Chapter 55: Light in the darkness
Christmas was a few days away and the mood was somber at Potter Manor. Lily had woken up later than usual, not feeling the warmth of her husband beside her under the sheets. Opening her eyes, she noticed a tray on the bed where Rick would sleep. Her breakfast was in it. She couldn’t help herself but had mixed feelings about that. On one hand, he made her breakfast in bed which proved his love for her in a way and on the other she didn’t get to wake up at his side.
She could understand why though and she didn’t blame him one bit for it. She too would have felt the guilt and work tirelessly on a way to appease it. That is if she had felt responsible in the first place. In her opinion she wouldn’t have and Rick shouldn’t. Charlus Potter’s death had nothing to do with him no matter how much Rick believed otherwise.
A bit more than a month prior, Rick had asked his father to get him a wand polishing kit when Charlus went out to the muggle London to buy some new vinyls and new strings for his guitar. As he got out of Ollivanders, death eaters apparated in Diagon Alley and began attacking people. That was novel, until now people felt safe during the day as there had been no attacks during this time. Ever. Yet that day they changed their modus operandi. Charlus immediately pulled out his wand and began to fight, assisting people the best he could.
The best turned out to be taking down twenty one of the bastards before he took a killing curse to the back while trying to protect a little girl whose mother had been killed moments prior. As usual the Auror were late to arrive. It wasn’t their fault, really. By the time they got wind of what was happening they had to gather in a large group before departing. It took a bit of time but it was enough for the followers of Voldemort who were doing lightning fast attacks, to be away when the Aurors got on site. Usually.
This time however, Charlus had delayed the death eaters enough that they were able to confront them. The raid had been a failure, all thanks to Charlus who had been praised in the Daily prophet for his bravery. The fact he killed twenty one of them, had been a jolt to the wizarding population. As if they had suddenly realized that if the death eaters were killed they would win, they would be safe and live in peace again.
Charlus had barely been buried into the ground that Rick took the mantle of Lord Potter and advocated for a vote of No-confidence against the Minister for Magic Harold Minchum whose policies were completely ineffective against Voldemort’s rise. Despite Rick positioning himself as neutral, the light faction supported the vote and Minchum was kicked out of office and replaced by Mellicent Bagnold. The first thing the woman did was to take a hard stance against Voldemort. She had given permission to the Aurors to use lethal spells to even the playing field. She was hoping that the more cowardly of the death eaters would now think twice about doing anything if they knew they could get killed for it. The entire Auror force switched from being reactive to proactive. In Rick's opinion it had been a bit too late and they weren’t searching at the right place. He would have started with the Department of Mysteries because only there could such a thing as the taboo spell be created.
That spell was simple, if you spoke the taboo word, people linked to the spell would know the immediate location of anyone who said it. Voldemort used it as a tool for fear, for he sent a group of death eaters to kill every person at the location of the taboo being broken. Quickly, nobody called him Voldemort anymore. It was the Daily Prophet who popularized the term to refer to him as “You-know-Who” or “He-that-must-not-be-named”.
With his first political appearance in the Wizengamot over. Rick had made no public appearance except for his games with the Magpies. He stayed instead at Potter Manor working on something secret (which Lily was sure was a way to find and kill Voldemort) and most of all, trying to comfort his mother who had been so heartbroken by Charlus’ death that most of the time she was unresponsive. He had no success whatsoever. Neither did Arcturus or Cassiopeia when they came to visit her. Dorea Potter spent her days in hers and Charlus’ bedroom looking outside the window all day. Never in the years she had known her, did Dorea appear so defeated, so broken to Lily. The woman had always been a source of admiration for being so well put together and so confident.
But today, things would change. Lily was sure of it. She needed them to change. The family needed them to change. And she had the perfect opportunity for that to happen.
