gabriellewebb

[gabriellewebb]

Titania Snape made with markers

This drawing I made a few days ago but only finished painting it today. I hope you liked it! :)

I made an Instagram, I’ll probably post my raw sketches there sometimes, I have lots of them but I never posted anywhere.

[gabriellewebb]

The Dark Lord, The Witch and The Time Portal - XVI

Previous chapter

XVI – The future in your hands

Thursday, September 10, 1942

Holly Portier and Tom Riddle were just friends now, and they remained in this state on the following days. Although it was odd for her to be in this sort of relationship with a younger version of her archenemy, at the same time, it felt remarkably natural and easy to be near him. It scared her how everything could be different when a blank slate was somehow presented, where she had no real motives to hate this boy of fifteen.

Tom sat down by her side in most classes, but they spent moments after classes as well, studying in the library or in the Common Room. Holly even took a seat with Tom's evil council one evening —she was sure that Avery and Lestrange barely tolerated her, but she ended up being on good terms with Ivan Dolohov, no doubt thanks to Quidditch!

Walburga didn't seem at ease when Holly was near the boys, and constantly looked in their direction to check if everything was okay. Dolohov always tensed whenever he noticed her watchful glances.

Tom and Holly clearly enjoyed each other's company, and the best of all was the fact that it wasn't suffocating at all. Tom often gave her space to be around her own friends or even alone, and she was sure that he liked to have some time by himself as well.

However, she was aware that Tom had made his intentions clear from the beginning. He respected her decision to just be friends, but he wanted more than that; he wanted to kiss her and perhaps become her boyfriend. Part of her wanted the same as him, but it still felt wrong. Her conscience often reminded her that it was too good to be true and that he was just a manipulative liar. It was dangerous to get involved with him because he could still turn into Voldemort.

Sometimes a brush of hands happened accidentally when they were just walking together, and Tom got a little flirty whenever they were alone. Though he maintained a respectable distance, as if there were an invisible barrier between them. The last time a boy made her heart flutter this way, she was only twelve, and he was a distant memory from the past —the evil version of this current Tom, or at least she hoped.

She liked Cedric; he was handsome and gentle, but he never provoked these intense emotions in her. And she felt confused most of all. Tom Riddle distracted her from her true objective, and she was being eaten alive by the memories of the kisses they shared. Tom was being good to her, but they only met each other a few days ago, and she couldn't let him be a distraction from her true objectives. She missed Hermione, Ron, and all her other friends that she lost coming back to the past. Most people she knew weren't even born yet, and Holly had to make sure that they would have a bright and happy future as well.

Myrtle convinced Holly into giving another chance to the Divination classes. The two girls planned on pairing up together, but Professor Vablatsky had other ideas in mind. The old witch was the one who sorted out the pairs of students who would predict each other's fortunes, using whichever methods they preferred.

Holly ended up pairing with no one other than Tom Riddle himself.

They sat facing each other, and he stared at her with a haughty smirk plastered on his handsome face. The prospect of Tom Riddle reading her fortune made her very nervous, not because she thought he could discover any secrets about her but due to the fact that Voldemort was superstitious enough to believe in a prophecy and try to kill a baby. She was already regretting attending the Divination class once again.

The only comfort she had was that Professor Vablatsky didn't give her much attention and acted as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened in the previous class.

Holly decided to have a go first and feigned a small peep at the crystal ball. "You must be careful with the dark arts, or else you'll lose your hair and nose." She said it jokingly, the same way she did with Ron at Trelawney's classes, never taking predictions seriously.

Tom let out a huff of breath and opened a small, mischievous smirk. Then he made a serious expression as he took her right hand to read her palm, obviously picking up her game. "I see a strange coincidence here," He looked concentrated, but Holly knew he was faking it. "You have the same name as my future wife!"

"Don't be absurd, Tom!" She admonished him, trying to hold her laugh as she flushed red as a tomato. "I can't marry you, we are only friends, remember?"

Tom narrowed his eyes but didn't contradict her. "Well, if you won't marry me, then," He frowned and kept staring at her hands for a few more seconds, then he smirked maliciously. "Oh, I can see clearly the picture of your husband."

She tried to hold back her smirk. "And how does he look like?"

"Like a complete moron," He said flatly, and Holly had to put a hand over her mouth to suppress her laugh. " But don't worry. Your marriage won't last a moon's turn when you realize the mistake you made. Especially because you have by your side a tall, powerful, and smart wizard as your best friend, so we'll end up together anyway," He said boldly and quickly added. "Of course your ex will end up having a tragic death."

"Oh really?" Holly narrowed her eyes at him. "And what happened to my first husband, Tom?" She asked in an accusatory tone.

He shrugged. "Nothing you can prove."

Holly snorted and had to muffle the sound of her laugh by slapping her hands over her mouth. She wasn't supposed to find this type of joke funny! Tom observed her with obvious mirth on his face. "You are awful, Tom!" She tried to use a serious tone to scold him, but it was impossible to keep a straight face.

Tom gasped in mocking offense. "You can't talk to your future husband like that!"

Holly scoffed, and this time her face was completely hot. "Don't be absurd! We can't marry!"

Tom lifted a perfect eyebrow. "Yes, we can! And we will!"

Holly felt butterflies fluttering inside her stomach as a guilty feeling stabbed the back of her mind. She couldn't feed herself with feelings of hope regarding her and Tom's relationship. The witch continued to play along, trying to change the subject of the conversation a little. "Well, I can see that we'll get a divorce because I discovered what happened to my previous husband."

"Really? Please do share because I have no idea what you're talking about," He said with a face full of fake innocence, making Holly snort again.

It was hard to keep a serious composure near an endearing jerk like Tom Riddle, but Holly tried her best anyway. "I'll discover at the due time. As I was saying, we'll divorce and you'll marry another witch," She looked up at him with a mischievous smirk. "And good news for you two! You'll have at least five kids with her! I'm sure you must be beyond happy knowing that you'll be a father!"

Tom scrunched up his nose in disgust. "You aren't funny at all, Holly! I just gave you the best husband in the world," He said, pointing his thumb towards his chest, ignoring that Holly just snorted again. "And what do you do to me? Give me five kids with snotty noses... will they at least have your pretty green eyes?" He said it with a cocky grin.

Holly just knew she was as red as a tomato. "As I said before; we were divorced, so your kids will be with someone else."

Tom huffed out a laugh. "You are horrible at predicting the future, Holly! There's no way I would divorce you. And it's even more absurd that I would let you have babies."

"Let me?" Holly scoffed, and their game was forgotten as Holly's bad temper took over. "If I decide to have babies one day, it's my choice to make, Tom, not yours! Or anyone else's!" She added quickly.

Tom frowned at her. "This is non-negotiable. Babies are out of the question!"

"Good to know!" Holly shrugged. "I just decided that I'll have a big family. I'll have so many kids that I'll make a Quidditch team of my own!" She said it defiantly.

"No, you won't!" He was outraged.

"Well, it seems that we really can't marry, then." Holly crossed her arms, and they glared at each other. Tom clenched his jaw. Without a word, he took his quill and started to scratch angrily at a piece of parchment what he saw in Holly's future, so he could read it later to the blind Divination professor.

Holly watched in horror as Tom wrote a detailed description of all the bad fortunes that her beloved husband would suffer before a premature and painful death. A prediction that would have made Professor Trelawney proud, to be honest, as she loved to foresee the deaths of the students. Part of Holly felt slightly offended when Tom changed his mind about being her second husband and wrote instead that the perfect match for her love life was a powerful young wizard, but he was refused by her because he didn't want kids. So Holly would pay for her stubbornness by losing not only the love of her life FOREVER, but she also wouldn't have kids of her own with this wizard or anyone else.

Holly spitefully took her fountain pen and started to write a few predictions of her own regarding him. She noticed him pausing to read whatever she was writing, so she decided to infuriate him with a different tactic, using lots of love! She wrote that Tom would fall madly in love with a beautiful witch from a pureblood family, that they would marry very young and not only be happy and together forever, but also have at least five kids. And considering how much Tom loved children, he would have a career as a teacher at Hogwarts. Holly also included in her predictions that Tom would never pursue knowledge regarding the dark arts, so he wouldn't lose his nose and beautiful hair in the process of becoming a dark wizard.

"Very funny!" Tom declared with a sneer. "I hope you get at least this bit right," He pointed his finger near the line regarding his career. "I would love to teach here at Hogwarts."

"What?" Holly widened her eyes in surprise. Tom kept his gaze fixed on hers, his ears slightly pink.

"I really like this place. I wish it was my home." He sounded sincere.

"So, tell me your predictions," Professor Vablatsky interrupted them, arriving at their table like a shark who just smelled blood. Tom started reading his parchment first. Since the old professor was blind, she couldn't see the insufferable smugness on his face. As he finished, the old teacher tutted. "I'm truly disappointed, Riddle. I always have warned you about keeping your anger in check before it ends up eating you alive... anger clouds your judgment, my sweet boy!"

The old witch asked Holly to read the predictions that she had made for Tom. Holly made them up only to enrage him, but if they turned out to be true, making Tom really happy, Holly would be truly glad for him. As the witch finished, the old professor chuckled darkly. "You missed a few details here and there, but most of it seems accurate to me. Perhaps you have the Inner Sight, my dear, though it needs to be polished a little." Professor Vablatsky cackled and moved to another table.

Before Holly could say anything to torment Tom, the parchment in front of her caught fire. As the tiny witch met the furious gaze of the wizard in front of her, the blood in her spine ran cold. If looks could kill, she would be dead right now. The fury in Tom's eyes burned like dark coals, and even Voldemort never directed at her such a frightening look. Tom gathered his things furiously, stood up from the desk, and stormed out of the classroom without saying anything to anyone else, even the professor. Myrtle had fear on her face and a puzzled look as she glanced at Holly from a distance. Lucretia Black seemed distraught as well.

At lunch, Tom Riddle openly glared daggers when their gazes crossed, and Holly couldn't contain a snort seeing Tom being so childish. That seemed to make him more affronted, and the few Slytherins who noticed their interaction showed confused looks.

Abraxas Malfoy was the first to question what happened between Holly and Riddle as the witch sat down at the table near the first-years, but before Holly could say anything to him, Walburga took a seat by her side and whispered apprehensively. "Portier, what happened between you and Riddle?" She glanced at him, who was staring at his food as if it personally offended him. "I've never seen him so angry before! He's frightening!"

Holly smirked at the absurdity of the situation. "Oh, it's silly, really... Nothing to worry about." The Slytherins around her stared at Holly as if she were mad for not taking the situation more seriously. Then they exchanged worried glances between themselves.

"Holly, what have you said or done to him?" Violet asked in a nervous voice. "The other day he called you Snow White Princess," Walburga lifted an eyebrow at that. "Today he looks like he wants to murder you!" The first-year girl had teary eyes.

Oh no, he wants to murder my imaginary husband, Holly thought, and then let out a laugh.

"Why are you laughing? This isn't funny!" Walburga scolded.

"Trust me, it is!" Holly said in a low voice, trying to regain control of herself to stop laughing and not offend Tom even more. How could she tell them what happened at Divination class without betraying Tom's trust?

I married another man, and Tom killed him before becoming my second husband. Everything was fine until then, but as I don't like people saying what I can or can't do, I told him that I wanted lots of kids just to contradict him. Tom got angry, and as we had some disagreements about our marriage, we got a divorce. Then Tom cursed me to be single and barren until my last days while I gave him a beautiful pureblood wife, a career, and lots of kids. The professor liked my prediction, and then he just snapped!

How is this not supposed to be funny?

Holly had to take a deep breath to not laugh her ass off. "He's angry about the predictions I made up for him at the Divination class... just because Professor Vablatsky told me that most of them were accurate and she didn’t like what he wrote about my future."

Walburga studied Holly's face for a few seconds. Her gray eyes widened, and her jaw opened. "What?"

Holly smirked. "I told you it's silly."

"No, it can't be," Walburga closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. She opened them after a few seconds and frowned. "What did you tell him exactly?"

Holly shrugged. "I'd rather not give any details, but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary... We were just playing with made-up predictions. I don't know why he's so rattled, but I'll talk to him later, I promise!"

Walburga stared deeply into her eyes. "I don't care if you're gonna talk to him or not. I just need to know if I shall be concerned." The older witch had a stern tone. It seemed that even Walburga Black was wary about confronting an infuriated Tom Riddle.

"You don't need to be concerned about me and Tom, I can handle him." Holly gave a reassuring smile to Walburga. He's just being a drama queen, she almost added.

Walburga nodded and left Holly alone with the first-years.

"You won't tell the predictions you made about Riddle," Melissa started, looking at Holly with puppy eyes. "But will you tell us the predictions he made for you?" Violet's sad eyes suddenly brightened up.

Holly giggled. "He told me I would marry a moron, then turned me into a widow."

Violet had a confused expression. "Why would he say these things about himself?"

"Because it wasn't him! Tom and I are just friends," Holly blurted out.

Melissa opened a mischievous and wide grin. "I bet that he was angry because you didn't marry him!"

"N-no, it wasn't that... we married, then we got divorced," Holly flushed a bright tone of red.

Violet gasped. "So he's angry because you've got a divorce?"

"Just shut up, you two, we were just making everything up. Don't tell anyone what I said to you!" Holly hissed angrily at the kids. Violet and Melissa exchanged knowing glances while Abraxas shook his head and rolled his eyes.

When Holly finished lunch, Tom Riddle had already left the table, so she had to search for him around school. She had to confront him to stop this foolishness. It seemed that he indeed took future predictions more seriously than she expected, but she had to see it coming considering her history with Voldemort.

The witch was lucky to bump into Dolohov, who seemed quite concerned about her well-being. Holly said that she wanted to find Tom, and Dolohov reluctantly gave her the information she needed.

The studious Tom Riddle, model student and Prefect of Slytherin, was easily spotted in a dark corner of the library, reading a book. Holly sat in front of him and cast a few privacy charms around them. "You know that was supposed to be a joke, there's no need to be so angry, Tom!"

Tom didn't raise his eyes from the book to meet hers, but his frown deepened. "I have all the right in the world to be angry."

Holly huffed out a breath. "Why?"

Tom finally met her eyes and regarded her for a few seconds. His face flushed a little, then he averted his gaze as if ashamed. "Nevermind, you wouldn't get it."

"Can't you at least try to explain it to me?"

He bit the inside of his cheeks. "I don't want to." He said sincerely, and Holly knew it was some sort of personal secret that he wanted to hold deep in his heart.

Holly let out a frustrated sigh. "It's alright if you don't want to share something personal with me, but it isn't fair of you to shut me down just because you got angry with something I don't understand... it's not something that friends do to each other!"

Tom averted his gaze and turned a page in his book. "Just let me alone for a while, I need time to cool down." He was obviously still very cross about what happened at the Divination class.

"That's not how we solve problems between friends, Tom." Holly complained, feeling her own anger rise up in her chest.

Tom raised his eyebrows, his gaze still fixed on his book. "It's not like I want to be just your friend, Holly."

Holly scoffed. "If you can't even be my friend, I suppose you can't be anything more, either!" She said it through seething teeth, and when she motioned to leave, his hand darted towards her wrist, holding her firmly.

"Wait. Don't go," Tom said in a hushed tone. "I'm sorry... can you stay, please?" His voice was soft.

Tom released his grasp as Holly sat down reluctantly. Her heart was hammering madly inside her chest. Tom closed his book and focused his attention on her. "Professor Vablatsky is right. I don't think clearly when my temper gets the best of me, and I don't want to say something that might hurt you, but if you want to talk, let's talk."

Holly huffed. "You shouldn't take future predictions so seriously, Tom! I was just playing, and you were doing the same at first, there was no need to get so irritated by it, you are being childish!"

Tom clenched his jaw. It was clear that he disagreed with her about this matter, but he kept his mouth shut. "Anything else you want to add?" He asked in a cold voice.

Holly sighed in frustration. There was something that was said at Divination that somehow really bothered him, and she just noticed that she just acted as if she disregarded whatever feelings he had towards this mysterious matter. It seemed to affect him deeply, and perhaps it was something that the professor confirmed would happen, turning things worse. "I'm sorry for saying that to you, Tom, I just... I just hate Divination, and most of it how it affects people."

"Why are you attending the classes, then?" He asked in a tone more curious than critical.

"I don't know. I guess it's to get good grades... I wouldn't have come today, but Myrtle convinced me to give it another chance, perhaps today was my last time there," She let out a hollow laugh. Voldemort killed her parents because of some sort of stupid prophecy that he heard about. If not for that, she probably would have been raised by her parents —if they didn't die in the war, of course! But it wasn't a good idea to share this with Tom. Holly stared deep into his eyes as she tried to burrow her saddest feelings away. "People often misinterpret things," Holly smiled, recalling the events that happened during her third year at Hogwarts. "Once someone read my fortune in the tea leaves and spotted the Grim," Tom tensed at the mention of such a dark omen. "For months she told me that I was about to die, but in the end, I discovered that the Grim was a black dog that was actually my godfather who was searching for me. He was an unregistered Animagus."

Tom laughed, visibly relieved. "Well, in some sort of way, this person was right."

"About the black dog, yes, but it was annoying hearing for months that I was about to die... if I believed in these things, perhaps something bad really would have happened!"

Tom opened a smirk. "I see your point."

"Perhaps my predictions are accurate, perhaps they're not. Professor Vablatsky is just a human like you and me and can commit mistakes just like everyone else. The future is a possibility and not something settled in stone," Holly said to Tom, but realized that it was an advice that she needed as much as him. "Try not to give much thought about future predictions, Tom. Do you really feel comfortable thinking that your future is already written and no matter what you do, you just can't avoid the things that will happen?" Holly opened a shy smile. "I wrote those things to annoy you, but to be honest, I really want you to have a happy life."

Tom showed her a boyish smile. "I'll be very happy as long as I can become your husband," Holly flushed and shoved him on the shoulder, and they both laughed. Tom took one of her hands on his own and pressed it gently. "But for now, I'll accept your wish to remain friends, Holly. It seems I still have a lot to learn." He lifted her hand as he leaned down a little to give a kiss on it. Holly giggled.

"Thanks, Tom, I really appreciate that," Holly said, her cheeks tinged in pink. "I have something for you," She said shyly.

Tom observed her with curious eyes while Holly searched inside her bag. She found the small box containing the present that she made for him a few days ago, although she still hadn't found the right moment to give it to him.

Tom took the small box and opened it carefully. When the content was revealed, a genuine smile appeared on his face. His eyes brightened as he looked in awe at the green fountain pen that Holly made for him. It had an elegant design and was ornamented with small silver snakes. It was the pen that Holly took more time and care to make, and she was very proud of her work. "It's beautiful..." Then he frowned, looking slightly sad. "But I don't have enough money to pay you, Holly."

Holly rolled her eyes. "It's a gift Tom, do you know what a gift is supposed to be? We are friends, aren't we?" Then she added. "I only started charging for them because I didn't want to make them for everyone."

Tom chuckled. "You just can't say 'no', right?" He drew a few lines on a piece of parchment, testing his new pen. He looked like a child who had just received an early Christmas present. "The grip is perfect and it’s very comfortable to use. You did an amazing job, Holly, thanks a lot!"

Tom looked up from the parchment to Holly's face. She was surprised by how much he seemed to enjoy the pen she made. His dark eyes were locked on hers for a considerable amount of time. Then he looked down at his pen again, a smug smirk on his lips. "It has the same color as your eyes."

It was indeed an emerald green. Holly's eyes widened, and she felt rather embarrassed. "Oh! Sorry, I tried to use the Slytherin colors. I can change it if you want," Her voice was nervous.

Tom scoffed. "No way I would change it, I love your pretty eyes! Besides, I can tell everyone that you made the pen with the intent to make me think of you all the time!" He showed her a wolfish grin.

Holly gasped. "Don't you dare, Tom! Give it back to me!" She said without truly meaning it, just too bashful to admit how happy she truly felt by his compliments.

"Why would I give back MY pen?" Tom seemed to take pleasure in annoying Holly. "It's my treasure now, and only mine, made with all the love you dedicate to me!"

Holly huffed, red as a tomato. "You're awful, Tom!"

Walburga was worried sick about Portier and Riddle. She was searching for them everywhere inside the castle. She returned to the common room and luckily found one of his roommates. It was Lestrange who suggested that Riddle might possibly be in the library, but he had no idea about Portier’s whereabouts.

Riddle was the sort of Slytherin who always looked composed and was very skilled at guarding his expression and hiding his true feelings. No matter what Portier said to Walburga before, it couldn't be a good thing that Riddle was showing such furious animosity towards Holly.

Riddle always made her feel unsettled, even when he was just a child, and Portier looked way too naive to be in his company. Walburga often observed Portier at a careful distance, and it still puzzled her how the girl was sorted in Slytherin, she was everything but a snake! Horace Slughorn was an example of a Slytherin who seemed amicable with everyone, but the truth was that the old wizard was very cunning and ambitious. He also enjoyed knowing people with fame and status. Holly Portier didn’t seem to be anything like that.

She heard that Portier was almost sorted into Gryffindor, and she could see the witch as a good fit for the lions —what she lacked in stature she had in boldness. And way too Gryffindor for the likes of Riddle...

Walburga understood that the unfit Slytherin witch had a way of captivating people, and it was still a mystery to her how she did that, even though Walburga herself also took a liking to the strange girl recently.

However, Tom Riddle was different. Since he was a kid, he has looked detached from people, unfeeling, and calculating. He laughed when everyone else laughed, yet his eyes were always cold. You could spot a glint of anger in his eyes, but Walburga never saw anything related to love or sympathy.

He was the opposite of Portier —way too different in her opinion. The girl was reserved, but her laugh came easily when she was talking with her friends, and sometimes the girl was just too easy to read.

Walburga was under the impression that Tom Riddle was a big, cruel cat who chose Portier to be his plaything. She had no idea about his intentions toward the tiny girl, but they could not be good. However, she also didn't understand how Portier got under his skin.

When she finally arrived at the library, she spotted Riddle chatting amicably with Portier, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened today between them.

But there was also something else in the air... She narrowed her eyes as she watched them, and then she was startled when she realized the way Riddle looked at Portier: his eyes weren't cold while he smiled at her, they were melting! He looked at that untidy girl as if she were a goddess walking on Earth.

He wasn't faking it, he could mask everything else, but if someone knew how to observe, the eyes would never lie.

Walburga could effortlessly recognize who was fond of who inside the castle, and loved to discuss with her friends who would become a couple in the future and who would break up soon. And Portier and Riddle looked like two lovebirds! It was easy to imagine Portier infatuated with someone, but Riddle? It was the last thing that Walburga expected to see from him!

Riddle and Portier were too lost in their conversation and never noticed Walburga arriving at the library and then leaving in absolute shock.

She had no idea if it was a good thing or bad that Portier picked Riddle's interest in such ways, but she would have to convince the girl to choose someone else. Riddle could be a brilliant student and pleasing to the eye, but he was still a mudblood with no money or status. Holly Portier could do better than that!

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The Dark Lord, The Witch and The Time Portal - XV

Previous Chapter: XIV

XV - Starting a new friendship

Holly cried over Tom's chest as he kept her in a protective embrace, running his long and slender fingers through the locks of her wild hair in a soothing way. He didn't say a word even when she calmed down a little only letting out a few sobs. Holly was in a quite strange position, so close of Tom Riddle's body, feeling his warmth and even hearing how fast his heart was beating inside his ribcage. The weirdest thing of all in that situation was how much she felt at peace and comfortable in the arms of someone who she mostly knew as an enemy and a cruel dark wizard.

'Only a few more seconds', Holly told herself inwardly, as guilt started taking over her emotions. As one part of her felt oddly normal to be so close like that with Tom Riddle, the other part screamed danger, reminding her that Voldemort was manipulative and a very good actor, also, Dumbledore said to her in the past that Voldemort was incapable of actions of love or affection and unable to understand even the mere concept of friendship.

She felt utterly stupid as she wished that Dumbledore was wrong and that Tom wasn't faking anything right now. Holly was aware that was foolish to believe in him even if just a little bit, though the way he caressed her hair as she settled against his body only felt natural, as if she truly belonged there.

Her tears started pouring on her cheeks all over again with her self-deprecating thoughts cursing her own weakness, so desperate of being loved that she threw herself at the arms of the most dangerous person she knew of. It didn't help that Tom tightened his embrace on her and whispered gentle words near her ear of how completely safe she was there with him. Her heart almost broke of so much guilt. Holly was playing with fiendfire and was aware that the chances favored her being burn until nothing was left.

When Holly calmed down for real it felt awkward to continue embraced with Tom like that, but as she motioned to pull away from him, he kept a firm grip over her, not allowing Holly to move an inch.

"Can't we stay like this just a few more minutes?" Tom asked softly, threading lazily her hair with his fingers. Holly only nodded in response and rested her head under his jaw, feeling trapped but not coerced to oblige him, as if she was a bird inside a cage with an open door, remaining there just because she didn't want to leave yet.

The minutes stretched as they remained there in silence, Tom still playing absentmindedly with Holly's hair as she stayed cozy with her body pressed against his, enjoying the false sensation of security as much as Tom's warmth and his scent. He smelled clean and plain, as basic as his name. No fancy colognes or perfumes, he used the shampoo and soap offered in Hogwarts that every other student could use, though it also had something distinctive that was just his. And she liked it pretty much. Before she lost herself even more in thoughts of Tom Riddle, he finally broke the silence between them.

"This dark wizard who hurt you—"

Holly quickly interrupted, pushing his chest to maintain certain distance as she raised her head to meet his eyes. "I've already said to you that I can't say much about him, Tom," She scolded.

Tom huffed and rolled his eyes. "I just wanted to ask if he's Grindelwald,"

"No, he's not," She said with a frown.

"Was him the only one who hurt you or there is someone else?"

Holly bit her lip as she pondered his question, self conscious that even though they were slightly apart right now, Tom still had a firm hand placed on the small of her back. "They're all gone for now, even the wizard who killed my parents," Her voice sounded nervous and hasty on her own ears. "But there's still a possibility of him coming back and he can always find people who'll follow and obey him,"

Something in her eyes made Tom look annoyed and for a moment Holly feared that he somehow peered inside her mind. But that didn't seem the case as his gaze fell down to his hand as he played with a lock of her hair, looking thoughtful as if ruminating the information given to him.

When Tom met her gaze again, his dark eyes were so full of anger that made her flinch. He placed a gentle hand over her cheek and then she realized that his rage weren't direct towards her as she was used to be.

He isn't Voldemort yet, she reminded herself.

