Endings and Beginnings
She looks up as the prisoner is brought in, not happy in the slightest to have been asked to be the one to do this, even if she understands why, “Dumbledore.”
The man's eyes gleam, looking like he won, “Calanthe. Here to ask my help because Tom is giving you problems I assume. If the Wizengamot is willing to acquit me-”
She barks a laugh, “Not in the slightest and in your dreams. I'm actually here because Amelia asked me to speak with you because you keep harassing the guards, trying to persuade them to release you and other such nonsense because of Voldemort.”
He flinches, eyes going wide with alarm, as they look around frantically, presumably freaked out by the possibility of anyone showing up while he can't use magic, “You can't say his name here! If he comes now of all times-”
She gives him a flat look, tone blunt, “Voldemort. Voldemort. Voldemort.” She looks around pointedly, “Oh look at that. No attack. Not surprising given Voldemort,” She emphasizes the name just to drive her point home, “is dead. That's what Amelia wanted me to talk to you about. He's dead Dumbledore. No one is going to entertain your nonsense about being released, especially to help deal with someone who is already dead.”
He gives her a flabbergasted look for a moment, then composes himself, “No, he really isn't, he may have fallen a second time, but there are things you don't know-”
She cuts him off without hesitation, “If you're talking about his Horcruxes, I've already dealt with them.”
His mouth drops open in astonishment, then his eyes gleam maliciously, “Not all of them, there's one-”
She continues in an almost bored tone, “If you're talking about the piece that broke off and lodged itself in my scar, I've been aware of it since my fourth year and dealt with it then as well.” She snorts, “Though I must admit, it was kind of an accident. I'd just gotten my Patronus fire to work for the first time you see, so you can probably imagine my surprise when it lunged for my head faster than I could react and cancel the spell.”
She gives him a vaguely amused look, “That's what Grindelwald's message through the Australian ministry official was referring to. Just before I passed out, I heard an inhuman scream similar to what was released by the black smoke that came from the snake's body when I burned it. I'd gone through all the trouble of putting up shields and the like just in case the Patronus fire acted up again, but it wasn't necessarily. It wasn't after, nor hurt me. It was after the Horcrux in my scar, which it killed. It actually wasn't too difficult to deal with the rest. I had all but one destroyed before the end of my fifth year, and I already had the last one in hand. The only reason I didn't destroy it was because my Inventiones let me monitor how many Horcruxes there were in total and how many were destroyed, so I held onto it to keep an eye out for the possibility of him making any more.”
His mouth opens in closes, “You- You lie. There's no way it was simple to deal with Voldemort's Horcruxes!”
She snorts, then starts ticking off her fingers, “The diary you're well aware was destroyed when Lucius Malfoy slipped it in Ginny's things. A ring that belonged to the Gaunt family that the fool had the misfortune of having a stolen Potter family artifact imbedded in it, so when I had the Goblin's perform a ritual to recall such items, it came with. Same with the Slytherin family locket, since I'd claimed Right of Conquest on him by then. With the Goblins right there to have seen it, we spoke and they agreed to sweep their vaults for any more, since it goes against the contracts people sign to set up a vault, and Hufflepuff's cup was found in the LeStrange vault that way.”
“I already told you the fate of the one in my scar and you saw the snake's death with your own eyes. Ravenclaw’s diadem evaded me for a bit, and was actually the second to last, since I'd held onto the locket as my monitoring one. The locket was destroyed moments before his death with Patronus fire by the magical AI I created to command the golems, since I'd both entrusted the locket in its care and gave it the ability to use Patronus fire, if for no other reason than the fact it thinks a lot faster than humans and was perfectly capable of timing it to a fraction of a second before Tommy-boy died and therefore we could know for sure he wouldn't escape to make more.”
Dumbledore stares at her, utterly shocked and more than a bit horrified, presumably at losing his chance at glory. After a few beats, his face twists in malicious glee and he laughs at her, “And now that you've gone and given your most powerful ability away, made it so they don't need you to secure their safety, how long do you think it'll be before you're considered useless and unnecessary, hmm?”
She smiles, “I eagerly await that day.”
His joy drops from his face and he gives her a dumbfounded look, “What?”
She lays her hands on the table and gently pushes herself up before leaning towards him, “That's one of the many differences between you and me Dumbledore. Probably the main one. You sought to build something utterly reliant on you that would crumble without you, like a sandcastle too close to the waterline only protected by a flimsy and unreliable wall such as yourself. I seek to build something self-reliant that doesn't need me. A proper castle like Hogwarts with a solid foundation that will easily outlast me.”
