Three's a Charm

She was amused that even after having been previously told that they were in a magical trunk, that Hei was still surprised to see it after they crested the stairs. He looked around at the alley where both their lives had been turned on their heads, "Hard to think it wasn't even forty-eight hours ago that I was dying in this alley, convinced that even if I survived the only thing that awaited me was my work with the Syndicate."

She smiles hesitantly up at him, "Hard to think that it wasn't forty-eight hours ago that I tried to cut through this alley on my way home, dreading the day the words on my ankle would be said and terrified I wouldn't be prepared to deal with it."

His face softens at her, and she quickly shrinks the trunk down and places the chain it's attached to around her neck, "Come on. Even though I called Remus, he sounded like he was still worried even at the end of the phone call."

He offers her his hand and she takes it happily. Hei makes an effort to be honest with her, though long habits and training means that sometimes he has to back up and correct himself when he realizes that he's instinctively lied or misled her. It doesn't actually bother her as much as she thought it would when he'd first explained it and asked her to be patient with him, he was trying. It wasn't his fault it was so hard to break himself out of it, and as far as she was concerned, it was his effort and his willingness to own up to it when he realizes he's been less than honest that matters.

One of the things she'd quickly learned, though Hei never actually told her if he was even aware of himself, was that Hei was actually a rather physically affectionate person. Either a barrier of some sort had broken down between them this morning without her noticing, or Hei was aware that by the time she'd woken up the distance they'd initially gone to sleep with had disappeared, because all morning he'd been unintentionally showing just how much of a physically affectionate person he was. It wasn't anything inappropriate of course, but all morning he'd been absently doing things like resting his leg against hers while they ate, lightly pressing his cheek to the top of her head to read over her shoulder after she tilted Brightblade's letter towards him in invitation at his clear curiosity, or tucking her into his side when they just killed some time on the couch afterwards since the spells on the trunk let her know there were quite a few people in the alley, which a quick peek revealed to be one of the businesses getting deliveries to their loading zone.

It was nothing major on its own, which was appropriate since anything more, while not inherently perverse depending on what it was, would probably be skirting the edge of propriety. It was mostly just him non-verbally, and possibly even subconsciously given how absent the actions seemed to be, letting her know that not only did he not mind her in his personal space, but he seemed to actually like having her in his personal bubble if the way he keeps drawing her into his was any indication. For her, who had been starved of non-violent human contact for the majority of her remembered life, it was phenomenal. It made her positively giddy.

In a way, it was also rather easily understandable. Given his profession, letting people near enough to hurt if they wanted was probably a major sign of trust. If she was right about that, it really made her happy as can be that he had come to let her close so quickly, though she acknowledges that it might partially be that he just doesn't see her as a threat.

Regardless, she happily takes his hand and starts to lead him towards Sirius' old apartment where Remus was likely waiting anxiously. When she'd found Hei the night before last, she'd just been cutting through to try and get home quicker after her trip to a non-magical book shop had run longer than anticipated. Remus hadn't come because he'd been sorting through the files they'd gotten from the Hall of Records for the book he was in the process of outlining. She'd lost track of time and likely would've been at the bookstore, a favorite for how late it stayed open, much longer if he hadn't worriedly called to ask where she was. It was the whole reason she'd been cutting through dark alleys later than was generally advisable to begin with. Well, that and after the Dursleys and Dumbledore and everything with Sirius, she had little care for what the law dictated and absolutely no fear of stabbing someone with the magically hidden dagger she'd taken to carrying.

The whole thing left her contemplating fate and free will. It should've been nothing but a coincidence that she had met Hei, and yet the words he'd said to her on that supposedly chance meeting had curled around her ankle her whole life.

She's drawn from her thoughts by Hei, "What are you thinking about? You look like you're thinking about something."

She glances up at him before returning her attention to guiding them back to the apartment, "Where fate ends and free will begins. Between just trying to survive my relatives and later how busy I've been since I got away from them, I never… really thought of how strange soulmarks are. It should've been nothing but a coincidence that I cut through that alley trying to get home quicker since I'd been out later than intended, and yet the words you spoke to me in that supposedly chance encounter have been on my ankle since I was born."

He hums as he looks up towards the sky, "Yeah, that's something people have wondered about for practically forever, but you know…" She looks over at him as he drops his gaze and smiles at her, "I don't think it matters too much. We make our choices, and if fate exists, then the fates laid out for us will culminate from those choices. I personally think that fate… is just a fancy way of saying that something is inevitable based on our personalities and the way we'll react to the circumstances we find ourselves in."

She smiles back, "That's not a bad way to think of it."

He chuckles faintly, then sweeps his gaze along the road and sidewalk. He'd been doing it near constantly since they left her trunk. She assumes it's an assassin thing. Once he's satisfied with his sweep, he glances at her, "I suppose it's not to surprising, since we're still getting to know each other, but it occurs to me that I don't even know my Xiǎolóng's birthday."

She ducks her head as she flushes faintly at the nickname. She definitely likes it, likes the fact that he doesn't think she's just a weak, pathetic, freak. Likes that he thinks she's a strong and ferociousDragon. She forces the thought away, "It's July 31st."

He hums in acknowledgement.

She looks up at him, "You?"

