✧QUESTIONABLE ADVICE✧

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"Rory...Rory? Love, it's almost nine." It was all too deafening as she grabbed her pillow and plopped it over her ear. "I'm not allowed to come in today. I was there extra last night." Rabastan's brow rose, hadn't she said they needed to do overtime anyway?
Or was it just his wife?

And Otto of course, he wouldn't let Aurora stay on her own without supervision on staying the entire night.

"Is that so?... Had you told me sooner I wouldn't have taken a consultation."
"I thought you had today off too?"
"Seeing my wife doing overtime inspired me, it won't be all that long love. I'll be home before lunchtime, enjoy the children for yourself because when I get home...You are getting pampered." She removed the pillow from her head to look at him with a fresh pressing of her bed hairdo.

"Cheeky bastard...What are you implying?" She narrowed her eyes, and Rabastan was left on the spot to come up with a plan "I was thinking we start with a bath, a nice back rub...and whatever follows is up to my wife and her comfort."
  
"Then I'll have the elves find a good bottle of wine." He held himself in victory as he bent down to kiss his beautiful wife, sharing an apology that he woke her up...

In truth she had gotten an extra hour and a half before she decided it was enough lazing around. Sweet Merlin was the house quiet, what did—
"Mummy!" Roe screeched, a marker and paper in his hand as it'd seem the Elves managed to entertain the basket of children.

The entire lot of them, minus a bumbling Cara who was more than content in a booster chair and a stuffy, had been coloring while their mum slept in.

"Mummy I draw you and papa!" Romulus cheered, and honestly out of everything that has happened so far. Seeing her babes giving them creative gifts was all she could ask for.

Screw the rest of the world, right now in this morning would she relish in being a mum.

It was filled with activities, her fawning over the babes and giving Cara some attention. She hadn't meant to neglect the company, but it seemed like the twins had been faced with the most as their mum was pregnant twice after their own birth.

If anything, she was glad that she became a seer instead of a Death Eater like her husband. Hopefully it will stay that way, but of course the lingering feeling of knowing the truth about Clarissa was starting to make its way through the cracks.

It was a sick feeling.

Especially when he came home.

He spent all of an hour before issuing that both himself and his wife relax in the pool. It was a part of Rory's exercise routine as he soon found out she was trying to be active once again.

This was probably the longest he had waited on being intimate with his wife, and with everything that's happened between the two...the big contender of almost missing Cara's birth.

But now?
Seeing her enjoying a casual swim all before going into a very intimate bath, bubbles surrounding the given likes of her breasts. It allowed him a sane mind, but even now as he was giving her a massage, he couldn't take it much longer.

"I...I can take the birth control potion." She whispered right beside his ear and it was a blessing of relief. Of course he loved his children, but having another would—Would ultimately make him lose his sanity if a fifth were added. 

And he knew Rory felt the same way.

"Protected and beautiful." Rolling her eyes did she brush his hair to the back of his head smile up to her husband. "Your seed doesn't work on me anymore Rabastan."

"As much as I like seeing you carrying our children. Four is what we agreed on." Relief flooded her as she leaned into his hold and hummed.

"A family of six, who would've thought this was going to happen?"

"Well...I drunk owled my mother before OWLS? Perhaps it was after you told me you wanted to be a potions mistress. So I suppose I did picture the idea of children." She bit her lip in the pressure of the situation. "I always thought I'd have two, a boy and a girl." 

"And now we have Roe and Cara."

"Extra munchkins...Would you remind me of how you got me with child so quickly?" It was quite easy to fall back into sync, he could feel his wife nerves coming relatively quickly, but it subsided once the familiar connect rejuvenated the young couple.

Rory didn't want to ruin the moment and claim that she was partly uncomfortable, guilt rallied on how long she had made Rabastan wait. After all that she claimed to not be controlled in the area of the bedroom, she too had a hard time saying no to her husband.

The man worked hard, and with everything with his own family...She presented her husband with a settling gift of a good night.