His mouth opens and closes silently as he stares at her, unable to comprehend the notion and she leans back, “I'd say good day, but it'd be lying. Given Azkaban was practically used as a honey trap for the Dementors to keep them away from the masses, you're lucky that during the course of the final battle, it was discovered that Patronus fire could kill them and the Ministry has since switched gears and had me develop traps that radiate similar despair to draw them in before destroying them. Regardless, rot here being hated by the masses but with rapidly approaching obscurity for whatever is left of your days Dumbledore.”
Without another word, she turns and leaves.
She happily closes the Trunk of Requirements after putting the last of the things she wanted to take with her in it. Sirius sighs a little sadly from where he's leaning against the doorframe, “Can't say I'm happy to see you moving out of the country pup.”
She laughs, “Oh come off it Padfoot. Now that we don't need to potentially send emergency backup there, we've taken the Vanishing Cabinet out of Hogwarts and you have the other half of it at your apartment. We'll be able to see each other pretty damn easily.”
Sirius sigh, “Yeah, I know, I know… But what about things like your Wizengamot duties?”
She snorts, “They meet like, once a week under normal circumstances, i.e. when there's not a resurrected megalomaniac around, unless there's a huge trial, so I can pretty easily just change my schedule the day before and be perfectly well rested. Misaki, on the other hand, really can't both keep being a cop back in Japan and live here. Not without doing that same ‘basically never awake at the same time’ schedule I was doing during the summers when all that nonsense was going on.”
He makes a disgruntled noise, “Yeah, but you just got back after graduating Hogwarts a month ago. Can't you wait?”
Unable to resist that opening, she whirls around towards him as Peter and Remus laugh, “You've walked into it now Padfoot!”
Peter just grins, while Sirius looks confused, holding his hands up in a confused surrender when she points at him dramatically, “I've done my waiting! Three years of it!”
Peter and Remus start laughing their asses off as Sirius’ mouth opens and closes, gaping like a fish. He snaps out of it a moment later, tossing a dirty look at the other two before turning back to her, “Prongslette! You can't go throwing my own words back at me like that!”
She snorts, “The hell I can't Sirius! And I gotta say, considering I started figuring I'd move to Japan not that long after I met Misaki and you'd get pouty when I did, I've been waiting almost as long to sling that line back at your drama queen face as I waiting for that damned -though understandable and good in everything but what it did to me- block to end so I could actually be in a relationship with my soulmates.”
She shakes her head, “Besides, the three of us spoke, and given she's looking at a longer lifespan as a magical now, Misaki agreed with me and Hei to stick with the age she would've retired at if she hadn't become a magical and gotten said longer lifespan. And when she inevitably outlives her non-magical friends over there we already intend to move to the Potter Ancestral Manor, because even after she retires, given magic tends to slow aging to about half in an average magical after magical majority occurs, since magic was at least nice enough to let us age up normally, then barring some tragedy, she's going to outlive her friends by a long shot, and I can't ask her to move here earlier when that's already a thing that's going to inevitably happen.”
She shudders a bit, “Though, mentioning it out loud like that makes me real damned happy magic doesn't slow our aging before we're seventeen. If it did both that and also inevitably adjusted the block for magicals to be when we were physically seventeen since that's when our bodies would be mature enough for magical maturity to occur… Merlin, the very idea of how long I'd have to have waited for that block to disappear…”
She shudders again, and the three of them also get somewhat horrified looks, probably because they saw how much she struggled with it.
Shrinking the Trunk and slipping it around her neck with the attached necklace chain, she heads over to the Vanishing Cabinet connected to the Japan apartment. She gives the three last minute hugs since they aren't coming with, “Don't pout Sirius, I'll see you guys when we meet up for food after the next Wizengamot session.”
He rolls his eyes, then shoves at her head playfully, “Yeah, yeah, get out of here and just abandon us already brat.”
She laughs then heads into the cabinet, quickly stepping out into the Japan apartment. She'd purposely picked morning to leave the UK since that'd make it an hour or so before Misaki is supposed to be home.
She's a little surprised to find Hei already in the kitchen when she goes looking for him, walking over and pressing up against his back as she slips her arms around him, peering over his shoulder at the ingredient preparation he's doing, “Isn't it a bit early to be starting on dinner already?”
