Work Text:
1831
Nott Mansion
Theophilus Nott
I kept my expression impassive as she entered the room. Lavinia Longbottom. Her light brown hair was in soft waves halfway down her back, she was exquisitely turned out, except for the barely noticeable smudge of dirt on the very bottom of her robes.
Probably playing with her plants again, I saw her mother take her aside and whisper to her and a second later; the dirt vanished.
Her father, who stood next to me, cleared his throat. “As promised, Nott. Just so you understand, if she doesn’t agree to this… there will be no contract, regardless of your fortune.”
I gave him a sideways look. He would be singing a different tune if he knew how much his depleted fortune had been from my own engineering. If I couldn’t get Lavinia to agree… well, I had other contingency plans in place.
One way or another, Lavinia Longbottom was going to be my wife.
So I made no response to her father and waited for her mother to escort her to me. I tried to smile as she approached, but her apprehensive look only increased and her eyes widened slightly. So I dropped the attempt going back to my impassive mien.
After so many years of etiquette training and politics, it was just easier to not let any expression show.
“Mr. Nott.” She said with a curtsy. Her soft brown eyes searched mine curiously.
“Miss Longbottom. Would you care to tour the gardens with me? The anthuriums are blooming.” Her eyes lit up at the mention of the gardens and she stepped close to me, placing her hand on my offered arm.
I placed my hand over hers, keeping her hand in place possessively.
“Oh dear, wouldn’t you rather stay here.. Indoors… with your father and I? We can all get to know each other so much better…” Her mother was clearly not fond of the idea of going back outdoors.
“I’ll bring her back in thirty minutes.” I cut her mother off. The whole point of this visit was to get Lavinia to agree to the marriage contract, and that wasn’t going to happen under the watchful gaze of her parents.
I could see the consternation in her mother's gaze and the resignation in her father's as they both nodded, allowing me to escort their daughter from my drawing room. I had them both by the shorthairs with my offer of marriage, really I could demand anything from them.
Lavinia was quiet as we progressed the house, a little nonverbal magic opened the double doors to the garden, and shut them softly behind us. She gave me a little glance at the show of power, but said nothing.
The summer sun was warm and a breeze softly played with our robes as the graveled path crunched under our feet.
The quiet between us stretched, and I found myself a bit at a loss on how to break it. Usually people talked to me , not the other way around. But she seemed content not to talk, and merely strolled along with me through my gardens.
Compliment her! My inner brain screamed at me when the silence became stifling. “Your hands are beautiful.”
She stopped so abruptly I almost yanked her along as I kept walking. She gave a small laugh. “My hands?”
I stopped in front of her, laying her hand palm down on mine. Her fingers were long and slender and she had short, no nonsense nails because of all her gardening. You could see little cuts she hadn’t bothered to heal, probably from thorns or some other gardening hazard.
With my free hand, I took my wand from my robe pocket and slowly healed each mark on her hand. Once her hand was free of marks, I lifted it slowly to my lips, meeting her eyes as I kissed her hand.
“Yes.”
A faint blush spread across her cheeks as she watched me. “Forgive me, Mr. Nott. It’s just all of this—“ She paused before continuing more firmly. “I am aware of my family’s circumstances. And while I appreciate your offer, I couldn’t consider marrying you for your…”
“Assets?” I offered. When she nodded, I spoke before she could continue. “Your family is in danger of losing your ancestral home. You and I would do well together, and I could prevent that from happening. You just have to agree to marry me.”
“My brother seems to think you’re not a good wizard.”
I knew that square faced git would be a problem. Bastard. I let my shoulders relax and put a charming smile on my face as if I was handling a political deal. “I’m not a good wizard. But I’d be a good husband, Lavinia, and I’d give you anything you wanted.”
I gestured to the gardens and the mansion behind us, quite a bit bigger than her own family’s.
She didn’t look at my gardens or mansions and was still considering me seriously, trying to see what made me tick. I had to convince her. I wanted her, and what I wanted I got . I pulled her closer, her strong, slim body pressed against mine. Lavinia was kind, but she was no pushover.
“I would probably be the villain in most fairy tales, Lavinia. I’m not a good person and I think I’m better and smarter than most people. But I can promise you something no one else can.”
Our lips were bare breath away from each other. I could feel the soft puff of her breath. “What’s that Theophilus?”
Fuck. Hearing her say my name did things to me I was not ready for- even knowing how much I wanted her.
“I promise to do everything in my power to make you as happy as you can be every single day of your life.”
