91 Ch91. Back home

Hadrian, Dora, and Narcissa appeared in the library after Kreacher teleported them back home. Hadrian was at first doubtful the little guy would be able to do it in one jump as it took time for him to show up even when they were in the same country but apparently, the house-elf magic was working on a different concept than the human one. Distance is quite an ambiguous term for them.

The second they arrived, Hadrian was without even knowing how, promptly hugged by excited Bellatrix. 'How the heck did she appear here so fast!?' All three of them thought, completely bewildered by her sudden appearance. Bellatrix however wasn't even a bit shaken by their weirded-out stares and just kept hugging Hadrian tightly to her chest, twisting her hips from side to side with his entire body.

When even after five minutes of cuddly hugs Bellatrix didn't let Hadrian go, Narcissa who was already glaring at her sister and tapping her foot on the floor couldn't take it anymore and spoke, "Bella! That's enough! You can cuddle later!" She scowled.

"No!" Bellatrix huffed out and her hands refused to let Hadrian go. He could only awkwardly chuckle at her childish antics but he was indeed feeling quite tired so he crouched slightly, putting his right hand around her waist he lifted her feet from the ground, making her let out a girlish shriek, and carried her towards the couch where he sat down, putting her on his lap. Bellatrix was staring at him with wonder in her gaze before she decided to just go with the flow and again leaned onto him. Narcissa just sat next to him with her arms crossed, a bit peeved her sister didn't even say hello before hoarding her husband for herself which was shown by her facing away from the woman. Dora quickly decided it was high time to make herself scarce, leaving via the floo to her parent's house.

After they rested in comfortable silence for a while, Bellatrix raised her head and threw a question at Narcissa. "So... how was your honeymoon, sister?" She teasingly asked while wiggling her eyebrows at Narcissa, making it obvious what she meant.

"Ei, stop it, sister!" Narcissa swatted Bellatrix's shoulder with a visible scowl on her lips, making the former madwoman cackle in gleeful amusement as she started reciting in a sing-song voice.

"You are blushing! Blushing! Blushing like a virgin!" Bellatrix was almost bouncing on Hadrian's lap while Narcissa's right eye started twitching but her face was beep red anyway. "Blushi-" Bellatrix was about to continue when Narcissa suddenly decided it was enough and interrupted her.

"So, sister dearest did you manage to complete your task?" She turned her head to Bella, her eyes showing the answering was mandatory, and forcibly changed the topic. Bellatrix whined for a few moments but when Narcissa pinched her side with considerable force, making her almost jump in pain, Bellatrix started talking.

"Yes, yes!" She screamed as Narcissa was still holding a bit of skin on her side. "I did it, alright!"

"You did what?" A voice resounded through the room, making both women stop bickering as they froze, robotically turning towards Hadrian. Both forget he was even there during their little sisterly exchange and now, he wanted to know what they did!

"Uh..." Narcissa intelligently started. "ah... I may... er,"

"Just say it!" Hadrian irritably stated when he saw she was growing quieter and quieter. He was not in a mood for riddles nor any stalling tactics and his voice was quite clear in that aspect. It told Narcissa all she needed to know. That being it was time to come clean.

"Well, okay." Narcissa took a deep breath. "I may or may not order Bellatrix to wake up Longbottoms." She said, biting her teeth as she was really unsure how Hadrian would react to it.

"Oh... that?" Contrary to her expectations, Hadrian didn't really have any reaction, he just shrugged disinterestedly which made both Narcissa and Bellatrix stare at him in bewilderment which turned momentarily to confusion before they gained an understanding look almost at the same time.

"You heard us..." Their voices chorused at once as they both concluded why his reaction was so bland.

"Well, you were acting weird and I was curious so I eavesdropped while pretending to be asleep." Hadrian chuckled, gently putting his hands on Bellatrix's sides and tenderly embracing her. He was indeed missing the woman. Her childishness was almost contagious and when she wasn't acting madly, she could be even called somewhat cute. Both women were quite embarrassed due to being overheard so Hadrian decided to throw Narcissa a helping hand. "But you can always refresh my memory by describing your plan again." He smiled at her, making her return his smile with a beaming one as this lessened the awkwardness of the entire situation.