He turns his head and she turns her own to meet him in a brief kiss, “I'm doing a slower cooking thing, it won't be done for about two hours.”
She makes a noise of understanding, then presses another kiss to the side of his neck as she gives him a squeeze, “I'm gonna go unpack the last few things I hadn't brought over yet.”
He hums, “Alright.”
Then she steps away to put actions to words, already eagerly looking forward to both Hei's delicious cooking tonight in the immediate time frame as well as being able to live with Hei and Misaki year round and be on the same sleep schedule for the vast majority of the time -other than brief blips for the Wizengamot- in the longer run.
She was completely torn emotionally at the results of the spell. Simultaneously elated and filled with dread. Her husband and wife… may be upset with her.
The titles lift her heart a bit. It's well past when most people predicted the ‘honeymoon phase’ would be over and she wouldn't constantly be elated at the mental reminder that Hei is her husband and Misaki her wife, but that's also not really taking into account how long she patiently waited just for a relationship between them. And now after years of waiting for a relationship in general, as well as a bit of buildup to their engagement and eventual marriage, Hei was her husband now, and Misaki was similarly her wife.
Twice over in fact, given a bit of a hiccup in the UK Wizarding World's legal acknowledgement of non-magical marriages created not by the Wizengamot being stubborn as had been the case in such things when she was younger, but by pure virtue of an old law that made it so the Ministry could only acknowledge unions done via magical means that they were struggling to unravel.
Not having wanted there to be complications, nor to rob Misaki of the kind of wedding she'd imagined in the rare instances when the thought of marrying crossed her mind when she was younger, nor had the two wanted to do the same to her, they'd chosen to simplify the matter and just have two weddings. One in non-magical law in an eastern style wedding, and a magical one done as a western style wedding.
It's not like it'd been a chore to marry the loves of her life twice over, and the other two had been in absolute agreement with her on that. Wedding planning could be a bit stressful, sure, but it was more than worth it. They'd had the non-magical eastern style one in Japan first, as since they we're going to do both anyway, she'd insisted on doing that one first so that the magical wedding wouldn't basically invalidate the meaning of the non-magical one since they'd already be married in the non-magical government's eyes. It had added more preparations and all that of course, but she was utterly satisfied with the results, and Hei and Misaki had both said that while it seemed a little excessive and unnecessary to them originally, they were glad they'd gone with that plan.
The initial plan for children -since even ignoring that she genuinely wanted them eventually, while there wasn't a legal requirement or anything of the sort, she was generally expected to re-separate the families and produce at least three children to be Heirs to the Potter, Slytherin, and Black lines- had been to wait a few years, but the results in front of her make it clear she had slipped up on her magical preventions due to being busy with some research recently.
She was pregnant, and she was torn between feeling elated at the prospect and the dread of the possibility of Hei and Misaki being upset with her for getting pregnant earlier than they intended to start trying for children since they'd wanted to enjoy more time in peaceful marriage before they brought in any adorable little troublemaking hellions.
She's snapped out of the endless cycle of thoughts by the Healer she'd gone to because she, perfectly understandably given the revelation, wasn't feeling well, “Lady Potter-Black?”
She yanks her gaze up, “Sorry! I just kinda… was lost in thought for a minute there.” She can't help that the laugh that comes out is a little strained, “While we want kids, my spouses and I intended to wait a bit before kids, but I guess I got a little too distracted with some recent work…”
The Healer smiles, “It happens. I'm sure it must be a shock, but that's natural, so just give it a little time. The happy part can take a bit to sink in sometimes when it's a serious surprise.”
She nods, mind a million miles away as she starts trying to figure out how the hell she was supposed to tell Misaki and Hei while almost absently finishing up with the Healer on some things related to the revelation. After wrapping up the appointment, she gives the Healer an absent smile, “Thank you for your time.”
The Healer smiles back, “Of course Lady Potter-Black. Congratulations again, and don't forget to schedule your follow up appointments to check on you and the baby on your way out please.”
She nods as she heads towards the desk to make said follow-up appointment, fighting hard not to let herself slip into a daze, both at the bombshell and the idea of having to break the news to Hei and Misaki.
She still hasn't figured out how she's going to tell them by the time she's home, finding Bai sitting on the couch with Hei as they laugh about something or another as she slips her shoes off. Hei smiles as he turns to her, “Welcome home. What'd the doctor have to say?”
