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Willow Eris Potter was born in the last few seconds before the clock struck twelve midnight on what would be August 1, 1986. If she had been born to any other family, they might have disregarded the difference and just gone with August 1st. But this was a wizarding family, a magical family, and magicals know that both place and time, even down to the very second, are important, and the knowledge should be recorded strictly. So as the 7th month died, little Miss Potter took her first breath, and lived.

 

Willow was born to James Fleamont Potter (Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter, Pure Blood), and Lily J. Evans Potter (Muggleborn). She was named after Eris, the goddess of chaos and discord, which was a collaborative effort between James and his best mate and blood-brother Sirius Orion Black (disowned heir of the Most Ancient and Pure House of Black, Pure Blood), who wanted to find a name that would lend itself to her future endeavors of mischief making. And since mischief breeds chaos ("only if it's done right" Sirius would say), well, there you have it. Lily, in turn, only allowed the aforementioned middle name since she was the one to choose Willow's first name, in tradition of her own family, a flower. Or rather, a flowering tree.

 

Willow had a wonderful childhood. She was loved by her parents. Doted on by her honorary Uncles. Everything was perfect. Until her world came crashing down one chilly, chilling, Halloween night. The night that Voldemort came to kill the child he saw as his rival. The Halloween after Willow's first birthday heralded the end of an age. It was the end of happiness and naivety for our heroine. The end of the innocence of one man. The end of a life for two parents. The end of the trust between three friends. And the end of the war for the whole community of wizardkind. Or so they thought.

 

In the aftermath, baby Willow, aged one year and three months, was left on the doorstep of her muggle, magic-hating maternal aunt, to be found on the brisk morning of November 1st, when Petunia went to set out the milk bottles. Petunia would have left her there, had it not been for the thoughtful (thoughtless?) letter left by one Headmaster Albus Dumbledore (he of too many titles), outlining the protective value of bringing the infant into the house while deatheaters still roamed the streets. Willow was then promptly thrown into the cabinet under the stairs, which housed cleaning products and implements of all things, and forgotten about. She was silent. Until she cried for a diaper change. No one answered. She cried for her mommy. For her daddy. For Padfoo', for Moony. For food, for comfort. The door opened, illuminating the pursed face of her Aunt and the puce face of her Uncle. She soon learned never to cry.

 

 

Willow was a quiet girl. Or rather, Freak was. She was silent, because silence is golden, and she was enough of a freak already so talking wouldn't make it any better. Freak was excellent at gardening - her garden won her Aunt prizes every year since she started working in it, she was great at cleaning - the Dursley men were filthy pigs, so it was a constant job, she was getting better at cooking - it's easy to learn when failure amounts to being splashed with hot grease or hit with a cast iron skillet, but she was truly superb at disappearing. 

 

Whenever she didn't need to be anywhere, Freak would disappear. Usually into the garden if it wasn't winter time, to hide underneath the bushes she so lovingly pruned and speak with the little garden snakes that brought her knowledge from the outside world. Freak didn't go to school ("because Freaks like you aren't welcome there") but it was amazing what information one could glean from an overzealous reptile. They told her about cars, those nasty contraptions and killed many of their brethren, and gossip from the ladies in the neighborhood. They spoke of ground creatures they liked to eat, and air creatures they wish they could catch, and between all these ideas, sometimes they talked about letters, and words, and these things called books. The snakes didn't find them very useful or interesting, but Freak sure did. She saw these things, letters, words, on the cleaning bottles in her cupboard. And she listened, and practiced (silently), and one day she asked where she could find these books.

 

The snakes were surprised when she spoke. They called her Hatchling, which she liked much more than Freak, and although she usually never responded to their inquiries with more than a head tilt, they were always nice, sometimes angry, but nice. So when she spoke, they were surprised, but she had never asked for anything before, so one of them, a young, brave one that had no fear of streets, showed her to the nearest library. Hatchling fell in love immediately.

 

Books were amazing. And she didn't know that word before and she had nothing to use it on before she came to the library, but now she knew. And she could continue to know, because they library had books on everything. She read books about how cars worked, and about her snakes, and about the creatures that flew in the sky - birds, or planes, she wasn't quite sure which one the snakes were talking about now. And then she found the fiction stories. And they were magic- no, ("Magic isn't real Freak. Your parents died because they didn't want you Freak! Quit that freakishness right now or I'll-") they were the closest thing to magic she'd ever seen. She could travel to different worlds, meet new people, she was free to imagine, to be happy. This library was a dangerous place. She could get lost there, and never want to go back to the Dursley's. Already she'd almost been missed at home because she spent to long there.

 

So this is how young Willow's life went, for years. On the outside, the Dursley's were an upstanding family of three. Open the door, and there was a fourth member, a slave. The whipping girl. Cleaning, cooking, hiding, learning. That's what she did. Until July 31st, 1997, when an owl (a barn owl to be exact - she noted) flew down to her while she was watering the gardenias, and dropped a letter into her hands. It was clearly an act of freakishness, and the Dursley's abhorred freakishness in all forms, so she hid the letter in her pants, and the next time she passed her cupboard, she slid the letter under the door, no one the wiser.

 

When her chores were done for the day, and her presence was no longer required, Hatchling disappeared into her room, thoughts of her fading from the Dursley's minds. She didn't have a light in her space, but it was still early enough that there was a glow from the lights outside of her cupboard. She used that to read.

 

The letter was addressed to a Willow Potter. Willow was a nice enough name she supposed. It meant slender, graceful, flexible but enduring. To Willow Potter, the Cupboard under the Stairs. Well, that was highly specific. Hatchling wasn't an idiot. By now she knew that Hatchling, or even Freak, wasn't her real name. The girls in her story books had names like Ivy Rose, or Elizabeth Taylor. And that owl had delivered it to her. All signs pointed to Willow Potter being her. She'd take it. She opened the letter. You are cordially invited to attend Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.... The letter began. And became stranger and stranger the farther down she read. Well then.

 

It wouldn't make sense to completely disregard the message just because it sounded crazy and the school's name was stupid. It was delivered by an owl, which is not a normal carrier animal, pigeons are. And she spoke with snakes for goodness sakes, there was nothing normal about her. So yeah, she'd give this witchcraft thing a try. It couldn't be any worse that how she was living right now, right?

 

The first thing she did after disappearing the next day was head to the garden. Her snakes were highly knowledgeable, they would at least know something about this...school. Hopefully. 

 

"Pigfarts you say?"

 

"Hogwarts." Willow corrected.

 

"Hm. It does sound familiar. I have this snooty cousin in London-village. He's always talking about how he can feel the magic in the air. I never believed him before, but hey, every snake has his day. His name is ssssss-ss-ssssS. See if you can find him while you're there."

 

"London is huge. How am I supposed to find him?" The snake slithered off without acknowledging the question.

 

The next place she went was the library. One, she needed a pen to respond to the letter, reserving the spot at the school and two, it was a library, she should be able to find some information on this "Leaky Cauldron" place.

 

She couldn't find any information on a place in London called The Leaky Cauldron. It was as if it didn't exist. How was she supposed to become a witch if she couldn't even find the entrance to the Wizarding World?! The sound of a book falling and hitting the floor startled her from her frustrations. The book landed face down, but open. It looked very old, unlike the other book in the library that were more worn than actually old. The title was strange too, The Tales of Beedle the Bard. They seemed to be children's stories, but that was impossible. She had scoured these shelves since her library awakening and knew all the fairytales from top to bottom. Maybe it has been misfiled all this time? She was in the history/geography section. She picked up the book, keeping it open to the page. 

 

"The Tale of the Three Brothers." She whispered. Intriguing. She opened the book at the cover to see if there was more information on it. Instead she found a handwritten note: If found, please return to Tom the Barkeep. The Leaky Cauldron. 1 Diagon Alley or Charing Cross Road, London.

 

That was...fortuitous, she thought. Then she looked up at the bookcase this book was meant to have fallen from. There were no empty spots on the shelf. That strange circumstance signaled the end of her trip to the library, and so she left, book in tow.

 

And she read the book. It was amazing, of course. They were like the fairytales she knew, but for witches and wizards, which made them better. And she found a map and made a plan to visit London. With some very judicious uses of disappearing, Willow hopped on the tram one morning, and arrived in London a little under 2 hours later. She used the tourist map she got from the library and navigated the streets until she found what she was looking for.

 

The Leaky Cauldron was...an odd place. It was situated between two very well maintained buildings, but it was severely lacking in upkeep itself. Willow would have thought this was all an elaborate scheme to lure her out and kidnap her to sell on the black market, had it not been for the fact that everyone (but her) was ignoring the ramshackle place. It was downright...intriguing. So, she swallowed her fear and walked into the building.

 

It was like night and day. This, the inside, was a well-kept pub. It was lively and clean enough, there were plenty of people inside, despite the early hour, and she really should have heard the noise they were making outside the doors. It must have been magic. Now onto the next problem, the letter said that the Leaky was the entrance to Diagon Alley, but where did she go from here? Did she lose her anonymity and ask for directions? Or did she wait? Well, silence had been a good friend up to now and it would continue to be. So she waited. And watched.

 

Eventually, two men came in from the door she entered through. They were mid to late twenties, and chatting about their plans for the day.

 

"I've got to head to Gringotts before I hit the Apothecary. I need to withdraw some money before I head to the alley to shop."

 

Willow's ears hitched onto the word alley, and she knew that she had found her way in. While following these men to what looked like a rear exit, she briefly pondered if she should try to find this Tom who's book so helpfully showed her the way to the magic place, but then she shrugged it off. It's been in the non-magical world for years at least, he probably doesn't even miss it. The rear entrance opened up into a dead end alley, and one of the men pulled out a stick? no that must be a wand the letter spoke about, and tapped what looked to be a random pattern on the wall of bricks.

 

In a display that far outshone anything the Willow had ever seen, the bricks...unfolded themselves and opened to reveal what had to have been Diagon Alley. She was so awestruck, she almost missed her chance to enter behind them. She continued to follow behind the man that had mentioned Gringott's, correctly assuming that it was a bank of some sort. It was a bit of a walk, but all in the same alley, and it ended in front of a big beautiful building made out of white stone, that had steps leading up to the entrance. Also in front of the entrance were two heavily armoured and weaponed creatures. If the whole brick door trick didn't prove magic was real, these guys sure did. 

 

Willow stopped just outside of the doors, looking at a poem enscribed to the left of the entrance. It was a catchy yet foreboding rhyme about how thievery is not tolerated. Good to know. She stepped forward to continue into the bank, but was abruptly stopped by a metallic clang. And the cause of that clang, which were two crossed axes, either one wielded by the created standing guard outside of the bank, each of which was glaring heavily at her.

 

"Thief!" One yelled. Shocking Willow, she was just thinking about seeing if she could get a loan from the bank to cover school costs. No ulterior motives at all. 

 

"Grab her!" The other said, spurring along what must have been a highly practiced maneuver, seeing as how one moment she was outside of the bank with only two of these creatures, and in the next she was in a room one step off of a dungeon, at knife point from at least 8 of them. Today started out so promising.

 

"You will desist with this glamour immediately!" One yelled. He was standing behind a desk, and while he looked very much similar to all the other creatures, he seemed to be of a higher standing, if that's what all the extra gold he had on his person meant. Willow didn't know what to say, so she stayed quiet. "You filthy human, trying to sneak into Gringott's and steal our gold! This is goblin territory, we don't play by human rules here. Release this glamour!" Feeling the direness of this situation, she spoke.

 

"Sir," she started respectfully, "I don't know what you mean." She was calm as could be in the situation, but there was still a waver of fear in her voice. No helping that. The now categorized goblin was likely flummoxed by her calm demeanor and manners. The humans he dealt with were normally rude and arrogant.

 

"The glamour you wore, and are wearing still, to try and sneak into the bank." He clarified, no longer yelling, but still scowling.

 

"I'm not sure what a glamour is, but, I wasn't trying to sneak anywhere. I wanted to see if I could open an account, maybe get a loan to pay for tuition at Hogwarts? I followed a man in from the Leaky Cauldron, I've just found out about the magical world you see..." she explained, they just looked at her, she continued, "Um. Sometimes when I don't want to be noticed, I just disappear and my relatives forget about me for a while. Maybe that's what was happening? I swear, I'd never try to steal from your bank. I read the poem." She put her most earnest face on, which wasn't hard. She was telling the truth.

 

"Do you swear on your magic?"

 

"Um...yes?"

 

"Say it."

 

"I swear on my magic that I'd never try to steal from Gringott's." A golden light exploded from Willow and dispersed into the air. She was no longer held at knifepoint. "What was that?" Willow asked, breathlessly. She was ignored, in favor of the goblin in charge speaking to the other goblins in a rough, guttural language. The excess goblins quickly left the room.

 

"That was your magic, validating your claims." He looked at you as if he were studying something interesting. "Your a new witch you say? Going to Hogwarts this year?"

 

"Yes sir." She replied, nodding, thrown off balance by this whole strange situation.

 

"And you'd like to open a loan to pay for your schooling." She nodded again. He nodded to himself, gather papers together.

 

"Have a seat, young witch." Willow slowly moved to sit in the chair opposite the desk he was behind. "Now," he started, writing as he spoke, "how do you plan on paying back this loan you wish to receive?"

 

"Um, well so don't have any marketable skills yet, since I've never been to school, but I'm great and cleaning and cooking and gardening. If you have any jobs in those fields, I could work off my debt during the summers between classes. Then we could reassess after I've graduated and gotten a real job." She offerred, hopefully. He just stared at her. She took this as a queue to keep talking. "Actually, I was wondering about something. Do you happen to know any reputable detectives? I'm an orphan, you see, and I probably got my magic from someone in my family, right? I was wondering, maybe the detective can find some leads on any family of mine." The goblin smiled, and it was neither reassuring nor frightening, and it was accompanied by a laugh like tires on gravel.

 

"What a naive little witch. I'm wondering how it is that your first act of visiting the wizarding world resulted in you bargaining with a goblin. This is highly unorthodox." Willow frowned for the first time that day.

 

"I'm not naive. I haven't been for a long time. I'm desperate. There is a difference. And it's the knowledge that I literally have no other options. Humans, they're awful. They're liars. I know that. You. You're a different creature, a goblin, was it? And a banker as well. You have to be different. Hopefully a good different. Can we make a deal now?" He lifted an eyebrow, pleasantly surprised at her gall.

 

"Gringott's has a blood test. It links the customer's blood to whatever vault they may be in possession of, as well as any immediate family relations. It costs 3 galleons."

 

"What is the exchange rate between galleons and pounds?"

 

"One galleon equal five pounds."

 

"I have no money."

 

"That is clear. We'll make a deal. We'll do the test on Gringott's sickle, if you have an account attached to you, fine, the cost will come out of there. If not, you owe Gringott's three hours of work."

 

"What type of work?"

 

"Filing."

 

"First, what is your name?" He looked at her strangely again.

 

"Griphook."

 

"Agreed." He flashed another sharp toothed grin, and pulled a silver dagger and a blank piece of parchment from a drawer.

 

"Prick you finger on the blade and let no less that 3 drops of blood fall on the parchment." Willow did as he asked, and watched amazed as her blood disappeared into the paper. After several moments of watching the blank parchment, something began to change. Black writing because to surface on the page. After several minutes, it seemed like it was done. Griphook took the parchment to look at it. He immediately began the choke on air. Willow watched his reaction with interest. After a while, he slid the paper to her.

 

She started reading, and she choked too. This was way more that she could have dreamt up. It started with her name, her full name, Willow Eris Potter. Then her parents names, she finally knew their names, the word deceased sat heavily next to both. A god-father, but wait it said "Uncle by blood-magic" in parenthesis next to it. He was...incarcerated. That was it for family. He did say it was only immediate members. Farther down the parchment were inherited lordship, or ladyships rather. Heir Apparent for Houses of Peverell, Potter, Black. That seemed like a lot of work. Farther down were the vaults she inherited. For each house she was heir of, there were at least 3 vaults attached. And each vault had at least 6 figures in it, and accounting for the exchange rate, well, she was a multibillionaire. That was a bit much for her, she sat the parchment down without finishing reviewing it.

 

"Guess I don't need that loan now." She threw out there. She received what could have been a small smirk from the goblin. Either that, or indigestion. "Are there any other blood test Gringott's provides?"

 

"There is one more, it is a comprehensive family tree. Back five generations is 50 galleons, back ten is 100. Back to the beginning, 250."

 

"What do most people get?"

 

"Most people do not ask for family trees."

 

"What would you suggest then?"

 

"You're asking a goblin for advice?"

 

"You literally just increased my wealth exponentially because of your first suggestion. You're liable to be the only being I ever go to for advice. At least about money."

 

"Someone like you, with multiple lordships to your name and a pureblood background, would benefit from a complete family tree."

 

"And you're not just saying this to get more money from me?"

 

"What's a drop in a bucket?" He...joked? "Know your family, know your allies." He added.

 

"Okay then." I agreed. This time he pulled out a thin book, empty, and Willow was instructed to let no less than 20 drops of blood. He closed the book when she was done. 

 

"It will take time. Would you like you head to your vaults now?"

 

"Not yet, I still have more questions. If you'd be obliged?" He nodded his head once and steepled his long fingers. "I need to learn more about this world, what do you suggest."

 

"Reading." She almost cracked a smile.

 

"Could you recommend a reading list?"

 

"For a price."

 

"And how will I know these books will be helpful?"

 

"You need only ask. As I said, for the right price, and the right question, you'll receive what you need."

 

"Tricky. I like it."

 

Business was concluded within 4 hours of her dramatic entrance into the bank.

 

"It was a pleasure doing business with you, Griphook."

 

"May your gold over flow." She didn't know what to say to that, and resolved to get a book on goblin culture, but followed up on a question she'd been bursting to ask.

 

"Does Gringott's, and you in particular, take on interns?"

 

"I am assuming this is a muggle word equivalent to an apprentice?"

 

"Basically."

 

"And you, little witch, want to be a goblin's apprentice?"

 

"Yeah!" And without prompting she went into all the reasons why. "You're so cutthroat in your deals, but also fair if the person bargains back, I also felt like your comrades definitely knew how to use their weapons which was both awe inspiring and frightening. You seem to be extremely knowledgeable about, really everything that's happening in the magical world, and if all goblins are like you, then I really don't see anything wrong with modelling my behavior after goblins." That laugh like gravel was back.

 

"Ask again when your scrawny arms are able to lift a war axe, then we'll talk."

 

She left with a bigger on the inside bag full of galleons, exchanged pounds, a list of books to buy, her bank statement, her family tree, and a newspaper article from November 1st of 1987 that Griphook made her read before leaving. It outlined the death of two brave war heroes, the betrayal of a best friend, and the auspicious beginnings of a baby miracle. It was an awful and beautiful revelation.

 

Willow had a lot of her mind after she left the bank. So instead of shopping for her school supplies just yet, she decided to just pick up the books recommended by Griphook. That way, she could learn a little (or a lot, depending) on Wizarding culture before looking for the items she'd need to carry her through the school year. She had almost a full month to waste before school started anyway. As it was, she still needed to decided whether she would go back hom- to the Dursley's rather, that day, or see if she could find some type of alternate housing. Yes, she was only eleven years old, but she'd been taking care of herself for the longest. She didn't need adults, she just needed a roof over her head. And she was now in this new world with seemingly unlimited options, she'd make it work.

---

The amount of books on the goblin's list was...more than Willow expected, let's just say that. Gathering them hadn't been a problem, bookstores, like libraries, were very well organized, and this bookstore even had weightless, expanding baskets. It was any bibliophile's dream. There were of course a few books that couldn't be found no matter what she did, but they did have asterisks next to them, so she assumed that they were specialty books and decided to ask the goblins about them at a later date. In addition to that, she had disappeared while in the store (rather, disillusioned herself - that's what Griphook said she had been unconsciously doing, he also she she shouldn't have been able to at her age and without a wand but...that's neither here nor there) so there had been no issues, until she went to check out. She needed to be visible to legally acquire the books. The transaction took forever, and she got strange looks from both the cashier and other people in the store ("Ravenclaw for sure" somebody said under their breath). She quickly wished herself invisible (disillusioned!) after stepping outside the door. Willow then acquired a room for herself at the Leaky Cauldron for the next week, decided not to go back to the Dursley's, ever, if she could help it. She felt a twinge of loss at the fact that she'd be leaving her snake friends behind, but then remembered that one of their cousins lived around London, and resolved to search for him. She felt that a week was long enough to get some good base information from the massive amount of books she'd acquired that very day, as well as to look further into her holdings supplied by Gringott's. She remembered the sheet saying something about properties owned, but she was so shocked, that she had to put the paper down before she could thoroughly look through that section. She supposed she'd be visiting Gringott's sooner than she thought,. Better look through that Goblin culture book first.

