Time for that surprise.... And some other fun.
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Astraea woke with a start; her violet eyes greeted by the twinkling stars of the night sky. A splitting headache made her wince as she sat up, looking around at her surroundings. A tiny grin appeared on her pink lips when she saw the mansion in front of her. The Laurent Estate; the home of her ancestors. A loud groan pulled her from her thoughts as she looked for who made the noise. Hermione, Neville, and Luna lay a few feet away from her, each of them struggling to sit up. Astraea rushed over to them, helping each of her struggling friends to sit up.
The four of them stood before the beautiful mansion after a few moments of rest. It was weird for Astraea to look at her friends and see eyes that looked exactly like her own. Their hair even changed a little with Hermione and Luna's having the biggest transformation. Gone was Luna's pale blonde hair replaced with hair that is almost the exact shade of dark brown as Neville and Hermione. Hermione's hair was tamer now, no longer falling in the riotous bushy curls she was known for. Now it looked much like her own beautiful shiny curls. Neville was the only one whose changes were about as subtle as hers; his hair becoming a little more finer but staying the same dark brown as before.
With a glance at her friends, she led them into the home that her ancestors had abandoned so long ago. It was made of beautiful dark marble with dark wooden doors. She could see the excitement on all her friends' faces, each of them excited to take in the mansion and its beauty. The four of them walked through the tall doors and were immediately ambushed by an overemotional elf with a crying toddler in their arms.
"Mistress Black! Kreacher was so worried for Mistress and her friends," Kreacher cried, losing all decorum that the elf was known for as his small arms wrapped around Astraea's legs, holding the toddler out to her. Her instincts came over her as she reached for the crying baby; rocking him until his crying had stopped. Realizing who it was that she was holding the young woman froze. She pulled the toddler away from where he was resting his head on her shoulder and stared at the kid, trying to see if this was some dream or something. The baby stared back at her, his hair still the same vibrant green from last she had seen.
Astraea burst into tears as she cuddled the confused toddler to her heaving chest. She didn't realize for how long she had been sobbing until she felt warm arms wrap around her and Teddy. Pulling away, she looked at the tearful eyes of Hermione and Luna; her friends each happy that Teddy was with them, with her again. The two girls both pressed a loving kiss to Teddy's before they pulled away. Neville rushed over next, a teary grin on his face as he pressed multiple kisses to Teddy's face and then to hers. Neville and she had bonded after Harry had been killed. The sweet boy stepping in to be the now only male presence in her life besides Teddy with her father, Remus, and now Harry gone.
Once Neville stepped away, she pulled the still crying Kreacher into her arms now. She embraced him tightly, happy to still have her most loyal and courageous friend by her side. "Kreacher is so happy that Mistress is ok. Kreacher was so worried but Kreacher is happy now." Astraea could only grin widely before kissing the elf on the forehead and thanking him over and over again for protecting Teddy; even if it meant having to leave her behind to face danger and possibly be killed.
The six of them are pulled from their little circle by a loud voice demanding to know who they were and what they were doing in his home. Astraea walked confidently towards the portrait of her ancestor that hung in the front hall but faltered at the last moment, remembering that in this time she had not yet met him and that not a single Laurent had returned to this house in over 90 years. With these thoughts in mind, she cautiously approached the man, silently preparing herself for the gruelling that she had also received the first time she had come to this house and had seen his portrait hung on the wall. She appeared in front of his portrait and waited for the questions..... that never came instead the man greeted her and Teddy happily. He must have seen the shocked look on her face because his questions of why she had not visited him in so long died down slowly.
"Wait, you know me?" she asked. "How do you know me?"
Jean stared at Astraea as if she had lost her mind but if he knew what she did then maybe he wouldn't be looking at her like that. "What do you mean little one? You were just here talking to me not two weeks ago..."
Astraea stared at the man before looking to her friends for help but even they looked just as confused as she felt. She didn't understand. She had never met Jean in this year or timeline so why did he remember her? Everything was too confusing. Seeing the confusion on her face, Jean began to piece together that something had happened. "What's wrong? What happened?"
She sighed loudly and sat down on the chair that Kreacher had pulled over for her. Sitting down, she rubbed her hand across her face in frustration. If her grandmother was alive then she'd be getting the lecture of her life about how she was being unladylike amongst other things that she doesn't care to remember right now. Astraea decided to tell their story to him from start to finish. Not once did the man interrupt her story, instead choosing to sit and listen to her somewhat unbelievable story. When she was done, Jean simply stared at her for a few minutes before he spoke, "Is that it?"
"What do you mean is that it? I just told you that I met Death and that I've just travelled from the future?"
