[From Samhain to the Solstice]; Shadows After War, R, Harry/Theodore, sequel to Shadow Magic, 3/3

[lomonaaeren]

Part Two.

Title: Shadows After War (3/3)
Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling and associates own these characters. I am writing this story for fun and not profit.
Pairing: Established Harry/Theodore Nott, Padma Patil/Susan Bones,
Content Notes: AU, angst, violence, present tense
Rating: R
Wordcount: This part 1500 words
Summary: Short epilogues and one-shot sequels to Shadow Magic. Harry, Theodore, and Harry’s marked followers explore their new post-war world.
Author’s Notes: This story will make zero sense without you having read Shadow Magic, so do that first. These are being posted as part of my “From Samhain to the Solstice” fic series. There will be three of them for now, but I may add to them at some point.

Thank you for all the reviews! Right now, this is the last part of Shadows After War, but I will probably add to it at some point.

Seekers Keepers

“I don’t understand what this is. A vassal social?”

“There are enough of us now that not everybody knows everybody. So Harry organized this kind of thing so that we can keep in touch.”

Granger just gazes at Susan in what reads like stupefaction, although Susan has no idea if it actually is. She took up the responsibility of getting Granger here, and that’s all she has to do. She has more important people to go and find.

“Here” is the large set of gardens behind the Nott House, where Harry and Theodore took up living right after they graduated from Hogwarts. They’ve done some remodeling, though. Susan remembers this garden as gloomy, with hemlock trees shading it, and high hedges, and no flowers at all.

Now there’s a fountain splashing in the middle, into a stone basin that seems to be decorated with protective runes. The statue in the middle of the fountain is a woman with a face like Lily Potter’s that Susan has seen in a few photographs. And there’s a bonfire, and most of the hemlock trees are gone—Susan thinks they’re what’s feeding the bonfire, actually—and there are raised beds with force-grown white flowers shining softly.

Granger walks hesitantly towards a group that includes Millicent and Justin. Susan makes for the food tables, partially because she’s hungry, and partially because the person she’s seeking is more likely to be there.

But she’s not, and Susan has to endure congratulations on getting out of the “ambush” that Montague tried to arrange for her with the Ministry. Susan smiles through it, and now and then exchanges a greeting with someone she’s friendlier with, and picks up a plate of sliced cheese, fruit, and nuts to search the darker corners of the garden.

In the end, she finds Padma with a book on a bench near one of the banks of white flowers, which actually seem to shed their own light. It’s not enough for reading, though, and Padma has a Lumos hovering on the end of her wand. Susan sits down next to her, and waits patiently for the blasted Ravenclaw to look up from her tome.

Padma doesn’t take more than three minutes to look up, though, and when she does, her glance is long and slow, and her smile the same. She puts down the book and steals some of the nuts from Susan’s plate. “Can you believe that Parvati actually asked to be marked? I’m not sure if I’m more surprised by that or by Harry’s accepting her.”

“I think she realized that there’s more gossip in the group than outside it.”

“Susan! That’s rude.”

“But accurate.”

Padma struggles against a smile for a moment, and then does it. Susan watches the way the firelight gleams in her long black hair. “Yes, fine, all right. She had other reasons, too, including missing me, but I think that’s one reason.”

She reaches for a slice of pineapple. Susan reaches out and covers Padma’s hand with hers.

The hand trembles a little under her touch. “I—Susan, you were just waking up from a very addictive potion when you told me—”

“That I love you? That I want to be with you? I don’t care. It’s the truth.” And Susan was recovering from a less addictive potion at the time, thank you very much. It was after one of the last post-war skirmishes, when a group of former Death Eaters attacked some of Harry’s vassals in Hogsmeade. Susan took a Cutting Curse to the stomach—something she’s still annoyed with herself for—and had to stay in the hospital wing and on potions for a week. But Padma visited five days in.

“How can—we never even spent that much time together.” Padma’s head is bowed, her hair falling forwards around her face.

Susan gives in to her desire, and reaches out to stroke the hair. Padma hitches in a trembling breath, but doesn’t object. “No, we haven’t spent all our time together the way Harry and Theodore do.” She rolls her eyes when Padma looks quickly up, so she can see it’s a joke. “But, Padma, we’ve had great conversations. And you understand revenge. And we both want power. And you listened to me babble when I was on that other addictive potion for depression and never told anyone.”