 

Willow's week spent alone at the Leaky was the best time she'd ever had in her life. She ate when she was hungry, she read whenever she wanted, she slept when she was tired, and she didn't clean a damn thing. After reading through goblin culture, wizarding culture, Hogwart's: A history, the Last 100 Most Influential Wizards and Witches, books on magical theories, and the remainder of her holdings, Willow was ready to go back to Gringott's. She made sure to stop at the tailor get more suitable clothes first though, no sense walking around in rags when you can afford style. Making sure she was visible, she stepped into Gringott's unassisted for the first time.

 

There several teller windows around the floor of the bank, but only a few that were in-service. Those few had average lines of customers. Willow steeled herself for what she was going to do next. She walked briskly up to a unoccupied teller desk and picked up the out of service sign. Which she then threw on the ground (Goblin rule #23: Breaks are for the weak). This of course caused a scene to every human around, creating whispers and gasps. Luckily, she didn't have to suffer the points and stares long before a goblin hurried behind the desk.

 

"I will be speaking with Griphook now." She demanded before giving him a chance to say anything (Goblin rule #1: Time is money, and we waste neither). He nodded, and just as quickly hopped off the chair behind the desk and scurried away, expecting her to follow him. She did. They went on a little adventure through the back of the bank, before stopping at a heavy wooden door. The goblin knocked and was granted entrance, he opened the door and motioned her through. The office was beautiful. Bookcases lined the walls, a great mahogany desk sat in the middle, and behind that desk sat Griphook, who was busily filling out paperwork.

 

"Sit." He said. She complied. They were both silent for a moment.

 

"This sure is an upgrade from that last office we were in." Willow commented. He finished writing at looked at her.

 

"Indeed. I supposed I should thank you for this." He started. "As it was a happy coincidence that the thief I was summoned to interrogate was actually the owner of several vaults, some of which had been inactive for centuries. You effectively made me your account manager that day, elevating my status quite a bit."

 

"I don't remember doing that."

 

"Goblin by-laws." He responded, with a sharktoothed grin (apparently real Goblin rule #1: Finder's keepers). "How can I help you today Heiress Potter?" He asked, cordially even.

 

"I've decided that I no longer want to live with my relatives. I saw there was a whole list of properties that I own. What do I need to do to move into one?" I asked. He shuffled around some papers, and went into a drawer to pull out an obscenely thick file. I assumed it was mine.

 

"The problem with that is, you are a minor."

 

"I'm aware. But my guardians are unfit. I'd rather be alone."

 

"Your muggle guardians maybe, but your magical guardian placed you there."

 

"And who is this so-called magical guardian of mine? I've never seen anyone but my relatives regularly."

 

"Looks like one Albus Dumbledore is given the dubious pleasure."

 

"Albus Dumbledore...who's- wait. The headmaster of Hogwarts?" She asked, incredulously. "How is he my guardian?" Griphook shrugged.

 

"Apparently the Ministry thought it would be a good idea." Willow decided that her next plan of action would be to read up on this Ministry business.

 

"Okay. How about emancipation then? Do you guys have that here?"

 

"Of course." He face brightened. "But not for eleven year olds." It soured again.

 

"Extenuating circumstances, Griphook. I'm sure you can find something. You're the craftiest Goblin I know."

 

"I'm the only Goblin you know." He muttered, but he did get up and begin searching his bookshelves. Willow remained quiet, leaving him to his search. Several minutes passed. "Aha!" He exclaimed. "This should do it." He came back to the desk with an extremely dusty tome. "Many years ago, centuries really," he started, "the life expectancy for humans was much lower. Wizards have always have longer life spans than muggles, but it was still a dark, fleeting time. Because death rates were so high, entire magical families were being wiped out before the secrets of the family could be passed down, since they could only be held by the Lord or Lady of the House. A law was passed, saying that if ever the secrets of a great house were in jeopardy of being lost due the Lordship not being passed on, whoever that was in position to receive the Lordship, regardless of age, could receive it through a ritual outlined here..." He trailed off, reading more of the book.

 

"So, about this ritual..."

 

"It will be magically straining. But, it will achieve what you want. Which is to claim your Ladyships, correct?"

 

"Yes, but, what does having this Ladyship entail exactly?"

 

"In the eyes of the bank, the Ministry and the Wizarding World, you will be an adult. So no need for any type of guardian. Full access to your properties, vaults, businesses. Full access also means responsibility of, so you would need to, or hire someone to, manage your properties. Minors have a tracker on their wands until they reach majority, which is seventeen years of age, but you will not, being able to perform magic anywhere (out of sight of muggles) at anytime. The only thing you will not be able to do is vote on your seats at the Wizengamot until you reach your majority. But you will be able to assign a proxy if you do wish, to replace your magical guardian who currently presides over your seats. You'd also be able to unseal your parents' wills."

 

"I'm not seeing any cons. You said I'd need to manage my properties?" A nod. "I'm assuming the bank has been managing them so far?" Another nod. "Can that continue to happen until I'm filling ready to take up that mantle?"

 

"Of course. For a fee." He smirked. Willow could practically see the galleon signs in his eyes.

 

"And what's this about my parents' wills?"

 

"Your magical guardian had them sealed. They've never been read."

 

"How is that even allowed?!"

 

"I've found that wizards are a silly race."

 

"And how is it okay that this same man who left me with the Dursleys, and sealed my parents wills, is somehow making legislative decisions with my family's seats?!" I received an even look from the Goblin across from me.

 

"So what are you going to do about it?"

 

"Let's talk fees." A gravelley laugh through too sharp teeth was her answer. "One more thing before we start, can my change in status be hidden? I don't need everyone to know all of my business straight off the bat." A calculating gleam grew in Griphook's eyes.

 

"Until you're seventeen."

 

Willow left the bank several hours later with more questions than answers. She was now a Lady, of not one, but three houses, Peverell, Potter and Slytherin (the last by conquest of all things). She needed to find someone to replace Dumbledore as her proxy in the Wizengamot (and how was he allowed to control seats when he was the Supreme Mugwump? Conflict of interest anyone?), she also needed to gather the rest of her school items since the school year was fast approaching.

 

She went straight to the Leaky to pack her room up, and left by floo to her new home, Potter Manor, where she was accosted by way too many little hobgoblin looking creatures she soon learned we called House Elves. They were a highly excitable bunch and more than happy that "Young Mistress" had returned for them and "hadn't she grown so much?" Apparently, they knew her as a baby. The House Elves dispersed, some taking her luggage, some going off to the kitchen to prepare a welcome feast, and still others going to the other properties to alert even more house elves of the news.

 

This left Willow to her own devices in the huge manor, and she began to explore. Which brought her to another revelation. Moving portraits, which turned out to be talking portraits. She met many deceased family members this way. Unfortunately, her own parents hadn't been able to commission one for themselves before their passing, but at least now she had family that was happy to see her. And books were great for learning, but learning from a real live(ish) person that wanted to see you succeed? Well, that was priceless.

 

The rest of the summer was unremarkable. She found the Potter Manor Library. Her heart exploded a little. She bought a wand, sans tracker, from a very odd, old wandmaker who basically told her that the twin of her wand was owned by the man who murdered her parents. Great. Just great. She bought the rest of her school items and a trunk to pack them away in. She unsealed her parents wills, making sure their wishes were honored, and started fostering more of a hate fire than ever for one Albus Dumbledore (Lily said under no circumstances was Willow to be left with her sister!).

 

When September 1st rolled around, Willow had a lovely young house elf named Mimsy pop her to the magical side of the train station, where she boarded the train to the next six years of her life. 

 

Hogwart's was magical. Of course. It was a huge sentient castle amidst the rolling highlands, and it was her first time actually going to school and socializing with kids her age, but she expected something, more. Different. She didn't know. She was sorted into Gryffindor, the house of her parents. The hat had told her that she had a great thirst for knowledge, so Ravenclaw was in the running, and she was clever, and calculating and sometimes conniving, so Slytherin was too. But she had no loyalty to anyone but herself (could you blame her?) so Hufflepuff wasn't a choice at all, but above all that she was brave and strong for having even survived to this day, so Gryffindor is what it ultimately chose for her.

 

People at the school, well they all expected something from her, the Girl-Who-Lived. But she wasn't interested in the fame she received from simply living while her family perished. She was standoffish and possibly cold to anyone who greeted her with a starstruck look in their eyes, and so, it took a while for her to make her first friend.

 

Hermione Granger was a bushy-haired, buck-toothed, muggleborn know-it-all sorted into Ravenclaw. And even though that was a house full of fellow know-it-alls, she was still ostracized. For whatever reason. They met in the library.

 

("Just because you do know more than them, you don't have to flaunt it right away. Keep it to yourself, keep getting the highest marks, and make them come to you." Willow advised one night. That's how she locked down a friend for life.)

 

She made an enemy (she liked to think of him as a friendly rival) much quicker, before they even arrived to the school, in fact. Draco Malfoy was a platinum blond, pointy-faced, daddy's boy, and a spoiled brat to boot. They met on the train and his demeanor was offensive to her, and then she went and offended him. And since then, they would insult each other in passing. It was a game she rather enjoyed as it kept her wit sharp.

 

She met a low level villain in the form of her potion's professor. He was apparently predisposed to dislike her, because even when she answered questions correctly or brewed potions perfectly, he always found fault in something and griped about it. Well, there was nothing to do about it, so she let his comments roll off like water off a duck's back, and continued to learn and work. If her relatives couldn't make her cry with their emotional and physical abuse, a disgruntled teacher sure as Hell wasn't going to make the waterworks magically turn on.

 

But the true evil she kept her eye on. Dumblebore sat on his throne at the head of the staff table every night and looked upon all the young minds he could mold to his liking. Not her though. He was done messing with her. Apparently, he hadn't yet found out about the change in proxy of her seats, but it would happen soon enough.

 

Time passed and it was Halloween now. The stuttering DADA professor stumbled into the Great Hall to alert everyone that a troll had somehow gotten passed the wards that have kept Hogwart's protected for years and was now strolling in the dungeons for funsies. Then he passed out.

 

How...unlikely. Either way, it wasn't her business, so she went into her dorm with everyone else, and was not surprised when another Gryffindor first year was in the infirmary the next day with a broken arm because he thought he could take on a full grown troll. He's lucky that's all that got broken. Dumbledore kept making references to stay out of the third floor corridor on the right hand side, and so Willow did. She wasn't there to play games with this old man. The DADA professor disappeared halfway through the year, and it wasn't ever acknowledged by the other staff or headmaster other than replacing him. Not suspicious at all. 

 

The summer after first year was spent gleaning familial knowledge from the portraits. They were a generally jovial bunch, the Potters, but it was really interesting to meet the kind of people that married into the Potter family. One such person was a lovely lady by the name of Dorea Potter, formerly of the Black family. She was the wife of Charlus Potter, brother of Fleamont Potter, her own grandfather. Her portrait depicted her in her forties, and she had a spark in her eye and a perpetual smirk on her lips. Her favorite pastimes were teaching Willow the Black Family Magics, which surprised them both since a Black can only pass on secrets to another Black, portrait or not, and talking about her favorite nephew...Sirius Black. Which had Willow visiting Gringott's again.

 

"You're making a habit of coming back here all too often." Griphook commented.

 

"Isn't that what I'm supposed to do? You're my account manager, I have to make sure all investments are thriving under your care. Besides, you'll be seeing much more of me once I can wield a battle axe. I've been practicing." She smiled at his disgruntled expression. "But that's not what I came here for today. I'd like to know more about the circumstances surrounding Sirius Black's arrest." This piqued his interest.

 

"What would you like to know?"

 

"I was speaking to the portrait of his great-aunt, as well as my grandparents, and they said that Sirius and my father were great friends, like brothers. He's listed as both my godfather and uncle on my family tree, so I'm wondering why he wasn't the one to take care of me when my parents were murdered."

 

"Sirius Black was already arrested at the time of your placement."

 

"For what? My family said that he was an auror along with my father. What could he have possibly done to detain him this long?"

 

"Sirius Black was charged with the murder of thirteen muggles and one wizard." Willow's widened. "He was also thought of as the one to betray your parent's whereabouts to the Dark Lord." He let that soak in. "However...us Goblin's are of a different mind about his guilt."

 

"Why's that?"

 

"Goblins have been the keepers of gold and vaults since the very beginning. We record everything diligently and know the laws of even wizarding culture better than most wizards. Especially as they apply to inheritances."

 

"I've noticed."

 

"It's our specialty. Certain families have specific rules when it come to inheriting. The Black family has such a rule." He found a page in a book that was already on his desk. "Here it is. 'If the Heir of House Black is guilty of such a crime that severes his bond with family, he shall be stripped of his title and fortunes.'"

 

"What does that mean?"

 

"When Sirius Black was arrested, he was the heir of House Black. The then current Lord died while Black was imprisioned and something strange happened. The vaults kept accruing interest and the Lordship was passed over to Sirius."

 

"So, he's not guilty then, otherwise he'd never have become Lord Black! Why didn't you guys say anything?"

 

"The affairs of wizards are not of any interest to goblins."

 

"Then why are telling me this now?"

 

"I've made much gold off your numerous accounts, and you asked."

 

"Well you did say all I needed was the right question and the right fee."

 

"Exactly. Anything else I can help you with Lady Peverell-Potter-Slytherin?"

 

"One, just call me Willow, and two, do you have access to the records from his trial?"

 

"Another interesting occurrence, there was no trial for Sirius Black."

 

"...please direct me to who I need to speak with about that oversight."

 

Willow left the bank with directions to contact Amelia Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. She explained the situation to her grandparents and great aunt (who were appropriately horrified by the glaring dishonor to their respective families) and they helped her pen a missive to Head Auror Bones. They met for afternoon tea the next week, where Head Auror Bones was sworn to secrecy about the status of Willow's guardianship (or lack thereof), and she left a few hours later with a plan to look into the serious Sirius Black matter.

 

She was appalled at the lack of information that they had on many of the arrests made at that time, but even more so at the blatant lack of courtroom records or transcripts that would have shown that Black was properly investigated and processed. An emergency meeting of the Wizengamot was called to order, and the notorious murderer Sirius Black was transported from the dreaded Azkaban prison to attend. By the time summer had ended and Willow was back on the train to school, Sirius Black had been pardoned for all crimes and was healing from the psychological trauma of being an innocent man in a prison full of dementors for almost eleven years, in a private suite at St. Mungo's where he would stay, recuperating, for the next year. The newspapers that day sold out within five minutes. It was a good thing she had Griphook buy stock in the Daily Prophet before she left for school.

 

Second year at Hogwart's was strange. Very much so. While she met a new friend in first year Ravenclaw, Luna Lovegood (nice girl, odd though), there was a different new face she wishes she had never met. His name was Gilderoy Lockheart and he was an absolutely rubbish professor. Good thing she studied independently, because the only thing he taught the glass about was himself. And even worse, almost every female in the castle under seventy was enamored with his too-shiny teeth and perfectly styled hair. It was quite awful and even Hermione fell prey. At least Luna wasn't moved my his "dashing good looks and great personality."

 

On top of that, there was some sort of snake in the walls of the school. Willow knew snake when she heard it ("you're a parselmouth", said Aunt Dorea, "a lot of people won't like that, but it's a wonderful skill to have. Keep it under your hat though") so she followed it to an abandoned bathroom, specifically, a sink that had serpents carved into the pipes. Weird. She left it alone. But then things got weirder. Student, specifically of the none pureblood variety (and one cat) were being paralyzed. Then, one of the loud redheaded Gryffindor children was apparently possessed by an evil spirit, and disappeared. The only clue that accompanied her disappearance was a note written on a castle wall in blood: "Her body will lie in the chamber forever," it read. The Weasleys remaining at the school were distraught. Ron Weasley, the one who broke his arm last year in the tiff with the troll, decided that Willow, since she was already a lauded hero, would be the best to accompany him on a quest to save his sister. Apparently he had heard the hissing too and they ended up in the same bathroom as before. Professor Lockhart also was a surprise guest on this ill thought out adventure. Apparently, he smelled the accolades he would receive by rescuing this girl and came rushing over. While Ron and Lockhart where searching the other corners of the bathroom for a secret passage, while being harrangued by the ghost that claimed the place as her own, although she was suspiciously absent when Willow came in alone, Willow went straight to the marked sink and whisper-hissed "open" in parseltongue. The sink split in two and revealed a creepy passageway. Lockhart was elected to go first by way of Willow pushing him down there. Ron followed, dragging Willow in as well by her arm.

 

Willow met her first basalisk down in that chamber. She was also bitten and poisoned by said basalisk, she killed said basalisk with a sword that appeared in the sorting hat which Dumbledore's phoenix delivered (it could have brought an actual adult that was capable of solving the whole problem!), of all things. She ended solving the whole possession problem by stabbing this evil diary with the poisoned basalisk tooth that was previously embedded in her arm, and before she could completely die from the fatal poison coursing through her veins, the stupid bird finally reappeared and cried on her wound, healing her. Good enough.

 

Just before she left the train station for home, she witnessed a gross abuse of power by a blond ponce of an adult wizard to his devoted house elf, it took some wily moves but she orchestrated the man, who had to have been a Malfoy, into accidentally freeing his elf. Hermione would be proud.

 

The summer was kicked off with a visit to Gringott's.

 

"I killed a basalisk at school." Willow started, startling Griphook. "All I had was a sword, and I put it through the roof of her mouth. I'm nearly ready for my internship." She boasted.

 

"...Indeed." He gathered his wits about him and steeple his long fingers. "And how did this come about?" And she went into detail on how she was forced to be a hero, again. At least she had a life debt from both Ginny and Ron Weasley. She would've had one from Lockhart as well, but he hit himself with a mind-charm and was useless at the moment. When she got to the part of the ghost-diary-spirit boy and how he shrieked and dispersed when she stabbed the diary, Griphook gave an interested hum. "Sounds like a horcrux." He said, thumbing through a book. He found the page he was looking for and turned the book to face her. "Nasty pieces of work. Seems that the Dark Lord isn't as dead as the masses wanted him to be. If you find anymore, bring them to us. We'll get rid of them for you."

 

"Let me guess...for a fee?"

 

"Exactly right."

 

The next stop was St. Mungo's to visit her estranged Uncle/Godfather (she still hadn't gotten a complete answer on that situation). Sirius was a handsome man, or rather, he could be. At the moment he still looked a gaunt and undernourished, but you can't stave of the bad effect of several years in just under one, she knew this for a fact. He was sitting up in bed, reading a newspaper, with a larger stack of newspapers beside him. He was startled to see a visitor, then confused, then elated.

 

"Pup!" He greeted, tears in his eyes. "You don't know how happy I am to see you. Come give old Padfoot a hug." Willow wasn't much for physical affection, lord knows she couldn't remember a time when she was on the receiving end of a non-violent touch, but if there was anyone who she'd at least try to hug, it was her godfather...uncle...last of her living family.

 

This hugging thing, it was nice.

 

"You look just like your parents!" He said, holding her away from him to get a better look. "Lily's eyes and nose, James' face and hair color. And good thing you didn't get his messy hair gene."

 

"Actually, I did. But Grandfather told me all about Sleekeazy's Hair potion. He was very proud of that, he talked my ear off." She rolled her eyes fondly. His brow furrowed.

 

"But Fleamont, isn't he-?"

 

"Oh, his portrait of course. Yes, he's still very much dead." She clarified.

 

"Ah. Okay. I know being in Azkaban all these years would make me a little barmy, but I didn't think I'd gone that far around the bend." He laughed a bark-like laugh. "So who are you living with now, and how have they been treating you?"

 

"Well, I currently live at Potter Manor, with Grandfather and Grandmother, and Aunt Dorea and all the house elves. It's very nice."

 

"But, what I mean is, who takes care of you?"

 

"I can take care of myself. But the house elves are a new addition and they like taking care of me too." She was being obtuse on purpose. Maybe they'd have a discussion about her previous living conditions later, maybe never. "So went can you get out of here?" She asked. "And then you can come live with us too." His eyes lost their concern and confusion, and brightened in joy.

 

"Oh! The Healers say I just need to pass my final check up in a month, and I'll be home free."

 

"That's good. Once you're out I have plenty of questions to ask you about our family." She motioned to the newspapers. "What all this?"

