Enter…Lord Longbottom
‘So, every country has Enhanced people. They can be anyone. How come we never realized that they are here?’ Hermione’s head laid on Tom's chest, after their very heated sex session. It was the middle of the night and the room was dimly lit with candlelight. Tom was stroking her hair and Hermione was content and enjoying being close to him. ‘I think that most, if not all of them, are in fact Muggles. So, since we as Wixen are very private and most wixen don’t interact with Muggles on a daily basis, we possibly never met one.’
‘Do they post a risk?’ Hermione smirked and thought about this. Did they? Her research showed that not every Enhanced could do the same things. Some were powerful, others not so much. Most of the Enhanced seemed to lay low. Others, like the woman with the Avengers, who had the bright red magic, seemed to use her powers to help. ‘I don’t know. You could state that we, as wixen pose a risk. It’s how we use our powers.’
Tom agreed to that. What he had seen on the television with his in-laws changed his perspective. There was a man in a metallic suit, there was the hammer-wielding man, the green dude and the boy in the onesie. Were they also Enhanced? And why was Potter there? Has she been there all along? Some many thoughts were consuming his mind, that he somehow missed Hermione getting up. She left the bed and walked over to the ensuite bathroom. Her bottom was marked with red lines, left there by the riding crop. ‘Don't stare.’
He chuckled. ‘How can I not, when you look so utterly beautiful?’ Hermione shook her head and closed the bathroom door to relieve herself. When she came back, she slid in between the sheets again and kissed Tom. ‘Make love to me?’ Her beautiful amber eyes looked into his dark brown eyes and he kissed her back.
The next morning, at the breakfast table, Hermione presented her findings. Going over everything she had found, Tom and Hermione thought it would be best to talk to the others, before coming up with a plan.
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At the Tower in New York Alexis was drinking coffee after helping Jane in the lab, like she used to do. Jane had made some new discoveries and was happily chatting away. Alexis enjoyed being back on Earth. She was fully in control of herself and felt better each day. Dobby was around the Tower, on the floors where people knew about him and everyone loved the little Elf. Life was good. After the mission in Paris she had expected some blowback from the French Ministry of Magic, but the only fallout was that she had been caught on camera. It did bug her, she should have thought about wearing a mask or other disguise, but what was done was done. Fury had somehow made sure no one bothered her, even though she completely crossed the Statue of Secrecy. Well…it was fine with her.
After the mission she had talked with Fury and Tony, about what Dobby had told her. Hermione was somehow involved with Voldemort. Dobby had a sister, who knew…Voldemort was still looking for her, which didn’t surprise her. He wouldn’t be happy until she was dead. Boy, was he in for a surprise, she had chuckled to herself. Loki and Thor aside, she had very powerful friends. Muggles or not, they could hold their own. Tony wanted a piece of the man and she was willing to bet that Voldemort would deeply regret chasing her.
Little did she know her entire world would be turned around in a couple of days…
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Several days after discovering that Potter was living in New York and was working with the Avengers, there was a meeting at Malfoy Manor. The people there had a common goal. Find Potter, explain everything, making sure she believed them, if only to make sure she would not fall for the lies of Dumbledore. No had seen Dumbledore himself in years, but he was not dead, just underground. The Order was still trying to fight back, what was left of them anyways. Tom was positive that Dumbledore had no knowledge of Potter’s whereabouts, since the man claimed to love Muggles, but secretly wanted to rule them all. He would not own a television and the Daily Prophet had not covered the attack on the Eiffel tower, since it was not a domestic problem.
Tom looked around. At his right side sat Hermione, Draco and Luna sat on his left, followed by Severus, Lucius and Narcissa. The one with the most success rate was currently not with them but would arrive shortly. They had one chance to convince Potter that they didn’t mean to harm her. For that, help was needed.
One of the House Elves appeared and announced the guest had arrived. ‘Please send him in.’ The doors opened and in walked the current professor of Herbology, Neville Longbottom. Neville looked good. Gone was the shy and awkward boy that was terrified of Severus Snape. Neville was Lord Longbottom and held a seat on the Wizengamot. He was quite tall, broad-shouldered and had a handsome face. He obtained his mastery in Herbology and had worked alongside Professor Sprout, until she retired. He was one of the younger professors on staff but immensely popular due to his kindness and knowledge. He recently married Hannah Abbott and they were pregnant with their first child.
Looking around the people in the room, he nodded respectfully to the other Lords and Tom gestured for him to sit down. ‘You have found her then?’ Hermione nodded. ‘She is in the States. We believe she is working with the Avengers, have you heard of them?’ Neville nodded. ‘The alien attack in New York, they stopped it right?’ Again Hermione nodded. ‘We asked you to come because we believe that you might be the only one who can get her to listen to us. If myself or Draco would go, there is a lot of history there, but you were always the neutral party and never treated her like we did.’ The shame was clear in Hermione’s eyes and Draco looked uncomfortable.
‘Yeah, I understand. I will help but I want to make something abundantly clear. If she refuses, I am not going to force her. I will tell her all that has happened and I will advocate on your behalf, but no more. If she is happy and she wants nothing to do with us anymore, I think we need to respect that.’
‘She is the only rightful Heiress to the Potter seats.’ Narcissa spoke calmly. ‘I know that, Lady Malfoy. But I can also imagine she might never want to come back. After everything that has happened, I cant blame her if she wants to stay. I am curious though, why you have asked me, and not her Godfather.’
At that statement Severus sneered. ‘Godfather…And what a wonderful decision that turned out to be. He was one of the first to claim she was lying in her fourth year. If no one else believed her, he should have. Stupid mutt.’
Narcissa looked pensive. ‘He left…when everything came out. Ashamed of his actions, his inactions, the lingering effects of Azkaban, his misplaced trust in Dumbledore. He and Remus have left England. We don’t know where they are and quite frankly, it matters not.’
Neville nodded. He understood. ‘Be that as it may, I will try, but I am not going to make her come if she doesn’t want to.’
‘Come? I think you are missing the point here Nev…we are going to America.’ Draco looked smugly, seeing his colleague looking at him with a slightly panicked expression.
‘Well, now that is covered, you need to get a crash course on the people Alexis is staying with,’ Hermione passed around parchment, that contained the information about all the Avengers, their backgrounds and about Enhanced people in general. For a time it was quiet, for everyone was reading. ‘He turns green? Like a severe case of Dragon Pox?’ Neville looked up form the parchment in horror.
‘Well maybe color wise, but it is my understanding that he turns green because of the exposure to gamma radiation.’ ‘I see,’ came the weak reply, causing Hermione to smirk.
After a while everyone was informed and Lucius would arrange an international portkey to take Tom, Hermione, Severus, Draco and Neville to New York. They would leave in two days’ time.