He frowns lightly, "As weird as it may sound, I don't actually remember the date after everything the Syndicate put me through, just the year, so I automatically bump the number up one at the start of the year."

She hums in understanding. Then tugs his hand lightly when they reach a turn. Between how much pain had been attached to her childhood and the fucking Syndicatestealing a good portion of his memories in the attempted indoctrination phase of training, and the fact he obviously doesn't want to talk about outright illegal happenings in the open, it was a little vague, but they hesitantly talk a bit about their childhoods as they get to know each other on the walk. While she does want privacy so they can talk more openly she also can't help but feel a bit disappointed when their conversation tapers off upon reaching the building and beginning to head up. She feels him nervously sweat a bit in her hand, and decides not to mention it as they head up, since he'd probably just get more nervous if she did.

Upon unlocking the door, entering and closing it, she turns to Hei, "Since it's more of an Asian thing than a Western thing, there isn't necessarily a house rule, but you can take your shoes off here if it's more comfortable."

He smiles lightly, "Thank you, but if it isn't a house rule, I'd prefer to keep my shoes on. So as to not accidentally step on any broken shards of cups and bowls and the like and also to avoid any spills. Well, also if it isn't a house rule and anyone steps in anything, unlikely though it is, I'd rather keep my shoes on just in case."

She smiles lightly, "Fair enough. Come on then."

She leads him down the short hall to the kitchen and finds Remus pacing in worry. He turns to her almost immediately and quickly crosses the kitchen to envelope her in a hug, "Oh my heavens! Do you have any idea how worried I was?!"

She sighs, as she hugs him back, "Sorry, but I wasn't about to abandon Hei."

He shakes his head, "No, something coming up with soulmates in general is fine, I was just worried since you were busy enough to actually forget about getting in touch for a bit."

She snorts, "Mm, sorry."

He steps back with a sigh and swiftly looks her, and her health, over to check on her before turning his attention to Hei. He starts to give him an examination, but doesn't get very far before he instinctively bristles, probably a combination of his werewolf instincts sensing another predator and Hei eyeing Remus since he hasn't had the opportunity to feel him out yet, but they both obviously care for her, so until they can hash it out, it leaves them both bristling and wary of having another predator near her.

She rolls her eyes, then can't help but grin a bit, "Hey! So, I didn't want to say something sensitive like this over the phone, but Hei is actually a full on assassin, and the best in the world at that apparently, so werewolf or not, he wouldn't be an easy target if your instincts drove you to attack. Especially since he honestly reminds me of a panther." Remus jolts and glances at her a few moments after Hei himself, mostly out of surprise at the nonchalant reveal of his occupation. Without hesitation she turns to Hei, "And like I said before. He's a werewolf, he isn't anywhere near as easy of a mark as you're used to. Regardless, you both are just bristling at sensing another predator, especially since it's near me, and you two haven't gotten the opportunity to sort yourselves out yet. Despite the fact that I'm pretty sure that after you do, you'll get along well. Especially since as far as I can tell, at the moment both of you two's priorities are my wellbeing." (1)

They both stare at her, then swing their gazes to each other and eye one another thoughtfully. Remus flicks a look at her with a raised eyebrow, but Hei quickly shakes his head, and Remus looks… pleased?

She doesn't really know what their wordlessly conversation is, but they both ease back a bit, though they do keep an eye on each other out of the corner of said eyes at minimum when Hei turns to her and gives her a faint smile and runs his fingers through her currently loose hair, "It appears me and Remus need to have a talk and hash things out. Especially since we're both predators, as you put it, and didn't expect each other, but in general we are after the same thing. However, while maybe you could act as mediator, we both feel that by and large it'll be easier to… hash things out without you around, so why don't you go see to something that you inevitably need to do?"

She raises an eyebrow, "You mean threaten each other until you're both sure you're on the same page."

Hei smiles slightly, "Maybe a little."

She glances over at Remus and he nods firmly, so she sighs, "Well, technically I'm fairly confident I've heard it all due to the Dursleys and the like, but if it'll make you two more comfortable…" Then she jabs a finger from each hand at them, "But! You better both not attack each other for no damn reason, and be reasonable about hashing things out! So don't go sizing each other up too badly, understand?"

They both nod and murmur agreements, so she sighs and turns away while scratching her head and shaking it a bit in mild irritation, "Well, then I guess I'll go put the trunk in Sirius' old room so I can go down and work some more on catching up on the Black Lordship stuff…" She glances between them, "Well. Regardless of why, if you come looking for me I'll be there, in the library." She glances at Hei, "It's the third door on the left."

They both smile at her and Hei nods, so she sighs. They also both shoo her off, so without hesitation she turns to Sirius' room, then quickly pulls the trunks necklace over her head and sets it down in the usual spot in the gap between the bed and the wardrobe that entirely contains Sirius' old clothes and is therefore not super important and can have its access slightly blocked off for the upper doors and totally blocked as far as the lower drawers go. Regardless, it isn't long before it's set up and she settles at the table in the library with more Black Family papers that she needs to go over, specifically about the businesses that still need some catching up and general maintenance.

She gets absorbed in them and playing catch up, so much that she's actually taken by surprise by Hei's voice speaking over her shoulder, "That honest seems a bit boring."