"I wanted to surprise you and here you already know it all." She shook her head. "I don't think there is a need for me to explain again. But thank you for the sentiment." Narcissa softly gripped his forearm in a show of affection and gratitude.

Hadrian was trying to keep a straight face but mentally he was twitching in annoyance. 'Wut? She... didn't explain? Damn... that plan didn't go half as good as I hoped! Obviously, I have no idea what your plan was! Can't a man flex a bit in front of his wives without there being any unwanted consequences!?' He was inwardly weeping bitter tears of failure when he noticed Narcissa's smirk. He closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath in order to recollect himself and push down the shame that was rearing its ugly head to the surface of his mind. "Forgot you are an empath for a moment." He wryly smiled, making Narcissa let out an amused chuckle while even Bellatrix snickered at him.

"But the attempt counts." Narcissa told him and pecked his cheek to lighten his mood. "Anyway, my plan is simple, I am going to put Dumbledore and Longbottoms on opposite sides of the light faction. Nothing better than a little civil war before lunch. "The Longbottoms were never big fans of Dumbledore, hence he didn't really warn them as he did with Potters when the hunt for their kid was starting. This could make some waves that could eventually help us keep Dumbledore preoccupied." She lightly stated. "The only issue is..." Turning to Bellatrix, she continued. "Did you lock the memory of yourself in the boy's mind?"

Bellatrix nodded. "Yes, he was keeping his eyes on mine for the entire time. Wasn't even that hard and didn't need to use even a bit of violence. How regrettable..." Bella pouted, earning herself a nudge from Hadrian which made her happy again. Narcissa looked satisfied at this information and her only comment was...

"And now, the next episode in Dumbledore's Problems can begin."

…

A few days later, Dowager Longbottom was sitting on the left side of the newly awakened Lord Longbottom, happy that her son was again on his feet! Well, not literally of course. He still had to use a wheeling chair but he was getting there! Little Neville was also almost flying from happiness and she decided to ignore his remark about seeing the already deceased Bellatrix Lestrange. She really didn't know what to do with the boy. When he said it was Bellatrix who woke his parents… she almost face-faulted there and then! The boy almost ruined her image of a proper lady!

Anyway, she was opening her mail when suddenly, she found a black envelope depicting a bearded man in a red costume with reindeer, waving in her direction. Contrary to common expectations, she knew what Santa Claus was and smiled to herself at getting something like this even though Christmas was still far away.

She started reading out loud. "Dear Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom, I, the almighty Santa Claus who brings presents to good kids, decided to gift you your overdue. In the past ten plus years, you two were extremely good kids!" She chuckled at that before continuing. By now, the entire table was listening to her. "Ah… er, not like lying unresponding on the bed could make you anything but good kids, *awkward shrug and beard caress*," A snicker from her son distracted her so she had to refocus, swat his shoulder, and find where she ended. "I decided to give you information about the fateful night! Look into the attachments! Hohohohoho!" She ended and put the letter down, only for another thing to pop into existence in front of her. It was… a book.

She opened it and this time, read it quietly as any information about that night was definitely not for young Neville's ears. No matter how he tried to take a peek by stretching his neck. When she was done, she was completely pale from what she just read. The problem was… it was a diary written by Dumbledore, she knew his handwriting well! There was even his personal seal that can't be plagiarized as it was magically protected! It was real! The only blemish was the 'Gleefully stealing Kreacher' mark under it!

"What's up mom?" Frank suddenly asked when he saw the state of his mother. Madam Longbottom was instantly pulled out of her reverie and just silently gave him the book. He curiously peeked in and almost fell comatose again! The book didn't contain much, it described barely a month from Dumbledore's life but it had real proof that Dumbledore basically 'forgot' to warn them when he 'clearly' knew they were about to get a visit from Dark Lord himself! His words! Frank was pissed… "Dumbledore!" He gritted out, his mind already deciding how to 'deal' with this new information.