Chapter 70: Tun Tun Tuuuuuun
After almost two weeks of teaching Charlie, Rick knew that one day he would end up as a professor. He had loved explaining things, demonstrating and encouraging the young Weasley. Something he hadn’t done since his sixth-year, Marlene having gotten the hang of the classes she took. Some spells simply didn’t work but it wasn’t any fault of Charlie who described in detail what he had tried and how. It was just because Rick’s wand wasn’t a match.
In all honesty, life for Rick was good. Great, even. Almost perfect. His children were adorable. Rose was displaying his sense of curiosity and adventure by following her ‘big sister Nymphie’ around. He could have watched her for hours playing. His wives had come home early from their vacation the previous night but quite late. He was already in bed and asleep when Bella woke him up for a night of pure passion. After months of no sex he wasn’t about to say no despite being tired.
Nothing could bring down his mood or go wrong. Or so he thought.
While he was cuddling with a very naked Bellatrix, he felt the very pointy end of a wand poking his cheek in a hurtful way. When he opened his eyes to see who was the one who dared ruin his morning, he saw Bellatrix and Lily standing next to the bed with furious faces. Trying to blink his tiredness away, he noticed that it was Bella who was trying to pierce his cheek with her wand.
A fully dressed. Standing. Bella.
Rick's eyes finally understood what was wrong with the picture and his body moved as fast as a flash, getting away from the woman he was cuddling with. He fell off the bed at his wives' feet and looked in horror, confusion and disbelief at the naked brown haired woman with curls, under the sheets. Her mane was hiding her face and he couldn’t tell who it was. He silently pointed at her with a shaking finger while looking at his wives with a blown mind. His finger alternated from the unknown female to Bella.
Lily’s furious look turned into a displeased frown while Bella’s turned even more murderous. They both understood what Rick was trying to say. With a simple movement, Bellatrix sent multiple stinging hexes at the mystery girl who woke up on the spot while yelling in pain. Rick’s eyes widened even more when he recognized the voice. So did Lily. Bella’s expression didn’t change as if she had already figured it out.
““Andromeda?!””
“Give me one reason, one good reason as to why I shouldn’t kill you where you lay for fucking my Master while you passed yourself as me, dear sister.”
With the way Bella said ‘dear sister’, Andromeda was anything but in her eyes. The second of the Black sisters was like a deer caught in headlights and pulled the sheets to hide her naked body.
“Well?! Does your husband not do it for you any more?! Is that why you-”
Then, something that no one expected happened. Andromeda began to bawl her eyes out.
“Noooo!” she said between cries and sobs.
The confession stumped Rick and Lily. Even Bella but only for a few seconds.
“That doesn’t give you the right to sleep with my husband!”
“Our.” corrected the redhead.
Bella changed her wording on the spot. “Our husband!”
“And cheating on Ted? Really, Andi?” Lily was looking disapprovingly, judging.
“He’s been cheating on me for months!”
“““WHAT?!”””
Bella’s mind instantly switched from the righteous fury of a cheated on wife to the righteous fury of a protective big sister. Rick and Lily were completely bewildered.
“He’s been coming late from work for months! Sometimes with a woman’s perfume on his clothes.”
“That doesn’t mean…”
“I caught him fucking one of those french sluts at the shop a month ago! I went there just before closing time and he was fucking her on the desk I use when I go to help with the paperwork.”
Bella lowered her wand and got on the bed on her knees. She reached for her sister and took her in a hug. Andromeda kept crying but calmed down slowly by Bella whispering in her ears something that no one could hear and rocking her gently. After a few minutes, there was no more crying but lots of sniffing.
“No matter what he did, that doesn’t give you the right to do what you did.” said Lily who joined the sisters on the bed and took Andromeda’s hand.
“I’m sorry. I just… wanted to feel loved. And Bella is always bragging and gloating about how good Rick is and… And I want another child but Ted doesn’t.”
At this point Rick knew he needed to check out of this but he also knew that should he make the most minute move, his wives would be on him.
“And… And I knew you let him sleep with Amelia and Marlene so I…”
“Let’s put aside the fact he hasn’t been with Amelia or Marlene ever since we married for a moment… Andi, another child? Rick is Lord of two Houses! You were about to commit line theft!”
“Or already did.” Bella corrected Lily this time.
“I wasn’t… I just… It was a one time thing! I didn’t expect to get pregnant! It was just a thought! Nymphadora is going to Hogwarts soon! What am I supposed to do with myself? My husband doesn’t love me anymore and I… I thought that…”
“With another child, Ted would invest himself in you and your marriage again?”
