AN: As usual, I own nothing really. There is a touch of happiness in this chapter...Thanks as usual to Lady Starlight for her work on this chapter.
Chapter 31: Rain's Promise
******************************Hogwarts**********************************
January 20, 2016
8:30 pm
A sudden gale of wind rattled the leaded glass windows of the small observation balcony, set above the clock tower on the top floors of the Hospital Wing. Dumbledore's predecessor had added it to the ancient castle in the heady days after the destruction of Grindelwald, as a sign of rebuilding and growth. It went unnoticed, by most, even as its chimes announced the hour and dismissed classes during the day.
The balcony, with its enclosed windows and lovely view of the inner courtyard, would have been an ideal snogging site, if not for the annoying security wards placed on it long ago, keeping away any who would have wished to use the room for nefarious reasons.
Fortunately, for the current generation, at least those whose names happened to be Potter or their closest friends, there was a convenient, secret passage directly into the room, bypassing the heavily warded door.
Rain closed her eyes, leaning back into Justin as he nuzzled at her neck, stretching out the white lettering on her black t-shirt, reading: "Make me Purr".
He slowly pushed up the bottom, until the blue sapphire set in a gold ring in her navel caught the light from several candles scattered randomly about the room. Justin stroked her side, brushing her lower ribs, as she stared out the window into the darkness, frowning.
Rain sighed and pulled away.
Justin cocked his head slightly, "You wanted to come up here, Rain, I'm-"
Rain shook her head and looked back at him, giving him a faint smile, "No, honey, it's not you, I'm just a bit distracted." She pointed at the floor and waited as he sat down on the tartan blanket they had brought with them, along with a now mostly empty picnic basket. She flopped down on the wool fabric next to him and moved until her head was in his lap. Rain took his hand as he stoked her cheek, intertwining her fingers with his and resting their joined hands on her chest.
"You keep that up and I don't know if I can last until my birthday," Justin muttered, bending forward to kiss her quickly before he straightened up. "I damn near can't now..."
"Trust me," Rain smirked, "I know."
"Yeah, but you make less of a mess while waiting."
She snorted and nodded, "We'll work on that together very soon, Mr. Black." He smile faded away once more, "Justin?"
He nodded.
"Do you remember Christmas?" Rain nibbled on her lower lip, a habit that she had picked up somewhere or another, and watched as he thought back. A small, happy look filled his eyes, and he brushed back her long hair with his free hand, she pressed her cheek into his palm instinctively, "Do you remember all of it?"
He shrugged, "I remember that black nightie...You still have that, right?"
"I'll wear it for your birthday," she promised. "Seriously, Justin, I remember waking up in your bed, but I don't remember actually going there. I swear that I did, but now, I just don't."
"Why are you worried, Rain, I mean Mum and Dad found you there and didn't say anything, not even with what you were wearing..."
"Anna and Nate were shagging in the next room, I doubt they could have," Rain replied, "It just bothers me. I just can't remember that night."
"We just slept, Rain, I never would have--"
Rain sat up suddenly, spinning to kneel astride his lap, and kissed him. "I know that, Justin...It's just weird." She lowered herself to sit on his legs, dropping her head to his shoulder, and humorously enough, purring faintly as he rubbed his fingers in small circles at the small of her back. "It just bothers me."
January 21, 2016
3:25 pm
"I missed you, sis," Hermione remarked for perhaps the hundredth time since the Weasleys' return to this side of the Looking Glass, glancing over as she and Luna crunched through the snow along the lake. Neither of them were terribly inconvenienced by the cold, heavy winter that had set in on the Scottish Highlands, they were after all powerful witches, Warming Charms were more than within their repertoire.
Luna smiled back at her, grabbing and squeezing Hermione's gloved hand for moment, before letting it drop back away. "Me too," she admitted, shrugging, "I wish you could have been there."
"I wish you had let us come after you," Hermione retorted, before she stopped, looking out over the ice-encrusted lake, at the towers sitting hundreds of yards off shore, where years, and years, ago, a suitor had caused her to be stolen away under the cold waters. "But I understand why you insisted that we don't try."
Luna walked over to stop next to her, close enough for their shoulders to touch. She watched silently as a winter hare hopped along the edge of the lake, possibly looking for a bit of unfrozen water, before moving out of sight under a bush. "You know if you feed those Banglefrack root, they change into Inferi?"
"Zombie Bunnies?" Hermione snorted, "honestly, Luna-"
"It's true, I've seen the records, they are in Eustrian, and therefore I cannot read them, but it only makes sense, really."
Hermione licked her lips silently, "Sure, Luna, sure."
"It is so much nicer now that we don't disagree about these things," Luna commented lightly, and Hermione dropped her head to examine her shoes, before looking back up. Luna took a breath and the cheer vanished from her habitually light mien, her eyes sharpening as she took a step back from Hermione and waited as the brunette faced her. "Something's wrong, Hermione, "she announced very quietly," and I can't seem to get a real vision, at least not yet. But I'm more worried about Harriet, than me."
Hermione crooked an eyebrow, waiting as Luna thrust her hands into the pockets of her cloak.
"Has Sirius said anything about it to you?" Luna asked, a faint edge of what would be in anyone else, almost desperation in her voice. Hermione just slowly shook her head, and Luna moaned quietly, "She won't talk to me, Hermione, I know it has to be about this, she bloody well sat down and talked about shagging for an hour with me...so it can't be that." She closed her eyes for a beat, "She's exhausted in class, she even has half fallen asleep in Ron's class, her only saving grace is that she's so bright, that she doesn't really need to pay attention to the class most of the time."
"No, Luna," Hermione responded slowly, finally, "Though you could have spared me the bit about you talking to her about shagging, since it is my son that she will be experiencing that with...I am of the firm belief that my little boy will stay so, until he is at least a hundred and fifty."
It was Luna's turn to crook an eyebrow.
"Or at least until April, when I am just going to have Dobby permanently expand Sirius' closet to hold her clothes," Hermione added ruefully, and sighed. "You know that I'd tell you, or at least try to help her. She is mine too, Luna."
