chapter 3
June 8th, 1997
Eris blinked at the last statement, “what do you mean take me home?”
“Its time to go home, Eris. Dumbledore is dying. The Potter boy wont fight much longer, we’ve basically won. You know the truth now and i want my wife by my side. You care deeply and the wizarding world needs that. You are the heart of all this. We need you,” Tom sat next to Eris on the love seat, gently pulling her into his side.
“We would go back to Slytherin Manor? Is the nursery still there?” she looked up at Her husband and smiled. The feeling of being with him again lifted a weight from Eris she didn’t know she was carrying. Her very being felt lighter than it had in years.
“Yes it is,” he whispered, “everything is exactly where we left it. His blanket is still in his crib, wrinkled from where he was laying on it.”
Eris let out a sad laugh, “i didn’t have time to grab anything. I knew Dumbledore was on his way. I grabbed Mattheo, made it look like we had been killed by transfiguring things to look like us, and left. We had to leave.”
“Where is Mattheo? How is he?” Tom hated that he missed so much of his sons life. He always thought about Eris and Mattheo when he was a wraith in the Albanian forest. They gave him strength when he had none.
“He looks so much like you. We had to put a glamour on him before he went to Hogwarts,” Toms eyes widened in shock at the thought of his son being so near to Dumbledore, but trusted his wife to make the choice herself. “Don’t worry, Love. he is alright. Every night and morning he takes anti-compulsion potions. And he looks nothing like either of us. I even changed his name.”
“I looked at the Hogwarts enrollment papers, i had assumed he wasn’t there.” Tom thought aloud, proud of his wife for hiding them so well.
“I would tell you the name he goes by but Morgana knows if you were followed,” Eris said, glancing at the closed curtain of the window across from them.
“You are always so paranoid, my love,” he placed another kiss on the top of her head and his thoughts wandered to his son. He hadn’t seen the boy since he was just sixteen months old. Always smiling and laughing at whatever toy his mother had given him. The night he left for the Potters house, he had gone into Mattheos room to see his son one last time before killing a boy younger than him. He had thought the young child would be asleep but he wasn’t. He was sat in his crib with a look as if he had been waiting for his father to enter. When he saw the man he had smiled and raised his arms, telling his father he wished to be held. Tom had picked up the young child and told him he was sorry. He told him that he would be back soon and the war would be over in a matter of months. The boy had looked at him if he understood and gave his father a hug. He left the boy after that, allowing him to fall into a peaceful sleep.
“What is he like?” Tom asked, still remembering the last time he saw his son.
“Mattheo? Hes wonderful. So much like you. Smart, ambitious, cunning, and kind. Hes made lots of friends at Hogwarts. I couldn’t be more proud of him,”Eris still wasn’t convinced this wasn’t a dream. It felt real but it was all too much. At this point she didn’t care if it was a dream. She was with Tom and that was enough.
“I think it’s time to go home, my love. Is there anything that you would like to bring at the moment? We will come back and get the things you have but i want you to come home first,” Tom explained. Eris stared at him for a moment before sitting up.
“I don’t believe so,” she whispered after a matter of seconds. This was too fast. This morning she had been doing what she had done the same thing she had done for fifteen years and now she was about to go home. Tom stood and offered her his hand as he did when they were first together. She took it and stood, Tom glanced at her before guiding her out the door and away from the wards around the house.
“Are you ready?” Tom asked, excited and at peace at the thought of his wife finally being home.
“As ready as i can be,” she laughed, gripping Toms hand tighter. The feeling of side apparating causing nausea in her.
The manor stood in front of her and cast a shadow on the ground around them. Dark blue marble reflected the light of the early afternoon sun onto a pile of ash in the front court. Everything looked the same as she had left it except for the pile of ash. The gardens, just barely seen around the manor still bloomed with bright coloured flowers and many herbs. Candles flickered inside the manor windows and shadows of people walked past, some calm and others erratic.