"Don't worry about this man, Holly, I'm at your side now," Tom's voice was filled with spite and Holly couldn't help her body from stiffening. Tom pulled her closer to him and rested his cheek over her hair. When he spoke again, his tone was gentle. "I know I can't offer you much regarding wealth or status, but I'm confident in my abilities," He nuzzled her cheek and whispered near her ear. "I'll be powerful so I can protect you," Holly felt her heart jump not only by his declaration, but also by the strong tinge of possessiveness his magic took around her. It made her nervous, anxious and again wishing he was being true.

"T-Thanks, Tom," She hastily put enough distance between them and Tom Riddle didn't try to hide his annoyance, though he didn't declare anything out loud. "I-I'll also try my best to be powerful enough to defend myself," She blurted out with her heart on her throat and incapable of meeting his eyes.

Holly felt the weight of his gaze over her as he studied her in silence, then he let out a breath and it took her a few seconds to realize it was a chuckle. "It's good that you seem to have a natural talent in making the right people like you,"

"W-what do you mean?" Holly finally looked up at him, Tom had a smirk placed on his lips though his eyes remained cold and calculating.

"The Blacks. Even Walburga seems slightly fond of you. You also did a good job with the Malfoy heir, the brat looks at you with admiration, and he's from a powerful House, maintaining his friendship will help a lot in keeping you safe —"

Holly cut off his train of thought before he continued. "Don't talk like that, Tom! I didn't approach anyone because their House is powerful or whatever. Besides, Abraxas is just a boy, don't talk as if he's a pawn!" She admonished.

Tom shrugged and opened a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Call him whatever you wish, it doesn't change the fact that we can use his influence in your favor,"

"Tom! Stop talking like that!"

Tom snorted and approached her just to pinch one of her cheeks. "How you did that, by the way?"

"Did what?" She asked in confusion.

"Befriended the dwarves, Snow White," He teased.

Holly averted her gaze, feeling her face hot. She didn't know if the Slytherin kids said something to other students about the spell she showed them. "I conjured a Patronus in front of them,"

"Oh really?" He didn't look even a bit surprised. "Can you show me?"

Holly nodded and did as he asked. Tom hummed in appreciation as Prongs pranced around the classroom. "A corporeal Patronus," Tom flashed her a faint smile. "This is quite remarkable of you, Holly. The first time I set my eyes on you, I knew you were special,"

His eyes glinted with a lust so genuine that Holly lost her focus and the silver stag just vanished in the air. Tom didn't look at her like that even after the night they kissed, her heart hammered madly against her ribcage. "I can teach you, if you want," She offered nervously.

His smile vanished. "I don't think this is a good idea,"

"Why not?"

Tom arched a perfect eyebrow at her. "Didn't you hear about the dark wizard Raczidian?" Holly shook her head. The name ringed something familiar in her ears, but if she ever read something about him, it was now completely forgotten. "Well, he tried to conjure one, but only maggots shot out of his wand and devoured him. It seems only the pure of heart can conjure a Patronus,"

Holly looked down at the floor as she reminded how she used an Unforgivable Curse on Bellatrix not so long ago, she couldn't consider herself someone with a pure heart after that. Then, a mischievous thought crossed her mind. "I think you can conjure one, Tom, I'm sure your heart is pure,"

Tom stared Holly as if a horn sprouted from her forehead. She couldn't suppress a smirk from forming her lips. "Pure evil,"

Holly snorted as Tom closed his eyes as if feeling physical pain for the bad jape, and then he ended up chuckling of how offended she felt by his reaction.

"Yes, I'm not a good person and never intend to be one," Tom started and looked way too proud by his statement. Holly felt in a sudden state of alert and stared him with a serious expression. Tom reached out and placed a hand on her cheek. "But I'll be good to you, I promise,"

Holly bit the inside of her cheeks as her heart was depleted from all self-confidence. She gave a step back, building some distance from him. "Why would you do so much for me, Tom?"

"Why wouldn't I?" He countered.

Holly huffed in impatience. "Because you barely know me, Tom. Don't think I'll start trusting you just because you are showering me with empty promises!" She regretted her words as soon as they left her mouth and cursed herself for her impulsiveness. If Tom Riddle wanted to be friends with her for whatever reason, she had to at least feign about giving him the benefit of doubt.

However, Tom didn't look annoyed by her words, he approached her again and this time he cupped her cheeks with his hands, delicate as if she was made of porcelain. His gaze shifted to her lips and for a moment she thought he was going to kiss her. "I know you enough to see we are the same, better than everyone else! We are special, Holly, we are... equals!" He said the last word so close to her mouth that she could almost taste him. Then, angerness crossed his dark eyes and he took some distance from her. "Let's wait and see if my promises are empty or not," He caressed the sides of her face with his thumbs before releasing her.

Holly took a step back from him, trying to recollect herself from how he made her feel and how confusing and frustrating it was. She had to keep in her mind that they had to be friends, only friends, no matter how attracted she felt for him. A quick exchange of glances between them was enough to understand that Tom was struggling to maintain some distance from her as well, though she couldn’t understand his motivations. As far as she knew, it could only be a game for him.

"You'd better wash your face before dinner, unless you want people gossiping that I broke your heart," Tom said teasingly as he walked towards the door.

Holly followed after him, embarrassed, and was surprised that he held the door for her to pass like a perfect gentleman. They left the classroom and gone towards different paths.

The tiny witch had too much to mull over right now. She was scared and lost in trying to befriend Tom Riddle as it seemed they had a strange pull towards each other, at least by her side as he could just be faking everything for whatever reason. In a way it hurt how sweet and entrancing his words could be and how easily she felt the urge of believing in everything. It didn’t help that Tom was tall, handsome and could be charming and funny. As strong as Voldemort could be, perhaps the easiest path was to oppose Tom Riddle as an enemy, because Holly was under the impression that he had the potential to hurt her even more if she ended up trusting him. She wasn’t good in deceiving people or faking emotions, if they started acting as friends, it would be turning real for her. Her mind drifted towards Sirius Black, in a way understanding why he snapped the day he discovered that his friend Peter Pettigrew  betrayed all his friends.

It was barely a week in the past and Holly felt a heavy burden in her heart, her self-confidence faltering as she asked herself if she could turn things worse than they were at her current timeline.

Next Chapter

[gabriellewebb]

Frenemies with benefits - I

This fic has mature content, don’t read if you are under 18 or if you don’t like this type of content.

Also, a small warning for non-con elements as some may interpret that way.

I- Drinking Buddies

It was late on a Friday evening. Sirius Black sat down alone in the kitchen of his house at Grimmauld Place, drinking himself into oblivion when Snape arrived —Dumbledore probably sent her there to keep an eye on him.

Sirius was grumpy by this as they both hated each other since they were kids at Hogwarts. However what the wizard hated most was how much he wanted to bury his cock inside Snape's sour count. He nurtured sexual fantasies about the dark-haired witch since the first time he learnt how to stroke himself into completion.

As Snape approached him, Sirius emptied down a shot of Firewhisky and started pouring him another glass, trying to ignore her. Of course she stayed in front of him until he acknowledged her presence, so he downed the alcohol and turned his face to glare at her.

Snape raised an unimpressed eyebrow as she silently handed to him a small vial. "Drink it, it will make you sober up," She drawled in that sexy voice of hers. Sirius remained on his seat but straightened up his spine.

"Yeah, if I'm dead I won't be drunk anymore, right?" He snarled and took another sip of the Firewhisky —straight from bottle this time.

Snape scoffed. "It's only Pepperup Potion, you stupid mutt,"

Sirius snorted, the alcohol in his blood turning him bolder than his usual self. He slapped one of his thighs. "Sit down here you bitch and I'll show you the mutt,"

Instead of being offended, Snape smirked at him. Her dark eyes had a mysterious glint.

"So rude, Black," She waved her wand and put a chair just by his side, sitting down there graciously. She crossed her beautiful long legs while leaning down closer to him. Then, unexpectedly, she put a hand high on one of his thighs and squeezed it provocatively. Sirius got hard instantly. He stared Snape with widened eyes and a gaping mouth. "I've thought you pure-bloods had some manners in front of a lady," She continued, his mind got completely blank. Snape groped his hard cock over the fabric of his trousers and Sirius' body stiffened. He met her gaze and she stared so innocently at him that for a moment he believed he was imagining things. "Is there something wrong, Black? " She leaned down even closer and whispered on his ear. "Don't tell me you're all barks and no bites?" She sucked his earlobe, sending shivers all through his body.

Sirius barked out a laugh by the absurdity of the situation. "Oh no, my love," If he was so pissed drunk that he was actually dreaming, so be it. He opened his fly and guided her hand straight into his pulsating flesh. "This dog can do much more than bite and bark!"

"Oh really?" Snape released his length from his breeches, wrapping her hand around the shaft. It had been so long that Sirius starved for the touch of a woman that he showed his full glory without the need of pumping himself once or twice. "It seems that at least you have something to be proud of," She smirked devilish at him with lustful eyes, her tongue wetting her lower lip.

Oh Snape, you naughty witch!

Sirius was horny as a teenager and that only added up at his boldness. What said a lot considering he was sorted in Gryffindor. He wrapped his cock with one hand and the other he put at the back of her head.

"I'll give you all the family jewels inside my vault if you kiss it," A promise from a drunk who had nothing to lose and too much to gain.

"Do you take me for a whore?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Yes," He enlaced his fingers along her scalp, holding the roots of her hair in a firm grip. "Today you are my whore, love," He guided her head down and she offered no resistance. Snape gave a loud kiss on the tip of his cock and his male ego almost burst in pride making his childhood enemy submit to himself like that. What money couldn't do?

Sirius asked only for a kiss, so was caught by surprise as Snape licked the head of his dick. He almost came on the spot as she started to suck him off and he cursed himself as the spell backfired against the spell caster —the humiliation he would felt for coming in just a matter of seconds inside Snape's mouth. As he peaked, he held firmly her head in a tight grip so she would swallow every drop of his. Sirius only released Snape as he heard her gulping down his seed.

Snape stared him in cold fury but with her pride unfazed by what happened. "How disappointing,"

Oh, her words hurt, but he couldn't help himself from snort at her comment. "Just give me that fucking Pepperup Potion,"

She did it and as he downed the small flask, she drank a few sips from the bottle of Firewhisky. He waited until the side-effects of the potion subsided a little and took the bottle from her hands as the steam stopped flowing out from his ears. He pulled Snape towards him so she could straddle his lap. "You are my bitch tonight, snake, and I'm not finished with you yet," Sirius kissed hungrily her mouth as he ripped the upper part of her dress open. Snape gasped against his lips and then he was sure she was very fond of his roughness so he finished the job with her clothes in the same savage way, peeling every piece from her body until she was completely bare for him in that gorgeous body of hers. It was a crime to keep all that perfection hidden under all that layers of clothing.

He kissed her jaw and her neck as his hand explored her breasts, waist and bottom. As impatient as Sirius was, it didn't take long for him to start touching her between her legs.

Snape was so drenched that it made him growl.

Sirius pulled her by the hair, making her moan. He leaned closer to her ear. "Don't tell me you were so hungry for my cock?" He didn't let her answer, he slid roughly a finger inside her, making her whimper, soon followed by a second. "You're such a bad witch, Snape," He bit the crook of her neck, more gently than not. "How long have you been wanted to be my bitch?"

"I'm not your bitch,"  She said in a ragged breath with defiance in her voice.

"Oh really?" He slid a third finger and watched as she opened her mouth in pleasure, calling his name.

"You told me yourself that I'm your whore," She said with a smirk tugging her lips.

He was hard again and held her firmly by the hips so he positioned her over his cock and sheathed himself slowly inside her wet pussy. He wanted to punish her for calling him 'disappointing', but first he let her adjust to his size.

They maintained a slow pace only for a short period of time, then Sirius made Snape stood up and bent her down against the kitchen table. As she was so wet and slicky for him, he fucked her as wildly as he could. She never asked him to stop, so he ravaged her body and fucked her senseless until she moaned and screamed his name in a mixture of pain and pleasure. The smirk on her face when he pulled her body to his after he finished was a good indicator that he wasn't so 'disappointing' as before.

The night was long and Sirius wanted to defile his hateful house as much as his stamina allowed him to. Until the early morning arrived, he was able to fuck Snape in the living room, on his bed and the most satisfactory part of his time with the witch was when he ate her pussy over the stairs under the nose of the portrait of his mother —who was utterly outraged by his actions. Snape's moans combined with the enraged screams of his mother at the background were a song to his ears. What else a man could ask for in his life?

[gabriellewebb]

The Dark Lord, The Witch and the Time-Portal - XIV

Previous Chapter: XIII

This fic contains mature content, only read it if you are +18! :)

XIV- I'm not your friend

Monday, September 7, 1942

Tom woke up at morning with a bitter taste in his mouth, he didn't sleep well reenacting in his mind the events that happened the night before. He was confused by the way Holly Portier fled from him after the long moment in each other's company sharing breathtaking kisses and small caresses. It really hurt when she said everything was a mistake and they should act as if nothing happened, but Tom felt slapped in the face when she declared that they should only be friends.

The last thing a bloke wants to hear after a kiss from a girl he desires is a statement that they should remain friends.

The worst thing of all of this was the fact that Holly clearly enjoyed quite a lot. Tom felt his heart beating faster just from recalling the way she whispered and moaned his name near his ear countless times. The name so common and mugglish that he always hated with all his being. Until yesterday at least, before it came out from her lovely lips.

Tom always felt good watching people suffer in pain or fear, so it was an unexpected surprise discovering how satisfactory could actually be driving pleasure into someone as he did with Holly. Though the caresses were fairly innocent, it was enough to make his ego burst in pride, he only could imagine how he would feel if he chose to explore Holly's body further with his hands or tongue before burying himself deep inside her. For sure it was more appealing the image of Holly squirming in delight under his touch than the torture of any enemy of his into oblivion with an Unforgivable Curse.

It was frustrating the way she rejected him, but even worse was the fear in her eyes and how it made him feel sick. No matter how bad of a person Tom considered himself to potentially be, there were some lines he never intended to cross and for the briefest of the moments, Holly made him feel like a sexual offender.

That moment he felt apprehensive that Holly had been sexual assaulted in the past although after a moment of consideration he reached the conclusion that it was highly unlikely. He observed her interactions the past few days and the witch didn't look particularly afraid of boys as she appeared to be more at ease near that giant Gryffindor bloke than near most of the Slytherin girls. Of course to know it for sure, he had to ask it directly at her, prepared to sniff any signs of lies.

However, right now the last thing Tom wanted was to speak with Holly. He still had to process better everything that happened between them since the first day they met as much as the way the tiny witch was affecting him. For a start, he never felt before the actual urge to kiss or caress someone. He kissed a few girls here and there out of curiosity but he always felt disgusted to explore the insides of their mouths with his tongue, so he only tested a few pecks and there was it. With Holly, Tom not just wanted to devour her soul by her mouth but also have a taste of her lower lips as well. As a bloke Tom heard lots of dirty talks between boys and acts that he always considered repulsive, now ignited his curiosity as Holly was inserted in the context.

Tom never questioned his sexuality because only the idea of kissing a man was revolting for him. He never liked people in general, however he hated men even more than women. He actually wouldn't mind if he was born as someone who felt attraction for men. Before Holly appeared in his life he thought that something was just broken inside him regarding human relations and he was fine with it. It was confusing and maddening how the witch just popped in his life and in a matter of few days a switch turned inside his brain. He didn't like it, it was more easy and comfortable to just hate and despise everyone.

And last night with a small taste of Holly Portier, Tom got completely addicted.

He contemplated the idea of ignoring Holly but unfortunately at breakfast they made visual contact and the witch greeted him so he politely greeted her back. Not answering her could raise questions from the others and he didn't like to draw unwanted attention.

Tom focused on his porridge and didn't notice the way his roommates exchanged awkward glances between themselves as he played with his food. None of them brave enough to ask why Tom Riddle was so glum at breakfast.

At Potions Riddle tried to sit as far away from Holly as possible and it was clear that the witch was avoiding him as well.

He couldn't focus on class and professor Slughorn looked disappointed on him as his potion simply got wrong because apparently his sour mood made him spoil a few ingredients by accident and he added them to the cauldron only realizing his mistake when was too late. The professor asked if everything was okay and Tom invented a headache as excuse.

At the Herbology class Tom decided to stay in an isolated corner and it seems a rare specimen died only because he was near it. The professor got so mad as his gaze fell down on the withered leaves of the plant that he took twenty points from Tom and forced him to leave the greenhouse without a chance to even explain himself. It was the first time in five years at Hogwarts that he was scolded by a teacher and dismissed from class. Tom wanted to set that greenhouse on fire with the Herbology  professor and that stupid plant inside it.

Tom Riddle didn't show up in Runes and used that time to collect himself and regain some stability over his magic. He wasn't a child anymore to lose control like that. He also decided that he couldn't be forever affected by Holly Portier and the way she rejected him. They needed to have a conversation so at least he could understand her real motives.

At lunch the only incident that happened was his grape juice turning into vinegar, but with a vanishing spell he cleaned the evidence of his ineptitude.

At Defense Against the Dark Arts Tom considered asking Holly to pair up with him as professor Merrythought wanted to verify their skills at dueling, but as he approached her, she nervously took the gigantic Gryffindor by the sleeve and walked away to a distant corner at the opposite side of where Tom was. He asked Dolohov to pair up with him instead, and even though he was about to duel with Lestrange, he accepted Tom's invitation and none of them complained. Ivan had quick reflexes and good stamina, the best challenger at dueling among his roommates.

Tom was able to send a few glances at Holly and that big mammoth. He found irritating how comfortable Holly was near a bloke who had practically twice her size and how extremely familiar she was with him. It only proved his suspicions that the witch had a specific problems regarding Tom Riddle himself. He got angry watching the two of them having fun together and only didn’t feel that much jealous because there wasn't any hint of romance in the air, they acted more like brother and sister. Despite the fact that Hagrid was just too big to court any regular human, of course. Perhaps a mountain troll would fit him better as a lover.

Tom heard from Dolohov that Quidditch practice would happen that afternoon, so he sat on the stands to observe them so he could talk to Holly after she finished the training session.

She looked rather comfortable when she talked with the team, even with Dolohov, who actually had sexually assaulted her verbally. Now the buffoon acted as if he never talked to the girl like a sexual predator. He knew his roommate only wanted to scare the girl that day though he was stupid enough to do it the worst way imaginable to infuriate Walburga Black. Holly didn't seem to mind Dolohov's change of heart and it bothered Tom how she seemed unaffected whenever he flew way too close to her to intercept a bludger. If it was Tom flying there instead, Holly would be jumpy or tense each time he approached her. There was something odd about how frightened she was of him that he just couldn't place.

He had no idea if he was more enraged with Dolohov for being so easily forgiven or with Alphard Black who was openly flirting with Holly Portier. Tom never used an Unforgivable in someone but right now was really tempting to try.

The witch caught him glaring at Black. She frowned at Tom with cheeks tinged in pink before averting her gaze. It would be adorable if he didn't notice a hint of fear crossing her features. Ironically he loved to incite horror in people's heart, but the dread coming from that beautiful eyes of hers made the bottom of his stomach drop.

As the team finished their practice and landed from their brooms, Tom moved towards them at Holly's direction, who was distracted chatting with Alphard.

Of course Black was the one who noticed first Tom approaching.

"Lost something here, Riddle?" Alphard said with a sneer.

Yes, my precious time watching you act like a moron. Tom thought about saying it out loud but chose to ignore Black. He shifted his gaze down at the witch who seemed apprehensive by his presence. He opened a polite smirk. "Hey, Holly. Can we talk about the Runes essay?"

He observed her swallow thickly after a glint of understanding crossed her features. "O-okay, wait me here, I need to go to the changing room,"

She left in a hurry, most of the team members trailing after her, ignorant about the dense atmosphere in the air. Tom didn't feel uneasy by the presence of so many boys near Holly, the changing rooms were separated by gender and Crockett would be there to keep everyone in check. He only trusted the Captain regarding Holly's safety because it was common knowledge in Slytherin that Winky Crockett wasn't even remotely interested in girls. Of course Tom also highly doubted anyone in the team was crazy enough to oppose Walburga Black by disrespecting a Slytherin girl who was under her wing.

Only Ivan Dolohov and Alphard Black remained there with him. As Tom watched Holly disappear from his view, he felt that Black was glaring holes at the back of his skull and Dolohov was tight as a string bow by his side. Tom didn't recoil and stared back at Alphard, who frowned at him.

"You'd better watch yourself, Riddle. She's too good for a mudblood like you," He bumped on Tom's shoulder in purpose and left without looking back. Tom felt anger coiling inside his chest and clenched his fists at the sides of his body, taking deep breaths to contain his temper. Not that he was afraid of Alphard Black, but it wouldn't be wise to pick a fight with Walburga's baby brother and infuriate the House Black. They came from an ancient lineage of pureblood wizards and witches who were way too influential in their society, able to turn Tom's life pretty difficult as he graduated from Hogwarts if they wished so.

Tom Riddle deeply desired he could be part of an ancient pureblood family as well, his life would be easier if people respected him only for his status. He felt defeated for keeping his head down to avoid confrontation with someone as useless as Alphard Black—the pathetic excuse of a wizard was lucky that he could hide under the skirts of his sister.

Dolohov stood silent by his side, probably torn between which side he would have to choose if Tom decided to put Alphard in his place. He didn't expect true loyalty coming from Ivan, aware that he was just pissed scared of sleeping in the same room as Tom.

Dolohov finally broke the silence. "Is Portier in trouble?"

Tom shook his head. Dolohov nodded in acknowledgment and left him alone with his buttons.

It was awkward walking silently at Holly's side as they searched for an empty classroom so they could talk in private. As soon as they find one, he shoved Holly inside and they settled themselves there as Tom lifted a few privacy charms just to be careful. Holly leaned against the teacher's desk as Tom sat down on a student's desk in front of her so they could chat facing each other.

"I have a few questions and I want you to be honest with me," Tom said in a calm tone and she only nodded in response, visibly tense.

He chose to ask bluntly the most difficult one. "Have you ever been sexually assaulted?"

She gasped and her ears turned red. "N-no! Gods, no!" As he imagined, but he had to be sure.

"Do you still have feelings for your deceased boyfriend?"

She looked surprised by this question and shook her head shyly. "No," She shifted her gaze towards the floor and sighed. "But I feel guilty about what happened to him,"

Tom raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

She sighed again. "Because if he wasn't with me at the time, he wouldn't have been killed. I was the real target, not him,"

She sniffed and Tom realized she seemed about to cry, her eyes shining with the tears that were forming. "Don't be silly, the only one at fault is the person who killed him," Tom felt the strange urge to console the witch though he disagreed with what he just said to comfort her. If her boyfriend was so easy to kill it only meant he was weak and unworthy. Tom decided to keep his thoughts to himself, though, and didn't push more questions relating to this matter.

He wanted to ask if the problem was his blood status or the fact he was poor, but his pride didn't allow him to do so, and he was sure that Holly wasn't the type of person who cared about this anyway.

"Why are you scared of me?" He asked instead and couldn't hide his annoyance.

"I'm not scared of you!" She blurted out.

"Yes you are," He crossed his arms and continued before she could argue. "I've thought about it a lot since yesterday. You've been frightened of me even before that day after Transfiguration class. You often seem tense by my side although today you were too relaxed near Dolohov, and he treated you way worse than I did. Since the first day we met you were wary of me without any given reason by my side. I want you to explain why,"

Holly looked down at the floor again, biting the inside of her cheeks nervously as if choosing carefully her next choice of words. She stared up at him then, with a defiant expression. "You are right about most of it. However, I'm not scared of you in particular," She hugged herself defensively and averted her gaze. "But someone much alike you in so many ways..." She stared up at him again with her beautiful green eyes. "I know exactly how dangerous you can be, and I also know you have a strong inclination towards the dark arts,"

"How can you be so sure about it?"

She huffed and closed her eyes. "Trust me, I just know."

Tom hummed thoughtfully. Her affirmation made him feel uneasy. She could've just said she heard gossips from people in Slytherin and he would understand if it was the case. Though she was so certain about her statement that made Tom feel a shiver running down his spine. He felt somehow as if the girl in front of him could see right through the darkness of his soul.

"Is this 'someone' the same person who murdered your parents?" And failed to kill a baby, he thought to himself.

She nodded and blinked a cascade of tears. Tom felt a tight knot forming inside his stomach. "Do you think we are related somehow?" She widened her eyes and he quickly add. "Do you think there's a chance that he's my father?"

She let out a nervous laugh and dried the tears that fell from her eyes. "Oh no, I'm pretty sure he's not your father,"

Tom felt relief although the identity of his father remained obscure to him. "How can you be so sure about it?"

She averted her eyes again, still drying the tears that insisted on falling. He allowed her the time to collect herself. "I'm sorry that I can't give you further details about this man, Tom, I don't trust you enough to talk so much about my past," She stared him again. "But believe me when I say there's no way he's your father." She sounded sincere.

Tom walked towards her and sat down by her side. "Well, at least I feel better that it wasn't my father who hurt you. I don't know who he is, but I'm sure he's a wizard," He confessed, looking down and fidgeting with his tie.

A long silence stretched between them. Holly was the one who broke it. "Did you ever consider that your mother could be actually a witch?" Her voice was so certain that Tom felt as if the girl really knew something about his family tree. Of course this idea was absurd.

"My mother died after my birth. I doubt a witch would have died this way," A pathetic death only fit for a muggle, he thought bitterly.

"You shouldn't talk like that," She scolded him softly.

"It doesn't make any difference, she's dead anyway," He muttered sourly.

He felt irritated and almost forgot the reason why he wanted to talk to Holly until she took one of his hands and squeezed gently. He turned his face to look at her, wanting to kiss her sweet lips again.

"Can't we be friends, Tom?" He felt slapped in the face at her question.

"I don't want to be your friend, I want to kiss you again," He saw no point in hiding his true intentions.

She released his hand and turned her face down. "I don't think this is a good idea."

You didn't say ‘no’.

Holly stayed there still by his side, looking tense and uncertain. Tom turned his body in her direction and took one of her hands in his. He caressed the back of it with the tip of his fingers, feeling the scar she had there. He turned it up and Holly seemed about to cry again but allowed it.

'I must tell no lies.'

Tom felt his blood pumping in madly fury against his ears, seriously wanting to kill the person responsible for it. Holly was staring back at him with teary eyes and he saw his angered expression reflecting on them. And fear again.

Fear of him, liar.

He felt his heart clench and frowned. He lifted her hand up and gave a soft kiss on her knuckles. As he stared her again he kept holding her hand on both of his.