"Of course she is, we promised each other, didn't we," Luna stated before she looked back up towards the castle. "And to top that, Ron's got a bit of another problem."
"Ginny?"
Luna nodded, "She has barely spoken to him since we came back. She hasn't said anything about why, she's just never there when Ron tries to call, and she doesn't seem to be available if he tries to go over, always just leaving."
"Go at one am," Hermione remarked idly, "she should just be getting done shagging Ferret Boy." Hermione sighed, and scrubbed her eyes, "That's not really fair, Draco has proven himself, I guess, since the war, he's been strictly aboveboard, and he treats Ginny and the boys great. Hell, he regards Rain and Anna as his own daughters, as they will be in a few years anyway, I can't complain about him, or her for that matter. But for that matter, I don't know that I've had a conversation that lasted more than two minutes with either of them since September."
Luna looked down at her watch and laughed at something. "Come on," she said, grabbing Hermione's hand and pulling her along with her back towards the castle, "if we are quick, we can watch my son-in-law in Defense...see if he embarrasses Ron again."
"Oh Merlin," Hermione groaned, bemusedly letting Luna pull her along by her hand towards the castle, "what did he do now?"
"It's more that Ronald forgot that Sirius was Harry's son for an instant...he never noticed the Tail-Feathers Jinx that Sirius slipped in under a Stunner, Petrificus and a Flatulence Hex."
Hermione laughed and started to jog, dropping Luna's hand as she ran towards the open front doors, ignoring that bare tendril of memory of a night when those doors lay destroyed, and the prospect of everything riding on the tiniest sliver of a hope.
*****************************Somewhere in Norway************************
January 28, 2016
"We are almost ready for the summoning," Bellatrix whispered, as she lounged across a darkly-clad bed, her pale skin contrasting sharply with the black silk sheets. The blood-red silk robe she wore, shifted, revealing that she wore nothing under it as she looked up at the Dark Lord.
A small, brunette woman, perhaps twenty, was curled up on a small, furry cushion at the foot of the bed. She curled more tightly into herself, looking away from the Dark One as he looked to his mother and down to her. He knelt, and slowly started to stroke her bare back.
"Your new pet is rather-shy," he commented as he straightened, pulling the brunette to her feet.
She looked between Bella, and him, before swallowing and draping herself along him, and he laughed lowly before returning his attention to Bellatrix.
"This must not go wrong, we will have the opportunity to smash the fools, to shatter them for all time. We must have the girl, she is the key."
"We will," Bella replied, sitting up and draping her legs to one side, she took a breath and watched as the girl shivered, seemingly younger than she had appeared at first appearance, as the Dark One continued to run his long fingers along her side. "You will take your rightful place, as the leader of the Wizarding world, and I-"
"And you shall be restored to your place, Mother, your House restored from the usurpers, and only those worthy will be at our side." He looked down, "Come my dear, I feel that I need...entertainment."
The girl followed him mutely, her head down and her bare feet making no noise on the stone floors, as she strode through the door in his wake.
Bellatrix's mad laughter followed them down the corridor and into another room, guarded by an ebony door, inlaid with an emerald and diamond encrusted serpent. It closed behind the girl, cutting off all sound-from either side.
****************************Godric's Hollow******************************
9:25 pm
Harry slipped down the spiraling staircase from the upper floors of the house, and stepped out onto the padded stone floor of the workout center under the house. He padded barefoot across the red mats, headed directly for the potions lab set to one side of the large cavern.
He leaned against the doorway, looking into the brightly lit side cavern, at the modern glassware and brightly polished cauldrons set on a pair of polished-obsidian-topped worktables. A pair of glass-enclosed cabinets sat along one wall, quietly sucking away the vapors being generated from reactions going on in them.
Grinning faintly he walked up behind Hermione as she stirred a pale cerulean potion, set over a low, blue flame. Shimmering pinkish vapors rose into the air from it, as Harry wrapped his arms around her from behind, and lowered his lips to her neck, conveniently left bare by the twist her hair was piled in on the top of her head.
She sighed quietly as she dropped in a weighing boat full of powdered dragon claw. The potion hissed as the claw slowly dissolved, and Hermione let the empty plastic boat fall from her hands to the tabletop as she reached up and back, to tangle her fingers in his hair, holding his lips and teeth against her pulse.
Slumping in his arms, she shook slightly as Harry reached through the front of her open, stained labcoat to push up the hem of her shirt. Long fingers started to rub in small circles, just above the button of her loose, tattered jeans that were probably being held on by magic, and she let out a shuttered moan.
What are you doing? Harry sing-songed in her thoughts, sending a warm sensation cascading along her nerves as she shakily pushed back from the worktable.
Haarrryyy, Hermione groaned, reaching down to interlace her fingers with his. She rolled in his arms, her lab coat slipping from her shoulders to fall to the floor as she shook it from her arms, before she snuggled into his front and kissed his throat.
Harry reached up, pulling out the ivy-wood shaft that was holding her hair up. He slid it into her back pocket, before he slowly ran his fingers through her hair, pulling it down into waves that hung along her spine. Umm, Baby? he went on, even as his fingers slipped distractingly into the gap at the back of her jeans, stroking the top of her bum.
She closed faintly-glowing eyes, I was thinking--
He grinned, I don't believe it.
Prat, she gasped, and punched his stomach lightly, her small fist bouncing off his abs without any apparent damage. He nuzzled her ear in mute apology and she turned her head, rubbing his cheek with her nose before she kissed him, sighing into the kiss. I was inspired by Harriet... He crooked an eyebrow, and she shrugged, Just who said that we can only have one animagus form?
Two, huh?
Or three, four, she agreed, but two should work. I know why our primary form was a phoenix, but you and therefore I, are the Gryffindor clan chiefs.
So?
I'll try it next full moon, at worst it does nothing, at best I'll get another form, Hermione explained, spinning out of his arms and taking his hand leading him off back towards the stairs. She waved back towards the lab, extinguishing the lights with a wave. I'm tired, Love, lets go to bed.