Andromeda slowly nodded. Lily had been right on the spot.
“That was utterly stupid, Andi. Having a child to rekindle a marriage is the worst idea ever. It would only make things worse.”
Everyone turned their head around to look at Rick who spoke for the first time. He was still sitting on the ground, naked and hidden by the bed minus his head.
“You should have a child because you want a child not because you need a tool to fix your marriage. Ted doesn’t want more children in the first place and he isn’t that great of a father to begin with. Your idea was doomed to fail.”
“What do you mean, Ted isn’t a great father?” tilting her head to the side, Bella was a bit confused.
“He loves Nymphadora.” Lily pointed out but it was Andi that shocked both ladies.
“No. No, Rick is right. That was stupid of me. Ted loves Nymphadora but… he never spends time with her more than necessary. He barely asks her what she did in school or if she has friends or what she likes. He taught her things, like… how to not pick her nose, how not to lie but… He… there was never really any investment from his part. He did the bare minimum. It’s… I noticed it before but ignored it because… I thought it was due to how hard he worked. But I can’t deny it anymore. It’s like… He raised Nymphadora out of duty more than out of love. I… wouldn’t be surprised if he confessed that he would have been fine if I had never gotten pregnant with her.”
Rick had noticed over the years the total disinterred Ted showed with children. When Rose was born he was almost fearful when Lily chose a godfather and the relief when he wasn’t picked. Then when they were visiting the manor, he was more than happy to let Charlus or Dorea or any one else to take care of Nymphadora. He also noticed the fact he didn’t leave England for Japan for the World Cup when he could have taken days off and spent time with his daughter. Then lastly, his marriage with Andromeda. She had been spending more and more time at the manor until she came daily while Lily and Bella were having a fight.
“I’m honestly surprised you haven’t cursed him to hell and back.” Rick said.
“I WANTED TO! But… Nymphadora.” she let that hang out in the air.
“Still… No matter how much of an asshole Ted turned out to be…”
“I know, Lily. I know. I… thought that Rick would think he just had a dream with Bella and I would have left back home right after…”
“You didn’t expect him to fuck you into oblivion.” Bella finished her sister’s sentence.
Andromeda gave them a shake of the head. “No.”
“And you? Have anything to say for yourself?” The harsh tone Lily used made Rick know that he wasn’t out of the woods yet.
“It’s not his fault, Lily! The whole room was completely dark and I even did my hair like Bella does. He even called me by her name. He never realized.”
It didn’t help in subduing Bella’s unhappiness. “I would have hoped that m- our husband would have noticed it wasn’t me.”
“You haven’t had sex in four months, Bella. And he was a bit out of it because I had to wake him up after a long day. Don’t be mad at him when he’s not at fault.”
The cheated on ladies shared a glance and Lily sighed.
“Rick, go take a shower and make yourself scarce for a while. Not too far.”
He didn’t need to have it told twice. He quickly went out of the bedroom. In the meantime, the girls had a talk about what to do with Andromeda and her situation.
There was a time when Lily would have loved Rick sleeping with Andromeda.
She would have loved to watch the memory of it or participate but that time was years ago. She had Bella now who almost looked like her. Heck she had even imagined having her or Rick having the two sisters at the same time. She had quite vivid dreams about it for a while. With the births of her daughters, her step-children, and everything else in her life, those thoughts were put away. But now they were back.
She had been absolutely furious when she saw Rick sleeping naked, near an unidentified just as naked woman. She felt betrayed and heartbroken. She always believed that she was the woman in her husband’s life and that he wouldn’t cheat on her because he loved her too much.
Yet all her confidence came crashing down when she saw him with another woman in bed that she hadn't agreed upon. How she or Bella didn’t cuss up a storm was something she now considered miraculous. The fact that it turned out to be Andromeda and that Rick had been tricked made things a lot better.
Lily was relieved and her trust in him was restored. She still felt cheated on however and she didn’t know quite what to do to change that.
In the end, Andromeda’s marital situation needed a more experienced hand and they called Dorea for advice and wisdom. The eldest Black had been disappointed with Andi but didn’t raise her voice even once. After a lengthy conversation to determine what Andromeda was feeling regarding Ted, her marriage and what she wanted, things were clearer.
She wanted at least one more child. She still loved Ted and wanted to stay married but at the same time she hated him and wanted him out of her life. She wanted Nymphadora loved and as unaffected as possible by her parents’ marriage failing. In the end she decided to talk with her husband.
