✧NINE LIVES✧

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no, ι won'т ѕмιle,
 вυт ι'll ѕнow yoυ мy тeeтн
 and ι'мa leт yoυ ѕpeaĸ ιғ yoυ jυѕт leт мe вreaтнe
 ι've вeen polιтe, вυт won'т вe caυgнт dead

 leттιn' a мan тell мe wнaт ι ѕнoυld do ιn мy вed

 ĸeep мy eхeѕ ιn cнecĸ ιn мy вaѕeмenт
 'caυѕe ĸιndneѕѕ ιѕ weaĸneѕѕ, or worѕe, yoυ're coмplacenт 
ι coυld play nιce or ι coυld вe a вυlly 
ι'м тιred and angry, вυт ѕoмeвody ѕнoυld вe

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𝙷𝚊𝚕𝚜𝚎𝚢𝙽𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚎

***

Cassiopeia Aurora Lestrange nee Black had never felt so god awful in her life, every inch of her body was in a pain.
It hurt to breathe, hurt to think, and hurt to blink.

But even when she tried to stop her breathing, her body still forced through it. There was no control over her normal functions as the stasis was still active, though her limbs were starting to gain control.

Her motive for life is what brought her back, her prayers had been answers and the magic her children had left behind had screamed to her to return.

The babes needed their mummy, and their mummy they would get.

Her mind godawful and foggy still challenged the wards as she destroyed the stasis with the likes of her free hand.

The weight of her lungs had been lifted, the tightness of her stomach was completely gone. And for a moment the lack of her enormous tum was unnerving, waking up for it to be gone.

A sudden cough choked her, causing her entire body to convulse, but what really had the healer gasp is her waking up at all.
Much less so early.

The smell alone of the clinic threw Aurora in a state of dread.

"My babies—Where's—" Coughs settled her demands as she fell back into the pillow, her body felt more than dead.
Like she crawled out of hell and broke all her bones in the process.

"Mrs...Mrs...Your babies are fine, your cousin and friend are with them now. Relax. You've done all the work mum, rest." Her mind could do little to nothing but take the woman's order, though the sedative forced it upon her body and returned her back to an unconscious state.

It would indeed speed the healing process as well as rid her of feeling the pain, but her mother dragon was giving her a struggle to entirely submit to the medication.

Another hour had passed and Aurora felt better, numb...how she even moved her leg was questionable, but putting weight onto them had caused her to fall down as her unstable knees couldn't handle it all.

Though that did not stop her, grabbing hold of a nearby chair to bring her back up. Her lungs started to burn as each movement was causing her to dwindle with energy.

But she needed to see her baby—her babies. Aurora felt overjoyed at the idea of twins, a boy and a girl.
It made it all worth it, the pain the suffering.

Her babies magic was far too easily detected, goddess it was so pure and raw. The mother simply held the wall and pushed into the room, although it was dark to settle the sleeping babes, Aurora continued forward and gave out just before the babies.

Her hands gripping the bars as she looked at her sweet little ones with tears staining her cheeks. They were beautiful, so tiny and pure.

"You two are loved...Mummy loves you—Just you wait, when mummy gets better I'll never let you go." Bending her head to the cold metal did she continue to mumble to her babies.

The light caught Aurora's attention as she had rested her eyes in front of her children, and when she opened them again, she was greeted by the cheerful eyes of her daughter.

"C-Cassi?!" Narcissa yelled, running down to meet her cousin. The percentage of her survival was more against than for, but when a blanket had been draped over her small form Aurora soon shuttered at the feeling of warmth and detested the cold.

"Raba—Rabastan—Is he—"
"He's not here." The woman firmly stated, completely cold as it stung her heart further.

He left. He left the children.
He broke the promise.

Merlin did the mother cry into her cousin's hold.
"He's after Sirius...Cassi, he thinks you're dead." Aurora nodded at the information as she surely felt awful and the remembrance of the birth had her choke once again.

Goddess today was a rough one.

Narcissa was about to speak once more but stopped after seeing Aurora admire her children, though her attention was on Halsey.
"A wonderful surprise." Rory nodded, but then squeezed her eyes closed. "I have nothing for her...We're not prepared for—"

"Leave that to me Cassi, alright? Harper is telling your father and brother, she left a few moments ago." The mother was aided into a reclining chair as she leaned back in an uncomfortable manner, the woman had given birth hours ago and everything was still terribly aching.

