8

Chapter 8 - Joint Effort

Voldemort backhanded Lucius, "I want them, I want all three of them. They will pay for this insult. They will all pay."

Lucius groveled on the marble floor, "Yes, Master."

Her skin looked like milk in comparison to the rich earth tone of his skin.

She had forgotten what he was like between the sheets. Perhaps she had made herself forget, because as his full lips captured hers, his tongue slipping between her teeth- Kingsley was enough to make a witch forget any wizard before or after him.

Suddenly, he flipped them, pinning her arms to the pillows above them. She arched beneath him, delighting in how big he was, how his bulk dominated her. Bella knew herself, knew she was wild and powerful, enough to outmatch almost any partner, but not Kingsley.

He made her feel like a woman, made her feel beautiful.

"Why?" she gasped.

He rumbled something, the word lost in the deep base of his voice.

She moaned in response and breathed, "Why did we stop?"

And less deeply he purred, "We haven't stopped, Bella."

She purred back, wrapping her long legs around his back, her feet resting on his lush backside.

He groaned, "I am missing work today because of you. I have never missed a single day of work."

"Why did we ever stop?" she asked.

He nipped the side of her neck. "You laughed at me," he said as he plunged his length into her.

She gasped, even ready for him, she was wonderfully surprised by him. Surprised and grateful at the way he touched her, the way he made her feel kept her in the moment, kept her centered. And it went beyond the sex, beyond the stretch and pull of him.

Kingsley treated her as no one else ever had, like she was a person, an independent person capable of more than magic and mood swings. He was perhaps the only one who neither judged her for what she wanted and yet kept her accountable to her choices. In his dark gaze, she was complete, in his arms, she was, dare she even think it, happy.

"You laughed," he said again, holding himself above her, and she reached up to splay her hands over his smooth scalp, her thumb tracing over the shell of his ear, even as he thrust into her. "You laughed," he gasped, "when I asked you to marry me."

That had been the night they graduated, and Bella had honestly believed he had been joking, believing it had just been the stolen moments of naked skin between them. Back then she hadn't known anyone but her sisters could truly love her. And then Andromeda had left, and even that reality had failed her.

"Yes," she gasped.

He bent to rest his forehead against hers, and she watched his eyes close, as he fought his body to wait for her release, holding out for her pleasure, not his own.

"Yes, Kingsley, yes."

His eyes flicked open, and he asked, and rose to see her face better, "What?"

She pulled herself upward into a crunch, making the angle of him deeper, and he groaned, all of him fitting into all of her. Her breath was shallow as she panted, "I'm not laughing now."

She saw the whites of his eyes all around his irises, and he lost his rhythm, "Bella, do you mean-"

"Don't stop!" she commanded.

His lips descended on hers, and Kingsley claimed her as his own.

"It was him!" one of the goblins roared.

"How?" another exclaimed, "How could it have been him? We were watching him the entire time!"

"Who else would free a dragon without attempting to rob a vault?"

"When are we getting our dragon back?"

"We aren't."

"What do you mean, 'we aren't'? It's our dragon."

"The dragon conservatives say it's 'creature cruelty' to lock it underground and that if we push they will sue us for making it go blind."

"I'll show them creature cruelty."

"They named it Simon."

Silence. And then someone surmised their pickle quite eloquently.

"Bullocks."

Harry was lost in thought and abruptly pulled out of it, at the sound of Teddy crying in his sleep.

Rising from his personal desk, he went to the bed stroked back Teddy's soft hair.

"Teddy," he called, "Teddy, it's just a dream, shhh, it's just a dream."

His eyes flicked open and he bolted up so fast, Harry gasped, his entire body going on alert, and then the tears started a fresh and Teddy was sobbing in his arms.

"Shhh," Harry soothed, rubbing his son's back, "You're okay, we're safe."

Teddy cried harder.

And Harry held him closer, rocking him, and waited for the tears to slow so he could get a word in between the small boy's gasps.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked, when Teddy's breathing slowed enough.

He shook his head, burying his face further into Harry's chest, "I'm scared," he mumbled.

"Of what?" Harry asked, rubbing his back, but no answer came, Teddy had fallen back into a fitful sleep.

Harry did not sleep that night, and spent all of Monday and Tuesday keeping one eye on him, but Teddy never showed any sign of distress, well except at meals when the students got too rowdy.

Wednesday, Harry reluctantly let Teddy spend the class period with Hagrid.

Shelving his worries for the time being, Harry greeted his class with a smile, "Shield charms perfecting today, wands out."

James groaned, "We know how to do shield charms."

"That's good," Harry said, smiling wider, and pointed up. "You have to the count of three."

As one, the class looked up at the boulders suspended at the ceiling.

Several students visibly paled, but some like Lily and Sirius raised their wands.

"One," Harry counted.

"He's joking? Right?" one of the other Gryffindor girls said.

"Three," Harry said, snapping his fingers and the rocks followed the path of gravity.

Several students screamed, and the students who managed shield charms only managed to cover their own person or one person beside them.

Had the rocks been real, maybe three of them would have survived.

But they weren't real, and the rocks turned into bubbles on impact.

The brown haired Gryffindor girl was on her knees on the ground, crying, as her friend beside her began to giggle hysterically and muttered to herself, "Like Sleeping Beauty."

"So, Mr. Potter," Harry asked, "Still think you've mastered shield charms?"

James looked at him as if he were a madman.

It wasn't an unhealthy assumption if Harry were honest.

"Well, had those rocks been real, most of you would be dead. So when large objects are falling on you, using your shield charms in a timely manner is advisable. As soon as you saw the rocks you should have used that charm, no need to wait for my count. After all, your shields don't have a time limit. Would we like to try again?"

The class was silent.

And Harry raised a brow at them.