 

"Oh, just catching up on the news I missed while in the brig. I'm nearly up to speed, just a few more months to go."

 

"Have any of your friends visited you?"

 

"Can't say that they have, pup. You're the first visitor I've had other than Madame Bones or the healers. That being said, she says your the person I should thank for my release." He looked at me seriously. "Thank you."

 

"It was nothing. I just asked the goblins the right questions and they pointed me in the right direction. Madame Bones did the rest." I shrugged, blushing.

 

"The goblins, eh?"

 

"They're pretty nice. In a surly way."

 

"Sure they are."

 

"But back to you, why has no one been visiting? You were cleared of all charges, people should at least be coming to say 'sorry I thought you were a murderer.'"

 

"You'd think, but maybe they're just nervous. Anyway, tell me about you, how were your first two years at Hogwarts?"

 

Year Three at Hogwarts was tame. Yes, for some reason the Minister of Magic thought it was a good idea to let dementors loose on the school to "guard" it seeing as some low level deather eater somehow escaped from Azkaban. The DADA professor was the best one Willow and her classmates had yet, and he taught her in specific how to conjure a patronus since it seemed the dementors were enamored by her presence. Despite the fact he turned into a werewolf on the full moon (that was a secret, she had seen him on accident), he had never harmed a student, but he was still asked not to return for the following school year.

 

That summer was her best summer ever. Sirius became a father/older brother figure to her and he finally explained why he was listed as her uncle, which also explained how she could use Black Family Magics ("You see, James and I were best mates, brothers even. So we found a ritual and became brothers for real. That made you my niece. Best ritual I ever did...but don't tell your grandparents, I may be grown but they'll still give me an earful" he laughed it off). She didn't tell her grandparents, but she did tell Aunt Dorea. She approved. 

 

Fourth Year was a trip. The Tri-Wizard Tournament was going to be hosted at Hogwarts. This was a competition that had previously claimed the life of many of its competitors. That why it hadn't happened in a century. Apparently, Dumbledore thought that 100 years was enough of a cooling down period, and brought it back. Willow wanted nothing to do with it. That was fine, because there was an age line drawn around it and only those of the age of majority could get passed it. Perfect. Fate didn't see it that way though, because Willow was called as the fourth contestant...in a Tri-Wizard Tournament. They told her it was a magically binding contract, even though she did not put her name in, and that she had to participate or forfeit her magic. Sike.

 

She followed them to the backroom where the other contestants were held, all the way penning missives to both Griphook and Sirius, asking them both to pool their resources and look for a way out this mess.

 

The student population of Hogwarts was livid. Either they were jealous that she somehow found a way to put her name into the goblet when they couldn't, or they were angry that she thought she could outshine Cedric Diggery. First of all, she didn't put her name in the damned cup, and second, she didn't give a flying fuck who this Cedric kid was, never the less trying to one-up him. The following months were uncomfortable. She already was an outlier in her house, now she was basically ostracized by the whole school. No matter, she had Hermione and Luna, and Sirius was just a letter away. She didn't need them.

 

Bad news, there wasn't a way out of the competition. Or at least there wasn't one found by the time the first task started, so by then, she was firmly locked into the contract. Good news, after the first task had dragons and two of the competitors were nearly burned to death, the Hogwarts student body eased up on their Willow-hate. Then the second task involved bloody mer-people and they put her godfather (secret uncle) under a stasis spell for her to save or else... She was so done with these wizards. Then the final task ended up with her and Diggory transported to a graveyard, Diggory was killed, and then Voldemort was resurrected using her blood. It was bloody traumatizing. Especially when her dead parents came out out the end of Voldemort's wand to give her a chance to run.

 

To top off all that, she tried to tell the Minister of Magic (as well as the masses behind him) that Voldemort was back, and he had the portkey trophy redirected, and Diggory killed (as she was laying on top of Diggory's dead body), and what did she get for her troubles other than being called a liar (and a killer in the case of Mr. Diggory, as if she wanted the trophy bad enough to kill for it)? She was really done with them all now.

 

Sirius believed her though, and the summer was spent learning defense Black style, who belived that best defense was a wicked offense. Emphasis on wicked. Sirius also reunited with Professor Lupin aka Moony, and they had a tearful apology session. Time learning magic with him was split with learning war strategy and weapons with Razorclaw, a goblin Griphook had set her up with after she had proven she could more than lift a battle axe. It also helped that the goblins believed her about Voldemort. And they'd never admit to it, but Goblins hated the Dark Lord because while he did have a vault or two in their caverns, he never cultivated his own money, rather liking to drain his followers bank accounts. Article after article was printed by that horrendous Skeeter woman about how Willow was crazy, or fame hungry, or a combination of the two. And she just ignored them, prepping herself for an eventuality.

 

Fifth year brought dirty looks from everyone but the Slytherins, who had affected a smug kind of look, directed at Willow (and then she imagined how smug they would look when they found out who Lady Slytherin was - answer, not at all). It also brought in an awful pink toad of a woman as DADA professor, who always had something stuck in her throat (hem-hem) and taught outdated theory instead of actual magic. Willow didn't even try to contest her teaching methods because she knew when to be quiet, she'd learned a long time ago, and just like second year, she knew how to study independently. But somehow Hermione got her to start up a Defense Club, and Luna was talking about blubbering humdingers so she clearly agreed. But then Madame High Inquisitor Umbridge, banned clubs and even groups walking down the hall in numbers more than three (can you say dictator?) so they had to take their operation underground. And people began softening up to her again, like when they found out about the dragons, but she took it with a grain of salt because they were fickle. Humans were so fickle, and she was only doing this for her friends.

 

Then there was a mole, who ratted them (namely her, the leader) out to Umbridge.

And Umbridge assigned her a slew of detentions because she really couldn't expel the Savior of the Wizarding World (the one time that title came in handy) but her detentions were strange. She wrote lines: I will obey my betters. I will not rebel. And at the end of the night, her hand stung. It wasn't until three nights later she realized that she had been using a blood quill all this time (banned object!) and she only knew what it was seeing as how they used them for contracts at the bank, the only place and use it wasn't banned for.

 

So she alerted Professor Mcgonagall, her Head of House, a woman who was suppose to be her advocate, who told her to, "keep her head down" (weak woman). And she didn't have much trust in the system before, but now she had absolutely none. So she planned and schemed, and went to detentions (the words on her hand were scarring now) and the next time she went to potions she lifted an extra vial, in which she put memories of her illegal detention punishments as well as Madame High Inquisitor's speech about everything she's doing has been sanctioned by the Minister of Magic. She sent that and a letter to Sirius, with instructions to rain down Hell on the bitch and her master with the help of Griphook. 

 

Christmas came early for Willow Potter, when the Auror came in to arrest the pink monstrosity known as Umbridge. She couldn't keep the devious grin off her face, which didn't go unnoticed by none other than the two demon twins of Gryffindor. They had been watching her for a while, and were pleased with what they saw, but watching her as Umbridge was arrested was the icing on the cake.

 

They approached her that evening in the common room with a folder full of papers.

 

"What's this?" She asked, opening it up. She had known the twins for years. They were popular, she kept to herself. This was the first conversation they had, outside of thanking her for saving their younger siblings.

 

"It's our prospectus. We would like you to invest in us, Willow Potter." She looked closer at the documents.

 

"And what would I be investing in?" Thus started the friendship and patronage between Willow and the Weasley Twins.

 

This summer was the same as the last, although gossip had died down about her. She introduced the Weasley Twins to Sirius, and it was a match made in Heaven, or Hell, wherever. They showed him the awesome map the filched from Filch, which spurred more memories for Sirius since he was part of the Maurauders, who created the map. He had to call Remus over so that they could both impart their knowledge onto this new generation. Willow continued to study with the Goblins.

 

The beginning of sixth year, Willow was called to the headmaster's office. This was the first time since coming to study her she was face to face with the Headmaster. She thought he finally uncovered the fact that she had usurped him as her magical guardian and taken get seats back, but it wasn't. Guess he had been too busy with the resurgence of Voldemort to think about money and legislature. Instead, he called her up to talk about a boy named Tom Riddle (Voldemort) and  a prophecy that foretold his downfall.

 

"I don't really believe in prophecies, Professor."

 

"Nor do I child, but he does."

 

He told her about horcruxes, and how he believed Tom had made seven in total: the diary, the ring adorning Dumbledore's corroding finger, (he assumed) Ravenclaw's lost diadem, Slytherin's locket, Hufflepuff's cup, and two unknown items. He believed the diadem was still in the school somewhere. He had tracked down the locket. And he believed the cup would be in the hands of Voldemort's staunchest supporter, Bellatrix Lestrange. He assumed that she would accompany him on the quest to retrieve the locket, and she did (only because she had no other plans that night). The trip was a bust, but she got to keep the fake locket as a consolation prize. And the end of that year, in a not so surprising turn of events, the ever angry Professor Snape murdered Headmaster Dumbledore, signaling the shift of power, and the start of what would later be named the Six Years War.

The summer after sixth year started in much the same fashion as the summers before. Only this time, Willow had one more thing to puzzle over: Tom Riddle's horcruxes. Now, Willow wasn't very bothered with the well-being of the British Wizarding World as a whole. But there were a few people (really, she could count them all on one hand) that she actually liked and would be at least a little distraught over if something happened to them. The whole conversation and adventure, then eventual death of Dumbledore made her realize that even if she had nothing against Tom Riddle (well, he did murder her parents, but she could have still achieved a happy childhood had Dumbledore not been his meddling self), he was out to get her, and by extension, her loved ones. So here she was, behind the wards at the Unplottable Potter Manor, in the more intimate family dining room, with a cup of steaming tea in front of her and the faux-horcrux locket in her hands.

 

"Wow. It's almost impressive how offensive that was." Willow commented. Luna and Hermione shared a look. Hermione heard the word a lot, and it was still demeaning every time. But being friends with Willow had desensitized her to a lot of things, and she definitely wasn't going to get all up in arms because a house elf called her a bad name. She was all for equal rights, and he literally just insulted them all, equally.

 

"Follow me." She did. They went farther into the offices than she'd been before, when they reached a golden door. Griphook knocked. A gruff voice bid them enter. They complied. The office was grander than anything she'd ever seen, and the goblin in it was doing paperwork, nothing crazy, but he was literally sitting on top of a pile of gold, with a crown atop his head.

 

"Explain." He barked. Willow explained the situation. He too cursed the stars in his language. "Although it pains me to say this, we cannot do anything about this situation most foul." He spat. "These wizards, always messing up a good thing."

 

"My King, if I could direct your attention to the Tome of the Old, Volume 3, I believe it could solve our problem." He walked over to the older goblin and showed him the book. There was some humming, and murmuring, and some gobbledygook exchanged. Then the King gave a grunt of affirmation. Griphook turned to face Willow from where he stood on the King's side. "The Goblin's cannot interfere in the quarrels of wizards. However, there are some bank laws in your favor. The Lestrange famil, they are beholden to the Blacks. When the Lestrange line ends, the Blacks will absorb their vaults."

"We'll be back too. We'll probably be bringing the rest of the family back with us. If that's okay?" The Twins asked. Sirius nodded. The four Weasley's left next. Luna went to gather her father. Then Tonks and Shacklebolt left. Moody stayed, he had no family left. And Mundugus was getting drunk off his arse, so there was no moving him. Sirius, Remus and Willow stayed as well because their family was already in the room.

 

The next few days were challenging. Everyone decided that since Grimmauld Place had the Fidelus up, it was the safest place to be in this time of turmoil. But it was a learning curve for everyone but the Weasley's, in living in a space filled with people. Willow didn't like it at all, she felt like a sardine in a tin, like she was back in her cupboard. But she could deal, because when it got to be too much, when Ron kept talking to her, or Mrs. Weasley felt like mothering her, she would escape into the Black Library, where she could connect with the portrait of Auntie Dorea.

 

"No, no. I'm not talking about it for fashion reasons. I can't believe I forgot about it. James had an invisibility cloak, and it was passed down to the eldest Potter child every Christmas after their eleventh birthday. I know how we can get into Hogwarts without being detected, but you won't make it through the school unless you're somehow invisible."

 

The plan went off without a hitch. They decided to infiltrate the school on September 1st, when there would be a lot of excess movement from the students arriving. She was invisible, but they didn't want to leave anything to chance. She used the underground entrance from Honeydukes in Hogmeade, to get into the Gryffindor common room. From there, she used the Maurauder's Map to avoid anyone sketchy and made her way to the Room of Requirement, which could turn into the Room of Lost Things when you thought about the right lost thing. And there was the diadem, right where Luna said it would be, on the very top of the highest pile of junk in the room. She quickly grabbed it and left. The whole escapade maybe taking two hours. The horcrux was then disposed of by the Goblins. Three down, four to go.

 

Months passed before they got a new lead on any horcruxes. It came in the form of a will reading. The will of one Albus Dumbledore. Out of all the members of the Order, only Willow and Alastor Moody were invited. Since Gringott's was technically neutral ground, and they would be secreted away in a meeting room, they felt fine going there during this time of turmoil. At the end of the reading, Willow found out where her heirloom invisibility cloak was (of course Dumbledore had it), and received the cursed ring that was still crawly with icky soul juice. Thank goodness it was in a case, because she would not have touched it otherwise. Dumbledore also willed her a letter she refused to read and his wand, but it was mysteriously missing. Oh well, she had her own, and she really wanted nothing more the do with old meddler. Before they left the bank, the ring was cleansed, and she wore it on her right middle finger. For some reason, it felt like it belonged there. Four down, three to go.

 

The Order decided that Nagini had to be the horcrux, but they weren't sure how to go about killing her. One, she was never far from Voldemort. Two, they were pretty sure where Voldemort was (Malfoy Mansion), but going after him was a suicide misson, especially since he currently controlled the Ministry, and three, even if they got close enough to kill the snake, Voldemort would realize what was going on, and the dark side would have a chance to hide Hufflepuff's Cup. At least at the moment they knew where two of the three horcruxes were, even if they couldn't do anything about it. Which brought them to the next plan.

 

"Here's the deal." Sirius started. "Bellatrix was crazy before she went into Azkaban. Now, she's about five times crazier, but also more dangerous as well. However, she also thinks that since she's the craziest bitch out there, no one would dare challenge her. She and her husband and his brother terrorize Diagon Alley twice a month, like clockwork. That's where we come in..."

 

Willow did end up killing Bellatrix Lestrange. But in her defense, she never said she wouldn't, and Bella had also sent a very nasty cutting hex that connected with her father figure, so she had to go.

 

Sirius got her husband. And in a stunning display of teamwork, Luna and Moody got his brother with none other than a tripping hex and a craftily transfigured rock underneath him (into a knife). That it was all done in front of the steps of Gringott's just made it quicker to retrieve and cleanse the Cup that was now the Black Family's possession. Willow was summoned to the King's office directly after the cleansing.

 

"I believe young Razorclaw trained you, but you were scouted by the ever clever Griphook." It wasn't really a question, but she nodded anyway. "You have done a great service to the Goblin Nation this day, by helping us cleanse the taint in our vaults of a megalomaniac wizard's filthy soul piece. It is with a moderate amount of pleasure that I name you, Willow, Lady of the Ancient and Crafty, Cunning, and Noble Houses of Peverell, Slytherin, and Potter, Heiress of the Ancient and Pure House of Black, Goblin-friend." He stopped writing and looked into her eyes. "May your vaults continue to overflow."

 

"A gift." He said, plainly, going back to his paperwork. She took it in her hands, wondering if she should say anything else. "You may leave." She guessed not.

 

The murder of Bellatrix Lestrange put Voldemort on the warpath. It was only a matter of time before he revealed himself to the public in search of the ones who killed his right hand woman. As it was, Willow and friends, were designated Undesirables (her taking top place as Number 1, of course), with a snatch on sight order. Not that any of them would be caught dead outside the safe confines of Grimmauld place. The the horn of war sounded. The students of Hogwarts were in a precarious place, since the beginning of the school year, those who were stupid enough to ignore the warnings of societal collapse and still attend school, were more or less hostages. Now, they were straight up prisoners of war, and the death eaters that owned the school were torturing them for information as they waited for Willow Potter to answer the call they put out for her. Come to Hogwarts to meet her death at the hands of Voldemort within the next twenty-four hours, or they would blow the place up, students and staff included.

 

They infiltrated Hogwarts through Honeydukes again, this time, they were visible, and Hermione contacted those she believed she could trust through the enchanted galleons she made during fifth year, when they had to sneak around just to learn defense. They were getting ready to mobilize from the common room when an eerie voice was magnified through the air.

 

"Yeah, well tell that to Tom. He's pretty hellbent and making this one come true." They stared at each other for a while. She gave her family and friends a hug.

 

"Oh give it a rest you old fuck. There were plenty of things you could have done for the greater good that didn't involved messing with my life. What were you doing the last sixteen years, just sitting on your wrinkly old arse shoving lemon drops down your gullet? You couldn't have, I don't know, researched a way to remove a horcrux from a living being that didn't result in their death?! Your silence is deafening."

 

"Oh my God, if you don't get the fuck out of here with all that. You know what fine, you win. I will leave." And she got on a train, and woke up. "What a fucking patronizing arsehole, no wonder he didn't have any friends." She said, sitting up in the now empty clearing. She got up, stretching her limbs, and headed to the edge of the forest, where she could hear fighting. She stayed covered by the foliage as she assessed her surroundings. She saw the carcass of Nagini in her searches. All the horcruxes were gone. She wielded her wand in her right hand and a dagger in her left. Unfortunately, she didn't get a chance to use either.

 

"Give it up Tom," she said, coming from the trees. It seemed that in that moment, the whole world stopped when he turned to meet her eyes. "All your little horcruxes are gone. And you killed the seventh one yourself." She said as she wiped the remaining blood leaking from that pesky scar of hers that had split open.

 

"You really should work on that, Tom. This is second time you've failed." She shrugged, and lifted her wand arm. And then, in the most cowardly move ever, he disapparated. "For the second time, what the bloody fuck!?" She yelled.

 

"Indeed. Your name greyed out on your family tree, indicating death. The books were confused because they weren't sure who was set to inherit in the case of your death. But then, your named blacken once again, as if nothing ever happened."

 

"I'm having a pair of battle axes commissioned for you. Clearly, you need sharper weapons."

 

What followed was five years of a cat and mouse game with a lot of collateral damage. Voldemort left the school that day, running away with his tail between his legs. But it wasn't over. He left to regroup, and then he wiped out magical towns and villages with no rhyme or reason. The order would try and track him, but there was nothing to track. Sometimes the opposing forces would meet somewhere by accident (or on purpose, that little shit Draco Malfoy was a pretty good spy for the light), and a battle would commence. There was never a clear winner. Many lives were lost in those years. But some good came about, few and far between, but it happened. Fred and Luna clicked, as well and George and Hermione. And in a super surprising twist relationship, Tonks and Remus. Nobody called that one. Andromeda, Tonk's mother, didn't make it passed the first year. She wasn't interested in the leaving the house she had made a home with the husband she was disowned for. She died protecting that home during a raid. Moody died year three, protecting Kingsley from a sneak attack, he had a good run.

 

 

Klaus Mikaelson was brooding at the bar of the Mystic Grille, with a tumbler of bourbon in hand, when she walked in. No, strutted. She definitely strutted. He had been there for a while, bemoaning his life and plotting destruction of the Salvatores and company. He had just gotten everything ready to wake up his brothers and sister. The mansion he so painstakingly designed and refurbished (with his own hands...and help from his hybrids), and the murder of their father who had been hunting them all since their rebirth as creatures of the night. But all of this meant nothing now that Stefan, a man he once called brother, decided to steal the coffins from under his nose. He knew he should have hidden them somewhere else.

 

So yeah, he was brooding a little bit. He'd earned it. But all that changed the moment he caught a whiff of lightening and power. Orchids and almonds. And he turned his head to watch the most beautiful creature he'd ever had the pleasure of gazing upon, walk through the door. And that was saying something, seeing how long as he'd been around. 

 

"None of that little one." Klaus said, trying to keep his voice calm though panic was seemingly imminent. Klaus was ill equipped to handle a crying child, so in a very Klaus move, he flashed his hybrid face at the boy, hoping to cow him into submission. It wasn't until he'd done it that he realized it could have caused the opposite reaction, and caused the baby to cry out in fear. Instead, Teddy did quiet down, and looked at him thoughtfully, intrigued almost, before he flashed golden eyes at Klaus in response. "Well I'll be damned." Klaus whispered through a bewildered grin. He thought he smelled a wolf. And then, he was accosted by the doppleganger's friends.

