You Raise Me Up

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Hermione and Draco went to the front foyer, both wondering what on earth Harry wanted. He met them, shifting nervously as they approached.

“What’s wrong, Potter? I was just having a heart-felt reunion with my long-lost aunt Andromeda…” he drawled. Harry’s head jerked up.

“What? They’re here? Do I need to call backup?” he said, directing the last question to Hermione, and drawing his wand. Hermione laughed softly.

“No, Harry. Put that away!” she scolded, and Harry reluctantly put his wand away.

“Well? Why are you here, Potter? Why did you require the presence of me and my wife?” he asked, brushing non-existent wrinkles from the front of his robes.

“I came…to…ask a favor…” he said, looking extremely uncomfortable again. Draco raised a perfect silver eyebrow, and frowned slightly.

“A favor, Potter? The Ministry need to fill up a few empty Azkaban cells to meet status quo? Need my family to give up a few weeks so you’ll till look like a hero?” he spat, his voice strangely venomous.

“No! That’s not it…it’s a personal favor…” he said, his dark eyebrows furrowing. He was positively squirming as he mustered up the courage to ask.

“Harry?” Hermione said, stepping forward to take his face in her hands. He smiled. “What do you need? Draco and I will do anything in our power to help you…” she said. He nodded, and her hands withdrew.

“Well…I need you both for a….mission of sorts. It requires you to be rather in check with your emotions…hence why I didn’t ask Ron…..open like a book, that one…” he said, giving a nervous chuckle.

“Potter….you’re babbling. What is it that you want us to do?” Draco asked, slightly impatient.

“This is for closure…you know, emotional detachment-” he started.

“Harry!” Hermione scolded gently, becoming impatient herself.

“I want you two to come with me to see my Aunt and Uncle….”

~~

Andromeda, Narcissa, Bellatrix, and Dora all lounged on a large bed, a large tray of sweets in the middle of them.

“So when I told him, he looked at me with those big eyes and said: ‘What the bloody hell is a blast-ended skrewt?” Andromeda finished off her story, and her sisters shrieked with laughter. Narcissa and Andromeda were slightly fuzzy-headed from the alcohol Narcissa had slipped into their hot chocolate. Bellatrix was not, mainly due to the fact that she breast-fed Orion. Dora was not, mainly because she could hear Mad-Eye Moody somewhere in the back of her mind saying something about constant vigilance...

“Oh…there was this one time, right after our wedding, Lucius got so drunk! I don’t even know why! He doesn’t just drink for no reason…but anyway! He was staggering about, talking about his days as Slytherin Seeker, and then he just leaned over and kissed me! We were in the sitting room, mind you…Well, things went even further, and before I knew it, he had me bent over the side of the sofa, going at it like a randy teenager….alcohol did nothing to curb his stamina….well, once we were…eh…done, we heard a noise from the doorway, and I looked up, and his father was standing there, glaring at us like looks could kill!” Narcissa said, and laughed again. “I couldn’t look that man in the eyes for weeks without him smirking at me….irascible old curmudgeon…” she said, taking a sip of her drink. Dora pulled a face. She really didn’t need to hear about her aunt and uncle’s sex drive…or anyone’s, for that matter…

The women were interrupted by a whoop, seemingly outside the window, and three dark blurs passing by.

“Oh shite….tell me they’re not on brooms!” Andromeda cursed, and they all clamored off the bed, quickly throwing open the window. The four heads struggled to look out the window. There were definitely three figures flying. One completely black…(‘Severus,’ Bellatrix thought darkly), one with a shock of very light color at his head…(‘Lucius,’ Narcissa swore under her breath), and one that looked like he would fall off of his broom any moment…(‘Ted,’ Andromeda thought, her dark eyebrows knitting together worriedly.)

Narcissa groaned. “I bet they’re all pissed by now….” She said. Andromeda snorted.

“Ted’s got to be right arse-holed to get up on a broom…” she murmured. Bellatrix grinned darkly.

“Wanna make bets on who hits the ground first?”

~~

Draco and Hermione stared at Harry, not quite sure what to say.

“Go see your aunt and uncle?” Hermione said. Harry nodded. “Your Muggle, abusive, neglectful, prejudiced aunt and uncle?” she added. Harry frowned.

“Look…they’re the only family I have…despite being right asses they did raise me…not very good…but they raised me. I don’t expect you to understand, Hermione. I don’t even expect you to approve…but I want you to come. Both of you…” he said.

“Why exactly is it that you need me, Potter?” Draco asked, his pointed face drawn into a look of slight contempt. Muggles…blech…

“Well, I assumed that you wouldn’t let your pregnant wife go anywhere without you…” Harry said, blinking at Malfoy’s statement.

“Oh…well..yes….” Draco said. He hadn’t really thought of that.

“Besides…I wanted to have someone who had no involvement with them emotionally there as well. Ron knows about them, and hates them without having met them. Hermione as always reserved her judgment…” Harry said, smiling at her gently.

