filled with several crimson-trimmed four-posters into sharp relief. Soft snores came from several of the beds, all of which had closed curtains except one, the one farthest from the door and directly under a window that overlooked the grounds and the site of Hagrid's long-lost hut. Slowly, a shaft of light arced across the room, as a door opened, letting in a single, slight form.

She padded across the room, almost in a daze, her bare feet silent on the slate floor as she slipped past the shuttered beds, passing open trunks and piles of laundry that should have been collected. She stepped over a sleeping toad, one of the boys', and stopped next to the bed with the drawn curtains. She frowned as she looked down at the occupant, he was tossing and turning in a fitful slumber, his sheets were rumpled and his hair wild.

Emilia shivered in the cool room, dressed only in a grey camisole and red flannel pants, as she stood for another minute, looking down. Her eyes cleared as she watched him for another timeless instant, before she took a breath and slowly slipped under the covers. She gradually moved along the bed until she could curl against his side. Xander's movements stopped instantly as she touched him, relaxing and moving more into her, even as she wrapped her arms around his middle.

His eyes opened slowly, as he turned his head to find her looking back up at him from his shoulder. A hand came up as he met her eyes, and combed through her hair, settling it along her spine, before the fingers stopped at the small of her back to run along the warm skin it found there. She settled more comfortably, and he just nodded, pulling her to him and settling down into the pillows. He reached up with his other hand to a sheath mounted on the headboard, and touched the handle of his wand. Leave them open, she whispered, he cocked his head in a question, They'll have to learn anyway...

Alright, he replied, nodding, if that's what you want.

She gave him a shy smile and nodded into his chest, I'm happy.

7:10 am

A loud buzzing noise shattered the peaceful silence of one of the sixth year Gryffindor boys' dorm rooms. With the accompaniment of a loud groan, a pillow shot out from behind closed curtains and sent the alarm spiraling down to the slate floor where it shattered with a loud crunch. A minute passed, then two, before a set of curtains were thrown back, and a muttering, blinking, tousled-haired sixteen-year-old stood and bent over beside at the foot of his bed to dig through a trunk.

A faint giggle came from behind him, and he turned, his eyes still cloudy with sleep. "Nice boxers, Elliot," a laughing soprano snorted from across the room.

"Oh hi, Em," Elliot replied pleasantly and turned back to his trunk. He started to dig through it, looking for a clean robe... "SHIT," he snapped as he straightened suddenly and rapped his head on the corner of the trunk lid, "EM," he snapped, spinning back as other curtains were thrown back at his exclamation, "you aren't supposed to be up here..."

Emilia shrugged and slipped from the covers, pausing as she sat on the edge of the bed, to half twist back to kiss Xander. He smiled as he half-woke and looked up at her with sleepy eyes. She stood and stretched, the movement pulling up her top enough to expose the green jewel decorating her navel. Bob looked at her blearily as he peered out from his bed, "Bloody hell, woman."

Emilia let her arms down and glared at him. Daniel Kirkpatrick, the only member of this particular dorm room who was not dating or related, somehow, to the large clan-like group that the surviving Gryffindors from seventeen years ago had formed, slid out from under the covers in only a pair of boxers. "Hey, Em," he greeted, and grabbed a towel from his trunk and headed past her to the boys' showers.

"Wait, Dan," Xander called just as the brown-haired boy reached out for the handle of the door. Xander sat up, and glanced up to Emilia, "Listen, if this bothers any of you..."

"I'm cool," Daniel replied, he turned and slowly scanned his eyes up and down Emilia, she laughed faintly and did a slow pirouette, "She's a hell of a lot better to look at then you blokes. As long as you two close the curtains when you shag..."

"Hell with that," Bob called from across the room, waggling his eyebrows lasciviously, "She's hot, I think that we all could use a show..."

"BOB," three male voices growled, threateningly, only Emilia laughed, though a faint dusting of color filled her cheeks.

"Do you want me to prance around in my bra and knickers, too, Robert," she replied, her voice dropping a half register, as she stuck a pose, "I have this nice, Gryffindor colored set that Xander likes a lot."

"Oh, would you?" he replied, and stopped as Xander let out a faint growl. Emilia gave him a look and he shrugged an apology to Bob. "No worries, mate, I was just joshing..."

"We know, Bob," Emilia said, sitting on the bed next to Xander. She looked back at him, and reached back, absently pulling at the tail she had kept her hair in over the night, as much to keep it from smothering Xander, as to keep it under some semblance of control. She bit her lip and took his hand, before looking at the rest of the boys. "Xander and I have...trouble sleeping apart," Emilia began slowly, "It's...really, uncomfortable."

"Alright," Elliot said, shrugging and grabbing his robe, Emilia looked to him, "I was just surprised a bit this morning. I've known you as long as I can remember; you sleeping in the same room doesn't bother me."

"I'm cool with it, though I am looking forward to the bra and knickers," Bob put in, and barely fielded the pillow that she flung at him from the head of Xander's bed.

"I'm the only one here who has only known you for six years," Dan put in. "As long as you guys don't mind if I bring up Chastity occasionally, I don't give a damn. At least you don't stink up the place like these guys." He shrugged and headed out of the room with a jaunty wave and a towel tossed over his shoulder.

Emilia grinned and looked towards the door, smiling faintly as she shook her head ruefully. She looked up as Bob looked at her thoughtfully, "Yes, Bob?"

"You don't happen to have that Gryffindor set on now do you?"

Emilia snorted and walked towards the door, headed to her own room, and her clothes, "No, Bob," she replied as she reached the door and looked back, "It's only me under my pajamas." She blew a kiss to Xander and vanished, closing the door with a soft thump behind her. As one Bob and Elliot looked to Xander. He just smiled, an almost predatory smile, and started digging through his trunk for a reasonably clean uniform to wear.

A/N There you go, next chapter a bit of repeated history.

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