 

"Who'd you steal a baby from, Klaus?" The vapid blonde one, Caroline, who he'd had a passing fancy for, asked loudly. He rolled his eyes. What had he been thinking, seriously? Teddy's face scrunched up again at her loud tone. He patted his back reassuringly.

 

"Caroline, I do hope you realize that babies do not like loud noises. So you'll probably just need to stop talking while in his presence. As for your accusation, I'm Klaus Mikaelson, I have no need to steal babies. Women just give them to me." He smirked. Eris had to stifle a laugh from where she stood watching all of that. Well, he wasn't wrong. And if he played his cards right, she'd give him another one. Eris noticed that this Caroline girl looked gobsmacked at the type of response she was getting from Nik.

---

 

"Not to worry Flipsy. I'll just need to up the wards. Seems we aren't the only supernaturals in this little town." Flipsy popped away, happy her Mistress wasn't put out with her. Eris tapped a black lacquered nail against her lips. "What are you Niklaus Mikaelson?" She could always ask Death, but...no. That was entirely too easy. The library it was.

 

The library was a bust. Well, no. Not quite a complete bust. It was noted that around a thousand years ago, there were two occurences that happened within a short period of each other. First, there was a disturbance in the force so to speak. There were some wizards in the area, thus the record, but since the disturbance, no matter how powerful it was, was created by the Wiccans in the area, it was deemed as lesser magic and disregarded. Ah, the foolishness of wizardkind. Then, a few weeks after this disturbance, a village of werewolves was slaughtered. Again, the wizards didn't take too much note of that since they thought of werewolves as a blight. Bar that, there was simply nothing that even hinted what kind of creature could've gotten to the the front door and away without registering her wards.

"Well, there's nothing to do about it now. Maybe he'll tell me later." She said, flippantly, as she went to get ready for the dinner date.

---

"Welcome to Mikaelson Manor. Eris, you are a vision. And Teddy is looking very smart tonight." Eris was wearing a form-fitting sleeveless black dress that went just passed her knees. Her long, normally curly hair was straightened and pulled into a sleek, high ponytail, and on her feet, black lace red bottoms. The only jewelry she wore were again, those strange rings. Teddy wore a onesie printed to look like a tuxedo.

 

 

"Well, love. Tell me more about yourself. I'm finding that I crave to know more about the mystery that is Eris Black." And he wasn't lying. The people he had put on the case find more about Eris Black, while they did find her records (forged by Goblins though he didn't need to know that), couldn't find any really personal information on her. It was very odd, like she didn't exist outside of a few papers. For the first time since Katerina ran from her place in the ritual, Klaus didn't get exactly what he wanted. Which this time was information about Eris.

 

"Now, now Nik. I don't want to divulge all my secrets right away. I've been told that it's the mystery that keeps things interesting." She smiled a sly smile. They had a lovely dinner filled with small talk and watching Teddy's antics, who was already highly enamored with Klaus. They had now retired to the sitting room with drinks, speaking quietly with each other while Teddy was nestled on the couch next to them, within a barrier of pillows, fast asleep. Klaus chuckled quietly.

 

"I've a feeling I wouldn't be able to get through all your secrets in just one sitting, love."

 

"You'd be right, sir. What did you want to know?"

 

"Tell me about your childhood?" He suggested. She hesitated a moment, not in fear of being rejected (she lived the way she lived, and survived it, there was no need for her to be ashamed), but to find a way to word it.

 

"I grew up in a place just outside of London, Surrey it's called. It was very...lonely."  She settled on.

 

"That's right, you said you had no siblings. Any friends then?"

 

"Honestly, the only friends I had for the longest were the snakes in the garden and the books in the library. I wasn't antisocial per say, I just didn't have any chances to make friends. It wasn't until I went away to boarding school that I made some actual human friends my age." She smiled in fond remembrance of the friends she'd made and lost. "What of you Nik?" She changed the spotlight from herself to him. "How was growing up for you?"

 

"It had it's moments. I grew up here. It's a small town. My siblings and I grew up exploring the forests and getting berated by our parents when we didn't get back home in time. Some of us were berated more than others." He added as an afterthought. "Talking about parents, you speak fondly of your father. How is it that you let him send you off to boarding school?"

 

"Well, the man I call my father now, is actually my godfather. Whom I didn't meet until after I was twelve and had already been at the school for a good two years. I was orphaned, you see. And the house I lived in was...not a home. To put it lightly."

 

"They...abused you?" He asked tightly, as if he was afraid of what the answer might be. She tilted her head, taking in his reactions.

 

"They did." She finally answered. "I didn't trust people for a long time because of them."

 

"And your biological parents. What happened to them?"

 

"They didn't give me up, if that's what you were wondering." She said. "They were actually murdered. In front of me." She could have sworn she heard him growl. "It's a long story that we won't get into tonight. Perhaps another time. But the people that housed me until I was eleven were my relatives. My mother's sister, and her husband. They were...well, whatever kind of people that they are, I'm glad I never have to see them again. I left as soon as I was able."

 

"Good. That's good." He said. "My father...he was also a cruel man. Crueler to me more so than to my siblings. I never understood why until I found out that I was not his son at all. Just an indiscretion of my mother's that never went away...But tell me more about this school. How did you get in if your relatives were clearly not looking out for you well being?"

 

"It was a ridiculous place, truly. The only reason I kept going back was because I had made a few friends and there was nothing else to do during the school year. It was a very private, hush-hush sort of school were only very select people got invited. My parents went, and so I was invited as a legacy. I had been down on the list since birth."

 

"Secret society legacy stuff, huh? I can believe it." That would explain her missing information. "So back to your father now. Your godfather. He treats you well?"

 

"The best. I'm so glad I got him out of jail."

 

"Jail?" He sputtered. "Now that sounds like a good story."

 

"Of course it is. It's about my life." She joked. "Long story short, Sirius was in jail for something he didn't do. And I was the only one who had the means and the desire to get the ball rolling on getting him a fair trial. But like I said, it took until I was twelve to even learn about my family lines, so he had been wasting away for eleven years at that point. But ever since he got out, we've been like two peas in a pod."

 

"That's an amazing story. I hope to hear the unabridged version once you trust me more." Klaus said.

 

"Hey now. I'm not the only one withholding things." Eris replied.

 

"Of course not, love. But as you said, mystery makes things more interesting."

 

"I did say that, true. But the more we speak, the more I feel like my interest in you will only increase with the truth. So let me ask you: what are you?"

 

---

 

Eris leaned forward from her seat on the couch, eyes alight with mischievousness and intrigue. Klaus smirked a bit, actually entertaining the idea of telling her. He leaned toward her as well.

 

"What is your son?" He rebutted, flashing his hybrid visage at her. Her eyes widened in shock, but so did her smile, and she leaned even closer, lifting her hands up to touch the dark veins that slithered under his golden and black eyes.

 

"Now that is something you don't see everyday." She said under her breath, still stroking his face in wonder. He closed his eyes in pleasure at her touch, at the fact that she hadn't grabbed her child and run out the door screaming. "So, a werewolf and...what else?" She asked.

 

"Vampire." He answered. She laughed in joy at his answer.

 

"That's just..." She searched for the word.

 

"Unnatural?" He suggested. She rolled her eyes.

 

"Honey, anyone who's been saying that to you is just jealous. I was going to say amazing."

 

"Truly?"

 

"Truly. How does that work though? Two warring species in one body? Isn't it difficult?"

 

"My control, while I don't necessarily demonstrate it much, is unparalleled. In addition to the fact that I've had years to come to terms with the fact I'm both. I always had the werewolf gene, I just didn't trigger the curse until after I was changed into a vampire."

 

"Wow." Was all she could say.

 

"Now, love. Not that I'm not pleased that you're taking this so well, but, why is that?"

 

"Come now Nik. You can't think that your the only supernatural in the room. You already sniffed out my son."

 

"Well yes, but you don't smell of wolf, or vampire, and if you were a witch I would have felt it, and if you were a witch with any common sense you would have went the opposite direction when first we met, not sit and flirt with me." He lifted an eyebrow. She decided on what to reveal. "Spill." He demanded, playfully.

 

"First," she qualified, lifting a finger, "what do you know of the supernatural going-ons of Great Britain in the last forty or so years?" She asked, trying to get a handle on what he knew and what she should tell him. 

 

"Supernaturally?" He repeated, eyebrows furrowed. "As far as I know, nothing of note." She smiled a bit maniacally.

 

"Well, Mr. Mikaelson, prepare to have your mind blown." Fuck the statute.

 

---

 

"At the risk of sounding like the old pureblood males that I so detest...there are witches," she put her hand out as if measuring the height of something, "and then there are witches," she lifted her hand, increasing the measurement by a lot. "And if you haven't figured it out yet, I am of the latter category."

 

"Purebloods?" Klaus asked.

 

"Please save all questions until the end." He lifted a finger to his lips in a parody of silence, looking at Eris, amused. "As I said before, there's this secret society, it's all hush hush. How old are you again?"

 

"Over a thousand, love."

 

"Wow. We hid it better than I thought, if you never knew about it in all that time."

 

"I did have other things on my mind..."

 

"Anyway. We are a magical society that has lived separately from non-magical people for millenia. In the last forty or so years, there had been an uprising of sorts in my community. There was a man, who much like Hitler, thought he was better than magic users who's parents were normal, who couldn't use magic. And he gained a following of purebloods, or people who had generation after generation of magic in their families, and decided to wipe those mudbloods, as they called them, out. Of course, there were people that opposed him, my parents being a part of the resistance. They were killed a few months after my first birthday, by that man himself, when he came to kill me."

 

"Why was he trying to kill a baby, sweetheart?"

 

"He heard a prophecy that said I would be his downfall..."

 

"Prophecies are rubbish."

 

"Right?! Anyway, he tried to kill me, and failed. And I was sent to the Dursley's, my aunt's family, to suffer for years while the community I came from thrived and celebrated the defeat of Voldemort. That was his name."

 

"Stupid name."

 

"I agree. Everyone thought he was dead for years. But then, he was resurrected. And because the general populace would rather put their head in the sand than recognize the truth, when I told then, they called me crazy, a liar." She shrugged.

 

"Oh, love" Klaus comforted her.

 

"I didn't care. I still don't. I hated the magic community. For making my godfather suffer, for making me suffer. For wanting a teenage girl to solve problems of their own making because they were too weak minded to fix it themselves. I despise them. But I helped anyway. To keep my family safe. Voldemort came back, and he started a war again."

 

"Is that why you're here now? You needed to run away to keep little Teddy safe? Where is this Voldemort now? I'd happily kill him for you, love. Just give me the word."

 

"As if," Eris said, brushing her hair back over her shoulder, "he's dead already. The little bitch ran away the first time we fought one on one because he was scared he would lose. Rightfully so. He ran away for nearly six years too. But the next time I caught him," her eyes lit up in remembrance, "I permanently separated his head from the rest of his body." A sinister smile crossed her face.

 

"Is that so?" Klaus asked, highly interested in her story, or in her. Was that lust in his eyes?

 

"Yep. He won't be bothering anyone ever again. My battle axes took care of that."

 

"Battle axes you say?" Klaus said, steadily getting closer. "I would love to see them."

 

"I'd love to show them off." She said, leaning closer to him.

 

"I'm sure you'd be a vision to see, on the battlefield. Wielding them to the demise of your enemies." He said, twirling a lock of her ponytailed hair around his finger.

 

"You seem like you get a lot of action on the enemy front." She whispered, they were so close together now that each of her words caressed his lips. "Just bring me along to your next fight." 

 

His hand moved from her hair to the back of her neck and he smashed their lips together. The other hand went to wrap around her tiny waist as both of hers rose to settle in his hair. Although this type of intimacy was wholly unfamiliar to her, she followed her instinct and their tongues danced in a battle for dominance. She eventually let him win, if only to see what he would do next. When it seemed as if he was done with mapping the topography her mouth, he left it to taste the skin of her neck, causing a soft moan to leave her mouth. Klaus moved back a moment after the sound escaped to look at her blushing cheeks and wide emerald eyes. 

 

She saw that his eyes were that wild golden color again, and with a growl, he went back to attacking her neck. She was lost in the feeling this man was evoking in her, her hands moved from his hair and down his neck, to rub over the muscles of his arms and then to this chest and waist. His one hand smoothed down from where it rested at her neck, to meet the other at her waist. Where both went even further down passed her hips and down to her thighs, where he played with the hem of her dress.

 

By this time, he'd moved his nips and kisses from her throat to her collarbones, seemingly fascinated with them, and she was so fascinated with how his lips felt on her skin that she didn't notice when he pulled her skirt up enough so that he could lift her to straddle his lap. They were both in a daze and back to devouring each other's mouths, when a small sound caused them to freeze. A sigh. From a baby. Her baby. That was on the couch next to them. Sleeping. As they made out like a couple of horny teenagers.

 

"To be continued." Eris said after they concluded the last kiss, standing up off him and straightening her dress.

---

 

"I hope you know you're not getting away from me so easily, little vixen. Especially after all that." He said, eyes raking up and down her body, imagining what he could've done to her had the situation been a bit different.

 

"I should hope not Mr. Mikaelson. You still owe me the unabridged story of your life. One thousand years is nothing to sneeze at."

 

"When can I see you again?" He asked, stepping closer to her at the door.

 

"I'll send for you." She said, giving him a quick peck on the lips and turning toward the doorway, disappearing as she did so, leaving Klaus in awe. It took him a bit to get his bearings. He finally did and then took out his phone.

 

"You can stop looking into Eris Black, but now there is something else I need." There was a pause. "The address of the Dursley family in the suburb of Surrey, England." A contemplating look entered Klaus' eye as he ended his call and looked out at the dark night his paramour disappeared into. "Things are finally looking up." He murmured to himself, stepping inside his home.

---

Things moved quickly for the couple after that night of truths. Eris sent for Klaus the very next day, with an owl of all things (he was bemused). They spent that meeting hearing Klaus' true history ("I hate your parents, they're awful") and quizzing each other on their kind of supernatural ("Broom? How..." "Odd?" "Amazing.") . After that, it seemed like they spent every day together,  whether it was a picnic at either of their properties, or a trip out to another town to explore. Klaus was sure that this woman was his mate, the one he'd been waiting his whole existence for. And how'd he know? Why, she was perfect for him. 

 

"Nik..."

 

"Yes, love?"

 

"Why are my relatives in your torture chamber?"

 

"Um. You weren't supposed to go down there."

 

"..."

 

"Are you angry with me?"

 

"Of course not. Make sure you gag them, then tell them how worthless they are before you finally dispose of them."

 

"Of course, love."

 

She was quite young and innocent though, so he'd give her some more time before he said anything about it.

 

"Love, I was wondering..."

 

"Yes?"

 

"Teddy. He's your son. He smells like you. But you also smell...untouched. Pure. How is that?"

 

"I was wondering when you'd ask about that. Teddy was my godson. Both  of his parents died at the very end of the war. I adopted him with blood-magic. So he's mine now."

 

"So...no one's ever had you then?"

 

"Nope. Guess I was just waiting for the right original hybrid to come along..."

 

Klaus promised he would take her and Teddy off to travel the world once this whole situation with the Salvatore's and his family's coffins were settled. That was another reason why they didn't go out in town together. Although he knew she could handle herself, Klaus didn't want the Scooby Gang to associate them together and then try and bother her. Though he did imagine it would be quite the sight to see his little vixen physically obliterate his enemies as thoroughly as she had verbally done it the first time.

 

On the other hand, Eris wasn't interested in meeting up with any of the town locals because one, she wasn't interested in having a polite conversation with her boyfriend's enemies and two, she really wasn't interested in that Caroline girl sucking up to her. Eris was sure that by now Caroline figured out who she was, the girl was too much of a bloody busy body not to. Unfortunately, both happened on the same day.

 

Eris had taken Teddy out on the town today. She wanted him to be happy and not stuck inside all his life. She didn't care if the townspeople thought she was a hermit, but she didn't want them talking about her baby boy. So here they were, at the local park, where she was pushing him gently in the swing. Everything had been going fine, but the peace was ruined by the bubbly blonde. One who tried to apologized for her faux paus the last time they met, and when she was met with resistance in the form of a pissed off Eris, used Damon's awful advice and tried to compel her. Unfortunately, for her, complusion, as well as two of the three Unforgivables, do not work on the Mistress of Death. Caroline didn't need to know this though. 

 

"You know, it's funny." Eris started, picking up Teddy and their items, "Nik gave me this beautiful bracelet and asked that I never take it off in case one of the many town vampires that hold a grudge against him tried to compel me." She showed off a sparkling bracelet and saw Caroline's eyes widen. She believed there was vervain in there. "I took the jewelry, of course, it's gorgeous, but I didn't think any one of you would be as stupid to actually compel me, knowing who I know and interact with on a daily basis. And I at least thought that if one of you were to compel me, it would be one of the older ones, and to see if they could get any information from me about Klaus' plans. Not something as petty as forgetting our first unsavory interaction. But wow, congratulations. Now we're up to two. How will you outdo yourself next time, I wonder?" Eris walked away, leaving the girl gobsmacked. Eris - 2, Caroline - 0.

 

After her showdown with Caroline, she felt she was due for something fried and delicious as recompense, so she headed to the Grille. She ordered some mozzarella sticks for herself and persuaded that lovely waiter Matt to manually mash some peas for Teddy (she was trying to start him on things other than her milk). As she waited, she texted Nik to tell him about her day so far, when she was approached by the elder Salvatore. Seems Caroline had the same idea and texted her own savior.

 

"And just when I thought my day couldn't get any worse." She said at a normal volume, knowing the vampire would hear her whether she whispered or not, and wanting him to know that she wanted him to hear her. Damon sat down at her table, uninvited. She rolled her eyes as regally as she could.

 

"So I hear you and blondie got into it at the park."

 

"Do I know you?"

 

"Damon Salvatore, at your service. I'm sure you've heard of me."

 

"Unfortunately. And back to the point of your friend, Caroline, was it? I was just minding my own business, playing with my son. If your friend is so easily upset, maybe she shouldn't approach where she's not wanted. That could solve everyone's issues." She said, looking around for that thrice damned server boy.

 

"Yeah, maybe so. But do you know what would really solve everyone's issues? If you kept that monster of yours on a leash." He said, going straight for the kill. She whistled lowly, unimpressed.

 

"Ah. Not really liking your choice of words there, friend." Eris said calmly. She wasn't going to let a silly vampire rile her up just because he called her boyfriend a monster. "You really should be nicer to people you've only just met. You never know what they're capable of." She warned.

 

"Yeah right." He rolled his eyes. "If you had any power, you wouldn't need a vervain bracelet to avoid being compelled. You're just gonna go whining to your hybrid boyfriend about the mean vampire that cornered you today."

 

"So you say." She replied, nonchalantly.

 

"Matter of fact, why don't you deliver a message for me, sweetcheeks."

 

"I'm sorry," she interrupted, getting fed up, "I think you have me confused with a postal service worker, or a carrier pigeon. If you couldn't tell, I am neither. If you have something to say to Nik, you need to tell him yourself. And if you think this 'big bad vampire routine' will work for you, threatening me with your presence with my child right here, please think again. You are not even on the radar of the scariest things I've seen in my life, let alone the last year. So please, do us both a favor, and leave me be. You will not enjoy the consequences of ignoring that PSA." The server came right on time with her and her son's snack. Damon was still there, staring at her, slack-jawed. "Oh. You're still here? That was a dismissal if you weren't aware. Good bye." She shooed him away as she spooned the sauce into her son's mouth. He narrowed his eyes at her but did vacate the premises. "And that's how mummy talks to those beneath her." She cooed to Teddy, who smiled as she fed him another bite of the mash.

---

 

N: I can hazard a guess...

N: Damon Salvatore.

N: Otherwise known as pain in my ass.

 

E: Oh my, you're good at this game. How'd you know?

 

N: I was visited by my brother today.

 

E: I'm assuming it wasn't a dream visit.

 

N: Unfortunately not, love. It was in the flesh. The elder Salvatore knows where the coffins are and undaggered my elder brother. I was lectured all day.

 

E: My poor hybrid. Do you need me to kiss it better?

 

N: Yes please.

 

E: Have you done anything in retaliation yet?

 

N: Not yet. Why? Hoping to join in?

 

E: Always.

E: He came and interrupted Teddy and I as we were trying to eat at the Grille. Then he treated me as a common thrall and tried to get me to send you a message. 

E: As if. He's not afraid of me because he thinks I'm just a human. I can't wait to change his perception. It'll rock their little world.