She jolts and whirls towards him, and he takes a step back with a small smile and holds his hands up, "Sorry! Didn't mean to scare you or anything."

She sighs and shakes her head, "It's fine, just startled me is all." Then she tilts her head as she turns back to reorganizing her papers, "So, did you and Remus work out your differences?"

He scratches at his nose thoughtfully, "Pretty much, yeah."

She smiles at him briefly, "Good."

He lets out a faint smile of his own at her genuine happiness that they've at least sorted themselves out and that she was already turning back to her paperwork now that she's been assured of it. While she was busy with that though, he had research he promised himself he'd do. Dumbledore was still a problem after all.

It's with this in mind that he interrupts her before she can really get into her work, "Do you mind if I read some books? I'm not very knowledgeable about the magical world, and I thought I ought to get more familiar with it, seeing as one of my Soulmates is a witch."

She glances up from her papers and smiles at him again, "Not at all. The only thing here that could be considered remotely private would be the filing cabinet with House Potter's Archives, and I'm not sure that privacy really applies to you, given the whole soulmate thing. You're welcome to look through anything in here." She gestures to the podium, "The book up there is an index of the library. It and the quill are enchanted. You can use the quill, which is self inking, to write search terms on the first page and it'll show relevant results. You can also use it to tap a book and it'll be pulled from the shelves and brought to the cart for you. When you're done, just put everything back on the cart and it'll be reshelved."

Hei returns her smile and quietly thanks her, then moves over to the index. He hesitates a minute then writes 'introduction to the magical world' in the prompt box. He gets quite a wide variety of results, each boiled down to book title, author, and brief description, and quickly starts scanning over them. He's noting various introductory books on the magical world, as well as its customs and laws and bringing them over to the cart with the enchanted quill when the listing catches his eye. It's simply titled 'Soulmates In The Wizarding World by Delpha Woolahan'.

Glancing at his Xiǎolóng, he hesitates for only a second before calling it over. It isn't long before he's satisfied with his stack and takes them over to another seat at the table. Though the other books were tempting in general he had to know about magic soulmates first, so he ends up opening that book before any of the others. By and large other than some magical theory on soulmates or magic laws it isn't that far off of non-magical things regarding them, but he continues reading just to be certain.

About an hour in, his eyebrows shoot up and he flicks a glance at Calanthe, before rereading the entry, "Despite historical protests to the conflict of interest in the case of soulmates with an age gap in which one or more is a minor, many historical cases of the minor soulmate being abused, neglected, or otherwise mistreated set first a strong precedence, then later laws, that make it almost laughably easy for the adult soulmate(s) to gain legal custody of the minor soulmate(s), regardless of whether they are magical or not. This is an extremely large as well as singular exception as in any other circumstance, there is a legal requirement for a young magical to have a magical guardian. In the case of muggleborns, they are automatically made the ward of their Head of House at Hogwarts, or something similar in other magical schools. However they are rarely informed of this, and as such most muggleborns aren't even aware they possess a magical guardian. In any case, the adult(s) of such soulmate pairings need only provide the bare minimum of proof of neglect or mistreatment in any form to the Department of Child Services at the Ministry to be automatically granted guardianship."

Hei works his jaw thoughtfully, then turns to Calanthe, "Xiǎolóng."

Her gaze snaps up immediately. Once he has her attention, he simply slides the book over to her, tapping the relevant passage. As she reads it her eyes slowly widen. When she's done she slides it back absently as she chews on her lip, "I- I don't know. It'd be awfully hard to avoid Dumbledore, and I still don't know what he wants or the lengths he's willing to go to, if I tip my hand…"

He tilts his head, "Can you prove any sort of neglect or mistreatment that wouldn't be taken that badly? If that's what you're worried about, then as long as he doesn't think you're actually suspicious of him or know what you do of what he's been up to… Make it seem like you don't know who your guardian is but you aren't satisfied with them…"

She narrows her eyes in thought, but before she can think of something a voice cuts into their conversation, "The lack of training in preparation for your duties as Heiress would work." They both turn quickly, finding Remus in the doorway, "Sorry, didn't mean to eavesdrop, I was just on my way down to continue my work with the file cabinet, and on the way down the hall, well, werewolf hearing, y'know?"

Hei relaxes slightly as Remus ambles forward to look over Calanthe's shoulder at the entry. It still unnerved him, the plethora of advantages he had learned that Remus had as a werewolf during their talk, but it was abundantly clear to him that he was a good man, better than Hei by a long shot, and they'd already cleared up that he genuinely cared for Calanthe. 

He shares a look with Calanthe and her brows furrow in the way he's beginning to recognize as her being deep in thought, as she absently glances between them, "You two aren't gonna start growling at each other or something right?"

He snorts, "No, we've hashed it out, roughly anyway. Some extra time just to get used to one another and get to know each other wouldn't go amiss." Then he grins lightly, "Besides, you don't have much ground to stand on regarding predator animosityXiǎolóng."

She starts to bristle, then shoves the reaction down so quickly that he only notices due to being as a high class assassin for so many years, then she smirks lightly at him as she flicks some hair over her shoulder, "The young Dragon may be somewhat vulnerable, but the older Dragon feeds on both the Panther and the Wolf equally."