The man sighed before giving her that stare. For a portrait, her ancestor knew how to make her feel like a little kid who didn't know anything when she was around him. "Sometimes I forget that you were not raised by a Laurent. I am unsurprised because you have not been the first Laurent to time travel nor meet an immortal entity," he told her matter of factly. "The Laurents have always had a close relationship with Mother Magic. While the rumors of our line being descended from her bloodline are false; we are her chosen. Just like how Harry Potter was The Chosen One because of the prophecy, the Laurents was chosen by Mother Magic herself since the dawn of time. That is why we have been involved in every major turning point for the Magical World since the first families of Magic were brought to pass."
Hearing this shocked Astraea. She of course knew that the Laurents were a very powerful family but, to be chosen by Magic herself, well that's going to take a while to get her head around. Jean smirked at the shocked looks on not just hers but all of her friends' faces. He spoke up again, "You have a lot to learn about what it means to carry our name," he looked at her friends next, "You all do now."
"Now that the four of you," his eyes looked down at the relaxed toddler in her arms. "Five of you carry our name, you must carry the name with pride." Her eyes darted to Teddy quickly. She gasped as soon as she saw the identical eyes that she had reflected in his. Although Teddy was a metamorphmagus, he was never able to change his eyes to the beautiful violet that Astraea had. She wondered if that was because Mother Magic did not want her chosen to be mixed up with others? Well, she didn't know but what she did know was that Teddy now had the same coloured eyes that she did.
Astraea was embarrassed to admit that it took her a few minutes; maybe 30 to process everything that was going on. The most shocking being the fact that she was supposedly chosen by Magic just because she was of Laurent blood. While all five of them are considered Laurents' now in this time, she was the only 'true' descendant of the Laurents since it is in her blood. She didn't know if she could handle all of this but she would. She was a Black and Blacks do not fail. While Astraea wasn't sure of herself, she would not let that deter her away from her main goal which was the total annihilation of Voldemort and a new, reformed, and happier Magical World.
With a sigh, Astraea stood and gestured to her friends to stand as well. "Well, this talk has been enlightening but Death did say that we should go to Gringotts so we better be off," Astraea pulled Teddy close to her before silently casting a warming charm on the toddler. "We'll see you later Grandpapa." Astraea smiled brightly at the portrait, remembering when the man had affectionately told her to call him Grandpapa. Eager for any type of connection to her mother's family, she agreed quietly. But after many visits to the estate and many conversations and lessons with the man, the girl and portrait have managed to become closer.
Leaving Kreacher behind, the group left the mansion, walked out of the wards of the estate, and with a loud crack, they appeared in Diagon Alley. The group kept themselves away from the crowds, sticking to each other and making sure that the five of them never met the eyes of anyone lest someone recognizes their eyes. They wanted to make it to Gringotts in one piece. They approached a bank teller in silence with Astraea stepping forward to speak for them but as soon as the bank teller caught a glimpse of their eyes, they were immediately taken from the lobby and presented to the King of the Goblin Nation himself; Ragnok.
They spent what felt like many hours in that room as Ragnok demanded a blood test from each of them to prove that they were indeed Laurents. With a drop of blood and a little bit of their magic, each of their parchments glowed gold as small words formed on the parchment. There was nothing new that appeared except for who the names of their parents were. It seemed that she was officially not a Black now. Her mothers' name stayed the same while her fathers' name was now Chadwick Sayre; an American wizard whose family was directly descended from Salazar Slytherin himself. It seemed that while Voldemort was descended from Slytherin, he was not a direct descendent unlike their father and now, their family. Being the eldest of their newly formed family, Astraea was the one who would take up the Headship of the Laurent name. Neville; her now younger brother would take up the Slytherin Lordship. She knew that once news of Neville being the Lord Slytherin got out then the already big target on their backs would only get that much bigger. So for now, they decided to hide his Lordship from everyone except themselves and Ragnok.
The biggest change for her was looking at her parchment and seeing Teddy listed as her son although who his father is, she wouldn't know. She looked at her siblings in shock before they schooled their expressions into ones of indifference. With a small smile, she looked at the blubbering toddler in her arms fondly. Astraea gasped when she felt a sliver of Teddy's magic connect with hers. Her eyes watered as she felt a fierce protectiveness and overwhelming love come over her. She had only felt this way when she was around one man; her father. When she had first met him that night in their third year, she had remembered the burst of love and happiness she felt when their magic first connected, and now she had just felt that with Teddy; her son. After a quick visit to the Laurent vaults and the still very empty Slytherin vaults thanks to a certain line of their 'family, they immediately left Gringotts. Each of her siblings decided to go back home directly from Gringotts while she decided to stay behind for a little and explore 1976 Diagon Alley with Teddy. Just because they were here to destroy Voldemort and change things did not mean she wasn't going to make sure her son didn't have a good and happy childhood. Honestly, a small part of her wanted to just run with her family and leave Magical Britain to its own devices but, she wanted Teddy to grow up here. To go to Hogwarts and be sorted into his house and make a lot of friends. And the only way for that to happen was for them to go through with their plan.
