They were brought through the gates to the Malfoy Manor. Once Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix saw the five, they looked thrilled. They couldn't recognize Harry and Eliza because Harry had been shot a stinging hex and Eliza's face had been transfigured into a random girl Rigel had once seen on muggle telly.
"Put them in the cellar, I want to have a little conversation with my nephew a little family reunion."
she grabbed Rigel by the back of his throat and looked at Eliza.
"And you can watch."
Eliza's eyes widened and she stepped forward to complain, but Draco held her back. She looked helplessly at Ron, Hermione Harry as they were being dragged away by the snatchers.
Break
"Where's Remus Lupin!" Bellatrix yelled. "Where's Nymphadora Tonks! Crucio!"
"Fuck you— ARRGH!" Rigel screamed again as Bellatrix dug the knife at him.
By the end of that session, Rigel was a mess, with blood and bruises all over his clothes and a nasty-looking gash on his cheeks. His sleeves were ripped and he was still shaking badly from the after-effects of the Cruciatus Curse. Add on the fact that she practically carved a blood traitor on him.
"Please don't kill the baby." Eliza sobbed as Draco covered the scene but Rigel's screams were still loud enough to make her break down.
Eliza looked to Draco and his eyes were widened, he stuttered out trying to shield her eyesight from Rigel being tortured.
"Y-you're pregnant."
Eliza nodded putting a hand to her stomach protectively. Draco didn't know what to say.
"What a waste of blood," Bellatrix said wiping the blood off Rigel's sleeves. "It's a shame we have to kill your boyfriend." she grinned nastily.
"LIKE HELL!" Ron yelled "EXPELLIARMUS!"
Bellatrix was disarmed and was thrown off by a stunner from Hermione.
"Stupefy!" Lucius yelled, throwing the jinx at Harry who dodged. He and his sister took on Lucius while Ron and Hermione took on a reluctant Draco and Narcissa.
Harry finally got Lucius with a hex, and the blonde man was thrown across the room, hitting his head against the wall with a crack.
"Lucius!" Narcissa yelled but was knocked back by a stunner from Eliza.
"That was for Sirius!" Eliza snarled.
"STOP!" Bellatrix yelled and they all turned to see a barely unconscious Rigel being held by Bellatrix with a knife on his throat.
"Drop your wands!" Beatrix ordered sneering at the four Gryffindors. "Or the boy gets it."
The four reluctantly dropped their wands. Bellatrix ordered Draco to pick up their wands.
"Well well well little Rigel," Bellatrix whispered in his ears. "It's the Potter twins. they're all bright and shiny and new again. Just in time for the dark lord."
"Call him," Bellatrix said as Rigel was exhaling much sharper than usual. "Lucius!"
Lucius pulled his sleeve revealing his dark mark and pointed his wand at it.
Rigel heard the shuffling of a sleeve and began to smirk to himself when he noticed Dobby on the chandelier, un-tightening the screws, and he guessed everyone noticed too because it began falling down. Rigel quickly swung his head back on Bellatrix's face and collapsed into Eliza's arms.
"Depulso!" Rigel managed to gasp out hitting Lucius straight on the chest.
"Stupid elf! You could've killed me!"
"Dobby never meant to kill." Dobby said slightly offended "Dobby only meant to maim or seriously injure."
Narcissa swung her wand, but Dobby disarmed her quickly, making Bellatrix more annoyed.
"How dare you take a witch's wand? How dare you defy your master's?!"
Dobby looked at Bellatrix straight in the eye. "Dobby has no master. Dobby is a free elf and Dobby has come to save Harry Potter and his friends."
They all linked hands and apparated away, just in time as Bellatrix threw a knife at them. That was the last thing Rigel saw before losing consciousness
The next time Rigel woke up, he was met with the face of Fleur Delacour or Fleur Weasley.
"Oh, you are awake!" Fleur said in heavily accented English walking towards him. A smile on her face.
Rigel tried to speak but mumbles came out.
"You 'ave been running a fever," Fleur said helping him drink a glass of water. "What 'appened Rigel?"
"I- I c'cant say." Rigel said breathing heavily.
He felt like he couldn't breathe, the pain that was once unbearable was slowly diminishing. Where was it?
He grimaced as he touched his chest. "Uhh..."
"You got stabbed by Bellatrix's 'nife last night. You were 'ucky if it weren't for yer Phoenix"
Rigel didn't remember getting stabbed but he didn't want to.
"Phoenix?"
"Oui." Fleur nodded pointing next to Rigel who nearly jumped. Next to him was a tiny baby Phoenix chirping softly to him already showing its crimson and gold feathers.
"'e saved you." Fleur smiled softly patting the bird. "And congratulations Rigel."
"For what?"
The door opened and Hermione, Ron, Luna, Dobby, Bill, Harry, and Eliza were in a wheelchair. (courtesy of Dobby)
But Eliza was holding a small blue bundle in her arms.