 

N: I love it when you get in revenge mode. I wish I could've seen the conversation between you two.

N: But I'm not happy he thought it was okay to approach you. I'm afraid my threats just don't hold the same weight that they use to, darling. I'll have to show them what happens when my warnings go ignored.

 

E: I think you're plenty threatening. They're just stupid.

 

N: Thanks, love. Their stupidity won't save them though.

 

E: As it shouldn't.

 

---

 

Klaus laughed at his almost-lover's last text. His mood soured when he thought of his awakened brother and the caskets that were still out of his reach.

 

"What are you laughing at, Niklaus? I don't see how you can be so nonchalant about the situation we find ourselves in." Elijah said, strolling in the art studio Klaus was working in. Elijah noticed an abundance of paintings of a single subject, a lovely young woman with striking green eyes and a sassy smile. She was unfamiliar to him. Klaus sighed.

 

"If you must know, brother, there are other things on my mind other than the coffins." Klaus said, rolling his eyes. "Revenge, who to eat next, then the coffins." He listed, focusing on his painting.

 

"Either way, the Salvatore Brothers wanted to have a sit down with us, to negotiate terms for the release of our siblings. Which brings me to the question of who is in that fourth coffin."

 

"If you must know, it holds the body of our dearly departed mother. And before one of those bloody brothers beats me to the punch again, it was I who killed her, not Mikael." Klaus confessed.

 

"I know." Elijah said, softly, surprising Klaus. "I've always known."

 

"Oh?"

 

"I was there when it happened."

 

"And you didn't try and stop me?"

 

"I felt it was... karmic retribution for her binding you as she did." Elijah confessed.

 

"Hmmmm. A thousand years later and I'm still learning new things about you, brother." 

 

"I have layers." Elijah quipped.

 

"And when was this meeting between us supposed to take place then?" Klaus asked.

 

"Tonight."

 

"...Well I did have plans...but I guess I could combine them..."

 

"Do what you need to do, Niklaus. The meeting will go as planned." Klaus rolled his eyes at his brother's demeanor and pulled out his phone, intent on texting back his emerald eyed vixen.

 

Later that night, the doorbell rang and Elijah was the one to answer it. He was surprised at the person at the door, as he had been expecting the Salvatore Brothers, not the young lady he recognized as the subject of his brother's most recent works of art.

 

"Hello." She extended her hand. Her crisp, lilting accent was heavy in his ears. "I'm Eris. You must be the Elijah I've heard so much about." He took her hand and kissed the back of it, as his manners engrained in him taught him to do, but he was still confused by her presence.

 

"May I ask-" he was interrupted by his brother coming behind him.

 

"Eris, my love, you made it." Klaus greeted, pulling her into the house, both hands in his own. That answered that question. Elijah watched them curiously. "Looking ravishing as always, my dear." He said, looking her up and down before kissing her hello. Elijah agreed silently, the black floor length halter top gown was lovely on her. He cleared his throat as they became lost in each other's kiss. How...strange and unlike his younger brother.

 

"Oh yes. Eris, this is my elder brother, Elijah. The noble one." Klaus said.

 

"Yes, Nik. We just met before you came around."

 

"Perfect," he said, lifting her hand so it rested in the crook of his arm, "now we're just waiting for the Salvatore's to join us." As if saying their name summoned them, the doorbell rang.

 

---

Dinner was a tense affair. Many topics were considered "untouchable" through the seven delicious courses and a one-sided glaring contest between Damon and Eris ensued.

 

"Eris, fancy seeing you here." Damon started, smarmy smile on his face.

 

"I've never given you leave to use my first name. You may address me by my title of Lady Black, or not at all." Klaus smirked, amused at his mate's pettiness. Elijah looked on in interest. Stefan was done with the dinner before it began, and Damon didn't know how to feel. His confused expression reflected that.

 

"How is Miss Gilbert these days, Stefan?" Elijah asked. That got put in the "do-not-discuss" pile.

 

Eventually Stefan snapped ("What a terrible dinner guest" Eris commented), and Damon and Elijah went off to retrieve the coffins while Eris watched Klaus torture Stefan. It was oddly arousing. And apparently Klaus could tell, what with how often he looked her way with those golden eyes.

 

Then in a plot twist no one saw coming, Elijah had made a deal with Damon, and instead of just returning the coffins, they undaggered all of the siblings. Klaus and Eris shared a look across the room, where she promised to keep her powers under wraps no matter what his siblings did to him. So, there she sat, at the table eating the decadent chocolate cake Klaus had ordered for her, watching as her boyfriend's siblings got their centuries of frustrations out on him. Elijah dismissed the Salvatore Brothers and was about to dismiss her as well, until he changed his mind at her deadpan look.

 

The siblings were wrapping up with their physical and mental retaliation when an older blonde woman made her way into the dining room, making the Mikaelsons go silent.

 

"Do you know why I'm here Niklaus?" She asked.

 

"To kill me." He stated, the surety in his voice made Eris drop her forkful of cake and rise to her feet. As if she'd let this...woman... take her man to the great beyond. But apparently her worry was for nothing, as this was his mother. Who wanted to forgive him. For killing her. Eris still didn't let her guard down. Esther's attention then turned to Eris.

 

"Eris Black." She greeted with a smile Eris knew to be fake. "Or should I say Willow Potter?" Now everyone's attention was on her. The name change was a dramatic opener.

 

"You could, but you wouldn't be talking to me since my name has been legally changed for nearly a year now." Eris tried not to roll her eyes as she walked closer to Klaus.

 

"The spirits talk about you, child."

 

"Is that so? All good things I hope." She thought a talk with Death was in order if these 'spirits' on this 'other side' were so damn chatty.

 

"They speak of a poor orphan girl. Lonely. Abused." Eris put a hand on her hip, unimpressed. 

 

"Listen lady, if you're trying to get under my skin by broadcasting information I already know about myself to the world, you're going to need to dig a little deeper. However, if your real intention was to get between Nik and I with information you'd think I'd withhold, well, it's still not going to work. Maybe you should play this game with one of your kids, because I'm not really interested or emotional invested in you."

 

"Excuse you! Who do you think you are to speak to my mother that way?" The blonde original who could only be Rebekah asked, affronted.

 

"I thought we went over this?" She asked, casually. Klaus looked more himself now that seeing his mother alive was old news and his girl had broken the ice with a friendly chat with her. "Eris Black, charmed, I'm sure." She didn't put a hand out to shake. The two girls eyed each other for a while, taking each others measure. Rebekah turned to Klaus.

 

"I'm still angry at you!" She yelled. "But I approve."

 

"Children, come. Help me get acclimated to this new century." Esther said, moving out of the dining room, most of her brood following her. Klaus stayed behind with Eris.

 

"Your mum is kind of a fake bitch, yeah?" Klaus couldn't contain his laugh.

 

"Don't ever change, love."

 

---

So the family is back together again (mostly). Esther and Eris had their first meeting, there's no love lost between those two. And Rebekah and Eris well, they acknowledged each other on a spiritual level. How bow dah?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Eris, love. My mother has decided that her first order of business since being resurrected after a thousand years is to throw a ball to introduce our family to the town."

 

"Oh really?"

 

"Yes. She's also decided to bar all violent acts against the doppelgänger and her groupies." Klaus rolled his eyes.

 

"She sure is making a lot of decisions for someone who's no longer in charge of things."

 

"Indeed. Finn is a non-factor, Kol and Rebekah seem to think that she's really back to make our family whole again. I want to believe her, but as a Mikaelson, I am aware that we hold grudges for a long time. Elijah is of a different mind. And as much as a stick in the mud my elder brother is, he's usually very good at spotting a deception. Unless that deception is me, of course." He chuckled.

 

"So what are you planning to do then?"

 

"I'll play it by ear for now. Another mark against her is that she wants to have a meeting with that wretched dopplegänger during the ball. She thinks no one knows about that little note she put on the back of the girl's invitation, but my hybrids were the couriers, of course I know when something's afoot. And if that's not suspect, I don't know what is."

 

"That does sound sketchy." Eris agreed. "Well you already know that my lot is in with you. And from what you've told me of your mother and what I've experienced from our first meeting, I can't say I'll be upset if you have to relieve her of her heart again."

 

"Which brings me to why I came over."

 

"Oh? It wasn't just because you missed my face and hadn't seen Teddy in a while?" She replied, cheekily. He smiled charmingly, she was in love with that smile.

 

"Would you, Eris Black, give me the unparalleled pleasure of escorting you to the First Annual Mikaelson Ball?" He asked, grasping her hand and bowing with a flourish.

 

"Meh. I'm not really a fan of balls." Eris started, making Klaus' face fall. "But I'll go if only to see you in a suit and to see what kind of drama gets served up this time."

 

"Splendid. On that note, I have a gift for you." Klaus snapped his fingers and one of his hybrids entered the room carrying a box. Klaus took the box from him and handed it to Eris. "I know that you wear only black to honour the dead, but I would be inordinately pleased if you wore this gown tonight." She lifted the lid to see what all the fuss was about. Inside was a beautiful dark plum colored floor length gown. It was almost grecian in design, backless, with large keyhole in the front. There were slivers of the skirt that shimmered with golden lace. She smoothed her hands over the fabric reverently.

 

"Well, I guess I can make an exception. After all, my boyfriend went through such a hassle to get me this lovely dress." Klaus' smile was infectious. He gave her a peck on the lips before turning to leave.

 

"I'll send a car around to pick you up, sweetheart." He said, as he left her home.

 

---

At the ball

 

Klaus was on the second floor landing of his mansion, observing the party and hoping to spot his woman when she arrived. Having no luck, he took a swig of his champagne and noticed the dopplegänger arrive, a Salvatore literally on each arm. Before he could stop it, a glimmer of distaste ran across his features.

 

"She's kind of an attention whore." Chimed a familiar voice from next to his left shoulder. "Your dopplegänger." The voice clarified. Klaus turned to see Eris there, in the dress he had bought her. She was enchanting, as always, and the makeup she had decided on gave her an ethereal edge. To offset the lack of black in her outfit, Eris maintained her black nails, and went with black lipstick and a dramatic black cat-eye. "Not to mention, her dress is kind of ugly."

 

"Eris, love. I didn't see you come in." He smiled at her, grabbing her hand to pull her closer for a kiss on the cheek. A smirk curled on her black painted lips and she kept their hands entwined.

 

"I'm not much for dramatic entrances. I find subtly is usually the way to go." That made him laugh.

 

"You'd be the first in this town. Let me properly introduce you to my family. It should go better this time now that tempers have settle a bit."

 

"If you say so Nik." Eris sang, allowing Klaus to change her grip so that she was holding onto his arm, and he lead her down the staircase. Neither noticed the attention they drew from the partygoers, too engrossed in each other.

 

Elijah watched from across the foyer as his younger brother and his paramour descended the steps. He saw a genuine smile on his brother's face and although he hadn't been able to gather much information on this Eris Black, he could agree that she was a good match for his brother. He finished his drink and left his glass at the bar, moving to meet the couple at the bottom of the staircase.

 

"Ah, brother," Klaus greeted, "you remember Eris."

 

"Hello again." Eris greeted, holding out a hand to Elijah. He took it in his own and kissed the back, releasing it quickly at the glare from his brother.

 

"Miss Black, pleasure to see you again. Hopefully, this meeting will be less violent than the last." Elijah had to hold back a smirk at seeing Klaus take her hand back into his possession.

 

"I'm not betting on it." Eris said nonchalantly, daintily shrugging a shoulder. "There are too many conflicting personalities and ulterior motives running around tonight for it to end in anything but violence." She shared a smile with Klaus.

 

"You think?" Elijah was interested in what this not-so-much-outsider saw when she looked at this ball.

 

"It's the only reason I agreed to come." She smirked. "That, and seeing my Nik all dressed up." She pat his chest. Klaus rolled his eyes at the second part of her confession, but Elijah could swear he saw the beginnings of a blush make it's way to Niklaus cheeks. Yes. This woman would be good for his brother.

 

"Well, if that's all, I promised to introduce Eris to the others so if you'll excuse us..." Klaus started.

 

"Actually. It's time for the first dance. Which means it's time to introduce ourselves." Elijah maneuvered Klaus away from Eris and back up the stairs, where the rest of his family had congregated during their chat. "If you'll excuse us Miss Black." Eris nodded her acquiescence and headed to the bar.

 

Elijah was now at the top of the landing, siblings spread out on steps below him, mother looking on from the balcony.

 

"Welcome, thank you for joining us. You know, whenever my mother brings our family together like this, it's tradition for us to commence the evening with a dance." Started Elijah.

 

Eris had managed to get the bartender to serve her whiskey instead of the champagne they kept trying to foist on her. Having such strong magic meant burning through alcohol (and food) like nothing. She didn't come here in search of getting drunk, but as it was a night away from her responsibilities as a mother,  she could afford to get a little buzzed. Just her luck that the Salvatore brothers were also frequenting the bar.

 

"Do you see who I see?" Damon asked his brother.

 

"Oh yeah." Stefan replied.

 

"Tonight's pick is a centuries-old waltz, so if all of you could please find yourselves a partner, please join us in the ballroom." Continued Elijah.

 

Eris made her way to the ballroom with the rest of the partygoers, not missing the argument between the dopplegänger and the eldest Salvatore, the two however, never noticed the interested green eyes following their every move.

 

Klaus made a beeline to Eris once she arrived in the ballroom. They began dancing, getting lost in each other's eyes. 

 

"Have I told you how enchanting you look tonight?" He asked, she pretended to think for a moment.

 

"You know, I don't think you said it in words, but your expressions were certainly insightful. You looked like the big bad wolf about to eat me right up when I arrived."

 

"That can definitely be arranged." He replied, lustily.

 

"Onto other matters," Eris changed the conversation, "there is definitely something going on tonight between the doppelgänger and your mother. If it was just a regular ole conversation, one of the Salvatore's could attend, but it's not and they can't, and at least one of them is getting twitchy about it." Klaus looked contemplative at her news.

 

"You're a gift, you know?" She smiled. It was time to change partners. Eris was spun into the arms of Elijah. She saw that Klaus was now dancing with Caroline (bleh).

 

"Hello again." Eris repeated cheekily, from their earlier conversation.

 

"Miss Black. I hope you're have a good time."

 

"So far, everything seems to be smooth sailing. I'm looking forward to the screams of fear and miens of shock." Her lips curled into a sinister smile.

 

"You seem to be a bit of a fatalist. Am I wrong?" He asked, a bit amused.

 

"Well, everything does end in death. If not your own, then that of your enemy." Her smile was more amused this time. "What? Did you think the only thing I had in common with Nik was our similar attractiveness?" This received a surprised chuckle from the elder Mikaelson.

 

"I was thinking it was more of an opposites attract sort of thing. You seem far too innocent."

 

"Looks can be deceiving, dear. We're a lot more alike than one would guess." She changed tracks. "And look at this," she said, staring over his shoulder, "the fireworks are beginning. Little Salvatore is running off with the doppelgänger and your mother is nowhere to be found. How intriguing." Elijah gave her an appraising look as she tried to keep an innocent face on.

 

"Thank you for the dance." He said. "It was truly enlightening." She was spun off into another pair of arms. This one belonging to the youngest Mikaelson brother, who she had not yet had the pleasure of being formally introduced to.

 

"Kol Mikaelson, at your service." He greeted, mid-twirl.

 

"Eris Black, I'll reserve my pleasantries for when you've earned them." This earned her a smirk from the man.

 

"I'll take what I can get, love." Eris decided then that she quite liked his personality. It felt reckless and charming. "So what's this I hear about you sweeping my brother off his feet?"

 

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean. I try not to do any heavy lifting. I have people for that." She smirked back.

 

"You know what? You're an okay bird."

 

"Glad to know I have your approval."

 

"No, no, no. You don't have my approval until we've painted the town red together. But for now, you're alright." She lifted an eyebrow.

 

"That can be arranged." His eyebrows matched hers now.

 

Finally, the first dance was over and Klaus found her again, then proceeded to walk her over to his sister.

 

"Bekah, you remember Eris. I'm sure you two can bond over the trashiness of the current dopplegänger."

 

The two women eyed each other silently for several tense moments. Klaus hope he had picked a good time for their reintroduction. Finally, the silence was broken by Rebekah.

 

"The last dopplegänger was much prettier."

 

"I'm sure she has better fashion sense too. Did you see the dress she was wearing tonight?"

 

"Unfortunately," Rebekah rolled her eyes, moving closer to Eris, "it was almost as bad as her choice in accessories."

 

"I agree. I was just telling Nik how having two brothers on her arms was overdramatic...not to mention whorish." The two women giggled conspiratorially. 

 

"Your dress is beautiful."

 

"Thank you. Nik picked it out for me." Rebekah looked at her brother appraisingly. 

 

"Yes, Nik's artist eye is occasionally good for something."

 

"Your dress is lovely as well. The mermaid style really suits you. And of course I love the color." Eris winked.

 

"Let's grab a drink." Rebekah said, looping her arm through Eris'.

 

"Let's."

 

Klaus let out a deep breath in relief. He wasn't sure how that would go for a moment.

 

---

 

Rebekah eventually let Eris go, and the two lovers finally reunited on the dance floor.

 

"My little brother and sister are planning something." Klaus confided.

 

"Oh? They wouldn't be the only ones tonight. Though I'm sure whatever those two have planned are peanuts compared to your mother's plans."

 

"You're right. And there's nothing to do except-"

 

"-wait it out." She finished for him.

 

"Exactly." He dipped her, and brought her back up for a kiss. The couple continued dancing, only stopping when Esther commanded the attention of the room from atop the staircase, red tinted champagne in hand.

 

"Good Evening, Ladies and Gentleman. Waiters are coming around with champagne." A waiter came up to Klaus and Eris, Klaus took the champagne. Eris declined.

 

"Just an empty flute please." The waiter waa great as his job and one appeared out of nowhere. The waiter moved on. Eris literally made a flask appear out of thin air and emptied it into the flute. Klaus raised an eyebrow at his girlfriend's antics. "What?" She defended. "I'm not one for champagne and I tried the whiskey earlier, it was weak." Klaus just stifled his smile, and wrapped an arm around her waist.

 

"I invite you all to join me in raising a glass. It provides me with no greater joy than to see my family back together as one. I'd like to thank you all for being part of this spectacular evening. Cheers!" Everyone drank.

 

"So what do you have there?" Klaus asked, interested in the glass his beloved held, after she called the whiskey he hand-picked weak.

 

"Just a little something from the old country." She said slyly. "Want to try a sip?" He lifted an eyebrow again. "It's quite special." He took the offered sip. She watched him closely.

 

"That was...quite delicious. What did you say it was called again?"

 

"Firewhiskey." She said, still watching him. And like clockwork, strange look crossed Klaus' face and a bit a smoke left out of his nostrils.

 

"Smoke?" He asked. "I'm confused." He looked confused. She giggled a little.

 

"It's called Firewhiskey for a reason. I'm a little upset you didn't take a bigger drink, that would have been a sight." She smiled. Klaus latched on to her good humor.

 

"Were you setting me up, love?" He asked.

 

"Not at all Nik. Just having a bit of fun." She fluttered her eyelashes innocently.

 

"Mmhmm. Now, tell me you have more of that Firewhiskey."

 

"Of course, love."

 

 

---

 

the next day

 

"I'm so bored! Our sister is a strumpet, but at least she's having fun. I need entertainment." Kol griped. Klaus grinned.

 

"What are you waiting for then? Go on, have at it." He replied as he finished yet another sketch of Eris, this one including Teddy and capturing the look of pure devotion she wore when watching over him sleeping. It had been a few days since he'd seen the tyke. He'd have to visit today so Teddy wouldn't forget about him.

 

"It's not fun to go alone. Join me, Nik. It's the least you do after leaving a dagger in my chest for all those years."

 

"First of all, daggering you saved your life. We were still on the run from Mikael and you were painting a big, bloody target on our backs. Secondly, I have other plans." Klaus defended.

 

"Yeah, yeah. You're speaking of that Black bird, yeah? You can bring her along. She looks like she knows how to have fun." He allowed. Klaus chuckled.

 

"I'm positive you would not be interested in her plus one." He replied, thinking of her son. Klaus texted her anyway, and she told him to spend some time with his little brother who was clearly begging for his attention. They'd see each other later.

 

---

 

"That's lovely. We're stuck out here, while the favorite son plays sacrificial lamb. How pathetic you are, Finn." Kol spat, glaring at his eldest brother.

