Yeah, it's been a while sorry, I've been busy. This isn't the longest chapter or the most action
packed, but it's the next chapter might make up for it...Thanks to Lady Starlight for her gracious work on this
chapter, it is appreciated.
Chapter 33: With Aforethought.
******************************Hogwarts*********************************
February 20, 2016. Saturday
Harriet laughed brightly as she ran down the hall, spinning in place, and causing her skirt to swirl up under her open winter robes. "It's mine," she called back to Sirius, holding up a piece of parchment with her likeness on it.
"Harriet," Sirius called after her, "come on, I-"
Emilia laughed, and shook her head as she pulled Xander past the couple towards the Great Hall and an overdue dinner, as she along with the reborn DA had had training following Quidditch practice all morning. "Harriet, luv, hurry up, all of the roast beef will be gone." She tugged on Xander's hand, pulling him down a set of stairs just before they started to pull away from the landing.
Sirius glanced at the now empty landing, and then back at Harriet. "And where are you going now, Love?" he asked, smirking as he slowly approached to trap her in a corner of the landing's railing.
She glanced down as he gently pressed her back against the stone balustrade, her fingers lightly playing on the silver charm hanging from the jeweled choker she wore around her neck. Her hair was tied back into a high tail to better show it off. "We really don't have to go to dinner, Sirius," she murmured, her eyes fairly smoking as she let her fingers drop from her tag to press flatly against his chest.
"I thought you were hungry," Sirius mentioned, even as his arms slipped inside her robe, to run along her back, rusting the white cotton.
A quiet purr escaped her throat, carrying to his ears alone, "I am...but I missed you last night, Sirius. Can we just have the elves bring us something?"
He just nodded, letting one hand slip out from under her robe, to cradle her head to his shoulder for a beat. "If you want, I could have Dobby pop out and get us a pizza if you'd rather. Or something else."
"Don't care," she replied, "whatever you want."
"I don't care either, really, you decide."
"No, you."
Sirius sighed faintly, "Alright, we'll just get a pizza or something...what do you want on it?" he asked as he took her hand and started back in the direction they had just came from, towards Gryffindor Tower. They passed a darkened side hallway, leading to a dead end, which had been closed off since Erik the Irascible had blown it up in sixteen-twenty-two, neither looking to the side as Harriet leaned into him and vanished out of sight.
A patch of air shimmered as a slivery cloak appeared and was swept to the floor. A pair of girls, both in the casual jeans and jumpers that even the most diehard Pureblood had adopted for normal weekend wear. The one on the right turned a head of fluorescent red hair to the other, who was shaking slightly as she clenched one small fist.
"She will have to be removed, Naomi," Maraisah said softly, resting her hand on the floor near the other girls' knee as she crouched with her hip to hers. "You can claim him, once he is away from her influence."
"But how," Naomi spat darkly, looking down the darkened corridor towards the direction where Sirius and Harriet had vanished. "The blood-traitor bitch has him under her thumb."
"Then we will have to be make sure that she loses that thumb, then won't we?"
***************************The Burrow***********************************
Arthur Weasley yawned as he stepped into the still slightly ramshackle master bedroom of the Burrow, to find his wife standing at the window looking out over the magically tended lawn.
She glanced back at him, and smiled, before she turned from the window to walk over to the bed. She picked up a bright blue dress on a wooden hanger and held it up in front of her. "What do you think, Arthur?" She shook it back and forth, "Will this due for the dedication, Tuesday?"
Arthur's expression slipped slightly, "About that, Molly...It might not be the best thing for you to go." She scowled and he made a vague gesture as to calm her, even though he knew quite well that such an outcome was precarious at best.
She let the dress settle back to the bed, "Arthur Weasley, I will have you know that I purchased this dress just for this. Why would I not go with you, I go to all your speeches?"
He sighed, pulling his glasses off and polishing them off on his sleeve absently as he walked past her to look out the window at the scene she had been observing a moment earlier. "It may not be safe, Molly."
"Arthur Weasley," she growled as she dropped the dress back to the bed and faced him, her hands falling to her hips automatically. "I will have you know that I was just as involved in the war as you were, I am not about to let a few bigots scare me away."
A dreadful, cold feeling settled over his bones, as he shook his head and stepped forward quickly, and hugged her, letting his glasses fall to the now, more-or-less, straight floorboards. The soft snap of the lenses breaking was lost in her squeak as he tightened his arms, "No, Mollykins, I don't suppose that you will."