She waves her hand vaguely as she walks past and heads towards the room, “Later. I'm tired.”
She completely misses Hei and Bai's confused looks, both more than a little surprised at her not dropping her usual kiss on Hei as she passes. She flops on the bed, staring blankly up at the ceiling as she continues trying to figure out how she's supposed to tellthem.
She's not sure how much time passes before she hears the door open, but she can't bring herself to look over, and after a pause, she feels the bed shift as Hei sits down and leans over her, hand braced against the bed, opposite the side of her from where he was sitting, “Was… was it bad news?”
She blinks at him slowly, “I guess that's a matter of perspective.”
Relief crosses his face, “Which at minimum means you aren't dying or something.”
Her gaze drifts back to the ceiling, “No, nothing like that. Sorry for worrying you.”
His free hand comes up to start running through her bangs, “It's fine. But if it's not something like that, then what is it? It's clearly not just some sort of run of the mill illness from your reaction…”
She flicks her gaze towards the wall opposite where he was sitting, “No, but… we should probably wait until Misaki comes home.”
His brows furrow, “She has the right to know of course, but Calanthe, you're honestly scaring me here.”
Her gaze moves back to him, “I already said I'm not dying or something, and it's not some permanent debilitating disease or anything.”
He blows out a frustrated breath, “Why can't you just tellme?”
She looks away again, “That- It's not a matter of I can't, but more that I don't know how. And you might be upset with me because I got so busy with things that I slipped up, and it's entirely my fault.”
That only makes him more concerned, “What'd you do? Make a mistake while doing some sort of experiment and do something like irradiate yourself or damage cells or something?”
She gives a weak laugh and a wane smile, “Nah, nothing like that, I just have a mass of cells growing in my uterus.”
For a moment Hei looks even more concerned, maybe thinking something like a tumor, and also like he's puzzling through it before understanding and surprise washes over his face and he freezes, “A mass- Calanthe, are- are you pregnant?” She nods a bit dully, and he lets out a laugh as he leans down, resting his forehead against her collarbone, as the hand that had been in her bangs rests on her shoulder, “That's a weird way to tell someone you're pregnant I hope you realize.”
The lack of immediate anger doesn't necessarily mean he's not upset of course, especially since the relief that she wasn't dying or something would postpone such a reaction, so she's not out of the woods yet, but nevertheless, she can't help but snicker at his reaction, “You're the one who brought up cells.”
He shakes his head as he lifts himself from his slouch back into his previous position, “Guess I walked into that one, though it also makes me think you've been hanging out with Sirius and them too much.” He looks away for a moment gaining a thoughtful look before turning back to her, “By slipping up because of your research, you mean on your monthly contraceptive potions?” She nods, wariness returning to her, but he just smiles as his hand leaves her shoulder to stroke at her face, “Yeah, it's earlier than we were planning, but I can't say I'm upset.” Then he snickers, “Me and Misaki kept telling you that being as busy as a bee was going to come back to bite you one of these days. Guess it finally caught up with you. Although, out of all the ways it could've, this one is much more preferable than any alternatives.”
She gives him a cations searching look, unable to help double checking, “You really aren't upset?”
He smiles at her, “Not at all.” Then his gaze drifts down to her currently flat stomach, his eyes softening as he straightens up enough to lift the hand he'd been leaning on to caress her stomach, “More of a happy little accident, I'd say.”
She snorts as some of her tension drains away, bringing one of her hands down from where they'd been limp on the bed next to her head to rest on the back of the one stroking her stomach, “Unless Misaki disagrees. It's not so happy if our other soulmate is mad about it.”
Hei laughs, “Yeah, but I honestly can't see her being upset either. Especially since we're an actual so-called ‘love triangle’ rather than more of a wishbone if each of the people is one of the points and the connecting lines are the relationships that people call love triangles, since you and Misaki are also soulmates and a couple. Which, as we talked about before, also means that she may not have anything to do with the baby genetically, but it's also her child, just like hers would be yours if she got pregnant. She may be a very career focused woman, but I can't seriously see her being mad about our baby.”