Her lips parted, and I took that as an invitation, pressing mine to hers. Taking advantage of her innocence because, really, I was honest about that. I’m probably always going to be bad. What can I say? Life’s more fun with a bit of spice.
But I wanted my sugar too. I wanted her. I seduced my sweet Lavinia there amongst the flowers. I didn’t know how then how loving her would turn me down an even darker path.
9 months later
I held the doctor up by his stupidly colored green robes after giving him a shake. “I told you I didn’t want her in any pain.”
The elderly wizard choked on an explanation. “Sir! She’s giving birth! There is a little bit of-”
I jammed my wand in his wrinkly saggy cheek. “I don’t give a shit. You fix it. Now.”
I left the threat part unsaid. I found, as a general rule, most filled them in for you when you leave it open to interpretation. I let him fall to the floor in the upper corridor of my mansion and watched impatiently as he pulled himself together before scurrying back to my wife’s room.
I walked in after him, going immediately to my laboring wife’s side and giving him another threatening glare. Lavinia didn’t necessarily approve of me threatening people, so I tried to keep her in the dark as much as I could about it. Lavinia’s large pregnant belly almost completely blocked out her face even with her propped up on pillows.
Lavinia gave me a knowing look from where she lay in the middle of the bed, though, and I shrugged guiltily. “Don’t be a git, love.”
“I’m never a git.” She rolled her eyes at me. I wasn’t truly a git. People just needed to do what I wanted them to do, and everything would be fine.
She grimaced, her hand tightening on mine, and I could feel the anger surging in me. “We’re never doing this again.”
“What if it's a girl?” Her breath came in harsher pants as the contractions pained her.
“Then the Nott line dies out.” No way was I putting her through this again. She was uncomfortable, and she hurt. Unacceptable.
She laughed at me like I was joking. “Her baby can carry on the line too.”
“No one is good enough for my daughter to marry.” Really. Who would I trust with a tiny Lavinia? The Malfoys? The Goyles? Worse- the Weasleys? I shuddered thinking about those ginger abominations becoming part of my family line.
Her hand tightened further on mine, drawing me back to the present, squeezing all the blood out. That fucking doctor was going to die . Useless. Fucking. Bastard.
Sweat slicked her hair close to her skull, and she looked tired. I waved my wand so a cool charm enveloped her and she gave me a brief, grateful glance before her eyes clenched shut as she pushed.
I heard the cry but didn’t look away from her face. I knew when it was over because I saw the relief and relaxation spread across her face. The doctor brought the swaddled bundle up to her, and she held out her arms eagerly.
“Congratulations on your heir.” The doctor croaked hoarsely as he cleaned up after the birth.
“Screech!” My house-elf popped into the room, looking at me attentively.
“Master Nott has called Screech?”
I pointed at the offensive doctor. “Get him off of my land, adjust the wards to bar him. Oh, and pay him something.”
“Theophilus Nott!” Lavinia chided from the bed, but she was too late as Screech grabbed the wizards' green robes and apparated out. “That was rude!”
“Killing him would have been more rude.”
She rolled her eyes at me before looking down at our son. “Don’t joke.”
I wasn’t.
“Come meet our son, Nicholas.” She lowered the baby slightly to show me. It was alarmingly red, and almost purplish in spots.
“What’s wrong with it? Why’s it look like that?” All that and I got a disfigured heir? Fuck.
She gave me a stern look. “He was just born, Theophilus. Don’t be a prat.”
I gave him a little pat to try to make her happy, but I must have done it too hard because it opened its little eyes and began to make the strangest little gasping sounds. The eyes caught me, though. They were her eyes.
She pulled her nightgown down, exposing her breast and let the baby latch on. I cleared my throat uncomfortably, not sure how to handle the conflicting emotions. She looked at me, then scooted over from the center and patted the space next to her, saying the magic words.
“It would make me happy if you laid next to me, Theo.”
I laid next to her, scooting close, my head on her shoulder watching as she fed my son. Well, even if my son turned out to be ugly, I would just have to make sure my fortune was big enough to help him get a wife. Lavinia was beautiful and really I’d gotten my share of compliments, so I really don’t know how we managed to have an ugly baby.
“He’s not going to be ugly, Theo!”
I started guiltily. Had I said something out loud? “I didn’t say anything!”
“I can tell by the face you're making. It’s the same face you make when you see Frederik Crabbe.”
I shuddered, even purple my son wasn’t as hideous as Crabbe.
“Theophilus!”