For the first time in a while had he too relaxed, she was sure that after Cara that everything would heal. And it had, though it made her tight, that wasn't much of a problem until—It brought a growing smile as she recalled the pure euphoric feeling.

Reliving the blissful moments throughout their reconnection.

But of course it was interrupted, a small little pounce had Aurora lean up from Rabastan's embrace as she looked to see Romulus struggle to get into his parent's bed.

"Rommy?...What's wrong?" He sniffled, causing the mum to pull the thinnest sheet to cover her breasts and lean down.

"I can't get up." He pouted, and she continued down to pick him up probably.

"How about we get your blankie and stuffie?" His childish features beamed as he forgot the most important things in his life, causing him to hop back down and rush to the door and back to his room.

Giving his mum the moment to get dressed in some nightwear, and giving Rabastan briefs. "Rabastan...Rabastan!" He rose his head in confusion and a sense of disarray.
"Hmm? What is it?" A crooked smile emerged as he caught that she was still partly bare.

"Come back to bed love, it's far too early." She dropped a fresh pair of boxers onto his chest.
"Did you have a vision?" He spoke, rising partly as he rubbed the likes of his corner eyes.

"No, Romulus was about to join his parents in bed. So let's avoid that and get dressed." He followed in the same pursuit as his wife and covered himself with the boxers she had thrown at him, just in time for the little fellow had come running in with his pigmy puff stuffy and his blanket.

"Papa sleeping?" He whispered, and Rabastan attempted to hide a smile as he began to dig further into the pillow underneath him.

"Yes, so we have to be extra quiet." The father watched through his lashes as his wife gestured her figure over her lips and their son mimicked the movement in the same likeness. Soon he was picked up into the center of the bed and fumbled with the cover, cuddling the mist of both his parents.

Rabastan relished at the idea that he was close with his eldest, but he knew well enough what it was like to be the second son.

He promised that it would not turn out like his own father.

The light snores of his wife and son were fruitful, they were more than dreaming by now. So he propped his son right onto his chest and allowed him to settle before pulling Rory into his side.

This was utter perfection, and Rory's small kiss to his neck meant he was doing something right.

*

Aurora was more than relieved that winter had ended, especially now that her children could enjoy the garden and gazebo instead of being trapped inside all day.

And Rabastan was comforted in seeing that his wife was still managed the children and work all within the timespan of a twenty-four-hour cycle. Granted there were nights she worked and the day she would be home, it was very odd hours. But the stirring methods and needing to test a considerable amount of trial and error was at a much more mature level than what he's heard of in NEWTS potions.

The wizard had gotten an Exceeds Expectations, but was it truly an expectation?

If Rory could have she would've gotten double O's on the examinations, she managed to get the highest in her graduating class for her mistress degree so he could only imagine that the rest were night owls like his little bird.

He was currently watching from above at his study's window, Roe was perfecting his run while Cara was still almost at the edge of using her libs for more than crawling.

"Brother, did you hear me?" Rabastan jerked his head back for a moment before looking to his wife a final time and returning his mind to the conversation at hand.

"Both the Potters and the Longbottoms are hiding, our spy is still trying to figure out where they're located but—"

"He's a thick mess, I wouldn't trust him to do my bloody laundry. If he manages to figure out his wand then perhaps we would gain more than pity whispers. Dumbledore is going to get suspicious." Rodolphous frowned, knowing full well that his brother was right...But for another reason as well, his brother seemingly changed once becoming a father.

And becoming their father's favorite.

"Has Cassiopeia seen anything?" The man shook his head, they shouldn't rely on her erratic visions. They were too unpredictable and will most likely come when needed the most, right now were they still rampaging and trying to call out the Potters.

It wasn't that hard to find the Evans family.

Aurora hadn't known the details of the muggle-born's family, but that didn't mean she wasn't funneling all she could to the others. Sirius was being heavily silent on the other end, and Remus wasn't much better. To be on the safe side and not to cause Aurora any anxiety, she stopped contacting the Potters.