“Who would be interested in how much you were grieving for your aunt?” But Padma’s joke falls flat, and Padma shivers a little as she reaches out to curl her fingers around Susan’s. “Susan…”

“Just say that you’ll give us a chance,” Susan interrupts. Ernie would tell her it was Hufflepuff stubbornness, but with a note of pride in his voice. Susan doesn’t care if Padma calls it the same, just as long as she does give them a chance. “I want to know that you’ll go on a date with me instead of putting me off again.”

“Why do you think I did that?”

“Because your family won’t approve of a woman dating a woman?”

“They—they already don’t approve of the fact that I let Harry mark me. I hope they’ll come around now that Parvati’s doing it, too, but I don’t want to strain my relationship with them any further.”

“Then let it remain among the vassals for now,” Susan says. “You don’t have to move in tomorrow. But date me. Dance with me tonight. Kiss me.”

Padma swallows and looks up. “I’m not from the House of the brave,” she says. “I thought you would go away if I just waited. I thought my dreams would go away.” She pauses.

“But?” Susan prompts. She’s not from the House of the brave, either. Just the exceptionally stubborn.

“They didn’t go away. And I don’t want to sit around and do nothing my whole life out of fear of what someone else might think.”

Padma’s hands are trembling as they rise and touch either side of her face. Susan leans forwards, and sees the firelight sparkling in Padma’s huge, dark, beloved eyes, too, just before they close and they kiss.

For a first kiss, it’s very nice, dry and soft, and Susan is smiling when she pulls back. Padma leans her head on Susan’s shoulder, and Susan combs her hand through Padma’s hair.

*

Later, after Harry has marked Parvati and a young Auror named Hestia Jones, they dance together, Susan with her cheek pressed to Padma’s and her arms around her for the first time. They are both good, graceful dancers. That’s at least one lesson pure-blood parents provide for their daughters, and Aunt Amelia always insisted that Susan would know how.

Susan smiles a little as she thinks of her aunt. For the first time in years, the memories don’t hurt. Susan thinks she can move forwards, now.

They’re getting more food when Granger stumbles up to them. She looks a little wild around the eyes.

“Yes?” Susan asks. Someone else is going to be Apparating Granger home, but she wonders if Granger forgot.

“I—there’s so many debates here!” Granger all but explodes. “And they know more about history than I do! And—and there’s Percy Weasley here!”

She says it like Percy’s decision to be marked is the one that might sway her to be really loyal to Harry, instead of just trying to convince him that he’s wrong. Susan carefully doesn’t roll her eyes. For her part, she thinks Percy joined Harry for power, not for moral reasons, but he does have to be loyal or Harry wouldn’t have marked him.

“Yes, we’re like that, Granger,” Padma says, smiling at her. Susan curbs jealousy that says all Padma’s smiles should be for her. It’s ridiculous, how much more she wants of Padma now that she has her. “We’re not all the same, and you’ll need to be able to get along with more than Weasleys if Harry agrees.”

“It’s amazing,” Granger says, and wanders away, hopefully to engage someone else in debate. Padma turns back, and nearly chokes on her sliced pineapple. Susan hopes it’s the way she’s watching her. From Padma’s downcast eyes—and the blush that Susan thinks she can see tinging Padma’s delicate brown skin—it probably is.

“Come on,” Susan whispers, holding out her hand.

“But the party’s not over for hours yet.”

“That’s not going to matter.”

Padma opens her mouth, seems to realize what she’s about to say, and nods. The probable blush deepens. Susan intertwines their fingers tighter, and leads Padma to the edge of the gathering.

They see Harry and Theodore on the way, Theodore leaning back against Harry and both of them looking up at the sculpture of Lily Potter. Harry is running his hands delicately down the sides of Theodore’s neck. Theodore has his eyes closed, so Harry is the one who sees them and inclines his head with a faint, relaxed smile. Two shadows spring up from either side of him and bow to Susan and Padma, then detach from the rest and follow them to the Apparition point.

Well, it’s nice to know that we have our lord’s blessing, Susan decides, and then puts her arms around the only woman she wants to take home tonight, and Apparates.

The End.