I looked at her contritely and said truthfully. “I don’t think our son is as hideous as Crabbe.”
She reached over and tugged lightly on my brown curls, and I playfully winced. Then brought my hand up to cup her cheek. “I love you. How can I make you happier, love?”
Her soft gaze went back to our son. “Love him like you do me, Theo. That would make me happy.”
I looked at it, shit that was going to be hard. I sucked in a deep breath and said determinedly. “I will.”
Again, I was wrong. Story of my fucking life.
2 years later
“Friar! Friar!”
“Fa-th-er.” I pronounced it slowly for my son, and he grinned at me as if I was making a joke. He was a clever little mite with my sly humor and Lavinia’s lovely brown eyes.
“Choo choo Friar!” He pointed excitedly at his toy train and I waved my wand indulgently, making the train run about in circles on the floor. I had found that Lavinia was actually quite right about Nicholas. As he grew, he became less purple and much more pink. He was actually quite a cute child, and it was no hardship to love him.
It was easy.
The sky darkened outside my study windows though, and I suddenly realized time had gotten away from me playing with Nicholas. Where was Lavinia? She had just gone on a quick trip through the surrounding wood to gather some seeds…
As if my sudden worry sparked a chain of events, the clock that hung above the study let out a loud chime and the hand labeled Mistress Lavinia Nott ticked down to mortal danger.
“Screech!” I screamed.
The house-elf apparated in front of me and I grabbed it by its skinny arm. “Where is Lavinia? Is she on the grounds?”
The house-elf blinked and I could tell he was feeling with his magic for his mistress. “Mistress is not on Nott land, master.”
“Where is she? Can you feel her? Take me to her!”
Screech swallowed visibly and nodded. I went over and grabbed Nicholas, who was staring at me frightened by my reaction, but I didn’t have time to comfort him. I needed to get to my wife.
Seconds later, my house-elf apparated us to the middle of the woods. Two muggles stood with long sticks pointing at my wife, who was lying bleeding in the dirt.
“What the fuck is going on here?” I asked dangerously, my magic sparking along my skin as I let my son slide down my side, knowing Screech would take him.
“It's another devil!” The muggles yelled and their little sticks came up. What did muggles have wands now?
A loud bang made me flinch, and I was knocked back as something slammed into my shoulder with tremendous force, pain spreading.
Muggles. I sneered at them, bringing up my wand with my uninjured side. “Avada Kedavra!”
They dropped where they stood, and I staggered to where Lavinia lay.
“Theo.” She gasped, blood bubbling up through her mouth.
“It’s going to be okay, love, I’m here. I’ve got you.” I turned to where Screech stood frozen, holding on to a crying Nicholas. “Get a damn doctor!”
I turned away before I heard the pop of his apparition. Nicholas toddled over to us, pressing against my side, and I wavered unsteadily for a moment, blood loss making me weak.
Tears slipped down her face and I tried to wipe them away, but I left blood smears from where my shoulder wound had leaked onto my hands. “Shh, shh love. It’s going to be okay, just hold on a moment, you’re going to be fine.”
Her lips moved, but no sound emerged, and she blinked rapidly at me. I felt her body shudder, a sharp exhale leaving her lips.
“Lavinia?” I patted her cheek softly. “Lavinia, wake up.”
Nicholas was crying hysterically next to me, but I couldn’t turn away from her. She needed to wake up. Wake up, Lavinia, please.
Her body was frighteningly still, blood and tears slowly drying on her face. My beautiful wife.
I promise to do everything in my power to make you as happy as you can be every single day of your life.
I pulled her close, ignoring the pain of my shoulder, grief so intense and sharp sweeping through me I felt like I was dying too.
I wanted to die too.
Screech was usually a smart house-elf. But even he must have been affected by what was happening. I could think of no other reason that he would apparate back with the same healer that had done so poor a job helping my wife through her pregnancy. The healer who had let her feel pain.
I killed him, too. Useless prick. I’d rather fucking die than have him help me and there was nothing more he could to do to fail my wife.
I refuse for this to be the way my life would go. I absolutely fucking refuse. And what I wanted. I got .
I looked over at my hysterical child and pushed down all my grief and let icy determination take its place. “Your mother is sleeping. Calm down now.”
“Friar?”
I nodded. “She’s sleeping, Nicholas, don’t be loud.”
The house-elf’s eyes were so wide they looked like they would pop out of their sockets. I looked over at him. “Apparate the bodies to the basement, my son to his room, and move me and my wife to the laboratory.”
