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Literature Text
“It’s so dark.”
“It wouldn’t be an underground lair if it was bright, now would it?”
“…honestly, can’t your sarcasm lessen a little?”
“Hey, it’s the only thing people can’t injure.” Moria replied with a grin as they continued further underground, the only light coming from the tips of their wands. She looked around, sniffing the air. “We’re under the lake.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“The air’s scent changed.” She stated. “We must be right under it.”
“Fair observation.”
The pair turned their wands pointed in the location of where the voice had come from, only to see nothing there.
“Now where could I be?” The voice taunted in the shadows as the adults flanked one another, trying to get a definite location. “Here? No here. No wait, wait. Definitely here.”
“She’s taunting us.” Giacintro grumbled looking around.
“No shit.”
“Now where would I be? Can’t you aurors figure where I am?” The voice echoed and then all went silent. The pair looked around, trying to see into the darkness.
“Boo.”
The voice came from their left, and they turned to see a woman standing there, a horrific sneer on her face. Suddenly the cavern walls lit up like Christmas lights in ominous reds and blacks.
“Shit!” Moria snapped dodging as chunks of the ceiling began to fall, separating her and Giacintro.
“Moria!”
“Go find the others, I’ll be fine!” She called out as she continued to nimbly dodge the falling rocks. Soon she and Giacintro were completely separated by a wall of boulders. Marisa cackled as she followed Moria, throwing chunks of jewel shard laced boulders at her. Moria aimed her wand at Marisa.
“Stupefy!!” She yelled as Marisa said a spell she did not hear or understand. A jet of green light issued from Marisa’s shards that had surrounded just as a jet of red light blasted from Moria’s - they met in midair - and suddenly Moria's wand was vibrating as though an electric charge were surging through it; her hand seized up around it; she couldn't have released it if she'd wanted to - and a narrow beam of light connected the two spells, gold at the epicenter of the connection. Moria gritted her teeth as the force began to push her back. Small stones on the ground vibrated from the violence while dust and dirt swirled around. Marisa seemed undeterred by this and kept advancing forward as the violent gold color began to push backwards traveling the path of Moria’s spell. Moria growled, her eyes narrowing as she tried to fight back the spell, but it advanced.
A cracking sound was heard and suddenly her wand, the wand she had had since she had been 11, cracked and splintered in half, shooting out of her hand. Moria yelped, looking at her hand for a split second, stunned, before looking up just in time to see a large boulder smash into her, propelling her backwards and she smashed into the wall. She felt something snap in her chest, and the shooting pain was a clear indication that she had broken a rib.
Out of all the bones that broke, she hated it when ribs broke, they were probably the absolute worst feeling. She managed to get up, dodging another rock that had been thrown.
“Run!! Run!!” Marisa taunted as Moria jumped down a crevice, disappearing into the shadows. “Run and I’ll come find you again!!”
“Do you ever shut up?!”Moria snapped, gritting her teeth before limping down the long hall of rocks, hoping she could keep running, as long as she could without having a wand as a means to fight.
Knowing she was now a part of this cat and mouse game, and hoped she wouldn’t be the loser in the end.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck…” Giacintro hissed out as he hurried down the corridors. It was like a large stony maze down here, and with the only light coming from his wand, the shadows seemed to come alive. And he didn’t know if they actually were or it was just his imagination. Finally he slid into a large pocket and spotted the others. The group looked up wearily and then stared at him as though he was a ghost.
“Muraro?”
“Holy shit, you guys are still alive!!” He exclaimed in a hiss that echoed in the cavern as he hurried over beginning to unshackle them.
“Muraro, it’s a trap. Moria-”
“I know, she knows. She’s in the maze somewhere.”
“By herself?!”
“We didn’t have a choice. Marisa separated us.” Giacintro explained. “I was lucky to find this place.”
“Muraro, you need to go. There is no telling what-! LOOK OUT!!” Lucio stated and Giacintro barely managed to dodge a claw smashing onto the ground. The beast snarled lowly.
“I guess you’re one of Fermi’s smuggled pets.” Giacintro grumbled. Slowly more red eyes began to appear in the darkness.
“Shit.” Giacintro stated before rushing away from the group, the monsters following him. This gave the others time to work on their bonds, unnoticed by the monsters and familiars. Florentia slowly stood up, nursing her side. Giacintro kept running around, weaving around to dodge the attacks. Suddenly vines wrapped around the monster in the lead and it shrieked in defiance, trying to free itself. Florentia snarled as her skin hardened into wood, her eyes darkened and her hair became vines. Now in her dryad form, Florentia smashed the familiar several times onto the floor, ceiling and walls, before coiling vines around its neck. A hard squeeze and the head was sheared off and bounced to the ground.
“Muraro! Go find Black!”
“But you guys don’t have your wands!” Giacintro exclaimed.
“Don’t worry about it. We’re Italian Aurors remember? We can fight without magic just as well as with!” Rosetta stated. “Marisa’s insane, and Moria’s in danger. Go!!”
Giacintro hesitated as Felisa shoved him slightly.
“You have to go!” She pleaded.
“Not without you.” He snapped and with a look of exasperation she pulled him close and smashed his mouth onto hers. She then pulled away, glaring at his stunned face.
“GO!! If you don’t, I won’t tell you why I just did that!!” She hissed.
“Felisa…”
“GO!!” She exclaimed shoving him towards the exit of this cave. Finally Giacintro hurried out a separate exit.
“Alright you little assholes, lets show you who we are!!” Rosetta snapped running and jumping on top of one and grabbing the white hair of the familiar, pulling hard and forcing it to slide to a stop. Basilio managed to stop a clawed familiar with his bare hands and wrestled it to the ground. In the background Marisella watched as the aurors fought, bare handed against the familiars, almost stunned. That woman…this Moria…was that important that they would risk their lives to give their only armed comrades time to help another.
“What happens after?”
“If Marisa gets her revenge, what will happen after?”
Those questions taunted her as she slid back into the shadows. Something needed to be done.
And she knew just what to do.
Moria grunted as she jumped to avoid another rock, her side burning as she twisted. Cradling it she rushed into the darkness and coughed, blood trickling down her chin. Well that wasn't a good sign.
“Whenever you fight, you hesitate. Remember, Moria…they are out to kill you. You have to fight. Fight with every fiber in your body.”
The taunting voice of her uncle echoed and she swallowed.
“Come out, come out wherever you are!” Marisa sang as Moria hid behind a pillar. “Oh now that isn’t much fair, you hiding and all!!”
Moria bit her lip, staring at the side of the pillar.
“Well then, it seems I’ll have to get you out through that pesky family of yours won’t I?”
Moria froze.
“And if you can’t fight anymore…”
“I’ll go after your husband first. He’ll be easier to get. Can’t run away in jail, can he?” Marisa spat and Moria bit her bottom lip. “He’ll die slowly of course. Maybe I’ll poison his blood…And then your son. He’ll die quickly seeing as he isn’t your actual blood son. But that girl…she’s going to die slow too. I’ll string her up and have squealing like a piglet by the time I’m done with h-”
“You drag them to hell with you.”
Her threat was cut off as Moria appeared in front of her slamming her fist into her face, sending her backwards. She barely managed to look up before Moria was throwing her down to the ground, straddling her, and beginning to punch her. Marisa snarled and smashed her hand into Moria’s right arm, earning a yelp before she was thrown off of Marisa, sliding a little bit over another edge and rolling down into the darkness.
“Don’t think that will protect you, you little bi-”
Suddenly Moria swung back up smashing her heels into Marisa’s face, forcing Marisa to stumble back. Moria didn’t let up, rushing forward and smashing her hand into Marisa’s face before dragging her head back for a headbutt. Marisa fell to the ground and Moria straddled her again, before beginning to smash her fist into the girl’s face over and over again.
“You are nothing more than a piece of flesh used to fight.”
Blood splattered all over the place.
“Fall into that darkness and become a machine.”
She raised her fist up, her eyes narrowed angrily, almost glowing in rage. She swung down to throw another shot.
“You aren’t a killer.”
The fist froze, inches, mere inches from Marisa’s bruised and bloody face. Marisa’s opened one eye, panting and staring at the woman on top of her in surprise. Moria was staring at her ring finger, at the ring that glimmered even though it was stained with blood.
“You aren’t a killer, and you know that you would never forgive yourself if you did. You know what hurts, and what doesn’t…don’t you Moria?”
Sirius’s voice, almost teasing her echoed in her head, muffling and eventually smothering Malcolm’s voice.
“…I want to kill you so fucking badly.” She said lowly, she glared at Marisa before shoving her away. “But you aren’t even worth it. You aren’t worth anything.” She hissed. Marisa stared and then her good eye narrowed and she shrieked loudly and Moria barely managed to look up before a boulder smashed into her, throwing her off of Marisa and slamming into the cave wall. She gasped and fell to the ground in a crumpled heap. She tried desperately to stand back up, but only managed to rise to hands and knees, before falling forward.
“I will kill you!! I WILL KILL YOU, YOU WRETCHED LITTLE BI-”
Marisa’s rant suddenly cut off and Moria slowly forced her head up to see a strange sight. Marisella stood behind her, and Marisa seemed stunned. Moria looked down at the girl’s chest and blinked surprise to see a blade protruding from her chest.
“M…marise…lla…wh…why?”
“Penance. For what you have done.” She muttered in reply, holding Marisa to her and pouring a cup of liquid onto them. “Don’t worry sister…I will come with you to hell as I aided you.” Marisella smiled and held up a single match.
“Tell my sister I’m sorry…I wish this had never happened.” She stated simply, before dropping the match onto the liquid.
She and Marisa lit up seconds later along with the puddle. Moria watched in horror, unable to move as the pair burned to death in an embrace, screeching sounds echoing through the cavern, as Marisa struggled against her sister. Slowly her vision waned and Moria finally allowed to be dragged into the sweet embrace of unconsciousness. The last thing she saw was Giacintro running to her in the glow of the funeral pyre.
“So…I’m not fired?”
“Of course not.” Lucio stated as they walked down the hall in the Ministry. “Why would you be?”