She hums, and she can't totally accept it since he could be wrong, so she won't be able to fully relax unless Misaki herself says she's fine with it, but it does help with her anxiety. There's a few moments of comfortable silence between them before Hei glances away, “While it wouldn't feel right to tell her what's going on before Misaki, I should probably text Bai and let her know you aren't dying or anything since she was worried as well…”
She hums, “Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you guys…”
He looks back and smiles again, “It's fine. It's pretty shocking news to get and you worry so much that I'm sure your head was a mess regarding how me and Misaki were gonna take it.”
A bit over an hour later, she's sitting at the nearby table watching Hei work on dinner while they wait for Misaki to get home. It shouldn't be too much longer, but the closer the time gets, the more her anxiety creeps back up on her. She's so wound up that by the time the door opens, it's only the years of controlling herself as first an Heiress and later Lady that the sound doesn't make her jump.
Misaki smiles when she sees her at first, before she seems to notice her nervousness and grows a bit concerned, flicking a look at Hei. He smiles reassuringly at Misaki before flicking a look towards her, “Did you want me to tell her?” She shakes her head, but doesn't verbally respond to Hei, and he nods, “Alright.” Then he grins, “Probably shouldn't tell her the way you told me though.”
She flicks a dirty look at him, even as she feels a flicker of gratitude at him lightening the mood before turning back to Misaki as she sets her bag down after slipping off her shoes and starts making her way over looking a little concerned, “What's going on?”
She shakes her head and gives Misaki a slightly strained smile, “Just my busy schedule catching up with me like you and Hei have always warned me it would.” Misaki's brows furrow and she waves her hand, “Nothing life-threatening or anything.”
Misaki flicks a glance at where Hei was cooking, “I should sincerely hope not, given how much Hei seems to be in a good mood.” Then she turns back to her, “So what finally was the thing to slip past you?”
Her lips tremble a little with her nerves, “My monthly contraceptive potions.”
Misaki's brow furrows in confusion for a split second before she realizes the only real way something like that slipping past her could ‘catch up with her’ as they were always warning her, and her eyes go wide, “You- You're pregnant?”
She nods, unable to help the way her brows dip slightly as the moment of truth arrives. All her concerns are blown out the window though as Misaki starts beaming, “Oh my gods! I mean, that's earlier than we were planning of course, but that's great!”
The rest of her tension and anxiety bleeds away, and Hei glances over his shoulder at her with a grin, “I told you she wouldn't be upset.”
Misaki gets a little confused, “Upset? Why would I be upset?”
Hei shakes his head as he turns back to the stove, “Calanthe was just worried we'd be mad because it was earlier than we were planning is all.”
Misaki blinks, then waves her hand, “Oh that. It's not a big deal.” Then she laughs, “Jeez, you guys had me worried with Calanthe looking so nervous after her Healer's appointment today!”
She smiles a bit sheepishly, “Sorry.”
Misaki shakes her head as she drops a kiss on her forehead, “It's fine. I'm gonna go get changed out of my work clothes.”
Hei chuckles and reaches for his phone, “I should probably call Bai before you call Kanami, since she was here when Calanthe got back and was worried, and while I told her nothing was wrong, it didn't feel right to tell her Calanthe is pregnant before you found out. I did promise she'd be the first to know what was going on after you though.”
Misaki laughs a little and gives him a mischievous look, “Fair enough, and you've got a little time while I pull the clothes I'm changing into out, but I'm definitely calling Kanami after that, so you might wanna hurry.”
He chuckles at Misaki's playful ‘warning’, smiling as it rings before Bai answers, speaking up before she can, “You're on speaker while I cook, so sorry if it's a bit quiet on my end, but I promised you'd be the next to know after Misaki. And on top of my hands being busy cooking, I figure you'd kill me if I told you something like this over text.”
There's a hum, “That's fine. From the tone I presume it's not terrible news?”
His smile widens as he flicks a glance at her, “Nah, she was just anxious about telling me and Misaki since her constantly being so busy has finally caught up with her and the results are earlier then we were planning.” His eyes gleam a little mischievously, “I suppose congratulations are in order.”
Bai's voice is understandably confused, “For?”
He looks like his joy is bubbling up so much he's barely holding back his laughter, “For your incoming Aunthood.”
Bai sucks in a sharp breath, before she squeals in excitement, her voice becoming ecstatic, “Calanthe is pregnant?! Do you know the gender yet? Wait, stupid question, it's way too early to know. Oh gosh, you're gonna be a dad! I'm gonna be an aunt! Oh this is so exciting!”