 

"Be quiet, Kol. Your brother knows virtue you cannot even imagine." Esther protected her favorite son.

 

"Whatever you think of us, killing your own children will be an atrocity." Reasoned Elijah.

 

"My only regret is that I did not let you die a thousand years ago." Esther responded, coldly.

 

"Enough. All this talk is boring me. End this now, Mother, or I'll send you back to Hell." Klaus interjected, hotly.

 

"For a thousand years, I've been forced to watch you. Felt the pain of every victim, suffered while you shed blood. Even you, Elijah, with your claim to nobility, you're no better. All of you. You're a curse on this Earth. Stretched out over generations. If you've come to plead for your life, I'm sorry, you've wasted your time." Esther said with an air of finality.

 

The somber mood was interrupted by a low crack and some rustling in the trees next to the group of Originals. The rustling gave way to Eris, triapsing through the woods in a fur blazer, a short leather skirt and four inch platforms like she didn't give a damn. She really didn't.

 

"Nik! What's the meaning of this meeting in the woods? This part of the forest isn't romantic at all, there's a creepy old house and..." She trailed off when she realized it wasn't just Klaus she was talking to. "Oh. So I guess you didn't call me out here for a midnight rendezvous." She pulled out her phone, looking at it. "I guess the message was a bit frantic."

 

"It was not frantic!" Klaus disagreed loudly. Eris lifted an eyebrow. "It was just a normal, everyday message. I don't get frantic." At that lie, all his siblings present turned to raise a disbelieving eyebrow at him. He pretended not to notice.

 

"Enough! You, my children, are a blight on this world! I did a great disservice the day I created you, and tonight, I shall rectify my mistake."

 

"Not with this shoddy ritual you have set up here, you won't." Eris said, moving around the ring of fire Esther and Finn had surrounded themselves with. "And channelling another family's bloodline? Tut, tut. If you can't do it under your own power, maybe that means you shouldn't be doing it at all, huh sweetheart?"

 

"I knew I liked her for a reason." Kol approved, nodding to Klaus, who rolled his eyes at his brother's untimely comments.

 

"What do you know about anything, you unwanted child!?" Esther yelled in irritation. Eris, who up until then had a pleasant and even amused visage on her face, froze. Her lips turned down into a scowl, her eyes turned into frigid chips of emerald, and both hands gravitated to her hips.

 

"Clearly, it is you, Esther, who knows nothing. I am Lady Willow Eris fucking Potter, Archduchess of Pembridge, Girl-who-Lived, Woman-who-Conquered, Savior-of-the-Bloody-Wizarding World, two times over. Next time you want to pick a fight, you need to get some better information." Eris' eyes were on fire. Klaus felt a tremble of lust go down his spine at her aggressiveness. She changed her focus from a shaken Esther to the creepy shack. "Salvatores!" She yelled, lifting a hand. "No need to kill the other Bennett witch today." She twitched her hand, forcing all the occupants of the house to spill out on the grass, where they stayed. "Everyone here is about to learn a very valuable lesson on who's really the baddest witch in town. Death!" She summoned.

 

---

 

Time didn't freeze as it had the first time she inadvertently summoned Death. This time, she did it with all the intent of having those gathered around understand just who they were messing with. The temperature did drop drastically though, enough so that every breath that came out was visible. Well, almost every breath. The once golden fire surrounding the old witch and her suicidal son lowered and took on a blue shade. The effect was eerie.

 

"Mistress?" The newcomer questioned. The voice was like nails on chalkboard and the singing the angels. Simultaneously the best and worst things one could hope to hear.

 

"Death. Glad you could join us. I seem to have an issue that only you in your infinite wisdom and power can resolve for me. Before you stands Esther, mother and creator of the vampire species." Death turned to glance at the woman, who shrank under his regard.

 

"I am aware of her deeds."

 

"Excellent. Behind me stands most of her children, who she seeks to destroy, thus destroying the entire species of vampires." The Salvatore's exchanged a glance at this new tidbit of information. "Oh yes. Damon, Stefan, I'm sure mommy dearest forgot to tell you this when she was getting your witches on her side to end her children, but you kill them and you kill yourself. Quite the zinger, am I right?" She redirected her focus back to death. "Among her children is my soulmate."

 

"The hybrid." The hooded figure nodded.

 

"So you see how displeased I am with the whole situation."

 

"Indeed. How would you like to proceed?"

 

"Firstly-" Eris was cutoff by the Original Bitch herself.

 

"You cannot allow this to happen Lord Death! These beings are unnatural! They should have never been created. All they do is kill!"

 

"I AM UNNATURAL!" Eris fired back. "And if you hadn't noticed, you're trying to bargain with Death. Spoiler alert, it never works. And by the way, Death loves violent deaths over all others so, if anything, he's a fan of your kids."

 

"I did enjoy the massacre Kol single handedly wrought on that village in 1356."

 

"Why thank you." Kol said, happily. "At least someone else here has taste." He muttered under his breath.

 

"So here's how things are going to happen. Esther. You're done. Honestly, I don't know how you got back to the world of the living, but you died a thousand years ago and the only one allowed to break Death's rules is me. And no, you won't be going back to this "other side" to plot and scheme some more. Your body will be burned to ashes, scattered to the four winds, and your soul will be tortured for eternity. Or until Niklaus feels like you've suffered enough. I wonder how it feels to know that the son you wronged the most now has control over your afterlife." Eris smiled sweetly. "Death?"

 

"Mistress?"

 

"Make it so."

 

"My pleasure." With a flick of his wrist, his scythe appeared, and with a slash of the blade Esther began to wail in pain, body disintegrating as she did.

 

"Ah. Music to my ears." When her body was nothing but ash, a black sphere of light appeared from what would have been her chest and flew into Death's hand. Eris took a deep breath and blew, scattering Esther's ashes. Death closed his fist around the sphere, and when he reopened it, inside lay a shiny black rock on a gold chain, which he handed to Eris.

 

"What else do you desire of me, Mistress?"

 

"Oh that's all for now. Thanks so much, you were a great help." She smiled and waved at the dispersing figure. When he was gone, she turned and walked to a gobsmacked Klaus. She handed him the necklace. "I know it's not as visually stimulating as her bloody head on a pike, but I thought you'd like it nonetheless." She shrugged. He looked from her to the necklace a few times, before surprised laughter erupted from him and he dragged her in for a passionate kiss.

 

"You are truly amazing, my love." He said, brushing her hair away from her face. "Though I was hoping to see your battle axes in action."

 

"Battle axes?" A strangled voice whispered from the background.

 

"I know, I know. But it's best to fight magic with magic. Next time. Now, let's blow this popsicle stand." She said, wrapping her arms around his waist and popping away.

 

---

 

Eris arrived at the Mikaelson Mansion the day after the full moon, Teddy in tow. She was dressed casually, sneaker wedges, leggings and a cropped tank, covered by a letterman's jacket. She hoped the give the family enough time to grieve the second death of their mother (whom she effectively killed), but as Rebekah was the only one not present at the main base of last night's festivities, Eris decided it would be best to confront that situation head on. She had just started to make friends with the immortal girl, killing her mum probably put a damper on it. But nothing an apology and a cute baby couldn't fix.

 

Elijah answered the door.

 

"Miss Black. This is unexpected indeed." Elijah said, his face did betray his surprise. It was probably the closest he would get to being speechless. This was her first time seeing anyone but Klaus after showing one of her trump cards (aka Death). "Please come in." She stepped inside. "And who is this with you." He asked, finally noticing the child in her arms.

 

"This is Teddy. My son."

 

"Your...son. I...see." Elijah cleared his throat. He really was missing a lot of information on this woman. "Niklaus is in his studio, if you would like to follow-"

 

"Oh no. I'm not here to see him. I came to speak with Rebekah." Eris said. Teddy had been following the coversation since the beginning, his tawny eyes moving back and forth between his mother and the suited original.

 

"Yah!" He said around his pacifier in agreement.

 

"If you're sure." He said, motioning for her to follow him. "She's been a bit tempermental since last night."

 

"Nothing I can't handle." The came to a closed door on the second floor and stop. Elijah knocked.

 

"Rebekah, you have a visitor." He said through the door.

 

"Go away!" She yelled. Something smashed on the other side of the door. Elijah looked to Eris as if he wanted to shrug but his manners wouldn't let him.

 

"It's fine." She dismissed him and opened the door. "Rebekah, it's me." She announced her presence. "Don't throw anything because I'm carrying precious cargo."

 

"What do you mean-" Rebekah said, until she cut herself off after seeing Teddy in Eris' arms. "What?!" She sped over so she was right in front of the two. "Where did you get a baby from? He's adorable!" She gushed, waving at Teddy, who was enjoying the attention based on his giggles. "Oh that giggling is precious. Spill." Rebekah directed to Eris.

 

"He's mine." She said simply.

 

"Oh. Am I jealous. Can I hold him?" She asked hopefully.

 

"Of course." They went to the bed to sit down, where Eris transferred Teddy to Rebekah arms.

 

"Oh wow." Rebekah said, softly. "How old is he?"

 

"Eight months. Is this your first time holding a baby?"

 

"..yes."

 

"You're doing great. He seems to really like Mikaelsons." Eris said. And it was true. Teddy was intrigued with this woman like with the scruffy man he hadn't seen in a while. He grabbed at her long, straight blonde hair, which was totally different than his mum's black, curly hair. His mum stopped him from tasting the hair though. He didn't appreciate that. "That doesn't go in your mouth, Teddy. Rebekah wouldn't like that." He pouted a bit before finding something new to explore. "I actually came her to talk about your mum." Eris started.

 

Rebekah's face got stony, but her arms remained loose but firm around Teddy. Babies were excellent emotional distractions.

 

"I'm sure your brothers told you already, but I'm the one that killed her. I know that you might have some unresolved feelings about her, that I've just mucked up by being an outsider and bringing the revenge, so I apologize. Not for killing an evil woman hellbent on a destroying a whole species, but for killing your mum. I know how it feels."

 

"Thanks." Rebekah said, giving Eris a watery smile. Eris shrugged, a bit embarrassed by the sudden heart to heart. "It's not really even that I'm upset about." She started.

 

"Oh."

 

"I mean, yes, she's my mother and I'm furious she thought she could just destroy us like that. But, I thought she had died centuries ago, so I wasn't too broken up about it." Eris nodded, that did make sense. "But I'm upset about that damn doppelgänger- oops pardon my language." She said, looking down at Teddy, who looked up at her with wide eyes.

 

"It's fine," Eris waved off, "if he starts cussing it will be my fault, not yours. Please continue."

 

"Anyway, that bloody doppelgänger is the bane of my existence. She's got the whole town wrapped around her pinky finger."

 

"I've heard. Never actually met the girl, but I've met enough of her friends. Believe me."

 

"And Matt! He was so nice. Then Kol had to go and break his arm! And apparently he doesn't have health insurance, whatever that is, so he can't get it fixed."

 

"Oh Matt. He's a good bloke. Very nice. Don't you worry over him, I'll take care of it."

 

"And then I slept with Damon Salvatore-"

 

"Oh gross. Why would you do that? He's awful. You can do way better than him." Eris made a face.

 

"Right? I did it to get back at Elena. Do you know she pretended to be my friend, then stabbed me in the back with a silver dagger?" Eris was taken aback.

 

"...I can imagine. No wonder she and Esther got along so well, they're both fake bitches."

 

"Right?!" Rebekah agreed, halfway between sobbing and laughing. "I'm so glad we're friends Eris."

 

"Me too, Bekah. Me too."

 

"So what I'm hearing is that you all are up for some revenge." A third voice, male, chimed in. Kol had made his way into Rebekah's room while they were bonding. 

 

"Get out Kol!"

 

"No can do sister dearest. Those Bennett witches bound our life forces together, the spell is still going strong. I need a bit of revenge to put my spirit to rights. Oh hello, what do we have here?" Kol asked, gesturing toward Teddy. "A miniature human, how quaint."

 

"This is Teddy, Eris' son." Rebekah revealed.

 

"Your son, huh? I hope you're planning to tell my brother that you want him to play daddy to your son. That would be a sight to see."

 

"Honestly, he's doing a great job at it, but let's go back to the fact that you all are bound. Tell me more about this."

 

"At the ball, our mother used the doppelgänger's blood to create a link between my siblings and myself. The ritual you interrupted would have been her turning Finnik human, and then killing him. Thus killing us. What happens to one, happens to all." Elijah explained.

 

"Um excuse me, but why has everyone invited themselves into my room?" Rebekah asked, affronted.

 

"Give me a few minutes to speak with Nik, and then I'll get started on this unlinking business." Eris volunteered. "Elijah, if you could lead the way?" She asked, taking Teddy from Rebekah's lap.

 

Elijah left Eris outside of the door to Klaus' studio. She walked in without knocking, wanting to see Klaus in his environment. Teddy scrunched his nose up at the smell of the paints, and Eris put an air purifying charm on him.

 

"Eris! Um, what are you doing here?" He said, trying to cover up the painting he was working on with his body.

 

"I came to offer my condolences to your sister since I didn't see her last night. But then your siblings told me you were still linked. So now, we need to no something about that, and I've got to tell you, I think I'm the best witch for the job. Also, if you think you're hiding that painting of me well, you need to look around a bit because there are about fifty other works that look just like me around the room." She smirked and he had the sense to look bashful.

 

"I couldn't help myself, love. You're breathtaking. The perfect muse." He walked away from the painting he was working on, wiping his hands on a towel. "Other than my family drama, how are you today?" He asked, holding her face in his hands and kissing her on the lips.

 

"Just fine, Nik." She smiled. He looked towards the child who made grabby hands at him. Klaus lifted Teddy from his mother's arms.

 

"And how are you, little wolf?" He asked, rubbing their noses together. Teddy flashed his eyes at Klaus and Klaus flashed his back, making Teddy giggle uncontrollably. It had become a greeting between the two. Klaus, still holding Teddy, looked to Eris. "Let me just get Elijah, he'll have mother's grimmoire and we can get started." Eris nodded and they began to move but were stopped when a pained yell filled the air.

 

The yelling turned out to be from Damon, who somehow turned up at the mansion, hanging from two beartraps.

 

"Where did he come from?" Eris asked Rebekah, who seemed to be in charge of this situation. Girl worked quick.

 

"He was in the dungeon for a couple of hours." Ahhh. "After our chat, I felt reaffirmed in my hatred for Damon. Did you know that in addition to sleeping with me the first time, he seduced me again in order to pry information from my mind about the white oak tree!?"

 

"Oh wow. Yeah, he's not the smartest cookie."

 

"You know Bekah, I can't help but think it would be easier to bleed him of certain if he were upside down." Klaus inputs, Teddy in hand, curiously taking in everything.

 

"I'm perfectly capable of inflicting pain, thank you very much."

 

"Well, excuse me, it's not like I have any expertise in the matter."

 

"Okay, I think I see what's going on. While flipping him upside down would drain him quicker, keeping him right side up takes longer. Which means more knifeplay for Bekah, more pain for Damon, and more catharsis all around."

 

"Exactly!" Rebekah yells. "Eris gets it."

 

"Is discussing torture methods really best done in front of a child?" Elijah asked, walking up with large book in his hands. Kol follows shortly after him, sipping from a blood bag.

 

"How else is he going to learn?" Klaus defended. Elijah held in a sigh.

 

"Eris?" He looked to her for help. It was her child they were speaking of.

 

"It's important to know the best ways to get information out of a hostile party." Eris agreed with Klaus. Elijah audible sighed this time.

 

"I have the grimmoire, let's adjourn to the other room to make a plan." Elijah walked away.

 

 

 

 

"Alright, let's see here." Eris said, as she opened up the grimmoire Elijah had so thoughtfully provided. All the Mikaelsons, minus Finn (who had disappeared immediately after his mother's death) and Rebekah (who was still busy with Damon) had adjourned to the library, just in case they could be of help to Eris as she looked through their mother's grimmoire. "Hexes, hexes, jinxes, hexes..." she said, flipping through the pages, "...ah, here we are. Curses."

 

"Wait a minute. You can read viking script?" Kol asked, flabbergasted. Eris turned the slightest shade of pink at his question.

 

"Well, after Nik told me how old he was, I might have done the tiniest bit a research into the era..."

 

"Learning a dead language isn't tiny." Elijah input. Klaus was silently enjoying the conversation, he couldn't keep the smug smile off his face as he entertained Teddy though. What a woman.

 

"Let's get back to business shall we gentlemen?" Eris redirected. "Blood-boiling curse, impotence curse - wow, that's not cool, bone-breaking curse - can't lie, I had a lot of fun with a variant of this back in my day, and here we are: blood-binding curse. Ingredients needed: blood of the subjects involved in the binding, and the blood of a magical being. Okay, that must have been why she needed the dopplegänger. Mix blood, blah-blah-blah, hmm...Okay." She snapped the book shut, the noise startling the Originals in the room. "Have no fear. This can be reversed rather easily. I just need a vial of each of your blood, including Finn's, so we'll need to find him."

 

"What about the doppelgänger's blood, love? Will we be needing that?" Klaus asked.

 

"The thing about doppelgängers is that while they are magical beings, they're also giant pains in the arse. I'd avoid using them as much as possible because they make things unnecessarily difficult. Besides, we have access to another magical being."

 

"Who?" Kol asked.

 

"Me of course." Eris replied.

 

"How does that work? I've been alive over a thousand years, and never have I seen a witch use her own blood as an magical ingredient." Elijah asked. 

 

"Eris is very special brother." Klaus all but crowed in pride.

 

"How so?" Kol asked, always intrigued about new magic.

 

"The witches you hang around with use magic. Sure." She shrugged. "But they aren't inherently magical. They use the magic of the Earth, or their Ancestors, but me? My magic comes from within. Magic flows throughout every piece of me. And there's no way to shut it down."

 

"And can all of your type of witch summon Death as you do?" Elijah asked. Eris gave a smirk, looking like the cat who ate the canary.

 

"Of course not. A normal witch trying to summon Death is the equivalent of her signing her own death warrant. But you know, I've never been normal. Now enough about me, let's get this curse broken so that you all can live your lives happily and separate." She clapped.

---

Eris was busy setting up the small ritual needed to break the linking of the Mikaelson siblings. She had regained custody over Teddy, as Klaus had left with his brothers to track down Finn, and was currently back in the drawing room with Rebekah torturing Damon as her backdrop while she pointed out the different magical objects to Teddy. It was a learning experience all around.

 

"Alright Teddy-love. We've got black candles for binding and protection, I would have used their opposite color, white, but white has a lot of other connotations that I don't think would fit very well with our vampire friends. They're not the most innocent people." She smiled. Teddy just looked on, enraptured by his mother. "One for each sibling." She placed the five black candles in a star formation, on the round table she commandeered for the occasion. In the middle of the table, and therefore candles, was a shallow black stone bowl. 

 

"And here we have onyx bowl. Onyx is wonderful for defensive magic, and removal of spiritual possessions. If you think about it, Esther casting this spell is kind of like her leaving a piece of herself on this realm. So we'll be sure to cast her out once and for all." Eris bopped Teddy on the nose after her spiel, causing him to giggle cutely.

 

"Eris, I wonder," Rebekah started, stepping away from Damon and giving him a much needed reprieve, "If you're a different kind of witch than our mother, why is it that you're using the same ritual as her?"

 

"Well Bekah, the short answer is, it's easier. While I could overload her curse with sheer magical strength and will-power, it's unnecessary at this time. I probably wouldn't tire myself out or anything, not to toot my own horn, but it just makes more sense to unlock a door rather than bust it down, you know? As for the ritual and ingredients, well, a lot of things overlap between our type of witches. Herbs and minerals still have the same properties, my kind of witch just seems to be more effective in...drawing out that power."

 

"Got it." Replied Rebekah, curiosity sated for the moment.

 

"So we'll just crumble a little wormword in the bowl, to protect from wandering spirits. And a circle of salt, also to represent the binding. Now we just need to wait for the guys to come back so I can get the last ingredients."

 

"Salt though? Really?" Asked Rebekah.

 

"Didn't you used to be a witch?" Eris asked back, eyebrow raised, causing Rebekah to roll her eyes.

 

"I was never really interested in Mother's teachings. That was all Kol."

 

"Well, this isn't just regular, everyday table salt. This is regular, everyday table salt, that was exposed to the last full moon. So it's got a bit of an extra kick." At this point in time the men returned with their brother unconc- dead over Klaus shoulders. Kol jumped into the conversation.

 

"I don't remember moon-soaked salt being part of the original spell. Or-" he picked up the bowl to smell it's contents. "Wormwood."