“Because I told Moria that we needed to go and disobeyed orders of the higher ups-”
“Who were all fired.”
“I…huh?” Giacintro stated looking at Lucio in confusion, who smiled with a shrug.
“Minister fired all of them and is placing new ones in those positions. Me being one. So since I’m your boss, you aren’t fired.”
“Because?”
“Because their stereotyping and sexism nearly resulted in the deaths of seven aurors, and the retirement of one of the best female aurors we’ve had.” Lucio explained, fixing the cuff of his shirt. Giacintro frowned. “Don’t look like that. We all knew she was going to be leaving back to England anyways.”
“But like you said, Moria was one of the best. Probably the best.” Giacintro stated.
“She’s lucky she can even use her right arm, Muraro.” Lucio stated. “The muscle damage that occurred could have rendered her arm useless.”
“I know, I know…but still…”
“She’s alive.”
“Yeah…and I guess she’ll be a good teacher. I mean look at how she taught all us idiotic men.”
Lucio chuckled as they opened the door barely managed to dodge a tennis ball that whizzed past and smacked Giacintro in the head.
“Ow!!”
“Sorry, sorry.” Moria called out in frustration, holding up her new wand. “I’m still getting used to this.” She explained holding up her new wand, frowning at it.
“Oh come on Moria, it’s really cool.” Rosetta stated. “Not many British people have a mountain ash wand that’s 10 inches with a bowtruckle bark as their core.”
Moria rolled her eyes and looked at her wand.
“Well yeah, considering that the bowtruckle bark is a core Ollivander doesn’t use. It’s just a different feeling than my old wand.” She murmured, missing it. But it had been essentially obliterated into splinters, useless to her. She looked at the ornate details added onto the wand and sighed. “I’ll just have to get used to it.”
“Still good to have a new wand.” Nico stated as he placed another box down. He then shrunk it. “How much more stuff do you have?”
“Not that much.” Moria replied. “Filius took Arian back to his property and he should be nice and comfortable there. And the rest you guys sent over to London while I was in the hospital recovering.”
“True.” Nico stated before standing to work on another box. Moria glanced at Giacintro and then smirked as she noticed he was staring at Felisa.
“Go talk to her about it. I know you want to.”
“About what?”
“About the fact she kissed you, moron.” Moria drawled softly and Giacintro’s current slightly red face turned burgundy.
“How did you…Rosetta!”
Moria laughed, pushing her hair back with her left hand, her right arm still in a sling.
“It’ll be different moving back.”
“But you’re excited. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile like that.”
“I have. You just don’t pay attention.” She teased and he chuckled. Suddenly there was a loud popping sound and they turned to see a man, slightly shabby man with an already greying hair with premature lines on his face. He looked up just in time to see a brown blur before he was tackled into a one arm hug.
“M-Moria!?”
“Remus!! It’s good to see you again!” She exclaimed happily.
“Same. But what the bloody hell is going on?? I get an owl from Chelsea stating that she needed me to take her place in picking you up because she was taking care of Harry, Max, and Brent and…what happened to your arm?”
“Ah…well…that’s a long story that I’ll tell you later.” She stated with a nervous laugh. Remus’s eyes narrowed as he looked at her. Meanwhile Giacintro went to Felisa.
“We need to talk.” He murmured and she gulped, before he pulled her away into a dark hallway.
“Does it have to be now?”
“You said after this mission you would explain, and you’ve been procrastinating.” He stated. “So? Spill.”
“I…It was in the heat of the moment and I-”
“That’s not what I meant. Why did you kiss me in the first place? I was complacent a few months ago when you kissed me on the cheek. But now…”
“I think…I’ve developed feelings…for you.” She finally explained and his face shifted. She swallowed. “I’m not asking for a relationship of any kind. It was just the heat in the moment and…”
She trailed off as he held her head and kissed her forehead.
“Why not we just see what happens?” He asked softly glancing at the entrance to the room where Moria was and saw Remus changing colors at whatever Rosetta was saying, Moria growing uncomfortable, giving a hint that Rosetta was telling the poor man what had happened. “I think I have feelings for you, but I’m not sure what they mean. But that doesn’t mean I want to give up. I’m not one known for that.”
She blinked and then sniffled, rubbing her eye roughly. He chuckled.
“Felisa Fermi crying, say it isn’t so?”
“Shut up.”
A while later Moria was all ready to leave, all the boxes that she was bringing with her shrunk and in her pocket. Currently she was trying to pry herself from Rosetta, who was bawling loudly.
“Rosetta, I’ll write, I promise.”
“I’LL MISS YYYYYOOOUUUUUU!!” She sobbed out loudly before being pulled off by Basilio.
“Control yourself. You’re supposed to be an auror.” Giacintro scolded and Rosetta sobbed as he walked up to Moria. She stared at him and then gave a smile.
“It’s been nice working with you, Giacintro Muraro.”
“The same. Moria Black.” He replied holding out his hand. She looked at it and then took it, giving a hard shake. The pair smiled.
“You better get going, Max and Harry are probably worried out of their heads.” He stated.
“Roger that. Don’t scare any of the new aurors away.”
“I’ll try not to.” Giacintro stated before stepping back as Moria did returning to Remus’s side, grabbing onto to a pack of cards. She gave a single wave and then with the familiar tugging feeling of her navel and then the Italian Ministry was no more. A few moments later she was back on solid ground, stumbling a bit.
“Mum!!”
“Mummy!!”
Moria barely managed to look up before she was tackled by two children who engulfed her in a hug. She smiled brightly, before going to her knees, pulling the two to her with her arm. Her eyes closed blissfully at the sound of her daughter’s voice.
“It’s good to hear your voice, sweetheart.” Moria whispered gently before looking at the two. “And I told you two. I’d come back.” She murmured kissing their foreheads. The pair smiled, teary-eyed. “So how’s London been for you?”
“Rainy. But I like it. People don’t tease me and Harry for how we look Mummy!” Max said with a smile and Moria offered her own, though a bolt of rage at the children in Italy went through her. But Max didn’t let her dwell too long.
“Where are we going to live?" Max asked, glancing around at the rest of the people here. "In Scotland like you did?"
Moria shrugged. "I have no idea. Dumbledore is taking care of that." She stated. The headmaster had promised them a 'familiar safe place'. She wasn't sure what that meant, but decided to trust him.
"Well they did say change is a good thing." Moria thought as she pushed back a bang before she heard the familiar cracking sound and the group turned to see a very odd-looking man appeared out of nowhere, holding a pair of binoculars. Taking a better look at the man, Max saw his face was severely scarred: a piece of his nose was seemingly missing and, where his right eye was supposed to be, there was a vivid electric blue orb that moved around independently from his normal eye. He also had a wooden leg. It was definitely not a good combination, as it made him look like he had come right out of one of those horror stories Moria had told her and Harry. She automatically backed up and hid
behind Harry.
"Moody." Moria said simply and the man let out a gruff grumble.
"Moria Black." he grumbled in a gruff voice, looking at her. “So you’ve been in hiding. And finally returned.” He looked around, nodding at Remus when he saw him but Harry was where he stopped. "Harry Potter. I always wondered why no bloody reporter could find this boy in England. Guess it was because he was not there." Then, he looked at Max. "And let me guess… Black's spawn."
"What do you think?" Moria warned him in a hard tone. Mad-eye probably believed Sirius was guilty and she didn't want him to make a show in front of Harry and Max. "Her name is Maxine."
"Right," he said, forcing himself to shut up. "The portkey leaves in three minutes."
"Another portkey…” She murmured before sighing. “Well we're all ready," Moria told him. They all circled the binoculars and touched them as Mad-Eye looked at his watch and counted down, two and a half minutes later they vanished with a crack.
For Max and Harry it felt like they were going through a slide at really fast speed. When they landed the two children nearly face planted into the sidewalk.
"Where are we?" Harry asked.
"No clue. Can’t really tell where we are." Moria replied. It was pitch black so she couldn't really be sure as it seemed that all the street lights were off or broken. Suddenly, a group of lights seems to fly around them and several street lights started to work, allowing them to finally see their surroundings. It was an unfamiliar muggle street. But Moria could definitely see that it was in fact a normal London muggle street with the grimy fronts of the surrounding houses that were not very welcoming; some of them had broken windows, glimmering dully in the light from the streetlamps, paint was peeling from many of the doors, and heaps of rubbish lay outside several sets of front steps.
"Welcome back," Albus Dumbledore, who seemed to show up out of nowhere, greeted them. "I'm sorry for all that darkness, but I had to use the deluminator to remove all the lights or you could have been seen. I hope the trip wasn't too uncomfortable."
"Do you need me for anything else, Albus?" Mad-Eye asked the headmaster glancing around.
"You can go, Alastor," he stated. "Thank you for the help."
"So long, you all. Remember, Constant Vigilance!" he told them before apparating away.
"Yeah, yeah." Moria murmured. Nothing had changed since the Order of the Phoenix with him. The man was always saying that.
"Where exactly are we?" Remus inquired, looking around, trying to recognize the place. He knew it was London…but his geography needed a bit more sprucing up on.
"In London," Dumbledore said with a knowing smile. "To be more accurate, we are in Grimmauld Place."
"Grimmauld Place?" Moria asked in confusion. "You mean Sirius's parent's place?" she asked, slowly not really believing it.
Max blinked in surprise hearing her father's name. "This is the street where my dad grew up?" she whispered to Harry, almost asking for reassurance that she hadn't just heard the name being said.
"Apparently," he said, though he seemed to be just as confused as Moria was. That didn't seem like a place where pure-blood obsessed wizards would live in...they were surrounded by muggles.
“Sirius's parents have already died and, as his brother is dead too, makes Sirius the owner of this place. This place has every protection measure know by wizard-kind, completely unseen to muggles. It's the safest place you could ever be. So safe I'm not even sure we'll be able to go in…"
"Huh?"
"Well, as the last member of the Black family to live there, Sirius's mother, has already died, the wards saw the house as uninhabited. Because of that, only a member of the Black family or the legal heir can first open the door to enter this place and inhabit it. Maxine, being Sirius's daughter, would be able to do that in theory, but because Walburga never sanctioned your marriage to Sirius, nor did she accept it, the wards can consider her illegitimate and refuse to let her in. Not to mention that she is not a male heir." The headmaster explained.