The idea she had in mind was that he could keep fucking his french clients and she would have her own affairs resulting in pregnancy (or not if she wanted to) and Ted wouldn’t have to raise the child or children or spend a knut on them. Or they could divorce. Still live together and pretend that everything was alright in front of Nymphadora and go their separate ways once she was at Hogwarts. He would pay child support until his daughter graduated. More if he wanted to.
When the group was done talking, Andromeda had left for home to take care of Nymphadora and before Ted would wake up late since it was Saturday, and he was usually sleeping in on that day.
Bella and Lily went to see Rick who was on the patio with the children. On one side were the cribs of Lea, Veronica and Vega. Next to it was Lyra and the twins' playpen. The girls were playing together with blocks and were building what they believed to be the greatest tower ever.
Rick was in a rocking chair with Rose on his lap and looking at a picture book of animals, teaching the alphabet. She was a bit young by all standards to start with letters but she had chosen this book (by summoning it with accidental magic) when Rick and Lily went to a muggle library to find something for her (thankfully no one witnessed Rose doing it).
“And what animal is this one?”
“Lion!”
The pride and joy Rose displayed in her answer melted Lily’s heart completely (and Bella’s just a little bit). Any talk the ladies wanted to have with their husband was put on hold as they observed father and daughter talking.
“Very good. And what does a lion make you think of?”
“Mummy!”
“Yes, Mummy. The same red hair and all.” he chuckled.
“No, Daddy! Mummy because she has a lion!”
“Does she, now?”
“Yes! It’s all big and white and blue!”
Understanding that she was talking about Lily’s patronus and wondering where she could have seen it before, he was about to ask where she had when Rose spoke again.
“I searched but I haven’t found him.”
The obvious sadness of her daughter for not seeing the lion anywhere made Lily pull her wand and cast her patronus. Her guardian surged from the tip of her wand and went to make circles around the chair Rick and Rose were sitting on. The latter was over the moon and tried to touch it when it stopped right in front of her and disappeared.
“Where he goes?!” she exclaimed when the patronus faded away.
“It’s ‘Where did he go’, Rose.”
“Where did he go?” she repeated while nodding sagely.
“He went back into Mummy’s wand to rest.” Lily finally spoke up, while Bella went to see her daughters to the side.
Lily leaned down to kiss Rose on her forehead and took her in her arms from her father’s lap.
“Having fun with daddy?”
“Yeah!”
“Yes.”
“Yes.” Rose repeated.
“Mummy needs to have a boring adult talk with daddy, so why don’t you… What do you want to do?”
“Hmmmmm.” Rose was thinking hard about it as if it was the most difficult question in the world. She was frowning cutely in concentration. “Hide with Gramma!”
“Tipsy!”
“Mistress Flowie, called for Tipsy?”
“Rose wants to play hide and seek with Dorea, could you bring her to her?”
“Tipsy can! Come, young Mistress Rosie.”
Rose was put down on the ground and took the house elf’s offered hand. She was led inside the manor in search of her grandmother which, for her, was already an adventure.
“I’m-”
Lily cut him off. “Shut it. I don’t want to hear an apology from you because you did nothing wrong.”
“...”
“It devastated me to see you like that, with someone I didn’t know nor approve of. I recovered but… Nevermind.” She shook her head to chase the bad thoughts away. “Everything is alright, you don’t have to worry.” She got on the tip of her toes and kissed him lovingly to show him that everything was as she said.
“How was the Alps? Had fun?” Rick changed the subject, understanding the conversation was over and not particularly wanting to continue it.
Lily’s expression softened and genuine contentment settled on her face. “We sure did. Thank god for magic. Losing all that pregnancy weight is easier than without. We’re not yet back to our killer bodies but a few more weeks and we’ll be good.”
“The way I see it, you don’t need to exercise anymore.” He grinned while grabbing her firm ass with one hand and a boob in the other.
Lily smirked coyly. “I found a way to keep them like that permanently.”
“Shut up! No way!” he exclaimed in awe.
“Hmhm.” Her humming sounded full of pride. “I finally got the body of my dreams.”
“No more jealousy towards Amelia then?”
“None. Only lust.” she half joked, making him laugh.
“You’re…”
“I know. I’m perfect the way I am and I’m an impossible horny sex demon.” She took the words right out of his mouth.
They joined Bella who was looking pleasantly at what Lyra was building with her half-sisters and the two mothers told him about all they did during their small vacation. They mostly took small walks and explored the forest and mountains around. Rick, for his part, shared what he had done with Charlie Weasley and Lily was surprised to hear he made the young man practice spell and ingredient handling.
