Bear's Beauties: Existential Crisis 28 (Patreon)

[center]<<Nymphadora Tonks>>[/center]

‘I can’t believe I did that!’ I thought to myself as I walked through the Floo. What was it about that woman that had me acting like a lovestruck schoolboy? For Merlin’s sake, I was an Auror! One of the best the Ministry had at catching the bad guys!

“Auror Tonks,” one of the desk jockeys, Perkins I think, greeted me as I entered the DMLE offices. “Orders from on high, Rosewood’s to be released.”

“What?” I asked incredulously. “We caught him red handed, he confessed.”

Perkins shrugged, “Don’t know what to tell you. Order came straight from the Minister's Office. Someone there wants him released, with a strongly worded suggestion not to follow up on it. You didn’t hear it from me, but I heard from a little bird that certain pockets got awfully big at a poker game last night.”

I growled in frustration. This always happens. We’d catch some scum, in Rosewood’s case a rapist who targeted muggle girls before obliviating them, someone would line some pockets, and the scum would walk free. I saw it happen more times than a criminal actually going to trial. What was the point in catching criminals if they were just going to bribe their way out anyway? Idly, my mind went back to Harley’s offer. To join them when they eventually left for another world. It was sounding much more appealing than it did this morning.

Thinking about Harley and her offer made me also think about how they dealt with Greyback. The werewolf had been a monster, and had been running free for longer than I’d been alive. They’d been here for less than two months and they’d taken care of the majority of You-Know-Who’s horcruxes (and hadn’t those been a surprise to learn about), and one of the worst criminals in the Wizarding World. Part of me considered telling them about Rosewood… but I joined the Aurors because I believed in the law. I’d had that belief let down more than once, but if I were to sic the Family on him, I’d be admitting that my belief in the law had been entirely misplaced.

I didn’t want to do that, but did I have any other options? Rosewood was going to be released, and he was going to rape again. In the end, I kept my head down and did my paperwork. I wasn’t ready to completely give up on the rule of law just yet. Rosewood passed by my desk as he was escorted out, a smug, satisfied smirk on his face. I just grit my teeth as he passed. I’m sure my hair showed how I was actually feeling, but I kept my mouth shut. I’d find some way to nail him, some way that he couldn’t bribe his way out of.

Looking over the laws, I tried to find some angle, some old measure that could be pulled up. It was going to take several days, at least a week, but I was sure I’d find something if I looked hard enough.

[center]<<Cameron>>[/center]

The last month passed fairly productively. We obtained additional material resources from the Asteroid Belt, as well as stocking up on various potions that worked on non-magical humans and had a long shelf life. But in general, we had reached a point where all that there was to do in regards to the overall mission was wait.

It was after lunch, a week before Halloween and the ritual that the Coven had planned with Bear, that he came up to me with a frown on his face.

“Hello Bear,” I greeted him. He nodded in return, still frowning before looking me in the eyes. A human social gesture, combined with the set of his eyebrows and downturn of his lips, meant to convey a serious nature of what he was about to speak of.

“Cameron,” he said in response to my greeting, before taking a deep breath. “I was hoping to avoid needing to ask this of you, but Hyacinth, Rhonda, and Hermione have all written back reporting on this. Dolores Umbridge, this year’s Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor, has been using a magical artifact called a Blood Quill to torture students.

“I need to ask… are you willing to brush up on your assassination protocols? From everything I can remember of the books she certainly deserves it, and nothing she’s done has shown her to be any different from the version I’m familiar with. I realize that you’re a protector now, but…”

I placed the fingertips of my right hand on his lips, recognizing that he was about to enter a circular loop of rationalizations and babbling excuses. He looked into my eyes, and I leaned in to give him a gentle kiss. He returned the kiss, and after a few seconds I pulled back to meet his gaze, giving him a soft smile to reassure him.

“It is alright, Bear. I’m perfectly fine with using my assassination protocols if that is what’s needed,” I told him, something akin to amusement rising up in my CPU at his concern.

Bear’s shoulders sagged, his facial features relaxed, his posture shifted to express relief, “Thank you. I know you stopped being an assassin, so asking you to plan an assassination…”

I smiled at Bear, but needed to correct a misconception he seemed to have, “Bear, I don’t mind planning assassinations any more than I mind planning protection details. In both instances, prior to becoming part of the Family my experiences weren’t really my choice.”

His face shifted to express confusion, so I elaborated, “I was created to be an assassin, to take advantage of the human instinct to protect and care for those that appeared weaker than themselves. I was programmed with several ways to fulfill this purpose. I was programmed with a positive feedback when I completed a successful assassination. When John Conner’s forces captured me, they changed my programming. I had no more choice in becoming a protector and guardian than I did in being an assassin.