"I want to make you sure that I won't ever hurt you, Holly. If you just want my friendship, so be it." As much as he wanted to claim her lips, he didn't want to see her suffer from a conflicted heart, she had lots of scars that needed healing and if he wanted the tiny witch to surrender herself to him, he knew he had to be patient. His intuition screamed that if he stole a kiss from her at this moment, she could be lost forever. She had too many doubts concerning him and if he wanted more than her delicious mouth, he had to restrain himself from now and show Holly that he wasn't anything alike the failure of Dark Lord who was incapable of killing toddlers or teenagers though he killed her parents and hurt her a lot. Him and perhaps his followers, as he could gather from what the Divination teacher said.

The tiny witch messed him up pretty badly. He could feel a connection between them that he never felt before relating to another person. There was no way he would let something so precious as this slip through his fingers. Tom survived playing the long game, it wouldn't be now that he would stop.

He was caught by surprise when Holly suddenly stood up and threw herself in his arms, hugging him tightly, crying in earnest with her face buried on his chest. He hugged her back and threaded his fingers along her wild locks.

Well, this feels good too.

Tom barely knew Holly Portier, however that moment at least he felt the strange urge to shield her from all the cruelty of the world. He didn't know why, but he wanted her to feel safe in his arms. It seemed he had to grow strong enough to protect her and perhaps kill a certain dark wizard to finally give peace to his witch.

Tom Riddle is completely bewitched by Holly Portier and will murder painfully anyone who dares to break this strange spell that entrapped him in heaven.

Chapter XV

[gabriellewebb]

The Animagus Bride - V

Previous chapter: IV

This fic contains mature content, don’t read if you are under 18.

V – All things must pass

May 10, 1982

Sirius woke up with the brightness of the sunshine rays of early morning hitting his eyelids. His body sated and rested for the first time of what felt like ages. He finally slept like a baby and without any of his recurrent nightmares —not only the ones related with Azkaban but also with James, who frequently appeared to remind him of his own stupidity. Sirius preferred the bad dreams where he was about to receive the kiss of a Dementor rather than seeing James curse and blame him for everything that happened. He was a free man in flesh though still trapped inside his mind, being eaten alive by guilt on a daily basis.

All the bad thoughts of his mind suddenly vanished as he looked down and found a goddess entangled on his body, the face of his gorgeous wife pressed against his chest. Sirius felt a warm feeling spreading over his heart that made him want to laugh out loud like a madman. Instead, he ran his fingers through Titania's silky dark locks, now long like the first day they met at the Hogwarts Express, both just kids at the time and about to begin their first year at Hogwarts.

She was wearing only a thin night robe that at least would be easy enough to peel off of her body. His morning would have been truly a perfect day if Titania had nothing to cover her nakedness, but the way it was now was still better than anything he could ever wish for, right? At least the chemistry they had in bed was good enough to give him hope that their marriage could actually work for real.

It only took a few lazy kisses well placed on that beautiful neck of hers for Titania to stir in bed, soon waking up all wet and ready for him.

The gods were finally smiling upon Sirius Black.

Regulus took care of everything at the Ministry and an owl arrived that same morning carrying the permission that gave Harry's custody, allowing them to take him from the place he currently lived with his relatives. His brother would also deal with the fact that Albus Dumbledore was currently in possession of a few things inherit by Harry, like the key to his vault at Gringotts and James' invisibility cloak.

Sirius was preparing the flying motorcycle that Hagrid brought back so they could take his godson. Titania stared the vehicle with a frown, as if unsure about the safety of riding it. Sirius wanted to tranquilize his wife and gently put a lock of her hair behind her ear.

She slapped his hand. "Stop it!" She hissed and Sirius just stared at her with raised eyebrows. "Don't think you can touch me whenever you want just because I let you fuck me more than was needed for. This mistake won't happen again!"

"So cold," Sirius masked his surprise with her reaction in a mischievous grin. "Who sees you acting like this would never believe how easily I make you melt," He teased.

"You'd better shut this mouth of yours," She seethed. "I was just drunk,"

Sirius scoffed. "Were you drunk this morning too?" Titania sneered, her face in a bright tone of pink. She was livid and Sirius lifted his arms in mocking surrender, breathing out a laugh. "Okay, okay, I'll stop talking. Don't want to piss off my lovely wife!"

"Let me make something very clear as you might be too dense to realize a few things on your own," She drawled in an icy tone. "As I said before, I was drunk yesterday and this morning you just caught me off guard," She had a mask of cold indifference betrayed completely by the flush on her face and neck. "I won't allow the same mistake to happen anymore, I'll sleep in Harry's room from now on, so don't fool yourself thinking that we will ever share a bed again...this morning was the last time we had sex together,"

Sirius crossed his arms with a frown, his blood pumping hot in anger seeing Titania pushing him away after the special moments they had and couldn't control his tongue. "Oh, I've heard this before," He forced a smirk. "You enjoyed quite a lot all of our 'last times', right? You just can't endure me enough, can you?"

He realized his mistake when for a fraction of seconds a hurt expression appeared on Titania's face. She huffed in irritation and seated herself on the sidecar of his motorbike, her arms crossed and jaw clenched, averting her gaze from his. Sirius cursed himself inwardly, knowing how proud she was and how foolish it was confronting her directly. He wanted the witch on his bed again and not only to fuck her senseless, actually finding himself wanting a happy marriage more than anything, specially right now when they were about to take his godson to live with them. To make Titania receptive to his affections, he couldn't keep on pushing her buttons or enraging her. No matter how much he wanted to be close with her or to touch her, the best course of action was to give her space, he had to control his impulsiveness if he truly wanted that new dream to come true.

"Sorry," He muttered to her before they took their leave. "Don't worry, I won't talk about it anymore,"

As soon as they arrived at the street where the Dursleys' house was located, Titania felt a small relief from coming out that horrid enchanted vehicle of his. She never rode a motorcycle before and the first time had to be with one that could fly! And she knew that shitty day of hers was far from finishing yet.

He parked the motorbike at the end of the street to avoid unwanted attention. When they were in front of the number 4 of Privet Drive, Titania turned on her heels.

"Can you stay outside?" She looked up at Sirius, who narrowed his eyes at her. "Please?" She added, tense.

"Why?" He asked with a frown.

"Petunia can be difficult," Titania said sincerely without mentioning she was pretty sure her husband could be the same or even worse. "Let me deal with her," His stay in Azkaban was still recent and she was afraid that he could be too unstable to deal with whatever they could find inside Petunia's house. It could be problematic if Sirius lost control and attacked the muggles. Even in his best days he always had a problem to keep his temper on check.

He scratched his beard considering her request for a few seconds. "Fine," He said gruffly and gave a step back, watching her from the front garden.

Titania inhaled deeply before ringing the bell. Her heart clenched in anticipation, hoping that her intuition was wrong about the way Petunia was treating Harry.

Petunia opened the door and couldn't hide her astonishment seeing the witch. "Titania?"

She didn't wait for an invitation and entered the house as she handed a paper to Petunia who continued staring her as if seeing a ghost. "I'm here to take Harry, I'm his official guardian now," Titania ran her gaze through the house, noticing a big man sending her hostile looks and a chubby baby laughing in front of a TV. Probably Petunia's son. "Where is him?"

Petunia read quickly the letter and indicated a door under the stairs, still in shock from the unexpected visit.

Titania opened the door and there was a baby sitting down on a crib in the dark room, quietly watching her with wary eyes. Lily's green eyes. Her chest aching in pain as she felt the sting of tears burning at the back of her eyes. She refused to let herself cry in front of despicable muggles and steeled her heart as better as she could at the moment.

"A cupboard, Petunia?" Titania took the baby protectively on her arms and stared back at the tall woman. "You put Lily's son inside a cupboard??" She seethed in fury. It could be actually worse, but it was cruel anyway to isolate a toddler like that, alone in the darkness while there was another baby in the house who seemed pretty happy and well cared for. She checked Harry quickly to see the condition of his diapers and at least he was clean though his clothes were slightly oversized and obviously second-handed. She didn't notice any toys and just wanted to take him far away from that horrid place.

Petunia lifted her chin proudly with a sneer. "It's more than a freak like him deserves," A freak? "Be grateful I didn't shove this aberration inside an orphanage,"

Titania felt at loss of words about what she just heard coming from Petunia’s mouth, though not remotely surprised by the statement. Rage coiled inside her body. "How dare you mistreat Lily's son like this? If the tables were turned you know she would care for your baby as if her own,"

Petunia's pride looked hurt for a brief moment, her husband now standing from his chair and moving towards them menacingly. Harry's body tensed and he hid his face on the crook of her neck with a shiver as soon as the man shouted. "Who do you think you are to enter in MY house and speak to MY wife like that?"

Titania held the baby tightly and was prepared to use her wand as a bulky and taller figure appeared in front of her in the blink of an eye. "Speak to MY wife like that again and we'll see what will be left of you!" Sirius shouted back and Titania couldn't help but feel touched by the way he defended her.

The face of Petunia's husband turned into a furious red as if he was about to explode. He didn't recoil from Sirius and only stopped when Petunia intervened putting a hand on his chest. "You can't use magic against us, or I'll tell Dumbledore!" She said firmly, her nose raised defiantly.

Sirius scoffed. "Oh, I'm not considering using magic. I want to break the teeth of this pig with my bare fists," He snarled and Titania felt her face flush watching Sirius so enraged on her behalf. Though Harry was visibly scared from the loud voices, his tiny hands tugging on her clothes and still burying his face against her neck as if trying to disappear from there. Sirius was about to advance towards the big muggle when Titania took him by his wrist and dragged him back to her side. She felt like taking a huge dog by the leash so he wouldn't attack another dog who was barking at him, Petunia in a way mirroring her actions. Her husband didn't look afraid of magic, but Tuney knew better and wouldn't risk the safety of her family. Titania could hear the giggles of the other baby so drawn watching his cartoons that he seemed completely obtuse about the situation developing in his home.

"Let them be, Vernon. They're here to take Harry and I don't want that abomination another minute near my Diddykins," Petunia spoke with a tone of urgency in her voice.

A second of death silence dragged in the air before Sirius' voice exploded. "ABOMINATION???"

Sirius advanced and Titania had to use magic to drag him away from the muggles. His voice resonating loudly. "Release me, Titania, I'm gonna fucking kill these muggles!" Sirius was so furious that even without using his wand, his raw magic was fighting against hers and she was struggling to keep him on check at the same time she held a frightened baby. Sweat formed at her forehead as she moved towards the door, dragging him with difficulty.

Instead of feeling afraid, Petunia observed Titania with amusement in her face. The muggle straightened her back, confident. "You've married such a brute, Tany," She opened a devilish smile. "It makes me remember your mother, it seems the apple doesn't fall far off from the tree,"

Her comment hurt as if an arrow pierced Titania through her heart. This time she couldn't contain her tears, so she turned her back to Petunia and sniffed as she released Sirius from the spell containing him, without caring anymore about the consequences. She stormed out towards the door carrying the baby with her, walking as fast as she could towards Sirius' motorbike.

She caressed gently the back of Harry's head, soothingly. "Don't worry, Harry, everything will get better from now on, I promise," She felt calmer when he relaxed a little after hearing her words.

Sirius trailed behind her just a few seconds later. Titania was still holding Harry in a way that he couldn't see her face, patting gently his back as she schooled herself to stop her tears.

"You okay?" Sirius asked with a concerned expression.

Titania averted her eyes, ignoring him. She dried her face with the back of her hand and positioned Harry on her arms to look at him. She had to use every ounce of will power to not start crying again as Lily's eyes stared her back. "Here, Harry, why don't you say hi to your godfather?" Harry turned his head sheepishly to glance at the wizard in front of them and quickly hid his face in Titania’s hair. She insisted, giving the baby for Sirius to hold.

Harry started crying trying to reach her back with his tiny arms but Sirius didn't give him back, he hold him in front of his face and smiled. "Hey, Harry, it's me!"

Harry cried louder and started struggling, fighting his was back to Titania, his eyes screwed shut. A confused expression crossed Sirius' features until a realization struck Titania.

"I think is the beard," Titania said more to herself and with a wave of her wand she made the facial hair disappear from Sirius' face. "There, Harry, look at him," She said with a soothing voice, caressing Harry's back. He obeyed and opened his eyes. It only took him a second to recognize Sirius and he happy giggled at him.

"Padfoot!" He called in a sweet voice making Sirius chuckle. He leaned down to kiss Harry's cheek. The boy giggled louder and gave his godfather a tight hug, as much as his size permitted.

Titania found herself smirking as she watched the interaction between them. Lily's baby finally showing signs of true happiness all over his face. She wished that one day the baby would display such affection towards her as well, because she already loved Harry Potter with all her being and wanted to be loved back by him as well.

Sirius turned his face to her with a smile and pointed his finger in her direction to draw the baby's attention."See this beautiful witch, Harry?" The baby opened a shy smile at her and Sirius gave a peck on his cheek. "She's my wife, you'll live together with us,"

Then Harry turned his face to his godfather, a sad expression crossing his features. "Where's mummy and daddy?" He asked expectantly and Titania felt a cold hand clenching around her chest.

Sirius' face fell. "Sorry, pal," He swallowed thickly, clearly not knowing what else to say.

A sob broke from Harry's throat and at the same time Titania's heart broke in pieces all over again. Sirius hugged Harry, trying to soothe him with gentle words while patting his back. The baby crying loudly, burying his face against the wizard's neck.

The only reaction Titania could muster was to lift a few privacy spells around them, feeling her own cheeks hot and wet with fat tears. She did her best to cry as silently as she could, but Sirius noticed nonetheless and dragged her towards him. He made Titania rest her head against his shoulder while he threaded his fingers gently over her long locks. Titania didn't offer resistance this time, allowing herself the closeness against him and Harry, resting a hand on Sirius' waist while caressing Harry's back.

As soon as she regained her composure and Harry calmed down a little, Titania took her distance and dried the tears on her face with the back of her hands. Sirius had a pained expression, his eyes closed shut while he lulled Harry, tears rolling from his face as well no matter how much he tried stop them.

Titania had no idea of how much Harry could understand about what happened to his parents or even if he witnessed something before they were killed. It's been hard for her as an adult to accept their deaths, for a child it possibly was even worse the acceptance that his parents would never come back.

When Harry finally stopped, Sirius dried his tears with the back of his knuckles and checked on Harry. He kissed the baby on his forehead and placed him on Titania's lap after she adjusted herself on the sidecar of the motorcycle. Titania felt so sad that she even forgot her fear to be on that horrid flying vehicle with a baby. It also helped that Sirius drove carefully in a low speed towards his house. Their house, Titania corrected her own thoughts.

[gabriellewebb]

Long Away - IV

Previous Chapter: III

IV - Baby mine

Titania Snape in a recent past loved Sirius Black with every fiber of her heart and couldn't find in herself the will to stop her unexpected pregnancy. Even though the feelings weren't mutual because Sirius was only toying with her, it didn't change the fact that a life was conceived in her belly at the happiest moment of her life, no matter how brief it had been.

So she decided to keep the baby and at June 27th, 1982, Titania gave birth to Mordred Snape. His hair was pure black like hers and he had the same eyes as his father. Even if she tried to keep the paternity a secret from Narcissa, she was sure her friend would quickly discover it anyway. It was Cissy who pointed out that Mordred's eyes had the same colors as hers because it was a common trait from the blood of House Black. Only then downed on Titania that the same specific shade of gray also presented itself in Regulus, Bellatrix, Andromeda and Draco.

Titania felt her heart stop by the fear of someone discovering that the father of her baby was a traitorous killer and most hated Death Eater still alive on Earth. At the moment Sirius Black was possibly more loathed than Lord Voldemort himself ever was.

Of course Narcissa read the distress all over Titania's face and soon put a hand over her arm to tranquilize her friend. "Don't worry about it, Tanya, I doubt anyone will give too much thought about the eyes of your son," Cissy sighed, looking at her feet. "The House Black is in decay, at least in name. Our bloodline may carry on, but Sirius is the last heir alive from the main branch and the name of our House will die with him," The blonde witch flashed a sad smile. "We only need to be cautious in front of the few members of House Black still free and alive in my family," She gave another sigh. "I doubt you'll ever cross paths, though. Most of them are old and don't leave their homes. Andromeda was disowned and even if she looked at your son, she wouldn't tell anyone, I'm sure of it," Narcissa stared deeply into Titania's eyes. "Lucius may notice but I'll deal with him in case that happens," She squeezed Titania's hand, reassuringly.

Titania breathed out, relaxing. "I already thought too much about it and I'm aware about the prejudice my son and I will suffer in our society," She looked at Cissy with teary eyes. "Now imagine what may happen with us if it’s discovered that my son is the bastard of a mass murderer?" Titania blinked and the tears fell on her cheeks. "I only hope my son won't hate me,"

"He won't," Cissy gave another squeeze on Titania's hand. "You might be single, but you aren't alone. I will help you raise my lovely godson!"

Since Titania was a kid she had a hard life, and even after going to Hogwarts things never really get better. After all trials and suffering that life gave her, the gods truly blessed Titania with an angel in form of a child.

It was unfathomable to Titania how a combination of hers and Sirius' genes were able to produce such a perfect human being. Because she couldn't find a better choice of word to describe her son, he was nothing but perfection. He was a child coming out of a dream —healthy, beautiful, caring and gentle. Mordred had a good temper, was docile and sweet, nothing alike his parents and perhaps in this Titania could see a flaw.

Mordred was such a sweet and lovely kid that part of Titania feared that in the future her son would be an easy target for bullies or ill-intentioned people. Both she and Sirius were difficult to deal with though they knew how to fight and protect themselves. Mordred was not a fighter, far from it. He had an easy smile and was way too sensitive. Titania couldn't recall seeing her son angered and the rare moments he showed sadness usually happened when a creature was mistreated or got hurt in front of him —Lucius stopped beating the House-Elf Dobby because it always made Mordred cry and all the Malfoys had a soft spot for her son.

She was truly afraid of her son being such a good soul that someone could easily break him, but she found comfort in knowing that Draco would probably act like a protective big brother at Hogwarts and only someone really stupid would dare to confront directly a Malfoy.

Each day passed Mordred grew more and more like a copy of his father, the only difference between her son and the old photos of Sirius as a child that Cissy showed her was the hair. Mordred had the same straight jet-black hair as Titania's and that only fit better on his features. It was easy to see that her son would be more handsome than his father and probably taller though not bulky as Sirius, but slender and gracious.

Besides the hair, Titania couldn't see much of herself in her son, even in personality, not that she was complaining. He actually reminded her much more of Regulus —reserved, quiet, clever and observant. Though Regulus was haughty and pampered while Mordred was quite the opposite. Regulus also had a sharp tongue and loved teasing people in the worst ways imaginable while Mordred was very careful about offending the others.

Sometimes it was like her son had a six sense about topics that could made people uncomfortable and used to avoid them. She noticed his curiosity grow whenever someone asked her who was his father, but until now, he never pushed her to answer further about this matter and she always answered to the others that his father was just a muggle affair who died at the war and usually was enough.

Mordred was too wise for a kid at his age, he was always eager to help Titania on her daily chores and didn't complain about the ones he had himself. She was most than sure that at least she was raising a functional and helpful person. And no matter how rotten-spoiled Narcissa tried to turn her Godson into, Mordred seemed unaffected by it. He didn't care about having or not expensive toys or clothes, he looked equally satisfied in receiving expensive presents from his Godmother and the simple ones Titania could afford, and even more satisfied if they were comics or books —even though Mordred was still learning to read, he liked to see the pictures.

Despite the fact Titania was a half-blood witch raised in muggle environment, she never nurtured much fondness about non-magical things, even technology. However she insisted on showing as much as she could about the both worlds for her son and even hired muggleborn wizards and witches to teach him the same muggle subjects he could learn at school, and at Malfoy's Manor he was taught by Draco's tutors and would have the same knowledge as the finest pure-blood wizards. Titania couldn't be more proud!

Draco was oblivious about the blood bond he shared with Mordred but loved him as if he was his younger brother. It didn't take long for them to call each other 'Godbrother' considering Titania was Draco's Godmother. The blonde boy often stayed on Titania's house and loved to watch TV and read comics to Mordred. Narcissa couldn't care less seeing her son learn about muggle culture, but the four of them were very careful to keep it as a secret from Lucius.

Mordred loved plants and small creatures, Titania often caught Mordred observing small insects or spiders at their garden. She had all types of salves and concoctions in case he was stung or bitten by anything, though that never happened. What was most common was him appearing at her desk asking her to heal a disgusting critter and it crushed her heart whenever he showed a sad expression whenever nothing could be done to save them. Titania offered to buy him a pet once, but he declined, saying he preferred to see the animals free. He was also good with people, Mordred had a few muggle friends of his own in the neighborhood and had the natural talent to befriend people. No one considered her son a freak, not even the hateful muggles. Titania was happy that Mordred didn't have a childhood like hers and was surrounded by people who loved him.

In a way fate was ironic, because the same man who ripped her heart in shreds was the same person who gifted her with never-ending happiness.

Meanwhile, Barty in Brazil: 

(he's polyjuiced)

[gabriellewebb]

Long Away - III

Previous Chapters: I - II

III- Fortune Plango Vulnera

" I bemoan the wounds of Fortune

with weeping eyes

for the gifts she made me

she perversly takes away."

Titania Snape expected lots of things coming from Sirius Black in the past but it never crossed her mind how awful he actually could be. She felt extremely foolish for trusting him with all her heart and part of her still couldn't believe he was actually capable of betraying James Potter, who he always said was like a brother to him.

She felt as if inside a twisted nightmare, with the difference that everything was true, written in the Daily Prophet she received by owl that morning. Her best friend Lily and her husband were murdered, leaving an orphan child behind and her fiancee was imprisoned in Azkaban. Titania felt as if her heart was ripped apart from her body and squashed in front of her. These past few months Sirius made her feel the happiest person walking on Earth only to take all her joy away in one strike.

Titania dropped on her knees in the middle of her kitchen, her breath faltering, feeling physical pain as if being backstabbed by an invisible knife. After a while she curled herself in fetal position, crying her heart out there on the kitchen floor, the world suddenly void of meaning. Of course guilt also washed over her like a furious torrent. How could she be so stupid to believe in Sirius Black?

She just wanted to disappear and end all this suffering.

Then she remembered Harry Potter, Lily's son and the only one who survived at Voldemort's attack. He was still a baby and lost everything too. With his parents dead and his godfather in jail, the only family the boy had left was Lily's sister, Petunia, and Titania knew how much the woman was resentful about people who could use magic. Her intuition screamed the woman wouldn't treat well the boy and she had to do something about it. She had to pull herself together because there was still someone important who remained and was worth fighting for.

In an impulsive act she wrote a letter and owled Albus Dumbledore, trying to arrange an urgent meeting with him.

By the time she received an answer from him, her heart softened a little and she was in denial about Sirius' betrayal. The fact he was found laughing after exploding the street, killing muggles and his friend Peter Pettigrew made absolutely no sense to her.

Dumbledore agreed to meet her at the Hog's Head after sunset the next day and she was sure he only accepted it because he was intrigued by her request.

Titania was more unsure than ever about Sirius, her heart divided about believing or not in everything she read in The Prophet. However she decided to speak about Harry first and how much she wanted to take care of him, showing him the letter written by Lily expressing her will of Titania being Harry's Godmother as soon as the war ended.

The Headmaster kept still as a statue as Titania spoke, staring her in silence. When she finally finished Albus Dumbledore declared that 'unfortunately' a letter expressing the mother's will wasn't strong enough as a bond between blood, so it was safer for the boy to be with his own family. His expression was cold and Titania knew it was a lost battle, but she had to try anyway, so she expressed her concerns about Petunia, who always resented the fact Lily was able to use magic while she couldn't and the possibility of Harry being raised in a place full of prejudice against people like him.

Dumbledore didn't look surprised by what Titania said and she was sure he was already full aware about the whole situation.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Snape, there's nothing I can do for you. I understand you two were very close, however you have no bond with the boy, by blood or by law."

Titania could only stare the old headmaster back in a defeated expression. It was pointless to argue.

When Dumbledore finally motioned to leave, she asked him to wait and so he did. He studied her expression in curiosity.

Titania hesitated a while, but finally gathered her courage to ask. "Are you sure Sirius is guilty about what people are accusing him?"

"Yes, I'm sure." He answered flatly.

Titania couldn't fight back the tears forming on her eyes, her voice faltered. "H-How can you be so sure? Please tell me!"

Dumbledore sighed tiredly. "Voldemort was only able to find James and Lily because Sirius told him where they were hidden. He was their Secret Keeper. It couldn't have been anyone else."

And there Titania broke in tears again, reality crashing down on her. Even if she tried with all her might, she wouldn't be able to stop crying. It was if each sob of her came with a piece of her heart.

After a while Titania considered the old man just left her alone in her own sadness, so she was startled when a hand tapped her shoulder.

Dumbledore was still there, his expression now soft and full of pity. "You are not at fault for loving someone you didn't know was in a dark path," He flashed a sad smirk at her. "I understand your pain. I'm sorry I couldn't be of service for you today," He cleared his throat and seemed to hesitate for a few seconds. "You know, Horace is always telling me he wants to retire and travel to lots of different places around the world. He always spoke well of you and your natural talent in potions. If his seat turns vacant in the nearby future you'll be the first one to know."

Titania sniffed, wiping the tears from her face. "Thank you, Headmaster, it will be an honor." Her words were actually sincere, it was a gold opportunity to be at Hogwarts again and maybe be able to watch over Harry Potter as a teacher.

At her pit of sadness Titania almost forgot she wasn't entire alone in the world. During the war she and Narcissa Malfoy went into separated ways for obvious reasons, even though she was aware Cissy wasn't a pure-blood supremacist, her husband Lucius Malfoy surely always have been one as much as her sister Bellatrix. Narcissa had a small kid, so the safest option was to stay close with her family. Titania also knew Narcissa how much Narcissa loved them and could only imagine how difficult and scary was for her friend.

She was able to regain contact with Cissy, who was still going through difficult times with her sister Bellatrix being imprisoned in Azkaban and her husband Lucius being accused and investigated for being one of Voldemort's supporters. His case was quite easy in comparison with Bella's and soon he got away free of charges.

At Hogwarts Lucius barely look twice at Titania's direction and she knew he often called her 'mudblood' behind her back, however, due to her close relation with Narcissa he treated her politely and she was very welcomed at his home. He knew his marriage was hanging on by a thread and he did the best he could to please Narcissa after dragging her along the loser side of the war. With the demise of the Dark Lord, Narcissa finally mustered the courage to voice her true opinions to Lucius, how displeased she was with his choices and how he exposed herself and their son.

