FicWad

Chapter 29 - We are Family

"/FuckingShitWankingCockSuckingAssHeadandHole/!"

Harry was impressed with his lead Vipera's command of the Queen's English.

"Pansy, don't hold it in, it's not healthy to repress your feelings like that." he said with only the hint of asmirk.

"I want to re-animate that fucking festering turd of a troll just so I can take it apart again, piece by putrid fucking piece!"

"It was already dead, luv. It couldn't feel pain. Besides, there's nothing left, your fiendfyre didn't even leave ashes."

She slammed her head back onto her pillow, grimacing as tears began to flow.

"Godsdamnit, Harry, I'm off the potion, I'm as fertile as I'll ever get and I just knew we'd celebrate tonight!"

Poppy and Harry gently lifted Pansy just enough for her to swallow more of the pain relieving and bone-knitting potions.

"We will celebrate, /Viperessa mia/, but you have several bones that need healing, not the least of which is your pelvis, which Poppy tells us is now in at least six pieces from that troll attack."

Pansy looked into Harry's green eyes and inwardly wanted to melt, outwardly scowling, she asked, "/Viperessa mia/? Where on earth did you get that shite, Harry?"

"Um, Helena has been teaching me Italian, and I came across it in a letter from Count Frencesco Verdi to his beloved. Apparently he was in love with a Slytherin too."

Pansy smirked, "I think I like it." Turning her attention to Poppy she asked, "How soon?"

"You'll be up and around, /if you're careful/, in three days, but I have to insist, no /strenuous/activities for at least two weeks."

Pansy did the math, two weeks, just in time for her monthlies to start.

"Fucking Fuck-Shit! Fucking Wanking Fucking Cock-Sucking Fucking Ass-Head and FUCKING FUCK-HOLE!"

Harry shook his head. He actually felt sorry for the next troll Pansy encountered.

When the sleeping draught finally kicked in, Harry kissed her, gently.

Poppy snickered, "I hope you washed that mouth before you kissed it, Goddess but that girl can swear!"

"I'm sure it was just the pain talking, Poppy. How's our other patient?"

"Miss Cheryl Lightsey will recover, physically. I've already healed the bruising and scarring."

"What about mental trauma?"

Poppy sighed, "I've called for a skilled obliviator, who will pull the worst of her memories and place them into a penseive. She'll know that her friends died, but not that she was ever there when it happened. She'll grieve, but without the added burden of survivor's guilt."

"Where is she now?"

"In with Tonks, I just gave her adreamless sleep potion. By the time she wakes, the obliviator will have come and gone."

Harry nodded, "That's probably for the best."

)O(

The last of the NEWT level exams were over. Harry, Hermione, and all the Vipera had earned masteries in Potions; all of Harry's Ladies aced their Defense against the Dark Arts; Harry, Hermione, Susan, Hannah and Su took masteries in both Charms and Transfiguration. Luna was the only one to attempt Divination - she passed both the written test and the practical with the highest marks seen since Cassandra Trelawny but she had, of course, foreseen that. . .

Tricia, and all the Ravenclaws took masteries in Arithmacy and Runes, along with Harry and Hermione, of course.

In fact, Harry and all the members of his coven had earned, all totaled, an unprecedented one-hundred and eight "O-levels" within three months of normal time (nine months turned time).

They could, if they wished, leave school and begin careers in any of their masteries, but the coven was content to have the run of the castle for their remaining two years, where they planned to enjoy the privileges of staff and still have enough time to enjoy what was left of their abbreviated adolescence.

"What are we going to do, Harry?" Hermione asked, while snuggle-reading on the couch in the apartment.

"Keep up our training until Voldemort is sleeping soundly in the dirt, then begin to drag the magical world, kicking and screaming into the Twentieth Century."

"In a few short years it'll be the Twenty-first Century."

"One century at a time, m'love."

)O(

Bellatrix stepped out of the tent that her Cossack guard had erected; she seemed unaffected by the arctic cold. They were in the last place anyone would think to look for them, along the banks of the frozen ocean in Northern Siberia.

As she had done countless times before, the distracted witch drew her small athame and sliced the smooth skin of her inner arm until a narrow rivulet of blood ran either to her elbow or wrist, depending on the orientation of her arm.

"My Lady," Sergey pleaded, "come inside, we have a warm fire and bacon and good hot kasha."

Bellatrix watched her blood drip into the snow, which melted, at first, before freezing into small brown pebbles.

"Who am I? What am I, am I even real?" she asked the endless twilight.

Sergey answered, "You are the Dark Lady, the one we will follow forever."

"Am I?"