With a snap of Screech’s fingers, I felt the pull of the apparition. Feverishly, I stumbled through my lab, popping the cork on various vials and drinking them. Blood replenishing, pepper-up, pain killer. Then I put dittany on the fucking hole the fucking muggles made in me.
“Expecto patronum.” My throat tightened as my patronus made little rolls in the air. Before Lavinia, it had been a perfectly respectable raven, but soon after our marriage it had changed to match hers. A tiny little porcupine. Fucking embarrassing. Now Pyxis would know that fucker. I realized I was probably quite out of my mind to have these thoughts as my dead wife lay feet from me. But then she wasn’t dead, was she?
No, she was not .
“Go to Pyxis, find him by himself. Tell him I need him now.”
I pulled out my family’s book of research on spells and began to cast preservation spells at Lavinia feverishly. Cleaning her, closing the wounds on her body.
“I knew there was a reason you never cast a patronus anymore, you lovesick-oh fuck.” Pyxis Black cut off abruptly as he saw Lavinia’s body spread out on the table, and me standing over her.
“What happened, Theo?”
“Muggles killed her.”
“What? But how?”
I shrugged. “They had some kind of long wands. I don’t know I killed them.”
“Fuck. You know the Ministry just promised their government we wouldn’t kill them!”
I shrugged. I didn’t care. I’d kill them all if I could. Pyxis gray eyes inspected my wife, noticing the preservation spells I had in place.
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to bring her back.”
He flinched. “Nott you know that never works out right..”
I waved an impatient hand. “No, I’m not an idiot like Lestrange.”
“Then how?”
Pyxis was one of the few people who knew the progress I had made in my life’s work. I slammed down the large volume. “I’m going to go back and fix it.”
The gold lettering on the book gleamed against the black cover.
Time Turners: Research by Theophilus Nott.
10 years later
Pyxis came into my wife’s room, where she lay sleeping, forever the same as the years rolled by and I toiled unceasingly, obsessively in the laboratory. I barely left my house, and warded it to the hilt to prevent nosy visitors. Most times Nicholas acted as my assistant as I perfected the time turners.
Black sat beside me, his hair longer now, in wavy black locks that almost reached his shoulders. “Have you thought about what else might change with this, Theo? It’s been ten years. Maybe it’s time to let go.”
I simply held out my hand, and he hesitated only briefly before handing over the last ingredient I needed to make my time turner work. I had made so many. So many. But they were weak. Success had never cut so deeply as when I discovered that my creation was only powerful enough to send me back hours. HOURS. I needed years.
“Don’t leave without me.”
“I won’t.” I promised. Pyxis and Nicholas would be traveling with me to fix the past. To finally bring my Lavinia back.
We had discovered with earlier experimentations with time turners that only those who traversed with the time turners retained their knowledge of multiple timelines. Pyxis did not want to forget everything if I was successful, and Pyxis himself was determined to change an unfortunate marriage contract he had signed by warning his younger self.
We moved to the laboratory, and I quickly made the adjustments to the time turner, adding the final ingredient to make it more powerful than my other previous failed attempts. Nicholas burst into the door, excitement on his face at the thought of his mother finally waking back up.
“Father! Are we going?”
I smiled into his soft brown eyes. “We’re going to save her.”
Pyxis reached over to ruffle his hair. “No, thank you to your godfather?”
“Thank you!” Nicholas gave him a hug.
“Gentlemen, no time to waste.” I chuckled at my own joke as they rolled their eyes at me. “Ten turns should do it, Nicholas. You spin it for us.”
We all leaned close, inside the tight chain of the time turner, to make sure we would all get pulled back.
The room spun dizzily around us, and I felt as if my skin was being peeled off my bones, and for a frightened second I thought I had failed and killed us all. But then it stopped, and we collapsed. I looked around frantically. It was my laboratory, but when?
“Screech!” The house-elf popped into the dungeon with wide eyes. “Where is everyone right now, Screech?”
After several tries while I waited impatiently with my little group, the house-elf finally answered. “Master and young master are in the drawing room playing, Mistress is gathering seeds… and uh, older master and older young master are… here in front of Screech?” He finished uncertainly.
“Fuck, this is closer than I thought. We got to go, make it fast, Pyxis. Five minutes, then we’re back here.”
We all nodded and apparated. I took my son to where his mother had been killed by muggles ten years ago today. And we caught them just as they were aiming their fucking muggle wands at her. Anger and hate surged through me.