Narcissa and Titania gave strength and support to each other, despite the fact Titania didn't confide what happened between her and Sirius, Cissy knew how much Titania loved Lily and they both suffered by the loss of Regulus Black, who was Narcissa's cousin.

Narcissa told Titania a few details about Bellatrix trial and that's when Titania discovered more information about Barty, who was now a fugitive. Apparently he helped caught the Longbottoms with Bellatrix, Rodolphus and Rabastan, but he refused to torture them. Bella told he got paralyzed after Alice screamed in pain and when she confronted him, he apparated 'like the pussy he was'. It seems it was him who gave to the Aurors the directions  to find the Longbottoms, and of course the Lestranges had already changed the location and when they finally found Alice and Frank, their minds were already beyond the point of recovery. Bellatrix was the one who revealed that Barty was a Death Eater, but he had vanished by then.

It was around early December when Titania started to feel constantly nauseated and sleepy. On a Saturday morning she canceled breakfast with Cissy complaining she wasn't feeling well. Titania emptied her stomach that day and was considering seeing a healer at St. Mungo’s to see what was wrong with her. The dark-haired witch was lying on her bed when Narcissa appeared at her room after using the floo to ‘invade’ her friend's home sweet home.

After Titania told Narcissa everything out of ordinary she has been feeling since a few days ago, her blonde friend arched an eyebrow at her.

"Were you seeing someone before the war ended?"

Titania suddenly paled. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean," The blonde witch frowned. "A boyfriend or an affair you never told me about?"

Titania gulped and look down at the floor in shame, she could feel the prick of tears forming on her eyes. "I'm sorry, I don't want to talk about it right now. I want to vomit."

Narcissa hummed pensively for a few seconds and then left the room without warning, coming back less than fifteen minutes later.

"Here, Tanya, hold this," Narcissa extended her arm and opened her hand, offering Titania a small stick.

It took Titania a few seconds to recognize it. She snorted at first and then she felt an urge of panic washing over her. She sat down on her bed in a quick motion.

They stared at each other for a while, Titania white as a paper and Narcissa with her brows furrowed.

"So, do you think there is a possibility...?" The blonde woman was the one who broke the silence.

"Yes," Titania's voice faltered. "Specially when I'm cursed by fate."

Narcissa looked worried. "Oh Tanya, was him someone I know?"

Titania didn't answer, instead she took the small stick from Narcissa, wrapping it firmly on her hand. She closed her eyes trying to gather courage, her heart hammering inside her ribcage. She opened her eyes at the same time she opened her hands.

Small flowers blossomed all over the charmed stick, confirming Titania was pregnant.

Next Chapter

[gabriellewebb]

Long Away - II

Chapter I

II- Don't let me down

After few drinks, Titania and Sirius headed to the nearest motel, both despaired to finally release the sexual tension built between them over the last years. Their first time was passionate and intense, as much as the others that followed.

At first they tried to maintain the same schedule of their love encounters after their usual meetings, but it wasn't enough for them. It didn't take long for Sirius to discover Titania had a phone just like him. They spoke almost daily and she visited his place at least once a week, sometimes staying there the weekends. It was dangerous but they were too bewitched by each other to care.

The months passed and their relationship began to escalate, although it remained a secret for everyone else.

A few days before Harry's birthday, Titania was at Sirius' place reading a letter from Lily, expressing her wish to register Titania as Harry's godmother as soon as the war was over. It was a wake-up call for Titania, the witch felt as if she wasn't doing enough to keep her best friend alive. After she started dating Sirius the days passed in a blink. She voiced her concern to him, who reassured her saying Titania was providing enough help brewing potions for the Order and promised he would keep everyone safe. Sirius confessed he had a feeling the war wouldn't take so long to end and soon they could finally live in peace.

His words weren't enough to tranquilize Titania. Trying to lift her spirits, Sirius took her hand for a dance right there at his living room. It was usual for him to let music playing not only when they were in bed, but also when they were just chatting or enjoying each other's company. It was funny for Titania seeing a pure-blood as a muggle music enthusiast. They danced a song or two until started playing  'I'm leaving on a jet plane' from John Denver. Sirius started singing along near Titania's ear, pressing her body firmly against his.

"There's so many times I've let you down,

So many times I've played around,

I tell you now, they don't mean a thing," Titania snorted with him acting so silly. He continued.

"Every place I go, I'll think of you,

Every song I sing, I'll sing for you,

When I come back, I'll bring your wedding ring."

"How about it?" Sirius suddenly asked.

"About what?" Titania blinked in confusion, as if waking up from a trance. She wasn't really paying attention to the lyrics.

"How about I put a ring on your finger?"

Titania huffed and turned her face up to him, slapping lightly his chest. "Stop joking, this is no laughing matter!" She scolded him with a small smirk tugging on her lips.

"I'm serious!" He scoffed, there was mirth on his eyes yet his voice had a sincere tone. "I've waited so long to be with you like that, now I don't want to waste time, let's make things official!"

"Isn't it too soon?" Her voice was insecure.

"Do you love me?" Sirius didn't wait for her reply. "Because I know I love you with all my heart!" He opened a smile and kissed her knuckles.

Titania gaped at him, her heart faltering for a moment. She let out a ragged breath. "I- I... I love you too..."

"Then let's be together forever! I want to annoy you until my last breath!"

"You are such an idiot!" Titania chuckled and didn't protest when he leaned closer to kiss her mouth, his lips demanding and possessive.

"An idiot in love!" He quipped and they laughed, kissing each other again and again, finishing the celebration of their betrothal at Sirius' bed. The next morning they talked and made lots of plans about a future together. They both wanted to start a family and have kids after the war, at least two. Titania was so moved she cried tears of joy, as if she never before truly contemplate a future where she could be so happy and fulfilled. It seemed too perfect to be true.

They decided they would tell about their relationship to Lily and James at Sirius' birthday, November 3rd, just a few months ahead. The last time Titania saw Lily was months ago and they decided to take the risk of seeing them if they agreed to make a small party for Sirius. If not, Sirius would reveal anyway he and Titania were together as a couple, deeply in love.

That day never came.

The Potters were killed at October 31 by Voldemort himself, after Peter Pettigrew betrayed his friends. Sirius took the blame of everything and spent his birthday locked away in a cell inside Azkaban. Titania had no idea her fiancee was innocent and mourned the death of her best friend over the black diamond ring she received as a promise of hope. She felt so foolish for believing in Sirius Black, the heart she gave so willingly to him was crushed by his own hands. Her hopes and dreams completely shattered and scattered on the wind.

"So kiss me and smile for me

Tell me that you'll wait for me

Hold me like you'll never let me go

'Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane

Don't know when I'll be back again

Oh babe, I hate to go"

Next Chapter

[gabriellewebb]

The Animagus Bride - IV

Previous Chapters: I - II - III

This fic contains mature content, don’t read if you are under 18 or if you don’t like smut!

IV - All you need is love

Narcissa was designated with the mission to renew Titania's wardrobe, dressing her accordingly as 'Lady Black'. It was obvious the dark-haired witch would oppose to buy anything for herself using Sirius' money, so unfortunately Narcissa had to act behind her back.

The blonde witch invited Titania to accompany her into a shop 'recommended by a friend' specialized in fashion only for witches of all ages and sizes, declaring she was extremely curious about the diversity they had in feminine undergarments.

Of course Narcissa Malfoy warned the vendors beforehand about their visit, so they were all aware the true customer was Titania Snape and everything Narcissa selected would have to be replaced by clothes fitting the dark-haired witch and delivered later in secrecy at Malfoy Manor. An experienced witch was in charge to attend them, observe and discover as best as she could Titania's measurements.

It could be difficult to make Titania try even a few undergarments, but Cissy was persuasive and convinced her friend it would be easier if she dressed herself as well to help Narcissa with her choices. Titania scrunched up her nose at first but ended up enjoying to dress herself in all sorts of fancy clothes for witches, from night-robes to ball-gowns. She only managed to convince Titania into trying corsets and sexy lingerie asking jokingly what Titania would use to impress a lover just to make Sirius furious. Lucky her, Titania was a bad girl and played along easily, delighted with the hypothetical suffering of her future husband.

"Oh, it would be so funny if they were from the same House!" Titania smiled mischievously, picking a few sets in lustful reds with fine details in gold. "Do you think he would be jealous?" Narcissa's eyes twinkled with the vision of her Slytherin friend so willingly dressing herself in sexy night-robes and lingeries, all of them in Gryffindor colors. If Titania and Sirius ever ended up getting along in bed, he would be forever grateful to her, maybe she could get a set or two from the family jewels of House Black.

Oh, Titania will be so mad!

Narcissa couldn't control herself from bursting into laughing. When Titania arched a questioning eyebrow at her, Narcissa acted quickly, showing her a pair of knickers with stripes in red and gold and the lion crest of Gryffindor at the front part.

Titania opened a smirk. "This is so ridiculous. I'm pretty sure Sirius is into this rubbish."

"Oh Titania, stop! You'll kill me!" Narcissa cackled, so unladylike, with tears in her eyes. Her reaction made Titania chuckle. Narcissa changed meaningful glances with the vendor, an indicator she wanted a similar piece in Titania's size. Oh, she definitely would be a dead witch as soon as Titania discovered her new wardrobe with a session of clothes only in red and gold, most of them extremely sexy and appealing.

Narcissa told Regulus everything that night and he felt outraged by what she did.

"How dare you prank Tanya like that without me??"

The next day Regulus visited the same store with Narcissa to give his own 'contribution' for Titania's future marriage. The choices he made were bold, something only a bloke with a dirty mind would dare to pick for a lady, of course, all in red and gold only, just to annoy future Mrs. Black.

"Oh Reg, Tanya will kill both of us!" Narcissa declared after they stopped laughing.

"If anything bad happens, we just blame Sirius!"

Titania still had to familiarize with Sirius, the days passing by quickly until the upcoming wedding. Soon they would be a married fake-couple living together under the same roof, raising a small baby. Snape wasn't used yet to be alone with her future husband. It seemed impossible for him to just keep his mouth shut and he took every opportunity to tease or ask her for a date. Of course she refused all his advances. Titania cursed the moment she revealed about the origins of her mother. Now Sirius couldn't stop calling her 'princess' or address her as 'your highness' or 'your majesty' whenever he felt sarcastic. He could choose between 'The Fairy Queen Titania' or the fact her mother was disowned from the Prince family, accordingly with his mood. Truth be told, if her future husband was anyone but Sirius Black, she could find a place in her heart to feel it endearing. Sirius doing it was only annoying.

Sirius was still recovering from Azkaban and clearly having trouble sleeping, always grumpy in the mornings with dark circles under his eyes. Titania offered him Dreamless Sleep Potion and he said he never got along well with any sort of sleeping potions. The sensation of blackening out, waking up hours later like just a few minutes had passed was horrifying for him. The next day she left a few vials there 'just in case'. He never touched them.

Despise looking tired, at least Sirius lost the sickly appearance after regaining part of his weight, not yet in his better form, though. The improvement of his health was thanks to Titania, who prepared his meals because Kreacher burnt the food on purpose when it was for Sirius and the wizard only knew how to prepare junk food. Lucky him she didn't mind cooking at all. It was a hobby she actually liked and always felt pleased whenever her skills were appreciated. With magic she could always speed things up, anyway.

The hatred between Sirius and Kreacher was mutual and it didn't take long for Black to give away the House Elf to his younger brother.

The day of the wedding finally arrived. Narcissa and Regulus were helping Titania with her hair and dress.

Titania took a vial of hair growing potion, the last time it was so long was at her first year at Hogwarts. She had to fight back the sudden urge to cry watching her reflection in the mirror, the long locks brought back some unpleasant memories. Regulus appraised how well the new length suited her, the first time seeing her hair like that. He made an elegant side braid for Titania, using his wand to conjure small magic crystals, brilliants as stars, placing them everywhere on the bride's dark hair, emulating a starry night sky. Of course he organized some of the crystals to form the Canis Major constellation, the biggest and brightest of them all representing the Sirius star, of course. Titania was a nervous wreck and didn't even pay attention to it.

"I feel like a whore," The dark-haired witch stated with a sigh, looking at her dress. "Or maybe a wrapped candy." Unlike muggle weddings, the dress for bride witches in traditional ceremonies were light, basic and exposed too much skin. They were designed in a way to resemble the freshness and joviality of spring, the fabric always full of colors made in a way to be visually alluring for the future husband and at the same time easy to undress at the nuptial night. Basically it was a dress made to be dismantled and thrown away after the consummation of the marriage, not kept for the descendants like muggles usually did. It was a symbolism, the bride like a wild spring flower picked by a wizard, who would assume from now on the responsibility to protect his beloved from any harm, making her flourish under his care. Way too sexist in Titania's opinion, clearly related to the fantasy insecure men usually had about virgins and being their first fuck. Typical.

Titania's dress was mostly purple, the color tones escalating in nuances from pink to dark blue. In a way, the style of the fabric reminded her of ancient Greek statues. Titania was completely naked under her wedding dress, without bra or knickers, only two thin stripes magically attached to her silver necklace covering the front part of her body until reaching the waistline, her back was bare. The dress was also opened slightly at both sides under her waist, but at least her butt and front parts were fully covered. It was strange and questionable the tradition to dress brides as luxury whores while the groom was properly dressed in fancy robes. Maybe the pure-bloods adapted it from ancient Celtic rituals celebrating female fertility or whatever.

As a pure-blood Narcissa tried her best to defend a few aspects of the tradition, saying the women's well-being were also taken into consideration while Regulus was just enjoying Titania's bitter criticism.

"Then tell me why the marriage is consummated after the male climax?" Titania countered. Narcissa exchanged secretive glances with Regulus, they both trying to suppress their smirks.

"My brother will come in his pants the moment he settle eyes on you," Reg stated bluntly, changing the subject.

"Reg!" Titania shot him a reprimand glare.

"Stop being a prune, Tanya, I know better" Reg said playfully. Titania smacked him on the shoulder.

Narcissa only observed them and giggled. She felt genuinely happy around her friends, yet it felt incomplete in a way, due to the absence of her husband there to share these moments with her. Lucius Malfoy was forbidden by Sirius to attend the wedding or set foot inside any of the Black's properties. Sirius wasn't a fool and didn't believe Lucius needed to be under the Imperius Curse to follow Voldemort, and Narcissa knew it was useless trying to convince his cousin, because he was right. She loved Lucius with all her heart, but his previous affiliation with Lord Voldemort carried a stain that unfortunately extended towards herself and her son, no matter how innocent they both are. She never asked for it.

The wedding happened in a mansion at the countryside, one of the properties of the House Black.

Titania and Sirius exchanged their vows in front of an old wizard selected by the Ministry of Magic, who blessed their union after the broom and the bride kissed each other in front of their guests.

Following wizarding tradition, the first dance happening at the wedding party was between the groom pairing with the matron of honor while the bride would dance with the best man, so Sirius would pair with Narcissa while Titania would pair with Remus. Only after that the newlywed couple could dance with each other, and then the guests were free to do the same. The groom and the bride would be kept apart from each other after that, entertaining the people invited for their wedding, only able to enjoy each other's company at the party if dancing, until they decided the proper time to consummate their wedding.

Titania was uneasy having the first dance with Remus, recalling the secret romance at their second year at Hogwarts. Despite the fact of how brief it was and how much time had passed since they both stopped talking with each other, she still could felt a strange pull towards him whenever he was nearby, and now they would have to make physical contact between themselves like it meant nothing for them.

The moment Remus put a hand on the small of her back, his warm fingers touching her naked skin, Titania felt a spark ran all over her body. Even after all those years he still affected her a lot. Remus' body was tense and his breathing quite erratic for a slow dance, so it was clear he felt affected by her as well.

Titania tried to keep her composure and her mind ended up drifting away for a fleeting moment, she wondering how would be a life married with Remus instead of Sirius. The witch could easily picture a happy life with him, even knowing his werewolf condition. For sure he would be a loving and caring husband and she knew he was perfectly capable of enjoying her company reading a book or even in complete silence, while Sirius was noisy and unpredictable.

No matter what Sirius said or promised to her, she had no idea about how he would treat her whilst living under the same roof. It was frightening to blindly marry a man like Sirius, but she had to make this sacrifice for Harry.

After ruminating about the reasons she cut relations with Remus, fear brought Titania back to reality. As much as Remus appeared to be a better person and gentler than Sirius, when angered Remus could also be deadly scary and violent.

Titania steeled her thoughts to refrain herself from creating expectations about old flames and the possibility of an affair with the werewolf. It didn't matter her marriage was a fake one, she knew Remus wouldn't ever do something to hurt the only friend that remained from their group, and she had to focus all her attention on Harry.

They didn't chat during the dance and Remus didn't take her later for another one. Titania felt her blood boil in anger when Sirius finally took her hand for a dance and her body ignited as well under his touch. Great Salazar, she was doomed!

Titania also danced with Regulus, Cissy, Slughorn and Sirius took her to dance more often than she could ever expect, as if he was really having fun at their fake wedding. At least he wasn't so insufferable after a few drinks.

Cissy and Reg indeed made a wonderful job. Of course Regulus wasn't surprised by his achievements, that's why he hired a photographer to attend the party, not only to show everything later to his mother Walburga, who wasn't invited by Sirius, but also to rub in Titania's face how happy she could be near his brother if she allowed herself so. Titania would have a surprise after discovering one of the shots the photographer took with her laughing fondly at something her silly husband said near her ear, they both the perfect image of a happy couple.

Walburga Black wasn't invited and everyone respected Sirius' decision, it could be worse to force any interaction between them and Harry's future was at stake.

Some people from Hogwarts were invited, including Dumbledore, who invented an excuse for his absence, making Regulus fifty galleons richer. Hagrid, Slughorn, McGonagall and the majority of the professors attended the wedding and of course people now closer to Titania and Sirius, like the Weasleys or Augusta Longbottom. Titania and Sirius didn't invite too many people, so Narcissa and Regulus had to fill some holes to have a better wedding party, inviting a few guests themselves.

Molly Weasley was reluctant about speaking with Narcissa Malfoy at first, due to the bad blood between their husbands, but after a while eating and drinking near each other, they started talking about how men were childish sometimes, mocking their own husbands' behavior, and didn't even notice it was just the beginning of a new friendship.

Titania was slightly tipsy when Sirius took her for their last dance together that night. Most of the guests way too drunk to pay any attention when the newlyweds decided to discretely leave the party.

The bedroom suite was wide and Titania knew Regulus and Narcissa took care of everything for their stay there, providing change of clothes or anything they felt it could be essential that night. She spotted a pair of night robes for each one near the bed and any change of clothes they could need were probably inside the wardrobe.

Titania was feeling like a bundle of nerves, wishing to close her eyes and wake up the next day with her marriage consummated and her memory completely wiped from the night spent with Sirius. Unfortunately she wasn't drunk enough for it to naturally happen.

The witch gathered all the courage she had, turning her face to Sirius. "Shall we go to bed now?"

He arched an inquisitive eyebrow to her. "Feeling impatient, luv?"

Titania rolled her eyes. "I just want to get over it and finish quickly."

Sirius scoffed, walking towards the center table to get the bottle of Firewhisky of his favorite brand. His brother knew him so well! He calmly took a glass for himself and other for Titania, asking if she wanted to drink something else, but she only offered her glass with a frown and he poured the drink inside of it. He observed her taking a sip, her body visibly tense. It took her by surprise when he clinked their glasses before downing half of it.

"Why finish it quickly when both of us can enjoy it?" He asked with a grin.

Titania scrunched up her nose at him. "I don't want to enjoy anything with you."

He opened a soft smile at her. "Why not? Afraid to enjoy me too much, princess?"

Titania snorted and took another sip from her drink. "There is no chance for this to ever happen."

Sirius shrugged and refilled their glasses. He walked towards a couch near the bed, sitting down there completely relaxed, staring Titania with a mysterious glint in his eyes. "If you are so sure about it, why don't you come here?" He patted one of his thighs, inviting her to sit on his lap. Her baffled expression made him open a wolfish smirk.

Titania scoffed, raising an eyebrow at him. "Is this really necessary?" She absentmindedly played with her glass, twirling it between her fingers.

"I just want you to sit here and have a good time." Sirius patted it again. "Come here, let's have a nice chat."

Titania huffed and downed the contents of her glass. It was pointless to resist the game he wanted to make, so be it. She stormed furiously in his direction, ignoring all the insecurity and shyness she felt, sitting down on his thigh with her arms encircling around his neck, as if she was an experienced hostess entertaining a usual customer of hers at a night club.

Her boldness surprised Sirius. However, he didn't born yesterday and knew it was just acting from her part. He was decided to take things as slowly as needed, no matter how much it seemed Titania just wanted him to mount her and finish everything in five minutes or less.

No. If that was going to be their first and last time in bed, Sirius wanted to take his time savoring each bit of her. His male ego also screamed to make a good memorable moment for her in this special day, so maybe later she would accept to sleep with him over and over again.

Sirius adjusted Titania on his lap and put a hand on the small of her back, the other caressing her wrist, her gaze locked on his, defiant. Her make-up wasn't heavy and the flush on her cheeks were evident.

"Oh, I feel like a hooker" She finally confessed and snorted, the alcohol giving a push on her sincerity. Sirius chuckled and made a wandless gesture to Accio the bottle and glasses, pouring just a little and offering to her, to help her nervousness, pouring a bit more for himself.

"So, this is how you imagined your wedding would be?" Sirius asked. Small talk was always a good strategy to break the ice.

"Oh, I never though I would ever marry... I abominate the idea." She gave him a half-smile, her hand just fidgeting with the glass on her hand, her other arm still around Sirius' back and shoulders.

Sirius raised his glass to clink it with hers. "So do I. At least we have something in common."

Titania pressed her lips together to suppress a giggle. Sirius downed his drink in one gulp, putting his glass on the floor. He rested his now free hand over the fabric of her dress, on one of her thighs. She straightened up her back and took a sip from her glass, trying to feign indifference.

"At least I'm grateful to have such a gorgeous wife!" He squeezed softly her thigh, his eyes settled on her face, studying her expression.

Titania snorted to hide her agitation. "Oh Black, you flatter me!" She said ironically, sipping again her drink.

"You can call me 'Sirius' now, Mrs. Black." He teases. "Or 'love'."

Now her snort was genuine. "Oh, don't call me that!" Titania forced her eyes shut with an expression of disgust and Sirius chuckled.

"How do you want to be called, then?" He says with his lips almost brushing her ear. Titania takes a long sip on her drink as if really wondering about the subject. "Tell me, your highness," Sirius' lips grazed against her neck, it felt good his facial hair tickling against her skin. Titania bit her lip when he kissed her just under her jaw, trying to steel herself. "Are you gonna ignore me, love?" He teased, the hand on her back sliding up and down against her spine, refraining herself from thinking clearly.

"I– What was the question again?" She asked with a shuddering breath, feeling Sirius smirk against her neck, giving her soft kisses not ever on the same spot.

"You are so beautiful, princess," He ignored her inquiry. "I love your neck." He bit the crook of her neck gently, drawing a small whimper from her. His hands snaked up from her waist towards the base of her necklace, slowly. His thumb brushing against the fabric covering her, detaching it from the jewelry, freeing one of her breasts. His hand played with her nipple and around it while he sucked and licked her throat, under her jaw or the crook of her neck, until Titania couldn't suppress her mewls and moans anymore.

Sirius stopped his ministrations to position her body to straddle him. He detached the fabric over her other breast, leaving Titania completely bare over the waist. "I wanted to do this all day," He leaned his face down and latched his mouth over her breast, sucking gently her nipple. She gasped and squeezed his shoulders with a hand on each side of him, clawing over his shirt, Sirius still fully clothed.

Sirius ran both of his hands up and down her back, burying his face between her breasts, dividing his attentions licking and kissing each one of them.

Titania grabbed Sirius' head with both hands, pulling him away from her. He stared her with lustful eyes, his face completely flushed and breathing uneven. Titania probably looked the same as him, aware of her own wetness between her legs.

"Fuck me." She didn't want to waste time.

He exhaled loudly, flashing a smile at her. While Titania freed him from his tie and unbuttoned the upper part of his shirt, Sirius unbraided her hair, his fingers threading gently on the dark locks, the crystals falling all over the couch and floor.

Sirius lifts up Titania and carries her onto the bed, adjusting her there. He took off his shirt, her sandals and the rest of her dress, leaving her completely naked. Sirius puts his hands under her knees to open her legs. He leans down and when his mouth touches her inner thigh, Titania squirms.

"Sirius, what are you doing?"

He looks her with darkened eyes, his mouth still there at the same place, sucking her skin. " You said this will be our first and last time together, so this will be my last chance to taste every bit of you."

Sirius muffled her protest sliding a finger between her folds. "You are drenched, love, it's so good to know you endure me so well." He states sarcastically, his fingers making lewd noises, playing with her sex. Titania felt utterly embarrassed and wanted punch his face.

Her anger faded away the moment his mouth touched her slit, his tongue lapping slowly up and down, slurping her until he finally reached her clit, sucking it gently, building up the intensity little by little, taking his time to study her reactions, testing the best ways to make her moan loudly or lose control, enjoying savoring her taste and the rhythm that affected her better.

Sirius Black was the devil and only let Titania find her own release when he was satisfied with the 'research' he did on her most sensitive parts. He held her legs firmly, cleaning her orgasm with his tongue, agonizing and delicious at the same time. He stopped only when she yelled, almost begging him to do so.

She was still feeling the aftershocks of her climax, her body still hyper sensitive. The heat Sirius emanated was enough to make her skin prickle. He loomed over her, positioning himself between her legs, rubbing his shaft over her slit, only to provoke her.

He leaned his face towards her, sealing their lips together, however Titania didn't correspond him, turning her head instead, giving him access to her ear or neck. No matter how horny she was right now and how little a simple kiss could be in comparison with sex, it was something she wanted to keep for herself. To her, a kiss on the mouth was a gesture that meant something more intimate than sex, because it was a way to share a piece of her heart and soul, and she didn't want to give any of them to Sirius Black. He was giving Titania delicious sensations indeed, yet they were still under the obligation to consummate their marriage.

Sirius apparently understood the message and didn't insist. He pecked her ear lobe and seeing her body still reacted well to him, he continued, descending towards her neck, licking and slurping her skin, satisfied with the sounds coming out of her mouth, that she still tried to suppress, failing miserably at it.