 

"Put that down! Stop messing with my ritual setup." Eris fret over the bowl placement and salt circle for a tick, while Klaus deposited Finn on the floor none too gently and began taking a vial of his blood. "I'll have you know that the items are unfamiliar to you because this spell is way better than your mothers. I added a few more elements to make sure this never happens again. I'm sure your mum isn't the only one with a deathwish focused on you all."

 

"Darling, don't be mean." Klaus said, handing over Finn's vial of blood with a smirk.

 

"It's only the truth. Anyway, to answer your question Kol, the salt is an item normally used in binding rituals, add that with the power of the full moon..." She trailed off, smirking.

 

"I like the way you think." Kol replied.

 

"Alright, well, looks like we're all ready. I'll just put Teddy down for a nap and I'll be ready to do this thing."

 

"I'll show you to a room, love." Klaus said, leading her out of the drawing room. 

 

They ended up in Klaus' bedroom, where a very sleepy Teddy was deposited in the very middle of Klaus' bed then contained by a barrier spell cast by his mother so he wouldn't fall off if he decided to roll in his sleep.

 

"This wasn't the situation I was expecting on our first foray into my room." Klaus said, grinning as he shut the door to the room.

 

"Oh now? Maybe next time will be more inline with your fantasies." Eris replied, the thought causing Klaus to freeze mid-stride, allowing Eris to make it back to the drawing room before him. "Alright you guys. I need everyone's blood now." She ended up with four glasses of blood to add to her one vial in short order. "And now the fun begins."

 

For each Original's blood, she painted a circle around the circumference of a candle, before pouring the remaining blood into the onyx bowl. "And now for my own blood." She turned to Klaus and held out her hand. "Nik, if you could help a girl out." Klaus took her offered hand in his own, and without losing her gaze, dropped his fangs and gently bit into the palm of her hand, causing blood to well up at the twin wounds. They would've continued to stare at each other, but a throat clearing snapped them out of their moment. Eris took her hand back, and turned away from him, holding it over the bowl, adding her own blood to the crimson mixture. Klaus remained entranced, licking the trace amounts of her blood from his fangs, dazed look in his eye.

 

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos." Eris closed her eyes and began chanting, repeating the phrase over and over. The previously unlit candles ignited, and the contents of the bowl also ignited in a gold-green flame. As she continued to chant, the blood in the bowl began to creep up the sides, before escaping entirely from the bowl, making it's way in five distinct trails, toward the salt line, where it hesitated. Eris broke the salt line with a flourish, and the blood continued on it's journey, until each line met with the base of a different candle, and the fires went out. "It is done. You are unbound." She said, opening her eyes.

 

Klaus was jarred out of his trance by an elbow to his side. The only one next to him was Elijah, and he was too "gentlemanly" to admit to elbowing his younger brother.

 

"Well done, love. You are truly without equal." Klaus complimented, sidling up to her, taking her injured hand back in his own.

 

"Well, I wouldn't say that." Eris replied, humbly. "But you can as much as you want." She laughed. He smiled at her, a genuine fond smile his siblings had not seen the likes of in centuries, as he healed her small wounds with a few drops of his own blood.

 

"I'll continue to say it then." Klaus decided.

 

"Oh barf. Get a room already." Interrupted Damon, who was successful in getting the attention back on himself.

 

"You'd think you like being tortured." Eris said, incredulously.

 

"Nah. But I hate other people getting happy endings way more so..." He shrugged as much as he could with how chained up he was.

 

"Indeed."

 

"Well sweetheart, I don't know about you, but I think we should take the advice." Klaus said to Eris, eyebrow cocked. Eris blushed a bit before smiling and linking her arm in his.

 

"Lead the way, Nik."

 

---

 

They didn't necessarily get a room, but they did collect Teddy and relocate to Eris' manor. They sat in a living room curled up together, talking about random things.

 

"Why is it you avoid me on full moons?" She asked.

 

"Wh-What?! I do not." He responded, flustered.

 

"You do."

 

"I just saw you the last full moon." 

 

"Yeah, because your mum was trying to kill you all. Why did you think I got so dolled up? I though we'd be doing something special on a full moon." Klaus was intrigued.

 

"Something special? Oh, do tell, love." He smiled, dashingly. It was her turn to sputter.

 

"Nothing crazy, mind you. Maybe some star gazing, a frolic through the dark woods..." She trailed off suggestively.

 

"Let me get this straight. You want to frolic in the woods with me? The big, bad, wolf? On a full moon?" She nodded.

 

"I think it would be quite enlightening." She said. Klaus had a lot to think about. His woman was quite the odd one. Odd, but oh so delicious.

 

"Quite." He responded. "Truly, I thought you'd be scared to see me." She looked affronted. "I understand now I was mistaken." He quickly said. "I should have known better. In all honesty, I do crave your company the nights of the full moon. More than normal that is. The wolf has been part of me since birth, but only recently has he been able to...control me. Or try, at least. He craves his mate." He said, quietly.

 

"Finally." She said, surprising him. "I thought you'd never admit it!"

 

"What, that I desire the company of my mate always, especially on the night of the full moon?"

 

"Exactly. All you had to do was ask. Every wolf needs a pack, even the big, bad wolf. And every Alpha needs his mate. Besides, if you're worried about hurting me, I still have a few tricks up my sleeve."

 

"Of course you do dearest. And I can wait to see them all."

 

"This is great. Now that you've agreed to spending the full moon together, we can really get things started."

 

"What...are you planning?"

 

"I'll call Sirius over to join us, he loves pack bonding..."

 

"Sirius, your father Sirius?" Klaus asked.

 

"Of course Nik. And Teddy has been really fussy these last few months, I think he might do a full shift soon."

 

"But...I don't really meet fathers....Wait Teddy's going to shift?"

 

"Yeah. Sooner rather than later seems like. And don't worry about Sirius, he's not as serious as his name implies." She cackled at her lame joke.

 

"Oh love. That was bad."

 

"I know. Get ready for a bunch of awful puns. And an extremely rude house elf. Though I do wonder how he'll treat you..."

 

"House elf?"

 

"Oh that's right. You've never met any of mine. DIPSY!" A light pop was heard and the aforementioned creature appeared, cutsying.

 

"Mistress be callin' on Dipsy?"

 

"...what?" Escaped Klaus.

 

"Yes Dipsy, I wanted to introduce you to my soulmate, Niklaus. Be sure to tell the others to follow his orders like my own, and that you can appear in front of him freely."

 

"Of course Mistress." Dipsy said excitedly. "Dipsy is so pleased Mistress has found someone! Oh Dipsy is so excited for more babies-" she continued.

 

"Thank you Dipsy, you're dismissed." Another pop and she disappeared.

 

"What?" Klaus repeated.

 

"That was a house-elf. They're magical creatures that love to cook and clean, but must be bound to a magical user or household in order to exist happily, for the most part. Think of Brownies, only not fae. Kreacher is my father's very old, very prejudiced house-elf. He will be coming with him."

 

"...I think I need a drink." He said. Dipsy appeared once more, a tumbler of Firewhiskey in hand. Again, Klaus looked shocked, but accepted the drink. "Thank you?" He said, questioningly, prompting an episode of waterworks from Dipsy.

 

"Oh new Master is so kind! Just like Mistress!" She blubbered.

 

"What?" Klaus turned to Eris, who just smiled.

 

"Dipsy, go ahead and leave the bottle behind. Thank you." Eris dismissed again.

 

"Of course Mistress. So kind and wonderful." Dipsy blubbered as she set down the bottle and disappeared again.

 

---

"Hey Sirius." Eris greeted the older man through the linked mirrors.

 

"Pup! So good to hear from you." Sirius greeted enthusiastically, his silver eyes a lighting alighting in joy. "I'd thought you'd forgotten about lonely old Padfoot since you moved away, I hadn't heard from you in so long." Eris rolled her eyes at his dramatics.

 

"Please, you're not old. And the mirror works both ways. Perhaps you were just happy to have the mansion all to yourself, huh?" She joked. He gasped, dramatically.

 

"Hold your tongue child! So what's new, Prongslet? Has Teddy been asking after his favorite, roguishly handsome grandpa?"

 

"First of all, Teddy can't talk yet. Secondly, you're his only grandpa." She deadpanned. "But I did call for a reason. How would you like to visit for the next full moon?"

 

"Oh, Teddy's chomping at the bit, huh? I guess old Padfoot can make a reappearance to run with his pack." Sirius agreed, jovially.

 

"Excellent. I do have one more favor to ask. Could you bring the box with you?" Time seemed to freeze and Sirius lost the happy glint in his eyes.

 

"What box?"

 

"You know which one."

 

"And why would my lovely, innocent daughter need what's in that box?"

 

"Because I met someone." She shrugged, casually.

 

"What?!" He exploded.

 

"I thought you'd be happy. You're always going on and on about continuing the family line. And I know you always said you were too young to be a grandpa, but Teddy's already here so another few kids won't change your status." All color drained from his face.

 

"You're pregnant?" He gasped out.

 

"What? No. Of course not. But I did find someone I'd entertain the idea of having children with."

 

"Who is this boy? I'll have to give him a Black welcome." He said, creepily.

 

"Well, he's not a boy at all. Not even human, really."

 

"Not human you say?"

 

"Yeah. He's a werewolf." Sirius' scarred eyebrow lifted.

 

"That...makes a lot of sense given your animagus form."

 

"And a vampire." His other eyebrow shot up.

 

"Both?" She nodded. "How intriguing."

 

"That's what I said." She replied, happily.

 

"And just how old is this vamp-wolf of yours?"

 

"Over a thousand." He blanched again. "But he looks like he's in his twenties."

 

"Oh Willow Eris, you never do things the easy way, do you?"

 

"Easy is boring." She replied, eyes sparkling.

 

"Spoken like a true Marauder." He smiled nostalgically.

 

"So I'll book your flight then."

 

"Wait a tick....flight?"

 

"Yeah, you'll have to travel the Muggle way. I love you, but I don't have a floo setup and you won't be leaving any breadcrumbs for the Wizarding World to follow. I'm sick of them harranging me... Though, if they did come, I'm sure their destruction could be viewed as a bonding activity." She pondered.

 

"Um what?"

 

"Oh nothing." She grinned sharply. "I'll set everything up, just don't forget the box."

 

---

 

The morning of the next full moon found a tense Klaus at Eris' door. Her father had arrived the day prior, and this would be their first meeting. He meant what he said earlier, he didn't do meeting the father. He usually drained the daughter, then finished up the rest of the family. That's as far as family meetings that weren't his own usually happened. Though that was neither here nor there. He took a deep breath. He was Klaus Mikaelson, most feared of all the Original Family. He wasn't going to let meeting his beloved's father rattle him.

 

He knocked on the door. Only to have it opened immediately by a dark haired, silver eyed man.

 

"Took you long enough. I thought you were never going to knock." Klaus did not feel the need to blush in embarrassment. He did not.

 

"Um." Oh so eloquent.

 

"SIRIUS!" Reprimanded his beloved from further in the house, causing the man, who was clearly Sirius, to stiffen minutely before rolling his eyes.

 

"Well come on in then. We've been waiting for you."

 

---

Breakfast was turning out to be an awkward affair. After entering the house behind Sirius, Klaus had greeted his Eris like normal, with a kiss on her tempting lips. The kiss was unfortunately cut short by a clearing of a throat. He then went to greet Teddy, not missing the lasers thrown from his woman's eyes to her father. Teddy giggled when Klaus picked him up, and grabbed his face in his tiny, baby hands, bopping their noses together, before flashing his eyes, which Klaus responded in like to. Which caused Teddy to bust up in giggles again. At least this tyke would always be happy to see him.

 

But now, as they ate breakfast, things were really-

 

"Gah! Sirius! Stop acting like such a brat! If you glare at Nik one more time, I swear I'll vanish all of Padfoot's toys!" Eris had enough. She wanted the men in her life to get along. Sirius looked shocked at her outburst.

 

"You wouldn't dare."

 

"Oh I dare."

 

"Ma!" Teddy shouted out, nodding.

 

"Exactly Teddy-bear. Mama does what she wants." Eris agreed. Klaus just wisely stayed quiet, chewing on a piece of toast.

 

"Fine, I'll try." Sirius gave in, crossing his arm and pouting like a child.

 

"Good. Because he's not going anywhere."

 

---

Sirius had become less frosty to Klaus as the day wore on, becoming even downright friendly as the sun set. Whereas Klaus got more anxious.

 

"Are you sure you'll be safe with me here?" Klaus asked Eris from where he had his face tucked into her neck. Sirius was entertaining Teddy in another room, so Klaus finally got to touch his beloved as he wished without being glared at. She smelled especially delicious tonight. Or maybe she always smelled this good but his nose was just stronger tonight. Either way, it was intoxicating.

 

"Nik. It will be fine. It's so freeing to run on the full moon. And Sirius will be around to watch over Teddy."

 

"Run?" Klaus asked, eyes turning gold as he thought about chasing down Eris. "Darling, if you run from me, I'll hunt you down, catch you and never let you go." He growled.

 

"That's what you think." She smirked, looking like she knew something he didn't.

 

"I must confess. I haven't changed since breaking the curse." Klaus said to Eris. "It's quite painful." This caused a frown to appear on her face.

 

"Painful you say?" He nodded. She pulled away from him, thinking. "Kreacher!" She called. A soft pop.

 

"Young Mistress be calling Kreacher? *Kreacher doesn't know why he must serve muggle-loving Master. Kreacher would much rather serve Mistress, even though she keeps the company of dirty crossbreeds...*" Eris looked amused. Klaus looked affronted.

 

"Excuse me, but the the dirty crossbreed you refer to is the King of all Werewolves. I am the Apex Predator." Klaus argued. Eris just let it happen. There was no arguing with Kreacher.

 

"King of Dirt, still reigns over nothing but dirt." Replied Kreacher.

 

"Did he just...?" Klaus asked, incredulously.

 

"He did." Eris affirmed. "Kreacher, this is my mate." She finally introduced him. "Please treat him as you would me." This caused the little creature to curl in on himself.

 

"Oh Young Mistress has been trapped by this..."

 

"Kreacher." She sang, warningly. He sighed.

 

"Yes Young Mistress and... Master Monster." Klaus rolled his eyes.

 

"Do you still have some of Remus' potions in stock. Not the wolfsbane, but the pain reliever?"

 

"Yes Mistress. Kreacher shall fetch them for you." He disappeared, then quickly reappeared with a wooden box that he handed over to Eris.

 

"Thank you." He disappeared again.

 

"So that was Kreacher." Klaus said.

 

"Yep."

 

"Outspoken little thing, isn't he?"

 

"Truly." She said, opening the carved box revealing a few vials. She pulled one out to hand to Klaus. "This is an augmented pain relieving potion, used to target and eliminate the pain of werewolf transformation. Would you like to give it a go?"

 

"Did you make this?"

 

"No, but a trusted family friend did. I have to warn you though. It tastes awful." Klaus contemplated her words for a moment.

 

"Should I wait closer to my turning?"

 

"Moon rise is close, I would just get it done with now so you don't have to worry about it later."

 

"Alright," he said, looking as the vial warily, "cheers." He downed the liquid. "Ugh." His face showed his distress. "That was horrendous."

 

"Yeah, but you took it like a champ."

 

Eris and Klaus joined Sirius and Teddy in the living room.

 

"It's almost time. I'll get Teddy changed." Eris grabbed up a squirming Teddy, and exited the room, leaving Sirius and Klaus alone for the first time since their meeting at the door. The warmth drained from Sirius' eyes, leaving only cold silver in place as he turned to face Klaus.

 

"So. You're soulmates with my daughter." Klaus opened his mouth to reply. "Don't speak, it was not a question." His jaw snapped shut. "I love Eris. I would kill for her. I would go back to that hellhole of a prison for her, I would practice the blackest of rituals if she needed me to. I realize that you are some, undefeatable hybrid, a millennia old. But age and power cannot protect you from the wrath of a slighted father. I just had to warn you, crazy runs in our blood."

 

"Understood." Klaus was the King of werewolves, the Apex Predator, but at that moment, he was a bit scared for his life.

 

"Excellent." And like a switch, jovial Sirius was back, like nothing ever happened. "Just had to get that off my chest." He concluded. And none too soon, as Eris walked back in with Teddy, who was wearing the cutest onesie. It was brown, with a hood that held wolf ears, and a tail was attached the back as well.

 

"Well, I think we're ready to head out to the clearing." Eris said, before walking out.

 

---

"So how's this going to work?" Asked Klaus. "You haven't exactly given me the rundown on your secret power that will keep me from trying to attack you tonight." He turned around to see Eris still holding Teddy, but Sirius was gone. And in his place was a large (frighteningly so - if Klaus himself didn't turn into a wolf) dog. "So you turn into dogs?"

 

"He does." She answered, placing an excited Teddy down in the ground in reach of the Sirius-dog. "Padfoot."

 

"Pardon?"

 

"His name in this form is Padfoot."

 

"And your name?"

 

"Artemis." She replied, before shapeshifting into a pure white wolf, with her signature emerald eyes. It was the single most extraordinary feat of magic Klaus had ever been witness to.

 

"Fitting." He replied, starstruck. "I guess it's my turn then. Word of caution, it's nowhere near as smooth as those transitions." And he was right. It wasn't, but it was also nowhere near as painful as the first turn, and much quicker since he had no reason to fight it. He might have blacked out for a moment, but when he came to, he was on the ground, with four legs, and there was a slight weight draped atop him.

 

---

Watching Nik turn was a bit disconcerting. Not the worse thing Eris had seen, but still uncomfortable. She was glad Sirius was distracting Teddy. She loped over to her changing mate, licking his face and nuzzling him to provide comfort. When he was fully changed but still recuperating, she lay over him, in a protective stance, growling softly.

 

---

Klaus turned his head to see a white muzzle - mate -  which he immediately nuzzled and licked. He quickly rolled, displacing her from on top of him, and as she was now laid belly up, started nuzzling her unprotected, furred stomach. His concentration was broken by a sharp bark from Sirius - Padfoot - and had he been able to roll his eyes in this form he would have. Instead, he moved back from his mate, allowing her to stand up, and turned to the other two members of the small pack. Padfoot was focused back on Teddy, who was crawling around, growling playfully at Padfoot. Artemis joined them, sitting next to her cub and nuzzling him, who squealed in joy. Teddy then used his mother's coat to stand, gently bouncing when he made it to his feet. Klaus took this time to join them. Padfoot watched his approach warily, but Artemis dismissed it, focusing on her cub. When Klaus arrived, he ducked down to lick Teddy's face. The boy squealed again. Dropping to his bum in laughter.

 

Artemis then stood, and gave a look to Padfoot and Klaus. She grabbed the back of Teddy's onesie in her teeth, and lifted him, walking further into the forest. Teddy, seemingly used to this action, just lifted a fist to his mouth. Padfoot followed. Klaus joined.

 

There was gentle trotting while Teddy was being carried through the forest. Padfoot darted here and there, running circles around the group sometimes. Klaus, never being part of a pack wasn't sure what to do, so he just kept close to Artemis, while Sirius ran around like a loon. Soon enough, Teddy fell asleep in her grasp, and Artemis made a chuffing sound, pulling Sirius from his sprints. She handed the cub off to Sirius, who loped off toward the manor, his grandpup in tow, leaving the two young wolves alone for the first time tonight. 

 

Klaus stared at Artemis, unsure. A glint of mischief appeared in her eye as she lowered her front paws, rump swaying in the air. She growled at Klaus playfully. He only observed.  She pounced at him, then back. Over and over, sometime nipping at him, hoping to get a response. Until finally, he growled back, lowering himself to pounce. She shot off like a bat from Hell, and the chase began.

 

---

 

Klaus awoke to the chirping of birds. They were quite loud, almost as if they were in his room. Or rather, he was in theirs. He felt the suns warm rays on his body, but when he opened his eyes, he saw nothing but black. Eris' hair. It was a lovely pillow. He lifted himself up on one arm, to take in their surroundings. They had ended up in quite a nice clearing, beautiful healthy trees surrounded them, patches of flowers here and there, thick, lush green grass to cradle their naked bodies. So very naked. Yes. Quite the spot. He turned his attention to the woman in front of him, who was still out like a light. He took this time to study her luscious body, knowing he'd have to paint her in full once he returned home. After a bit of that, he started on removing the leaves and sticks from her long, curly locks. She had accumulated quite a bit of foliage in there.

 

"Hmmm." She hummed, starting to wake.

 

"Rise and shine, love." Klaus greeted, still playing with her hair.