He can't help but laugh lightly, "Mm. Suppose that's true, and since I continue to stand by my initial evaluation, I suppose you'll be a mightier predator than either of us eventually."

Remus huffs a laugh and she giggles before looking away thoughtfully, "Mm. But, as far as the guardianship goes, I mean it would draw Dumbledore's attention but I already have an etiquette tutor and the like to help back it up…" She narrows her eyes further, "Mm. But anyway, yeah, I think that could work? He won't be happy obviously, but I don't think he'll figure out I know damn well that he's an untrustworthy bastard."

He and Remus share looks. While they'd mostly just gotten on page one with each other that yeah, they were both dangerous, but. But, they both desired Calanthe's safety as basically a top priority at the moment, so while predators didn't always get along seeing as how they both desired her safety and each had their own role to play out? And, there was also the added benefit that Calanthe wanted them to not fight and tolerate each other at a bare minimum? They had agreed that it was more than good enough to set aside their knee-jerk reactions as two predators inhabiting the same territory and bury the hatchet before there was even a fight for her sake. So they still technically needed to get used to one another and get to know each other, but they had at least established that due to different roles they weren't exactly reading the same book on a personal level, but they were both pursuing the same goal and managed to establish, open, and agree to page one of the proverbial book of their relationship.

It's to that extent that he knows that Remus understands that at the moment he's looking for him to use his knowledge and his place as the ‘Smartest Marauder’, listen they had a very in depth conversation especially about how they theoretically could fuck each other over if either of them so much as put a toe out of line regarding Calanthe which had in a slightly unrelated topic made him appreciate just how cunning and vicious the man could be as a Marauder, okay? Anyway, while they might still need to get to know each other, their thoughts of Calanthe and more specifically her safety means they are absolutely on the same page here. So Remus and he immediately understand each other in that moment, and they take turns shaking their head to indicate to one another that no, neither of them could see any problem popping up regarding seizing Calanthe's official guardianship.

He frowns lightly, "Normally, I would say that the Reaper is a terrible guardianship choice, but with the other so-called option being what it is… No, I suppose it's the best option out of what's available."

She tilts her head, "Well, not really?" He raises an eyebrow so she glances away with a small smile and a faint furrow between her brows, "I mean, when it comes to the Potter Family Crest, it does have a Gryffin, both to symbolize the family is both noble in action and blood, as well as to honor Godric Gryffindor, but… But. It also has a Thestral, a normally invisible, carnivorous, naturally bone thin bat-like horse that can only be seen by those who have witnessed, understood, and accepteddeath, so it's often seen as an omen of misfortune and death, though the Potter family actually raises a herd of them. The Crest also utilizes the Potter Family phrase 'Nolite Timere Messor' which means 'Fear Not the Reaper', and is a shortened version of a family motto, sooo… I mean, having an assassin whose nickname is The Reaper either as an official guardian or in the capacity as a soulmate? Honestly, it fits with the Potters and is basically par for the course."

She snorts, “Particularly when one knows the full version of the family motto Nolite Timere Messor comes from. Which, for the record is: Fear not the Reaper, for he is the only one who has walked beside you your entire life. Fear not the Reaper, for it is only in his shadow that all are equal. Fear not the Reaper, for he does not judge, and it is only in his grasp that you find eternal peace. Fear not the Reaper, but instead greet him as your oldest and most loyal friend when your reckoning is upon you, as he has never once abandoned you.”

He turns to her in astonishment. He can't help it. Generally he was someone terrifying if not considered so terrible that he was pretty much not a person, but a force of nature. So hearing something like that? It blew his mind and soothed him, both on levels he honestly found unsurprising in general as a soulmate, and it soothes something in him much deeper than he ever thought possible.

He can't help but smile faintly as he looks away, perhaps… perhaps there was still a part of him that was a terrified innocent child who only insisted on going with his sister out of loyalty and love that somehow managed to survive her turning into a monster. Who, due to said insistence and his sister backing him up since he'd proven he would always protect her when her contractor price forced her to sleep, was indoctrinatedtrained to be an assassindespite the fact that near the beginning he'd leave to cry alone over every kill. Perhaps that part of him that he pretty much never acknowledges and attempts to bury in his conscience is soothed by the idea that even if he's a monsterjust like his sister used to behimself, he still has a place that doesn't judge. Where he belongs.

He glances back at her with a hesitant smile, "Guess maybe I'm right where I belong."

She grins back, "Yes, you are." Then she glances between them and hums, "I could also ask Andromeda. Technically, for those almost obsessed about my safety, if I clarified that I was asking her for advice as my etiquette teacher, then the confidentiality agreement would bind her to secrecy, just in case. And since she's also a lawyer, and doesn't like Dumbledore, she'd probably be all too happy to think about whether there are any loopholes that could be used against me and give me the most informed advice I can think of. So we could all take some time to think it over, and we probably should just to be safe, but I'm rather confident she'd know."

They share another look to make sure neither is outright against it, then turn to her and he smiles faintly, "Not a bad idea, I have no qualms about double checking with her after we all give the situation some thought."

Remus hums, "Me either."

He nods then gazes at his stack of books, "But if we want to look for errors or holes in the plan we may have then I suppose I'll need to familiarize myself with the magical world with haste."