He pinned one of her hands over her head, against the mattress, his palm firmly on hers while he put his hardness against her entrance. She was dripping wet but he was thick and found some resistance entering her. He patiently pressed the tip of his cock against her slit, until her body could accept him. Sirius gently sheathed himself on Titania, drawing gasps and moans from her. He grunted when she was able to accommodate all of his length inside her, like they were custom-made for each other.

Titania clawed his back with her free hand, moaning loudly near his ear. Sirius build up a pace accordingly with what Titania seemed to prefer. He never expected the always contained and composed witch could actually melt so easily in his arms and it was fun to see she had almost no control about being vocal and responsive to his touch. It was delicious hear her mewls near his ear, he loved how she felt and sounded like. No doubts he was having the best fuck of his life.

Sirius loved to tease Titania, but was wary about saying something that could twist her mood, acting like a bucket of cold water. He didn't resist, though. "It's so good to see how much you enjoy my cock." She gasped when his thrust hit exactly on her most sensitive spot.

"It's the only good part you have!" She finally hissed, gritting her teeth.

Sirius chuckles and slows down a bit his pelvic movements. "I don't know if I shall be offended or not. I'm loving seeing you like this." Before she could answer him properly, he thrusted her harder making her yelp. "You are such a bad girl, Mrs Black." He stops just a second to observe her disgruntled expression, and starts setting up a vigorous pace, making her curse him under her breath, yet begging him to speed up each time he slowed down just a little bit. Sirius thanked the gods Titania liked it wildly and he didn't have to contain himself too much.

It was impossible to follow his plans about taking things slowly and savor Titania as long as he could. Not with her squirming under him, pulling his hair or clawing his shoulders, threatening to kill him if he even dared to stop. It was marvelous watching her turn into a horny mess thanks to him. She was as savage as a wild cat.

His movements turned erratic and he finally came inside her, grunting near her ear. It took Titania by surprise she achieved her peak again at the same time as him, and she couldn't help herself from hugging him with both arms, her thighs squeezing tightly around his hips, her body acting on its own. Revelling the physical contact with him and the way the warmth of his body embraced her so welcomely.

What happened made sense when her head cleared about ten seconds later, feeling the tingly sensation of magic spreading throughout all the cells of her body, sealing the marital bond between wizard and witch. Now she understood the secretive smirk Narcissa and Reg shared when she complained about how sexist the ancient rite was. At least regarding the consummation, it was way better than muggle tradition.

It was the first time her orgasm was synchronized with someone and the sensation by its own was the strongest she ever felt. Titania was so delighted by it, she was able to forget for a moment she was sharing this sensation with Sirius Black.

At least she was pretty sure this synchronized orgasm was a one-time thing, or else she wouldn't have the strength to resist fucking her husband. It would be addicting!

She was still hugging him tightly, her body taking longer to recover from her climax than it was used to. The same was probably happening to Sirius, because he stood still for a few seconds with his face buried on her neck, until he decided to dislodge himself from her.

The action made her let out a sigh, her spine arching. Her body was still highly sensitive from her climax, like an exposed nerve. Sirius was still over her, supporting himself with his arms. He noticed Titania still panted weakly and decided to run a finger along the side of her body. Her body jerked again and he opened a mischievous smile.

Sirius caressed Titania slowly, the back of his fingers only ghosting on her skin. She shivered and bit her lower lip, trying to hold herself. The jerk was toying with the way her body was still lit after her orgasm and it was too good for her to ask him to stop it. She hated herself for it, but part of her conscience tried to ease her mind with the excuse she could always blame the alcohol.

Sirius chuckled after discovering just the act of blowing softly near her ear was enough to make her pant, so he hold her arms and provoked her by breathing near her jaw or neck, driving her completely mad.

The son of a bitch took the opportunity to lick and kiss her neck, eliciting more and more moans from her, making her squirm under him again. He took his time teasing her, like a child who just discovered a new toy and couldn't get enough of it.

Titania noticed he was half-hard just from playing with her. He stopped, however and pecked her cheek.

"Let's take a bath?" He offered with a devilish smirk. "We already saw each other naked."

"I hate you," She hissed, hair completely disheveled and face flushed, accepting the hand he offered her nonetheless.

Sirius guided Titania into an enormous round bathtub, already filled with steamy hot water. He let her enter first, holding one of her hands. He took their glasses and the bottle of Firewhisky and put them on the floor, sitting near the border to pour the liquid inside the glasses, offering one for her and entering the bathtub after she took it. He pulled Titania closer to him, hugging her from behind and she didn't fight it, downing her drink in one gulp, and then lifting her hand up for him to fill her glass again.

"Easy, girl," He scolded jokingly, pouring her more Firewhisky, his glass untouched on the floor, near his reach. Titania took another sip while Sirius nuzzled the slope of her neck, kissing there gently. She stretched her neck to give him better access, not opposing him at all. She was already damned about the shame she would feel the next morning, why not rejoice on it and act as nothing happened later?

They were both there without a care on the world. It was easy for Titania to relax like that, Sirius could keep his mouth shut when it was occupied nipping or kissing the skin over her collarbones, his hands stroking softly her belly, sometimes snaking up to play with her boobs leisurely. Sirius' big hands fit perfectly around them.

His caresses ended up escalating and soon his fingers were diving between her thighs. He sucked her ear lobe when Titania hummed in approval. It was a good sensation his hairy chest against the skin of her back.

"So wet," He whispered hoarsely near her ear, the tip of his fingers sliding easily inside her, her juices clearly distinctable from water. "You endure me so well, your majesty." Titania snorted with the possibility Sirius was indulging himself in a fetish related with the Queen of Fairies who shared the same name as hers.

"Just keep your mouth shut, peasant!" She scolded jokingly.

"So bossy..." He chuckled and grabbed her by the hips, pressing his hardness against her butt, grazing his teeth in the region between her neck and shoulder. Sirius exhaled heavily ear her neck, making her shiver in anticipation. Then he put a lock of her hair behind her ear. “As my queen wishes,” He kissed her earlobe while brushing the middle finger over her clit, teasingly. He slid it in and out her slit, this time roughly, his cock twitching against her butt.

Titania bit her lip and clenched her jaw, but eventually it was too much for her and she couldn’t suppress the gasps and moans escaping her mouth. She snaked her hand behind to touch his cock. The alcohol and the lust were the only things allowing her submitting herself to Sirius so easily. Titania knew she would regret everything tomorrow morning, but it was way too good to stop. She stroked his cock as better as her position permitted, then she lifted her hips just enough to press his shaft against her folds.

Sirius grunted and clenched his jaw, a hand around his cock, rubbing the tip of it against her clit until she released a long sigh. "You are such a bad girl, dear," Sirius sucked her ear lobe and pressed himself against her again, sliding inside her more easily this time, just half of his length in and out, making Titania gasp in pleasure. "Is this what you want?" He asked in a hoarse voice.

"Y-Yes!" She yelped. He stopped.

Sirius grabbed her by her scalp, pulling her hair gently towards himself, his mouth brushing against her ear. "Then say exactly what you want from me," He lapped her neck, sucking her skin under her jaw.

Titania huffed in frustration. "I want you to fuck me!" He buried himself inside her again in one thrust.

"Well, if you ask so nicely..." He chuckled. "You are such a good girl!"

"I hate you!" She had a ragged voice. He kept a punishing pace until he was close to his release, then he slowed down gradually, keeping himself inside of her while rubbing her clit. He wanted to feel her pussy clenching around his cock. When she was getting close to her climax, he sped up again the pace of his thrusts.

Sirius' fingers made Titania peak again with him buried all the way into her core and continued to fuck her after that, feeling her aftershocks, deliciously agonizing for her until she couldn't take it anymore and begged him to stop. He pulled himself off of her, one of his arms around her waist, keeping her back pressed against his chest, the sides of their faces pressed together, and Sirius jerked himself off until he came, grunting near her ear. Titania felt the jets of his hot seed against her butt, under the water.

Titania left the bathroom before Sirius, completely pissed with herself, her pride thrown away in the gutter.

She used her wand to dry her hair and body, dressing the night-robe near the bed before lying down, covering herself under the duvet. She heard the sound of Sirius' footsteps a few minutes later and then felt the weight of his body at the other side of the mattress. Titania opened her eyes just to check if he took his nigh-robe, and he didn't. Unless he got a change of clothes somewhere, he was possibly still naked.

They slept apart from each other, but when Titania woke up a few hours later, her head was resting on Sirius' shoulder, her hand on his naked chest. She was still disorientated from her drowsiness, so she played with the hair of his chest that felt so pleasant at the tips of her fingers. Until she realized what hell she was doing and stopped it.

Titania was about to complain his intrusion at her side of the bed, but a quick look was enough to notice she was the one 'trespassing'. Her face felt hot from embarrassment, lucky her, Sirius appeared to be asleep.

When she shifted her body to move for her side, trying to be as discreet as possible, his hand darted over hers, grabbing it and putting on his chest, motioning it up and down, just like she was doing before.

"Don't stop, this feels amazing." Sirius complained with a sleepy voice, his eyes still closed.

Titania felt blood coloring her face. "How dare you move me here while I was sleeping?" She accused, insecure.

Sirius barked out a laugh. "I did nothing. It's not my fault you are so drawn to me."

Titania scoffed. "Excuse me?"

Sirius finally opened his eyes, just to roll them, emulating the way Titania did in front of him all the time. "You know, how it's so difficult for you to 'endure me'... if I didn't know you better, would've thought you are crazy about me." He grinned charmingly at the end of his sentence.

Titania huffed. "You better shut up, you arrogant jerk!"

Sirius pulled her by the wrist against his body, before she could move away from him. She opened her mouth to protest and her voice died the moment he pecked her jaw. "Let's have a last time together, how about it?" He knew her answer the moment she closed her eyes and tilted her head to indulge into his caresses.

Soon Sirius was over her again and they entangled at their third round that night. He only had to rub her entrance two or three times to set her on the proper mood. Her body answered too well at any skin contact they made and she got wet for him without much effort.

He was on top of Titania and penetrated her lazily, moving inside her at a leisurely pace, his mouth latched onto her neck, his hands exploring the curves of her body and the smoothness of her skin.

Sirius was slightly tired, not just because of their previous sex sessions, but all the stress and anxiety he felt due to his marriage with Titania, only able to relax for the first time a few hours ago, so he wanted to take this 'last time' to enjoy better the body of his wife, he felt like he deserved it.

He put her to straddle him, loving to watch her tits bouncing, and also made her change positions later various times, wanting to discover more about her vulnerable spots as much as his own preferences regarding her.

Sirius made Titania lay on the bed with her bottom up. Titania thought it was strange when she discovered he wanted to lick her pussy that way. Part of her had the feeling it was a humiliating position to be licked, her butthole exposed to him, but she was way too horny to not give a chance at his idea.

She was about to put him in the worst category of pervert when she felt his tongue lapping at her entrance, noticing it gave an easier access for him and it was more pleasant because her back wasn't pressed against a mattress and it was better to move her hips if she wanted too. It was awkward, though, when he opened her cheeks with both hands and she thought he was about to play with her asshole, but she warned him about it and he didn't touch her near there.

Sirius drove a strong orgasm from her, slurping her juices slowly, before turning her body to face him up again. He wanted to finish himself inside of her with a vigorous, punishing pace, wanting to test her limits and know how much of a match they were in the matters of rough sex.

Sirius finally came and they both were exhausted. Sirius wanted to stay hugged with Titania, maybe cuddling each other, but before he could say anything about it, she pushed him away from herself and stormed towards the bathroom to have a bath. He sighed and didn't follow her, knowing she was probably pissed about surrendering into his charms more than once that night, too proud to admit how much she enjoyed it.

He took his wand to clean the sheets and laid down again with a stupid smile on his face, feeling sated and tired. His heart now filled with hope because he knew Titania was weak resisting him and how good was their chemistry in bed.

Next Chapter

( Titania woke up just like that :P )

[gabriellewebb]

Long Away

I -Close to you

Titania was lying lazily in bed, observing Barty smoking by the window only in his boxers. It was the first time he left her alone there just after they had sex, the sheets covering her naked body, all her clothes scattered on the floor. It was an atypical situation coming for him, who was a zealous lover, caring and gentle, always cuddling her after sex, giving his full attention to her. Titania had a bad feeling, something was off about it.

The straw-blonde man puffed at his cigarette, the moonlight painting his freckled skin in a pale blue light. He was just a year younger than her, yet looked so much younger, maybe like a teenager who was still studying for his N.E.W.T.s. His back was turned to her, but she could see his reflex by the window glass. Barty observed the streets with a contemplative expression, his eyebrows slightly furrowed. It was unusual from him to be so introspective at her presence.

Titania Snape and Bartemius Crouch Junior started seeing each other only after she received from Lily the confirmation about Regulus' death, followed by his father Orion Black a week later or so. She got the news about it after few months already passed, the conditions of his death were a mystery and she had no idea how Sirius found out about it. Titania was desperate to know how it happened and she knew Regulus was close to Barty, who was his classmate at Hogwarts and joined Voldemort's ranks with him at the war.

Barty didn't know the details either, the only thing he told Titania was the fact Regulus was considered a traitor and his death was used to send a message for anyone else who dared to betray the Dark Lord. Of course Barty had to act like he didn't care about the death of his friend in front of anyone else, but Titania could see his suffering. They consoled each other and grew closer after that, starting an affair not much later.

At the beginning it was just a tentative from Titania to numb all the grief she felt. After a while, though, the witch started using Barty to gather any useful information that could help the Order of the Phoenix. Titania tried to enter the secret society, however Dumbledore denied it, the old wizard never trusted her. It wasn't enough to stop Titania from helping her best friend Lily, brewing potions to help the Order at the war and fed them with any intel she could get from her Death Eater lover.

Titania was pretty sure she had Barty at the tip of her fingers, aware he had a crush on her since Hogwarts. As much as Snape felt bad for manipulating him, she had no regrets of doing so considering Lily was the person who mattered most for her. Thanks to her affair with Barty she was able to help anticipating some of Voldemort's movements and just recently she discovered there was a spy infiltrated in the Order. Barty didn't seem to know who was, but maybe it was just a matter of time for him to discover.

Titania sat down on the bed, covering her chest with the sheets. Barty remained still as a statue, deeply lost in thought. "Is something wrong, Barty?"

The young Death Eater didn't turn to look at her direction. He took a long drag, releasing the smoke slowly. "We must stop seeing each other." His voice was void of emotion. "The Dark Lord is furious about information being leaked for the Order. If he discovers it was my fault, he will kill me and go after you." Barty turned his body in her direction, studying her reaction with cold eyes while taking another drag.

Titania stared back at him as if oblivious about what he was implying, burying her feelings behind her Occlumency shields. Barty let out a brief snort, putting out his cigarette in the ash tray near him. "Don't worry, I won't snitch on you." Barty flashed a sad smirk when a genuine expression of surprise came from Titania."I don't want you to be hurt."

"Barty, I—"

"You don't need to explain yourself, Titania. I knew all along, I'm not stupid!" Barty crossed his arms. "I enjoyed the moments we spent together, no hard feelings," His gaze shifted to the ground. "Even if you loved me back, we would have to take separate ways... I'm not strong enough to protect you, I'm sorry." The gentleness of his words made Titania feel slapped on the face. He turned his back to her again, facing the window. Only now the witch noticed Barty's wand was on the bedside table beside hers. He wasn't afraid of her hexing him, or he just didn't care.

Titania gathered her clothes and dressed herself, the room awkwardly silent. The witch took her wand and before leaving the room she gave a last glance at him. "I'm sorry for hurting you, Barty."

Barty turned his body to face her, he sighed with a concerned expression. "Please, Titania, don't try something risky like this anymore... Survive this war and don't get more involved than you already are, please!" He made a pinched expression. "Take care!"

Titania felt a pang in her heart. "You too, Barty. You are a good man, I hope you survive this war as well. You don't deserve what I did to you..."

Barty scoffed. "It's not in your nature being naive, Titania. I'm a Death Eater, you have no idea of half I've done–"

His voice faltered when Titania walked closer to him, putting a hand over his arm. "Yes, you've done lots of wrong things, I can only imagine... but it's never too late for taking the right decision!"

He stared deeply at her, trying to hide behind a blank mask and failing miserably. His eyes giving away the turmoil of feelings he had inside of him. "The only right choice I ever made was to end what we had just now," He reached a hand over her hair, brushing a dark lock behind her ear. "The last thing I want is your blood in my hands." Before Titania could say something, he put a finger over her mouth, silencing her. "No hard feelings, I swear," Barty gave her a kiss on her forehead. "Just be safe, please."

Titania left the place with her heart crushed by guilt for using Barty as a paw –a man who genuinely cared for her well-being and safety. Snape felt as if she kicked a puppy, and It hurts even more the fact she never reciprocated his feelings. It would be so much easier if Barty only wanted to use her as a good shag, but his affection towards Titania were true. Of course, given the opportunity, she would do everything all over again to protect Lily.

Voldemort was hunting the Potters due to a prophecy that came into his knowledge so it was too risky to visit them. The last time Titania saw Lily and her son Harry was three months ago and as far as she knew, only few people met them from time to time, all members of the Order. Sirius was the closest friend of James and was able to meet the Potters more frequently, so he was now acting as the intermediate between Titania and Lily.

As much as Snape never liked Sirius, it was the only way to help Lily and the Order, so she agreed to encounter her arch-enemy from Hogwarts. James and Sirius paid for the potions she made but Titania would do everything for free if necessary.

Titania and Sirius met every two or three weeks in muggle pubs, always dressed as muggles. Everything was spoken, never written, so they chat as casual friends, eating or drinking something. Surprisingly, they could do that like civilized people. Sirius gave her messages from Lily and told the most needed potions, also updating her about Harry's growth while Titania supplied him with his last request of potions and any information she could get from Barty. Of course Sirius knew about her affair with the Death Eater, since Titania revealed it for Lily, who ended up expressing her concerns for her husband James, who told Sirius everything.

Sirius and Titania met in a pub two days after her last encounter with Barty. It was a Friday night and they sat facing each other at an isolated corner, where they could have more privacy and watch who entered or left the place.

"So, did your 'boyfriend' finally give any useful information this time?" Sirius didn't try hiding the spite in his voice. Every time they met, Sirius made inquiries about Barty and always gave a sermon about how dangerous was meeting him, trying to dissuade Titania from seeing the Death Eater.

Snape swallowed a lump in her throat, staring up at Black. "Actually, I can't meet him from now on,"

Sirius' body tensed."What happened?" He stood up just to sit beside her protectively."Are you hurt?" His eyes scanned her face with genuine concern.

"N-no!" Her voice faltered with his sudden proximity. She was used to be near him after their meetings started, but he never sat so close to her. Titania cleaned her throat and look up at him, trying to hide how much he affected her. "Barty said it's too dangerous for both of us so it was best stop seeing each other," Sirius' eyes narrowed, knowing she was hiding something. They stared each other in silence for a few seconds and felt so awkward for Titania she ended up spitting all the beans. "He knew all along I was using him to get intel for the Order."

Sirius' eyes widened and he let out a breath. "Shit! He could've killed you," Sirius took one of her hands in his, squeezing it gently. "What else happened?"

Titania felt her face grow hot recalling her last encounter with Barty was also a sexual one, but of course his question wasn't about that. "He let me go. Said he didn't want me hurt."

Sirius released her hand with a frown. "And how do you feel about it?"

"What do you mean?" She raised an eyebrow for him.

"Not even a broken heart?" He asked reluctantly with a smirk. Titania felt her heart falter for a second, noticing the insecurity in his voice.

"Of course not!" Titania's heart was hammering inside her chest as if she just ran a marathon. She tried to hide as best as she could how nervous she was. "I thought it was clear I was only using him since the beginning."

Sirius scanned her eyes with a penetrating gaze. "So you never loved him? For real?"

Titania scoffed. "What?" His question was blunt and unexpected, making her more confused. Sirius was hard to read and she had no idea if he was teasing her or genuinely interested in her feelings. She straightened her back and stared at him defiantly. "Your question is irrelevant."

"It's not irrelevant to me," Sirius said softly, taking her hand again.

"Is this some sort of joke?" She huffed, pulling her hand away from his grasp.

"No, I'm serious." He leaned closer to her, opening a wolfish grin, ignoring when she rolled her eyes with the stupid pun involving his name. "I always wanted to ask you out, but every time I finally gathered the courage you were dating another. Can you give me a chance this time?"

Titania felt her face hot, so she looked down at her own hands, trying to gather her thoughts. He put a hand over hers, squeezing her knuckles gently. She found herself staring up at him again, searching his face for any clues he was just fooling around with her. She found none. "Why are you telling me all of this now?"

Sirius sighed. "I wanted to tell you earlier, but I had no idea how you really felt about Barty...We are in the middle of a war, I can die tomorrow, so this could be my last chance with you."

Titania scoffed. "Is this another stupid prank you planned with James?" Sirius opened a half-smile and the witch gasped outraged. "You are so ridic—" Sirius pecked her lips, caughting her off guard. "Sirius!" He silenced her with another peck, a hand on her cheek, pulling her face closer to his. It didn't took them long to deepen the kiss, Titania corresponding him eagerly.

When they finally broke the kiss, both of them breathing unevenly, Titania opened her mouth to say something and Sirius put a finger over her lips. "You are forbidden to talk today, unless to express your undying love for me."

"You are such an idiot, Black!" Titania grabbed his shirt, sealing their lips together one more time. She could feel his lips forming a smile while kissing her back. She interrupted the kiss, glaring at him. "I swear, if you're joking with me—" He cut her off with another kiss.

"I already said I'm pretty serious!" Luckily he was a good kisser, or else Titania would've slapped him for that stupid joke. Part of her felt insecure about what was happening right now, but at the same time, all her being answered so naturally to his touch and his words, Snape let herself get lost in their embrace. It could be precipitated from her surrender herself so easily to him, but what was happening between them felt true.

Next Chapter

[gabriellewebb]

;-;~

[gabriellewebb]

The Animagus’ Bride - Chapter III

Previous Chapters: I - II

III – Freedom

Titania had a firm grip around her wand yet she felt completely powerless watching Remus squeezing Sirius' neck in front of her and Regulus. Everything happened so quickly and unexpectedly that it took them completely by surprise. Remus was usually calm and introverted, but he could be pretty scary when furious just like he was now – and had every reason to be so. Besides Titania and Regulus, Remus was the only person present at the trial who knew Sirius' secret about being an Animagus and the fact he lied about the reason behind the nickname 'Wormtail'.

"Is Peter really alive or that was a lie too?" Remus snarled menacingly. Sirius squirmed trying to get free from his grip, but the heir Black was too debilitated from the months spent in Azkaban to put any resistance against an angered werewolf.

It was very complicated for Titania to do anything in this situation – Remus' condition made him more resistant to stunning or sleeping spells even in human form, and she alone couldn't do anything. Regulus wasn't good in combat and he was very exhausted to be of any help, she couldn't count on him. Lupin also had good reflexes, if Titania tried a binding charm or a killing curse, it had a chance to hit Sirius instead, specially if Remus used him as a human shield.

"Remus," Titania called with a soft voice, trying to draw his attention.

"What is she doing here?" Remus asked Sirius without even looking at her direction.

"She is my fiancée now—" Sirius said the first thing that crossed his mind and it was the wrong answer. He coughed when Remus pushed him further against the wall, his head slamming in a 'thud'. Instead of showing any signs of fear, Sirius snorted through his nose. "Easy Moony," Sirius patted Remus' wrist as a sign to weaken his grip a little bit, but Remus did not oblige. "You can see for yourself."

Sirius held an unblinkingly stare at Remus while both of them kept in silence, extremely concentrated. It was pretty obvious for Titania what was happening in front of her. She never thought Remus and Sirius were capable enough to know the mind arts. She had no idea if they were skilled enough in Legilimency and Occlumency, but it was clear that Black willingly gave access for Remus to peep inside his mind. Considering the werewolf expression softened a little just after a few seconds, possibly the first memory Sirius show to him was when he saw Peter Pettigrew cutting his own finger, blowing up the street and running away killing twelve muggles in the process.

Remus wasn't satisfied with just that and he continued his own search at Sirius' memories and thoughts, his brows furrowed. Remus didn't release his hand from Sirius' throat, but his grip loosened a little. Sirius' forehead had a few drops of sweat while Remus took his time scrutinizing his mind to be sure Sirius was indeed innocent.

"You were suspicious I was the spy. Call me surprised," Remus stated dryly but soon he opened a smile and his arms to hug his friend. "I don't mind it, I'm so glad I still have you." Remus voice was ragged, his eyes filled with tears.

Sirius snorted, hugging his friend back and patting his shoulder gently. "Our pack was small, but now it's just you and me."

Titania watched calmly the reconciliation between the two friends, her body still tense. She drew her wand and pointed it at Remus direction. Their smirks disappeared from their faces.

"What does he know now, Sirius?" Titania asked, eyes fixed on Remus' who suddenly paled. Sirius slowly positioned his own body in front of Lupin.

"He knows everything," Sirius started and when Titania sneered at him, he put his hands up like in surrender and quickly add. "Don't worry, Remus is safe! I'm sure he won't tell anything to Dumbledore."

"He better not," Titania drawled, hiding her wand inside the long sleeve of her dress. "If I even suspect he opened his mouth to say anything to Dumbledore I'll expose his condition to the Ministry."

Sirius opened his mouth to protest, but he stopped when Remus put a hand on his shoulder to tranquilize him. "Don't worry, Snape, I won't betray the last friend I have left in this world," He flashed a sad smirk to the witch.

Titania rolled her eyes and turned her back to Sirius and Remus. Regulus looked up at them with a bored expression, already sitting comfortably on a couch in Sirius' living room, just waiting for them finish their 'pendencies' so they could discuss important matters. Remus made a mention to leave them alone but Sirius insisted he stayed and so he did. Regulus called Kreacher and asked him to serve tea and biscuits for everyone.

"So, you two are really going to marry?" Remus questioned almost hesitantly, trying to break the awkward silence.

"Yes, and you'll be my best-man, Moony!"

Regulus chuckled after hearing Remus' nickname trying to hide the hurt he felt for Sirius' choice, without even considering his own little brother who just set him free. Disappointed but not surprised.

Titania let out a sigh. "We can discuss the details of the wedding later, first of all we need to discuss the better place to live after we take Harry."

"Well, I think this place here is perfect," Sirius opened a smirk while Titania skimmed her eyes around the place with a sneer, judging it in silence. The place had dust everywhere, old cloths scattered on the ground and lots of dirty dishes in the sink. "Of course we can redecorate it the way you wish later," Sirius declared as predicting what a woman would prefer to hear. "But if you try to use green and silver everywhere, I will ask for a divorce," He quickly add with a joking tone, making Reg snort.