"Why does that not surprise me?" Remus asked, his voice laced in sarcasm and Moria snorted in agreement.
"So, if I can't open the door, what will we do?" Max asked shyly. "Where are we supposed to live?" she asked.
Dumbledore shook his head. "Let's not think of it now. We should give it a try first." He indicated door number twelve. "If you may…"Max gulped and walked there until she reached the doorstep, followed by everyone.
“You'll need a wand to tap the lock," Dumbledore told her. "As you don't have your own, you can use someone else's." he said. Remus automatically went for his but Moria was quicker and had already retrieved her wand from her pocket and gave it to her.
"Use mine." She said softly Max accepted her mother's wand with a small smile and took a deep breath before using it to tap the lock. There was a clicking sound inside of it and when she touched the door it opened.
"Seems like there was no problem, after all," the headmaster said, pushing the door open. Max was the first one to enter, followed by Harry, Moria, Remus and, finally, Dumbledore. Just judging by the entrance, the place was a mess. Dust everywhere, spider webs, and Harry could have sworn he saw something large move in the shadows but figured it must be his imagination. Moria had stopped and was looking around, merely observing her husband's parent’s home. It was dark and gloomy, just as Sirius had described it to her. She frowned, looking at one picture covered in a layer of dust and after wiping the dust off, was slightly surprised to see that Sirius was still in the photo. He was staring at the camera as though he was about to be shot. Well in actuality the whole family did.
"Moria?" she heard Remus asked and glanced at him, before brushing her hand against the picture, smudging the dust off of it.
"Sirius hated this place." Moria murmured. "And I'll be living in it…I'd laugh at the irony if I didn't feel like crap."
"I know." Remus replied, looking around. It was honestly eerie. He had never been to Sirius's home, even when he was a child. Sirius never let anyone come visit him. Now he couldn't really blame him for that. If he saw this place, he probably would have hightailed it, Peter probably would have wet his pants, and James would either have said 'bloody awesome' or run away screaming like a little girl.
"The house hasn't been inhabited for the past six years, so it needs a good cleaning. Also the Blacks were very fond of dark objects, so I would advise you to be careful of what you touch," Dumbledore told them. He turned to Moria. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to readjust the house's wards. Maybe you want to make a little tour around the house…"
"Thank you, Dumbledore. We'll do that," Moria told him, regaining her composure quickly, who promptly entered into one of the rooms, before turning to her children. "Don't touch anything." She said sternly. Both children groaned loudly.
"Aw, what's the fun of exploring without touching, Mummy?" Max asked in annoyance. Harry nodded.
"What's the fun of being cursed by the things you touch?" Remus pointed out. "Or maybe losing a hand. You know, when body parts are cursed out, healers can't grow it back. That's probably why Moody looks the way he does…" He joked as though contemplating.
Max and Harry eyes widened in terror at the prospect of ending up like the grumpy man who had left only a few minutes before and immediately stuffed their hands into their pockets. Moria couldn't help but chuckle before smacking Remus's shoulder lightly and looking at the children. "Just don't touch anything until Remus and I finish getting rid of the cursed objects. I don't want to spend our first day back in St. Mungo's." she said and then smiled. "But look at it this way you two. You finally get your own rooms." She said. Both children beamed at this prospect.
"Now you two go explore…but please be careful." Moria warned and with that the two children clambered away. With that Remus and Moria also walked around observing and looking for objects that could possibly be cursed.
"Harry, wait up!" Max said, but Harry was farther ahead. She then heard something scurrying away and stopped looking at a small cupboard that she could have sworn was open when they had first climbed up to the second floor. But now it was closed tight. Hesitantly she looked back and saw that Harry was now gone from her sight. She smoothed the front of her dress, before timidly going to the cupboard and carefully opened it. The light from the hall immediately illuminated the insides of the cupboard, revealing a tiny creature with a bulbous, snout-like nose, bloodshot eyes, many folds of skin, and white hair growing out of his bat-like ears. He was wearing rags and was curled up in the corner.
Instead of being frightened like many girls her age would have been at the sight of such a creature, Max instead blinked and cocked her head to the side. She thought back to the books her Mummy had read to her about magical creatures and finally figured out he was a house-elf. She began to go into the cupboard, reaching a hand towards him.
"Hi…what's your name?" she asked, and he didn't answer. She heard footsteps and turned to see Harry rushing back, his eyes wide. Apparently he had realized she wasn't there and had panicked at thinking that she had been snatched by some mystic item. He then looked at the aged house-elf in curiosity.
"It's a house-elf." He said matter-of-factly and she nodded.
"I think he's mute though." She said. Suddenly the elf shifted, startling her for a second.
"Girl talks to Kreacher, but Kreacher doesn't say anything. Kreacher ignores girl. Invaders of my mistress's house, the house of the Black," the house-elf mumbled to himself.
"I'm a Black too," Max said. Hearing that, the house-elf looked at her with his eyes wide open. "My Dad is Sirius Black…he used to live here when he was younger." She said.
"Young Master Sirius's child?" he asked cautiously. She nodded with a small kind smile.
"Mhm. My Mummy and him married and had me before…he went away." She trailed off, looking to the side before looking back at the elf. "You remember him?" she asked.
"Kreacher remembers Young Master Sirius. Kreacher did not like Young Master nor did Kreacher like how he made Mistress so angry."
"Oh." She concluded lamely, smoothing the front of her dress again. "But since your…mistress…is dead, wouldn't that make my dad your master?" she asked. It felt odd calling her grandmother mistress, but she wanted to make the house-elf feel comfortable around her, and if that meant she had to speak the way he did, then so be it.
"Master is in prison." Kreacher mumbled, glaring at her. She flinched at the term.
"I know, but we're moving here now. My mum, Harry and I. Is that okay with you?" she asked and he blinked. It was obvious he wasn't used to being asked for his opinion on things. Kreacher finally looked at the little girl that stood in front of him.
"Kreacher serves the Blacks. Young Mistress as well as Young Mistress's mother is a Black, so Kreacher has to serve her and her family," he said. Max blinked and then smiled and if Kreacher could compare it to looked like a smile to an angel.
"Why are you staying in a cupboard?" Harry asked him, speaking to the elf for the first time. "Don't you want to come outside?" he asked and Kreacher shook his head.
"Okay, you can stay there if you want," he accepted. "Have you been in this house for long?"
"Kreacher has served the Blacks since before Young Master's Sirius and Regulus were born," he told them. "Kreacher served mistress until she passed." He added, a tone of sadness in his voice
"That's a long time…" Max murmured in appreciation, looking at the objects inside of Kreacher's cupboard. "Are these things from upstairs?" He hesitated but nodded, expecting her to say he needed to put them back.
"You can keep them if you want…" she said. "I mean if they make you happy." She said politely.Kreacher looked at her dumbstruck.
"Young Mistress very kind," he said, causing her to blush brightly.
"T...thank you. But you don't have to call me Young Mistress. You can call me Max if you feel more comfortable saying that." She said. Kreacher however shook his head.
"No Young Mistress. Kreacher is a servant to Young Mistress and family. Kreacher must respect his masters." He said and she shrugged before offering a soft smile and raised her hand.
"Okay. Pleased to meet you Kreacher." She said sweetly, and hesitantly Kreacher shook her hand. Unseen by the house-elf, or the two children both adults were staring from around the corner.
"Tell you what, there are some things that remind me of Sirius in her personality, but she is definitely not a carbon copy of him." Remus murmured and Moria smiled.
"Yeah." She said as they walked downstairs. "So…you willing to stay a few days and help us clean before you go back to your parents place since I’m only one handed at the moment, or are you leaving tonight?" she asked. He gave her a grin.
"Well tidiness is my thing." He said and she grinned.
No matter what moving back to London might bring, she couldn't deny that she was happy to be home.
"Alright, one. Two. THREE!!" Moria grunted and pulled before a distinct ripping sound echoed throughout the room and she managed to pull off the tapestry off of the wall, falling onto the ground with a solid thud. It had been a few days where they managed to get rid of every dark object, curse, plague, doxies, even a boggart (which had been fun to get rid of...not) from the house. Now it was redecorating and refurnishing the house. Kreacher had been amazing help with cleaning the house. It seemed that, even though he hadn't exactly warmed to Moria or to Harry, he had warmed to Max rather quickly. She sat up angrily, huffing as she through the corner that she had been holding away and managing to stand. Doing all this with one hand was difficult.
She didn't really think he had warmed to her that much until he had been the one to figure out and removed Mrs. Black's portrait from the wall. While he had given the excuse that the 'Old Mistress would be happier without so much noise' she figured that Kreacher had gotten upset after the portrait had begun to berate Max to near tears.
Moria cursed softly as she sat up looking up at the now blank wall before rolling up the tapestry. She would let Kreacher decide where he wanted it to go. She looked at the cuckoo clock situated on the wall. It had been a rather neat find at a yard sale in a nearby muggles home. It still worked and it portrayed witches and wizards flying that came out of the door, circling at eight in the morning, noon, five o'clock at night, and at midnight. It was really pretty and quaint.
"Might as well start making lunch." She murmured, stretching as she stood back up. She was on her way to the kitchen when the door was knocked on. She stopped and blinked. She heard a pop and as she turned around the corner saw Kreacher answering the door.
"Mistress, Sir Ellesmere is here to visit you." He said looking at her. She smiled in gratitude.
"Thank you Kreacher." She said and answered the door, smiling as she saw Wulfric. "Hi Uncle Wulfric." She said and looked behind Wulfric noticing the rest of the Ellesmere's were here as well. She stared at them before offering a soft smile. "Come in, come in. It's a bit messy, we're still in the process of renovating.”
"Oh that's alright Moria…" Fillius said, looking at his granddaughter. "It's nice to see you."
"Thanks." She replied, feeling a bit awkward. She pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear, suddenly feeling shy. She probably looked like utter crap in comparison to the family that stood in front of her. However Alcmene and Mathilde smiled at her kindly.