It's only nine thirty, Mione.
Smirking, she turned back as they reached the stairs, and let her fingers trail lightly across his chest, I know, whatever will be get up to till it's time to go to sleep? She crooked an eyebrow and slowly faded from view, waving just as she vanished totally from sight. Well, are you coming, Harry? she breathed in his mind a heartbeat later, sending an image of her in the mirror flashing to his mind, as she peeled out of her jeans, ones that she had probably stolen from him to begin with.
Sighing theatrically, The things I do for you. He stepped into nothingness, leaving the cavern empty of any and all life, except Crookshanks as he padded out from one of the side passages looking rather content and licking his chops.
****************************Ministry of Magic*****************************
January 29, 2016
10:50 am
"This is foolish, Arthur," Tonks said tiredly in the vein of one talking to a particularly stubborn mule. Exasperation twisted her heart-shaped face, as she dropped petulantly into the leather couch sitting on one side of his refurbished office. She crossed her arms across her chest, winkling the animated front of the bright pink t-shirt she was wearing, causing the tiny witch riding a broom in and around a scaled image of Windsor Castle to shake a tiny fist up at her. She crossed her legs, causing her skirt to slip dangerously up her thighs, and glared up at him.
Dropping next to her, Hermione shrugged, and glanced over as Tonks' hair cycled psychedelically amongst a hundred shades, before settling down into an exact match of her shirt. Hermione looked back to Arthur, her eyes crossing Harry's helplessly on the way past as he leaned back against the door coming leading to the built-in loo. She glanced down, pulling the hem of her own shirt down to meet the waist of her jeans, before looking back up with a sigh, "We can't protect you, Arthur, this is exactly how Scrimgeour was assassinated."
Arthur looked down at the two women, seemingly ignoring the slightly glowering wizard in the side of the room, as Harry scrubbed at his eyes tiredly. "I can not hide in my office, Hermione," Arthur said, shrugging as he watched Hermione play with a loose thread on her jeans. "I have already accepted the foundation's invitation for the event, I told them that would give the address before Christmas, just because there are...rumors that the Death Eater remnants are getting restless again-"
"Restless?" Hermione replied disbelievingly, "They bloody well attacked Diagon Alley, with your granddaughter and Em...they attacked the train. Arthur-Bellatrix is out there, and she's wanting revenge, she's tried for the kids, she was probably involved in the attack on Mum and Dad...she'd love to put a Kedavra through your heart."
Harry nodded over to once side, not bothering to try to dissuade the Minister, his wife and de facto sister were doing well enough as it was.
"The Foundation for Interspecies Tolerance was partially your creation, the dedication of their extra-human care center is a watershed event in the evolution of the relations between vampires, werewolves, centaurs, all of the species that have historically been often at odds with wizard kind. There have been wars between our peoples, and the recent incidents...only to show that we should be working together, not at odds with each other."
Tonks stood suddenly pacing over to the window set to one side, one that currently was showing a recorded view of Arthur's various and sundry grandchildren, by blood or not, as they played around the lake at Godric's Hollow earlier this summer. Tracing her fingers lightly over her daughter, as the tiny girl padded up out of the water in a bright orange bikini, Tonks licked her lips, before looking back at Arthur, "What about them, Arthur...all of them, if they lose another one of you."
He smiled, "I have no choice, Tonks, we live and die by our reputations, and the Minister of Magic can not be seen cowering to terrorists, especially a Gryffindor like myself. I am not Cornelius, hiding within his denial of the truth, even as he hid behind his decrees and guards." Doffing his glasses, he started to polish them with a kerchief he took from the pocket of his robes; "I have every faith in your abilities, Tonks."
She spun on her heel, the black leather combat boots that she had chosen this morning to compliment the rest of her outfit, making loud thumps on the wood floor as she stomped over to the couch, and pulled Hermione to her feet. "Come on, Hermione, let's get lunch, that's alright, isn't it, boss? Let's go to Seamus'...I need a drink."
Hermione left, being towed away by Tonks as she dragged her away by the hand. She shot Harry a helpless look over her shoulder as the door closed behind her.
"They are right, Arthur," Harry remarked as the door closed behind the pair with a muffled thump. "Tonks is very good, as is Remus-"
"As are you and Hermione, Harry," Arthur interjected with a smile.
Harry shrugged, "I suppose, but even with that, Tonks, Remus, Hermione, I-hell even Dumbledore-we are much beater at offense, defense, especially at an event like that is damn near impossible, especially if they want you bad enough."
"I have lived a while, Harry, I have had a good life, but I refuse to hide, you should be the first to understand that."
"Yeah, I do..." Harry replied, shaking his head ruefully, "Just be careful, Arthur." He vanished without moving from his spot and Arthur snorted.
"Pot calling the kettle black, Harry?" Arthur asked the air as he crossed back to his desk and started to dig through the never-ending stack of paperwork that only seemed to grow, and grow, as if under some insidious spell.
*************************The Feisty Goat**********************************
11:45 am
Harry stepped into the dim interior of Seamus' pub and paused at the door to let his eyes adjust. Looking through the neon-lit interior, across the mostly empty room, he shook his head, as he found Hermione, Hermione, and a head of dirty blonde hair between them that was bent down as she pulled something from a small bag at her feet.
While The Feisty Goat would be packed in several hours, it seldom was for lunch, even though the house-elf that Seamus employed as a cook in the back was a truly excellent short order chef. During the day, the only ones that generally caught lunch here were the occasional wizard or witch, mostly friends of Seamus and Padma.
Harry slipped past the few lunchtime customers to stop at the corner booth. He looked slowly between the pair of Hermiones, as they reclined in the red leather booth, crossing their legs in identical short tartan skirts. A glint of green shimmered from under the hem of a short top on the one on the right as she took a deep breath, emphasizing a slice of tanned skin exposed by three unbuttoned buttons.