"Our son Rigel," she said tiredly but with a bright smile.
Rigel gazed at his son and held him admiring their little fingers and hands. The baby didn't really have any hair and was too small and fragile. But before Rigel knew it, tears were streaming down his face. He was a father.
"I'll always protect you," he whispered.
"He has to go to St Mungo's," Eliza said softly. "He's premature and if it weren't for your phoenix." Eliza grimaced. "Well, what should we name him?"
Rigel smiled at her. "I think you know."
Eliza smiled though everyone looked confused. "What's his name?" Bill asked.
"Perseus," Eliza spoke up. "Perseus Rigel Black. The only Greek hero who had a happy ending."
Everyone smiled happily and there was a sudden knock at the door, Fleur let out a "come in" and a healer in St Mungo's robes came into the room. Rigel knew what was going to happen next and his heart dropped. The healer smiled shyly and announced.
"It's time for little Percy to go to St Mungo's."
Rigel hesitated and reluctantly handed her to the nurse, the nurse held Percy in one arm and passed them some papers, she spoke to the couple.
"You need to write down their names and such since we are in a war and you two are wanted by Death Eaters, you can't visit until after everything is over, I'm sorry."
Rigel signed. "I understand but please protect him at all cost."
The healer nodded. "Your son shall be safe."
Rigel and Eliza filled out the forms while also putting Bill and Fleur as their godparents (much to the couple's surprise but they accepted), they said one last goodbye to their son and watched sadly as the nurse and Bill went away. Everyone sat in a comfortable silence until Rigel and Eliza both fell asleep. One from stress and the other from his injuries.
Everything took a few weeks. Rigel needed time to recover. Eliza missed her son. And they all needed time to prepare to break into Gringotts (Who had accepted a bribe of Rigel's sword). Even their new Phoenix which Rigel named him Aurelius was also growing at a fast rate already managing to fly but not as large as Fawkes.
He had been pretty pissed at the Griphook that in exchange for inside information he wanted Rigel's sword. Though it wasn't goblin silver, he wanted to examine it closely on what charms did Salazar Slytherin do.
Speaking of a said goblin, Griphook was unexpectedly bloodthirsty, laughed at the idea of pain in lesser creatures, and seemed to relish the possibility that they might have to hurt other wizards to reach the Lestranges' vault. Rigel could tell that his distaste was shared by the others, but they did not discuss it. They needed Griphook. The goblin ate only grudgingly with the rest of them. Even after his legs had mended, he continued to request trays of food in his room, like the still-frailOllivander and bedridden Rigel, until Bill (following an angry outburst from Fleur) went upstairs to tell him that the arrangement could not continue. Thereafter Griphook joined them at the overcrowded table, although he refused to eat the same food, insisting, instead, on lumps of raw meat, roots, and various fungi.
". . . and tiny little ears," Luna was saying as she and Dean entered carrying driftwood, "a bit like a hippo's, Daddy says, only purple and hairy. And if you want to call them, you have to hum; they prefer a waltz, nothing too fast. . . ."
Looking uncomfortable, Dean shrugged at Harry as he passed, following Luna into the combined dining and sitting room where Rigel (Who insisted he would help) and Hermione was laying the dinner table. Seizing the chance to escape Fleur's questions, Harry grabbed two jugs of pumpkin juice and followed them.
". . . and if you ever come to our house I'll be able to show you the horn, Daddy wrote to me about it but I haven't seen it yet, because the Death Eaters took me from the Hogwarts Express and I never got home for Christmas," Luna was saying, as she and Dean relaid the fire.
"Luna, we told you," Hermione called over to her. "That horn exploded. It came from an Erumpent, not a Crumple-Horned Snorkack —"
"No, it was definitely a Snorkack horn," said Luna serenely. "Daddy told me. It will probably have re-formed by now, they mend themselves, you know."
Rigel shook his head and helped set up the table. Bill appeared, leading Mr.Ollivander down the stairs. The wandmaker still looked exceptionally frail, and he clung to Bill's arm as the latter supported him, carrying a large suitcase
"I'm going to miss you, Mr. Ollivander," said Luna, approaching the old man.
"I shall miss you too my dear," said Ollivander, patting her on the shoulder. "You were an inexpressible comfort to me in that terrible place."
"So, au revoir, Mr. Ollivander," said Fleur, kissing him on both cheeks. "And I wonder whezzer you could oblige me by delivering a package to Bill's Auntie Muriel? I never returned'er tiara."
"It will be an honor," said Ollivander with a little bow, "the very least I can do in return for your generous hospitality."
Fleur drew out a worn velvet case, which she opened to show the wandmaker. The tiara sat glittering and twinkling in the light from the low-hanging lamp.
"Moonstones and diamonds," said Griphook, who had sidled into the room without them noticing. "Made by goblins, I think?"
"And paid for by wizards," said Bill quietly, and the goblin shot him a look that was both furtive and challenging.