The Cossack didn't hesitate, his belief absolute, "Da."

Bellatrix Lestrange lifted her head and whispered to whatever gods were listening, "Then that will have to do."

)O(

The last day of the term was upon them. Harry had finally agreed that the members of the Coven should publicly declare themselves and each Lady wore the Potter Crest in place of the various house crests or that of the school.

The number of broken egos, and bones, diminished exponentially.

The headmaster came to the parting feast dressed in traditional green Yule robes, signifying the end of the shortening days, and bade the students a safe journey home for the holidays and a renewed thirst for knowledge in the coming year.

Harry and the Coven walked with their friends to the train station but didn't board the King's Cross Express. They had made other travel arrangements. Ron walked with his sister and Lavender Brown. Neville escorted Romilda Vane, who seemed to see some potential in the soft-spoken Gryffindor.

Ron and Neville received chaste hugs and kisses from the Ladies of the Coven, Lavender, Parvati, and Romilda from Harry. Ginny had made herself scarce.

"Come and drop by the Burrow for Boxing Day." Ron said, invitingly.

Luna placed a comforting hand on both Harry and Ron's shoulders and said, "Next year will be better."

Neither of the young wizards needed to ask, if Luna said it, it must be so.

"See you next year then." Ron said with an enthusiasm that didn't reach his eyes.

Harry smiled, a little sadly. Ron, for all his faults, had been the first friend his own age in the magical world. And now they were merely friends when they had been best mates.

"Yeah, next year, all of two weeks away."

)O(

Harry felt better walking back to Minerva's office. He was a little surprised, and more than a little intimidated, by the number of Mum's in Law he saw there.

Amelia smiled a predatory smile,"Mama Bones, is it?"

"This is Harry? He seems a little short." Said Margaret Bulstrode, who stood a head taller than her daughter.

Harry gulped.

The Coven Witches stepped aside in deference to their family's Matriarchs.

Adhir Patil, fists on her slim hips regarded Harry imperiously, "He will have to be trained to be a better Son in Law."

Madame Li Hahn, arms crossed, agreed.

Pansy's mum, the indomitable Winifred, looking every bit the aristocrat she was, looked on from behind her daughter's sedan chair, disapprovingly.

In all, fourteen Mother's in Law ringed Harry and began to chant, "Who is this who presumes to take the fruit of our wombs, who would take our daughters away from us, what man could possibly be worthy of these, the jewels of our lives?"

Harry swallowed hard, then stood in the center of the chanting circle, he listened to the ever-present voice of his Goddess Mum, Astarte, who gave him the proper words. "No man could ever hope to be worthy, but because your precious daughters, and those daughters who's mothers you stand for, have chosen to share their lives with me, I am taking steps to become so - n one will ever be worthy of any of them, but with every fiber of my being I vow to strive for worth, even though I know I can never succeed. No one will ever reach perfection, all any of us can do is try. In this the struggle is more important than the goal."

"See!" Madam Bones shrieked, "He admits he's not wizard enough, not man enough for our daughters!

"What then must we do?"

Fourteen fully vetted witches, in the prime of their power, pointed their wands as one. Harry didn't raise afinger to protect himself, he would accept whatever judgments his mothers in law deigned to confer upon him. He gazed longingly at his Witches, wondering if he was looking at them for the last time.

The mothers all shouted, "Fio nostrum filius!" and Harry fell to the ground, bathed in green and gold light.

)O(

"Harry, son, open your eyes."

He blinked once, twice and saw his Mothers in Law huddled close around him.

"Wha . . ."

"Well, if you wanted me to be your "Mama Bones" I thought we may as well make it official."

Susan knelt by Harry's side,"Harry, all our magical Mothers have adopted you, formally, into our families. Through you we are all now sisters in law as well as Coven sisters."

Amelia couldn't help herself; she began to laugh, followed by all the other Witch Mothers.

"Oh, son of mine, if you could only have seen your face, you looked like a man on the gallows!"

It was then Harry realized he'd been pranked by the best. Awe, mixed with relief seemed to pour through him to his magical core. Grinning like a maniac he bowed as a courtier would, and proclaimed, "A touch, a touch I do confess!"

Amelia nodded, then said, "While we're in a pranking mood, let's see about your godfather, shall we?"

It was Harry's turn to smile predatorially.

)O(

Sirius was on needles and pins, he hadn't seen his godson since the end of July, he was worried that he couldn't be sufficiently "kewl" for young Harry.

Then again, if the rumors were true, he wasn't exactly a kid anymore.

Harry stepped through the fireplace portal in a rush of green flame with a beautiful girl on each arm.

A hugely pregnant, beautiful girl on each arm.