"How have you been dear?" Alcmene asked her granddaughter. Moria blinked and then smiled.
"I've been good. Busy. Taking care of two children is a bit of work." She added and Cepheus snorted.
"I know how you feel. Taking care of twin girls. Merlin, sometimes they made me want to rip my hair out." He joked and she laughed. For the Ellesmere's it was though they were hearing their sister or their daughter laugh. They couldn't help but smile at her.
"Yes, I would assume that taking care of two girls would be a bit of a change." She said brightly. Alcmene glared at her son.
"Two girls are too much for you? Considering I had to take care of four children around the same time, it was much harder. Especially with you and Mable always trying to swing from the trees like monkeys."
"It was fun." Cepheus complained. Moria smirked.
“How’s Arian?”
“Enjoying himself immensely.” He replied. “Flying like a happy idiot. Max will be very happy for him being there.”
She laughed and spent the remaining time before Harry and Max came down for lunch talking about her family, mainly her mother. With the presence of children, the Ellesmere's dispersed saying goodbye to their niece/granddaughter.
"Expect a few more visits." Fillius said and Moria smiled.
"That will be fine." She said, patting Max's head as she shyly looked from behind her mother. Fillius looked at his great-granddaughter with a soft smile and kneeled down to her level.
"I heard from your mother that you like to draw." He said. She nodded in confirmation, blushing.
"Well if you're ever interested, I have plenty of animals where I live that would love to be drawn. And since you’ll be visiting there to see Arian, I think you can see other animals" He said and watched her eyes light up and then look at her mother excitedly. Moria smiled and then looked at him.
"I don't think she would mind that at all." Moria said. "Take care of yourself okay…Grandpa…" she finally said. It felt weird saying that word. She had only said it to her father's father…and he had died when she was only two, so there hadn't been so many times for her to say it to him. But watching Fillius's face shift from surprise and the happiness, she figured it wouldn't kill her to call him that from now on.
"I will." He finally said and she smiled waving as he left with the rest of his family.
It was a few days later and Moria finally could say that 12 Grimmauld Place was now as close to an actual home as it could ever be called. The dark wallpaper, putrid and torn curtains were gone, replaced with light, warm, and homey wallpaper and light curtains. The kitchen was now in working order and the stuff that they had brought from Mazara del Vallo had been taken out of their boxes and placed appropriately in the house.
Moria stretched climbing up the stairs and glanced in to Max's room. It hadn't been a surprise that Max had asked for the color purple to be her bedroom color, it was her favorite color and had been for years. Currently it was a light shade of purple and Max had wasted no time in putting up her sketches. Moria could see there were new ones of a certain house-elf that were on the wall now. She shook her head in amusement and then walked towards the room next to Max's, which was Harry's. She could hear laughter and when she peered in she saw that Harry and Max were playing a card game on the ground. Harry's room was a stereotypical boys’ bedroom and was striped blue wallpaper. She figured that whatever house he got into at Hogwarts he would want to change to mirror his loyalties to it. She knocked on the door and both children looked up and smiled.
"Mum!"
"Mummy!"
Moria grinned as she entered. "I see that you two are now comfortable." She said looking around as clothes had somehow already started to magically pile on the floor. Harry grinned sheepishly.
"Is something wrong Mummy?" Max asked and Moria shook her head, but a large grin became plastered on her face.
"Well it seems Chelsea wants to go visit her family for the day…but she promised Brent they would go to the Zoo. And since you haven't been to the Zoo in a while, I was thinking we could go instead of Chelsea and bring Brent along." She said nonchalantly. Max's eyes widened and Harry's grin grew larger if it was possible.
"Yes!" they both said and promptly began to put their stuff away. Moria merely grinned, that had been much easier then she had thought.
Max looked around and was surprised at how many people were in the zoo. Actually she was surprised at how big this zoo was. It was definitely bigger than the zoo in Italy ever could hope to be. She looked down when she felt a small hand grasp hers and had to smile at Brent, the poor three year old who was the shyest little boy she had ever met, and he didn't like when he couldn't find someone…which considering his mother seemed ironic. Harry was currently licking a tiger shaped ice cream cone and was sitting next to her on the bench.
"I wanna go see the snakes." Harry said looking around as he spotted Moria coming back with two other cones, handing one to Max and one to Brent. Max nodded. She had only seen a few snakes in the zoo back in Italy. And she had even heard there was a boa constrictor in this zoo.
"Can we go to the snake exhibit?" Harry asked again as Moria sat down. She cocked her head as though she was thinking, but already knew she was going to go.
"I don't see why not." She said and the boy whooped in glee. Moria smiled, momentarily forgetting the fact that she had spotted Petunia a little while ago. The woman had obviously noticed her, as her face had clearly paled and her mouth had set in a thin line, before she was dragged away by a large, overweight boy who was asking for her to get him a large stuffed tiger.
"Well, that brat could actually live in a zoo as a walrus if he got any bigger." She thought absently as she stood and followed the two older children, Brent tagging behind her trying to keep up. He failed miserably and just a few feet from the exhibit, tripped and slammed face first into the ground.
And began to bawl.
The trio stopped and Moria quickly went back to him, setting him up straight and did a glance over him. Besides being covered in dirt, he seemed fine.
"Brent, it's okay." She cooed but it did nothing to settle the boy's nerves.
"Mum, can we go on ahead?" she heard Harry ask and sighed. Knowing Brent, he probably didn't want to be anywhere close to snakes anyways.
"Sure, you two go on in while I calm him down. But stay together okay?" she said looking back at him. The two nodded and rushed towards the exhibit. Moria grunted as she picked Brent up. "Boy, you're getting heavier each day." She commented as she went to a bench. By then his crying had become whimpers and sniffles as he began to suck his thumb, something Chelsea was trying to get him to stop. Right then Moria didn't have the heart to stop him, as it seemed to make him stop from having a full out crying session.
"My knee hurt." Brent whined and she looked at and saw a barely visible scratch. She had to hold herself back from laughing.
"You'll survive." She said gently, rubbing her thumb affectionately across the scratch. He gripped her shirt tightly in his hand. It took a few more minutes before he calmed down. "Better?" she asked and he nodded. "Alright then. Let's go check on Max and Har-"
Suddenly screams and yells of utter panic ripped out into the open centered from the snake exhibit and people suddenly stampeded out of enclosure. Moria's heartbeat skyrocketed and she shot up from where she had been sitting, running towards the center, gripping Brent tightly to her. She opened the door just in time to see something slither out of it and she sidestepped in shock at the sight of a rather large boa constrictor slithering out and away from the exhibit. Brent squeaked in alarm and tightened his hold on Moria's neck in fear. Moria however paid little attention to this instead peered in and spotted Harry and Max, both who looked stunned and were staring at the enclosure that the python had apparently been in. Then a large, heavyset man who she couldn't even see if he had neck due to the large double chin he was sporting stormed towards the two, leaving his wife who was comforting a terrified round shaped boy.
It was Petunia holding her son Dudley, and Vernon was now yelling loudly at Max and Harry. Something snapped in Moria and she stormed over, shoving Vernon back and planting herself in-between him and the two children, allowing Brent to leave the safety of her arms and to where Harry and Max were.
"Back off Vernon." She growled out, her eyes narrow and her voice dripping with anger. He recoiled and then glared back down at her.
"Stay out of this, that little freak nearly got my precious son killed!!! One of your kind!!" he spat out. Moria glanced at Petunia and Dudley and saw that the boy had no wounds on him, besides a mysterious stain on the front his trousers.
"Really? Because I don't see a scratch on him." She retorted evenly.
"My son could have died if that freak of a boy you have-!"
"He pushed Harry!" Max shot back from behind her mother. "He wasn't happy that the python wasn't moving for him and when the snake moved for Harry he shoved him to the ground!" she said, hiding when Vernon glared at her. Petunia's head shot up and gave a blistering stare towards the little girl.
"What? Dudley would never do such a thing!"
"My son is no bully!!!"
"He wouldn't even hurt a fly!"
"A pack of lies!" the parents screeched out and Vernon made a move towards Max as though to reprimand her. Moria however snarled angrily mirroring her and Sirius's animagi growls and Vernon took two steps back as Moria removed her wand from her pocket, aiming it at the man.
"Back. Off. Vernon. Before I show you how dangerous one of 'my kind' can be when trained." She growled out, her voice laced in anger and intent to carry out the threat if need be. Vernon's red face visibly paled before growing back to a red tone.
"Go! Take him! Get him out of my sight!" Vernon spat. "He's a freak just like his parents and the rest of you!!" he snapped, turning to go back to his family. Moria growled. No way was she going to let her godson be treated like that by his uncle. When she saw that no one was there, as officials were off searching vainly for the missing snake and people were now avoiding the deserted exhibit like the plague, she shot out a spell and promptly walked away, the three children following closely behind her.
She couldn't hold back her smile of satisfaction when she heard Petunia shriek in alarm, Vernon yell in panic, and Dudley squeal loudly, mirroring the sound that animal she had given the tail on his behind, would make when petrified in fear. She felt Harry's hand go into hers and she glanced down, seeing his sorrowful and confused face.
"I'm sorry…I didn't mean…"
"I know you didn't. Uncontrolled magic is just that. Uncontrolled. I never expected you to be able to control it at such a young age." She said as they continued, stopping at the elephant exhibit, allowing Max and Brent to look at them.
"Mum?"
"Hm?" she said looking at him.
"If I ever say that I wish I lived with my biological aunt…I'm lying and I don't mean it, okay?" He said and she laughed, before ruffling his hair.
"That's good to know." She said. "Now, let’s not let a trio of idiot muggles spoil the rest of the day, okay?" she said and he smiled before nodding, running up to Max and Brent. She watched him run up, saying something to Max which earned a laugh from her. She looked up at the sky and smiled.
“Quit laughing James…you would have done the same.” She murmured and a breeze fluttered past and it was almost as though she heard laughter, though that easily could have been the passerby’s that filled the zoo and the family that had returned to England opened a new chapter in their lives, and she wondered what adventures awaited them in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
“It wouldn’t be an underground lair if it was bright, now would it?”