Remus hums again in another agreement as his gaze shifts to the filing cabinet, "There's no laws or anything I really need to review so I suppose I'll get back to working on that while I think it over in my head."

She smiles at them both, "That works for me."

They both nod at her, and without another word they both turn back to their tasks, Remus with almost absentmindedness as he worked and thought the issue over, him with almost vicious focus on the law books in particular. Calanthe herself turns back to her paperwork, or rather parchmentwork? The only difference is a slight furrow to her brow that hadn't been there before as she sorts them out and thinks over the situation.

The three of them share faint smiles periodically as they work. They would still need to think it over and get advice from Andromeda, but it looks like they have a means to get Calanthe out of Dumbledore's hands.

She looks over the book with care, then glances up at Hei. Without a word she slides it over, and he looks it over swiftly. His brows furrow as he reaches the end, so before he can say anything she quietly adds, "I know you don't care about most of it, but at the very least you could relearn your birthday? Maybe even your birth name to use in places like getting my guardianship where you don't really like the Ministry having your real name, but it'll be legally more binding if you use your birth name rather than the name you use now?"

He frowns faintly at the book, then sighs hesitantly, "You aren't wrong about that…" He smiles lightly, "And since you can get it through Gringotts, I guess there's not a huge delay in you getting your hands on it?"

She smiles faintly, "Not at all."

He taps the book slightly, then nods firmly to himself and slides it back to her, "In that case, I guess you might as well ask them for a normal identification potion."

She smiles faintly, and gets up to go get her Gringotts box quickly. She goes down the hall to her room and it only takes a few moments to get her box from her desk. She quickly opens her drawer and gets out some parchment, then takes just long enough for her writing to be better as she excitedly asks Brightblade for a personal identity potion. They likely won't need the aspect that will reveal any accounts that one will inherit with Gringotts since there'd have to be a pretty dumb amount of luck to make Hei the last true heir to anything, but it didn't hurt to double check, and more importantly it would let Hei and herself learn of his birth name and birthday.

And at the very least it'd be helpful to relearn that stuff since he could make some papers more binding by signing his birth name, and even if he prefers Hei, it would still be nice to reclaim them, right? Though she's careful to go slow enough for her better handwriting, when she writes to Brightblade and asks for it, she also asks for it to be deducted from her personal accounts and after looking it over, sends it off then waits impatiently. It isn't too long before her box handle glows with a response and she all but snatches the reply, Murtlap grabbed from her medical supplies in the bathroom as well as some toilet paper while she was in there, identification potion, and the carefully prepared parchment it goes with then hurries back to Hei.

He smiles faintly at her and they settle down to look over Brightblade's reply. It's nothing major, and just basically summarizes that while he's not sure why she needs it, to remember to have Remus make a legal copy of the parchment and send it back if whoever is using it has any inheritances. Other than that, it's just instructions on how to use them, which they already knew from the book.

She shakes her head, "It's pretty unlikely that you'll be the heir to anything, but it never hurts to double check and we're more after the identification of your birth name and birthday so it'll be useful regardless. It'd be helpful for some legal documents, and even if you still prefer Hei after, it's still nice to at least know your name and reclaim your birthday, isn't it?"

Hei smiles faintly, "That's true." Then he glances at the potion, accompanying parchment, and the Murtlap she'd grabbed, "I just need to nick myself and allow blood to mix into the potion until it changes from green to maroon, right?" She nods and he smiles fondly at her, "That's a small enough cut that you didn't need to grab the Murtlap you know."

She huffs at him, "Even if it'd stop bleeding on its own decently fast, it wouldn't take that much Murtlap, and I have plenty of money for that stuff, so it's not like I consider properly healing it a waste."

He laughs lightly, then reaches down to grab one of his ankle knives, which unlike his normal ones he wears all of the time, "If you say so Xiǎolóng."

She sticks her nose up and shifts her expression in her best 'snobby pureblood' look, and uses the accompanying voice to proclaim, "I do!"

He laughs gently again as he picks up the toilet paper and tucks it between his hand and the handle of his knife, then opens the potion and holds his arm over the opening and gives himself a small cut with his knife. At which point he shifts his hand so that he was loosely holding the knife with his last two fingers while holding the small wad of toilet paper with his first two fingers and his thumb near the scratch so he can cover the cut once the potion turns colors. As the blood begins flowing into the vial, she unscrews the Murtlap as she mentally acknowledges that the near scratch like cut would have clotted up and stopped bleeding in a couple minutes at most, but it would still make her feel better if they swiped some Murtlap on it afterwards instead. Maybe she's overprotective, but screw it all, she's allowed to be protective of her soulmates.

Hei and her watch it bleed into the potion for maybe half a minute before its color abruptly changes. As soon as it does Hei covers the cut with the toilet paper. He pulls his arm away from the potion and she swipes a bit of Murtlap up with her finger, then once she has it he pulls the toilet paper away slightly, still pressed enough that if it tried to flow too much down his arm the toilet paper would absorb it, but revealing the cut. Without hesitation she swipes the Murtlap onto the scratch which disappears within seconds. As soon as it's gone, Hei pulls the wad of toilet paper away from his arm enough to refold it in a way that shows a clear part of it, then quickly runs it over his arm to clean up the leftover Murtlap and the blood off his arm.