Walking out of Gringotts and into the bustling crowds, Astraea averted her eyes to the wide-eyed baby in her arms; the small toddler absolutely fascinated by all the bright colours and magic around him. Diagon Alley in their time was still operating but the war had stolen its beauty and wonder, leaving behind an empty shell of what it was when Astraea was a child herself. Looking around in wispy wonder, Astraea did not notice the looks of awe being thrown her way by the sudden crowd of people that had stopped to stare at her. Her eyes caught the sight of a brightly lit store with a broomstick in its display window. Without even noticing, she slowly wandered over to the store, her violet eyes shining as she looked at the broomstick on display. She had always loved flying. The feeling of being free, the wind blowing through her hair plus her and Harry had spent a lot of time flying and having fun. Those were some of her favourite memories with the boy.
As she looked at the broom, aptly named the Nimbus 1001, Teddy tugged at her dark hair, his tiny fist reaching out towards the broomstick as if he wanted her to buy it for him. She giggled at his cute behaviour before she excessively pressed kisses over every part of his face. The toddler cutely pouted at her, his violet eyes still staring at the broom longingly. The girl didn't know where he picked up this love for flying considering his father hated flying and his mother couldn't even walk on the ground so flying was out of the question but she guesses that it was her influence. While she had grown up with her grandmother training her to be the perfect pureblood princess, Walburga had never withheld things such as Quidditch from her. She wondered if that was her fathers' influence again.
She was pulled from her thoughts by a soft tap on her shoulder causing her to stiffen, her hand slowly inching towards her wand in its disillusioned holster. Turning around, she was met by the sight of pale blond hair everywhere. Knowing immediately who it was that she was dealing with, she threw a clearly fake but hopefully pleasant-looking smile on her face. Her eyes met the cold grey of a young Lucius Malfoy's. She hated him in the future and hated him now. After her grandmother had died, the asshole had tried to write up a betrothal contract between her and Draco. And while her cousin was pleasant enough to her, she wouldn't be caught dead as his wife. Astraea wouldn't have any of that and put an end to that as soon as she could. She was just lucky that her grandmother had declared her emancipated in her will, making her a full and legal adult with the ruling power of House Black in her hands.
"Yes?" she greeted the family of two, her eyes meeting those of Abraxas Malfoy; not flinching at all.
His grey eyes narrowed before he smiled at her, well at least what he probably thought of as a smile. "Greetings. Abraxas Malfoy," he held his right hand out to her, his lordship ring glinting brightly in the light.
She grabbed his hand in her tight grip, the Laurent Family Ring glinting beautifully on her right hand. Astraea noticed his eyes widening when he caught sight of her ring and with a slight smirk at the nervous-looking man she pulled her hand out of his grasp. "Astraea Laurent," she greeted the pair of them.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Laurent."
Astraea simply nodded her head at his words. As a Laurent and said Head of their family, she held precedence over the man even if he was older than her. She smirked at the young Malfoy heir when it looked like he was about to speak even though he had not been addressed yet. "I find myself surprised to meet a Laurent especially one so young," he told her, clearly having a dig at her age. "It was thought that your family had passed into fable."
The 16-year-old simply smiled at the man's words before she replied, "We are Laurents, Lord Malfoy. If we do not wish to be found then we will not be found."
"Indeed." The Lord merely nodded his head, his brain clearly trying to come up with what to say to her that could hopefully lull her into a false sense of security but what the man didn't know was that while she carries the Laurent name now, she was raised by a Black woman and no one can fool a Black woman. "This is my son, Lucius. If you are to attend Hogwarts then it would be good for you to have someone watch out for you."
Astraea held out her hand to the boy, waiting for him to kiss her hand as was custom. Lucius simply stared at her as if she was scum underneath his shoe which didn't surprise her one bit. It wasn't like Draco was born an egotistical asshole, he had to get it from somewhere. Abraxas roughly grabbed onto the back of his sons' shirt and then glared at him. With a roll of his eyes, he pressed a chaste kiss to her hand then looked away, clearly uninterested in whoever she was and wondering why his father was acting like this towards some girl. Looking at the baby in her arms, he wondered where her house-elf was? Surely if she was so important then she would have a house-elf that could carry it for her.