 

"Are you...grooming me?" His hand stopped for a moment, before continuing.

 

"Yes. I believe I am."

 

"How utterly wolfish of you, sir." She teased.

 

"All the better to draw you in with." He drawled. She laughed.

 

"So how was last night?" She asked, stretching against him, seemingly unconcerned with her nudity.

 

"Probably, one of the best nights of my life. I felt so free. It was one thing being freed from my curse, it was another to actually embrace the wolf and find freedom in the woods."

 

"Wonderful." She smiled, getting up. "Now we must be off, I'm sure Teddy's awake now, and I'd be a fool to trust Sirius to feed him.

 

"Indeed." He said, staring up at the goddess before him, before joining her. "Let's be off."

Meanwhile, at the Salvatore Boarding House

 

"Damon's been missing for a while." Stefan brought to the group's attention. Not much of the group seemed to care about his brother's whereabouts, but with a powerful family, and a powerful witch in town, it was best to keep everyone accounted for. 

 

"He's probably out harassing some sorority girls." Elena offered, rolling her eyes. Ric shrugged. He was Damon's friend, sort of. And that did seem like a plausible answer to his disappearance.

 

"No, no, no. Damon likes to bring sorority girls home, so he can rub his vampireness in my face. He wouldn't just go off somewhere, especially in the middle of this...whatever... we're in the midst of with the Originals. He would call, or text, or leave a note written in blood. No. Somebody has him. And I'm sure we know exactly who it is." Glances were sent throughout the members of the house.

 

"Maybe we could just leave him there?" Caroline offered.

 

"Caroline!" Elena chided.

 

"What? I know I wasn't the only one thinking it." She pouted.

 

"Listen. Damon's not the best guy. But he has come through for each of us at least once. We can at least formulate a plan to get him out of their clutches." Ric reasoned.

 

"Thank you, Ric." Sighed Stefan. At least someone else was looking out for his brother.

 

"What if we trade something of value for him?" Elena asked.

 

"Elena, you can't be serious." Bonnie contested.

 

"I am though! You were there! That witch they have on their side, Eris, she said that all vampires are connected to the Original that sired their line. One dies, they all die. The stakes are of no use to us anymore. We should use those to barter for Damon's return."

 

"Just because she said something doesn't mean it's true."

 

"Wasn't Death there too, validating this? Like, the Death." Jeremy chimed in. Bonnie rolled her eyes again, crossing her arms.

 

"How many witches do you know can just summon Death on a whim like that?"

 

"Well, I really only know one witch-"

 

"It was probably just an illusion. And even if she was right about the lines being connected, I'm sure I can find a spell in one of these grimmoires to break a sire line. I am a Bennett witch.Then we're home free." Everyone looked to Stefan for a final say.

 

"We'll trade the stakes for my brother." He said, Elena brightened at her plan being used. "But that doesn't mean we have to trade them all." He amended, agreeing to Bonnie's plan as well.

 

---

 

"Sirius. Come on. You're meant to meet the other Mikaelsons today. We were supposed to be there a half hour ago."

 

"Pup. Please. What have I told you? You can't rush perfection." Sirius said, finally meeting her in the foyer, running a hand through this glossy black locks. Seriously. He was worse than all the girls she shared a dormitory with when it came to his appearance. Eris just rolled her eyes and grabbed onto his arm.

 

"Whatever, it's just going to get messed up again when we apparate."

 

"Wait! Hold on a minute! I didn't use a holding charm-" POP. 

 

Teddy, Eris and a disgruntled Sirius appeared at the Mikaelson Mansion, before Eris even moved to knock at the door, Elijah was there, opening it for them.

 

"Miss Eris. Good to see you again. And young Teddy too." He nodded to Sirius. "And this must be your father. Please come in so that you can introduce us all."

 

They entered the house, and since Damon just happened to be still hanging out in the foyer, well, they passed by him too.

 

"Well, what's this here?" Sirius asked, quite interested, stopping in front of the chained up vampire.

 

"Oh, my apologies. My little sister decided that she'd rather torture our neighbor as close as she could get to public, rather than in our dungeon. This is not the correct environment for welcoming new allies. I'm terribly embarrassed." Elijah was embarrased that he hadn't thought to take Eris and her family a different way throughout the household, but he was also interested to see if Eris' father would react in the same ways his daughter did.

 

"So what did he do then?" Sirius asked. His question was answered by Rebekah herself, who was drawn back to her improvised torture area by a new voice.

 

"He seduced me into his bed, then tried to seduce a way to kill my family out of my mind. As if I'd let a baby vamp anywhere near secrets of that caliber. Rebekah Mikaelson, I don't believe we've met." She greeted, holding out a hand. Sirius, being the unabashed playboy he was, took it in his and kissed the back.

 

"Sirius Black at your service, Lord of the Most Ancient and Pure House of Black. And can I just say, that it is a travesty that this young man seduced his way into your bed and wasn't content with just that. I know I would be." He winked at her. Rebekah was caught in between shock and embarrassment. Elijah cleared his throat, and narrowed his gaze.

 

"Enough of that Sirius. That is Rebekah. Nik and Elijah's sister!" Eris said.

 

"Ah." Sirius said, releasing her hand and looking over to her older brother. "I don't suppose we could just pretend that didn't happen then?" He smiled, dashingly. Eris rolled her eyes, fondly.

 

"Elijah, Rebekah. May I introduce my father. The dramatic, the charming, Sirius Black. Please forgive everything that comes out of his mouth. He can't control it."

 

"It's true, I've been tested." Sirius agreed, jovially.

 

"Where is everyone else?"

 

"They're just finishing up a light snack." Elijah said.

 

"Well if it isn't my favorite witch." And in walked Kol, as if he was summoned. "Back for more are you?" 

 

"Oh I'm you're favorite now, am I?"

 

"For now." He shrugged, smirking. "And who's this?" He asked, turning to Sirius.

 

"Sirius, meet Kol. Kol, Sirius, my father."

 

"You cannot be serious." Kol said, lifting an eyebrow.

 

"Oh goodness. Here we go." Eris said under her breath.

 

"Actually I can." Replied Sirius, with a wide smile.

 

"I always did like puns. They're always funny no matter what century you're in."

 

"So you say." Replied Elijah. It was clear what his stance on puns were.

 

"Anyway, back to my victim," Rebekah interjected, enough of the conversation had passed without her in it, "in addition to what he did to me," she looked over at Eris slyly, "he also threatened Eris." The three vampires got to see a flash of lightening in Sirius' eyes, his smile turning from genuine to something a little more unhinged. "In front of little Teddy." His eye twitched. Kol's smirk turned into a grin. Elijah and Rebekah looked on calculatively.

 

"Is that so?" Sirius asked, turning to Eris, who sighed and asked the Gods for strength in this trying time. 

 

"It was light irritation if anything. He definitely tried to threaten me. But you know us Blacks, it was almost too easy to put him in his place."

 

"Oh God. Not you again." Damon seemed to have awakened from his torture induced sleep. Right on cue. Sirius wasn't impressed.

 

"Oh, I know he isn't talking to you pup." He folded his arms, assessing the now awake vampire.

 

"Damon." She greeted. "You look, quite awful really. You should do something about that."

 

"Listen, if I wanted beauty tips from the evil bitch of the west, I would've asked for them. And what's this, you brought a friend?"

 

"Hmm. Kind of. Meet my father. He taught me everything he knows. And I have to admit, he's much more hands on that I am." She shrugged. Damon looked vaguely ill under the already sick pallor her was sporting. "Good luck with that."

 

"Rebekah dear, do you have any vervain on hand?"

 

---

And that's how Klaus met Sirius for the second time, cleaning Damon's wounds, with vervain water.

 

"You just can't show up to a lady's house all bloody like this." Sirius informed Damon.

 

"Your whole family's crazy!" Damon shouted through the pain.

 

"And this, Teddy, is an alternate approach of washing one's mouth out with soap." Eris told her giggling son as they watched her father work.

 

"You missed a spot, mate." Kol said, pointing out a rather large gash on Damon's ribcage.

 

"Oh, so I did. Thanks!" Sirius immediately rectified the situation.

 

"Hey! This is my torturing session. I found him and chained him up." Rebekah yelled. She was ignored. Elijah found himself in a lounge chair, reading, as he watched over the proceedings in the room.

 

"Elijah." Klaus whispered. "What the bloody hell is going on here?"

 

"Your paramour surely comes from interesting stock, Niklaus." He replied. "She'll fit right in."

 

"That sounded suspiciously like approval brother."

 

"Hn." Elijah flipped a page.

 

---

 

Sirius was having a grand time explaining his less than traditional torture techniques to an enthralled Rebekah and Kol, when the younger Salvatore arrived, bag in tow.

 

"Ever heard of knocking?" Eris asked sarcastically, eyebrow raised. She was playing with Teddy on a blanket in the middle of the room, in full view of everyone. Klaus, who had just risen from his spot beside her, was now slightly in front of her, probably having heard Stefan's arrival.

 

"Stefan!" Klaus greeted, clapping his hands together with a grin. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" Stefan sent a glance over to his detained brother, the other inhabitants of the room, and then back to Klaus.

 

"I've come to barter for the release of my brother."

 

"Oh, have you now?" Klaus asked, grin still on his face. "And what, pray tell, do you have to trade that you think is worth your brother's life?"

 

"The last of the white oak stakes." Stefan said, causing everyone to watch him with more interest.

 

"Good one, Stefan, but I burned down the bridge last week." Rebekah scoffed, crossing her arms. Sirius stayed silent, for once taking in the tone of the conversation.

 

"Try again, mate." Klaus said, grin now a little more to the side of vicious.

 

"You forgot the sign." Said Stefan, tossing the bag closer to the group of Originals. Being the closest, Klaus grabbed it and opened it, revealing a bag of white oak stakes. His eyes flashed back to land on Stefan as he passed the bag to a silent Rebekah. Elijah set down his book and joined his siblings, while Sirius moved closer to Eris.

 

"Eight weapons that can kill an Original in exchange for my brother." Stefan said.

 

"And how do we know that there are no others?" Elijah asked, calm as you please.

 

"There are no others."

 

"Let's be certain about that, shall we?" Said Klaus. He walked over to stand in front of Damon, holding eye contact with the older Salvatore. "Leave." Commanded Klaus.

 

"No."

 

"Go on. Leave." He repeated.

 

"Nik. He's my plaything, not yours." Rebekah whined.

 

"See. If we just killed the Salvatores like I suggested, we wouldn't be in this mess." Kol said, eying Stefan with distaste. Eris nodded in agreement distractedly. In a flash, Klaus had Damon's throat in his hand. Stefan looked as if he wanted to interfere, but a slight movement on his part was met with a counter-movement from Kol.

 

"I said, go home." Klaus reiterated. This prompted Damon to start moving to the door, regardless of the beartraps he was connected to.

 

"Whoa." Said Teddy, who was more interested in the show than his toys at this point in time. This caused a quick twitch of the lips on Klaus' part. Eris ran a hand through Teddy's hair, smiling down at him fondly.

 

"Okay, okay. That's enough. Just wanted to make sure the vervain was out of your system so that I know you'll answer my next question truthfully." Damon stopped his struggling. "How many white oak stakes are there?"

 

"Eleven." Damon ground out, against his will. Klaus turned back to Stefan.

 

"Eleven? Really? Not these eight then?"

 

"You shouldn't have lied." Rebekah said, shaking her head.

 

"I'll get you the other three." Said Stefan.

 

"You should've had the other three in the bag with the rest." Kol muttered.

 

"Yeah. That'll be nice. Or maybe, since you lied, I'll just compel your brother to chew out his own tongue. How about that?" Klaus offered. Sirius nodded thoughtfully, imagining the scenario added to his own plans.

 

"What is wrong with you?" Stefan asked Klaus. Eris looked at him sharply, affronted by the question on her love's behalf.

 

"What is wrong with you?!" Klaus asked back, angry now. "Do you really have no appreciation for me? I have given you someone to hate, to loathe, a target for all of your anger, so you don't have to turn it on yourself. I have given your life purpose, as your friend." Klaus laughs suddenly. "I really think you should be thanking me." Stefan's upset face turns into a visage of anger and he decides to rush Klaus. Kol intercepts him. Elijah sighs and begins to let Damon go.

 

"This is getting us nowhere." Elijah says. "You're free. But those stakes need to make their way to us by," he checks his watch, "say, five this evening."

 

"I wasn't done making a point yet." Klaus huffs, but lets Stefan grab a hold of his brother.

 

"Well then, please allow me make a point then." Says Eris, standing up from the blanket and joining the conversation. She strolled toward the group of vampires and hybrid, casually, unhurried, leaving Teddy under the watchful eyes of Sirius. She ended up standing between the Salvatores and Mikaelsons, directly in front of Klaus, who placed a hand on her waist.

 

"I don't appreciate you coming here, interrupting our family time with your poorly thought out threats." Eris started. "You didn't call beforehand, you didn't knock, and you just expect us to bow down to your wishes. And I for one, am not at all happy with your lack of decorum. You're exposing my son to bad manners, and I just can't have that." She walked closer to Stefan, heels clicking ominously, Klaus reluctantly allowed his hand on her to drop. "You see, Stefan, what we're dealing with here is known as an empty threat. The reason we're allowing you to leave is because there's nothing you can do with those stakes that isn't detrimental to your own well-being." She traced a finger down Stefan cheek, her black taloned nails a sharp contrast against his tan skin.

 

"Personally, I never make empty threats. It goes against my moral code. So here's a real one for you and your groupies." She moved her hand to grasp his face fully, fingernails digging into his face painfully. "As Elijah said, you have until five this evening to hand over these stakes. If even one stake is missing, or tampered with magically, you won't have to worry about the Original family. I will end you both myself. No tricks, no magic. You will die by my blade. And then, to remind myself of the good I did the world by removing you two useless souls from it, I will mount your heads on my mantle, and host dinner parties with the sole intent of recounting the story of your sure to be underwhelming deaths." She released a pale Stefan. "Do we have an understanding?" Both Salvatores nodded. She walked backwards into the embrace of Klaus. "Lovely." She smiled, sweetly. "You two have a wonderful day." The young vampires sped away.

 

Klaus bent so that he was level with her ear. She could feel his warm breath ghosting over her skin. "Love. I really didn't think it was possible for you to get anymore attractive, but you keep doing it." He said, huskily. Kol let out a low whistle.

 

"That was quite good." Kol said. "I know I said earlier we'd have to do some real damage together before you were in my good books but, um, your little speech there gave me chills so. Yeah, you're good." He walked away, whistling happily. Elijah gave Klaus a look thst spoke volumes, then followed his younger brother out of the room, pausing only to pick up his book.

 

"Pup." Sirius said, strolling over with Teddy in hand, "have you been practicing?" He smiled. "The Eris I knew would shoot first and make frightening threats after."

 

"I'm trying out new things. Being an adult, you know?" She smirked back, taking Teddy from him.

 

"Yes, yes. We all agree that was one of the better threats we've ever heard, but what am I meant to do now? Elijah just let my victim leave. Ugh!" Rebekah stormed off, muttering about brothers always ruining everything. Sirius regarded the young looking couple in front of him, deciding to finally let them be, and apparated back to the house.

 

"Stefan interrupted your playtime, didn't he Teddy-love?" Eris asked her child, who pointed back to the toys at the word 'play'.

 

"Well we can't have that, can we?" Klaus responded, guiding the little family back to the blanket.

 

---

 

"There's been a... hiccup in the plan." Stefan said to the people gathered in his living room. Damon was sitting in the room as well, going through blood bags as if they were going out of style but still looking worse for wear. "Klaus compelled the truth out of Damon and now the Mikaelsons are expecting the last three stakes in few hours."

 

"Okay. So we just need to buy some more time while we find out how to get rid of them with out killing you guys too." Bonnie said. "We can enchant a regular stake-"

 

"No can do, witchy." Damon interrupted. "Klaus' scary witch levelled up today." Bonnie crossed her arms.

 

"She probably not even that powerful." She dismissed.

 

"Even if she isn't, she's at the very least much more experienced than you. And I'm not gonna let your Bennett pride be the reason I die if she senses something off. So they're getting the stakes. All of them. No witchy woo added. Capisce?" Damon said.

 

"So what do we do now? Do they just win?"

 

"At least on the stake front. But maybe there's still a chance to immobilize them." Stefan thought aloud. "If every vampire they turned wasnt connected to them, then maybe..."

 

"They were linked, right? The way their 'descedents', so to speak, are linked to them? So what if we unlinked their sire lines?" Elena asked.

 

"I'd need to study the unlinking ritual." Bonnie said, thinking about it.

 

"Well, it's a good thing I had a front row seat to the witch performing it." Damon said, moving on to describe the ritual.

 

"What about the words? Her chant?" Bonnie asked, excited at the prospect of finally getting one over on the Originals.

 

"Yeah. She said: Azarath Metrion Zinthos."

 

"Azarath- I've never heard that before. Must be their language from when they were human." Bonnie shrugged, thinking about how she could use this spell to their advantage. Jeremy, who had been quietly listening since the beginning, snorted.

 

"What's so funny Baby Gilbert?" Damon sneered.

 

"No. Nothing really. Except that spell is total bullshit."

 

"And what exactly do you know about spells?" Damon asked.

 

"Not a thing. But those three words, I do know. They're from a cartoon. You might've heard of it, called Teen Titans. They had a character on the show, who activated her spells with that phrase. Azarath Metrion Zinthos." He laughed, this time outright. "You just got trolled by the new witch in town." Everyone in the room looked at each other in silence for a moment.

 

"So, she completed this spell, while chanting nonsense? How do we even know it worked then?" Bonnie asked.

 

"The blood seperated and some candles lit themselves. The spell definitely worked." Countered Damon.

 

"Um. Guys. Maybe we're over our heads a little." Caroline said. "I mean, just hear me out. This lady, Eris. She's a different kind of enemy. She's on a playing field we've never seen before. And she's tightly allied with the Mikaelsons so maybe we should just, pretend like everything's fine and go on our way."

 

"What are you saying Care? They sacrificed Elena. They're the reason my mom is vampire."

 

"Yes." She allowed. "But Elena's still alive. And really, since the arrival of Eris, Klaus hasn't tried to get any blood from her. Hybrid activity has decreased on the whole, really. And Bon, if you hadn't have helped their mom try to kill them, your mom would still be..completely alive." Caroline said, uncomfortably.

 

"Who's side are you on?" Bonnie asked, betrayed.

 

"This side, obviously. But, it's not looking good if we go against them. They're older, stronger. And they've largely stopped being outright villians. Maybe it's time to let sleeping dogs lie." Caroline shrugged.

 

"I agree." Jeremy said. "We are completely outclassed. If anyone should be upset about impending Elena's death, it's me as her last living relative. As long as we leave them alone, I don't have to worry about burying my sister. What do you think Ric?"

 

"You two make a good point."

 

"You all are just scared!" Bonnie exploded.

 

"I never thought I'd do this, but, I agree with witchy." Damon said.

 

"Fear is healthy. It keeps you from doing things that are dangerous to your health." Countered Stefan. "I recall I wasn't the only one feeling this particular emotion just earlier today." He said, lifting an eyebrow at Damon. "Elena?"

 

"I say...we lay low for now. But if the opportunity presents itself... well..." she trailed off. Caroline, Jeremy and Alaric didn't seem to like the way her thoughts were headed, but Stefan, Damon and Bonnie nodded, the latter two agreeing reluctantly,  wanting a more aggressive solution to their Original problem.

 

---

 

Eris felt a shiver down her back as she played with her son and boyfriend.

 

"What's wrong, love?" Klaus asked.

 

"I'm not sure. I'm getting the vague feeling of someone plotting my demise. Whoever it is, they aren't doing a very good job at it." Klaus looked at her strangely.

 

"You're getting all that from a 'vague' feeling?" He asked.

 

"Yeah. I can also sense that whoever it is is underestimating me. I hate being underestimated. It must be that, what do you call them? Scooby Gang. Their they only ones dumb, enough to still be plotting even though I just made them a promise."

 

"What can I say? They aren't the brightest group ever. But quite tenacious, and unnecessarily lucky." He frowned at the last part. 

 

"I don't understand, I thought I was rather threatening."

 

"Oh, love, you definitely were. Very frightening. It was truly delightful." Klaus reassured.

 

"And they were conscious when I summoned Death and destroyed your mother, right?"

 

"Yes, they definitely were. You are a goddess among mortals."

 

"Hmm." She said, accepting her mate's compliments and turning her focus back to playing with their son.