No husband, two children and a number of distractions to plague her mind.

"Halsey's awake, I bet she wants mummy to have a minute with her." Aurora's lips trembled as she dreamed of this moment even prior to finding out when she was pregnant, Cissy picked the bumbling little witch and passed her to her mother.

The baby babbled up to her mum, and Aurora couldn't stop kissing her little babe.
All her little fingers, her nose, her chubby little cheeks.

Aurora couldn't stop crying, nor could she give up the little miracle in her arms.
"She's completely healthy, both are...You did beautifully Cassiopeia." It was truly a hopeful sign, the pleasure of giving life.

But the sharp cries of Romulus calling out to his mummy caused her to feel lost.

Two children...Was she prepared for two children?

"I can call the nurse if—" Aurora shook her head as she made room for Romulus in her other arm. Cissy flinched when Rommy screamed louder at the touch of another person that wasn't his mother, and although it took a moment to settle him.
His mummy's voice soothed him easily.

"How on earth you managed that Cassi..."
"I've read to them both for hours every day, it's coming in handy now...Is—" Aurora was about to question Rabastan once again, but the knock at the door scared Aurora.

Cissy rose and went to the door to see who it was, and instantly Regulus rushed into the room directly to see his sister. Not minding his cousin as he was already sporting tears.

Dead. He heard the rumor and it was immediately debunked as he saw her...Here. Awake.

"Stop. Bloody. Doing. That." He issued, and Aurora rested her head against her brother, silently holding the promises above all else.

"Reg...Meet your nephew and niece. Romulus and Halsey." The young brother failed to compute the sudden two babies in his sister's arms.

"T-twins?" He gasped, and that had Orion follow in pursuit passing by his own niece to see his daughter. Leaning forward he kissed her forehead, caressing her cheek.

"Merlin Cassi, my little light...You cannot understand how ill I felt hearing what happened." She squeezed her eyes shut and nodded, she scared her family but it wasn't entirely her fault.
There was no control.

Orion had taken a seat beside his daughter as his eyes couldn't look far from the perfect picture in front of him.

He was a grandfather of two little babes, he almost forgot how tiny newborns were. And he asked if he could hold his granddaughter, almost in pure transparency to holding his daughter two decades ago.

Regulus wanted to as well, but with the now free hand she told her little brother on how to hold the little fellow. Either her brother and father were completely mesmerized by the likes of the children.

It was indeed a wonderful few moments before Orion questioned where Rabastan is.

"He's what?!" Aurora held Rommy closer at the sudden change of his grandfather's voice.

"Shh, Shh it's okay love, shh." Rubbing the young boy's worries away, which calmed him a few seconds after gaining his mum's attention.

Regulus was surprised to hear Rabastan's sudden interest in actually killing Sirius now, but Aurora didn't even need to say she was tired. The poor mother could barely follow a conversation with the medication she was on at the moment, but it was better to cease her pain than cause her any more torture.

"He should be here," Orion spoke darkly...Especially in the presence of either his children or grandchildren. But with her hands entirely free now as the babes were now settled in cots beside her...She gripped her father's wrist and shook her head.

"He has wronged the three of us already, he believes I'm dead...Let his ignorance last a while more, his friends are trying to get to him now." The woman was tired and entirely inraged at the news of hearing what Rabastan had said.

Cissy fought whether or not to tell her, but in the end, she deserved to protect her children from everything. And this idea was showcasing the strength of what type of mother dragon Aurora was going to be.

Regulus shook his head, for once he wanted Rabastan to know. It was one thing that the two have a spat, but the idea of him getting sent to Azkaban and truly leaving the three of them alone would put his sister into her own whirl world of pain.

"I'll get him."

"Son, you've just gotten your license to—" Regulus whispered into his father's ear of what he was worried about, and although Orion was angry with his daughter's husband...
Regulus was indeed correct.

"He's a dumbarse Rory, that could get him into more trouble." She nodded, her eyes fluttering. Such an easy sign that she was getting fairly exhausted after entertaining the two children already.

"Cissy, why don't you call Rabastan's parents...I'll stay with her." The cousin instantly nodded, they too deserved to see their grandchildren.

"I'll get a few things for Halsey as well while I'm out." Orion hadn't thought of that either, but she left the clinic with a mission of her own while Regulus prowled the likes of the Malfoy manor.