**************************Hogwarts**************************************
February 21, 2016
4:32 pm
Dumbledore sat back into his plush leather chair, situated behind his vast desk, and sipped from a steaming mug of chocolate. A shimmering portal hung in the air in front of his desk; through it he could plainly see a hidden cove on the shore of the frozen lake, a spot that was not visible from the castle itself. He watched, a pensive expression hidden behind his beard, as he watched a redheaded girl slowly spinning a dark staff as tall as she was through a series of basic blocks and attacks.
Several of the younger Gryffindor girls sat on a magically cleared log, huddled together in the winter cold as they listened to Harriet describe a basic counter. Gaheris was sitting next to the girls, his massive head resting across Virginia and Kristina's laps, and accepting their absent ear scratching as only his due.
"She is fitting in nicely, these days...much more stable than her mother was at her age," McGonagall's burr pronounced from near the door as she entered without knocking. She transformed in mid-stride to a small, grey and black cat, and padded over, pausing occasionally to examine closely a pair of mouse holes, before she stopped next to his desk and transformed back.
Straightening the severe bun, that her still-black hair was wrapped up in, she leaned forward to watch as Harriet smiled at something one of the girls said and walked over to pull Virginia and Kristina to their feet, upsetting mightily her own familiar, before she handed each of them a plain, padded wooden staff. "Of course, I think that if Luna had not lost her mother so early, she would have been in my house."
"You no longer have a house, Minerva," Dumbledore reminded her wryly.
A crooked eyebrow was his only reply.
"We will finally have a direct link between the Weasley and Potter clans," Dumbledore went on, almost absently as Abigail stood and kicked at the ground, catching another plain staff as it flew up. She leaned against the inch-thick piece of oak a good foot taller than herself, and watched as Harriet tried to get Kris to actually attack Virginia.
He dismissed the scene with a wave, as McGonagall snorted, "And that has mattered since when?" She scowled slightly and looked to the window, and then back to him, "However we may have another issue, besides the yearly pool...Draco's absences are getting rather frequent; something is afoot, Albus. It's almost as if-" She paled, and Dumbledore shook his head.
"Draco assures me that he is merely attending to matters of his House. I believe he is rather preoccupied with trying to reestablish himself, at least to earn back the assets that his father frittered away with his support of Tom. As preoccupations go, I suppose it is not the worst, at least his appears to be an effort to secure his children's future."
"He was a Death Eater, Albus."
"Draco only performed as such to protect others. I am convinced that he does not seek that path to power; he has too much to lose. He has seen the consequences of that course, and I can not foresee any incentive for him to return to it. It would set him against the family he has finally found, even as fractious as they may be at times," he added, and she frowned as the faintest trace of uncertainty came to her ears, audible only to those who had known the old curmudgeon for the better part of a century.
"You have been wrong before, Albus," her voice soft, unassuming but still pointed. She glared back as twinkling eyes met hers, "That bloody twinkle will really get you killed someday, Albus, especially against an Occlumens that is not as forgiving as the rest of your staff. His shields are much improved these days, aren't they?
"There was a time when nothing happened in this castle that I was not aware of," he admitted after a moment, "when the meddling of an old man had not driven even my allies to do their best hide their secrets, secrets that frankly I do not care to learn. But yes, there is always the chance that I am incorrect. However, I do not think that Draco would ever, willingly, have anything to do with the darkness. Not when he and Ginevra came so close to losing everything because of their choices."
Abigail whistled to herself as she skipped down the seventh floor hallway. An occasional giggle escaped the
barely-fifteen-year-old girl as she thought of Elliot's expression last night as she pointedly dropped into his lap
and started to read a large book that she had borrowed from her de facto cousins. He had turned a shade that she had
only seen achieved in her or her mother's hair as she watched the moving illustration.
Her hair, currently a bright purple with streaks of gold, suddenly cycled through the rainbow as she remembered what had happened next, and the faintest remembered taste of blood touched her tongue. Abby took a deep breath, settling herself. Her hair turned cerulean from the roots outward and braided itself into two braids, one on each side of her head Fangs that had started to drop as her heartrate had inexplicably soared, slowly retreated back to merely human proportions. Damn hormones, she moaned to herself as she took another look around and glanced down at the front of her jeans for a beat. Why can't I be sixteen already? Damn you, Mum, she added half-heartedly, her thoughts flickering back to a conversation where both her and Tonks' face had matched their matching magenta hair, where the older Lupin had pulled her into her lap and explained the exact consequences of crossing that invisible line.