"You know, Harry," Luna breathed, her grey eyes shimmering as she looked over a tall glass of a faintly glowing green liquid that smoked ominously, "If you have sex on a broom, you will have a girl...it's in the Quibbler."
"I'm sure," Harry replied as he lifted up the Hermione on the right and sat down, sitting her half on his lap. He kissed her neck and she laughed out loud as the other Hermione scowled and slowly changed, her hair shortening and straightening as it lightened to a bright blue color.
Tonks remained in the outfit as Hermione reached up to tangle her fingers in Harry's hair, holding his lips to their task, "I told you, Tonks," Hermione laughed, and let her eyes close as he nibbled along her pulse.
She frowned and took a drink from the glowing drink in front of her, shuddering slightly as it went down. "What gave me away...I am a pro...pro...fessional."
Hermione looked up and back, waiting for his answer.
Harry kissed the side of her forehead, before looking back up at Tonks, "Besides the fact that I didn't need to see her to know her?" Tonks nodded and Harry shrugged, "Hermione's tits are a quarter size smaller than the ones you were wearing and she wears an emerald in her navel, you normally have a diamond and Luna usually wears a sun or a moon, sometimes a diamond."
Luna giggled uproariously, knocking aside the half-eaten steak sandwich and chips in front of her on the table as she leaned back in the booth. Arching her back, she exposed her own belly for a moment, displaying a silver sun dangling from her navel, just as Harry had explained a moment before. She leaned over and kissed his cheek, as Hermione settled more comfortably on his lap.
"I know, Luna," Harry replied laughingly. He looked up as Kimberly Tanner, the witch that Seamus had hired to run the bar during the day so he could manage it at night when they were truly busy slipped over from the bar. She slid a green glass bottle of Seamus' microbrew in front of Harry, and reached up to pull at the tail her long blonde hair was in, "Special, Harry?"
"Sure, Kim," he said, smiling up at her.
She returned a smile, and spun on her heel, giving Harry a flash of skin through a hole in her jeans at the base of her arse, and laughed as Hermione gave her a mock glare in return.
Harry stroked Hermione's thigh comfortingly under the table and took a drink from the beer that had been set in front of him, before he looked to the other two ladies at the table, "Not that I terribly mind, mind you, but why are you three at it so early in the day."
"Arthus isss an idjot..." Tonks replied, drinking heavily from her glass.
Harry smiled and nodded as the bartender dropped a plate containing a steak sandwich in front of him. He took a bite of a chip that Hermione fed him, and kissed her, and started to stroke her back, idly pleased, once again, that Hermione only became more loving when she was a touch snookered. "He is only doing what he thinks he has to, Tonks."
"I don't want to lose another one, Harry," she said morosely, cradling her drink between both of her hands. "That site sucks...there's hundreds of sightlines...not to mention that the...there will be hundreds there." She closed her eyes, and reopened them, forcing them to focus on his face, "You know what it's like to fight in D...Diagon Alley with people there, and this'll be packed."
"Nothing to do about it now, Tonks," Harry said, as he started to eat his sandwich, aptly maneuvering around Hermione as she took a drink. He had had almost twenty years of practice after all. She leaned back and he wrapped his free arm more tightly around her waist, holding her in the crook of his elbow.
She giggled in his thoughts, wiggling and causing him to groan into her hair, which was falling loosely over her shoulders. Hermione looked up and back grinning happily, and buried her face in his neck.
"Just what the hell have you three been drinking, anyway?" Harry asked after a moment, watching as Luna took another drink of the glowing green liquor.
She giggled and set down her glass, before shakily pushing a bottle into Harry's hand.
Picking it up, he stared at the label and groaned. "Oh...Bloody...Hell...Luna!"
She smiled languidly and leaned over onto Tonks, "G...Georgy, Porgy...gave it to mee," she giggled, "He said it was a wedding present, isn't that silly, Ronald deflowered me years ago..."
Hermione laughed, shaking on Harry's lap and causing more than one shiver to dance along Harry's nerves. That sounds like a really good idea, Baby, she whispered as her fingers played with the hairs on the back of his head. Though the deflowering...I can't think of anything...but we can try.
Harry valiantly stopped her from moving on his lap, to her groaned disappointment. She pouted up at him, flickering her eyelashes over eyes glowing a shade or two brighter green than the drink on the table next to a rather nice tequila that Harry half thought that was normally stored underneath the Godric's Hollow house. They seemed to be using it as a chaser. He gasped as her mind wove through his, following instincts too deep for any conceivable amount of alcohol or potion to effect.
She smirked, as she felt his heart start to race along with hers, and his response warming her bum.
Damn it, Hermione, Harry whispered, as his fingers worked at the edge of her skirt, seemingly fighting themselves, to hold at that demarcation line.
I looovee you, Harrry, she breathed, her chest heaving slowly, as she stared into his eyes, forgetting the rest of the room, even her 'sisters' as they laughed loudly about something nearly in her ear. She bit her lip, watching as he let his eyes pan down her neck, and arched her back slightly, improving his view.
He kissed her brow, and hugged her more tightly, "Kim?" he said loudly, looking back over his shoulder towards the bar.
She nodded.
"Can you make sure that these other two get home?"
"Sure, Harry."
"Good," Harry replied and took a breath to settle himself, forcing himself to push past the rather large, but welcome distraction, on his lap. He took another breath and vanished, with soft giggles still echoing in his head.
*********************************Hogwarts*******************************
The soft sound of a pair of owls hooting to each other just outside the window carried to the small alcove set at the back of the library. Emilia looked up, brushing dark curls out of her eyes as she watched Xander, who was half-dozing in the shaft of sunlight pouring in through a high window.
She nibbled on her lower lip as she stood slowly, looking back over her shoulder at the rest of the library, before she slowly padded around the table on stockinged feet, letting her fingers trail along the table. She sank to the floor at his feet, pushing his knees apart enough for her to sit between them and rest her cheek on his thigh.