The redhead forwent underwear and simply put her old pjs from school which she didn’t use anymore (there was no point, she removed them to have sex with Rick almost every night). Exiting her bedroom after eating a toast and an apple Rick had prepared for her, Lily directly went to the master bedroom. Despite Rick being now the Lord, he didn’t have it in him to take possession of the room.She found Dorea already sitting on the bed looking outside the window. Her appearance was unkempt, Lily could smell her from ten feet away. Sighing, she used a bubble head charm and went to her mother-in-law. Without saying anything, she took her by the hand and led her towards the bathroom, Dorea not resisting one bit. It was as if she had been kissed by a Dementor. Almost.
Once inside the bathroom, Lily vanished Dorea’s clothes and conjured a comfortable stool right under the shower pommel. She sat her down and turned on the hot water. Undressing herself, she got in the shower herself too and began to gently and slowly wash Dorea.
“You can’t do this anymore, Dorea.”
“...”
“He wouldn’t want for you to be like this. To behave like this.”
“...”
“Corvus needs you.” The use of Rick’s birthname was to appeal to Dorea more.
“...”
“I need you. This family needs you.”
“...”
“If you can’t do it for yourself, do it for your son.”
“...”
“Do it for your grandchild.”
For the first time, Dorea reacted. Her head perked up at what Lily had just said.
“You’re the only grandparent it has left and it’s not even born yet. And… I’m terrified. I don’t know anything about being a mother. Especially the mother of a little wizard or a little witch. An heir of an Ancient and Noble House. What am I supposed to teach it? What am I supposed to not teach it? It needs you in their life to make sure I don’t screw up his upbringing. That I don’t make it a screw up.”
At this point, Lily’s forehead rested against Dorea’s left shoulder while she was grabbing her chest for dear life.
“Please… We need you.” she pleaded in a whisper, tears falling down her cheeks. She couldn’t hold it anymore and was pouring her soul out.
Slowly, Dorea put her hands on Lily’s in a comforting gesture. Turning her head to the side she spoke softly.
“You’d make a wonderful mother, Lily.”
“D-Dore-”
“Are you sure that you’re pregnant?” the Lady dowager Potter inquired and Lily nodded fervently that she was.
“I’ve been having nausea in the morning as of late. I did the test yesterday. Thrice. All positive.”
“That’s wonderful news.”
“Is it? Is it really? Rick is wallowing in his guilt when he’s not with me and you…” she didn’t have the words or the heart to speak more about the woman she was currently sharing a very private and intimate moment with.
“A child is always wonderful news, Lily. I was over the moon when I learned I was carrying Corvus inside my womb. And just like you, I was terrified. I may only have been his mother for the past five years but I think I did a pretty good job despite not being half as kind as you are.”
“That’s not true! You’re plenty kind! You let me stay here. Taught me, let me share a room with him. You always supported me. You didn’t judge me for my sexual preferences when almost everyone would have. You’re plenty kind, Dorea. That and so much more! You’re the kind of witch I aim to be one day.”
For the first time since her husband’s death, Dorea smiled. It was a very small smile barely noticeable but a smile nonetheless. She had long ago begun to see Lily as the daughter she never had but always wanted. She always wanted a boy and a girl but her son’s disappearance put an end to everything. Having another child when her first born was out there somewhere felt wrong. Too wrong for her to go with it.
When Rick got back into her life it also felt wrong to go for another child when she barely knew him. It was some kind of distraction to properly bond with her son and she couldn’t afford it, not with his very independent mindset. She also didn’t want to rub in his face what he should have had but never did. That was why, as she got to know Lily, she realized that she was everything she would have wanted her daughter to be. Beautiful, kind, smart, loving, caring and many more good personality traits the young redhead had for her. Even her stubbornness was positive in her eyes.
“You’re already on your way to become a better witch than I am. Although… you’d have to work quite a bit on certain things.”
“Such as?”
“No groping your mother in law for stater.”
“!!! That… Wasn’t done on purpose! At least not with… dirty thoughts in mind! I just… was washing that part when I broke down.” The blush on her face wasn’t the result of the hot water having an effect on her pale skin.
“Yet you’re still groping them.”
“... They’re kind of nice.”