Too many memories and thoughts would be too difficult to hide within her mind, for the Dark Lord to even take a peek would mean a risk for everyone involved.

"Have you told her about—"
"No. The last thing my wife needs is more stress and involvement in this." Rodolphous narrowed his brow as he continued closer to his brother.

"You said she wanted revenge."
"That time has passed, she is with peace with her brother and father's death. I will not push her to remember such a thing, not when she is doing better." The eldest Lestrange son was indeed in knowledge of how Cassiopeia had overcome hardship after hardship...But withholding evidence to her brother's murderers?

"The Dark Lord hasn't asked for my wife's involvement and I would like to keep it that way brother, the children need one parent with them." The room grew silent, but Rodolphous wasn't one to take silence all that well as he let out an unsettling cough.

"You think otherwise?" Rabastan called out, and it was close to useless for him to claim otherwise. "She could be an asset to the manhunt."

"And leave the children for days and weeks on end? No. Her place is at home."
"Weren't you the one to claim that Cassiopeia wouldn't be a stay at home wife, that she would be a member of the—"

"She isn't a member, she has no mark. She is his seer and that is final."
"And if the Dark Lord wishes otherwise?"
"My wife is a favorite, if she was to be used she would have been already. Her reward is the time with the children and only aiding whenever necessary." Rodolphous narrowed his brows once again and scoffed to his kid brother, the way he was talking it didn't sound like a father.

"Aurora still has her soul."
"Are you claiming that she is not for the cause brother?" The air grew still once again, as a nerve was struck. "I simply don't want my wife to turn into her cousin, soulless and enjoys watching children cower."
"Halsey never cowards, and if she did is she truly a Lestrange?" Rabastan huffed, glaring off in his direction before returning back to look at the scene below.

"She's barely three!"
"By then we were already spewing the ways of the Dark Lord! At three father showed us what happens to mud bloods, traitors and muggles. When will they learn?!" Rabastan's shocked expression to this outburst was subjectively not the reason why his jaw was dropped.

It was because his wife was just behind his brother's frame, she beckoned him with a finger to her lips before coming closer.

"Rolph! Goodness what has it been, weeks?" She brightly questioned, coming closer and kissing his cheek. All with a smile on her face.

"Hmm, I was hoping to stop by and check something with my brother...Is it nap time for the children yet?" She perked her lips and shrugged.

"Depends, if there's a muggle downstairs you wish to torture and demonstrate then yes. They are sleeping." The man was caught more than red-handed at the sight, his face passive but completely apologetic as he attempted to claim otherwise.

"I think you forget that there are Ravenclaws in our children as well. Bella is on thin ice already for attacking Lydia in my manor—"
"I am not here to anger you sister, I am merely suggesting—"
"I don't need suggestions on raising my children!" Rodolphous had bowed his head in an attempt to clear favor, but Aurora was not budging.

"If I hear one bloody word from any of the children, any propaganda at all. You're dealing with me, is that understood?" Her eyes flaring was one of the reasons for Rodolphous hasty response, as well as its pairing with an angered brother.

This was their territory and family, his first son pass did not work here.

"Understood."
"Good, you're not leaving with some proper food in you. Daisy, when is lunch ready?" The two wizards and witch looked down to the elf who was delighted to tell them that they could make their way down now.

"I shouldn't...I have to—"
"You're eating lunch." She glared, and Rabastan struggled to hold in his own chuckle. It was a blessing to see Aurora take control of a situation if need be, Rabastan was far too close to his brother, or it was the younger sibling attribute that was kicking in.

The master of the home still felt like the lesser brother in the presence of Rodolphous.

But after the eldest Lestrange had tucked in a good plate he felt better, perhaps it was the light company of his brother and sister. Or the childish banter of Romulus and Halsey stealing food from one another, but he realized quickly that they were still learning their table manners.

Why would they need to learn anything of their world yet?

When the damned wizard had left, Aurora turned her attention to her husband for an explanation and all he could do was offer to open his arms. The mother of four sat down into his hold and allowed herself to be held, his warmth was rather artificial.