He laughs, “Yeah. Yeah it kinda is, even if it's not what we were planning.” He laughs again, “Honestly, considering you were capable of viewing my life, maybe you heard it, but back when I met Calanthe and her dad's portrait starred teasing me about a shovel talk, I couldn't help but be surprised that even after the turn my life took back when I was twelve that I still somehow ended up in a place in life where it was even mentioned. And now look at me, living in one place, married to two gorgeous women, and now I'm on my way to being a dad. What the hell is life that my little sister became a Contractor and I ended up getting snatched up with her by a crime syndicate and indoctrinated into an assassin but still find myself here?”
Bai starts laughing hard, but immediately the siblings switch topics and start chatting about the pregnancy in excitement. As she listens and watches Hei moving around, seeming to have a proverbial pep in his step, her hand drops to rest against her stomach, feeling incredibly relieved that her soulmates weren't mad at her for her slip up and the effects of it. That, and unbelievably happy now that the anxiety was out of the way.
It wasn't at all what they'd been planning, but as long as Hei and Misaki weren't mad at her, she couldn't bring herself to be the slightest bit upset about it.
He frowns a little at the twitch in Calanthe's face as she places a small fry in her mouth. It hadn't escaped his notice that she's been barely nibbling on her food. He has one arm around her shoulders, but brings the other over to rub as her slightly swollen belly, “Is the food too greasy for you right now?”
Misaki's eyes widen, “Oh gods, that completely slipped my mind when I suggested grabbing something here! Do you want to go somewhere else?”
Calanthe shakes her head, “It's fine.”
He rubs at her stomach a bit more, “What's fine, sweetheart, is pregnancy making fast food not agree with you right now. Me and Misaki may like it in general, but you don't have to force yourself.”
Calanthe shakes her head, brow pinching a little, “That's not…”
Hei presses a kiss to her forehead, “Then what is it?”
Calanthe breathes out a sigh, “It's just this little hellion being picky is all. It's your birthday though, and while eating here wasn't the point of going out, I'd still feel guilty.”
He furrows his brow, “Why?”
Calanthe rolls her eyes as she slumps a little, looking down at her stomach in slightly annoyed exasperation, “Because. It's not that the food is greasy that's the problem. I started suspecting it when I realized this didn't sound good and realized all the alternatives crossing my mind had the same thing in common and confirmed it with myself when I mentally compared two different burgers and the brat decided one was gross and the other sounded delicious.”
He gives her a bemused look, “What do they all have in common then that the precious bundle is wanting?”
She gives him a deadpan look, “That they're all Daddy's cooking.” She rolls her eyes as he's stunned into silence, “I don't wanna make you cook on your own birthday, but the little nincompoop has decided that a greasy fast food burger sounds gross, but even if it's also a burger if it's one of the ones Daddy makes with his picky meat choices and seasoning then, well, that just sounds absolutely delicious thanks. Or rice. Or steak. Or soup. Or eggs. Really he's not being picky on what food, just that it has to be Daddy's.”
Misaki laughs, “Bun hasn't even popped out of the oven and he already has good taste!” Then she flicks a mischievous look at him, “Arguably, Hei shot himself in the foot there.” He gives her a confused look and she snickers, “Because taste is also something that can be inherited and it sounds like he takes after Daddy on how picky he can be about food sometimes.”
He shakes his head in amusement at Misaki, then turns soft eyes on Calanthe, “You know I don't mind cooking on my birthday. You should've just told me.” He presses a kiss to her temple, “Did you wanna head back to get something now?”
Calanthe shakes her head as she pushes her tray away, “No, it's fine, I'll just eat when we get home.” She gives another dirty look at her stomach, “Though I sincerely hope Mama's milk is fine with the picky brat, since Daddy can't help with that.”
He laughs, then presses another kiss to her forehead, “I'm sure it will be.” Then he glances at Misaki, “We'll finish up quickly and swing by the house so I can make something fast for you before we head back out. That sound okay?”
Calanthe nods, then sighs, “Don't know what we're gonna do when it's time to start transitioning to baby food though, if he hasn't gotten over proverbially sticking his nose up at anything but his daddy's cooking by then. And I sincerely hope the other two I'm expected to have don't pull the same nonsense.”
He hums, but the mention immediately makes him start thinking about baby food. It can't be that hard to make something that a baby can eat from scratch, can it? It's usually Calanthe's shtick but he'll have to do some research later.