She smirked slightly to herself as she took a deep breath, catching on the faint draft; the scent of one who's was already inexorably entangled with hers. But at least there are a few other things to be about...I wonder if Elliot really needs to eat dinner? She whistled tunelessly as she conjured a mirror in the hall, and looked down at herself, and scrunched up her nose.
Slowly, not quite as quickly as her mother would have managed it, anyway, the jeans and loose, heavy jumper she had worn to practice dueling in, changed. The jumper shrunk, tightening to outline her newly sprouted curves, as modest as she, herself thought them. A wicked grin fell over her lips as she looked further downward and watched as the tattered jeans shrunk and blended together, changing into a loose skirt that quickly receded up her legs. The hem passed her knees, and suddenly started to shrink at an increasing rate.
"Bugger," she shouted to the empty hall as the skirt suddenly shrunk enough to show pink knickers with a pair of fuzzy Kneazles. She muttered a rather vicious curse under her breath, one more suited to Sirius' namesake than her own father, before she forced the hem back down by an act of will until it rested just above the middle of her thigh. "Perfect," she grinned to herself and banished the mirror and resheathed her wand in a sheath that now rode her bare thigh, half concealed under the fabric.
She spun on her heel, her trainers making a soft squeak on the flagstones, and headed quickly towards the Room of Requirement, where, judging from her nose, Elliot, Sirius, and Justin were currently training.
Rounding a corner, she stopped short as a flash of magenta caught her eye as a robed witch stepped out from another passage wearing a faint scowl on her face. "Mum?" Abby called out after the witch who paused and looked back towards the small teen, "what are you doing here?"
"Oh..." Tonks replied as her scowl slowly faded as Abby padded closer. "I had a meeting with...Flitwick."
"What about, Mum?" Abby smiled and wrapped her arms around her mother. Tonks glanced down and returned the hug after a second, before she let it go.
"Oh...some old charm that I needed to look at, nothing to be concerned with," Tonks replied briskly, and stepped back. "I need to get back, I'll see you later, baby..."
"Sure, Mum," Abby replied, frowning faintly at something. Her nose twitched, "Mum, that's an odd perfume....not your normal..."
"Wotcher," Tonks sighed, "Your dad got it for me, I wore it for him....it sorta sucks doesn't it?"
"Yeah..." Abby replied.
"Well I should be going," Tonks said and hugged her again quickly, almost as if to make up for earlier, "I need to get back to the house, your Dad will be cooking again if I don't."
"Sure, bye, Mum," Abby replied and watched as her mother shrugged and walked off, giving her a small wave and vanishing around the corner.
Abby sighed heavily, and glanced down at the floor before continuing on towards the Room of Requirement. She turned a corner and reached it just as the heavy oaken door opened and Justin and Sirius stepped out, followed a minute later by Elliot. All three of them were rather sweaty, having just finished a three-way practice duel.
Abigail bit her lip absently as the first two boys walked up to her.
Justin reached up and mussed her hair.
She growled at him, as the locks flowed back into place, and stuck her tongue out at him as he laughed. She stuck her noise up in the air slightly and sauntered past, to grab Elliot's hand, ignoring Justin as he called after her.
"Aren't you a touch overdressed for dinner, luv?"
"I think I'm rather perfect," she replied haughtily, as she slipped under Elliot's arm.
"Aren't you afraid of getting sweaty?" Sirius asked, grinning faintly, "He does kinda stink."
Elliot rolled his eyes and Abigail only spun into him, snuggling up to his front and burying her face in his t-shirt, "Yeah, he does," she answered quietly, her voice gaining a soft growl, as her fangs dropped and her eyes grew dark as night, both hidden from view by the damp, red fabric of Elliot's shirt.
Both of the others laughed and headed off without a further word, as Elliot glanced down. "They are right, Lupa, I do." He let his fingers trace up and down her back for a beat, before stopping at the small of her back to push up the black cotton until her could touch her skin. "You're hot, Abby."
"I know," she smirked, "I get it from Mum."
He laughed, "No, I mean you are hot," his voice took on a concerned tone, "you aren't sick, are you, I can go get..."
Abigail shook her head, "Nothing we can fix until I get older," she muttered and stepped away from him. He reached up slightly to cup the side of her head and let one thumb stroke her cheek as fangs retreated and eyes became merely human again. Taking his hand, she pulled him back into the Room of Requirement, and waited as the door closed behind him.
The room instantly reoriented itself into a cozy copy of the Gryffindor Common Room. She let his hand drop as she walked over to the single loveseat that had appeared in front of a quietly blazing fire. A coffee table faded into view between it and the fire, already covered with a small feast. She looked back at him, shrugging as she clasped her hands in front of her and rocked back and forth on one foot.
