And now, as she leaned into him gently with her shining eyes and blissful smile and soft curves, Harry surrendered to the pleasure of kissing his wife and leaned forward slowly towards Bellatrix. This kiss was briefer, and gentler, than that very first kiss, yet felt far more dizzying to Harry, filled now with longing informed by anticipation, rather than bitterness. Wow, he thought disbelievingly before quickly compartmentalizing, Imust have lost a lot of blood to feel this light-headed . After a few more blissful moments, Bellatrix gingerly reclined Harry's back against the armrest. Ever so carefully, clearly conscious of his injuries and working not to hurt him, she adjusted her position and resumed kissing her husband. Thus passed Christmas morning for the newlyweds, until Harry finally grew fatigued, smiling as he drifted off into a restful nap.
.....
Rose and Leo shivered as they stood on the back stoop of the Black house in Godric's Hollow. The Potter and Black families had shared Christmas dinner, a tradition followed by both families for as long as Rose and Leo could remember. Their respective parents were the closest of friends, and always came together to share holiday traditions.
The two families were now working to clean up after dinner-a necessity the children had hoped to avoid now that the Blacks had a house elf. However, Kreacher had disappeared shortly after serving dinner and had not been back since. Rose and Leo had managed to escape to the back porch for a quick break from the cleaning.
"Are you sure it's safe?" Rose asked quietly, hugging herself for warmth.
"As far as I know," Leo replied, wishing he'd worn a jacket or sweater that he could remove and give to Rose. He was hunched over and had his hands stuffed into his pockets in his own effort to stay warm. "If I check, that nasty house elf will see me and report the diary's location to Lady Black. He's been spying on me ever since we met her in Diagon Alley."
"I doubt she'll be able to bust into your house and take the diary for herself," Rose said. "Your father has some really good wards up."
"But she can simply direct the house elf to steal it," Leo reminded Rose.
Rose sighed. "She can do that, and I don't doubt that she would. After all, she did offer us thousands of galleons for the diary."
"I think we need to do something with the diary soon," Leo told Rose in a serious tone of voice. "We're going to be returning to Hogwarts soon. It will be hard to bargain with this witch from inside of the school. There is also the thought that the longer we hold onto the diary, the tougher it will be to keep it safe. I am also worried about how much money she offered and the warning she gave us about Voldemort. Maybe we should just turn over the diary to Professor Dumbledore and explain everything. We may very well be in over our heads."
Rose did not immediately respond to Leo, choosing instead to stare at the night sky and mull over the options. She had known Leo long enough to realize that behind Leo's very soft and suggestive words was his very strong opinion that they should turn over the diary to Professor Dumbledore. Rose had to acknowledge that his concerns were valid, but the opportunity to discover Lord Black's identity and reveal him to the Order was a strong temptation.
"One more meeting," Rose said. "We can send Kreacher with a message to Lady Black, saying that we want to meet with her and discuss the diary. She knows what our minimum requirements are. If she agrees to a meeting, that means she is at least willing to talk. If she refuses a meeting or we are unable to reach a bargain with her, I promise that we'll hand over the diary to the headmaster."
Reluctantly, Leo nodded. "That's acceptable, I guess. There are just two things. Are you sure that this person is really Lady Black?"
"She must be," Rose replied. "She is Kreacher's mistress. There's also the fact that she apparently has easy access to fifty thousand galleons. What was your other concern?"
"Are we actually going to hand over the diary?"
"I don't know…" Rose said. Before she could finish, the backdoor opened and they were interrupted.
"Your mother wants you back in the kitchen," Sidra announced to Leo.
"Uh, okay," Leo said, avoiding eye contact with the eldest Potter child. He slipped past Sidra into the house.
Rose made to follow Leo in, but Sidra blocked her path by stepping out onto the back porch and shutting the door. The two sisters then engaged in a staring contest, trying their level best to intimidate each other. Though slightly shorter, Rose stared defiantly into Sidra's green eyes, wondering how someone that looked so much like her mother could possess such a different personality.
"Romancing the young Black heir?" Sidra bit out.
"He's not the Black heir," Rose retorted.
"Says you," Sidra hissed. "Since the moment you were born you've been trying to hog everybody's attention. But then Voldemort returned to Britain, raided Azkaban, and rounded up a new batch of followers. Everybody's attention was on Leo and me. You couldn't handle it, could you? That's why you suddenly had a vision and declared that Leo wasn't the prophesied one. What you really were saying was that I'm not the prophesied Daughter of the Stars."
"And what is so special about being the Daughter of the Stars?" Rose said, forcing herself to maintain eye contact with her older sister. "You just want the Black family money and prestige."
"No, you do!" Sidra screeched. "You've been all over Leo since the day you could walk. Anything he wanted, you got it for him, including a supposed vision that said he had nothing to worry about, that he would not have to face Voldemort as some sort of prophesied hero. I have news for you, Rose. When he turns seventeen, he will inherit the Black estate, and he will know that you were just kissing up to him. Then he will turn to me as he should have, and I will help him end this war-the same war his family started."
"So that's what you want?" Rose asked, her hazel eyes blazing with disdain. "You see Leo becoming the great hero-perhaps becoming the Minister of Magic like Cygnus Black? Leading Britain to victory against Voldemort? Of course, he'll need a loyal wife to help him-a Lady Black." Rose laughed. "You'll never be Lady Black. If you want to be the wife of some Minister of Magic, I suggest you go ahead and marry Ron Weasley. Or better yet, marry his brown-nosing brother, Percy. I'd like to see that-you brown nosing the king brown noser." The thought caused Rose to stop her tirade and stand there laughing. She laughed until a slap across her face left her ears ringing.
Startled by the slap and the resulting pain, Rose stared at her older sister before returning the favor. However, the younger Potter sister did not satisfy herself with a mere slap. She leaned forward and put her weight behind the blow, causing Sidra to fall off the porch from the force. Without a backwards glance at her sister, now lying in the snow, Rose then opened the door, stepped inside, and locked the door shut before proceeding upstairs to her room.
....
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