Calanthe may grumble about him being picky and might even be exasperated and claim he's spoiling their baby later, but if his baby wants food he makes, then that's what he's gonna get.
She's exhausted, but utterly happy. How could she not be with her newly born baby boy in her arms. She happily turns to meet her husband in a kiss when he leans over to get a better look at their baby. Her heart soars, utterly blissful. Misaki couldn't be there unfortunately, which is the only negative mark on the occasion as far as she was concerned. A particularly bad case had forced her to work late, so unfortunately she'd missed the birth, but it's not like she wouldn't have plenty of time with the baby later so it's not the end of the world or anything.
Hei strokes the baby's head gently, eyes soft, “You know, I gotta admit, I never understood why people got so gushy about newborns being cute since I thought they just looked weird for the first little bit of their lives, but…” He laughs, “Even if it's just attachment skewing perception, I get it now.”
She giggles, “Yeah, I know what you mean.”
Hei grins at her mischievously, “Also, your worries seemed to be for nothing as usual. It may not be my cooking, but it seems like Mama's milk is an exception to his pickiness.”
She laughs, “Yeah, so it seems. I mean, he was gonna have to deal anyway, so I'm glad he isn't being fussy.”
Hei snort, “If anything, I'd say the little bugger seems eager.”
She laughs again, then gives him a playful look, “Maybe he inherited your appetite along with your pickiness for good food. I think I may be in a bit of trouble if he did. Don't think I could keep up with that.”
Hei chuckles, “Maybe. But that's what formula is for, and if he's gonna have an appetite too big for you to handle, unfortunately he's going to have to deal with it.”
She chuckles as she nods, looking back down at their baby. He'd been quite the handful to carry, but it was all worth it for their little Alexander. He currently had Hei's last birth name as something of a placeholder since even before she'd gotten pregnant she'd made the choice that which of the three House's she was Lady of that the three children she intended to have would carry the name of and be the Heir to wasn't something she could decide properly until they were older and she had an idea of their personalities and could tell which of the three would suit them.
That was all in the future though. For now, there hadn't been any complications during the birth and the Healer’s had given both her and Alexander a clean bill of health, and that was more than enough for her.
She laughs lightly as she watches Alcestis, Hiroko, and Sophus chasing their older siblings Alexander and Miyu with water balloons after they teamed up and dumped buckets of water on the three as a lighthearted prank. Their names do make it obvious which of them were given birth to by her and Misaki, but neither of them, Hei, nor the kids have ever minded the difference that was just a side effect of the different countries their birth mothers were from.
She leans against Hei's side, watching their kids happily. Misaki, on Hei's other side at the moment, laughs lowly, “They sure are energetic, aren't they?”
Hei hums in agreement and she shakes her head, “You'd think they'd be a little more tuckered out after their lessons earlier.”
Misaki laughs, “Yeah, you would, wouldn't you.” Then her voice becomes a smidge louder, making her think she'd turned to Hei, particularly given what her playful voice says next, “Probably get it from their dad, if the kind of stuff I've seen him pull off is any indication.”
Hei makes a noise of mock complaint, “Why is it always my fault? They didn't get everything from me! It takes two to make a baby!”
She laughs, then turns to plant a kiss on his cheek, “Because we said so, that's why.”
He throws his head back in a fake dramatic sigh. The good mood is popped momentarily by concern over Sophus tripping. They're all good kids, and his siblings immediately stop to check on him, but he quickly laughs it off, reassuring them all that he's fine and clambering to his feet quickly. As soon as he does, the game of chase is back on and her concern ebbs away.
She sighs happily, her eyes slipping half closed. She can't quite bring herself to close them completely, all too aware that happiness can be ripped away at a moment's notice after the way she grew up, but blissfully content.
Alexander was going to start Hogwarts next year and she can't help the way her own time there has been bubbling up in her mind. She's not quite sure she can call it nostalgic, given the messes that seemed to crop up every year, but at the same time, it wasn't all bad. No where close to it. And she at least has the reassurance that she left it in a much better state then it was when she got there, what with things like the curse on the Defense post no longer an issue and the Student Council, which still seems to take their jobs seriously thankfully. There was no guarantee later generations would of course, but at least it didn't fall apart practically the moment she left. Though, in fairness part of that may be because the Heads of House nowadays all seemed to take it as part of their duty to help guide them.