“Tom who is in the house?” Eris demanded, fear filling her as she turned to her husband.
“Death Eaters. A few have been staying here in the guest wing but they aren't allowed in our wing. Everything over three is untouched by anyone but us,” he explained. “They will not harm you and there is no longer any reason for you to hide. We have almost won the war and its time they met their Lady. there are a few people in there who i know will be quite excited to see you.”
Eris resumed their walk into the manor, anxiousness building in her gut as she took the few steps up the stairs. She felt Tom slip into the scales of Voldemort as they took the last step. Skin turning into smooth scales and face shifting to be the snake-like one everyone knew him for. Tom opened the large wooden door and they walked inside. Three men stood in the foyer, all of them bowing to Tom but throwing a confused look at one another at the sight of Eris. They walked past two more people on their way to there family wing, both bowing to Tom but giving Eris confused glances. She recognized a few of the people they walked past, having either gone to school with them or seeing them at one of her parents many galas.
“I have called a meeting to be in an hour,” Tom told her as they entered place Eris had once spent many nights reading or playing with Mattheo. Everything was still there, tidied but still the same things. “I want you to be there with me. I will introduce you to the death eaters as my wife. You will take your place by my side and give input when you have it.”
“Will Bella, Cissy and Lucius be there?” Eris asked, picking one of the pillows from the couch and hugging it to her chest.
“They will. Would you like to see them before the meeting?” Tom offered, watching Eris walk around the room, touching everything she could.
“I just feel like it would be an awful surprise for them to see someone they thought to be dead at the side of the Dark Lord,” Eris murmured, bending down to grab a small toy wand under the couch, waving it a little and red sparks flew out.
“Wait here and i’ll fetch them,” Tom said, watching Eris give a small nod before turning away and starting the short walk to the other side of the manor where he knew the Black sisters were.
Eris continued walking around the room before venturing into a dark hallway, candles flicking to life as she walked by. She opened the first door and entered the large room, the bed was freshly made but everything else about the room was the same. Her shelf of books stood on the wall opposite the wall, pictures and trinkets lined the walls. Photos of her and Regulus laughing at something Evan had said and Barty focusing very hard on a transfiguration spell he couldn’t quite get the hang of. Farther down the wall was the pictures of her and Toms wedding. Smiles lined their faces and picture Tom gifted Eris into his arms, giving her a kiss and spinning her around. Barty, Evan, Pandora and Regulus stood beside Eris in another photo, all grinning and the girls held flowers while the boys held doves which were thrown into the air at the end of the ceremony.
A tear fell down Eris’s face and she quickly wiped it away when she heard footsteps entering the room she had been in. Tom’s voice drifted down the hall and Eris came out of the room, slowly making her way back into the sitting room. When she entered the room she saw her sisters and brother-in-law standing there. Bellatrix had lost most of her beauty to Azkaban, now looking gaunt and unstable. Narcissa still looked as beautiful as the last time Eris had seen her, being a mother had suited her well. The two sisters blinked a few times as they stared at the woman who entered the room through the dark hallway. It was Narcissa who reacted first. She put a hand to her heart and looked to Bellatrix, who was slowly starting to realise who stood only a few feet away.
“Eri?” Narcissa asked, stepping towards her younger sister.
“Im home, Cissy. Im sorry. I had to protect Mattheo. I’m sorry you never heard from me,” she apologised, before she was crushed into a hug by her older sister. Bellatrix walked towards the two slowly and joined them, running her fingers through Eris’s silver hair but not saying a word. After a few long moments, the elder Blacks pulled away from their younger sister.
“Well look at you,” Bella crooned, grabbing her sisters hands and pulling them to the floor with her, the three girls forming a circle on the floor, the men smiling behind them, Lucius a bit confused but happy to see that his sister-in-law and Lords wife was alive. Maybe punishments wouldn’t be so bad now.