“…honestly, can’t your sarcasm lessen a little?”
“Hey, it’s the only thing people can’t injure.” Moria replied with a grin as they continued further underground, the only light coming from the tips of their wands. She looked around, sniffing the air. “We’re under the lake.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“The air’s scent changed.” She stated. “We must be right under it.”
“Fair observation.”
The pair turned their wands pointed in the location of where the voice had come from, only to see nothing there.
“Now where could I be?” The voice taunted in the shadows as the adults flanked one another, trying to get a definite location. “Here? No here. No wait, wait. Definitely here.”
“She’s taunting us.” Giacintro grumbled looking around.
“No shit.”
“Now where would I be? Can’t you aurors figure where I am?” The voice echoed and then all went silent. The pair looked around, trying to see into the darkness.
“Boo.”
The voice came from their left, and they turned to see a woman standing there, a horrific sneer on her face. Suddenly the cavern walls lit up like Christmas lights in ominous reds and blacks.
“Shit!” Moria snapped dodging as chunks of the ceiling began to fall, separating her and Giacintro.
“Moria!”
“Go find the others, I’ll be fine!” She called out as she continued to nimbly dodge the falling rocks. Soon she and Giacintro were completely separated by a wall of boulders. Marisa cackled as she followed Moria, throwing chunks of jewel shard laced boulders at her. Moria aimed her wand at Marisa.
“Stupefy!!” She yelled as Marisa said a spell she did not hear or understand. A jet of green light issued from Marisa’s shards that had surrounded just as a jet of red light blasted from Moria’s - they met in midair - and suddenly Moria's wand was vibrating as though an electric charge were surging through it; her hand seized up around it; she couldn't have released it if she'd wanted to - and a narrow beam of light connected the two spells, gold at the epicenter of the connection. Moria gritted her teeth as the force began to push her back. Small stones on the ground vibrated from the violence while dust and dirt swirled around. Marisa seemed undeterred by this and kept advancing forward as the violent gold color began to push backwards traveling the path of Moria’s spell. Moria growled, her eyes narrowing as she tried to fight back the spell, but it advanced.
A cracking sound was heard and suddenly her wand, the wand she had had since she had been 11, cracked and splintered in half, shooting out of her hand. Moria yelped, looking at her hand for a split second, stunned, before looking up just in time to see a large boulder smash into her, propelling her backwards and she smashed into the wall. She felt something snap in her chest, and the shooting pain was a clear indication that she had broken a rib.
Out of all the bones that broke, she hated it when ribs broke, they were probably the absolute worst feeling. She managed to get up, dodging another rock that had been thrown.
“Run!! Run!!” Marisa taunted as Moria jumped down a crevice, disappearing into the shadows. “Run and I’ll come find you again!!”
“Do you ever shut up?!”Moria snapped, gritting her teeth before limping down the long hall of rocks, hoping she could keep running, as long as she could without having a wand as a means to fight.
Knowing she was now a part of this cat and mouse game, and hoped she wouldn’t be the loser in the end.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck…” Giacintro hissed out as he hurried down the corridors. It was like a large stony maze down here, and with the only light coming from his wand, the shadows seemed to come alive. And he didn’t know if they actually were or it was just his imagination. Finally he slid into a large pocket and spotted the others. The group looked up wearily and then stared at him as though he was a ghost.
“Muraro?”
“Holy shit, you guys are still alive!!” He exclaimed in a hiss that echoed in the cavern as he hurried over beginning to unshackle them.
“Muraro, it’s a trap. Moria-”
“I know, she knows. She’s in the maze somewhere.”
“By herself?!”
“We didn’t have a choice. Marisa separated us.” Giacintro explained. “I was lucky to find this place.”
“Muraro, you need to go. There is no telling what-! LOOK OUT!!” Lucio stated and Giacintro barely managed to dodge a claw smashing onto the ground. The beast snarled lowly.
“I guess you’re one of Fermi’s smuggled pets.” Giacintro grumbled. Slowly more red eyes began to appear in the darkness.
“Shit.” Giacintro stated before rushing away from the group, the monsters following him. This gave the others time to work on their bonds, unnoticed by the monsters and familiars. Florentia slowly stood up, nursing her side. Giacintro kept running around, weaving around to dodge the attacks. Suddenly vines wrapped around the monster in the lead and it shrieked in defiance, trying to free itself. Florentia snarled as her skin hardened into wood, her eyes darkened and her hair became vines. Now in her dryad form, Florentia smashed the familiar several times onto the floor, ceiling and walls, before coiling vines around its neck. A hard squeeze and the head was sheared off and bounced to the ground.
“Muraro! Go find Black!”
“But you guys don’t have your wands!” Giacintro exclaimed.
“Don’t worry about it. We’re Italian Aurors remember? We can fight without magic just as well as with!” Rosetta stated. “Marisa’s insane, and Moria’s in danger. Go!!”
Giacintro hesitated as Felisa shoved him slightly.
“You have to go!” She pleaded.
“Not without you.” He snapped and with a look of exasperation she pulled him close and smashed his mouth onto hers. She then pulled away, glaring at his stunned face.
“GO!! If you don’t, I won’t tell you why I just did that!!” She hissed.
“Felisa…”
“GO!!” She exclaimed shoving him towards the exit of this cave. Finally Giacintro hurried out a separate exit.
“Alright you little assholes, lets show you who we are!!” Rosetta snapped running and jumping on top of one and grabbing the white hair of the familiar, pulling hard and forcing it to slide to a stop. Basilio managed to stop a clawed familiar with his bare hands and wrestled it to the ground. In the background Marisella watched as the aurors fought, bare handed against the familiars, almost stunned. That woman…this Moria…was that important that they would risk their lives to give their only armed comrades time to help another.
“What happens after?”
“If Marisa gets her revenge, what will happen after?”
Those questions taunted her as she slid back into the shadows. Something needed to be done.
And she knew just what to do.
Moria grunted as she jumped to avoid another rock, her side burning as she twisted. Cradling it she rushed into the darkness and coughed, blood trickling down her chin. Well that wasn't a good sign.
“Whenever you fight, you hesitate. Remember, Moria…they are out to kill you. You have to fight. Fight with every fiber in your body.”
The taunting voice of her uncle echoed and she swallowed.
“Come out, come out wherever you are!” Marisa sang as Moria hid behind a pillar. “Oh now that isn’t much fair, you hiding and all!!”
Moria bit her lip, staring at the side of the pillar.
“Well then, it seems I’ll have to get you out through that pesky family of yours won’t I?”
Moria froze.
“And if you can’t fight anymore…”
“I’ll go after your husband first. He’ll be easier to get. Can’t run away in jail, can he?” Marisa spat and Moria bit her bottom lip. “He’ll die slowly of course. Maybe I’ll poison his blood…And then your son. He’ll die quickly seeing as he isn’t your actual blood son. But that girl…she’s going to die slow too. I’ll string her up and have squealing like a piglet by the time I’m done with h-”
“You drag them to hell with you.”
Her threat was cut off as Moria appeared in front of her slamming her fist into her face, sending her backwards. She barely managed to look up before Moria was throwing her down to the ground, straddling her, and beginning to punch her. Marisa snarled and smashed her hand into Moria’s right arm, earning a yelp before she was thrown off of Marisa, sliding a little bit over another edge and rolling down into the darkness.
“Don’t think that will protect you, you little bi-”
Suddenly Moria swung back up smashing her heels into Marisa’s face, forcing Marisa to stumble back. Moria didn’t let up, rushing forward and smashing her hand into Marisa’s face before dragging her head back for a headbutt. Marisa fell to the ground and Moria straddled her again, before beginning to smash her fist into the girl’s face over and over again.
“You are nothing more than a piece of flesh used to fight.”
Blood splattered all over the place.
“Fall into that darkness and become a machine.”
She raised her fist up, her eyes narrowed angrily, almost glowing in rage. She swung down to throw another shot.
“You aren’t a killer.”
The fist froze, inches, mere inches from Marisa’s bruised and bloody face. Marisa’s opened one eye, panting and staring at the woman on top of her in surprise. Moria was staring at her ring finger, at the ring that glimmered even though it was stained with blood.
“You aren’t a killer, and you know that you would never forgive yourself if you did. You know what hurts, and what doesn’t…don’t you Moria?”
Sirius’s voice, almost teasing her echoed in her head, muffling and eventually smothering Malcolm’s voice.
“…I want to kill you so fucking badly.” She said lowly, she glared at Marisa before shoving her away. “But you aren’t even worth it. You aren’t worth anything.” She hissed. Marisa stared and then her good eye narrowed and she shrieked loudly and Moria barely managed to look up before a boulder smashed into her, throwing her off of Marisa and slamming into the cave wall. She gasped and fell to the ground in a crumpled heap. She tried desperately to stand back up, but only managed to rise to hands and knees, before falling forward.
“I will kill you!! I WILL KILL YOU, YOU WRETCHED LITTLE BI-”
Marisa’s rant suddenly cut off and Moria slowly forced her head up to see a strange sight. Marisella stood behind her, and Marisa seemed stunned. Moria looked down at the girl’s chest and blinked surprise to see a blade protruding from her chest.
“M…marise…lla…wh…why?”
“Penance. For what you have done.” She muttered in reply, holding Marisa to her and pouring a cup of liquid onto them. “Don’t worry sister…I will come with you to hell as I aided you.” Marisella smiled and held up a single match.
“Tell my sister I’m sorry…I wish this had never happened.” She stated simply, before dropping the match onto the liquid.
She and Marisa lit up seconds later along with the puddle. Moria watched in horror, unable to move as the pair burned to death in an embrace, screeching sounds echoing through the cavern, as Marisa struggled against her sister. Slowly her vision waned and Moria finally allowed to be dragged into the sweet embrace of unconsciousness. The last thing she saw was Giacintro running to her in the glow of the funeral pyre.
“So…I’m not fired?”
“Of course not.” Lucio stated as they walked down the hall in the Ministry. “Why would you be?”
“Because I told Moria that we needed to go and disobeyed orders of the higher ups-”
“Who were all fired.”
