Chapter 13
Siriusly?!
Thanatos stood inside the newest safe house for the Malfoys. He had shown up in the Wizarding dimension after his reaper had spoken to the wizards they would be retrieving. The reaper, Jess, had approached the twins and Bill together but they were not alone. They were moving Narcissa, Draco, and Scorpius Malfoy into their own safehouse when Jess showed up. She had told them Death wanted her to retrieve them and move them to where Death’s Mistress was now residing. Narcissa asked the reaper, “Does this invitation extend to us all?”
Jess had left to speak with Death to get his approval to move three additional people. Instead of answering Jess, Death approached the group himself. He wanted to know how the Malfoys ended up with the better half of the Weasley family. Narcissa spoke for herself and her son, “After Lucius was imprisoned and given the Kiss, the Ministry turned their attention to Draco. Stating both he and his father never renounced their Death Eater beliefs. They were falsely accused of those gruesome murders as of late. Then the passing of my daughter-in-law after the birth of their only son drew even more attention. It was by pure luck we bumped into Fred and George Weasley outside of the Leaky Cauldron.”
Death already knew he would be shifting all of them once he made sure the Malfoys would not harm his Mistress or her family. “You do understand you’re not just leaving the Wizarding world, you’re being transported to a different dimension. This place is almost exactly the same except there are no wand-wielders besides Miss Potter and the Greybacks. There are witches but they’re restricted by the rules of nature and the ancestors.” Death scanned the room and its occupants to make sure they comprehend the severity of their decision.
It was Draco who spoke next, “This world is no longer safe. I don’t want to raise my son in a world where I have to constantly look over my shoulder. And I trust Potter. If it wasn’t for her and Granger, I would have suffered the same fate as my father.” Draco was holding his infant son, Scorpius, not wanting to set him down. Draco had lost both his wife and father within a few months and did not want to lose his remaining family. Narcissa stood next to her son and grandson, “I agree with my son. We cannot pass on this opportunity.”
Jess stepped forward, “I will be back tomorrow to retrieve all of you, including Charlie Weasley. I will seek him out first before coming here. The journey will be quick, however, it will be a little disorientating. We will land inside the Mistress’ home. It is safer that way, they do reside in a muggle town after all. So, I will see you lot tomorrow.” Jess smiled at the group before vanishing. Death cleared his throat, “Get some rest everyone, and good luck.” Death nodded to everyone before leaving. The rest of the night was spent checking and double-checking their bags to make sure they have everything they wanted to bring with them.
The next day could not come any faster.
During this time, Leilani had become bored. And a bored daughter of a Maurader was just asking for trouble. She was pestering Hermione trying to cure her boredom when Hermione snapped, “Will you stop rearranging the furniture?! The couches do not belong on the ceiling. If you’re so bored, why don’t you pester the Salvatores?” Lei gave a sinister smile, “What a splendid idea.” Hermione realized what she said a little too late, “Wait…Lei! Oh, this can’t be good.”
Lei wanders around town looking for Stefan or Damon when she spots the youngest Salvatore brother, “Stefan.” He stops in his tracks to find who was calling him. Stefan could see Lei approaching him from across the street. She had decided to have Stefan help her hoping it would cheer up the normally brooding vampire. Stefan forced a smile, “Hey, Leilani. How are you?” “Oh, just trying to find something to do. Boredom can be a dangerous thing,” Lei caught up with him. The Ripper was still recovering from his blood binging so he put a bit of space between the two of them. Lei noticed, “And how are you doing?” She could feel he was anxious to get away from her in fear he may attack her. “I’m getting there. Is there anything I can help you with?” Stefan only asked in hopes he could get away.
“As a matter of fact..” Lei trailed off as she looked around to make sure no one would notice as she pulls out her wand and cast Muffliato. As she reholsters her wand she could see Stefan is confused, “It’s a silencing spell that way nobody can hear what we talk about. I was wondering if you wanted to help me with something.” Stefan was curious but he also didn’t want to get anybody hurt, “What is it?” “A prank,” Lei’s devious smile unnerved him but he was also intrigued.