"H-Harry?"

The young wizard kissed each Witch tenderly and ran to Sirius, embracing him fiercely, "God and Goddess, I've missed you, Padfoot, you old dog!"

Sirius was stunned.

Harry had grown.

He was a good five inches taller and heavier by three or four stone, and apparently, none of it was fat.

"B-breathing," he gasped,"breathing is good!"

Harry released him as beamed,"You look great, Sirius."

He led his godfather over to the fireplace, "This is my Lady Helena, and my Lady Myrtle."

Then placing a loving hand on each distended belly he cooed, "And these are James and Lily."

"Um, Harry, ah, I don't know how to ask this, but when. I mean, I just saw you three months ago and you were, well. Different. And /single/."

"Oh, well, I got over it."

"Would you ladies excuse us for just a moment please?"

Leading Harry to the far side of the cavernous great room Sirius hissed, "Harry, you haven't bound yourself, /not to mention our houses/, to two women who were already pregnant, have you?"

Harry looked thoughtful for just a moment, "Well, they weren't preggers when I bound them, that happened after."

Sirius looked just three heartbeats short of a stroke as Harry lifted a gold chain from his pocket revealing the much used time-turner.

"Turned time? You've been messing with turned time? What about paradox?"

Harry shrugged, "I've met myself, no big deal.

"Sirius, I've been living at least three days for every day of normal time, I'm close to ten months farther along than I was when I saw you last."

"And the girls?"

"Ladies."

"Um, sorry, ladies?"

"Well, you said to bring the Ladies Potter."

Sirius was obviously saddened.

"What is it, Sirius?"

"Well, I missed it."

"Missed what?"

"You, Harry. You growing up to become the man you are, learning how to prank from what's left of the marauders, telling you all the fun lies about girls."

"If it's any consolation, the next generation will need guidance, and I can't think of a better godfather for them."

Sirius smiled, but couldn't stop the tear that rolled down his cheek.

"I love you, Pup."

"I love you too, Papa Pooch."

"Papa Pooch? Oh, Pronglet, that calls for a prank."

"If you don't behave, I'll sic my Mums in Law on you - trust me, you don't want that!"

"That bad, huh?"

Harry just smiled, "I think they're coming through now, with the rest of the Ladies Potter."

Minerva came through the fire portal, steadying Poppy Pomfrey as she did.

"Professor McGonnagal," Sirius said with a smile, "welcome!"

"Professor /Potter/, if you please, Lord Black." Minerva corrected, then accepted her welcome kiss her Warlock.

"P-Poppy, ary you here to make sure I don't keel over?" Sirius asked.

"Actually, Poppy's here because she can't bear to be away from me, ow!" Harry stumble-danced a step or two from the nurse's stinging hex.

"/Actually/," Poppy said as she blew the tip of her wand like a gunslinger from the American Old West, "I'm here because our ladies Myrtle and Helena could give birth at any moment, and Ineed to be near when they do."

"You mean?"

"I think Myrtle's a tad overdue as it is."

Hermione stepped through, kissed Harry briefly then stepped out of the way for Millicent and Margaret - "Call me Maggie" - both of whom had to duck to clear the high mantle, followed by Susan and her Aunt Amelia, the Minister of Magic.

Harry kissed Millicent and Susan on the lips and Maggie and Amelia on the cheek, then waited for Pansy, still being pushed in the wheeled chair by her newly divorced mother.

Bella and Cissy came through and practically bowled Sirius over crying and kissing his cheeks, "Oh cousin, we've missed you!"

The sight of his favorite cousins, from his own days at Hogwarts, threatened to push Sirius into catatonia.

"B-Bella? Cissy? But you're so young! H-How?"

"Long explanation, Papa Pooch, we'll have a long talk after the others come through."

The old Marauder's eyes had lost their capacity dilate anymore, he was beginning to hyperventilate. "M-more?"

"Steady now, godfather."

Lady Su and her mother came through and bowed formally to both Sirius and Harry before receiving their welcome kisses. Angelina's and Alicia's party came through, then the next, and the next, and the next and so on until twenty-one wives and fourteen mothers in law, along with Poppy Pomfrey, began to test the capacity of Sirius's receiving room hospitality.

Harry's godfather sat heavily after the last introduction was made.

He looked at his smiling godson and pleaded, "No more, please, no more. . ."

"Well," Harry murmured, "we do need to ward your home, at least for the Holidays."

Sirius nodded.

Harry threw a pinch of floo powder into the fireplace, "Bill?"

The eldest Weasley son stuck his head through, "Ready on this end, Harry."

"Sirius says to go ahead."