“I…huh?” Giacintro stated looking at Lucio in confusion, who smiled with a shrug.
“Minister fired all of them and is placing new ones in those positions. Me being one. So since I’m your boss, you aren’t fired.”
“Because?”
“Because their stereotyping and sexism nearly resulted in the deaths of seven aurors, and the retirement of one of the best female aurors we’ve had.” Lucio explained, fixing the cuff of his shirt. Giacintro frowned. “Don’t look like that. We all knew she was going to be leaving back to England anyways.”
“But like you said, Moria was one of the best. Probably the best.” Giacintro stated.
“She’s lucky she can even use her right arm, Muraro.” Lucio stated. “The muscle damage that occurred could have rendered her arm useless.”
“I know, I know…but still…”
“She’s alive.”
“Yeah…and I guess she’ll be a good teacher. I mean look at how she taught all us idiotic men.”
Lucio chuckled as they opened the door barely managed to dodge a tennis ball that whizzed past and smacked Giacintro in the head.
“Ow!!”
“Sorry, sorry.” Moria called out in frustration, holding up her new wand. “I’m still getting used to this.” She explained holding up her new wand, frowning at it.
“Oh come on Moria, it’s really cool.” Rosetta stated. “Not many British people have a mountain ash wand that’s 10 inches with a bowtruckle bark as their core.”
Moria rolled her eyes and looked at her wand.
“Well yeah, considering that the bowtruckle bark is a core Ollivander doesn’t use. It’s just a different feeling than my old wand.” She murmured, missing it. But it had been essentially obliterated into splinters, useless to her. She looked at the ornate details added onto the wand and sighed. “I’ll just have to get used to it.”
“Still good to have a new wand.” Nico stated as he placed another box down. He then shrunk it. “How much more stuff do you have?”
“Not that much.” Moria replied. “Filius took Arian back to his property and he should be nice and comfortable there. And the rest you guys sent over to London while I was in the hospital recovering.”
“True.” Nico stated before standing to work on another box. Moria glanced at Giacintro and then smirked as she noticed he was staring at Felisa.
“Go talk to her about it. I know you want to.”
“About what?”
“About the fact she kissed you, moron.” Moria drawled softly and Giacintro’s current slightly red face turned burgundy.
“How did you…Rosetta!”
Moria laughed, pushing her hair back with her left hand, her right arm still in a sling.
“It’ll be different moving back.”
“But you’re excited. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile like that.”
“I have. You just don’t pay attention.” She teased and he chuckled. Suddenly there was a loud popping sound and they turned to see a man, slightly shabby man with an already greying hair with premature lines on his face. He looked up just in time to see a brown blur before he was tackled into a one arm hug.
“M-Moria!?”
“Remus!! It’s good to see you again!” She exclaimed happily.
“Same. But what the bloody hell is going on?? I get an owl from Chelsea stating that she needed me to take her place in picking you up because she was taking care of Harry, Max, and Brent and…what happened to your arm?”
“Ah…well…that’s a long story that I’ll tell you later.” She stated with a nervous laugh. Remus’s eyes narrowed as he looked at her. Meanwhile Giacintro went to Felisa.
“We need to talk.” He murmured and she gulped, before he pulled her away into a dark hallway.
“Does it have to be now?”
“You said after this mission you would explain, and you’ve been procrastinating.” He stated. “So? Spill.”
“I…It was in the heat of the moment and I-”
“That’s not what I meant. Why did you kiss me in the first place? I was complacent a few months ago when you kissed me on the cheek. But now…”
“I think…I’ve developed feelings…for you.” She finally explained and his face shifted. She swallowed. “I’m not asking for a relationship of any kind. It was just the heat in the moment and…”
She trailed off as he held her head and kissed her forehead.
“Why not we just see what happens?” He asked softly glancing at the entrance to the room where Moria was and saw Remus changing colors at whatever Rosetta was saying, Moria growing uncomfortable, giving a hint that Rosetta was telling the poor man what had happened. “I think I have feelings for you, but I’m not sure what they mean. But that doesn’t mean I want to give up. I’m not one known for that.”
She blinked and then sniffled, rubbing her eye roughly. He chuckled.
“Felisa Fermi crying, say it isn’t so?”
“Shut up.”
A while later Moria was all ready to leave, all the boxes that she was bringing with her shrunk and in her pocket. Currently she was trying to pry herself from Rosetta, who was bawling loudly.
“Rosetta, I’ll write, I promise.”
“I’LL MISS YYYYYOOOUUUUUU!!” She sobbed out loudly before being pulled off by Basilio.
“Control yourself. You’re supposed to be an auror.” Giacintro scolded and Rosetta sobbed as he walked up to Moria. She stared at him and then gave a smile.
“It’s been nice working with you, Giacintro Muraro.”
“The same. Moria Black.” He replied holding out his hand. She looked at it and then took it, giving a hard shake. The pair smiled.
“You better get going, Max and Harry are probably worried out of their heads.” He stated.
“Roger that. Don’t scare any of the new aurors away.”
“I’ll try not to.” Giacintro stated before stepping back as Moria did returning to Remus’s side, grabbing onto to a pack of cards. She gave a single wave and then with the familiar tugging feeling of her navel and then the Italian Ministry was no more. A few moments later she was back on solid ground, stumbling a bit.
“Mum!!”
“Mummy!!”
Moria barely managed to look up before she was tackled by two children who engulfed her in a hug. She smiled brightly, before going to her knees, pulling the two to her with her arm. Her eyes closed blissfully at the sound of her daughter’s voice.
“It’s good to hear your voice, sweetheart.” Moria whispered gently before looking at the two. “And I told you two. I’d come back.” She murmured kissing their foreheads. The pair smiled, teary-eyed. “So how’s London been for you?”
“Rainy. But I like it. People don’t tease me and Harry for how we look Mummy!” Max said with a smile and Moria offered her own, though a bolt of rage at the children in Italy went through her. But Max didn’t let her dwell too long.
“Where are we going to live?" Max asked, glancing around at the rest of the people here. "In Scotland like you did?"
Moria shrugged. "I have no idea. Dumbledore is taking care of that." She stated. The headmaster had promised them a 'familiar safe place'. She wasn't sure what that meant, but decided to trust him.
"Well they did say change is a good thing." Moria thought as she pushed back a bang before she heard the familiar cracking sound and the group turned to see a very odd-looking man appeared out of nowhere, holding a pair of binoculars. Taking a better look at the man, Max saw his face was severely scarred: a piece of his nose was seemingly missing and, where his right eye was supposed to be, there was a vivid electric blue orb that moved around independently from his normal eye. He also had a wooden leg. It was definitely not a good combination, as it made him look like he had come right out of one of those horror stories Moria had told her and Harry. She automatically backed up and hid
behind Harry.
"Moody." Moria said simply and the man let out a gruff grumble.
"Moria Black." he grumbled in a gruff voice, looking at her. “So you’ve been in hiding. And finally returned.” He looked around, nodding at Remus when he saw him but Harry was where he stopped. "Harry Potter. I always wondered why no bloody reporter could find this boy in England. Guess it was because he was not there." Then, he looked at Max. "And let me guess… Black's spawn."
"What do you think?" Moria warned him in a hard tone. Mad-eye probably believed Sirius was guilty and she didn't want him to make a show in front of Harry and Max. "Her name is Maxine."
"Right," he said, forcing himself to shut up. "The portkey leaves in three minutes."
"Another portkey…” She murmured before sighing. “Well we're all ready," Moria told him. They all circled the binoculars and touched them as Mad-Eye looked at his watch and counted down, two and a half minutes later they vanished with a crack.
For Max and Harry it felt like they were going through a slide at really fast speed. When they landed the two children nearly face planted into the sidewalk.
"Where are we?" Harry asked.
"No clue. Can’t really tell where we are." Moria replied. It was pitch black so she couldn't really be sure as it seemed that all the street lights were off or broken. Suddenly, a group of lights seems to fly around them and several street lights started to work, allowing them to finally see their surroundings. It was an unfamiliar muggle street. But Moria could definitely see that it was in fact a normal London muggle street with the grimy fronts of the surrounding houses that were not very welcoming; some of them had broken windows, glimmering dully in the light from the streetlamps, paint was peeling from many of the doors, and heaps of rubbish lay outside several sets of front steps.
"Welcome back," Albus Dumbledore, who seemed to show up out of nowhere, greeted them. "I'm sorry for all that darkness, but I had to use the deluminator to remove all the lights or you could have been seen. I hope the trip wasn't too uncomfortable."
"Do you need me for anything else, Albus?" Mad-Eye asked the headmaster glancing around.
"You can go, Alastor," he stated. "Thank you for the help."
"So long, you all. Remember, Constant Vigilance!" he told them before apparating away.
"Yeah, yeah." Moria murmured. Nothing had changed since the Order of the Phoenix with him. The man was always saying that.
"Where exactly are we?" Remus inquired, looking around, trying to recognize the place. He knew it was London…but his geography needed a bit more sprucing up on.
"In London," Dumbledore said with a knowing smile. "To be more accurate, we are in Grimmauld Place."
"Grimmauld Place?" Moria asked in confusion. "You mean Sirius's parent's place?" she asked, slowly not really believing it.
Max blinked in surprise hearing her father's name. "This is the street where my dad grew up?" she whispered to Harry, almost asking for reassurance that she hadn't just heard the name being said.
"Apparently," he said, though he seemed to be just as confused as Moria was. That didn't seem like a place where pure-blood obsessed wizards would live in...they were surrounded by muggles.
“Sirius's parents have already died and, as his brother is dead too, makes Sirius the owner of this place. This place has every protection measure know by wizard-kind, completely unseen to muggles. It's the safest place you could ever be. So safe I'm not even sure we'll be able to go in…"
"Huh?"
"Well, as the last member of the Black family to live there, Sirius's mother, has already died, the wards saw the house as uninhabited. Because of that, only a member of the Black family or the legal heir can first open the door to enter this place and inhabit it. Maxine, being Sirius's daughter, would be able to do that in theory, but because Walburga never sanctioned your marriage to Sirius, nor did she accept it, the wards can consider her illegitimate and refuse to let her in. Not to mention that she is not a male heir." The headmaster explained.