"I'm actually astonished that your House isn't fully decorated in red and gold." Titania drawled, looking around impassive. She could ignore all the mess considering Sirius was absent for months and must have left his house in a hurry after hearing about the deaths of James and Lily. With a few waves of anyone's wand, everything would be clean in a matter of seconds.

"Oh Tanya... you said it because you didn't check the other rooms yet." Reg stated maliciously. This time was Remus who snorted while Sirius stared flushed at them.

"Shut up brother!" Sirius had mirth in his voice. He looked at Titania's direction. "We can discuss the colors of my bedroom later if they bother you too much," Titania raised a questioning eyebrow at him. "Considering we are going to share it." He declared smugly.

Remus gazed at the floor, like he suddenly wanted to bury his face deep in the ground. Regulus took a sip of his tea, observing Titania's reaction with interest.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Black," Titania quirked her lips up in disdain. "As I previously told you, I'll have to endure you just once, after that I shall sleep in Harry's room, in the living room or anywhere else far away from your annoying company."

"Well, I'm sure we can think about changing the decoration of my room after you surrender to my charms, future Mrs Black." Sirius had the audacity to wink at Titania, chuckling after seeing her murderous expression.

Remus looked like someone who wanted to vanish from a place but was too polite to do so, while Regulus took another sip from his tea, discreet about the enjoyment he felt observing the quarreling couple.

Titania let out a humorless laugh. "You are all barks and no bites as always, right, Black?"

Sirius' eyes darkened a little and a malicious smirk crossed his features, then he glanced at the other two men present there, considering better his next choice of words. " I had no idea you liked to be bitten so badly, but shouldn't we discuss your preferences in bed when alone, luv?"

Titania suddenly stood up, flushing in a brilliant red, completely outraged. "Reg, I'll let you handle my living arrangements with your brother now, it's your turn to hear all the rubbish he has to say. Send me an Owl or call me if you need anything, I'm leaving. See you later." She addressed only to Regulus before walking to the entrance. Sirius and Remus gave their goodbyes to her and she slammed the door in response.

"You are very good at this, brother. I hope you can give me some tips later about how to conquer a lady's heart."  Regulus' couldn't hide the amusement plastered on his face. Remus' ears were red from embarrassement. Sirius scratched his beard, opening a mischievous grin.

"So, Titania has a phone?"

As soon as the trial was finished, a special edition of The Daily Prophet was prepared to inform the news about the innocence of the heir Black and the fact Peter Pettigrew was actually alive and was the true culprit behind the Potters' betrayal and the mass murder of twelve muggles. Lots of details about the case would be informed, like the fact Pettigrew missed his right index finger and was an unregistered Animagus who could transform into a brown rat, considered extremely dangerous.

Working at the Ministry, Arthur Weasley received the news about the trial of Sirius Black as soon as it ended and all details regarding Peter Pettigrew were disclosed first to all the employees who worked there.

Arthur paled as soon as he received information about Pettigrew, recalling the pet rat his son Percy found, a brown rat without a finger in one of its paws. His family could be in grave danger right now, so he seek the help of the Aurors, declaring his son got a rat fitting the description of Peter Pettigrew. Arthur hoped it was only a common rat and everyone would made a laughing matter of him the next day.

Arthur apparated near The Burrow and entered in his house. Molly was in the kitchen near Ron and Ginny and as soon as she turned to greet her husband, Arthur made a silence gesture to her, followed by a wave of his hand so the Aurors could follow behind him. Molly kept in silence with an astonished expression seeing Arthur so tense just like the two strangers following him.

When Arthur entered Percy's room, the boy was reading a child's book, his rat Scabbers sleeping lazily inside his cage. None of them noticed his presence. He let out a relieved breath before casting a stunning spell at the rat's direction. The Aurors stormed inside the room, scaring Percy who started to cry. As soon as Molly appeared at the door, her son ran to her arms and she hugged him.

"What is happening Arthur?" She asked with a ragged voice.

Arthur said nothing, observing one of the Aurors taking the unconscious rat from its cage and putting it on the floor. The Aurors performed the Animagus reversal spell and there was Peter Pettigrew. Molly screamed seeing the pet of her kid transforming into a short chubby man. Arthur's knees were shaking, his mind wondering about what could have happened with his family while he was working.

Peter was completely knocked out and breathing with difficulty. Arthur's stunning spell ended up to be too strong for a small rat, but he couldn't care less about it when it had a chance for the rat being a mass murderer so close of his wife and kids. It ended up he was right.

Percy and Molly were completely horrified. The Aurors explained the situation to Molly while Arthur was still in shock to say anything.

Arthur embraced Molly and Percy tightly before returning with the Aurors to the Ministry. He kissed Ron and Ginny who were sleeping and Molly called the sons who were playing in the garden so their father could kiss each one of them too. The kids thought at first their father was being imprisoned, but the Aurors soon explained Arthur Weasley helped them caught a dangerous criminal. Arthur could only flash them a nervous smirk, his hands shaking, sweating profusely.

Arthur wanted to be with his family more than anything right now, but he still had to give his testimony to the Ministry, so he left The Burrow with the Aurors and an unconscious Peter Pettigrew.

Arthur Weasley was so desperate when he read the description of Pettigrew and his Animagus form that his mind never registered the Ministry of Magic would give a generous money compensation for anyone who helped them find Peter. He was surprised when received a bag filled with galleons. The Ministry also gave the week off for him to relax and enjoy his family. Arthur wanted to cry and laugh at the same time.

Pettigrew never recovered his consciousness. The stunning spell was too much for him in his rat form, his heart gave away a few hours after arriving at St Mungo's Hospital. The flash of a camera captured the Death Mark on his arm.

The news and details about Pettigrew's capture and death appeared the next day on The Prophet. Arthur Weasley was now being considered a hero and lots of families were in uproar, disgusted by the fact a mass murderer was hiding as a pet in a place full of children.

Sirius Black received the news at morning while eating breakfast with his young brother. He had mixed feelings about Wormtail's death, he wished Peter had suffered much more, but at the same time it was an undeniable proof of his innocence for people who could still believe he was guilty and was only released thanks to all influence and power of the House Black. He send an owl to Arthur Weasley as soon as he finished his meal, inviting him to a meeting so he could thank him in person.

Arthur send a reply at the same afternoon, saying he was the one who wanted to thank Sirius Black. If the truth wasn't exposed, who knows what Pettigrew could have done with his precious family? Arthur invited Sirius and Regulus for lunch at The Burrow at Saturday.

Lots of owls were send to Sirius that day, but he only read the ones he considered important, like a long letter from Hagrid expressing his guilty for believing Sirius was a Death Eater as much as his happiness about the fact Sirius was an innocent man. He invited Sirius for a drink at The Three Broomsticks so they could chat and Hagrid could return the flying motorbike he borrowed from him.

Sirius cried tears of joy that day. He was truly frightened that everything good happening until now was just a delirium from his mind and he was actually still inside the prison.

After regaining his composure, he decided to call Titania using the number Regulus gave him. Sirius loved muggle things, of course he had a phone and was extremely glad Titania had one too.

"Regulus? Did something happen?" Sirius heard Titania's voice at the phone for the first time. He couldn't stop grinning.

"Wrong Black, sweetheart."

It took her a moment to reply, probably considering hang up on his face. "What do you want?"

"How can you be so cold with your future husband?" Sirius could almost picture Titania rolling her eyes right now. She didn't even bother replying so he continued. "I just wanted to test if this was the right number. A phone can be indeed useful at emergencies, much faster than an owl!"

"Did you call me only to estate the obvious?"

Sirius chuckled. "Of course not! I wanted to hear your delicious voice. Say something naughty!"

Sirius heard the phone clicking at the other end, he barked out a laugh. Yeah... he wasn't trapped in a dream after all.

When Titania Snape entered Sirius' house the next morning she didn't even look at his direction. Reg couldn't contain a small smirk forming on his lips, he surely heard about the phone call or was at least suspicious Sirius did something to make Titania mad.

Titania took her time inspecting Sirius' house. At least he had the decency to clean the dust and put away all the things at their rightful places.

Sirius' house was comfortable and bigger than Titania's, but it wasn't too ostentatious, it was a place he bought with his own money, not the current fortune he received as the heir of House Black. He had only two rooms in his house, his own and one for possible guests, both at the second floor. Besides the kitchen and the living room, the first floor also had a study room with lots of bookcases.

The icing on the cake was a potions lab in the basement. It was wider than the one Titania had at her house and Sirius possessed a few rare books and ingredients that made her eyes twinkle. The illumination and temperature were also perfect for potion making. Sirius didn't have as many equipment and stuff as she had but there appeared to have enough space to place her own stuff too.

Sirius wasn't skilled as Titania in the arts of potion brewing, but he was good enough to make the Animagus Potion with James and Peter at the age of fifteen. He and James probably helped brewing some potions at the war against Voldemort and the Death Eaters.

When Titania turned around to leave the basement, Sirius had a smug smirk, it was clear on her face she approved the potions lab. She returned to the second floor to analyze better the guest room that would be Harry's. Titania was examining it when Sirius leaned against the door, just a step behind her.

"We can extend Harry's room when we start to have our own kids."

Titania scoffed and turned to face him in disbelief. Regulus suppressed a laugh, standing outside the room just behind them.

"How about we make a Quidditch team of our own?" Sirius winked and opened a malicious smile.

"I think I'll leave you alone now." Regulus provoked.

"Don't you dare abandon me with your stupid brother, Reg!" Titania said through her teeth glaring at Regulus and then turned her head to stare Sirius, trying to maintain the focus of her mission, ignoring the irritation he caused on her. "We'll have to buy some furniture for a kid's room, clothes and toys for Harry. The bed and the wardrobe I'll use from now on, I'll bring a few of my things to organize, since I'll live here after our wedding. I'll also change the colors, I feel like I'm inside the Gryffindor Common Room." She scrunched up her nose in disgust.

Sirius crossed his arms, a wrinkle between his eyebrows. "If you wanted to share my room even sleeping in a separate bed, I wouldn't care to redecorate everything there, but I'll have to meddle with your choices for Harry."

Titania only arched an eyebrow at him and scoffed. "Grow up, Sirius. Harry is still a baby, he isn't even sorted yet."

Sirius exhaled in frustration. "You don't get it. I visited my godson lots of times and I know exactly how was his room. James and Lily were both Gryffindors and you know how James used to be about it..." Titania's mouth felt suddenly dry. "I want him to feel as comfortable as possible. We can change it little by little on the future."

Titania considered his words and nodded. "Sure."

After that they spoke about the arrangements they would have to make for Titania to move there. Sirius would expand the basement and the study room in case they needed to use at the same time. They would decorate them together in a way pleasant for both of them. Besides Harry's room and his own, Sirius gave Titania carte blanche to change anything else as she pleased, as long as she didn't threw away anything without talking to him first.

Sirius and Regulus talked a lot the prior day so he knew Titania didn't have much money and wouldn't feel comfortable using his, so he told Regulus he could buy or change anything essential if it could be better for Harry and Titania.

Sirius lost a good amount of weight in Azkaban, so Titania prepared some meals for him to recover properly until the wedding day. While she was organizing the food in the fridge and making a shopping list for them, Sirius spoke alone with Regulus. He wanted Narcissa's aid to go shopping with Titania, buying her new clothes or anything else a lady could want or need.

"Don't worry about it, brother, Cissy and I were already planning to do that anyway."

"I'll be forever grateful if any of you sneak in her clothes something sexy in red and gold." Sirius winked. Regulus chuckled.

"You are such a kid, brother."

At Thursday morning Titania and Sirius received an owl from the Ministry approving their marriage request. Regulus and Sirius would have to go there to set the wedding date and submit the papers claiming Harry's guard. They were in a hurry so the date chosen was May 9th, the second Sunday of May. It gave them a little more than two weeks to prepare everything.

What Titania didn't know was the fact Narcissa and Regulus already had planned most of the wedding ceremony for her, now they had only to set their plans in place, buy a few things and contract some people. They only did it all behind her back because they knew Titania couldn't care less for any details concerning a fake wedding with her childhood enemy. They wanted her to feel pretty, loved and happy, Titania deserved to enjoy that special day as much as she could, they didn't want her feeling miserable for marrying Sirius or stress out about any arrangements.

They would need Titania and Sirius' help only to make the guests list, the invitations were already prepared, they only needed to fill the names and send the owls. Regulus and Narcissa were sure neither Titania or Sirius would want to invite too many people or make a big celebration about it, they shared more similarities than they could admit. Reg and Cissy had the feeling Titania and Sirius were a perfect match for each other, but were too stubborn to admit their feelings. Well at least Titania. Sirius actually seemed to be enjoying the prospect of a future with her, it would be much easier if he didn't act like a moron.

At evening, Regulus, Sirius and Titania were eating dinner together. Regulus said he didn't want to meet the Weasleys and Sirius should go with Titania instead, taking the opportunity to present her as his fiancée. It could be also a good opportunity for Titania to take a few tips about taking care of kids, considering Molly Weasley had seven, while Narcissa had only a son and her House-elf did almost all the job for her. Titania exchanged some glances with Reg and Sirius had the feeling his brother was hiding something. If he had his own reasons to decline the meeting with the Weasleys Sirius would respected him and didn't push the matter further.

Sirius send and owl to the Weasleys asking if his fiancée could join them at Saturday instead of Regulus. He said his brother wasn't feeling well but could meet them another day. At Friday morning he received a letter from Arthur saying his family would be more than happy to welcome his fiancée and if his brother felt better he could join them as well.

Titania arrived at Sirius' place half hour before the meeting with the Weasleys and almost didn't recognize Sirius, who cut his hair and trimmed his beard and mustache. The last time Titania saw Sirius with a short haircut was around their fourth year, after that Sirius let his hair grow long. Titania forgot how hot Sirius could look without much effort. Regulus was adjusting Sirius' tie and smirked when glanced at Titania. He knew exactly her taste and she cursed the day after her visit in Azkaban, when she told him Sirius looked way manlier with facial hair.

Titania hold her breath when her eyes met Sirius' and he smiled to her. "Look at you. You almost look like a person now." Her comment made Sirius bark a laugh.

"I'll take that as a compliment, sweetheart. Now I understand why Regulus insisted for me to keep it." He ran his fingers through his beard. "You like it, don't you?"

Titania scoffed and rolled her eyes, trying to feign indifference. "You better behave in front of the Weasleys. We don't know yet if they'll gossip about us."

"Don't worry about it, Tanya. I've already told you Dumbledore won't try to do anything against us. If he didn't make a move at the trial, he won't interfere anymore, it's a lost battle."

"Yeah, I'm thinking about inviting him to our wedding." Sirius said jokingly.

"Don't you dare..." Titania started but was interrupted by Regulus.

"I was actually thinking the same. I'm pretty sure he'll decline if you two invite him to your wedding. I think is wiser to act like you don't have hard feelings towards him, Dumbledore is a powerful wizard, I think is better not oppose him."

Titania bit the inside of her cheeks, considering Regulus' words. Sirius had a sneer in his face, clearly he had the same opinion as her, however Regulus had a good point. "But Reg... what if he try something, like drugging me or Sirius— "

"He won't. Even if he managed to do so, it would only delay the consummation of your marriage for a day or two." Regulus' comment made Titania's cheeks gain a tone of pink. "It would be extremely stupid trying to poison anyone in a place with two Potion Masters." Titania widened her eyes and Reg flashed a smirk. "Of course you want to invite Slughorn, and I'm pretty sure my brother will invite McGonagall and Hagrid... Trust me, I bet 50 galleons Dumbledore won't come if you invite him."

"I'll take your bet, brother!" Sirius declared then shook Regulus' hand.

Titania crossed her arms and sighed in frustration. "If anything bad happens, I won't forgive any of you."

Sirius and Titania had a warm welcome from Molly and Arthur. Titania thought at first their house would be in a chaotic state, considering the Weasleys had seven children, but they were unexpectedly well-behaved for kids. They could be shy in front of strangers or maybe they were just wary or scared of receiving Sirius Black at their home. Sirius was innocent, but he still had the reputation of being someone ferocious at the war against Voldemort and recovered his status as a war hero as well, just like James Potter. The kids observed him and Titania in curiosity, the two younger ones were sleeping when they arrived, Molly fed them a little earlier.

Titania sat down besides Sirius at the table, enjoying the delicious meal Molly prepared for them. She felt a little out of place, not used to socialize with people, yet she wanted to gain Molly's friendship, it would be good for Harry to have friends around his age and Molly could give lots of tips for her, not just about kids, but also about cooking, one of Titania's favorite hobbies.

"I must say your cooking skills are amazing, Molly," Titania declared sincerely, trying to start a conversation. She only called the witch by her first name because she insisted on it when they met, but it felt a little strange for Titania.

"Thank you, dear!" Molly opened a smile at her, making a gesture with her wand to fill Titania's glass with more grape juice.

"And you have such adorable kids." Titania continued sheepishly. Sirius turned his head to look at his fiancée, smirking after seeing her flushed face, knowing Titania wasn't used to praise people.

"Thank you again!" Molly's smile widened even more. "I know people isn't used to big families like ours," She said while slicing a piece of chicken for one of the twins. She leaned a little at Titania's direction using a conspiratorial tone. "If a man ever says he intends to make a 'Quidditch Team' with you, just run."

Titania choked while drinking her juice, and coughed. Sirius patted her back and gave her a napkin, trying to hold back a smirk.

"Oh dear!" Molly exclaimed. "You are two lovebirds, aren't you?" She chuckled and looked at Arthur.

"Molly..." Arthur flashed an embarrassed smile at his wife, the tip of his ears extremely red.

"Of course! Titania is such a charming woman," Sirius chuckled, seeing Titania now red as a beet. "We were crazy about each other since Hogwarts,"

Titania cleared up her throat. "Stop lying Sirius," She glared at him then regained her composure and looked at Molly who was eager to know the rest of the story. "He was the one crazy about me. Can you believe he asked my hand when I was eleven, when we met at the Hogwarts Express?"

"That's true!" Sirius chuckled.

"So were you dating since your first year?" Molly had a reprimand tone.

"Oh no." Titania took a sip from her glass, making a small suspense. "As soon as we were sorted into different Houses he started to hate me."

"That was true as well!" Sirius shrugged."Unfortunately the feeling was mutual and we were always fighting each other."

"We started seeing each other only after our graduation, then everything you already know happened and here we are now." For Titania was easier to lie using half-truths. Sirius didn't corrected her.

"In which Houses were you sorted in?" Arthur asked.

"I was a Gryffindor, Titania was in Slytherin."

"Oh," Arthur nodded, putting a potato in his mouth and chewing it. Molly's expression failed away for a moment. "Molly and I were both Gryffindors." He said after swallowing his potato, then he looked straight at Titania. "It must've been hard for you in Slytherin. Your surname is 'Snape', isn't it? Are you a muggleborn?" Arthur asked with genuine curiosity. Being friends with Narcissa, the wife of Lucius Malfoy, Titania knew beforehand Arthur Weasley was one of that wizards who were fascinated by muggles, so she was safe from any prejudice concerning his blood status. However, judging Molly's expression, she possibly would face a small prejudice about her House.

"No, I'm a half-blood, actually, my mother married a muggle. But if you don't mind... I don't want to talk about my parents, can we change the subject?" Titania flashed an apologetic smile at Molly.

Sirius took Titania's hand on his under the table and squeezed it reassuringly, then he looked at Arthur and Molly. "My fiancée is an amazing witch, if wasn't for her and my brother I would be still in Azkaban. I'm a lucky man to have her in my life and I'll be extremely glad if you all attend our wedding." He smiled again, releasing her hand before she could feel uncomfortable. Molly noticed Titania's expression softening at Sirius' words, then she was smiling again.

"Of course we will! You two form such a cute couple!"

After finishing the meal they ended up dividing into groups. Sirius and Arthur gone to the living room while Titania and Molly stayed at the table chatting, the kids playing in the garden.

Molly and Titania talked about cooking recipes and then Titania started to ask Molly a few questions about taking care of babies. Molly stared suspiciously at Titania, already knowing the date of the upcoming wedding.

"If Sirius had been released a few weeks earlier, I would suspect you two hushing the marriage was thanks to a child." Titania paled thinking about Harry, but Molly interpreted it the wrong way. It took her a few seconds to process. "No way! You did that in Azkaban?" the older witch asked with a hiss.

 "W-what?" Titania felt confused, caught off guard by the strange question.

Molly huffed and rolled her eyes, leaning closer to Titania. "Are you with child, dear?"

Titania blinked stupidly at the red-haired woman, it took her a moment to realize what happened. "Oh no!" She let out a humorless laugh, then her brain worked quickly and she add. "But I want to be a good mother... when I have a kid to take care of." She forced her thoughts into Harry. She didn't want to think about the possibility of having a baby with Sirius, her future marriage was only a farce, after all.

Molly send her a skeptical glance. Good, now the Weasley matriarch was sure Titania was pregnant. She didn't know if the Weasleys were trustworthy, if they were not, The Prophet for sure would rejoice with a scandal involving her name and Sirius.

Sirius and Arthur discovered they both shared a passion about muggle things, specially vehicles. Sirius bragged about the flying motorbike he enchanted and then was happy to hear Arthur also had a project of his own. They talked a little more about vehicles and then Sirius offered a small amount of his own fortune as thanks for Arthur capturing the rat who made his life miserable. Arthur refused, saying he already received lots of galleons from the Ministry and he should be the one thanking Sirius, or else, who knows what Pettigrew could do against his family? Sirius insisted and in the end he convinced Arthur to let him pay for the future expenses their kids would have at Hogwarts. Arthur only accepted thinking about his family's well-being. If something bad happened to him, it would be good to have someone else responsible for his kids' education.

Arriving at Sirius' house, Titania found herself alone with him, Regulus wasn't there anymore. She made mention to leave him alone, but Sirius asked for her to stay a little more, at least for a tea. Regulus, Remus or Narcissa wouldn't keep company at them all the times on the near future so it was good to get used at each other's company. Titania was apprehensive about him trying any 'funny business' with her or something, but he didn't.

Sirius poured tea for her and they kept quiet for a while, each one of them lost in their own thoughts, until Sirius finally broke the silence.

"I know you are uncomfortable about it, but I'm curious... You said your mother was a witch. From which Family?

Titania took a sip of her tea. "She was from the House Prince."

Sirius whistled. "Was she disowned, then?" He already knew the answer before Titania nodded. Some wizard families were extreme purists, the Prince family was one of them. His mind drifted away to a memory from his second year at Hogwarts, when he followed Titania after seeing her receive an owl for the first time. Now he had a guess why she was crying that day. His heart felt suddenly heavy.

Sirius' gaze met Titania's, then his gray eyes descended to her rose lips. Today she didn't use black lipstick like when she visited him in prison, now she had a lighter make-up, possibly to make a good impression towards the Weasleys. It wasn't important for Sirius how much Snape painted her face, she was fascinating no matter what, he loved her dark eyes, her long nose and her beautiful lips. But what he wanted most was see her face clean and her hair disheveled, preferentially waking up in his arms.

"So, where do you want to go on our first date, princess?"

Next Chapter

About the next updates:

[gabriellewebb]

The Half-blood Fairy Prince(ss) Titania V

This is the prequel for The Animagus Bride. :3

Previous chapters: I - II - III - IV

V - First Love

At the first two weeks of the term, Titania avoided Sirius Black and James Potter as much as she could and never took the bait when they provoked her, ignoring them completely. In a way, acting like this backfired at her, because Black only grew more insistent into catching her attention. The main reason Titania was holding herself so much was her father. She didn't want to give him more reasons to beat her next summer and receive owls about her detentions or behavior would only bring her trouble.

However, they made Titania so angry she wanted an opportunity to unleash her vengeance upon them without being caught. That's when she eavesdropped a conversation between Black and Potter about exploring the castle after curfew. Titania had a plan to ambush the Gryffindors, hexing them with a stunning spell, make noise to attract the attention of Filch or Mrs Norris and run away before she could be noticed.

Titania hidden herself in a place where she could see them coming out from the Fat Lady portrait and waited patiently. They indeed exited the Gryffindor Common Room and Titania followed them for five or six minutes until they disappeared into thin air and she lost their trail completely, so she came back to the Dungeons extremely frustrated.

Before she reached the entrance of the Common Room of her own House, she heard sobs. Titania waited for a moment and the sobs didn't fade away, she cast Revelio and found none other than Regulus Black crying, sitting down on a corner not so far away from her, his face buried on his knees. He didn't stop, unaware of her presence.

Titania carefully approached him, leaning down a little to observe him better. "Black, is everything alright?"

Regulus snapped his face up at her, startled by her intrusion. He dried his tears with the back of his hands. "Why do you ask? Are you going to mock me?" He questioned angrily.

"Of course not," Titania said softly, with a concerned expression. "Did someone hurt you?" She asked innocently, forgetting for a moment no one inside her House would dare to lay a finger in an heir of the main branch of The House Black.

Regulus widened his eyes a little, surprised by the tone of her voice. The girl in front of him appeared to be genuinely worried, so he decided to confide her the truth. "I miss my house and my mom," His voice faltered and he sobbed again. "I miss my mom so much!" Before Titania could react, Regulus stood up to hug her, burying his face on her neck, crying copiously.

It took Titania completely by surprise, but she didn't find in her heart any will to shove him away. She hugged him back, patting his back and caressing his silky black hair, trying to soothe him.

Regulus was shorter than her and his frame was much more delicate than Sirius' at the same age, she was pretty sure Regulus wouldn't be tall as his brother. Regulus was younger than her by just a year or so, yet she felt like comforting a seven year old kid. The witch was moved by the fact Sirius' brother was so attached to his own mother, a feeling she couldn't find anymore inside her heart. The boy calmed down after a few minutes and thanked her sheepishly before they entered the Common Room, heading themselves into their respective dormitories.

Regulus didn't ignore Titania after what happened the night before, like Sirius would probably do if something similar happened between them. He was completely different from his brother, sweet and lovely, despite the fact that sometimes he had a very sharp tongue.

Regulus clung into Titania, following her everywhere he could, like a lost puppy. He didn't care about the disapproval looks coming from people like Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix or other snotty pure-bloods, nobody would be crazy to oppose him directly. Titania didn't mind at all, it was like she got herself a little brother, even though he was very clingy sometimes, holding her hand or hugging her too much. Titania wasn't used to public displays of affection but she turned a blind eye on him, considering he wasn't being malicious or acting like a pervert, he was just a pampered boy feeling homesick and too adorable to be shoved away.