"Can we just skip dinner with everyone else?"
"I really need a shower, Abby," he objected quietly, even as his eyes slipped up and down her body. Her right hand at her throat drew his eye as she played with the zipper of her jumper before he forced his gaze back to her eyes.
She looked to the right, pointedly and a new door appeared. "Then go take one, I'll be..." she weighed something as she continued to look at the door and her expression grew longing. "I'll be right here waiting." She spun and dropped to the couch, looking over the back at him, "Well, go take your shower, I really don't want to eat alone."
"Alright," he replied, surrendering with a gesture and heading for the room.
Her eyes tracked him the entire way, and a great sigh escaped a small body when the door closed behind him.
She kicked off her trainers and socks, and waited, snacking idly from a plate of mixed fruit that had never, naturally, appeared in the British Isles, while the flames continued to burn merrily in the conjured hearth. Abby looked up as the door opened, letting out a small cloud of steam along with Elliot. He walked back over to her, carrying his trainers and socks in one hand and dressed in his now, magically-clean workout clothes.
Abby waited impatiently as he dropped to the seat next to her, before she crawled into his lap. She brought her legs up, and curled comfortably, not bothering to worry what he might glimpse as she settled in. Glancing up, she smirked knowingly as she squirmed a bit more, until he groaned helplessly.
A half-hearted glare met dark eyes, and she sighed quietly, reaching up to pull a blanket from the back of the couch over both of them. "I'm sorry," she muttered, without bothering to mention what for. She looked down as she grabbed his hand, her fingers looking absolutely lost against his. "If it'll make you feel better," she grinned, still looking down, "I'll be thinking of you...tonight."
Elliot groaned, and closed his eyes trying to fight that image, even as Abigail giggled softly. He wrapped an arm around her, and shook her lightly, which only increased her giggles. "Damn it, Abby..."
She looked up, "I can't do that, yet, but I'd be willing to do," she took a breath, "most anything else," she added quietly.
"Abigail, I-"
She frowned and spun on his lap, until she straddled his legs, glancing down she fiddled with her skirt before just leaving it where it had ridden up, "I'm a witch, Elliot...and besides that...Xan and I are much, much more lycans than I think either Dad or Mum, realize." Abigail sighed and shook her head violently. Her bright blue hair unbraided itself and darkened from the roots outward, becoming a shimmering shade darker than night. She reached up and scrubbed her hands through her now utterly natural hair, at least as much as anything was natural on her, "Unless you betray us a lot more than you could ever possibly do so to me, we mate for life, Elliot."
He coughed quietly, as a faint flush darkened his neck, "Abby we haven't-"
She shook her head, "We haven't had sex, Elliot," she demurred softly, her voice quivering. "I chose you when I asked you out to Hogsmeade that first time. I think had already decided before that, and I was really hoping you fancied me too. Cause," she grinned for an instant, "cause you really smell good."
"Thanks," he replied, rolling his eyes, "I think."
"You're welcome," she replied, laughing and squirming further on his lap as she pushed up the sides of her jumper and started to tickle her mercilessly. The laugh slowly died as she felt him react to her, separated only by a few thin layers of cotton. Swallowing, as she felt the sudden rush of pheromones hit her like a hammer, she let her fingers drop very, very lightly to just in front of her thigh.
Elliot reached up and pulled her head into his shoulder, holding her absolutely motionless for a long, long minute.
"Thanks for the compliment, Elliot," she whispered, trying to be playful but failing for some reason. "Even though that is a little scary."
"Scary?"
"I'm a very small girl," she explained tightly. "Probably a good thing that I'm a metamorph, I suppose." She smiled at his paling face, and leaned forward to kiss him. A heartbeat passed, before she deepened it, flicking her tongue against his in a quiet battle. Pulling back as her world wobbled slightly, from lack of oxygen, and just possibly the blood thundering in her ears, Abigail let her head rest on his and watched as his eyes regained focus.
Elliot did not say a word, as he stared into her eyes, watching as they darkened, before he picked her up with the hands that were still on her waist, his fingertips nearly meeting, and set her to the side. She cocked her head slightly, and he felt his heart plummet as faint silver beads started to gather in the corner of her eyes. "Oh, Merlin, no, Abby," he whispered as he grabbed her again and kissed her quickly, before stroking his fingers along the side of her head. "I just can't...remember how to talk when you are on my lap."
"Ok," she whispered faintly, mollified.