"Regulus...Son I am sorry for—" He, like his sister and even his own brother, hated the likes of Lucius Malfoy. And this formality of being polite was downright lacking any true emotion.

"She's alive. Where's her damnable husband?" Lucius did not like being bossed around by this young lad, but with him being family and the last heir of the Black name it was giving him just the smallest bit of leeway.
Just about.

"The Dark Lord will know, come." Regulus followed at a curt speed as he was allowed entry to the Dark Lord's 'study' as he wasn't always secluded in the gathering room.

"Ah...Regulus Black." It was a sick reminder on more than one level, especially when he too shared his condolences over the lost woman.

"My sister is not dead, she survived...Where can I find Rabastan?" He was given a location and a very brief reminder on what is expected of him in the coming days. Aurora missing his ceremony was more than likely, and lying to her about would be even worse.

When Regulus arrived at the scene of it all, he instantly choked at the entrance of chaotic smoke and the fires burning all around, his shirt's cloth managed to cover the likes of his mouth as he tried to find his brother in this mess.

Running through the crowds had he dodged the runaways to those causing the damage. And he instantly blocked a curse from Snape as he held up his hands.

"Where is he?" He ordered and Snape was taken back by the question, especially from him as he was not on this mission.
"Go home Regulus." He issued, and the young Black son had gripped Severus' shirt and leveled one another.

"She's alive. Where is he?" He enstated, and it earned him a guide to where the true damage was going to take place. A muggle-born family had been targeted for a while, but this was the worse of it all. The family house was indeed a horrific sight to endure, and Aurora was going to wring his neck for this.

Shouting out the name would cause unwanted attention in the realm of wizarding police as well as Rabastan's name actually being plastered.

He was doing this so his niece and nephew won't have a father in Azkaban.

He rushed into the room to see the number of victims, the wizard already could see thestrals so this wasn't an entire change. But what was...Was seeing the look of instant cold that Rabastan holds on his stature.

He plowed his way through, and with the trace no longer on his wand for being of age. The young wizard threw a curse, and Rabastan...On a killing high had missed his own firing after him.

"I knew you were an arsehole." Regulus spit, his own anger rallying that of his brother's. If he was going to survive, he was going to need to take a stand, and protecting his sister and her children were the way to do it.

Then so be it.

"R-Reg I—" 

"She's alive you bloody numpty, get up." The curse indeed knocked him down to his bum, but hearing this news halted everyone's movements.

"Cassi's alive?" Bellatrix questioned, and Regulus nodded. Looking around to family members and then some friends as he scoffed.

"You're a dead man," Regulus warned through gritted teeth, looking to the rest of the onlookers before returning back to his sister. It would be an honest godsend if he was ever forgiven, but returning back to the given clinic he sucked the smoke from his jacket and returned to his sister's side.

Even if she was asleep, and either set of the babies' grandparents were swooning over the babies.

"Twins...Sweet Salzar, Orion, twins." Either grandfather was in a glorious awe. While Clarissa could not get enough of little baby Halsey.

"When did Rory fall asleep?" Clarissa explained that the woman was asleep since they arrived.

"Oh she needs it Regulus, carrying two children...How are you feeling, uncle?" He smiled, it was definitely a title he needed to get used to. But he vowed to be an Uncle like his own, fun and an honest break from the entire world of pureblood royalty.

The Lestrange's knew that they almost lost Cassiopeia...Again. But seeing the bundles of newborns was indeed a sight for sore eyes, and what was even better...Was Walburga was nowhere to be found.

Romulus soon started to cry and Aurora shifted in her sleep as it started to wake her up, Clarissa was quick to take the firstborn from her husband and return him to his mummy.

Aurora was indeed confused at the sudden appearance of her in-laws, but it was a gentle surprise. Especially as she was worried about taking care of the little ones at the moment.

"Mum, could you hand me the blanket?" The woman jumped for the given blanket as she smiled.
"The boy's hungry isn't he?" Rory nodded, his whine was different than before and nor was it settled by just being in her arms.

Unclipping the front of her hospital gown did it allow a breast to reveal itself and in offering to her son did he settle fitful against it, his hands gesture up and around her breast as his hunger was indeed showing.

Aurora knew breastfeeding was a bonding experience between mother and child, especially when his eyes beamed up to her.
So innocent and adorable, it had Rory get another dose of emotions.