“Avada Kedavra!” It was a pleasure to kill them again. Lavinia startled at my shout, ducking slightly against the bush she was next to about fifteen yards away.
They dropped with barely a thud to the ground, and I was proud to see that my son paid no more attention to them than if we had killed some rodents. I had raised him well, and even after we went to our new timeline, he would remember this one, and the lessons he had learned about the dangers of muggles.
“Mother!” Nicholas yelled out, tears already flowing down his face, and he ran to embrace her.
Lavinia staggered back as he barreled into her. Our twelve-year-old son. “How? What? Theophilus! You killed those people!”
I shrugged, plucking a piece of lint off my sleeve and moving closer to her before walking closer to her. “Lavinia.”
When I was close, I reached out to stroke her cheek, warm and wonderfully alive. I could see her smart mind putting the clues together, the dead muggles, a young boy who called her mother and her older husband.
“What did you do, Theo?” She looked frightened and not exactly happy, but she was alive . One step at a time, I would have to rely on the Theophilus from this time to step in and make her happy again, and I would go back to her alive again in my time. Then I could begin my life's work of making this up to her and giving her anything she wanted.
“I’m keeping my promise. Now go home, and for Merlinsake Lavinia, keep an eye out for muggles, dear?”
Nicholas sniffled and finally pulled back, letting me pull Lavinia into my arms. I shuddered at the feel of her again, warm and breathing against me. I never would have given up on having her again, but I hadn’t thought it would take me ten years either.
“I love you.” I whispered.
Then I set her resolutely away from me, knowing the me of this time would come looking for her soon. I grabbed my son, who tried to shove my hand off, wanting to stay longer with his mother, and apparated back to the lab. Seconds later Pyxis appeared with a grin.
“We’re going to change the world, Nott.”
“We already have, Black.”
Things went about splendidly for years really after that. Nicholas, Pyxis and I made jumps as necessary to make sure our politics succeeded. A little more persuasion here, some light sabotage there.
We introduced legislation to make sure that any harm towards a muggle was met with no more than a slap on the wrist. We introduced penalties to prevent those born of muggle families from introducing their dangerous ideals or relatives too closely into wizarding society.
Disgusting mudbloods.
Until we were betrayed by Pyxis' own grandchild, Phineas Black. A horrific little blood traitor who supported muggles.
A veritable entourage of Aurors, Unspeakables and the Minister of Magic himself showed up at my mansion, demanding a search.
They made my wife unhappy, which really pissed me off, but I knew she would be even more unhappy if I tried to kill them all, so I grudgingly allowed the indignity of their search.
One of their Unspeakables, Eloise Mintumble, questioned me thoroughly about my use of my time turners, and how far I had gone back and what exactly I had changed. And importantly who else knew about them other than the Blacks? I met my son’s eyes, and he gave me a little smirk. Nicholas, as much as he took his mother’s features, was my son. The ten years we spent alone together ensured that he never picked up some of his mother’s more problematic beliefs. Her Gryffindor heart was too pure for this world, which was fine, I would protect her.
And so both myself and my son both lied shamelessly to them all. Idiots. Really, without some type of assurance they were going to trust the things we told them?
Veritaserum?
Anyone?
Not that would have helped them get to the truth, I was quite good at occlumency, but still . They deserved what they got for stealing my creation.
As a final affront, they brought my entire family into the drawing room and placed a blood curse on my line, preventing us from discussing the incident or revealing how we created time turners.
They knew exactly where to go to get all my time turners, including the one experimental one that had taken me back the ten years to kill some useless muggles. As soon as they left, I apparated to the Black London House on Grimmauld.
I slammed in without waiting, crushing the house-elf between the door and wall. “Your little miscreant of a grandson has made my wife unhappy!”
Pyxis jumped, his half dressed wife on his lap. “Merlin! You fuck! I’m going to have you barred from my wards!”
“Did you hear me? Can’t you raise your children right? You are raising damn muggle lovers! Isla already married a muggle-”
“I don’t have a child named Isla!” Pyxis gritted out between his teeth.
I rolled my eyes, idiot. Blacks were fucking idiots, even if he was my best friend. He couldn’t disown Phineas with Sirius dead from a blood curse. No time travel could have saved his firstborn son from that fate. There would be no one left to carry on the Black line if Pyxis disowned Phineas. I shook my head and apparated back to my house. My wife was waiting for me, tapping her foot angrily.
“Theophilus Nott! What exactly have you been doing?”
I gave her a contrite little grin and said pleadingly. “I told you when we married Lavinia… I’m the villain in this piece.”