“...”
“...”
Dorea’s tone was flat and unamused. “Lily.”
“Do I have too? It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity that I will never have again!” As a form of protest she dived head first into the pair of tits she was holding.
Dorea sighed but secretly found amusing her daughter-in-law’s behavior. She let Lily do as she pleased for a bit but when she began to feel her nipples harden she knew it was time to put a stop to this. She gently pushed Lily away who didn’t protest, understanding that her fun was over.
“I have to tell Rick, now.” the redhead said solemnly.
“About molesting his mother?” Dorea had a ‘Yeah I don’t buy that’ look on her face.
Lily almost sounded scandalized.“What?! No!The baby! I was talking about the baby!”
“Ah.”
“Although I will also tell him what just happened.” The coy smirk on her rosy lips told Dorea her daughter in law may not have all her marbles.
“Why in Merlin’s name would you do that?”
“Because you look like Andromeda and I saw him looking at her more than once. For good reason. I also share almost everything with him.”
“That’s…” ‘disturbing’ she thought but kept quiet. After all, her first experiences had been with her older sister. She had been the one who taught her everything and some practical exercises had been part of the course. Those normal exercises weren’t a normal thing even by pureblood standards however. It was just Cassiopeia being a degenerate and influencing her little sister. Not like Dorea minded, she remembered fondly some lessons. The thought that her son was directly or indirectly attracted to her though… She needed to process this. “Or not” she decided in her mind. “Better to ignore it then forget it.”
Since she was already in the shower, Lily unashamedly washed herself, not caring one bit if Dorea was there or not (she was) then got out. She dried herself, dressed up and went to Rick’s lab on the opposite side of his mother’s. He was facing a black board with many equations and runic symbols, adding by hand some more. He had noticed her when she got closer, smelling her strawberry shampoo, but said nothing and kept thinking about what it was doing.
“Is that… a spell manipulating gravity?” Lily asked, being very interested in what she was reading.
“Yes. To be exact the opposite of levio-type spells. Instead of nullifying the gravity, it would increase it. For capture. They can’t do much if they’re being crushed on the ground.”
“That’s brilliant.” She was awed by the idea. Of how simple and complex the concept was at the same time.
“That wouldn’t stop them from apparating but I hope that the pain of their crushing wait would distract them from doing it or just knock them out.”
“First your magnetism spell, then your plasma spell, now this… You do base everything on the law of physics.”
“It’s the basics, Lily. I control the basics, I control everything. Heck, I found out that by combining my electricity spell with a simple knut I could banish it at a speed many times faster than the speed of sound and the damage was tremendous. And I left the Knut its mass.”
“You could reach the speed of light if you had not!” Now she was more than impressed. She was also a bit wet and that wasn’t from the shower she got out of, she had dried herself thoroughly.
“Yup.”
She was about to ask more questions and exchange ideas when she heard a dry cough coming from the entrance of the lab. Turning around she saw Dorea with her arms crossed and leaning against the door, looking fixedly at her.
“Mom!”
Rick immediately rushed to his mother when he saw her dressed for the day and outside her room. He took her in a bone crushing hug she answered fervently but not letting her eyes shift from Lily.
“It’s so good to see you acting like yourself.” he said as he released her and pulled back but kept his hands on her hips.
“I agree. You can thank Lily for that. She shared the most wonderful news.” Her words and the knowing smile on her lips reminded Lily of why she had come to talk to her husband.
“Wonderful ne-”
“I’m pregnant!” She had shouted that as loud as she could.
Rick’s eyes widened in shock then became calculating for a moment. It lasted a few seconds, just the time for his brain to process what he had just been told. Then he smiled happily, crossed the room with great strides and picked her up, swinging her around in the air. After a turn or two he put her down and gave her the kiss of a lifetime.
That was what she expected.What she got was her husband fainting on the spot.
Both ladies looked at his unconscious form on the floor then glanced at each other.
“Just like his father.”
Lily couldn’t help herself. She laughed.