Lion Rampant

Chapter 5

William paced his back and forth in his study. A small desk lamp shone morosely in the mostly dark room. After the Potter's had left Hermione had woken up a bit groggy but other than that no worse for wear. Their small family had discussed a few things but the things he wanted to know had not been brought up once.

Who was he married to?

There was no faking the love he felt for his wife but everything was so unclear.

They had gone on as normal.

Dinner was served on time and they talked and laughed like nothing was hanging over their heads. Hermione had gone to bed earlier than usual saying that she seemed to be wiped out from the day they had had. Once Hermione's door had shut Jean had excused herself to the shower.

That had been over an hour ago.

He continued to pace as his thoughts continued in a whirlwind inside his mind. As her husband he had a right to know what she was hiding but should he really pursue it?

A knock sounded on the door and William stumbled to a stop. He cleared his throat before calmly calling out.

"Come in."

Jean walked in the door her hair still damp from the shower. Was her name even really Jean? He shook his head to try to clear those thoughts away as he walked towards the woman who had been his wife for the last ten years. Hesitantly he wrapped his arms around her body and just held on for dear life.

Their life together flashed through his mind, from their first kiss to this disastrous afternoon. His eyes teared up as he felt his wife's tears seep through his shirt.

"Can we just pretend this never happened?"

A wet laugh escaped her lips as Jean snuggled deeper into her husband.

"I really don't think that's an option this time Will."

Her voice quavered a bit before she continued, "It's just far too much to just brush away."

William breathed deeply before pulling away and holding his wife at arm's length. His eyes looked over every inch of her body attempting to commit it to memory. He turned away from her and moved quickly to his recliner.

"We should sit down."

Jean followed him and sat down on the nearby love seat. She clasped her hands together in a nervous gesture. This conversation could potentially ruin her marriage. Her mind immediately went to her daughter. Would Hermione be taken from her?

Once he knew the truth, or rather as much of the truth as she could tell him, would William think she was too dangerous to be trusted?

She brushed away a stray tear before she was ready to tell her story.

"A year before we met I was let go by a very old and well known wizarding family."

Will sat forward a bit and asked, "What did you do to deserve that?"

"Due a rune base limiter that I was working on somehow fused to my skin would no longer allow me to cast spells, another thing was that as that I helped who I thought was my sister to escape the family and marry her love, a muggle-born. The contract was then placed that I wouldn't be disowned however I could no longer interact or contact them. They could however still sense my core and thus deemed I was still able to bear an heir for that family in case the next heir was unable to."

-Time Skip-

Hermione giggled yet again as Harry tried to tie yet another ribbon around her hair. This was their first official trip to Diagon Alley without disguises. It felt wonderful to walk out in public without Petunia's glamour runes painted onto her skin. She loved Petunia like a second mother and really appreciated all she did for her but sometimes her protectiveness overpowered reason. A quick glance forward showed Petunia scouting the area for any danger.

"Hermione stay still! I'll never get this thing back on if you keep moving."

She spun around and smiled brightly at Harry while pulling the ribbon from his hands.

"Harry give up we both know it will never stay in there."

The small boy blinked owlishly up at her. Hermione ruffled his hair quickly before skipping out of his reach and towards the adults and Dudley. Harry grumbled in annoyance as he tried to straighten out his ever messy mop of black hair.

"This was uncalled for Hermione. You know my hair is way worse than yours on your worst hair day."

Dudley sighed and jogged over to his brother to help hurry him along. Breakfast had been delicious as always but it was lunch time already and he was a growing boy.

"Don't bother with your hair Harry. There's no point trying to fix it if it'll just turn right back into its normal bird's nest in ten minutes."

Harry tried to fix his hair as Dudley dragged him along towards the front of the Leaky Cauldron. Their mother waited with Hermione's parents talking about the schedule for the day. Petunia smiled brightly but there was an edge to her face that only her sons and close friends would notice. Their eyes met briefly before she too ruffled his hair. Dudley laughed and shook his long sandy hair out as Harry tried to bring some peace to his hair.

"Don't worry brother! One day your mane will be as thick and awesome as mine!"

Petunia rolled up the newspaper she had taken earlier from William and quickly but firmly whacked Dudley on the head.

"Be nice to your brother Duddikins. You know my sister didn't come into her lioness powers until she was older."

Gently leading her children into the Leaky Cauldron Petunia continued telling them small stories of when she and her sister were young. The Grangers followed closely hoping not to get separated. As Petunia went to the back and slowly pushed her power into the wall it crumpled as a sign to those who watched the entranced was that a demon was coming and to be careful. As the children and Grangers followed in, their eyes opened wide as they took in the landscape. Hearing the wares being sold in the street and the hooting and meowing coming from a store further in.

"We can head to each store after we head to the bank. We need to collect some funds in order to get everything." Everyone nodded as the Grangers wanted to also open up a vault for their daughter so they could give her money to buy books.

Petunia stood in front of her children and the Grangers as they pushed others out of their way, grateful that they haven't noticed her son, the Boy-Who-Lived, was amongst them once again. She let out a heavy growl at the next wizard who bumped into her, he jumped in slight fright and took off a little quicker as he noticed her fangs peeking over her lip.

Harry and Hermione along with Dudley stared at the marble look building, guards posted at the entrance with halberds as they stood at attention, their eyes tracking each type of species that entered and left. As they entered, the two partnered felt something pass over them. They listened to Mommy Petunia talk to the goblin teller asking to speak with the account holder,"Bitch?" They thought they heard her say but not completely sure.

"Axesnatcher, I would I would like to speak to my account holder for the Potter Vault, it is time to take Harry to visit his other mom and dad in painting forms. Bitch should be still alive if I am correct since I haven't gotten any type of notice."

"I'm sorry Misses Potter however I cannot let Harry Potter visit his vault or speak to the account holder without his magical guardian with him."

"Who is his magical guardian because as far as I am aware, I am still alive and have my right to him since I was marked as his adopted mother due to the will."

"His magical guardian shows to be Albus Dumlbore on file due to Petunia Potter never answering back any of the mail sent to her. Are you staying you are Petunia Potter, the one who beat formerly known as Skull Keeper and renamed him to Bitch due to his comment?"

"I never received any type of mail or noticed about the switch, I know Bitch wouldn't let this happen, I demand to speak to him now as the acting head of the family." She started growling heavily as she would never allow Albus to take control of any of the vaults since it was her family. Axesnatcher nodded quickly as left let the account holder know.

Bitch was reading over the rules that Albus sent over in order for young Harry, his claws raking against his table, damn those red head cunts that renamed them all because he deemed those two only good to be bred over and over like good bitches, he lost his eye and lost his name in that fight. He did find it odd though that he stopped getting messages from the window Mrs. Potter, then all of a sudden he got a letter asking for them to allow Albus to become heir Potter's Guardian.