"Why does that not surprise me?" Remus asked, his voice laced in sarcasm and Moria snorted in agreement.
"So, if I can't open the door, what will we do?" Max asked shyly. "Where are we supposed to live?" she asked.
Dumbledore shook his head. "Let's not think of it now. We should give it a try first." He indicated door number twelve. "If you may…"Max gulped and walked there until she reached the doorstep, followed by everyone.
“You'll need a wand to tap the lock," Dumbledore told her. "As you don't have your own, you can use someone else's." he said. Remus automatically went for his but Moria was quicker and had already retrieved her wand from her pocket and gave it to her.
"Use mine." She said softly Max accepted her mother's wand with a small smile and took a deep breath before using it to tap the lock. There was a clicking sound inside of it and when she touched the door it opened.
"Seems like there was no problem, after all," the headmaster said, pushing the door open. Max was the first one to enter, followed by Harry, Moria, Remus and, finally, Dumbledore. Just judging by the entrance, the place was a mess. Dust everywhere, spider webs, and Harry could have sworn he saw something large move in the shadows but figured it must be his imagination. Moria had stopped and was looking around, merely observing her husband's parent’s home. It was dark and gloomy, just as Sirius had described it to her. She frowned, looking at one picture covered in a layer of dust and after wiping the dust off, was slightly surprised to see that Sirius was still in the photo. He was staring at the camera as though he was about to be shot. Well in actuality the whole family did.
"Moria?" she heard Remus asked and glanced at him, before brushing her hand against the picture, smudging the dust off of it.
"Sirius hated this place." Moria murmured. "And I'll be living in it…I'd laugh at the irony if I didn't feel like crap."
"I know." Remus replied, looking around. It was honestly eerie. He had never been to Sirius's home, even when he was a child. Sirius never let anyone come visit him. Now he couldn't really blame him for that. If he saw this place, he probably would have hightailed it, Peter probably would have wet his pants, and James would either have said 'bloody awesome' or run away screaming like a little girl.
"The house hasn't been inhabited for the past six years, so it needs a good cleaning. Also the Blacks were very fond of dark objects, so I would advise you to be careful of what you touch," Dumbledore told them. He turned to Moria. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to readjust the house's wards. Maybe you want to make a little tour around the house…"
"Thank you, Dumbledore. We'll do that," Moria told him, regaining her composure quickly, who promptly entered into one of the rooms, before turning to her children. "Don't touch anything." She said sternly. Both children groaned loudly.
"Aw, what's the fun of exploring without touching, Mummy?" Max asked in annoyance. Harry nodded.
"What's the fun of being cursed by the things you touch?" Remus pointed out. "Or maybe losing a hand. You know, when body parts are cursed out, healers can't grow it back. That's probably why Moody looks the way he does…" He joked as though contemplating.
Max and Harry eyes widened in terror at the prospect of ending up like the grumpy man who had left only a few minutes before and immediately stuffed their hands into their pockets. Moria couldn't help but chuckle before smacking Remus's shoulder lightly and looking at the children. "Just don't touch anything until Remus and I finish getting rid of the cursed objects. I don't want to spend our first day back in St. Mungo's." she said and then smiled. "But look at it this way you two. You finally get your own rooms." She said. Both children beamed at this prospect.
"Now you two go explore…but please be careful." Moria warned and with that the two children clambered away. With that Remus and Moria also walked around observing and looking for objects that could possibly be cursed.
"Harry, wait up!" Max said, but Harry was farther ahead. She then heard something scurrying away and stopped looking at a small cupboard that she could have sworn was open when they had first climbed up to the second floor. But now it was closed tight. Hesitantly she looked back and saw that Harry was now gone from her sight. She smoothed the front of her dress, before timidly going to the cupboard and carefully opened it. The light from the hall immediately illuminated the insides of the cupboard, revealing a tiny creature with a bulbous, snout-like nose, bloodshot eyes, many folds of skin, and white hair growing out of his bat-like ears. He was wearing rags and was curled up in the corner.
Instead of being frightened like many girls her age would have been at the sight of such a creature, Max instead blinked and cocked her head to the side. She thought back to the books her Mummy had read to her about magical creatures and finally figured out he was a house-elf. She began to go into the cupboard, reaching a hand towards him.
"Hi…what's your name?" she asked, and he didn't answer. She heard footsteps and turned to see Harry rushing back, his eyes wide. Apparently he had realized she wasn't there and had panicked at thinking that she had been snatched by some mystic item. He then looked at the aged house-elf in curiosity.
"It's a house-elf." He said matter-of-factly and she nodded.
"I think he's mute though." She said. Suddenly the elf shifted, startling her for a second.
"Girl talks to Kreacher, but Kreacher doesn't say anything. Kreacher ignores girl. Invaders of my mistress's house, the house of the Black," the house-elf mumbled to himself.
"I'm a Black too," Max said. Hearing that, the house-elf looked at her with his eyes wide open. "My Dad is Sirius Black…he used to live here when he was younger." She said.
"Young Master Sirius's child?" he asked cautiously. She nodded with a small kind smile.
"Mhm. My Mummy and him married and had me before…he went away." She trailed off, looking to the side before looking back at the elf. "You remember him?" she asked.
"Kreacher remembers Young Master Sirius. Kreacher did not like Young Master nor did Kreacher like how he made Mistress so angry."
"Oh." She concluded lamely, smoothing the front of her dress again. "But since your…mistress…is dead, wouldn't that make my dad your master?" she asked. It felt odd calling her grandmother mistress, but she wanted to make the house-elf feel comfortable around her, and if that meant she had to speak the way he did, then so be it.
"Master is in prison." Kreacher mumbled, glaring at her. She flinched at the term.
"I know, but we're moving here now. My mum, Harry and I. Is that okay with you?" she asked and he blinked. It was obvious he wasn't used to being asked for his opinion on things. Kreacher finally looked at the little girl that stood in front of him.
"Kreacher serves the Blacks. Young Mistress as well as Young Mistress's mother is a Black, so Kreacher has to serve her and her family," he said. Max blinked and then smiled and if Kreacher could compare it to looked like a smile to an angel.
"Why are you staying in a cupboard?" Harry asked him, speaking to the elf for the first time. "Don't you want to come outside?" he asked and Kreacher shook his head.
"Okay, you can stay there if you want," he accepted. "Have you been in this house for long?"
"Kreacher has served the Blacks since before Young Master's Sirius and Regulus were born," he told them. "Kreacher served mistress until she passed." He added, a tone of sadness in his voice
"That's a long time…" Max murmured in appreciation, looking at the objects inside of Kreacher's cupboard. "Are these things from upstairs?" He hesitated but nodded, expecting her to say he needed to put them back.
"You can keep them if you want…" she said. "I mean if they make you happy." She said politely.Kreacher looked at her dumbstruck.
"Young Mistress very kind," he said, causing her to blush brightly.
"T...thank you. But you don't have to call me Young Mistress. You can call me Max if you feel more comfortable saying that." She said. Kreacher however shook his head.
"No Young Mistress. Kreacher is a servant to Young Mistress and family. Kreacher must respect his masters." He said and she shrugged before offering a soft smile and raised her hand.
"Okay. Pleased to meet you Kreacher." She said sweetly, and hesitantly Kreacher shook her hand. Unseen by the house-elf, or the two children both adults were staring from around the corner.
"Tell you what, there are some things that remind me of Sirius in her personality, but she is definitely not a carbon copy of him." Remus murmured and Moria smiled.
"Yeah." She said as they walked downstairs. "So…you willing to stay a few days and help us clean before you go back to your parents place since I’m only one handed at the moment, or are you leaving tonight?" she asked. He gave her a grin.
"Well tidiness is my thing." He said and she grinned.
No matter what moving back to London might bring, she couldn't deny that she was happy to be home.
"Alright, one. Two. THREE!!" Moria grunted and pulled before a distinct ripping sound echoed throughout the room and she managed to pull off the tapestry off of the wall, falling onto the ground with a solid thud. It had been a few days where they managed to get rid of every dark object, curse, plague, doxies, even a boggart (which had been fun to get rid of...not) from the house. Now it was redecorating and refurnishing the house. Kreacher had been amazing help with cleaning the house. It seemed that, even though he hadn't exactly warmed to Moria or to Harry, he had warmed to Max rather quickly. She sat up angrily, huffing as she through the corner that she had been holding away and managing to stand. Doing all this with one hand was difficult.
She didn't really think he had warmed to her that much until he had been the one to figure out and removed Mrs. Black's portrait from the wall. While he had given the excuse that the 'Old Mistress would be happier without so much noise' she figured that Kreacher had gotten upset after the portrait had begun to berate Max to near tears.
Moria cursed softly as she sat up looking up at the now blank wall before rolling up the tapestry. She would let Kreacher decide where he wanted it to go. She looked at the cuckoo clock situated on the wall. It had been a rather neat find at a yard sale in a nearby muggles home. It still worked and it portrayed witches and wizards flying that came out of the door, circling at eight in the morning, noon, five o'clock at night, and at midnight. It was really pretty and quaint.
"Might as well start making lunch." She murmured, stretching as she stood back up. She was on her way to the kitchen when the door was knocked on. She stopped and blinked. She heard a pop and as she turned around the corner saw Kreacher answering the door.
"Mistress, Sir Ellesmere is here to visit you." He said looking at her. She smiled in gratitude.
"Thank you Kreacher." She said and answered the door, smiling as she saw Wulfric. "Hi Uncle Wulfric." She said and looked behind Wulfric noticing the rest of the Ellesmere's were here as well. She stared at them before offering a soft smile. "Come in, come in. It's a bit messy, we're still in the process of renovating.”
"Oh that's alright Moria…" Fillius said, looking at his granddaughter. "It's nice to see you."
"Thanks." She replied, feeling a bit awkward. She pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear, suddenly feeling shy. She probably looked like utter crap in comparison to the family that stood in front of her. However Alcmene and Mathilde smiled at her kindly.