She knew he was a murder, and she knew loving him was a sin...But didn't she deserve some sort of happiness?

"I am glad that you do not have the mark Rory, that you are able to stay with the children...Countless times have I heard them ask for you when you're at work. I pity the children that they would've had." Aurora couldn't hide her expression when imagining the likes of Bella having any kin.

Whether it is a witch or wizard didn't matter, Bella's genes were far too dominate to—

Aurora held onto the likes of her forehead and stilled, Rabastan sat idly by as he allowed the vision to take place, this was exactly why Rory would not be able to work under the stress that the Dark Lord usually rallies his followers in.

"Mummy I—"
"Roe your mother is resting her eyes." That was a known excuse in the home, as after all the pregnancies, Aurora would suffer harsh migraines and would have to take a potion in her tea. Luckily her prescription was manageable, however it was mummy's health that had the children bustle up around their father's leg and wait for their mum to feel better.

Their silence making it almost impossible for Rabastan to sit still.

Watching his wife surcome to the vision had him call out for an elf's name, but it was silenced once Rory shook her head. "I saw them at Hogwarts." She whispered, her lip quivering as she planted herself into her husband's hold once again.

"Hoggie Hoggie Hogwarts?" Romulus cheered, and it was now the task of the two toddlers to start singing the school's theme song.

"And? How many are Ravenclaws and who are my Slytherins?" She shrugged, not knowing how to properly answer as it was seemingly just flashes of Lestranges wearing green or blue.

"Depends if we send our son's to school with long hair." Rabastan groaned, his impatience to know their houses was what made it unbearably slow, especially when all the bets were racking up further as time went on.

He bent down to meet his wife with a settling kiss to her cheek, but something he learned was that after these little glimpses to the future, she would be rightly exhausted for the rest of the day.

"I can owl Otto and say you won't be coming in tonight?"
"I wasn't going in tomorrow anyway, it's holiday apparently." Rabastan had little doubt that it was an actual holiday, for she was once again carrying the team.

She deserved the time off, and had she been preoccupied then this vision wouldn't have happened. "I think I saw a few green robes...they've mastered their metamorphic abilities by then. One Ravenclaw is the complete rainbow." The parent's eyes drifted from all the children, Rory believed to have seen a few Ravenclaws and at least two Slytherins.

Perhaps the vision showed Draco? Or one of their friends, whatever it was...It allowed Rory to softly fall asleep on her husband right then and there.

Rabastan withheld the chuckle, especially at the risk of waking his wife up. She looked entirely peaceful that he didn't want to disrupt her.

Instead he hoisted her up gently as he rose to his feet, an easy enough task as he continued to their bedroom. The trail of their mini herd of children just behind him.

"Papa I sleep with mummy." Roe whispered, and it caused Cara to pout.
It then turned into a full-on childish assault as Roe had hit Cara at top of her head. The two were more or less the same height consider there was less than a year difference between the two.

Rabastan Lestrange, a full flanked Death Eater whose killed a number of people, both magical and non...Was struggling to contain the little lot right in front of him.

"Time!" He called, and it caught the attention and curiosity of all four of them.

"Nobody is sleeping with mummy, you're all big witches and wizards and don't need to sleep with mummy right now." His response was met with clear distaste, a starting wail from Cara turned into Halsey feeling far too empathetic to the situation.

"Munchkins listen to your father...I need to rest my eyes for a little. Go play." It wasn't enough to stop Cara's whimpers, but the twins did listen, with them out of the room and off to go and follow their mother's directive, it was just up to Rabastan to take the younglings to join them.

He couldn't imagine how Rory survived the likes of the three of them, while pregnant, all while he was away. It struck a guilty nerve once again, especially when there was little he could do to sanction it.

But his mind went further off towards what the four little babes would look like in Hogwarts. "Mummy said you two were working on your hair?"
"Roe Roe and Cara can too!" Rabastan stilled, of course, of course, all his children would get their mum's hidden talent.