A strong wind gusted against the cottage windows as Bill and Ollivander set off into the night. The rest of them squeezed in around the table; elbow to elbow and with barely enough room to move, they started to eat. The fire crackled and popped in the grate beside them. Fleur, Harry noticed, was merely playing with her food; she glanced at the window every few minutes; however, Bill returned before they had finished their first course, his long hair tangled by the wind.
"Everything's fine," he told Fleur. "Ollivander settled in, Mum and Dad say hello and congratulations for the baby." He smiled at Rigel and Eliza. "Ginny sends you all her love. Fred and George are driving Muriel up the wall, they're still operating an Owl-Order business out of her back room. It cheered her up to have her tiara back, though. She said she thought we'd stolen it."
Ah, she eez charmante, your aunt," said Fleur crossly, waving her wand and causing the dirty plates to rise and form a stack in midair. She caught them and marched out of the room.
"Daddy's made a tiara," piped up Luna. "Well, more of a crown, really."
Eliza caught Rigel's eye and grinned; they knew that she was talking about the ludicrous headdress they had seen on their visit to Xenophilius.
"Yes, he's trying to re-create the lost diadem of Ravenclaw. He thinks he's identified most ofthe main elements now. Adding the billywig wings really made a difference —"
There was a bang on the front door. Everyone's head turned toward it. Fleur came running out of the kitchen, looking frightened; Bill jumped to his feet, his wand pointing at the door; Harry, Eliza, Rigel, Ron, and Hermione did the same. Silently Griphook slipped beneath the table, out of sight.
"Who is it?" Bill called.
"It is I, Remus John Lupin!" called a voice over the howling wind. "I am a werewolf, married to Nymphadora Tonks, and you, the secret-Keeper of Shell Cottage told me the address and bade me come in an emergency!"
"Lupin," muttered Bill, and he ran to the door and wrenched it open.
Remus fell over the threshold. He was white-faced, wrapped in a traveling cloak, his graying hair windswept. He straightened up, looked around the room, making sure of who was there, then cried aloud, "It's a boy! We've named him Ted, after Dora's father!"
Hermione shrieked."Wha —? Tonks — Tonks has had the baby?"
"Yes, yes, she's had the baby!" shouted Remus. All around the table came cries of delight, sighs of relief: Hermione and Fleur both squealed, "Congratulations!" and Ron said, "Blimey, baby!" as if he had never heard of such a thing before
"Yes — yes — a boy," said Lupin again, who seemed dazed by his own happiness. He strode around the table and hugged Harry.
"I'm an uncle!" Rigel managed to say. Eliza wrapped an arm around him. "I have a nephew!"
"You'll be godfather?" he said as he released Rigel. "And Eliza godmother?"
M-me?" stammered Rigel.
"Godmother?!" Eliza squeaked out.
"You, yes, of course — Dora quite agrees, no one better than you Rigel—"
"I — yeah — blimey —"
Eliza and Rigel felt overwhelmed, astonished, delighted; now Bill was hurrying to fetch wine, and Fleur was persuading Lupin to join them for a drink.
"I can't stay long, I must get back," said Remus, beaming around at them all: He looked years younger than Rigel had ever seen him.
"Thank you, thank you, Bill."
Bill had soon filled all of their goblets, they stood and raised them high in a toast.
"To Teddy Remus Lupin," said Lupin, "a great wizard in the making!"
"' Oo does 'e look like?" Fleur inquired.
"I think he looks like Dora, but she thinks he is like me. Not much hair. It looked black when he was born, but I swear it's turned ginger in the hour since. Probably be blond by the time I get back. Andromeda says Tonks's and Rigel's hair started changing color the day that they were born." He drained his goblet. "Oh, go on then, just one more," he added, beaming, as Bill made to fill it again.
"Another metamorphagus!" said Rigel grinning. "Hah! Another marauder then eh Moony?!"
"I have to pass on the mantle then." Eliza grinned. "Another prankster! McGonagall's going to lose her marbles and he'll study the same year as our kid."
"No he won't," said Lupin although he too was smiling. "He'll be a prefect like his father and what do you mean by our kids?"
The wind buffeted the little cottage and the fire leaped and crackled, and Bill was soon opening another bottle of wine. Remus had been surprised that Eliza had been pregnant but also gave birth to a son. He didn't chew them up but did congratulate them on the babies.
"And congratulations to Perseus Rigel Black and Teddy Remus Lupin!" Rigel yelled.
And after a while, Rigel slunk back to the bedroom he now occupied alone. He thought he was the only one who had noticed this until he saw Bill and Harry's eyes following the goblin up the stairs.
"No . . . no . . . I really must get back," said Remus at last, declining yet another goblet of wine. He got to his feet and pulled his traveling cloak back around himself.
"Good-bye, good-bye — I'll try and bring some pictures in a few days' time — they'll all be so glad to know that I've seen you —"
He fastened his cloak and made his farewells, hugging the women and grasping hands with the men, then, still beaming, returned into the wild night.