"How have you been dear?" Alcmene asked her granddaughter. Moria blinked and then smiled.
"I've been good. Busy. Taking care of two children is a bit of work." She added and Cepheus snorted.
"I know how you feel. Taking care of twin girls. Merlin, sometimes they made me want to rip my hair out." He joked and she laughed. For the Ellesmere's it was though they were hearing their sister or their daughter laugh. They couldn't help but smile at her.
"Yes, I would assume that taking care of two girls would be a bit of a change." She said brightly. Alcmene glared at her son.
"Two girls are too much for you? Considering I had to take care of four children around the same time, it was much harder. Especially with you and Mable always trying to swing from the trees like monkeys."
"It was fun." Cepheus complained. Moria smirked.
“How’s Arian?”
“Enjoying himself immensely.” He replied. “Flying like a happy idiot. Max will be very happy for him being there.”
She laughed and spent the remaining time before Harry and Max came down for lunch talking about her family, mainly her mother. With the presence of children, the Ellesmere's dispersed saying goodbye to their niece/granddaughter.
"Expect a few more visits." Fillius said and Moria smiled.
"That will be fine." She said, patting Max's head as she shyly looked from behind her mother. Fillius looked at his great-granddaughter with a soft smile and kneeled down to her level.
"I heard from your mother that you like to draw." He said. She nodded in confirmation, blushing.
"Well if you're ever interested, I have plenty of animals where I live that would love to be drawn. And since you’ll be visiting there to see Arian, I think you can see other animals" He said and watched her eyes light up and then look at her mother excitedly. Moria smiled and then looked at him.
"I don't think she would mind that at all." Moria said. "Take care of yourself okay…Grandpa…" she finally said. It felt weird saying that word. She had only said it to her father's father…and he had died when she was only two, so there hadn't been so many times for her to say it to him. But watching Fillius's face shift from surprise and the happiness, she figured it wouldn't kill her to call him that from now on.
"I will." He finally said and she smiled waving as he left with the rest of his family.
It was a few days later and Moria finally could say that 12 Grimmauld Place was now as close to an actual home as it could ever be called. The dark wallpaper, putrid and torn curtains were gone, replaced with light, warm, and homey wallpaper and light curtains. The kitchen was now in working order and the stuff that they had brought from Mazara del Vallo had been taken out of their boxes and placed appropriately in the house.
Moria stretched climbing up the stairs and glanced in to Max's room. It hadn't been a surprise that Max had asked for the color purple to be her bedroom color, it was her favorite color and had been for years. Currently it was a light shade of purple and Max had wasted no time in putting up her sketches. Moria could see there were new ones of a certain house-elf that were on the wall now. She shook her head in amusement and then walked towards the room next to Max's, which was Harry's. She could hear laughter and when she peered in she saw that Harry and Max were playing a card game on the ground. Harry's room was a stereotypical boys’ bedroom and was striped blue wallpaper. She figured that whatever house he got into at Hogwarts he would want to change to mirror his loyalties to it. She knocked on the door and both children looked up and smiled.
"Mum!"
"Mummy!"
Moria grinned as she entered. "I see that you two are now comfortable." She said looking around as clothes had somehow already started to magically pile on the floor. Harry grinned sheepishly.
"Is something wrong Mummy?" Max asked and Moria shook her head, but a large grin became plastered on her face.
"Well it seems Chelsea wants to go visit her family for the day…but she promised Brent they would go to the Zoo. And since you haven't been to the Zoo in a while, I was thinking we could go instead of Chelsea and bring Brent along." She said nonchalantly. Max's eyes widened and Harry's grin grew larger if it was possible.
"Yes!" they both said and promptly began to put their stuff away. Moria merely grinned, that had been much easier then she had thought.
Max looked around and was surprised at how many people were in the zoo. Actually she was surprised at how big this zoo was. It was definitely bigger than the zoo in Italy ever could hope to be. She looked down when she felt a small hand grasp hers and had to smile at Brent, the poor three year old who was the shyest little boy she had ever met, and he didn't like when he couldn't find someone…which considering his mother seemed ironic. Harry was currently licking a tiger shaped ice cream cone and was sitting next to her on the bench.
"I wanna go see the snakes." Harry said looking around as he spotted Moria coming back with two other cones, handing one to Max and one to Brent. Max nodded. She had only seen a few snakes in the zoo back in Italy. And she had even heard there was a boa constrictor in this zoo.
"Can we go to the snake exhibit?" Harry asked again as Moria sat down. She cocked her head as though she was thinking, but already knew she was going to go.
"I don't see why not." She said and the boy whooped in glee. Moria smiled, momentarily forgetting the fact that she had spotted Petunia a little while ago. The woman had obviously noticed her, as her face had clearly paled and her mouth had set in a thin line, before she was dragged away by a large, overweight boy who was asking for her to get him a large stuffed tiger.
"Well, that brat could actually live in a zoo as a walrus if he got any bigger." She thought absently as she stood and followed the two older children, Brent tagging behind her trying to keep up. He failed miserably and just a few feet from the exhibit, tripped and slammed face first into the ground.
And began to bawl.
The trio stopped and Moria quickly went back to him, setting him up straight and did a glance over him. Besides being covered in dirt, he seemed fine.
"Brent, it's okay." She cooed but it did nothing to settle the boy's nerves.
"Mum, can we go on ahead?" she heard Harry ask and sighed. Knowing Brent, he probably didn't want to be anywhere close to snakes anyways.
"Sure, you two go on in while I calm him down. But stay together okay?" she said looking back at him. The two nodded and rushed towards the exhibit. Moria grunted as she picked Brent up. "Boy, you're getting heavier each day." She commented as she went to a bench. By then his crying had become whimpers and sniffles as he began to suck his thumb, something Chelsea was trying to get him to stop. Right then Moria didn't have the heart to stop him, as it seemed to make him stop from having a full out crying session.
"My knee hurt." Brent whined and she looked at and saw a barely visible scratch. She had to hold herself back from laughing.
"You'll survive." She said gently, rubbing her thumb affectionately across the scratch. He gripped her shirt tightly in his hand. It took a few more minutes before he calmed down. "Better?" she asked and he nodded. "Alright then. Let's go check on Max and Har-"
Suddenly screams and yells of utter panic ripped out into the open centered from the snake exhibit and people suddenly stampeded out of enclosure. Moria's heartbeat skyrocketed and she shot up from where she had been sitting, running towards the center, gripping Brent tightly to her. She opened the door just in time to see something slither out of it and she sidestepped in shock at the sight of a rather large boa constrictor slithering out and away from the exhibit. Brent squeaked in alarm and tightened his hold on Moria's neck in fear. Moria however paid little attention to this instead peered in and spotted Harry and Max, both who looked stunned and were staring at the enclosure that the python had apparently been in. Then a large, heavyset man who she couldn't even see if he had neck due to the large double chin he was sporting stormed towards the two, leaving his wife who was comforting a terrified round shaped boy.
It was Petunia holding her son Dudley, and Vernon was now yelling loudly at Max and Harry. Something snapped in Moria and she stormed over, shoving Vernon back and planting herself in-between him and the two children, allowing Brent to leave the safety of her arms and to where Harry and Max were.
"Back off Vernon." She growled out, her eyes narrow and her voice dripping with anger. He recoiled and then glared back down at her.
"Stay out of this, that little freak nearly got my precious son killed!!! One of your kind!!" he spat out. Moria glanced at Petunia and Dudley and saw that the boy had no wounds on him, besides a mysterious stain on the front his trousers.
"Really? Because I don't see a scratch on him." She retorted evenly.
"My son could have died if that freak of a boy you have-!"
"He pushed Harry!" Max shot back from behind her mother. "He wasn't happy that the python wasn't moving for him and when the snake moved for Harry he shoved him to the ground!" she said, hiding when Vernon glared at her. Petunia's head shot up and gave a blistering stare towards the little girl.
"What? Dudley would never do such a thing!"
"My son is no bully!!!"
"He wouldn't even hurt a fly!"
"A pack of lies!" the parents screeched out and Vernon made a move towards Max as though to reprimand her. Moria however snarled angrily mirroring her and Sirius's animagi growls and Vernon took two steps back as Moria removed her wand from her pocket, aiming it at the man.
"Back. Off. Vernon. Before I show you how dangerous one of 'my kind' can be when trained." She growled out, her voice laced in anger and intent to carry out the threat if need be. Vernon's red face visibly paled before growing back to a red tone.
"Go! Take him! Get him out of my sight!" Vernon spat. "He's a freak just like his parents and the rest of you!!" he snapped, turning to go back to his family. Moria growled. No way was she going to let her godson be treated like that by his uncle. When she saw that no one was there, as officials were off searching vainly for the missing snake and people were now avoiding the deserted exhibit like the plague, she shot out a spell and promptly walked away, the three children following closely behind her.
She couldn't hold back her smile of satisfaction when she heard Petunia shriek in alarm, Vernon yell in panic, and Dudley squeal loudly, mirroring the sound that animal she had given the tail on his behind, would make when petrified in fear. She felt Harry's hand go into hers and she glanced down, seeing his sorrowful and confused face.
"I'm sorry…I didn't mean…"
"I know you didn't. Uncontrolled magic is just that. Uncontrolled. I never expected you to be able to control it at such a young age." She said as they continued, stopping at the elephant exhibit, allowing Max and Brent to look at them.
"Mum?"
"Hm?" she said looking at him.
"If I ever say that I wish I lived with my biological aunt…I'm lying and I don't mean it, okay?" He said and she laughed, before ruffling his hair.
"That's good to know." She said. "Now, let’s not let a trio of idiot muggles spoil the rest of the day, okay?" she said and he smiled before nodding, running up to Max and Brent. She watched him run up, saying something to Max which earned a laugh from her. She looked up at the sky and smiled.
“Quit laughing James…you would have done the same.” She murmured and a breeze fluttered past and it was almost as though she heard laughter, though that easily could have been the passerby’s that filled the zoo and the family that had returned to England opened a new chapter in their lives, and she wondered what adventures awaited them in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
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Great idea of Sirius' family house, and so touchy at the end.
Can't wait for part 4.