She'd been sad to hear when McGonagall died a while back and had of course gone to pay her respects at her funeral, but it's been made clear that it had been the right choice to appoint Professor Vector as the Deputy Headmistress all those years ago. The school has been in good hands ever since Dumbledore got arrested.
She felt a flicker of concern for the fact that since Misaki was reluctant to leave her friends which now had a significantly shorter lifespan compared to her, even with Alexander going to school overseas. He wouldn't have them as immediately on hand as students whose parents lived in the country, even if they were just a Vanishing Cabinet away, but Alexander, and even the other kids who had a couple more years before they were supposed to start school, had laughed her concern off.
He'd cheerfully reminded her that they had Sirius, Remus, and Peter close at hand in case of an emergency, and not only had the three been more than happy to help but she'd already explained things to the school and that they would need to call one of them if an emergency happened, since the timezone difference meant that they might very well be asleep depending on the time.
She was doing her best to accept it and let her worries go. Daphne had laughed gently at her and said it was just part of being a parent, but still…
Lately, she'd also been thinking about the past in general. Not of Hogwarts specifically, but about how far she's come from that lonely child who ran away from her house and didn't trust a soul.
Hard to believe what her life had become from that.
She smiles a little tiredly out the window as she watches the sunset. Life had gotten harder and harder, not because the world was getting worse, or even just because of her age specifically but purely because the more powerful a magical was, the slower they aged. People aren't supposed to outlive their children purely by years, much less subsequent descendents and yet… Here she was. Less than a week away from her four hundred and ninety-ninth birthday, long since having been made to say goodbye to Hei and Misaki, their kids, all of their grandkids, and even every one of not just their great grandkids but all the way up to their great five times over grandkids, the last of which she'd had to bury what feels like just yesterday, though she is fully aware her sense of time has long since been skewed.
She did care for her family, she did, but she'd found herself pulling away and distancing herself more and more with each generation. It had gotten to the point where her great eight times over grandkids were very much already out and about in the world, fully grown up, but they hardly knew her.
She feels like she's justified in drawing back, especially given how old and tired she was. She hopes it's enough to satisfy the promise she made Hei before he died, to not just end it all or something even without him and Misaki and live her life to the fullest. She'd done her best, though she admittedly found herself withdrawing more and more into research as the years went by and she lost more and more family and friends.
She sighs and finishes off her glass of wine and heads to bed.
And in her sleep Calanthe Potter-Black passes away peacefully, just shy of her four hundred and ninety-ninth birthday, which was kinda funny, albeit in a morbid way.
She jolts as consciousness seems to slam into her. There are people shouting in what sounds like Japanese around her, but she's too disoriented to make out what they're saying.
Especially with the distraction of some woman pointing what looks like a gun at her, hateful terror in her eyes. She… seems a lot bigger than her though? It's only around that time that from the perspective of everything around her and a glimpse of her own hand which she'd brought up habitually that she realizes she's in the body of a baby.
Without hesitation, she throws up a physical shield and sends out a wave of Patronus fire. It clashes with some sort of light that had started to come out after she pulled the trigger, burning it away as it passes on its way to her.
The way she turns to ash in moments makes it clear that despite the infantile form she currently had, there was plenty of harm aimed at her from the woman's heart. Not that there was really any question of that, given she was the sort of person capable of pointing something that looked like a gun at a baby. It couldn't have been a gun given the light, but given her Patronus fire ate whatever that was that came out as well, it was clearly harmful, so it didn't really matter that it wasn't something that fired bullets.
Heavy silence washes over the people around her as she lets her Patronus fire go, it's job done, and it subsequently dissipates.
She stares at the ashes of the terrible woman for a moment in thought before she realizes her consciousness is starting to fade. It's the weirdest feeling, as there isn't fatigue in her infantile body, but darkness is certainly closing in on her mind rapidly.
Her eyes narrow as she struggles to fight it off, but a male voice, loving and soft, echoes from the edges of her conscience, “Sleep Beloved. You will wake if necessary, but otherwise you should not wake properly until later.”
She doesn't know why, since she's not usually the sort of person to trust an unknown suspicious voice that had somehow managed to slip through her Occlumancy, but something in her trusts it instinctively. Not that she has much choice, given despite her attempts to fight it off, darkness was closing in on her mind.
She makes the choice to follow her instinct and trust it, giving up her mental struggle and letting the black veil pull itself across her mind.
The last thing she hears is a man shouting, “Shiba Miya, what wa-?!”