Furry Magic

Title: Furry Magic, chapter 16

Disclaimer: I own none of the HP characters, not even one.


Andromeda carefully put her hands on her knees. They were shaking, and had been for almost sixty minutes. She balled them into fists, willing the tremors to stop, feeling her nails dig into her palms. It stopped the shaking, and the small pains helped her think. She opened her fists and watched the blood well up in the crescent shaped wounds. Better, now. Now she could work on finding a solution, instead of sitting up here, shaking like a leaf wondering if anyone had discovered her part in the failed scheme.

She was sitting in her dressing room, high up on the fifth floor of the Manor House. She looked out over the estate, without seeing any of it. It was not working out like she had planned. So meticulously put together, and still the plans had failed miserably. It had been foolish to rely on anyone else to carry out the most important part.

That idiot woman, Trelawny, should have taken care of Andromeda\'s one, big problem by now. Not so. Something had happened. Gone wrong, in spite of her exacting plans. Andromeda knew it for sure, because she had seen the problem, big as life, with her own two eyes, not more than an hour ago. The fear had gripped her, freezing her in her tracks, her heart pounding. It took all of her will not to turn and flee. She walked calmly out of the great hall, away from lunch, and up here, to her private rooms. Then she had fallen apart.

She had seen Draco. Here, alive, in the halls downstairs, entirely unharmed. Those guardian apes, Mantheer and Yaji, with him, petting him, coddling him like HE was the heir, not her son. They were leopards, yes, but they were nothing more than cursed apes. Muscle. Not a brain to share between them. They could not have saved him. Not even if they\'d only had to trip over him to do it. She was sure of it. So, who had saved the king\'s son?

With Draco gone, the focus would have shifted to her son. The heir. And as the Mother of the heir, she would have gained in status. She needed every bit of that she could get to dethrone her brother. He had his supporters, far too many of them, they resisted her attempts to bring them into her camp, refusing to support her. Their loyalty frustrated her. When had he earned this kind of devotion. She had never seen him do anything, no great works, to bind them to him. How had it happened? She threw back her head and growled.

\"Mother?\" The beautiful blond boy entered her rooms, uncertainly. She looked at him, trying to force her face to transform from a snarling mask into a welcoming one. His horrified face showed that her efforts had failed. His blue eyes grew wide and frightened. He backed away into the corridor. She scowled and spoke.

\"Sweetie, Mums is not angry with you, pet. Don\'t worry. Mums loves you.\" She did managed to keep her voice feather soft. She was able to keep the love of him in it, and keep the frustration at her failure out of it.

The fear receded from the boys _expression. He inched into the room. She looked at him, trying to see if there was any sign of his father in him. Small, but the coloring was all hers. His eyes hers, his hair, hers. The sweet ivory skin tone, hers. She had refused to tell the pride who the father was. Even dropping hints that it was her brother. Those hints fell on deaf ears, never growing into the rumors that she wanted. It was her right to keep the man\'s identity to herself. She was the important parent here. It was her blood that gave the child a claim to the throne.

Andromeda held out her arm. He was warm and perfect nestled in her embrace. How she loved this child. Her only child. The heir. \"Come here, Christophe. Mums was thinking, this is a nice time of year to go vacationing. If you could go any where, where would you like to go? Next year you will be old enough to go to school at Hogwarts, and then we won\'t be able to vacation except during school breaks.\"

She smiled at him as he began to tell her all the places he wanted to visit. And a new plan began to form in her mind. This one would not fail. This time she would do it all herself. Not counting on any one else\'s aid.

\"I can\'t find her, Lucius.\" The Seer was adamant. \"She is gone and so is the heir.\"

\"You have looked everywhere?\" Lucius leaned into the the hands that combed out his long hair. Kaithas was patient, working out the snarls painlessly. Until the strands hung in a sheet of heavy, silky mass across his lap. He ran his fingers through it, slowly, over and over. The, movement soothing to him and to the blond were-leopard.

\"Yes, my king. Amrys and Graeme are searching the grounds still. But, there is no reason for her to be out there.\" Kaithas added. Andromeda was not inclined to go out into the woods and forest surrounding the estate. To do so would be out of character. It was not wise to assume she would be found there.

\"When was she last seen?\" Lucius asked, watching the others bathing in the large pool. Kaithas sat behind him, on the lip of the pool. Three of the young-lings were frolicking, splashing further out. The adult females were closer to the edge, not so rambunctious.

Kaithas noted one of the females was pregnant, just beginning to show. He wondered who was going to be a father. He had not heard of any one being named yet. A naming ceremony would be good for the pride. Drawing them together, united in celebration of the conception. The infant would get a before-birth name, a name to offer it protection as it grew, a name to acknowledge it belonged and was welcomed into the pride. One he or she would carry until they were delivered. Then the birth name would supersede it.

\"Yesterday, she took her meals in her rooms, Christopher was with her.\" The Seer answered his king. \"The house elves swear to it. Then, this morning, she was gone. There was no one in her rooms when they brought breakfast to her, and the heir\'s rooms were empty, his bed unslept in.\"

Lucius ground his teeth. She had done the unthinkable. She had taken the heir from the protection and love of the pride. The heir belonged where they could care for him. She, his Mother, was using him to further her ambitions.

\"She has taken him. To punish the pride, or to weasel some thing, some concession from me.\" He said, heaving a sigh. Kaithas stroked his hair again. \"She has finally taken the step that can not be forgiven.\"

\"She wishes for you to turn her.\" Kaithas pointed out, feeling Lucius\' great muscles shift as he moved, restlessly. \"She will not harm him, she will use him to get that from you, my king.\"

Lucius shook his head. \"No. Not enough for her. She will ask to be changed, and for me to abdicate the throne to her. Or she will demand I take her as my consort. So she will rule beside me. As Mother to the heir, her word will come before mine if she is my co-ruler.\"

\"She is too focused on her goals to be adequate protection for him. We must find where they have gone, before others find them. There are many of my enemies who would stop at nothing to get the boy. And enemies of the pride. Andromeda has refused to name the father. She has kept his father from a place in the pride. A position that is his by right. If he that place he has only to claim the heir as his, take him, and he can ask for anything that is in our power to grant. We have no way of knowing if he wants that.\" Lucius heaved a great sigh.

\"We will find the heir.\" Kaithas promised. \"Before it is too late.\"

\"He is only a child, Kai.\" Lucius said, sadly.

\"I know.\" They were both wondering how a mother could risk her child in such a blatant bid for power. Power was not worth the child\'s life.

\"When he has been found....\" Lucius began. Kaithas put a hand over the other man\'s, silencing him. He shook his head.

\"You do not need to say it. It will be done.\" The Seer promised. Lucius nodded his silent thanks.

ne\'ichan
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