She closed her eyes, letting Xander run his hands over her hair absently. She sighed contently, and nuzzled his thigh, rubbing her nose along the worn denim. How about we spend the night in the Room of Requirement? she whispered, opening her eyes to look up at his. I have a new nightie.
Really?
She grinned and stood, pushing his knees together and sitting down on his lap, straddling him and the chair. Really. She slowly drew one finger down her jaw, tracing down her throat and trailed it down the line of pearl buttons closing her blouse. She stopped the tip at the fourth button down, the first three having been unbuttoned in the warm room, and giving him a flash of black lace. It is cut down to here.
She licked her lips as he stirred slightly, and let the hand trail down to the point of her hip, And it has a vee up to here, and falls just below my arse when I stand up.
I love you...and your taste in clothing.
Thank, Mum, she went shopping with Harriet and me.
I love your mother, too.
Emilia stroked the side of his head, She's yours too, Xander. He just nodded, and kissed her nose. She slowly brought her hand up in front of her face, her eyes crossing slightly as they focused on the ring on her left hand. Has been for a while.
She was before that, Em. It just makes it official. Xander stood from the chair, holding her under her bum as she automatically wrapped her legs around his waist. She dropped them as he reached his feet and set them down on the floor, Are you going to go to your room?
Whatever for? she smiled softly, pushing him back with two fingers on his chest until he sat once more in the chair, looking up at her.
You need to change, he grinned.
Boys, Emilia sighed and stood back, bending forward at the waist to kiss him deeply, cradling his face in both hands as she pushed in.
"I see London, I see France..."
Emilia straightened indignantly and looked back over her shoulder to find Rain leaning against a bookcase, a heavy bag dangling from one shoulder. Rain buffed her nails on her school blouse before pulling them up to inspect the bright reddish gold polish that she had allowed Harriet to pick out, "Showing a bit there, dear."
Licking her lips, Em waved her hand at the table and looked back to Rain as books, parchments, quills and an inkpot flew to her bag. It sealed itself, barely, and flew over to perch precariously on Emilia's shoulder. She staggered slightly as the weight settled on her frame, "I'm busy tonight, luv," Em replied throatily, "We can try tomorrow, though."
"Oh, can we?" Rain shot back as Emilia stalked towards her.
Lifting slightly on her toes, Em kissed her on the cheek, and paused to play with her hair, before laughing. "I'm going to spend tonight with Xan in the Room, run interference for me, sis?" Emilia asked quietly.
"Sure," Rain whispered back, reaching down to squeeze Emilia's hand, "as long as you do so, Monday-"
Emilia gasped, "Merlin, I forgot...do you-"
Rain shook her head, glancing over Emilia's shoulder at Xander who was rolling his eyes. She stuck out her tongue at him, and then looked back at Emilia seriously, "No, I think I have everything we need." Her hand tightened in Emilia's, "Do you think it will work?"
Em shrugged and looked back over her shoulder, "I'll see you at dinner, Xan." He just nodded, giving her a wave as she let Rain pull her along, out of the Library.
They passed along a corridor, and after shrugging into winter cloaks from their packs, complete with heavy duty warming charms, out onto a flying bridge leading from the Library Wing to the Transfiguration Wing. Rain stopped at the center, away from prying ears, before she stepped back from Emilia, "Will it hurt, Em?" she asked quietly.
"I don't know, this is kinda forcing it, Rain," Emilia replied slowly, forcing herself to meet her sister's eyes. She scrubbed at her hair with one hand, "And I doubt that you'll get the full effect...at least yet. Emotions probably, that's always easier to do, hell we can do that to a degree anyway. But I don't know about the other. I'm sorry, I don't know that anyone's done it like this...have you told him?"
Rain sighed, and leaned back against the castle walls. "I'm afraid to." She staked away and punched at a pillar with an open hand, her training at least enough to keep her from breaking it with a fist. "Shit," she snarled as she cradled her hand to her chest.
"Merlin, you might as well have a wanker," Emilia sighed, walking over to her and gently cradling the sore hand in one hand as she reached through her cloak and grabbed her wand. She flicked it at Rain's hand and an instant later the stinging receded. "Better?"
Rain nodded. She thrust her hands into the pockets of her robes, for an instant, before moving to the edge of the bridge and standing, looking down at the icy water of the small river feeding the loch far below. "This was easier when we were eleven, Em," she announced finally. "Sometimes I wish I was a Muggle after all, some of this crap, they don't tell us about in the storybooks."
"Most of those are rated PG, dear," Emilia replied quietly as she came to stand at her shoulder. "You don't have to do anything, Justin'd chew his own arm off before he'd do anything that might inconvenience you, despite how much it cause him sleepless nights. It took you-how long-just to get him to hit back at you in practice?"
"A month," she replied, "but that's just that damn sense of honor they get from hanging around your dad," Rain groused. "I'd been happy for him to have his hand up my shirt the night we started dating...but I'm glad that he didn't, I guess. This British restraint shit is overrated."
Emilia closed her eyes, taking a breath, she thought back to piles of notes secretly gathered, "It's not dark, it's about the most pure sacrifice you can do as long as it's willing, and you love him-"
Rain nodded jerkily.
She went on, "Your sword should work for the ritual. It's already bound to you...maybe he should use his as well. I don't know that you really need it, but, it probably won't hurt."
"What happens if we don't perform the ritual then? If we wait?"
Emilia frowned, "Then it will have to be at your wedding, girl, it's the only other real opportunity, unless you, perhaps do something really special when he gives you the ring," she added with a smirk.
"He's not ready to do that, Em."
Emilia crooked an eyebrow, "He's already ordering robes with the Black crest for you, dear." She grinned, "It'll make you related to me in truth."
"Cause I care so much about that," Rain replied, letting her head flop over to rest on Emilia's shoulder. "You'll babysit, right?"
"Sure...but if its before you're twenty I'm turning you into a Blast-Ended Skrewt."
Rain laughed, "I'll hold you to that...You're going to wear that green one, aren't you?"
"Yeah, I am, he's much easier to handle when he's speechless."