A deep, thrumming noise reverberated from the very foundations of Sirius's home.

"Done and done." Bill called from his end, may we come through?"

Sirius could only nod; Bill Weasley exited the fireplace, followed by Severus Snape, then by the Widow Malfoy and Draco.

Severus stood before Sirius and bowed formally.

"Lord Black, I've come to you to request the hand of your cousin, Narcissa, in marriage. I know we have never been friends, but I beseech you to not allow our past disagreements rob her of a chance for happiness."

Sirius massaged his temples, "And her son?"

Draco spoke up, "I was declared bastard by the sperm donor who called himself my father. I'll become my godfather's son if he will adopt me."

Sirius began to chuckle, then to laugh. After a few moments of near hysteria he regained control.

"May I please see Severus, Narcissa, Draco, Cissy, Bella and Harry alone?"

Two house elves appeared, overjoyed at the prospect of serving nearly fifty people at a single sitting, and began to serve drinks and finger-foods. Sirius led his godson and guests into a garden sitting area, where they sat on a semi-circular bench by agoldfish pond.

"I see Cissy and Bella, looking just as they did twenty years ago. And Narcissa, wife of that disgraced and executed, unrepentant Death Eater. How is that possible."

Narcissa sat straight and said, "As I understand it, I am a homunculus, a magical construct. I have all of Narcissa Black's memories from early childhood, school and nearly twenty years of marriage to that poof, Malfoy. I was created from the original Narcissa Black," she nodded to Cissy, who nodded back, politely, "who was, in turn placed in magical stasis to keep me safe."

"What do you mean by /safe/?" Sirius asked.

"If anything happens to my "original" then the same happens to me."

"Is the reverse also true?"

"Apparently not."

"So not only do you wish me to accept Sniv, um, Severus as my cousin by law, but to accept you, a magical construct as a member of the family?"

A single tear coursed down Narcissa's cheek. "You of course, can cast me out of the family with a word; indeed, you can deny my very existence."

Snape spoke up, "In which case I will take Narcissa as my wife and we shall never have anything to do with the Blacks.

"Consider this, Lord Black, Narcissa Black Malfoy has never had a choice in her life, she was created to be the perfect mate for an undeserving man, she was truly a creature of her environment. Since her husband's death she has become the Narcissa I believe she was intended to be."

He drew her hand to his lips and kissed it tenderly, "Narcissa is flesh and blood and bone. She has a soul, Sirius, more than that she has my heart. She makes me want to be a better person just to try to be worthy of her. I will do anything for her, anything."

Severus stood, "Come, Narcissa, we will marry. I will be the father your son needs. We Snapes need never concern ourselves with this family again."

As he led Narcissa and Draco to the door Sirius stood, "Narcissa, /cousin/, as head of the Noble and Ancient House of Black, I officially approve of your marriage to Severus Snape, and welcome you, your husband and son into the extended family of the House of Black."

Narcissa stumbled a bit as she rushed to her cousin's side, where he gathered her into a tight embrace, and was soon joined by Cissy, Bella, and Harry.

Severus and Draco stood uncomfortably nearby, until Bella and Cissy gestured for them to join the group hug.

When they finally separated there wasn't a dry eye in the room.

Severus looked up, blinking the unaccustomed moisture from his eyes and said, his voice thick with emotion, "Thank you, /cousin/."

Sirius, wiping his own tears, said, "Oh it's better than that, Cissy and Harry are married too, which means Harry will be your brother in law!"

Narcissa chuckled, "No, Cissy is my biological /mother/, even though she never carried me, which will make Harry your step-father, and Draco's step-grandfather."

Draco paled, grimaced, then pinched the bridge of his nose while shaking his head.

The professor groaned, "There is a God Almighty, with a twisted sense of humor, and right now, She's having far, far too much enjoyment at my expense!"

)O(

Tom Riddle was in a quandary. Half of the Cossacks were gone. Those that remained were loyal to Bellatrix, not him, and his only remaining, loyal Death Eater had drawn in on herself, practically catatonic.

He spoke the words that unlocked the final chapter of Majiks Most Darke, and stared at the cipher he, up to this moment, had not had the courage, or desperation, to look upon, let alone read aloud. Only in guarded solitude did he even dare to think the name.

/Abaddon/.

He only had to speak the name and untold power would be his, but at what cost?

He would pay the price, but only as a last resort.

)O(

Author's note: Fio nostrum filius = Become our son.
Next chapter is written and will be up shortly, many thanks to my reviewers who pointed out glaring errors, which I've amended in this latest edit. Special nods to Lycus and Zbigdragon - you guys rock!