Stefan was still shocked and in awe when he watched Lei shift into her animagus form. She told him that normally a wizard's animagus was the same as their Patronus but she was different. Her Patronus, Prongs, represented her father. While her animagus represented her position as the Mistress of Death and her Dogfather. Lei laughed at his confusion, “Sirius is my Godfather. However, he spent so much time as Padfoot that the traits of a dog carried over to his human form. He even had this loud, barking laugh that was severely contagious.”
So here Stefan was leading a dirt-covered large black dog into his home after leaving the town square. He had spent some time trying to locate Katherine after she had threatened Elena to not see Stefan anymore. Stefan refused to hide from his sire, he wanted to hunt her down and get rid of her before Elena or anyone could get hurt. He was going to head home when Lei approached him with the idea of pranking his brother. It was just a harmless prank. Neither noticed Katherine watching them from afar, or seeing Hermione leaving one of the small shops with new blankets for the twins. Katherine did, smirking to herself.
Shadow padded up the stairs into the spacious sitting room, sniffed out Damon’s favorite armchair and jumped into it, and shook her fur out. Dirt and debris from outside were flung everywhere but mostly stuck to the comfy armchair. “Alright, that’s enough. Now let’s go wash the rest off before he gets back,” Stefan tried to hide the smile but failed. He knew Damon was going to blow a gasket when he sat down in his favorite chair. Shadow huffed while following Stefan to Damon’s shower, he wasn’t about to dirty his own when Damon has the nicer one.
After rinsing off all the dirt, Stefan turned off the shower and cringed at the mess left behind. He didn’t catch Shadow in time with the towel he had. He found her rolling on Damon’s bed. Stefan heard Damon enter the room, “What the HELL? THERE’S A DOG IN MY HOUSE, ON MY BED!!” Stefan came into the room and couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of Shadow rolling on Damon’s bed trying to dry herself off. Damon moves his glare from Shadow to a laughing Stefan. Then turns back to Shadow as she grips one of his expensive feather pillows and tears it to shreds, getting feathers everywhere. “Those are five hundred dollar pillows,” Damon calmly spoke, too angry to yell. So Shadow looks at Damon, part of the pillow in her jaws still, and shakes her head, sending feathers flying. Stefan is practically on the floor and has tears in his eyes from laughing so hard.
They were so occupied with what was going on none of them heard the door open or Elena walk up the stairs to Damon’s room. She had gotten a frantic call from Caroline a few minutes ago and rushed over before Caroline could explain everything. Elena thought Stefan or Damon were being attacked by Katherine so she rushed over to check on them. Stefan noticed Elena first, “Elena, what are you doing here?” She stood at the door staring at the mess before she snapped out of it, “Caroline called me to tell me Katherine attacked someone and I thought it was one of you.”
Just as she finished saying that, Damon’s phone rang, “Blondie Vamp, now’s not a good time.” Caroline cut him off, “Katherine attacked Hermione!” Shadow dropped the empty pillow and growled, she heard Caroline loud and clear. Shadow shifted back to Lei, got off the bed, waved her wand to repair the damage, and disappeared. “Caroline. Where are you?” Damon stared wide-eyed at the newly made bed where Leilani once was. “At their place. I threw Katherine off of Hermione then she just took off, so I brought Hermione home,” Caroline said. She was in shock that Katherine hurt Hermione, not understanding why she would attack her.
“Okay, just stay there. Stefan and Elena will be there soon. I’m going track down Katherine,” Damon hung up his phone. “You two go find out exactly what happened. I’m going to try and find Leilani,” Damon was on his way out of his room when Elena stopped him. “Why do you care about her? Shouldn’t we stick together in case Katherine tries to attack me?” Elena didn’t understand why Damon and Stefan care about Leilani when she was standing in front of them. Damon pulled his arm out of her grip, “Careful Elena, green is not a good color on you.” Damon was out the door before anything else was said.