“Theory is enough for you and me but for a child it can be quite boring. Mixing the two is better. Charlie had been making great progress in the theory aspect since he could experiment a bit. He does a really good Lumos charm.”
It was mid-morning when Karkass popped in and told Rick that Dumbledore was on the floo. Wondering what the man wanted, Rick went to check out and ended up in the Headmaster’s office at Hogwarts. After exchanging greetings and taking a seat, Albus went straight to the point.
“I need your permission to peruse the Black Library.”
Rick frowned. “... That’s not how it works, Albus and you know it.”
Dumbledore took a deep breath and relented whatever he was holding back. “You’re right. A bad habit I need to get rid of. Difficult at my age.”
“But necessary.”
“Yes. I… think I got a lead on Voldemort’s immortality. When I became Headmaster, I removed a great number of books which… had no purpose being in a school. Restricted section or not.”
“Books about Dark Magic or even Darker Magic?”
“Precisely.”Albus nodded. “I found a lead, as I said, except the book had been badly damaged.” He pointed at a book on his desk, open with lots of torn and ripped away pages.
“You think he’s the one responsible for this?”
“Yes, I’m afraid so.”
Understanding what Dumbledore wasn’t saying, Rick wondered for a moment what to do. Making a decision he stood up.
“Take the cup with you, we’re visiting my uncle. He may know what this is more accurately and if he doesn’t the Black Library is there.”
Dumbledore nodded and stood up too. They took the floo and thanks to Rick’s privilege as Lord Black had no trouble with the wards of Black Tree. The actual seat of power of the House of Black. Rick called for a house elf to warn Arcturus of their presence. The former Lord Black came within minutes and wondered what this was about.
“Moldy-short is still alive.” Rick bluntly said.
“Let me guess he dabbled into foul magic to be immortal like half sociopathic megalomaniac Dark Lords.” Arcturus wasn’t amused.
“Pretty much.”
“And since you’re here, Dumbledore, you’re hoping to find out how?”
“Yes.”
Arcturus thought for a moment but had no answer to give them. “The Library?”
“On harsh conditions of an unbreakable vow.” Rick clarified.
“... You may want to talk to Regulus. If anyone knows the books in the Library-”
“It’s me.”
They all turned to see Regulus enter the tea room.
“I was on my way to see grandmother when I heard you talk about the Library. Whatever you want to know about a book in it, I probably know. I spend all my time there to avoid my mother. She thought I was just learning dark magic to be a proper Lord black. What an idiot.” He shook his head dejectedly.
“I thought you grew up in Grimmauld?”
“I did, books there are magical copies of the ones here.” the youngest Black explained to Rick as he took a seat next to his grandfather. “What are you looking for exactly? And for what reason?”
“Bring out the box, Albus.”
“Won’t you…”
“I create a spell providing some added protection and put it on my lord rings. It will attenuate it a great deal.”
“Oh! Nifty.” Dumbledore was enthusiastically curious about such a spell but didn’t dwell on it, instead bringing out the black box Rick had given him nearly a year ago.He put it in the middle of the table.
“Voldemort, believing that Bella was one of his most faithful, gave her this object for safe keeping. That shit in there? It’s more than dark, it’s foul. When she brought it home for Lily and I to study I passed out on the spot.”
“Passed out?”
“I’m a very sensitive magic sensor, Regulus.”
The young man sounded surprised but didn’t tarry on the revelation. “Oh. I see. Please go on.”
“Rick gave it to me, since he couldn’t study it and didn’t want such a thing near the children.”
Dumbledore opened the box. And Rick was suddenly assaulted by severe nausea. He felt severely ill. The one silver lining was that his charms on his rings worked. Albus used his wand to levitate the object for Arcturus and Regulus to have a better look. The former frowned. Was it because it was the legendary cup of Helga Hufflepuff or because he could tell about the magic in it? Rick didn’t know. Regulus’ reaction however was quite unexpected. His whole face became as white as a sheet and he began to sweat.
“Put that back down!” he shouted.
Albus quickly did and closed the box.
“Of all the things… insane! That man was- is insane! No wonder why!”
“You know what this is.” stated Dumbledore.
“I believe you do too. It starts like Horrible and is the crux of the matter.”
Albus sighed in dejection. “Yes. I was hoping that wasn’t the case.”
“Could the two of you enlighten us?” Arcturus asked in a grumpy tone, not liking being outside of the loop.
Regulus sighed and composed himself. “This… is soul magic born from a ritual.”