“What…do you want us to go now?” Hermione asked softly.

“Oh no! I was going tomorrow. Is noon okay?” he asked, looking quite hopeful. Hermione looked at Draco.

“Well, what do you think?” she asked him. He regarded her gently.

“Hmm…I guess we could…I would like to see Potter duel some idiotic Muggle who tapped on his last nerve.” Draco said with a smirk. Hermione shook her head, and Harry chuckled.

“Thank you both. You have no idea what this means to me…”

~~

After a few hours of pondering the predicament they had just gotten himself in with Potter, Draco and Hermione walked into the room that Draco knew to hold his mother, her sisters, and his colorful cousin. They were all leaning out a large window, yelling at something.

“Pull to the left, Ted!” Aunt Andromeda squealed.

“Severus, you great black bat! Get your arse off that broom and in this house!” he heard Bellatrix shriek.

“Lucius! Watch out for that- Oh Merlin! He Crashed! Bloody hell!” Narcissa said, pulling out of the window. The other three followed suit, and they all ran past Draco and Hermione. The two looked at each other, and then ran- well, Hermione rather waddled at a quick pace- until they reached the outside.

By the time they reached the front lawn, Severus and Ted had swooped and landed, both going to the aid of Lucius. He had crashed, quite gruesomely, into a tree, splintering his broom, and quite possibly his face. They had him propped against said tree, and Severus was murmuring healing spells. He had fixed Lucius’ presumably broken nose, but not before Lucius had completely covered his face, and the front of his robes, with blood.

Narcissa was in a right state when she saw him motionless against the tree. When Severus pulled back, leaving only a few minor scratches, she knelt next to him. “Oh Lu….” She sobbed, and gently drew his head to her chest. A weak, gurgled groan caught her attention.

“That was fun….we should do it again…sometime…” he said. “Although…next time….we might leave the drinking….until afterwards…” he added, his voice slightly slurred from weariness and intoxication. Narcissa stroked his cheek, and pushed a few blood-spattered strands of blonde hair behind his ear.

“You foolish, careless man….you could have been killed…” she scolded, her voice shaking, and she pressed her face to the top of his head.

Bellatrix began to berate Severus quite viciously. He wasn’t too bothered by it, though, as he knew it was her way of conveying her worry. To silence her, he drew her into his arms, and kissed her soundly on the lips. She fought for a moment, before conceding, and wrapping her arms around him soundly, holding him for all he was worth.

The Tonks family was rather taken aback by the whole situation, and stood by quietly. Both of the couples seemed so….human at that point that they both had to admire the beauty of it.

Draco cleared his throat. “How about we haul the inebriated old snake into the house so he can sleep it off?” he suggested gently. Narcissa nodded, and gently released her husband. She drew her wand, and levitated Lucius from his place on the ground.

It took only a few hours longer for everyone to be ready for bed. They all decided to sleep with their spouses (except Dora, she got a room to herself!) Narcissa refused to let Lucius out of her arms, much to his dismay. But his dismay quickly turned elsewhere when she decided that a quick blow job would help him recover.

Andromeda and Ted curled up in the large guest bed with no more problems. Ted was subjected to a light reprimand for drinking and flying, but after he apologized, Andromeda dropped the subject. She instead focused on making her husband ‘repent.’ He enjoyed repenting, by the way…

Hermione, worried about what the next day would bring, went to sleep early, much to Draco’s dismay. He instead relieved his ‘growing tension’ in the shower, and then curled up behind his wife, drawing her close and resting his arm across her belly. ‘Mine…’ he thought as he drifted to sleep.

Bellatrix thoroughly chewed Severus out. Once she thought he was adequately scolded, she curled up with him in the bed they shared. Orion gave a sleepy coo from his bassinet, and she smiled, burrowing against her dark fiancé’s chest. She ran her fingers gently over the light dusting of dark hair, relishing the shiver it elicited. She tugged gently at a few of the hairs, and he grunted. “Harpy….” He murmured. She chuckled, and her fingers began to trace the hair lower. He rolled onto his back so that she could more adequately reach him. She virtually purred as her fingers reached the happy trail of hair that led down. She watched as his organ began to inflate in anticipation, and her fingers traveled slightly lower…

A sharp tap at the window successfully interrupted their moment, and Bellatrix cursed under her breath as she turned to see an owl flapping, waiting for them to answer. “Bloody owl! Who in the name of all the bleeding suns would be owling this late?” she hissed, and none-too-happily climbed from the bed, throwing a robe around herself as she stalked to the window.

Her brows furrowed as she saw the Minister’s crest around it’s neck. She opened the window, and the bird flew inside, offering its burden. She retrieved the letter, and sent the owl on its way.

“Bloody hell….it’s from the Minister!”
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Oh my. What can Percy possibly want? Intriguing....

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