Stefan and a pouting Elena headed over to the Evans household. Caroline answered the door since Fenrir was tending to his wife. Elena was still pouting so Stefan asked, “What happened?” Caroline walked back toward the kitchen where Fenrir had Hermione sitting on the counter treating the bite mark on her neck with some Dittany. Hermione had just drunk a blood replenisher. Elena and Stefan followed her. “I was leaving the Grill when I saw Katherine pull Hermione into an alley and attack her. I rushed at them and knocked Katherine off, grabbed Hermione, and brought her here.”
In a raspy voice, Hermione asked, “Where’s Lei?” Stefan and Elena looked at each other. Elena subtly shook her head not to say anything but Stefan thought otherwise, “She heard the call Caroline made to Damon and vanished. Damon is out looking for her right now.” Fenrir cleaned up and bandaged Hermione’s neck, “He’s not going to find her. Not until she finds Katherine.” Stefan ran a hand through his hair, “Katherine has been around for 500 years, she’s very good at disappearing when she needs to.” Fenrir lifted his wife off the counter and carried her up to their room, “We shall see.”
On the outskirts of town in a luxurious foreclosed house was a pacing 500 yeard old vampire. She had run back to where she was staying when she spotted Damon searching for her. Or so she thought, he was actually looking for both Leilani and her but mostly Lei. He didn’t know what kind of damage Lei could inflict and he didn’t want to know. “Will you stop pacing? You’re going to burn a rut in the rug,” Mason, the werewolf lover Katherine was stringing along stated. She could tell he was irritated with the full moon so close. She didn’t bother to stop her pacing, “Mind your tone mutt.”
Katherine stops pacing in front of the witch she threatened to work with her, “Is it done yet?” The witch, Lucy, looks up at the annoyingly impatient vampire, “No. Linking spells like this take time.” “Well hurry up. The sooner I’m linked to Elena the better,” Katherine spat. Mason rolled his eyes from his place on the couch, wondering why he puts up with Katherine. He had come back to his hometown for his brother’s funeral as well as the Moonstone because Katherine batted her eyelashes at him. Mason may like the vampire but he doesn’t trust her, which is why he hid the Moonstone in the old Lockwood well surrounded by Vervain.
The three weren’t paying attention to the pissed-off Mistress of Death standing on the front lawn of the house Katherine acquired(compelled). She refolded the map and stuck it into her inner jacket pocket, thankful she was carrying it. Leilani cast a modified Humano Revealio to see how many people and what species they were. The results were one vampire, one werewolf, and one witch. Lei took a deep breath to clear her head, the anger she felt didn’t lessen but felt worse. One thought flowed through her mind, “No one hurts my family.” She lifted her wand and very loudly cast, “BOMBARDA!”
The wall of the living room blew up, sending glass and debris into the living room causing the three people to try and shield themselves. Before the dust could settle, Lucy and Mason were hit with stunners, knocking them out. Katherine didn’t have time to run before she was encased with magical binding ropes causing her to faceplant. She could hear someone walk through the hole in the wall, “So? You’re Katherine? Levicorpus.” Katherine was suddenly levitated off the floor and hung upside down by an invisible rope tied around her ankles.
Lei stood face-to-face with Katherine, only Katherine was looking at everything upside down. Even tied and strung up Katherine showed a false bravado, “Who the hell are you?” Smiling a very dangerous, evil smile, “I am the Grim.” Moving away from a wide-eyed Katherine, Lei approaches the witch, “Rennervate.” Lucy gasped awake and sat up quickly. She sees Lei in front of her and tries to scoot away but ends up against a wall. Lucy starts rambling, “The ancestors talk about you and your family. They say you’re unnatural, a family of abominations. Your magic is not of this Earth, it doesn’t follow their rules.”