“That doesn’t sound good.” Rick commented.
“It’s not. That thing is called a Horcrux. It’s an object into which you put a part of your soul.”
“MERLIN’S BALLS! That madman mutilated his own soul?!”
“Eh… Dark magic ignoramus, here! How do you do that?” asked Rick, waving his hand.
“By the most vilest of acts: Unrepented murder. When you murder someone in cold blood and feel no remorse about it your soul… or rather a piece of it tears itself. The two pieces are still connected and with time and remorse they fuse back together.” was the explanation that Dumbledore gave but it wasn’t enough in Regulus opinion.
“By doing a very nasty ritual to completely tear away that piece and put it inside an object you… In principle should the person die, well… they don’t really because a piece of their soul is still anchored in our plane inside the object. As far as I know horcruxes are indestructible so technically the person who made one is immortal, however fragmenting your soul has consequences. You lose a part of yourself. Mostly your humanity but in truth it’s a bit more subtle. It can be your capacity to love, to forgive, to have mercy. Anything good really and leaves only the rest and even that may go. It physically changes you too. You look less human.”
Rick reflected on that. “That would explain his appearance when I confronted him. And how insane he was.”
“He was already quite insane before he made an horcrux because he made one in the first place.” Regulus replied.
“I suspect he made more than one.” reveal Dumbledore.
“MORE?! How depraved could that man be?” Arcturus’ question was left unanswered and everyone tried to deal with the fact that Voldemort wouldn’t die until all his anchors were dealt with. And gods know where they were and how many they were.
“I believe he made at least one more. Two soul pieces and himself, making it three.”
Rick scratched his chin, deep in thought. “Three. A powerful magical number. But less so than five or seven. Especially seven which is the number of perfection. Albus, you don’t think…”
“I’m excluding no possibility when it’s about his depravity.”
“Merlin… Six of those?” whispered Arcturus.
“Alright. Regulus, any idea of how to destroy those things? Preferably without destroying the container itself?” Rick inquired with hope.
“I know of one. The person who made them needs to feel a very strong remorse for the murders which allowed their creations.”
“Not an avenue we can take. I sincerely doubt he ever felt an ounce of remorse in his life.” Dumbledore spoke in a tired voice.
“Maybe what created it is what will destroy it. Like the one ring?”
“““The one ring?”””
For a moment Rick was confused then remembered he was talking to wizards who had probably never read muggle fiction.
“It’s… a very long fantasy story about a Dark Lord creating nineteen rings of power which he gave to nineteen rulers with his own magic. Then he created a twentieth in the volcanic depth of Mount Doom. He put all his power and soul into it and with it could control the nineteen others. ‘One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, One ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them; In the Land of Mordor where the shadows lie.’ After an intense war the Dark Lord is defeated but survived because the ring is never destroyed and it can only be done where it was made in the depths of Mount Doom. The whole story is about it. My thought was… If the horcrux was created from an act of murder, won’t an act opposite to it, like… saving a life, destroy it?”
“““...”””
“While this is quite an interesting story and an interesting idea, I doubt it’s possible.” Dumbledore spoke up after a moment of silence and consideration.
“Bloody stupid, you mean.”
“At least I have an idea, uncle. It’s more than you can say. Anyway, what about exorcism? Isn’t it some kind of possession?”
“That. Is actually a good idea. I’ll have to research on that. Perhaps in the library.” Regulus agreed.
“I would like to insist that everything needs to be kept secret. If words of our knowledge of the existence of Voldemort’s horcruxes reaches his ear he may very well hide the others and we would not be able to defeat him for good.”
Rick suddenly had a stroke of genius. “Why not put the knowledge under a Fidelius?”
Dumbledore, Arcturus and Regulus looked at Rick as if he had given them the answer to what magic was.
“The knowledge would be lost to most, wouldn’t be able to be talked about for a time unless you’re a secret keeper. Voldemort may not make anymore of those if he has the ability and forget about making them in the first place. He gave this one to Bella and will learn that she betrayed him and as such know that we may find out his horcruxes’ existence or forget about it. In the meantime, those who know the secret can search without any problem how to get rid of them.”
“That’s a brilliant idea.” agreed an impressed Dumbledore.
“Let’s do that and Albus, I want that unbreakable vow if you want to take a look at the library.”
“Certainly.”
“I’ll stay with you, Headmaster. Most of those books are cursed for those not of Black blood. You’d be lucky if you died painfully in a minute by simply touching one.”
Albus nodded and wondered why the Black were so insane.