After that's done, she recloses the Murtlap as Hei puts his knife away. Afterwards, Hei pours the potion onto the parchment, which absorbs it so rapidly that the puddle of it never even gets bigger than a Galleon, and once he's done pouring even that disappears in seconds. Then wait a few more seconds before ink seems to bleed up out of the paper. They glance at each other then Hei picks it up and tilts it towards her, so they can both read it over.

Name: Li Tian (Birth name, body owner), Hei (Preferred name, body owner), Li Xing (Birth name, fused with body owner), Bai (Preferred name, fused with body owner)

Birth date: September 7th, 1988 (body owner), March 21st, 1990 (fused with body owner)

Age: 17 (body owner), 15 (fused with body owner)

Status: Human Muggle (body owner), Human Contractor (fused with body owner)

Close relatives: Li Cheng (Father, deceased), Li Jia (Mother, deceased), Li Xing (Sister, fused with Hei, near comatose), Li Tian (Brother, fused with Bai)

Soulmate(s): Calathe Potter-Black (alive, result from body owner), Kirihara Misaki (alive, result from body owner), Lauren Chapman (Birth name, alive, result from fusion with body owner), Amber (Preferred name, alive, result from fusion with body owner)

Abilities: N/A (body owner), Contractor with electricity/molecular manipulation with a sleeping Obeisance (fused with body owner)(2)

Vaults: N/A (body owner), N/A (fused with body owner)

Properties: N/A (body owner), N/A (fused with body owner)

Hei's eyes go huge and his hands begin shaking. After a moment he slowly brings one up towards his chest, though it hovers a few inches away, "Xing- Bai …. is… in me?"

She looks up at him, her own eyes wide, having heard a good deal about his much beloved little sister, "I… guess so? The potion certainly wouldn't lie."

He finally touches his chest with almost extreme gentleness, almost like he's afraid to hurt his sister or something. He swallows thickly as tears appear in his eyes, and his voice turns hoarse, "So that's why BK-201's powers…"

He chokes faintly and drops the parchment to roughly bury his face in one hand as his other clenches in his shirt. She reaches up cautiously, not knowing whether Hei would want someone to touch him while he's upset.

Her uncertainty is thrown out the window when the moment she touches his shoulder, Hei whirls towards her and flings his arms over her shoulders before burying his face in one of her shoulders with a quiet sob.(3)

She hugs him tightly as she squeezes her eyes shut, trying to tell herself that long term, he'd definitely want to know, rather than mentally beat herself up in guilt for hurting him.

She presses her cheek to his hair as tears gather on her squeezed shut lashes, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Hei. I n-never meant-"

She chokes on the rest but Hei must understand what she was getting at from the way he shakes his head against her shoulder.

For a while they sit there while Hei gets the emotional upheaval out of his system and she does her best to comfort him. Eventually though, he draws back slowly, eyes red and puffy but dry from where they're gazing down towards the floor in a subdued manner.

She bites her lip and glances away, "I really am sorry. I never meant-" She squeezes her eyes shut in pain, "I never meant to hurt you."

He squeezes her shoulders and murmurs in a subdued tone, "I know, Xiǎolóng, I know. It's okay, you were just trying to help. You had no way of knowing anyway, and while it hurts I'd rather have the knowledge of what happened to my sister than continue to be desperately searching in the dark for answers." He glances back at the parchment and picks it up, then blinks in surprise, "Oh. I hadn't even really taken it in since I was already reeling from the 'fused with body owner' line in the name category. So Amber is Bai's soulmate? That… makes a bit of sense actually. It's probably a platonic bond, but they were always pretty close. Even before Amber and I dated. I wonder if they knew and just never mentioned it to me…"

She shrugs, "That, I couldn't say. I've never personally met them. You'd be able to guess far better than I could."

He nods, "Well, I'm fairly confident that it was a platonic bond, since Xing actually seemed the closest to happiest I'd seen her since she became a Contractor when she found out Amber and I had started dating. But I honestly couldn't say whether they knew they were soulmates or not, especially since Bai had a 'shared words' type of bond. I guess it wasn't in the 'first thing your soulmate says to you' category, since her Mark didn't match up with what they said to one another. Must've been something that held meaning to them, but since they sometimes talked when I wasn't around, I couldn't say if they ever exchanged their words and found out and just didn't tell me."

She hums back, then looks over the parchment again, "So, Tian, huh?"

He snorts, "Apparently. And that's an irony of its own."

She looks up at him, "How so?"

He smiles a little sardonically at her, "Tian is Chinese for 'Sky'. A bit ironic given I'm borrowing a Contractor's powers and Messier Code."

She blinks in surprise, "Oh." Then she shifts her gaze to the parchment, and the familiar determination to help Hei fills her and she smacks her hands down on the table, "So! How do we unfuse Bai from you?"

He smiles warmly at her, "Already trying to make plans Xiǎolóng?" He shakes his head with a chuckle, "Why am I not surprised…" Then he turns his gaze back to the parchment thoughtfully, "But that is the question, isn't it?"