He took a breath, and half turned on the couch. Elliot reached to the side and down, to grab his wand from near his trainers and held it one hand. "Grandmum...she gave me something," he said, swallowing, before he flicked his wand and a small, velvet box appeared in a flash of light. Her eyes grew huge, possibly more than normally possible considering her abilities as he dropped his wand and grabbed her hands in one of his.
"Elliot, I...we're....I mean..."
He snorted, "It's not that, Abigail Annette...relax." She laughed nervously as he went on, "But it is sorta similar." Elliot opened the box with one hand, revealing a small silver ring. The ring was actually composed of at least a half-dozen fine strands of silver wound into a twisted knot that circled on itself to form the band. Nearly microscopic blue and red runes were carved into the strands, each too small to see with the naked eye, but still, somehow easily readable as one turned the ring.
Elliot took the ring out of the box, and held her left hand in his. His thumb danced over the back for a moment, before he slid the ring on her finger. It resized to fit her with a small flicker of light and she gasped a heartbeat later as a rush of fire raced down her nerves. She collapsed forward to be caught by him.
Waiting, he rubbed her back in small circles, as his lycan girlfriend forced herself back to human. The warmth of her skin was now evident even through her jumper. "That ring...is the Longbottom Family promise ring," he murmured in her ear, smiling faintly as she whimpered in reply. "We are too young for the engagement...or other band I want to put on there someday, but for now that will have to do...If you'll have me that is."
Abigail nodded mutely against his shoulder.
"Brilliant...You're right you know."
"In...w...what?" she replied, her voice choked with quiet tears.
"I chose you a long while back...I'm sorry it's taken this long for me to show everyone else that they are never getting their hands on my lupa." He kissed the top of her head, "The other will come, I promise you, I'd wait forever for you..."
"D...do you want to do anything tonight?" she murmured, looking up at him through her hair, which had fallen in her face, her control tenuous at best at the moment over anything much past breathing.
Elliot slowly moved until he was lying down, the loveseat stretching to accommodate him automatically. He pulled Abigail down to lie in front of him, spooning back to his chest. "Want, yes, will...no...perhaps tomorrow, or maybe a year from now, but tonight I just want to lay here with you." He smirked, "You don't think that Gina and Kris will miss you, do you?"
Abby laughed, "No, I doubt they'll even notice I'm gone."
Potter Keep, Godric's Hollow
February 22, 2016
11:35 pm
Hermione leaned back into the strong chest behind her, and let her head flop back, onto his shoulder. His arms tightened around her, as she pulled tight the thick, furry and most importantly, warm blanket that she had brought with them to the top of the tower. A huge, full moon hung low in the sky, glinting off her eyes as she watched the stars silently.
She took a shuddering breath as he drew her hair over one shoulder and kissed her spine. Glancing to the side, she watched the moon for a moment, reflected in the lake between them and the house, "I wonder how Xander and Abby are doing tonight?"
Harry smiled slightly, perfectly comfortable under the blanket and warming charm, "I'm sure that Em has Xander well taken care of, and I'm sure Abby is fine as well, love."
"What about Harriet, she's-"
"Most likely illicitly cuddled with your son, Mione," Harry replied, grinning behind her as another thought raced through her mind. "And between them, I am sure that Rain, Harriet and your actual darling daughter have defeated the wards on the girls stairs, so Justin has probably joined Rain by now."
Hermione sighed petulantly, and crossed her arms, "Am I turning into-"
Molly, no, you actually listen to what your children think, Harry replied as he brushed her hair behind an ear.
Hermione gave him a half smile back over her shoulder, Thanks, Harry.
Anytime, he picked up a mug of cocoa from the rooftop next to him and took a sip before setting it back down. You aren't liking this dedication any better than I am, are you?
Hermione shook her head and shrugged helplessly, Honestly, the timing sucks, Love, Remus won't be good for much tomorrow, really. Tonks is never at her best the next day either, and we have, what ten Aurors to cover that whole Alley?
Yeah, since we had to send that compliment of twenty to Hong Kong...and then another thirty to the continent to help with that set of Dragon Poppy raids. I don't have enough Agents to cover.
Unless you want to cut back on the teams working Death Eater leads, Hermione put in thoughtfully, reaching over her shoulder and taking his mug. She took a drink and yawned before settling back into his arms. I tried to get Arthur to push it back, twice, but you know him, he's as stubborn as his wife.
And Gryffindor enough to put Godric to shame, yeah, Harry agreed with an exhaustion born of too many years pushing boulders uphill.
There you go....Next chapter something happens that some of you have been begging me to do for years.