***************************Room Of Requirement**************************
11:35 pm
A soft, occasional squeak of rubber on the thousand-year-old flagstones was the only sound in the otherwise abandoned seventh-floor corridor as a errant draft ruffled several tapestries on the walls. A particularly ugly one, that showed a man running from a pair of tutu-wearing trolls wielding clubs, fluttered again and a patch of air shimmered and solidified.
Xander looked to each side, as he backed into the shadows and stood absolutely still for a long minute, listening with more than human ears for any hint of life. Other than the click of a Kneazle's claws on the stones, he heard nothing, especially not the harried breathing of Smythe as he attempted, generally futilely, to catch students wandering the halls after hours.
Grinning absently, Xander took three steps across the hall, and grabbed onto the oak door that had already manifested, as if it were waiting for him. He slid though the portal and it closed behind him, vanishing as if it had never been.
The room that he emerged into, was not the opulent, depraved den of iniquity, that some had have presupposed, especially with the purpose that he had set upon this night. A large, comfortable bed sat to one side, with a slightly tattered blue and green tartan bedspread. A fire blazed lowly in the grate, casting reds and golds across the room. A leather couch sat in front of several bookshelves, each filled, nay, overfilled with books on every conceivable subject.
He frowned slightly, not finding Emilia anywhere in the room, and slowly started to walk around, wondering all the while where she had gone to. He dropped a cloak of a silvery-grey material over the back of the couch and walked around it, pausing to examine a small side table that held several bottles of butterbeer along with a selection of snacks.
Popping a ripe strawberry into his mouth, he padded over to the bookshelf, kicking off his trainers on the way, and knelt down to examine it for something to do while he was waiting. A sent query yielded only a "Wait for me" and he shrugged, even though he could not quite determine where she was, which if he bothered to think about it was a tad unusual.
Selecting a battered copy of a Sci Fi paperback from a series that his future brother-in-law had turned him on to, he sat back on the couch and began to read. He picked up at chapter ten, and laughed at a comment by a tertiary character.
Several minutes passed in silence, he took a sip from a butterbeer he had summoned and set it down. Returning to his book, he froze and looked up as a spot near the bed wavered and Emilia stepped into view, as if she had been behind a curtain.
His book tumbled from suddenly nerveless fingers, as she stepped fully into view, around the edge of the couch. The fire cast red highlights in her hair, almost like those Rain had had in hers the day he asked Emilia out, scared out of his mind and near puking at the thought of his eminent rejection. It was pulled back into a pair of tails, which fell forward over her chest, as if tracing the V of tanned skin leading down from her throat.
He stood slowly, shakily, and watched as she padded over to him with a cat-like stride, her movements rustling the emerald silk that matched a pair of faintly glowing eyes. The shift fell just past the join of her thighs, only truly serving to draw the eyes and emphasize the play of muscles in those long legs.
Sit down, Xander, she whispered, as her eyes brightened somewhat. She waited as he sank back onto the couch, and continued to stalk over to him, before slowly sitting down on his lap. She looked down, as his hands slipped to her sides, pushing up the bottom of the thin chemise until it polled around her hips.
She smiled as the index fingers of both hands played with a pair of large bows, tied at either hip, holding together a matching scrap of silk under the nightie. She squirmed on his lap, sighing softly as she made herself more comfortable. Are you going to unwrap your present?
He let one hand trail upward, to cup her cheek. Faint purring greeted his move, as she rubbed against the hand, letting her eyes flutter closed. He leaned forward, kissing her softly, before pulling back just enough to rest his brow on hers; I love you, Emilia Luna.
She just purred louder in response, the pupils of her eyes going slightly oblong before they recovered. Emilia looked down as her fingers slipped between them, "It's Friday, Xander...Rain and Harriet have our backs...we won't have to leave until Monday if you want."
"That would be brilliant," he replied and kissed her again, lifting his other hand to cradle her face, pulling her fully into him. He groaned as she pulled back, "But we won't will we?"
Emilia bit her lip and gave an almost unnoticeable shake of her head, No, but we'll make the most of what we can. She held his gaze as she stood, and took a slow step backwards. Reaching up, almost as if this were that first night months ago, she slid one, then the other strap from her shoulders, letting the thin emerald silk slip down her body like water, to pool at her feet.
She took his hand and pulled him unresistingly to his feet, and stroked his cheek with her left hand, watching as the inset stone in her ring pulsed with her elevated heartbeat. Emilia vanished his shirt with a sharp gesture before taking a step forward to press her skin to his. Lifting her head slightly, she started to nuzzle his neck, nibbling along his pulse.
Xander growled loudly, and his hands slipped under her arse, picking up with effortless ease, not even noticing her fifty-four kilos, as she wrapped her legs around him, clinging to him tightly. He walked over to the bed, his right hand slowly coming up to cradle her head against his shoulder as he continued to hold her to him.
Emilia held his eyes as he slowly lowered her to the bed, to the almost exact copy of her comfortable bed at home and took a step back. She slowly wormed her way backwards, until she was lying diagonally across the bed, the twin tails her hair was pulled into sticking straight out to each side.
Xander laughed at the picture before him, and a beat later she did as well as she took the image from his mind. Her laughter silenced as his watched his eyes darken, become endless pools of night, as bright white fangs poked from under his upper lip. A faint, relaxed smile remained as he slowly crawled onto the bed, to hover over her. A quick darting of one hand, and her knickers fluttered away as he pulled on one bow, like a Muggle magician removing a tablecloth from under a stack of plates.
Balancing on one hand he slowly lowered his lips to hers, pressing her into the bed. Her hands came up, knotting in his hair, as she let her lips fall open at the slightest touch of his tongue. A faint sting came from her lower lip, unnoticed in the flood of fire racing through her nerves, racing from her mouth, spiraling around her breasts and racing to her core.