“Well, I’ve never been one to follow the rules. I would tell you to let the ancestors know I don’t care but you won’t remember.” Lei puts the tip of her wand on Lucy’s temple. Lucy feels it press into her head, “What are you going to do?” Lei sighs, “I don’t like the idea of killing a fellow witch, no matter how blindsided they are. So, I’m erasing your memories of ever knowing Katherine and therefore any memories of me and my family. Obliviate.” Lei erased everything having to do with Katherine from Lucy’s mind then knocked her unconscious. Lei kept the werewolf unconscious and turned back to Katherine, “Now, where were we?”
Damon had been searching everywhere for Lei and Katherine. He forwent his car and just vamp sped all over town. It was when he got closer to the outskirts where Isobel had procured herself a home that he heard screaming coming from another, much bigger house further away. He sped over in time to see Lei violently removing Katherine’s fangs with magic. Katherine had been tied to a tree outside of the home using the magic bindings she was tied with soaked in Vervain. He cautiously approached his friend, “Lei. I think you’ve done enough.” Damon didn’t really care if Katherine lived or died at this point. Katherine has proven to be the enemy, but he knew killing Katherine would change Lei.
Lei slowly turned to face Damon. He had to take a step back from the dark look she was giving him. Damon pushed down the fear and moved to stand next to the first real friend he has made since his time in Augustine. “Lei, I know she deserves this and much more, but..” Lei cut him off, “But nothing. I gave my word that if anyone hurt my family, I will kill them. And I never go back on my word.” Lei turned back to a sobbing Katherine, looking her in the eyes and cast, “Avada Kedavra.” The effect was instant. Katherine stopped fidgeting, stopped crying, stopped breathing, she just stopped. Not wanting to risk the possibility of Katherine coming back, Lei removed her Daylight jewelry then set her corpse ablaze, “Incedia.”
Damon and Lei stood there and watched as Katherine’s body turned to ash, the bindings falling away as her body disintegrated. Once the fire was extinguished did Lei break the silence, “She never loved you or your brother. She only loved herself. She doesn’t even deserve a spot in Hell. Katherine’s soul was destroyed along with her body.” Lei conjured a small glass case for Katherine’s fangs as a keepsake. She handed them to Damon, “As a reminder that you’re free from her and a reminder to everyone else not to cross me.” Lei apparated home with an unconscious Mason, leaving a grief-stricken Damon behind. He may have hated what Katherine did to him and his brother but a part of him still loved her. Damon also knew Lei was right. In a sense, he did feel a little freer.
Damon returned to the boarding house and found Stefan pacing in their sitting room. Stefan stopped when he heard his brother come in, “Did you find them?” Stefan was more concerned about Elena’s bout of jealousy than anything else. It was like she was wanting both him and his brother to pay attention to only her, just like Katherine. Damon smirked, hiding how he truly feels, and strutted over to his bar. “Oh yeah, I found them.” He poured almost a full glass, downing half of it wishing it was Firewhiskey. Damon should ask Lei if she would let him buy a bottle from her.
Stefan moved closer to Damon, “And? What happened?” Damon didn’t answer right away. He just pulled the glass case out of his pocket and threw it at his little brother. Stefan stared at the bloody fangs, listening to Damon, “We don’t have to worry about Katherine anymore. Lei took care of her.” Damon downed the rest and poured another, taking the bottle with him upstairs to his room. Stefan is not sure how he feels about Katherine’s death or the fact his brother is hiding how hurt he is.
Mason woke up in a strange bedroom, the memories of the night prior flooded his mind. The last thing he remembered was rethinking his time with Katherine when he was knocked out after a hole was blown into the living room wall. He slowly sat up in the bed he was in with his feet on the floor. Mason stood up and walked out of the room, following the scent of delicious-smelling breakfast foods. He walked into a dining room filled with people he never met. Mason was going to turn around and leave when a strong, masculine voice stopped him, “Come. Sit. Eat. You’ll need your strength for tonight. It is a full moon. We can sit and talk about what you were doing with that vampire.” Mason was going to decline the offer but his stomach growling loudly answered for him.