Hei can't help but carefully control his expressions to hide his nervousness. They had gotten advice from Andromeda Black and come to the conclusion that there weren't huge drawbacks to him getting Calanthe's guardianship in general and that he should get it as soon as possible. Soulmates could be a little… weird. On one hand, if one of them had something come up that had their personality do an abrupt change, then the other soulmate could reject them, and unless they were also mentally unstable they wouldn't even feel the need to defend them even if their so-called partner was rightfully on death row from committing wrongdoing. On the otherhand, while they weren't forced, in general a soulmate or soulmates would feel an almost compulsion to take care of one another. It was generally viewed as the world's way of speeding up the period where the soulmates got to know each other and the like, as well as attempting to ensure that all parties of a soulmate bond would be around to get to know each other.

To that extent, though it hasn't been all that long since he and Calanthe met, he was currently sitting in the Child Protective Services office in the Wizarding World and attempting to gain her guardianship. His nervousness was because he had presented as much evidence as possible about how delayed her Heiress Training was and her currently unknown guardian -who wasn't even the one who arranged the beginning of her training-, since her parents' actual wills were sealed and to everyone else what was 'known' was a total lie. The woman behind the desk was looking over the parchment papers with a more and more pronounced frown, to such an extent that when she reaches the end of the file she snaps it closed.

She taps it on her hand with a frown before looking up, "I think it's fairly certain that you have her best in mind and not her current guardian."

He nods lightly, "Mm. Given that the wills are sealed, we aren't entirely sure who said guardian is, but with the way they've rather failed her as an Heiress…"

She nods lightly as she gazes at her desk, "Yeah, I thought they'd do better given…" She shakes her head, "But I guess even he suffers from having too much on his plate." She lifts her head with a firm nod as she pulls out Calanthe's official file and a stamp, "Very well, with the fact you seem to have her best interests in mind as well as the exceptions for the necessity of being magical by being her soulmate, I hereby grant you official custody."

With an immensely satisfying sound, she clicks the stamp onto Calanthe's parchmentwork, then efficiently creates a certified copy with a Ministry Approved spell. Within moments she adds it to Calanthe's file and holds out the copy to him with a faint smile, "Congratulations Mr Li, you officially have guardianship of Heiress Potter(4)."

He smiles lightly as he accepts it, "Thank you! It'll be just as much of a relief for her as it is for me, since we've both been worried about it."

She nods back, "I'm sure, given that it would be rather… bad if an Heiress wasn't trained. Anyway! Have a nice day!"

He smiles in return to the one she'd tossed him at the end with the goodbye, then makes his way out. He's not all that surprised to pass a near frantic Dumbledore on his way as he makes for the location he and Remus had agreed to meet, given what he's heard about the man always seemingly to know when things are happening, which points to spies. Anyway, Remus had come to the Ministry with him since the other man had a meeting with Andromeda and Amelia Bones about Sirius and the evidence in regards to him.

When he gets to the meeting location, he finds Remus already waiting, "Short meeting?" Remus nods as they turn to begin making their way out, "Any good news?"

Remus sighs, "Unfortunately no. They're still being stonewalled."

He sighs as well, "That's unfortunate. At least I have good news?"

Remus perks up, "Then?"

He nods, "Mhm. I've officially got her custody now."

The other man beams, "Well, that's one good thing at least!"

He nods, "Did see Dumbledore hurrying by as I left though… A little worried about that to be honest. Didn't you guys mention mind altering spells? What if he tries something like that regarding her custody?"

Remus shakes his head, "I doubt it. Even if he altered the Child Services worker’s memory, the parchmentwork would still have you listed as the legal guardian and since things like the stamps for changing that sort of thing have additional enchantments to make sure that whoever is using them is in their right mind, and scans for that type of thing too, it wouldn't work as far as attempting to use that to regain her custody."

He lets out a small sigh of relief, "That deals with one worry at least."

Remus nods as they que up to use one of the departure floos, a type of rather uncomfortable transportation, which seemed to be par for the course in the wizarding world, but admittedly useful and unfortunately necessary in this situation, since floo was the only public way out of the Ministry. Which he thought was weird, since not everyone had a floo, but apparently in such cases a person was generally expected to go to either a public floo, like the Leaky Cauldron's, or to an acquaintance's floo.

In any case, it's not very long before they get to the front and he nervously takes the handful of floo powder in hand. It's been a couple times by now that he's used one, but the idea of stepping into a fireplace that he knows will flare up with his actions still makes him, understandably as far as he's concerned, nervous.

Regardless, he steps into it and tosses down the powder as he calls out, "Dog's Pad!"

When he gets back, before Remus in case he didn't pronounce it clearly enough, he finds Calanthe sitting in the kitchen drinking tea, probably to calm the nervousness she was trying to hide.

Her head jerks up when he arrives, and he smiles in reassurance, "While unfortunately the meeting Remus went to didn't seem to get anywhere other than updating each other, I'm happy to inform you that my meeting went extremely well." He holds up the copy he'd received, "I officially have guardianship of you. Dumbledore can't exert so much control over your life anymore, since he won't be able to reverse it."

She frowns at the first part, then beams and looks down with wide eyes, "I'm finally free of him…"

He smiles and nods, and having come through the floo during the conversation Remus adds, "Now we just need to get you officially away from the Dursleys in the non-magical world."

She waves her hand, "That would probably be as simple as updating them that my magical guardian had changed and I was only with them because of my last magical guardian."