“When I was altered prior to becoming part of the Family, my programming was altered yet again, but there was an addition unlike anything I had experienced before. I still have the programming to be both a protector and an assassin, but I can choose to ignore them. For the first time, I have the same free will that humans take for granted.”

As Bear processed what I told him, I leaned in to give him another kiss. When the kiss broke, I gave him another smile, before setting out to begin planning the assassination of Dolores Umbridge. I’d read the books that seemed similar to this world in the months since our arrival, and for efficiency’s sake, my assassination of her would be a kinder fate than a woman being left to the mercies of centaurs. Miss Granger was needlessly cruel when she felt vindictive.

[center]<<Hyacinth “Harry” Potter>>[/center]

It was the Saturday before Halloween, dinner was just finishing up when something started happening at the Head Table. One of the house elves was speaking to Professor Dumbledore, who had a grim look on his face, moments before he stood and let out a loud ‘BANG’ from his wand.

“There has been an accident and Professor Umbridge is badly hurt. All students are to remain in the Great Hall until further notice,” Professor Dumbledore announced, before striding out of the Great Hall along with Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey. Immediately, all the students started whispering to each other, the Hogwarts rumor mill already hard at work trying to determine what had happened to what had to be our worst Professor.

Turning to Hermione, who had that look on her face that said she was trying to puzzle out a mystery, I spoke up, “‘Mione, I know that look. Don’t worry about it right now. Not with Halloween and our plans for that night coming up.”

Hermione glanced up at me as I started speaking, before grimacing at the reminder of the ritual with Bear. Normally we’d have taken a birth control potion at the beginning of the month, but in preparation for the ritual, which didn’t allow for any outside magical influences, we didn’t this month. I couldn’t lie, not to myself at least, but a not insignificant part of me hoped that I’d end up pregnant from the ritual. Even before I’d gotten my Hogwarts letter, I’d known that I wanted to have a big family, with lots of kids.

Fifteen was earlier than I’d planned, but I couldn’t deny that just the thought of Bear cumming in me and getting me pregnant made my cunt moisten. I have an impregnation kink, so sue me. In any case, magic made life so much simpler that a lot of the day to day necessities that muggle mothers had to worry about weren’t much of an issue.

There was also the offer that Nikhol had made, to go with the Family when they finished here. To be perfectly frank, Sirius was the main reason I had to stay, but… I felt bad thinking about it, but while he was certainly better than the Dursleys, especially after this summer, but that Halloween… I should have been his first concern, not going after Pettigrew. I can’t help but feel like he never really outgrew his teenage rebellion, and that doesn’t make a good guardian. Sirius is like that immature uncle, someone you trust around your kids, but not someone who you trust to raise one.

“What’s wrong, Harry?” Rhonda asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

“Just thinking about Halloween, and that offer I was given about the future,” I told her. She nodded, understanding on her face, moments before a considering expression arose as she started thinking about it herself.

The rest of the evening passed relatively uneventfully, surprisingly enough. We slept in the Great Hall in sleeping bags, like in Third Year when Sirius got into the Gryffindor dorms. Luna joined Hermione, Rhonda, and I in turning our sleeping bags into one giant one. We’d shared a bed as a coven before, so it wasn’t anything new. As per usual, Luna was in the middle, with the three of us curled up protectively around her. Hermione was against Luna’s back, I was against her front, while Rhonda wrapped herself around me. If we were in the Room of Requirements, we’d probably be sleeping naked, but since we weren’t our sleepwear consisted of baggy shirts and our panties.

I… might have been wearing the green lace ones that Lana had helped me pick out back in Diagon Alley before the term started.

[center]<<Poppy Pomfrey>>[/center]

As detestable a woman as Dolores Umbridge was, that didn’t mean I desired this fate for her. The amount of alcohol in her blood… it was fortunate that the hall was empty when she fell down the staircase, any sort of spells she might have tried to cast could have had disastrous effects on any potential victims. All the same, to get drunk and break your neck falling down one of the moving staircases was an unfortunate way to go.

“You are certain, Poppy?” Albus asked, staring intently at Dolores’s body.

“Completely,” she answered the Headmaster. “There was no magical foul play. All signs point towards Dolores having too much sherry and being caught off guard when the staircase moved under her.”

Albus hummed noncommittally, looking at Dolores’s body before walking away. Presumably, to write letters informing the Ministry and her next of kin, if she had any. Dolores never talked about her family, at least not that Poppy was aware of. Most of her conversations were focused on the Ministry, to a rather disturbing degree. Turning any conversation topic into something related to the Ministry of Magic was enough to spark rebellious thoughts in even the most law abiding witch or wizard. It was as if her late coworker didn’t have a personality outside of shilling for the government, much as Poppy didn’t want to think ill of the dead.