The only sound that could be heard for the next few minutes was eating, and cutlery moving across dishes. Mason can’t remember the last time he ate so well and so much. He had to stop eating before he made himself sick but the food was so good. He was the one to start talking, “Before last night, I was with Katherine because I thought she cared about me. She was there for me when I broke my curse, even helping me understand what was happening. It wasn’t until we got here and she turned Caroline into a vampire that I saw what she really was. She manipulated me. And the more I think about it, the more I wonder if she was responsible for me breaking my curse. It was too convenient. I broke the curse and she was suddenly there, and knew everything about it, about my family.”
Hermione was feeling a little better, she was listening to Mason, “Your family’s cursed?” Mason nodded, “The werewolf gene is passed down to each generation. Some of us can live our whole lives without ever triggering it, like my brother and Tyler. It’s triggered when we take a human life, whether by accident or not.” He could see Fenrir from the corner of his eye watching him. Mason could smell Fenrir’s wolf, “How did you trigger your curse?” He didn’t know Fenrir was a different kind of wolf.
Fenrir set down his fork, “I’m different. My Lycanthropy was caused by a bite at a young age.” Mason shook his head in disbelief, “That’s not possible. Our bite kills, it doesn’t turn others.” Fenrir laughed, “You’ll see tonight.” Lei had been silent this whole time, feeling guilty about not feeling guilty. She kept her head down as she ate. Lei had told Fenrir and Hermione what happened when she got back, especially since she brought Mason with her. While Mason was unconscious, Lei went through his mind and saw that he has nobody besides Tyler. She had Fenrir agree to help Mason with his wolf, as well as brew Wolfsbane that her uncle Remus used to need. They haven’t needed to brew it for Greyback because he has never used Wolfsbane.
Leilani stood up from the table, she resolved to wake her Dogfather’s portrait today. She needs to talk to someone besides Hermione and Fenrir. “I’ll be in my art room.” She heard Hermione sigh and whisper, “Hopefully, Padfoot will help her.” Lei continued on her way to her art room where several pieces of her artwork hung on the walls and Sirius’ portrait on its easel in the middle of the room.
“One incantation. It’s all it will take. Come on, Lei, you can do this,” Lei thought to herself. She has been standing in front of her Dogfather’s portrait for the past two hours. Her resolve slowly slipping away. She was so engrossed in her thoughts she didn’t hear Caroline or Stefan enter the room. Hermione had let them in when they asked if they could see how she was doing. Hermione had told them to stay quiet for the moment. They watched Lei stare at a portrait, then it dawned on Stefan, “Is that your Dogfather?” His voice made Lei jump. She turned to nod, “Yes. I’m trying to get the courage to wake him.”
Caroline was confused, “What do you mean, wake him?” Lei turned back to Sirius and whispered an incantation. She lowered her wand and waited. Caroline gasped and covered her mouth when she notice the portrait move. Sirius blinked his eyes, took a visual breath, unclasped his hands, and looked around, “Pup?” Lei’s bottom lip was quivering, trying not to burst into tears, “Hey Padfoot.” Sirius looked over his goddaughter, “My you’ve grown.” Lei couldn’t hold back the tears, “So much has happened.” Lei began to tell her Dogfather everything that has happened since his death. Neither paid attention to the other two in the room listening to everything. Caroline and Stefan came to a silent agreement that Lei will never feel alone or outcasted again.
AN: Lei went a little dark in this chapter. Mason’s first full moon with Greyback will happen next chapter. The ancestors will cause trouble. Elena is slowly shifting into Katherine 2.0. And Katherine is no more. Please let me know how I’m doing.