Mesmerized wasn't enough to share how hypnotized Aurora was with her children, it was the biggest relief to know that they turned to be healthy. Although her own immune system was struggling, she could heal.

They needed her.

She heard his footsteps rushing down the hall, and she attempted to pride herself to not be as hormonal. But Romulus was not at all cutting it with being utterly adorable, or Halsey falling asleep in her grandmother's arms.

Rabastan burst into the door, and already was he met with on onset of disappointment.
Whether that be from his own parents or the Blacks.

But his wife did not look up to him, in any shape or form.

Her attention stayed with feeding Romulus, running a hand through his little bundle of hair at the top of his head. But for Rabastan, seeing his wife alive and breathing again...
He couldn't ask for more.

Though Orion had instantly stopped him when he pushed forward. "How could you possibly—"

"Orion." Rabastan's father had saved him, Merlin had his father saved him from Senior Black.

However either knew that Aurora wasn't going to make his life anywhere easy.

"I'm going to help Narcissa with Halsey's cot and clothes...Rest up Cassi." Aurora smiled up to her second mum as those extra had started to leave the room.

Until it was just the four Lestrange's.

Rabastan took a careful step forward, though she still didn't raise her head. And another, yet no motion to meet his gaze.

"You broke your promise." She whispered, her eyes attempting to clear of the growing tears. But he couldn't care, even if she cursed him out he would still claim it to be a blessing.

He rushed to her feet, dropping down on his knees and began to plead. But she had yet to fully give up her attention from the child, Romulus was serving the perfect distraction from the git of a man before her.

"I'm sorry love I thought...I thought you were gone, you--" 

"'I want nothing to do with them.' How cold of a monster are you?... To abandon your ten-minute old children." She finally looked up to him, and the pain and hatred was far too easy to read.

Rabastan bowed his head, and continued to beg for forgiveness for jumping to conclusions.
For being an unfit father, but she wasn't going to take an ounce of it.

"No. I cannot—I will not accept words of an apology Rabastan...I have to stay here for—"

"Then I'll stay right beside you love. Love...My kitten. You've broken my heart endlessly with your nine lives, I beg you. Stop." Suppose she does have nine lives the way she's been going, but the misinformation of her death was plaguing Sirius.

What Rabastan had asked was the same as what her brother had, to stop almost dying.

Rabastan had asked countless questions, but either his wife ignored him or spoke in a 'yes' or 'no' comment. The stay for her was in light of allowing her to heal, transport would surely ruin her immune system's final straw.

The man received daggers any time he attempted to hold a child, and so he sat still and allowed his wife to tend to them. He watched in interest at every single bloody detail he could, observing how she held them, burped them...All of it.

But the breastfeeding was indeed as intimate as it could get. When Aurora finally fell back asleep, he made his move in picking up his daughter.
The hidden blessing, the one they weren't aware of.

Cissy purchasing an extra cot and clothes was indeed a necessity, but how could he live up to Aurora's expectations when he's already failed below zero?

"Just you wait...Auntie Cissy is going to dress the living lights out of you. Hmm, and your mum will surely love to do the same. Let's just stay away from Auntie Bella until you're older...Your Auntie Bella and Uncle Rolph, they'll be better when you're older. But your Uncle Reggie will indeed be your favorite." He continued to make promises, Rory was long from waking up from a single noise from him. But each loud babble from the baby would have her shift, almost checking if there was anything wrong.

Rabastan had settled in a similar chair to the one his wife was settled in, far more comfortable than what Saint Mungos provided. But the price of the service here was specifically for post birth.

Even when he attempted to sleep, his closed eyes could only torture him with the cries of his wife and her pushing a promise. One he turned into a wrongful vengeance.

Pure exhaustion is what allowed Rory to sleep without a guilty mind, but it pushed her husband into further insanity.

He wanted to hold her, kiss her, whisper to her again of how sorry he was. But alas, she was not going to allow any of that for quite some time.

Rabastan Lestrange was indeed in the dog house.

But it was better than her being dead.

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Date Posted: 09-22-19

Time: 6:18

Words: 3572

Boo! I'm early! But I'm not sadistic to leave you guys in not knowing the truth. I loved the comments for the last few chapters! So here's tomorrow's chapter a day early because I don't know if I'll have time to post.

Anywhoooo, do you think Rory should forgive Rabastan?
And look at lil Reg storming the battlefield;)

Don't forget to vote and comment:)