"Do you not have a house-elf?" Lucius asked her, interrupting whatever it was that his father was about to say to her. He either was blind or ignorant of the glare that his father was sending him.
Astraea's violet eyes stared at him, "I do but I don't see how that is relevant to our topic of my attendance at Hogwarts at the moment."
Abraxas couldn't believe what an imbecile his son was being at this moment. His Lord would not be pleased at all with Lucius if he did not shut up soon. "Then why do you not have your elf come and hold the ugly thing?"
Astraea glared at the idiotic boy as the fake smile slowly dropped from her face. Looking the boy right in the eye she spoke, "First, Heir Malfoy, whether I want to hold my son or not is no business of yours so please hold your tongue before I remove it from your mouth. Second, I am the Head of my House while you are a measly nobody that will only become Head of his House after your father has died so you do not get to speak to me in that tone or at all from now on."
She nodded her head once at Lord Malfoy before she strutted away from the man and his son with an oblivious Teddy who was still whining for the broomstick. Astraea could hear as Abraxas chewed out Lucius, no doubt the boy will be hearing it from his father. With her experience of Diagon Alley slightly ruined now by the band of pale blondes, she decided to cut their trip a little shorter but not before buying her and Teddy some ice cream from Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. Settling for the generic chocolate flavoured ice cream that they both loved, she sat at a table close to the front door of the ice cream parlour.
Astraea went about her day feeding Teddy and giggling at the toddler, oblivious to the many looks of admiration and awe they were receiving. Seeing the bright blue ice cream that one of the customers were eating, Teddy changed his hair to the exact same shade. She was so happy to see that he had not lost his metamorphmagus ability and with a shaky sigh, she also tried to change her hair colour to match his. Astraea sighed in relief when she saw her hair change colour as well. Astraea was just happy to see that while her last name had changed, she didn't inherently change too much of herself where even she would find herself unrecognizable.
Teddy then changed his a bright green with her copying him. Soon the two of them had started their own little game where Teddy changed his hair colour only for her to copy him, gaining attention from the many patrons of the parlour as the two showed off their extremely rare ability but the two were in their own little world. Their infectious laughter made everyone there feel a little giddy from the pure happiness rolling off the pair. "Ok Teddy my love, that's enough. Our ice cream is going to melt if we don't eat it soon."
The toddler let out an infectious giggle before accepting another spoonful of chocolate ice cream from his mother. After a few minutes, their ice cream was done so Astraea decided it was time for them to leave. She realised that they had probably gained enough attention and that Tommy Boy probably already knew about her existence which was great. The more attention she gathered from the madman, the least likely he is to focus on her siblings and anything that the three of them will be working out in the background. Gathering all of their things, she walked out of the ice cream with a smile and a wave to Mr Florean Fortescue who bid her and Teddy goodbye with Teddy waving excitedly at the old wizard.
As they walked towards The Leaky Cauldron, she caught the eyes of many wizards and witches who were watching her and Teddy. Some of them she recognised as parents of her old classmates but most she didn't recognize at all. She didn't know if that was a good thought or not. The young woman walked inside the Leaky Cauldron and stood calmly by the floo, waiting patiently for when it was her and Teddy's turn. She silently watched people arrive when a fairly old couple stepped out of the floo. They looked familiar to her but she couldn't quite pinpoint who they were. The man looked around the Leaky Cauldron, his wife softly brushing off any soot on his robes when his hazel eyes met hers. Astraea gasped out loud as the man also looked at her in surprise. She knew who this man was.
Astraea was pulled out of her musing when two boys were spat out of the floo, looking as if the pair had been fighting when they had entered and were continuing their fighting out here in public. These wrestling boys were followed by two others, one calmly watching the fighting pair in quiet disapproval but amusement while the other simply seemed skittish at the amount of attention his friends were gaining.
"Sirius! James! Will the two of you please stop?" The lady reprimanded the pair of teenagers, her husband still frozen in place only to pull himself together once he heard his wife's words. Astraea's eyes strayed to the dark-haired teen laughing loudly with a boy who she knew that if she caught a glimpse of his face would look exactly like her best friend. Her heart plummeted when his grey eyes met hers but she felt none of the usual familial love and overwhelming happiness she felt around him. She guessed that what Death had said was right. This teenage boy was not her father, no matter how much she hoped and wished that he was.
With a final glance at the group, she entered the floo, not noticing two pairs of hazel eyes that had watched her and Teddy leave.
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So what do you think? Tried something a little different from my usual writing style in this so I hope it was okay. Please leave comments with constructive criticism and ways that I can improve my writing and the story. Also just realised that I didn't use a single line break in this lol