“Where have you been,” Narcissa asked, staring at her sister as if she would disappear in the blink of a eye. Tears threatened to fall but she didn’t allow them to.
“The Isle of Skye. I changed my name and got a muggle job a few kilometres from the cottage we moved into. I only worked there for a few weeks but it was hell,” she laughed, remembering the bakery at which she had worked.
“I know it was necessary but really, Eri? Muggles?” Bella judged, causing Narcissa to laugh at the sneer on her older sisters face.
“Tom found me this earlier this afternoon, i didn’t think it was real. I still don’t,” Eris admitted, shaking her head before turning it to look at her husband who was now sitting in a chair directly behind her, as if supervising the three sisters.
“Almost sixteen years, we’ve thought you were dead. We though Mattheo was dead. Where is he? Is he here?” Narcissa questioned, looking towards the hall Eris had appeared out of.
“No hes not here, Cissy. He goes to Hogwarts under a fake name and a glamour. I can’t wait for you to meet him. When you pick up Draco at Kings Cross I’ll go with you to get Mattheo. It will be a shock to him but its time he knows who is family is,” Eris stated, grabbing her sisters hands and giving them a light squeeze. Narcissa returned the squeeze but Bella didn’t move. She was staring at Eris as if trying to decipher something.
“I saw your body,” Bella finally whispered. “I found you and Mattheo laying here on the floor. I covered your bodies before going to the Longbottoms. How are you alive?” her voice broke when she remembered Eris and Mattheo’s lifeless bodies. Mattheo had looked so small in his mothers arms, one would think he was sleeping but the lack of breathing gave their death away.
“I transfigured two pillows to look like us. I knew Dumbledore would be after us at any minute. All i knew was that Tom was gone and we needed to hide,” Eris explained.
Eris felt a hand on her head and froze for a moment before remembering Tom was sat behind her.
“It is time for the meeting, my love,” he whispered, running his fingers through her hair.
Eris and her sisters stood, and walked towards the door with Tom and Lucius. Eris and Tom took the front of the group, which was strange for Eris who would always walk behind her sisters, when they were younger. She supposed it made since though, seeing how she was bloody married to the man their husbands served. Her eyes looked around the halls she had once memorised, all the paintings and pictures still hung but they held a different feeling than they had all of those years ago.
As the group approached the meeting room Eris donned her pureblood mask for the first time in years, allowing all emotion to slip from her face and walking with a confidence that would’ve made anyone in her way immediately move. With a flick of his wrist Tom opened the door and walked into the room, Eris holding his arm and keeping the quick pace to the other end of the large table, ignoring the people sat at the table in a show of power. Those who recognized Eris stared as she walked by, having thought she was dead for fifteen years seeing her walk with the dark lord was quite a shock. Voldemort took his seat at the table head and conjured a chair similar to his on his right hand side for Eris, who sat quickly but gracefully.
“I have called you all here today,” Tom began, looking at his followers sat around the table. “To introduce you to someone who should’ve been with us since the beginning. My wife sits with us today and from now on. She will help us plan attacks and political movements. You will treat her the same way you treat me or you will be punished greatly.”
Nods and sounds of acceptance came from around the table, many of the men didn’t look pleased at the fact they had a woman in a higher position than themselves but quickly let it go when Voldemort shot them a look that promised pain.
“Yaxley, how are things at the ministry?” Tom invited, looking very pointedly at his follower.
“Things are going smoothly, my lord,” the man spoke, shifting nervously in his chair. “More of our ranks are becoming aurors, those who aren’t already have positions in the ministry or have votes on wizengamot. We are having trouble with a half-blood named Dolores Umbridge. She keeps petitioning anti-creature laws. Many of the anti-werewolf laws have been made by her.”
“Eris, what do you think shall be done with the woman?” Vooldemort inquired, turning to his wife who had a deep look of thinking on her face.