The Slytherins put their charms up as soon as Harry raised his wand back at the ceiling. When the rocks fell this time, they crashed against the charms, breaking more than half, but as soon as they were going to touch the students they again turned into bubbles.

"Better," Harry said, "But now let's try to merge our shields, a few of you were able to shield your neighbours, but together, you can create one large shield to guard you all."

Harry showed them the wand motions that was just additional wave, "Remember, your intention, your will for the shields to connect is what shapes the magic."

By the end of class, their joint shield could have stayed off an avalanche.

Regina was a princess of the highest calibre, and all her siblings were maids, bumbling into one another for direction, of this much, Teddy was certain.

Her amber eyes narrowed on her siblings in a calculating fashion that Teddy was sure meant trouble.

"Teddy," Hagrid called, "Teddy, come here a moment, I want to show you something."

Teddy gave Regina a meaningful look, which she either acknowledged or dismissed with a flick of her tail.

Sighing like his father did in hopeless situations, Teddy skipped over to Hagrid who had something cupped in his huge, gi-mungus hands.

"What is it, Hagrid?" he asked, shifting from foot to foot.

The bearded man smiled at him, his black eyes sparkling, and he parted his hands to reveal a tiny grey shape covered in fuzz.

"A bunny?" Teddy asked, reaching out to pet it's back, his eyes widened, his hair flashing neon pink in surprise when three tiny heads looked up blindly toward him. Their eyes weren't even open yet as they tried crawling in Hagrid's palms.

Hagrid chuckled, "He's a cerberus, a three headed dog from Greece."

"He's sooo-" Teddy paused, "He's so fluffy."

Hagrid laughed, "Then that's what we'll name him, Fluffy. They stay real small for a long time, you see. Don't make it long in the wild, sometimes their mum steps on them."

Teddy looked at the puppy, horrified.

Hagrid placed the puppy in his hand, "That's why we have him, so we can raise him proper. And when he gets real big, he'll be a protector."

Teddy cuddled the little puppy to him, "We'll keep you safe, Fluffy."

The sightless puppy made a series of squeaks that sounded more like chirps before settling in his arms, drowsing in the safety he found in the humans around him.

The end of the evening found Severus in Professor Peverell's classroom with Black sitting beside him.

"Do you understand the instructions?" the too-good-looking-wizard-to-be-a-professor asked.

"Not really," Black said cheekily, "I'm still confused on the part where you expect us to work together."

Professor Peverell smiled wickedly at them, and Severus decided that if this wizard had gone to Hogwarts, he would have been sorted into Slytherin. He was far too clever at punishments.

And this was a punishment, Severus could think of nothing worse than being assigned a task where he needed Black to pass.

"You two," the professor told Black slowly, "are to work together on this assignment, or I will pair you both up for every future assignment, and if you fail I will tell Professor McGonagall and Slughorn that you will not be taking your OWLs in DADA and to be held back a year."

Even Black winced at that prospect. Black had many faults, being academically stupid or weak, wasn't among them. There is no way he would let himself get held back a year.

Neither would Severus for that matter.

Which meant that they would have to figure out the old textbook on their own. It was a year four book, so technically they already knew everything from it already, but the English was old, and the instructions vague, and the name of the spells wasn't just Latin, but written in Greek. Which meant they had to discern the spells from the old English description.

It was going to take forever, and loathe as Severus was to admit it, he would need Black to perform the spells. Severus could translate the wand movements alright, but he couldn't perform a spell without knowing the outcome, Black had no such limitations.

The stupid tosser.

"Mr. Snape," the professor snapped.

He glared up at him, into his green ey- Severus blinked up at the taller wizard. His eyes were as green as Lily's. It was like they had the same eyes really, only framed with black instead of red lashes and they were behind glasses.

It was really no wonder every girl in the school fawned over him behind his back. He had long curly black hair, sharp features, a son who was at times criminally cute, but no one had the guts to flirt with him to his face. There was something odd about Professor Peverell, something disconnected -or maybe it was just the power he gave off. He used magic like the rest of them breathed air, and more and more frequently, everyone was noticing how seldom he used his wand.

So yes, he was every schoolgirl's crush, but he was also a fantasy, not someone you should ever pursue.

"Mr. Snape," he said again.

"Yeah, yeah, work with Black, share the work, got it."

Professor Peverell smiled, as if he knew how much it cost both of them to be civil to one another.

Severus exchanged a look with Black, who offered a shrug and pulled out his wand. Severus looked at the book and tried to tune out the professor's son describing his day with the groundskeeper and a puppy named Fluffy.

An hour later, they had gotten through three pages, three spells. But it was weirdly rewarding work, like deciphering a puzzle. And Black, surprisingly, wasn't so bad without his friends.

Black laughed, "I know that says six flicks, but still."

Severus rolled his eyes, but even he couldn't stop his lips from twitching. Spelling wasn't that great three hundred years ago.

"You two can switch to your homework for my class then you may leave," Professor Peverell called from behind his desk, where he was sitting on the floor building a Lego castle with his son.

"He's kind of cool," Black whispered, as he reached into his bag with a sigh of relief.

Severus was thinking the same, not many professors would have let them finish homework during detention. "He's the best professor we've had in DADA," he said in a low voice.

Black nodded, then he asked, "You're not going to tell anyone what our detention was like, are you?"

No, Severus thought bitterly, because Merlin forbid anyone hears that Sirius Black got along with a Slytherin -even out of necessity. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said aloud, "We were just doing lines in silence."

Black nodded, and Severus would like to have said they didn't speak a word after that, but the essay prompt was difficult and despite themselves, they find themselves exchanging advice and questions.

Afterwards, Severus was one hundred percent sure that Professor Peverell was the most dangerous person in the school.