He pulled away, panting after a minute longer, stroking her hair slowly. Her eyes reflected in his, casting her own glow back on her cheeks and heaving chest, catching in the droplets of moisture dotting her throat. "Merlin," Xander whispered as he let his gaze fall to her lips, "I'm sorry, Em..." A smear of blood darkened her lips, and his tongue flicked out, touching the tip of one of his fangs, finding it wet
She shrugged, and licked the blood from her lips, before reaching back up to grab his head, "I'm tough." He laughed and let her finish pulling him back to her, back where he belonged for the next several hundred years at least.
A flicker of motion and she rolled them over, until she was looking down at him from the distance of only an inch or so. She sat up and slowly moved down until she was sitting astride his lower legs. Emilia let her eyes flick up his body and folded at the hips, slowly kissing down his body as she slowly kissed downward, taking time to kiss each muscle in turn, and then following a light trail of dark hair from his navel to the button of his jeans.
Rolling upright, she ignored Xander's faint chuckles as she looked down, her tongue in the corner of her lips and fingered the top button of his jeans. Emilia eased it out through the slightly tattered hole, and grabbing both sides of the fastener, pulled slowly, letting the remaining buttons holding his fly closed pop loose one by one.
A visibly relieved expression crossed Xander's face a beat later, only to be replaced by a shuttered one, as she stroked his boxers, petting the large bulge she found there waiting for her. The very tip of her tongue wetted her lips as watched it strain the soft cotton.
He bucked up into her hand, and she giggled, a rare sound, but one that seemed appropriate, somehow. A smirk; You get me the nicest things. She pulled down on his boxers and jeans, and dodging to the side as he sprung free. Very nice things, she added absently as she lifted herself using her legs and sent a flicker to power to slide his jeans and boxers the rest of the way off, leaving him naked beneath her.
Emilia licked her lips once more, and slowly lowered her head, flicking her tongue out to taste him. Xander groaned, his hands balling in the covers as she slowly took him in, her eyes flicking upward to watch his face as she moved.
He let her work for several moments longer before he pulled her away gently. Emilia pouted, Xander, love, I...
He sat up, pulling her up with him, and shaking his head slightly as he lifted her up with his hands on her hips, to set astride his lap. As much as you are simply brilliant at that...we have all night, and I need you, more than anything right now.
Emilia licked her lips and nodded, I need you all the effing time, she replied, her voice utterly serious, as she slowly leaned back, falling back onto the bed and pulling him on top of her. A brief, unremarked taste of blood past her tongue once more, and vanished from notice as her eyes fluttered closed, and her legs came up to twist around his as he slipped home, the invitation as implicit as breathing.
Soft, quiet contented mews, escaped her lips as Xander moved slowly in her, matching perfectly her own movements in return as she cradled his head to her shoulder. A quiet gasp, as fangs lightly scrapped her pulse, sending shivers down her spine to join the already building pool of quicksilver at her core.
Xander rolled them to their sides, reaching down and pulling her top leg higher on his waist as he started to move faster.
Emilia forced her eyes open to stare into his, watching as the emerald light from hers moved in his, slipping up and down, and sparkling off the moisture collecting at his brow. She lowered her lips back to his, her tongue slipping home, and moving in time to his in her, even as she finished rolling them over.
She yelped as their movements sent them tumbling off the bed to the floor, and a loud "OHFF" from Xander along with an accompanying spike of pain in his arse, that Em felt a beat later as the impulse raced along their link.
She only laughed, half-panting, as she sat up on his lap, and glanced down, she let her fingers play on the muscles of his stomach, "Didn't even fall out," she quipped, and started to rock on his lap, causing a loud groan to fill the room. Her smile fell, as she reached down to interlace their fingers and leaned back against them, using the leverage to move harder against him.
Xander's eyes slowly tracked down her throat, watching as rivulets of sweat slowly rolled down her neck, and tracking down between her breasts. He spent a pleasurable moment watching them move with her exertions, before continuing to follow the droplet down until it splashed on his stomach, just above where they were joined.
The shuttered glow of her eyes increased as he felt her thoughts, her soul interlacing even more with his, the pale excuse for separation that they maintained vanishing under a torrent of emotion.
The kitten-like mews that she had been murmuring all along, slowly faded into one continuous purring sound as the quicksilver in her belly started to boil, sending races of lighting along her nerves and crashing into Xander, bouncing off the same coming from him.
Bouncing once more, Emilia, arched back even further, and moaned his name, as she crashed, the fire in her stomach exploding along her nerves as she convulsed around him, and her vision greying out. He thrust up once more into her, and then again, before he followed along, being pulled along as she curled around his mind, wrapping it in a warm blanket, even as their nerves exploded in concert.
Emilia collapsed onto his chest, still quivering as a limp arm wrapped around her, and pressing her into his chest. After several long, timeless minutes, Emilia squirmed slightly on his chest, moving so as to not dislodge him from her. Her purr returned as his fingers started to trace the bumps in her spine.
Her breathing slowed, and her vision fully returned to now, only, emerald eyes, I love you, Xander.
You are rather alright yourself, love, he returned, bending his head enough to kiss her hair. She yawned faintly, and he smirked, Am I keeping you up late, dear?
She grinned up at him and snuggled her head more securely into his neck, Night, Xan.
Night, Em...you know that I'm just going to wake you up in an hour, right?
I'm counting on it, she replied, yawning in her thoughts as her breathing slowed even further and slipped off to sleep.
********************************Hogwarts*******************************
February 1, 2016
11:15 pm
"Rain, I..." Justin said softly, as she pulled him along a dim hidden corridor paralleling the one to Gryffindor tower. He gently tugged on her hand, stopping them as they came to a seemingly blank cul-de-sac. "We don't have to do this, I can wait."
She smiled at him, her eyes glittering in the light of the few torches that lit the passage. Shaking her head, she turned into him and kissed him, before she leaned back slightly. A thumb ran idly over one of his cheekbones, as she took a breath, "I can't."
Small white teeth nibbled on the corner of her lip as she watched him watch her, as she moved idly in the gold and red skirt she had borrowed from one 'sister', and a black, tight sweater that her other one had bought in Diagon Alley over Christmas holidays, as it made her hair look 'shiny'.