“She used a blood quill on Hogwarts aged children last year, “ Eris stated, making many of the faces at the table turn to disbelief or rage. “She has also tried to use the imperious and cruciatus on the children. I would like to have a chat with her,” Eris’s voice darkened when she said the last part, Yaxley gave a nod of understanding.
“Severus, how are things at Hogwarts?” Eris scanned the table for the man, remembering him as a boy. He would always be around her and Regulus, Eris had thought the two boys had even been dating at one point.
“The headmaster grows weaker by the day,” the man drawled, he looked greasier than Eris remembered. Potion brewing always did make his hair greasy. “Potter is beginning to doubt him. I suspect Granger has been doing research into you and the last war as part.”
Tom nodded with a considering look on his face. “Thank you, Severus. What creatures do we have on our side, Greyback?”
The wolf snarled some things Eris didn’t quite understand, but Tom gave the man a nod. Eris didn’t pay much attention to the rest of the meeting, preferring to look around the table at the people who followed her husband, and now her. She saw many people she had once known. Many of whom giving her glances every once in a while as if trying to figure out if they were seeing things or she wasn’t actually dead. Several times she caught Severus outright staring at her, she stared right back, threatening her old friend to say a word. Severus had been more of a friend to Regulus than her, but when Lily stopped talking to him in fifth year they became closer.
The meeting ended no longer than an hour after it had begun. Many of the death Eaters apparated away, those who stayed in the manor quickly retreated to their rooms. Severus stood waiting to talk to Eris, Tom who noticed and understood what was happening, shot Severus a ‘harm her i kill you’ look before exiting.
“I was told you were dead,” Snape drawled.
“And i was told you now work for Dumbledore,” Eris replied quickly, walking towards Severus while pushing in the various chairs that had been thrown about as people took their leave.
“Im a spy, thats what people are supposed to think. You on the other hand, are not a spy. So why are you not dead?” he questioned.
“A mother does all she can to protect her child. After the Dark Lord fell i knew i had to protect Mattheo no matter the cost. So, i staged our deaths and fled the country,” she reminisced.
“Mattheo is still alive? Is he here?” Snape wondered.
“Everyone keeps repeating the same thing,” Eris replied annoyed at having to answer the questions over and over. “No, hes not here. Hes at hogwarts under a fake name and glamour.”
“Regulus, would be jealous. I get to spend more time with his godson than he does,” Snape laughed quietly, Eris smiled too.
“Regulus would have loved Mattheo. They are very much alike. You’re his favourite professor, though he says you can be unfair at times.”
“He must be one of my snakes, then. None of the other houses would dare consider me their favourite, besides maybe Lovegood, but shes like her mother.”
“How is little Luna? And Pandora?”
“Pandora passed away in January of 90. Luna is a wonderful girl though. Just like her parents. I think shes a seer like her mother.”
“Pandora’s dead?” Eris questioned, making sure she heard her old friend right.
“Yes. according to Luna she was experimenting with spells and one went wrong. It was a tracking spell. Luna was watching when it happened, poor girl.”
“Oh the poor thing. How are you doing, Severus?” Eris finally asked.
“All my friends are dead and those who aren’t have either been missing for nearly sixteen years or have half a brain cell left,” Severus exclaimed quietly, making Eris laugh at the mans dramatics.
“Well those of us who have ‘been missing for almost sixteen years’ are back,” Eris laughed, wrapping an arm around Severus’s shoulder like she had done when they were kids. Severus laughed at the womans antics.
“I’m glad your alive,” Severus muttered.
“What was that? Did Severus Snape just tell me he was glad i was alive? It must be a miracle, Severus had admitted he has emotions. Severus has admitted to having emotions,” she yelled, laughing at the older man.
“Oh hush, you act like a child,” Severus chuckled. “I must be getting back to Hogwarts now. And you better bet im gonna figure out which one of those delinquents is your son.”
“Goodbye, Severus. Ill see you soon,” Eris waved as the man walked away, using the nearby floo to get to the headmasters office in Hogwarts.