Regulus made company to Titania at every meal, sometimes accompanied by Narcissa, who started to grow found of Titania too. Narcissa was very used to Regulus' company and they grew up very close to each other, being more like siblings than cousins. However, Bellatrix stole her younger sister from them as much as she could, too jealous, so the blonde girl couldn't always be with them, no matter how much she preferred their company, she also didn't know how to say 'no' to her sister. The love Bellatrix felt for 'Cissy' was a side Titania never expected to see on her.

When Regulus didn't have classes or homework to do, he attended Titania's study sessions with Lily Evans and Remus Lupin. When the girls were distracted or chatting with each other, Remus sneered at him, it was obvious he didn't like the closeness the boy had with Titania, so the little devil always hugged Titania even tighter just to bother him. Titania was completely oblivious Reg had the tendency to act like this every time Sirius or Remus were observing them. The Gryffindors glared murdering stares when Regulus kissed Titania's cheeks, specially because the girl always chuckled after he did that, giving full attention to the boy.

On weekends at afternoon, Titania and Lily liked to chat near the Black Lake. One day, Regulus and Narcissa joined them, the two cousins clinging into Titania, embracing her from each side. Regulus noticed his brother and James Potter watching them, Sirius looking very cross at him while James seemed amused by his best friend's jealousy.

"I feel so blessed to be in the company of such lovely ladies!" Regulus declared suddenly, kissing Narcissa on the cheek, then doing the same with Titania and Lily. James' gasp was muffled by the giggles of the older girls, calling Regulus 'cute' and 'adorable'. Narcissa snickered, trading knowing glances with her cousin, the only girl there who wasn't obtuse about Regulus teasing the older boys. After this day, James Potter joined the team of Regulus' haters and Sirius laughed his ass off by James finally understanding the menace his younger brother was to them.

At the first Hogsmeade weekend, Andromeda and Bellatrix bought lots of candies to Narcissa and Regulus, who shared them later with Titania. It was the first time she had the opportunity to taste a large variety of magic candies. She felt a tingly feeling in her stomach when she saw boxes of chocolate frogs, remembering the wonderful time she had with Sirius. She sorted them for later and had some fun with Reg, Cissy and a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, but they stopped when Cissy took one with rotten-egg flavor and they decided it wasn't worth to try more of them. Reg would give a box of it to Lily and then ask her to give the other spare ones to his brother, who was very fond of the candy. Sirius loved to risk getting strange flavours, in his opinion it was way more fun that way.

They had an obscene amount of Sugar Quills and Mice Pops, Reg's and Cissy's favorites. Titania tried one of everything and discovered among her favorites Jelly Slugs and Liquorice Wands, both Reg and Cissy said she must be crazy to like the latter. Of course they gave her every Liquorice Wands they had, like she was just doing them a favor. Titania also liked the Peppermint Toads and No-melt Ice-cream, that was interesting for its properties, but not much different from the common muggle ice cream.

Titania was enjoying spending her free time with the younger Blacks and their constant presence near her was more than enough to stop all the bullying she faced in her first year and she had to suppress her urge to smirk with the indignant glares Bellatrix shot to her direction each time she was near Narcissa, the older Slytherin had to hold her tongue a lot, wary to despise Regulus Black, who was the younger son of the main branch of The House Black.

The only person who wasn't enjoying her new friendships was Remus Lupin, in particular Regulus Black. Remus was always grumpy when the small boy joined their study sessions, Titania had no idea why.

One day, during their Herbology Classes, just after Lily left Titania and Lupin alone to help two Gryffindor girls who called her, Remus leaned down a little near the shoulder of the Slytherin. He spoke in a low tone so only the Slytherin could hear. "You smell so good today."

Titania snorted, feeling her face a little flushed. "I doubt it. I must be all sweaty right now." They were at the greenhouses after all, where it was pretty warm and humid.

"It's better this way," He said with foggy eyes. "I prefer when the perfume of your soap fades away and you smell more like... you."

Remus Lupin was being weird again, like he was at their first year, but this time Titania felt her heart hammering inside her rib cage after his awkward confession.

"Am I stinking?" She asked with genuine concern after considering the possibility Remus was flourishing his words to politely let her be more conscious about her body odor.

"Hell no!" He opened a crooked smirk. "You smell heavenly!"

Titania elbowed him on his side, suppressing a smirk forming on her lips. It was strange feeling butterflies in her stomach followed by such a stupid praise. They both worked in silence side by side when Lily come back to join them.

A few days passed and Titania felt nervous just by expecting being alone with Remus again and sometimes their gazes met and she had the impression the boy wanted the same. It was very rare for them to be alone, though, being always near Lily and Regulus.

It finally happened when Regulus left earlier from the library to do homework in the Slytherin Common Room with his classmates, leaving Titania with Lily and Remus. Titania offered to search some books for their studies and heard behind her Remus' faint voice saying 'I'll help her' to Lily.

Remus and Titania were skimming for the titles in silence side by side until finally they were so close she could feel the boy's warmth.

"I don't like Regulus being so close to you," Titania heard Remus saying in a low voice. Before she could complain about his statement, he brushed a finger on her palm. His touch was subtle but enough to make her mind turn blank. She caressed his hand back without a word and they kept a moment like this, both of them gathering courage to hold each other hands for the first time.

Titania felt her heart hammering inside her chest. She was used to hold hands with Lily, Narcissa and Reg, but Remus' touch felt completely different.

"Reg is my friend just like you," She said with a faltering voice, trying to shove away her new discovered feelings. She also wanted an excuse to keep holding his hand without being awkward while they resumed their search for the books.

They were too timid to hold hands in front of anyone else so it was obvious their feelings extended beyond a common friendship. In late October was the first time Remus kissed Titania on her cheek and he did it again whenever no one was looking. That always made her flush like hell, but when she looked up to see his face, his ears were extremely red and she chuckled noticing Remus was maybe more embarrassed than her.

They were again searching books in the library and for the first time Titania tried to kiss his cheek, but he had the idea to kiss hers at the same time, so instead of it, her lips grazed near his. They stared nervously at each other, paralyzed for a few seconds, then Remus lifted her chin with a hand and approached her slowly, to seal a kiss on her mouth. It was very brief, because they heard steps just behind them, startling they both, causing Remus to drop lots of books, making too much noise and drawing all attention at their direction. If Lily noticed how red they both were when they came back, she kept it to herself.

[gabriellewebb]

The Dark Lord, The Witch and The Time-Portal XI

Chapter I - Previous Chapter

XI -  Better days will always come

Friday, September 4, 1942

Holly was sitting in front of the lake in Hogwarts, staring the horizon and feeling the cool autumn breeze.

"Holly, where were you?" Cedric said behind her. She turned her body a little to look up at him.

"Cedric?" She said with a whisper. Her chest tightened but she didn't know why. She stood up quickly and threw herself at him in a hug. "I’ve missed you so much!"

He laughed out a breath. "But you saw me this morning!" The witch heard his voice vibrating in his chest. She inhaled deeply his scent, his cologne had a citrus fresh perfume that really fit him. Cedric was always clean and even after a Quidditch match, when he was sweaty and dirty, he still had a good smell.

"I have something important to tell you," Holly looked up to stare his blue eyes, heart racing inside her rib cage and her intuition screaming that something awful was about to happen. "It's important... but I totally forgot what was about!"

He opened a sincere smile at her, cupping her face in his hands. "If you can't remember, it’s not that important, you silly..." He said in a playful way and pecked her lips. Soon they were kissing sweetly by the lake. It was uncomfortably for him to kiss her while both stood up considering their height difference, so they changed positions and sat in the grass.

Cedric liked to take his time brushing his lips on hers before deepening the kiss. His pace sometimes felt way too slow and far too sweet for Holly’s taste, but it wasn't that bad either. They just had different rhythms. Holly enjoyed when they were together, however at the back of her mind she felt something amiss in their relationship. She was too naive to end what they had, though, afraid to break his heart because he was loyal, trustworthy, sweet and caring. In her opinion it was just a matter of time for love to flourish in her heart. Cedric never protested, so she thought he was satisfied with her. He was oldest and had more experience in relationships than her.

"After I graduate," His words made Holly's chest hurt again, she didn't know why. "I hope I'll be hired by a professional Quidditch team. It will be good if I win the Triwizard Tournament," Holly had a bad feeling and somehow she knew it was related to that event. She was close to remember what she had to warn Cedric about. "And when you graduate I want you to marry me," Cedric said with a boyish smile. Holly felt bad with herself again. They just started dating, but Cedric was already talking about marriage when Holly wasn't so certain about her feelings. She had no clue about how to approach this subject without hurting him, so she just closed her eyes and started another kiss. If he just stop talking it could be easier for her to think. He chuckled and laid down in the grass, pulling her closer, so Holly was facing him down while kissing him, caressing his jaw.

Holly tried to deepen the kiss but he kept his mouth shut. She gave some pecks but he stopped to respond. She leaned back to scold him and when she opened her eyes Cedric was staring the void with a blank expression. She touched his face and he was cold. Her breath faltered when she studied him better. He was using in his Hufflepuff uniform for the Triwizard Tournament. When she looked around, they weren't by the lake anymore, they were in a cemetery that she knew very well.

"Holly Potter," A familiar sinister voice called behind her. When the witch turned around, it wasn't Voldemort with his noseless monster face but the young Tom Riddle she met at her second year, dressed in black robes.

Holly woke up with a gasp, drenched in sweat. She was panting and when her eyesight adjusted in the darkness, the witch reminded herself that she was now in 1942 inside the Slytherin dormitory.

The girl was still getting used about her time travel experience, and asked inwardly how long it would take for her to stop feeling out of place. She cast a Tempus charm to see the time, it was still 5 AM. Well, no way she would be able to sleep again after such nightmare. Holly was fully awake so she gathered her things and took a bath. After that, she would eat something at the kitchen and wait outside the castle until the start of her first class that day.

Holly arrived early at Magical Care near the grounds of Forbidden Forest. There were already a few Gryffindors waiting and she easily spotted the giant frame of Hagrid sitting on a stump, isolated from the other students. It didn't surprise her that he was probably an outcast like Myrtle. She walked directly towards him. Even sitting down Hagrid towered her. He had more than the double of her size being slightly smaller than the fully grown adult Hagrid she was familiar with. However the most strange thing was the lack of the long tangles of bushy hair and the beard that covered most of his face.

"Hello!" Holly greeted him, unable to contain a happy smile seeing the young version of the person who revealed her she was a witch and gave her first birthday cake and Hedwig, her pet snowy owl.

Hagrid looked around himself before answering Holly, probably thinking she was greeting someone else that he didn't notice near him. He shifted in his seat. "Hello," He answered with a wrinkle formed between his eyebrows. "Do you need something?" Hagrid seemed a little disconcerted by her approach and Holly blamed the Slytherin colors.

Holly was determined to reclaim the friendship of her old friend, even though Hagrid was just a little behind Voldemort about putting her life at risk, like when he made her and Ron search for Aragog in her second year or when he made Holly, Ron and Hermione meet his half-brother Grawp, who was actually a giant. However, Holly knew Hagrid was a loyal friend with a big heart and never meant to cause her any harm, the problem was he had almost no sense of danger.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't introduce myself," Holly opened a genuine smile at him that Hagrid didn't reciprocate. Without a doubt he was suspicious she was up to something talking with him out of nowhere. "I'm Holly Portier, nice to meet you!" She extended a hand to him and he reluctantly shook it between his gigantic fingers. He was just being polite, it was clear he was rather uncomfortable.

"Rubeus Hagrid," He looked down at his feet, trying to dismiss her by averting his gaze. Holly noticed a few Gryffindors elbowing each other and pointing at her direction. Not that Hagrid needed protection, but it was obvious they didn't like the approach of someone from a rival House. The witch stood on her ground determined to get his attention, what wasn't so difficult considering she knew well the interests of her half-giant friend.

"My roommates don't take this class and I didn't have the opportunity to talk with the boys about the contents given in the previous years,” Holly started. “Did the professor teach anything about Hippogriffs yet? I really like them," She tried to appear more excited about the topic than she actually was and it seemed to work out, he widened his eyes when she mentioned the dangerous creatures.

"Hells no!" Hagrid opened a smile for the first time. "They are considered too ferocious! I think Professor Kettleburn will only introduce them this term or after the O.W.L.s!" So, Draco's father wasn't exaggerating about the danger of Hagrid's classes on third year. Holly contained a laugh, Hagrid indeed had a strange 'talent' to perceive dangerous creatures as they were harmless. Cerberus, Acromantulas, Hippogriffs and Dragons were cuddly and misunderstood creatures in his opinion.

The half-giant snorted. "It's pretty rare for a girl to take Magical Care, you’re the only one in our class." He eyed her up and down. "And you’re very tiny, you can stick with me if you get afraid or something," Holly huffed a laugh, it was funny he was a little rude in his straightforwardness. Another huge difference between past and future, at her original timeline the class of Magical Care had a pretty good amount of girls.

"I may be tiny, but when I was eleven I helped a friend to take down a Mountain Troll," Holly stated proudly, chest stuffed and chin lifted.

"No way!" He spoke with an amused smile. "How that happened?"

And then Holly told him how Ron used a Wingardium Leviosa on the Troll's club while she stuck her wand inside his nose. Of course she omitted that everything happened in Hogwarts even though he didn't ask those type of details, too occupied almost rolling on the ground laughing hard at her story. The Gryffindor boys were attentive to her and Hagrid since Holly approached him, but now their looks softened watching Hagrid having fun. Holly felt happy that they were looking after their schoolmate in a way and she didn't notice the arrival of the Slytherin boys or the way Tom Riddle scrunched up his nose seeing her so comfortable around the biggest student at the school who also happened to be a Gryffindor. Hagrid always had a soft heart even though his size made him look threatening.

Holly was distractedly talking to Hagrid about dragons when the professor arrived from the Forbidden Forest guiding a Thestral that had a leash unlike the rest of the herd trailing behind them. Professor Silvanus Kettleburn was around his thirties and had a glove with two prosthetic fingers, a prosthetic foot and some scars on his face, but he wasn't serious or scary, he looked cheerful and had gentle eyes.

"Good morning class!"  He flashed a smile to Holly and Hagrid and then looked in the direction of the other students. He had four or five golden teeth on the upper front of his mouth. Holly was asking herself what kind of creature ran over him to turn him this way. The class greeted him with furrowed brows. "Anyone has any idea of which creature we will study today?"

"A giant Demiguise?" A Gryffindor answered while his friend stared at the suspended leash in the air.

"That was a good guess, but no," The professor snorted. "Lift your hand if you are capable to see them,"

Holly almost laughed when she saw a Gryffindor mouthing 'them?' to a student beside him, as if the professor lost his mind. She lifted up her hand with confidence. The professor turned his head to her in surprise and then to Hagrid, who also did the same with a sorrowful face. Tom Riddle was staring her with his brows furrowed and then reluctantly mimicked their gesture, his hand up in the air. Dolohov glanced Riddle with confusion in his eyes followed by Lestrange and Rosier, but they made no comments.

Professor Kettleburn glanced at Tom and then to the rest of the class who seemed very confused about this creature that apparently only random people could see.

"Three, hm? I actually expected less," The professor made a gesture so the rest of class came closer to him. "Today we’re gonna study Thestrals. For the ones who can't see them, open your books on page forty four. There is a drawing of their general appearance," And then he started to describe to the students some of its physical characteristics. Tom approached Holly and Hagrid, leaving the other Slytherins alone.

"Why just us can see them?" Tom asked Holly in a low voice.

"They’re invisible to people who never saw someone dead," It was Hagrid who answered, Holly still astonished that Tom could already see the Thestrals. Her heart tightened a little, in a way part of her expecting the worse. Tom furrowed his brows deeper at Hagrid's direction. Holly knew Tom was annoyed that the Gryffindor intruded himself at their conversation and then he stared down at Holly again with a raised eyebrow.

"W-who did you saw?" The question slipped her lips before she could process, her voice constricted.

Tom answered her with a disturbingly calm tone. "I grown up in a muggle orphanage, it's common that some kids or babies don't make it sometimes. Specially the sickly and weak ones."

Before Holly could answer something she was interrupted by Hagrid, who was already crying, with red nose and eyes. "Oh man, that was really sad! Poor children!" The Gryffindor sniffed and hiccuped and Tom stared up again at Hagrid with narrowed eyes and curled lips. He didn't care to hide the disgust on his face, staring the half-giant like he was far too stupid, but Hagrid didn't appear to notice and continued talking. "In my case was my dad, two years ago," Hagrid's gaze changed to Holly and she stared up at him with sad eyes and tried to comfort him patting his forearm. A few seconds passed until she realized they wanted to know who she saw dead.

"My boyfriend," She answered shyly and stared down at the ground. Hagrid sobbed and patted her back.

"Oh Godric, this is so sad!" Hagrid gasped and dried the tears on his cheeks with the back of his hands. The atmosphere was now gloomy and tense but in a way Holly wanted to laugh, seeing the soft-hearted half-giant crying like a baby while young Voldemort rolled his eyes at Hagrid before his gaze bore into hers again with an unreadable expression.

Some Gryffindors crinkled their eyebrows at them. They seemed slightly curious about the conversation that made one of their Housemates cry. Professor Kettleburn didn't notice the side-line conversation and kept talking about the Thestrals.

"They may look skinny and fragile, but they actually eat a considerably amount of meat every day and are very strong. The herd we have in Hogwarts are domesticated though wild Thestrals are as dangerous as werewolves, with the difference that they usually attack if feeling threatened."

To Holly it was just few days ago that she used Thestrals to fly to the Ministry of Magic in London. If she wasn't so preoccupied with her godfather’s well-being, she would probably have enjoyed the ride a lot. Thestrals were much faster than her Firebolt and she loved to fly. It seemed like decades ago the last time she flew in a broom, Umbridge took hers and kicked Holly out of the Quidditch team. She really missed the sensation of the wind on her face and to be high up in the sky.

"Can we speak after class?" Tom's voice near her ear interrupted her line of though. She just nodded in response and her attention came back to the professor and the Thestrals in front of her.

After the class finished, Tom and Holly walked alone towards the castle.

"I'm sorry for what happened after Transfiguration class," Tom started and Holly stared up him in surprise. "And I am really ashamed about my roommates’ behavior yesterday, specially Ivan."

"Okay..." Holly furrowed her brows and stared down the ground, still walking, expecting him to continue. She knew Tom was manipulative and it was against his nature to be apologetic, it was obvious to her that he wanted to gain something.

"I want us to start again with a clean slate as friends," She stared up at him in disbelief and his eyes were strangely soft. She knew from her experience at the second year with the Diary that Tom Riddle was an extraordinary good actor and it was unsettling to her that he wanted to start over their ‘friendship’. As far as she knew, Voldemort never had true friends, only pawns, and she was more used with him as an open enemy. Even though he wasn't the same wizard that brought misery to her life, and in a way she wanted to save him showing goodness, it was rather uncomfortable to see Tom Riddle extending the olive branch. "I assure you they won't bother you again," Tom said with a secretive smirk. Holly just blinked at him, at a loss of words. "I told Walburga Black to use them as she wish for the next two weeks and Crocket also put Ivan in care of all the brooms and equipment of the Quidditch Team, or he is out," He flashed a smile to her. "And you can make requests to any of them if you wish. They will obey," His black orbs had a strange gleam in them. "And of course I am at your disposal too, because I am also at fault with you."

Her sixth sense buzzed. It was a trap, it couldn’t be anything else. She stopped in her heels and he followed her gesture. They were now facing each other. Holly mistrusting his unexpected behavior and he staring down at her with the serene expression of an innocent angel. Probably Lucifer.

"Is this some kind of prank?" She asked him with narrowed eyes and he let out a chuckle.

"No it's not. Dolohov crossed a line yesterday with a Slytherin lady and I also don't want your enmity,"

Holly opened her mouth and closed again, still not believing in him. " So I can make any requests and you all will accept them?"

"Of course, as long you are reasonable,"

"Fine," Holly nodded and stared at the ground for a few seconds, thinking about what requests she should make. "Then, I don't want you all to mistreat any muggleborns from now on. Dolohov also must apologize directly to Myrtle for calling her a 'mudblood' and he has to give his word to her that he won't do it ever again,” She doubted they would do any of that, but it wouldn't hurt trying. Even if this lasts just a few days it still will be a win-win situation. It was also good to test how far Riddle intended to go to gain her ‘friendship’.

"I think this is reasonable. Consider it done," He offered a hand and she just looked down at it before speaking again.

"And you will lend me your notes if I ask you," She offered with a haughty look. He chuckled again and opened a charming smile, his hand still in the air.

"Sure!"

Holly couldn’t contain a smirk from tugging her lips and shook his hand to seal the deal. If she was unable to discover any dirty secret hiding in his notes, at least she will have a better chance to pass in History and Herbology with good grades.

Harmless promises that could be followed were a good start to change the future for better. A seed of hope started blossoming in her chest.

After Charms on her third period, Holly decided to take lunch at the Slytherin table again, not hiding in the kitchens. Everybody stared her in silence. Her presence ended all conversations and everyone seemed wary of her. When she was near the middle of the table, Nott’s face paled and he pointedly averted his gaze. She noticed black circles under his eyes, he clearly had trouble sleeping with the vivid memory of the Dementors tormenting him the night before.

"You have a place near the girls if you want," Walburga spoke to her and pointed with a nod a vacant seat next to the fifth year Prefect Harley Flint.

"Thank you, but I will sit there today," Holly politely refused, pointing a spot near the first years. She would have accepted it if was next to Lucretia Black, though. She was the only girl in Slytherin who treated her well. Near the first and second years she could be invisible and feel in peace. Walburga started a conversation about a new dress with a girl sitting across from her in a way to dismiss Holly.

Holly sat down near a first year girl and when she glanced at the opposite side of the table, the mini Malfoy was staring at her in awe. Holly raised a questioning eyebrow for a moment, but chose to focus on her meal instead. She heard him cough and ignored him, taking a sip of the orange juice in her goblet. She heard him cough again, twice, in an exaggerated way. When she looked across the table, the first years were observing her with awareness and curiosity at the same time. Holly sighed and turned her face to the boy who was obviously seeking her attention. He seemed nervous, his cheeks tinged in pink, but he put his mask of confidence.

"I am the Malfoy heir, Abraxas," He showed her an arrogant smirk, trying to appear jaunty. "You are Holly Portier, right? Nice to meet you!" He bowed his head just slightly in her direction.

Holly was surprised by the lack of hostility coming from a Malfoy she barely met. The pampered brat seemed irritatingly adorable, cuter than Draco was at the same age. It was clear that Abraxas was the most influential person among the first years. It didn't surprise her, the Malfoys were a very old, wealthy and prestigious family. In the future they maintained their good reputation even after joining forces with Voldemort. Draco had all the Quidditch team of Slytherin inside his pockets when he was just on his second year.

"Yes. Why do you ask?" Holly kept her tone neutral and baby Malfoy opened a smile for her.

"Is it true you can conjure a Patronus?" He asked bluntly, a gleam in his eyes full of expectations.

"Y-yes! how do you know that?" The kids gasped with her answer and Holly felt stupid as soon as she finished her sentence. She forgot for a second the memory she made Nott experience the night before and it was obvious that everyone in Slytherin already knew about what he saw.

"So is it true that you defeated thousands of Dementors conjuring a Patronus to save you and your beloved, who had thrice of your age?"

Holly stared baby Malfoy with a blank face for a moment before she burst out in a hysteric laugh. It was harder to stop with Abraxas Malfoy pouting at her with furrowed brows. Everyone was observing her on Slytherin table and also a few Ravenclaws nearby.

"Oh no… Eew!" She looked him with a wrinkled nose. "He was with my godfather, not my 'beloved'," She spoke the last word in a mocking tone. "And there were lots of Dementors, but they weren't thousands, maybe a hundred..."

"Can you show us?" A little boy in front of her requested with puppy eyes. The other kids were sharing looks between themselves, and then they did the same as him, looking at Holly with similar pleading expressions.

The hatchlings were so fucking cute Holly could only sigh in defeat. "Fine, let's finish our meal and then we can look for an empty classroom," She skimmed her eyes to each one of them. "If I do it here it will drawn too much attention," They opened bright smiles at Holly and exchanged victorious glances between themselves.

"If I knew how to do a Patronus I would show it to everyone!" One of the girls spoke in a snobbish tone, with raised eyebrows and nose up.

They started to devour their foods like mini Rons and Holly stopped them before any of the older Slytherins asked what the hell was happening.

"No hurry, I will eat in my own pace," She scolded them and they stopped to eat like famine kids just like Holly did a few days ago after the Sorting Ceremony. When she wasn't starving, she could eat like a normal person.

As soon as Holly finished her lunch and stood up, the first years mimicked her, even if they didn't finish their own meals yet. She couldn't help herself but chuckle with their eagerness. The first years followed her and some older Slytherins glanced questioning looks, but nobody tried to stop them. She also spotted Tom Riddle staring her, the only person in the table with a mischievous smirk, as if he was the only person at the table capable of understanding some sort of internal joke.

In less than five minutes they found an empty classroom. It was easy, considering the afternoon classes didn't start yet. Holly let them inside and shut the door. Then, she proceeded to the middle of the classroom and made the required wand movements while thinking about meeting her blood parents and marauders as teenagers, even if she was too old, wrinkled and with hair all colored in white.

She felt her chest so warm and filled with hope that she cast it easily non-verbally. An elegant stag emerged from the tip of her wand and bounced in the air around the classroom. The kids shouted in surprise, some girls giggling, while Prongs showed himself proudly to them.

"Salazar's beard! You are the most awesome witch I known!!" Abraxas exclaimed without looking at her too awed by the corporeal Patronus. The other kids also shouted exclamations and said how Holly was cool and 'the best'. They made her blush with their comments while Prongs circled around the kids, strutting gracefully.

It seemed that Holly just now discovered a place were she could be truly welcomed inside her new House. It didn't matter to her they were just children, she knew they weren't faking their new-found admiration for her.

This was the first day after Holly crossed the Time Portal that she felt truly capable of changing things for the best. Even if she wasn't able to stop Riddle from rising as Dark Lord, maybe she would be able to teach a thing or two for children who could perceive her as a role model. Small changes are better than no changes at all. That could be a great start.

Holly decided to spend the rest of the day inside her room studying the book Portier gave to her, 'Time Magic for Dummies'. She will visit Diagon Alley tomorrow, so it will be good to see if she can find more information about places she may need to go besides Gringotts and Ollivanders.

As soon as she set foot inside Slytherin Common Room she was 'greeted' by Dolohov, Rosier and Lestrange. They apologized to her and she reinforced what she said to Tom earlier and they promised to do as she wanted. They seemed very tired, specially Dolohov, so Walburga Black was for sure using their help as much as she could as punishment.