None of the girls understood Hermione's strange bout of shivering at that announcement.
Rain let go of his hands and pulled the hem of her sweater back down to meet her hips, before she grabbed his hand again and touched the blank wall with the palm of her other hand. It shook and grumbled, as blocks of stone leapt out of the way, forming an archway, leading to a tight spiraling set of stairs leading upward.
"Where are we going?" Justin asked as they started up the stairs, their shoes clicking quietly on the stairs, the very sound evidence of her nervousness. She paused at the top and looked back at him as he stood on a small landing just large enough for the pair of them. "Rain," he breathed in her ear, sending her pulse racing as he let his hands fall to her waist. His fingers pushed up the hem of her jumper, settling warmly on her waist, as he nuzzled the hollow just behind her ear, drawing a purr from his witch. "I love you, Kitten, I don't have to, really-"
She shook her head, not bothering to reply, and let her left hand fall to her hip, taking his hand in hers, before she took a sharp step forward at and through the wall. A long step sent them through the solid stone, to emerge in a cozy, round room.
He looked to each side as he let her hand drop, and slowly looked around the room, taking in the fireplace inset in one wall, already lit. No furniture was in the room, instead a pile of large, furry blankets filled the center of the room, inset in a large ring of fat white and red candles, each lit with a pure white flame. Rain kicked off her shoes and padded barefoot across the floor, which as Justin followed her automatically gave under his feet, like walking on a giant pillow.
"Where are we, Rain Mai?" Justin asked as she knelt on the soft floor facing him.
She smiled, catlike, and waved at the floor in front of her. Her eyes watched as he knelt in front of her, watching as she took a deep breath, straining the dark wool of her jumper dangerously. Rain licked her lips, as she looked down and to her right, and waved her hand over an empty patch of floor. It shimmered and her sword appeared, slivery blue on the floor.
Reaching down, she reached under her skirt, and drew her wand. She slowly brought it up to her lips, and kissed the redwood, before laying it on the floor next to her sword, the very blade her father had bound to her with her own blood when she was twelve.
"We are in Gryffindor Tower, Justin," Rain answered, "somewhere in it, anyway." She grinned quickly before looking down at her knees, which were poking out from under the hem of her skirt. "I found this little room in some of Aunt Hermione's notes, she said it was one that the Twins had found, and used for their firewhisky stash. I...and Em and Harriet, we, uh...cleaned it up, made a few modifications..."
"Um, Rain, why the-"
"Why do I have my sword?" she finished for him, he nodded and she shrugged, before she leaned forward to take both of his hands in hers, and scooted closer, rising on her knees until her front lightly brushed his. "Because there is a way to-"
"Really?"
"Maybe," she replied, moving even closer. "I don't know what will happen, neither does Em...Harriet might, but she just keeps grinning and writing Harriet Potter on her notes." Justin laughed quietly and she grinned, and kissed him quickly before sitting back on her heels. "Seriously, Justin, honey...it could be risky, I..."
Justin looked to the side, to her sword resting beside her. He let his eyes rise back to hers. "What do I need to do, Rain?" he asked very softly, answering her fears with a look that lasted a long, silent minute.
She reached over to the side, twisting back and placing the unsheathed sword across her thighs. Taking a deep breath she hitched up her skirt, hiking it almost to her hips, as she spread her knees slightly. Rain picked up her sword and rammed it into the floor between her knees, the dual edges aligned with each of them.
"Give me your hand, Honey." Rain grabbed his left hand with hers, and gently wrapped his hand around the edge. She completed the circle of the blade with her own left, before she grabbed them both with her right and squeezed.
The candles flared, flames a foot high licking the air, as a shimmering circle snapped into existence as thick, red, heart blood swirled around the sword, mixing with each others as if possessed of a life of its own.
A sudden, sourceless wind sent Rain's hair whipping about her face, the ends lightly slapping Justin's face, as they shared a sudden, gasped breath, collapsing forward together. Rain breathed a long sentence in Latin under her breath, and yelped as she felt a spike of blue-white fire snap between them for a moment, before it shot outward, impacting their suddenly visible auras. They flared as one, greenish-gold, and pure blue before they blended to a blue-gold and vanished from view.
Rain let her sword clatter to the side, and collapsed into Justin's arms, which had come up automatically to catch her. He reached up with his left hand automatically, brushing her hair out of her face, only vaguely realizing that he was still bleeding.
She panted for a long moment, her breath hot on his neck, as she shook along with him, before her eyes refocused. Rain slowly lifted her head, finally noticing her dripping hand. Interlacing their left hands, she called her wand to her hand. "Integumata enclosium," she whispered, pressing the tip of her wand between them.
A warm flush rushed up her arm, to pool in her chest as she pulled her hand from his and glanced at it. A long scar bisected her palm, perfectly healed, but still visible, the spell was not sufficient to vanish the mark from her skin.
Blue eyes glittered through black locks, holding his as her wand moved in her right hand shakily until the very tip rested on the taunt skin of her belly, just above the waistband of her skirt. Inconceivious, she whispered, and gasped, letting her wand fall to the floor as a rush of heat raced along her nerves.
Justin watched her, his eyes never leaving her, "What now?"
She only smiled, a small knowing smile that was somehow both new and thousands of years old at the same time, "Now," she announced as she reached up to her throat, and slowly lowered the silver zipper of her jumper, until it hung open loosely, revealing a stripe of permanently tanned skin, from her throat to her hips, broken only by a bright blue sapphire glinting in her navel. "Now," she repeated as she leaned forward into him, "you get me-happy birthday, my love."
A/N: There you go. Though I normally come up with the t-shirts myself, Rain's at the beginning was inspired
by a pic on deviant Art, which I had linked, but it screwed up the formating.
And yeah, this scene was why Em and Xan didn't get their last scene finished, I hope this made up for it.
Next Chapter, Sirius and Harriet, a lot of Sirius and Harriet. And stay turned there will be a R/L Without Supervision short up soon...and it's most definitely rated NC-17...