Remus hums in thought, and he grins viciously, some of The Reaper surfacing, "Or." They both turn to him, "Dumbledore will likely lose interest in them now that he's lost Calanthe, right?" Remus nods firmly, and his grin widens, "We could nail them for child abuse and neglect."

Remus smiles savagely, "Not a bad plan."

Calanthe crosses her arms, "Except for the fact I got magically healed so there isn't a lot of physical evidence anymore. I mean, there are records of me being malnourished and my old injuries, but I don't know I don't know if that'll be accepted in the non-magical world."

Remus tilts his head, "True. But we should at least try rather than just letting them get away with it."

She shrugs, "I don't necessarily mind in general, but good luck. In the meantime, I need a copy of that parchment to forward to Brightblade so he can get Dumbledore's fingers out of my belongings."

He shares a look with Remus as he holds out the parchment and the man quickly makes a copy. Calanthe heads off with it, and they share a nod. They'll need to make some plans. He'd still rather like to just stab them, but given what he'd learned from Calanthe about how obsessed with their reputations they were, having those reputations torn apart and becoming the scum of society would be far more torment, as they deserve. They also cared an awful lot about being decently well off, and following the funds had revealed that at least some of the money taken from Calanthe's House Potter trust vault had apparently been used to pay the Dursleys, almost zero of which had been used to take care of Calanthe, barring the shitty run down clothes, over the counter glasses periodically, and what little they'd allowed her to eat, which doesn't even annually make up a tenth of the funds the Dursleys received. But now that he had guardianship, the Dursleys could kiss their ill begotten wealth goodbye.

They are all mad about it, but Brightblade was particularly livid given that while goblins were a bit obsessed with money, even they wouldn't willingly hoard funds rather than take care of children. Between the way the money obsession and their childcare ideas meet, and the fact that while they would've accepted it if the money had actually been used on Calanthe, since they hadn't, the goblins in general considered it even more theft. Brightblade had been viciously happy to make plans to get them labeled as thieves and get debt collection started when they brought up officially getting her guardianship, to be started immediately after they wrangled it from Dumbledore.

Which would actually be helpful for the child abuse and child neglect case if he could find a way to prove it in a way that non-magical law would accept. After all, even in human society, people who have the audacity to receive a heap of a child's inheritance to take care of them only to just barely scrape up the bare minimum for them and pocket the rest even as they neglect and abuse said child would absolutely be scum in society's eyes.

He can't help the vicious smile that flutters over his face. Oh yes, if they could pull this off, even if he doesn't get the satisfaction of killing them, leaving them alive to suffer would be immenselysatisfying in its own way.

He runs his fingers over the Mark on his collarbone, and murmurs to himself, "While I haven't yet met her, perhaps I should take a page from Misaki's book and sic the law and society on them."

A sneeze breaks the quiet companionship that had hovered for the past couple of minutes. Kanami grins at her, "Oh? Seems like someone is talking about you."

Misaki frowns down at her food at her best friend's words, "It better not be some criminals planning to break the law and only bringing me up because I'm a cop or something."

Kanami rolls her eyes and gestures to her neck, "Geez Misaki, lighten up and take your soulmate's advice already."

She can't help the way her frown shifts into a faint smile as she runs a finger down her neck and the vivid green words drifting down it in graceful cursive English.

'You should smile and laugh more. You've got a pretty laugh and beautiful smile, and you're far too young to already be developing frown lines on your face when you should be enjoying life to its fullest.'

In fairness it wasn't bad advice at all, and this was far from the first time Kanami had gestured to it and said something along those lines. She did try, but she was always focused on important matters. Like becoming an officer, and later whichever case was in front of her. Most of the time, it felt like negligence to ignore what was going on, even if only for a few moments, and it never seemed very appropriate to be smiling and laughing about things when there were dangerous criminals she needed to focus on catching.

She always felt pleased that one of her soulmates liked her laugh and smile though. Who wouldn't? It warmed her that it was the first thing they'd notice about her, the first thing they'd mention. The frown lines thing wasn't as flattering, but she'd always been a rather serious woman, so it wasn't entirely uncalled for.

And in fairness, her other Mark was more serious. It was even one of the primary reasons, other than just wanting to help people, that she became a cop in the first place. After all…

'Oh. Hello. Are you hiding from that crazy lady with a gun too?' (5)

Looping in Japanese in a delightful shade of dark blue around her ankle was far more alarming. Because when she met one of her soulmates they would be hiding from a lunatic with a gun and she'd be damned if she wasn't going to be prepared to protect them.

She'd been told repeatedly that the different colors of the two scripts was probably the color of her soulmate's eyes. If that was true, her soulmates had gorgeous eyes. Even their handwriting was beautiful, the green cursive graceful in a way that always brought nobility to Misaki's mind, the blue in some of the loveliest calligraphy she'd ever had the pleasure of laying eyes on. It made her embarrassed about her plain brown eyes and messy handwriting. She just hoped neither of her soulmates were disappointed that she was one of the people they were bound to.

She looks back up at her friend, "Yeah, I know it's good advice in general, but there's always so much going on…"

Kanami rolls her eyes, "That's always your excuse."

She looks away with a faintly bemused smile, she really should be taking her soulmate's advice.