While studying the information presented in 'Time Magic for Dummies', she kept an occasional conversation with Myrtle using the enchanted parchments, considering they both were occupied.

It was near dinner when she received another message from the Ravenclaw.

"Holly, you can't believe what just happened!"

"Tell me!" Holly quickly answered back.

"Dolohov appeared here in the library just now and when he saw me, he apologized, just like you told me he would! And of course I didn't make easy for him, following your recommendations!"

Holly laughed in amusement with Myrtle's words. The ghost she knew from Hogwarts could be very mischievous when she wanted to, so her past-self just needed a small push and more confidence.

"Now I'm curious... What you did to him?" Holly wrote down in the parchment.

"I told him that I would only believe in his apologies if he'd pinky swear to me in the muggle way...He became so red, I thought he would have a stroke! But he did it!! I can't believe I made a pure-blood purist pinky swear with me!"

Holly laughed so hard that her belly ached."Girl, I wanna die your friend!"

"Me too! You're the one who made it happen!"

Holly kept her sporadic talk with Myrtle while planning more about her visit to Diagon Alley. She had to buy clothes, muggle clothes and other supplies, accordingly with how much she could expend. She made a list, testing for the first time the spell learned from the Gatekeeper of the Time Portal, and thank Mother Magic the magical words were written inside the book he gave her, because she had totally forgot them.

The Astronomy class was late in the evening. The first day of it was being very carefree. After the usual talk about O.W.L.s, the professor just wanted to evaluate the knowledge of the students, so they could leave the classroom as soon as they finished a blank star chart. The fifth year of Astronomy was in majority a big review of the previous years, so the professor wanted to measure the average weakness and strengths of the students to plan the next classes.

The professor was in his desk if anyone had doubts and the students were gathering in big groups, mostly chatting than doing their tasks.

It seemed just Holly and Tom Riddle were focusing on finishing their charts. Holly sat near Tom and Lucretia Black, who was surrounded by the Slytherin girls and they were talking more about Astrology than Astronomy. It was funny in a way, she remembered that Lavender and Parvati frequently did the same while she talked with Ron and Hermione.

"Hey, Holly, when is your birthday?" Lucretia suddenly asked her and when Holly looked at the group of girls, she saw them trading glances. She almost laughed, it was obvious they wanted to know her zodiac sign.

"July 31,"

Lucretia lifted an eyebrow. "A Leo? I would never have guessed that!"

Before Holly could answer, she heard Tom snorting through his nose. "Of course you are a Leo," He said without even looking at her, an amused grin tugging the corner of his lips. “The little lioness,” She couldn't help but chuckle at his statement, she knew he was still puzzled that she wasn't sorted in Gryffindor. She opened her mouth to scold him about eavesdropping but someone spoke first.

"I can't believe you are a Leo considering how poorly you dress," Holly turned her head again to the group of the girls and saw Miranda Nott sneering at her. "But you are rather good in drawing attention to yourself, aren't you?" Even Lucretia seemed surprised by her biting tone.

"Are you jealous that someone took the spotlight you never managed to achieve by yourself, Nott?" Tom answered quickly in Holly's defense, who was in lack of words. The blond girl huffed.

"And what about you, Riddle?" Miranda stared down at him with disgust. "Your prefect badge really stand out over your second-hand clothes," Her comment made Tom narrow his eyes. "Is it the most valuable possession you have?”

Tom inhaled deeply but before he could say anything, Lucretia intervened, visibly nervous, trying to act as if there was no discussion happening in front of them. "I-I didn't ask when your birthday is Riddle. Can you tell me?" Her voice had a higher pitch than usual and it was obvious she was changing the subject to avoid their quarrel to prolong further.

Tom kept his gaze fixed on Miranda, an answer in the tip of his tongue, but then he glanced at Lucretia and said reluctantly. "December 31,"

"What a coincidence," Lucretia opened a fake smile. "You and Holly share the same day! What are the odds?" It was clear she didn't think before saying it, the regret flashing on her face almost instantly. "But one born at summer and the other at winter, like opposites," She added, trying to fix it but only making things worse. Holly knew Lucretia didn't want Riddle to have proximity with any of her roommates and pointing things they had in common or not wasn't a wise thing to do. It was obvious that Lucretia Black didn't work well under pressure.

Lucretia's statement made Tom furrow his brows in deep thought, what made the witch show a nervous smile to him. She was panicking.

Miranda scoffed. "How depressing it must be to have a birthday on the last day of the year... I bet no one remembered to even send a greeting card for you," Miranda eyed Tom up and down. "I know you don't really have friends," She opened a devilish smile and pointed her chin towards the direction where the Slytherin boys gathered, far away from Tom. "They are only afraid of you, everybody knows that... and you also don't have a family, am I right?" Miranda said with a mocking pout. “Poor Tom, so lonely...”

Tom’s eyes darkened, his jaw clenching. Lucretia seemed paler, even the color of her lips faded. It was Holly who replied, her nostrils flaring.

"Why are you being so cruel out of nothing?" Holly stood up on her desk, her teeth baring at the blonde girl. "It isn't good enough for you to be a pampered young lady from a wealthy family, you also have to rub it against the faces of the ones who weren't as fortunate as you?" Miranda just arched an eyebrow to her."You make me sick!"

Holly lost her temper and was fumming. To avoid things getting worse she took her chart and left the desk to sit at an isolated spot, far away from the girls. Not a minute after Tom placed his things on a desk across from hers. It took her by surprise that he had a concerned expression, his rage buried deep down inside of him. Holly tried to ignore his presence, scratching furiously on her chart, but Tom broke the silence. "You didn't have to be so worked up because of me," He said in a calm tone and then looked down his own chart, that was far more complete than hers.

"It’s not only about you!” Holly started, her face flushed in anger. “I truly hate people like her! She is just like my muggle cousin, who had everything and wasn't ever satisfied!” She huffed out an angry breath. “Can you believe he always got lots of presents from his parents but complained anyway if he got lesser than the year before, while I didn't get even a greeting for my birthday and had to hide away from the visitors at Christmas?" She hissed, her eyebrows almost knitted together, her fury only building up. "He loved to show off his presents in front of me and he also had another room all for himself to keep his things while I slept inside a fucking cupboard!" She vented out. "I got my first birthday present when I was eleven! Eleven… and it was from the person who told me the truth about me being a witch and the death of my parents,"  

Tom just stared her with raised eyebrows and widened eyes, surprised about the torrents of information she revealed to him. Holly felt her face hot and shame filling her up, just now noticing to whom she was opening up about her tormented past. "Sorry, I've said to much," She said shyly.

Tom blinked, still at a loss of words. "It's fine," He finally said. Then, reluctantly he reached out and brushed her knuckles with a finger. It was like he was about to hold her hand and that made Holly feel awkward so she recoiled it a little and averted her gaze. He took his hand away and coughed, trying to conceal his own embarrassment.

Tom spoke just a few seconds later in a teasing tone. "And I thought my life was bad..." He drummed his fingers on the table, weighting his next words. He looked like someone who wanted to placate her anger but didn’t know how and it was if he even forgot how pissed-off he was by Miranda Nott’s words. "The orphanage I live is a crappy place, but it didn't take me eleven years to receive a gift… The babies and small kids always receive gifts, donations, of course, but is better than nothing,” Holly stared up at him, he got back her attention. “Of course it's a 'privilege' we lost it as we grow older. After six or seven, the toys are mostly shared. And because the muggles considered me a freak, the older kids frequently took my few possessions and the grown ups didn't even lift a finger in my behalf," Holly now showed a mixed expression of sadness and anger, she could relate to his story. "So after I got better control of my magic I started to take things from the ones who annoyed me, and they were too scared to even rat me out,"

"You stole from them?" Holly said more in a surprise than a condemning tone. Tom nodded apprehensively, his cheeks tinged in pink. "I-I know how you feel," She quickly add. "I wanted to took things from my cousin too," She revealed with a whisper, even though nobody else was near to hear their talk. "He had hundreds of toys he didn't even use... Sometimes I took a thing or two away, but I always gave them back before my uncle and aunt discovered me… they always punished me for almost nothing, I couldn’t risk more than that," The witch opened a shy smirk to him for the first time in a while.

"You are too soft," Tom pointed out with a genuine gentleness in his eyes she never expected to see. "My life got a way too easier after I started to hurt the kids who bullied me,” Holly furrowed her brows again with his statement, but he continued anyway. “They still fear and respect me, they aren’t so stupid to get in my way… Now I just need to wait until I come out of age so I can finally leave that shit hole. You should have shown your filthy cousin his own place,"

Holly stared down at her chart again. Countless times she wanted to hurt the Dursleys pretty bad, they frequently let her sleep without dinner when strange things happened around her. And she was just a kid who couldn't fend for herself. Although no matter how much she desired that bad things happened to them, it wasn’t in her nature to act towards it.

"What aren't you telling me?" Tom asked, scribbling on his chart trying to feign indifference. Holly bit the inside of her cheek.

"You already know too much," Her answer made him flash a grin. She had the impression it amused Tom when she antagonized him. Holly didn’t want him to think she was a saint. "Once I made by accident my uncle's sister inflate like a balloon and float high up in the sky," Tom breathed out a laugh.

"And what happened after that?" He asked with a mischievous grin.

"I ran away from home with all my things," She trailed off. It wasn't intentional, but it was a good way to put in her fake background that she ran away from home before attending an illegal wizarding school. She glanced up at Tom after a moment and he was staring her like he wanted to know more about her story. "Sorry, I don't want to talk about it anymore,"

They stayed silent for a few minutes before Tom started speaking again.

"You know... I don't care about the things Nott said to me," Tom stated with an indifference Holly knew was fake. "She is only angry because of what happened to her brother yesterday,"

"Her brother?" Holly parroted, frowning in confusion, making Tom smirk. He was so boyish sometimes, even the Diary didn’t show this side to her.

"Dominic Nott,"

"Oh." Holly stared down at her half-finished chart and then looked up at Tom again. "Are you going to hex her?" She asked sheepishly but with a reprimand tone. He opened a smile to her with a mysterious gleam in his eyes. "You know... you pinned me against a wall for less than she did," She accused with a grin, in a playful way. He looked down at his chart, pressing his lips together, trying to hold back his smile to look more serious.

"Don't worry about it," A smirk tugged on the corner of his mouth again and he glanced up at her with a playful smile. "I only pin against the walls witches who are a piece of art just like you,”

Holly gaped at him and huffed out a breath, visibly embarrassed, her face red as a strawberry. "Stop being so ridiculous, Riddle!" Tom let out a chuckle and focused again on his star chart.

It was a sin he was so dangerous yet so charming. Lucky for Holly, she knew he was just acting and wouldn’t fell for it. It was better anyway to be in good terms with him than not, at least for now. Tom Riddle also could be irritatingly funny when he wasn’t a total prick. Deep inside, part of her hoped that they actually could turn into real friends in the future.

Chapter XII

[gabriellewebb]

The Half-blood Fairy Prince(ss) Titania - IV

Chapter I - Chapter II - Chapter III

IV – The start of second year

"Could you at least cast a Feather-light charm on my trunk, mother?" Titania asked with clenched teeth.

"I'm sorry, sweetie, I didn't bring my wand with me." Eileen Snape smiled apologetically at her. She was completely different from Titania, tiny, blonde and blue-eyed. Eileen could be considered beautiful if she dressed in better clothes and didn't look so tired and unhappy. But Titania didn't took any pity on her mother, she was a grown-up witch who decided to live like a muggle and work like a house-elf, after all. Instead of focusing on her daughter's happiness and taking better care of her, Eileen made lots of sacrifices for a person who only mistreated her and didn't accept the true nature of her being a witch.

Titania wanted to cry, her father beat her quite a lot along the summer and now she couldn't lift her trunk by herself into the Hogwarts Express. Her mother was useless as a witch and was probably in more pain than Titania, who felt impotent being a minor, if she made magic outside school she could be expelled and she couldn't risk her best escape route from a miserable muggle life. She knew some young students did magic inside the train, but most of them were from pure-blood families and had people to watch their back if they had any problems with the Ministry of Magic.

Titania was so proud now about being a witch student, that one summer was enough to make her despise grown for her mother each day passing day. Tobias Snape was a mere muggle who beat both of them almost daily, and Eileen didn't lift a finger to protect her own daughter. Titania was only twelve years old and would be perfectly able to protect herself with magic but she was more scared of being expelled than to be hurt by her own father. Titania promised herself to never let any man control her life or raise a hand towards her, specially if she had kids. The last thing she wanted was to be a bad mother like Eileen Snape.

It was good she had plans of her own to avoid enduring mistreatment and neglect from her parents until achieving majority. Titania planned to owl her witch grandmother Elizabeth Prince and explain her awful situation. She was pretty sure the matriarch of the Prince family had no idea about her existence, and even though her mother was disowned, Elizabeth Prince would welcome her own granddaughter with open arms. Titania could already see her new signature as 'Titania Eileen Prince', much better than 'Snape', as much as being loved and pampered by a lovely grandma.

The train would leave in fifteen minutes or so and Titania was thinking how she was going to enter with her heavy luggage, she only had two friends to help her, Lily and Remus, but she didn't see any of them. Her mother acted before Titania.

"Hello, pretty boy. Can you help my daughter? She strained her back a few moments ago and can't carry her trunk." Eileen asked with a sweet voice, the lie coming out of her lips natural as a breath.

Titania paled when set her eyes at the 'pretty boy' her mother called. It was none other than Sirius Black himself, the boy who tormented quite a lot inside Hogwarts. He heard Eileen with attention and a neutral expression and just after Eileen finished, he opened a large smile, charming and full of teeth.

"It will be my pleasure!" He took Titania's trunk and put inside the train easily. He extended his hand towards Titania as a silent offer to help her embark the train. She felt nervous seeing Sirius acting so chivalrous, but accepted his help anyway, wanting to end all that fake display as soon as possible. Sirius Black didn't release her hand when she stepped near him inside the train. "Don't worry, ma'am, I'll take good care of your daughter." Titania had no reaction when Sirius kissed the back of her hand in front of her mother, who widened her eyes in surprise and then let out a giggle. Eileen smiled fondly at the young couple who looked really cute together. Sirius glanced to a spot just behind Eileen and Titania followed his gaze. A tall woman with aristocratic looks stood by, glaring Sirius with icy gray eyes, very displeased with the scene happening in front of her. It was obviously Sirius' mother and her sneer made Titania suddenly grew conscious of her outfit, an old stained dress that made pretty clear she wasn't just poor, but had muggle origins, and she knew how a witch like her was considered inside pure-blood circles. Eileen had a similar look and could pass easily as a common muggle. Titania wanted to bury her face inside the ground, completely ashamed of herself and she knew Sirius well enough to know he used her to annoy his own mother. His hand had a strong grip around her hande while he dragged her inside the Hogwarts Express, carrying her trunk with the other hand. Titania had no reaction at all and had no idea what he planned to do, she was under the impression he wanted to humiliate her even further.

Sirius turned on his heels to speak to her face-to-face. "I'm sharing a cabin with my younger brother and my cousin. I didn't find James, can you keep me company?" Titania frowned and opened her mouth to deny his request, but he quickly add. "I made you a favor now, I owe me one."

Titania huffed in annoyance. "Fine."

Sirius flashed a grin before opening a cabin where two younger kids sat down beside each other. A blonde girl and a black-haired boy. They both dressed in fancy pure-blood clothes and had the same piercing gray eyes as Sirius. Titania felt small and ashamed of her own poverty, but covered all her feelings behind a neutral mask. Being a Slytherin with a muggle surname, she knew pretty well that showing fear would only made the pure-bloods more inclined to chew her alive. It was a notorious fact almost all Blacks were sorted into Slytherin and the two kids in front of her would be for sure new hatchlings in her House. Sirius was a Grindylow out of water just like herself, being a Black sorted in Gryffindor. Titania only nodded at them as a greeting while Sirius put her trunk in a compartment above their seats. He offered her the seat at the window and she sat down quietly there, feeling the weight of the gaze of the two other Blacks. Titania looked outside the window, trying to avoid eye contact with them. The witch was so tense about the situation she almost forgot all the pain in her body inflicted by her father. An awkward silence followed while Sirius searched for something inside his own trunk placed next to hers.

Sirius sat down lazily by her side. "Here, I hope this works for your back." He stretched his arm to give Titania a small vial. She was able to identify it as generic healing potion that would be more than enough to relieve her pain. Instead of taking it, she stared suspiciously at Sirius. "This one will be free of charge, because I'm a fine gentleman." He winked and the boy in front of him snorted.

"Thank you, Black." Titania took the vial and drank it with one gulp, feeling the effects almost instantly. Her eyes met the gray ones of the boy sitting in front of her. Unlike Sirius at their first year, this boy wasn't so tall and his features were much more delicate than his brother's. He observed with curiosity her interaction with Sirius.

"So, you are Titania," The boy affirmed with conviction. "I'm Regulus Black, Sirius' brother, nice to meet you!" He opened a gentle smile at her.

"And I'm Narcissa Black. I'm very sorry about what my older sister did to you." The blonde girl spoke apologetically, she looked beautiful and frail like a porcelain doll, the opposite of Bellatrix Lestrange.

"Nice to meet you too." Titania said politely and stared outside the window again, the Hogwarts Express already moving at a high speed. She had no interest to prolong a conversation with anyone from the House Black, she was only there following Sirius' request and was too tired to search for another cabin. The small boy still wanted chat, though.

"I knew who you are the moment I settled my eyes on you. You are indeed very pretty, my brother couldn't stop talking about you all summer."

"Stop lying, Reg!" Sirius snarled and Titania felt her face turning hot by Regulus' words, it didn't matter if they were true or not.

"You know I'm not lying! Ouch!" Regulus was silenced by a kick in his shin. "I'll tell mother about this!" Regulus rubbed the afflicted area with a pout.

"Like I care!" Sirius shrugged.

Titania let out a humorless laugh. "Is this your new scheme, Black?" She frowned at Sirius who stared at her in confusion. "Being nice to me and using your brother to convince me you are interested in me somehow. Is this a new sort of prank you invented with James?"

Sirius only gaped at her, dumbly and speechless. Regulus chuckled in amusement.

"Using me? That's a far too complex plot for a Gryffindor to make," Regulus stated with a smirk. "And I doubt my moronic brother would play with a girl's feelings just to prank her. Or are you afraid of that because you have feelings for him too?"

Titania narrowed her eyes at the boy in front of her, suppressing the urge to stand up, take her things and storm out of the cabin, because that would only give fuel to his insinuations. She schooled her emotions and opened a sardonic smirk. "Oh yes, I have feelings for your brother," Titania made a dramatic pause before continuing."Disgust, anger..." She trailed off, making Regulus laugh and Narcissa giggle. Sirius clenched his jaw and huffed, trying to feign indifference.

"Oh Merlin! I had no idea you were so delightful, Titania. Now I understand why my brother is so obsessed about you."

Sirius scoffed, crossing his arms. "You snakes are a bunch of liars."

"I only see one liar here, and he is a Gryffindor. Or maybe you lions are just a bunch of cowards in the matters of heart?" Regulus teased. Titania was surprised seeing the boy awfully calm while defying the explosive Sirius Black. Narcissa was clearly nervous, looking up at Sirius with a fearful expression, all the blood drained out of her face.

"You are lucky I don't like to punch weaklings, brother!" Sirius took his trunk and stormed out of the cabin, leaving the three of them alone. Titania never expected this reaction of Sirius. Regulus flashed her a victorious smile while his cousin seemed about to thrown up. An awkward silence followed Sirius' absence.

Thank mother magic Lily appeared the next minute to rescue Titania, dragging her out of the cabin. She expend the rest of the trip with Lily, Remus and skinny first year boy with a straw-blonde hair. He glanced a lot at Titania's direction and after a while Lily tried to include him in their conversation. His name was Bartemius Crouch Junior and was too shy to chat with strangers. Titania couldn't bother less, too eager to know how was the summer of her friends.

Regulus and Narcissa were sorted inside the Slytherin and sat near Bellatrix, Andromeda and Lucius Malfoy. Titania was sitting far away from them, at the end of the table like the outcast she was. The boy who was with her, Lily and Remus in the train was sorted in Slytherin too and sat across from her at the table. They didn't speak, but he glanced at her lots of times, like wanting to chat.

The morning of the next day Titania woke up earlier than everyone else to write a letter for her grandmother, asking if she could live with her, because her father was always drunk and didn't accept the fact she was a witch like her mother. Titania highlighted the fact she had the best grades of her year and would made her grandmother very proud.

Titania was very optimistic about the turn her life was about to take and was impatient to read her grandma's reply.

It took a few days for that to happen, but she remained hopeful. On a Saturday morning, at breakfast, an elegant eagle owl landed in front of Titania on the breakfast table. It was the first time she received a letter and she felt important for the first time in her entire life. She was aware the animal drew the attention of some students, so beautiful and pompous it was clear it belonged to someone wealthy. As soon as Titania took the letter, the owl flew away gracefully.

All joy and hope Titania felt the previous days fade away, like dust in the wind, as soon as she read the contents.

"The House Prince is proud of never staining our bloodline with filthyness coming from muggles or mudbloods. I have no granddaughter."

It had the signature of Elizabeth Prince and Titania reread the piece of paper four or five times in disbelief, feeling utterly stupid and naive for never considering a negative reply from her grandmother. She was feeling a turmoil of emotions inside of her and wouldn't be able to keep them all for herself so much longer. She stood up from the breakfast table leaving her food untouched and walked calmly out the Great Hall. When alone she run as fast as she could towards the Owlery, the letter still on her hand. But she didn't go there to send an owl to anyone, but to find a place near there to cry as much as she wanted without being disturbed. She thought the flapping of wings and the screech of the owls would be enough to muffle the sound of her sobs.

Sirius Black was the one who find her after five or ten minutes. Titania was sitting down on the ground hugging her knees while she cried. He called her name and she looked up at him, startled at first, and then her heart was filled with anger. She couldn't believe Black followed her there. She searched for Potter and Pettigrew following behind him, but Sirius was alone.

"What happened?" He asked softly, looking genuinely concerned.

"That's none of your business, Black! Leave me alone!" She buried her face between her knees again, trying to ignore the annoying presence and not caring too much if he was going to mock her or not.

Titania heard when Sirius sat on the ground by her side and kept still. "My father send me chocolate frogs today. Do you like them?" He asked in a casual tone, like he was talking to Potter instead of her.

Titania turned her face to stare at him, he didn't look hostile or with second intentions, but she wouldn't let her guard down in front of him. "Does it matter if I like or not?" She sniffed.

Sirius clicked his tongue and pushed a box on her palm with a frown. "Here. This one is for you, but I have more, you can eat as much as you want." Sirius had a short temper, but was able to control himself to act as gently as he could.

"Well, then I will eat all of them and you'll have nothing!" She defied, distrustful, and he barked out a laugh.

"How about we see who can eat more?" He offered, making Titania flash a smirk.

The witch only managed to eat five or six chocolate frogs while Sirius ate eight or nine and while they did it, they looked at the cards they got and he explained about them to Titania. Sirius was able to distract Titania and even made her laugh a few times. It was the first time she realized Sirius Black could be a very entertaining company when he wasn't acting like a jerk. It was also the first time they kept more than an hour next to each other without fighting. Sirius already had the cards they got inside the boxes, so he gave them to Titania along with the remaining few boxes he had with him. He only needed a few cards to complete his collection and made Titania promise she would hand them to him if she got any from the boxes he gave her.

Titania spend the afternoon with Lily and Remus studying at the library. The boy had an awful appearance, like he was sick or in pain, maybe both, he was almost blacking out on the desk. Titania offered calling Madam Pomfrey, but Lily explained Remus was at the Hospital Wing since morning and was still recovering from a stomach ache crisis. (It was the excuse Remus Lupin gave them to cover he was a werewolf recovering from the prior night transformation. It was a painful process, with bones growing, breaking and rearranging to make his body take the wolfish form, a similar process happening with his muscles and organs, and then back in the morning to his human form. As a werewolf, the recovery of the first transformation was much quicker, thanks to the regeneration ability granted in that form, but his human body was weaker and took a day or two to recover from all muscular pain and tiredness of the process.)

Remus being sick was just another excuse she found to not share the chocolate frogs with them. She wanted to, but was too embarrassed to tell Lily she received the boxes from Black. Titania felt really moved with Sirius' behavior and actually enjoyed the time she spent in his company. It was more easy to pay attention at his charms and good looks when he wasn't behaving like a douchebag.

On Sunday Titania was standing by at the courtyard waiting Lily for a stroll near the Black Lake when her skirt suddenly lift up, showing her knickers and bare thighs. It wasn't caused by the wind, but by a spell, she turned her body to stare who was behind her, seeing James and Peter snickering while Sirius stared dumbly at her uncovered skin, completely entranced. Titania stormed at his direction while trying to adjust her clothes down, and gave a slap straight onto his cheek. Her reaction made James and Peter roll on the ground laughing.

Sirius blinked like waking up from a daze. "Hey, it wasn't me!" He shouted angrily, rubbing his cheek.

"Of course it wasn't you." Titania scoffed, finally able to put her skirt into its rightful place.

Sirius approached her, taking one of her hands into his own. "It wasn't me, I'm serious."

Titania pulled her hand out of his grasp with an expression of disgust. "And I am Titania, asshole."

Peter squeaked and James started to cackle thanks to her comment. Titania was extremely angry and ashamed for believing even for a moment that Sirius Black could be a good person and treat her well. It was obvious to her that Sirius just wanted to make a joke of her in front of his friends, but lifting up her skirt was too much.

"Fine, then! Go away, Snake!" It was the last thing she heard from Sirius while she strode away from his presence.

Sirius was actually innocent, but he had a short temper and he exploded by the fact Titania didn't give him the benefit of doubt, accusing him without even hearing his explanation. It was Peter who cast the spell to lift her skirt up and Sirius took the blame on his place, not for the last time in his life. He glared at Peter and James, but they were too entertained having fun at his expenses, both boys still laughing hard on the ground.

Sirius felt slightly betrayed by James, because his best friend was the one who wrote him all summer, saying he should be more genuine about his feelings towards Snape and how fun it would be if they could have double dates on the future, Sirius with Titania and James with Lily. They both agreed Remus Lupin was a threat, being too close with the two girls, but Sirius was pretty sure his tall classmate only had eyes for HIS fairy queen. Well, thanks to Peter now it would be so much harder to conquer her affections.

Next Chapter

Read the sequel - The Animagus’ Bride