He still suspected that it was from the potion incident but he didn't voice his concerns. At least it wasn't harmless in the sense that it passed negative symptoms to the children.

It wasn't bizarre anymore, in fact he thought it was adorable and simple to identify their emotions. They learned a different shade a blue meant mummy or being upset. There were multiple shades of green as they couldn't identify which one was Slytherin, even after dressing them in the garbs.

Was it fair to analyze their children like he was? Of course not, but it was the bugging feeling of which few were heading into his house that was making him antsy.

Would it be his firstborn?
It made sense...But then Halsey? She was already showing signs of cunning and slyness that he honestly couldn't place her elsewhere.
Would there be a Gryffindor? Sweet Merlin he wouldn't be able to handle himself like Orion had if his eldest was sporting red colors.

But then his betraying thoughts of his children being in Ravenclaw simply contradicting all that he said to his wife in being in an honorable house.

It was a lot to process, especially looking at an almost-three-year-old little wizard and witch. Perhaps it was far too much for him to consider other aspects, but right now all he could think about Quidditch and what teams they'd play or positions.

Their mother, on the other hand, was focused on the reading aspects. Reading, writing and all the creative abilities such as an outlet like she had.

The mistress of the manor hadn't woken up until close to dinner time, and she was completely unaware of having fallen asleep until she found Rabastan with the children and received an explanation.

"I was thinking that I should make a green room."
"Well I like the sound of that," Rabasstan said, pouring his wife a cuppa as she sat on the sofa below him. It hadn't taken all that long for him to join her, a cuddling form taking over the conversation as she rolls her eyes.

"My mistake love, green room as in greenhouse—"
"Slytherin...?"
"Arsehole, a greenhouse to grow plants. It'll be easier than going to the store all the time. Especially after the bad batch of Anjelica." He hummed a bit before shifting through the long list of herbs and smiled.

"The sweetly scented steam and roots, and now how would that go bad?"
"They turned poisons instead of a given base for an antidote." He perked his lips together as he took in his wife's new hobby.

"I suppose you can, but then I want a full description of what you saw." Placing down her empty cup did she turn to look at her husband with all the attention in the world.

"They were walking through the halls, I...I want to say that there were five or six? I know Draco would be hard to miss but we decided to stop at four so—"
"You are on the potion love, there is no chance of becoming with-child when you are taking it." She nodded, the reassurance of his words making her all the more easier to explain.

"I thought Wyatt could be with them? But their colors were flashing and I just saw them so happy that I couldn't focus on one thing or another." Rabastan's heart was thumping far too loudly, the aspect of his children being happy made him happy.

"It reminds me of our third year, when Reg came and...And Sirius was still...." He watched his wife stumble and fall, after such a blessed vision was she meant with the harsh reality of how that wasn't what her and her siblings turned out to be. "Let it out Rory, it's best to let it out. What did your father say?"

"'Dwelling is escaping the inevitable.'" She sniffled her answer, seems like her husband was getting better at pausing his wife's emotions.

"I believe there are a few events coming up...Draco, yours and Cara's birthday. Our anniversary. The twin's birthday, and then Ronan's." She rolled her eyes, it was indeed going to be a long summer of boasts.

"The first summer I'm not with child...I think I'll cash in my present this year."

"You don't have to wait at all love, you still have pasts that I haven't made up for." Her brow rose at his tempting offer, and she rolled her eyes.

"I don't think I would've managed classes at Hogwarts had we been—" He silenced her with a kiss, a kiss that led to something more.

Something that Rabastan was forced to apparent to their bedroom for a wondrous night with his soulmate.

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Date Posted: 11-20-19

Time: 11:13

Words: 4329

So my psych prof canceled class Monday and I'm going to use up my one of my passes to miss my second class:) I don't know why professors always cram so much work at the end of the semester, I have a research proposal due Monday and a Legal psych presentation due Tuesday. I'm just happy we don't actually have to present it.

Also look! I posted before midnight:)