Tenebrae Et Lux Chapter 16.

Content Warning: Cockwarming, Seduction, Teasing.

“Love is overrated.”

She leaned back in her chair and crossed one leg over the other. A sigh escaped her lips as she brought the cup to her lips and wet them with the swirling blood-red concoction within. A surge of power flowed through her slender frame and she trembled.

“Really. Trust me, you’ll understand what I mean when you grow up, little man.” She extended the glass towards the purple-haired baby staring up at her with big, curious eyes in a toast. “Love is a curse. Makes you weak. Can’t love anything or anyone. It was my father’s undoing. It will be Harry Potter’s undoing. It was nearly my undoing but the Fates intervened and showed me the right way.”

Teddy gurgled. 

“Yes, I know what you mean. She doesn’t even remember me, the little brat.” She rolled her eyes. “I didn’t expect her to. Well, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wish for perhaps a flicker of horror. After all, it isn’t every day that your past comes back to haunt you, aye?”

Teddy clapped his hands.

“True. You don’t exactly have a past to worry about. You’re lucky, I suppose.” Her dark eyes studied the pentagram drawn on the stone floor. Its red lines glowed faintly in the darkness. Tendrils of energy shot up from it and wrapped around the wooden legs of the cot that was placed in its center. The ritual would take days to finish but she didn’t mind. They had all the time in the world. It would have been easier if she had access to the venom but that was just another thing Wednesday Addams had ruined.

“A clean slate would have been more useful when you were older and had a few mistakes in your ledger.” She sighed and pulled her eyes away from the cot. She glanced at the cage in one corner of the room and at the elf hammering her fists against its shimmering walls in a futile attempt to get free. “I’d apologize but… why should I? You’re getting the best gift in the world, Teddy Lupin. A lifetime of following orders. A life without worry. A life without emotions. Just a busy little bee, buzzing around and serving your queen. No time for love, that pesky little bastard.”

Teddy cooed.

“I once made her the same offer I’m making you, you know? I promised her the world. All she had to do was join me. That sanctimonious little bitch picked that idiot and his bees instead…”

                                                                                              ---

Nevermore, Two Years Ago:

They thought she was shy.

Shy.

Delphini Riddle. The heir to two Great and Noble Houses, the future scourge of the Magical World; shy?!

Delphini snorted and returned to the book in her hand. Try as she might, however, her brain refused to register the words on the page. They swam on the yellowing parchment, turning into black wriggles that made no sense. Forced to give up, she set the book down on the roughly hewn wooden picnic table and let her attention wander back to the war. 

The unthinkable had happened. Her parents were dead, killed by a boy with no special talents other than a knack for being at the right place at the right time. Her adoptive parents had been tight-lipped about everything that had happened but she was intelligent enough to draw inferences and sneaky enough to find out more. The boy had survived a killing curse, again. Her adoptive parents, terrified of his seemingly supernatural abilities, had shipped her off to the most obscure magical school in all of North America. 

She rolled her eyes again. Killing her would have been a more merciful option but they had lacked the balls to do that as well. Her father and the boy were more alike than different after all, and they had no desire to incur the Dark Lord’s wrath if the great man managed to cheat death once more. Nevermore was where they sent rejects, half-bloods and half-breeds not fit for polite Wizarding Society. She curled her lip in disgust as a werewolf walked past her. 

Another casualty of her father’s demise? The perfect society he had dreamed of.

She shook her head, drawing strange looks from Bianca Barclay and her band of vapid trollops. She ignored them, just as she ignored everyone in the merlin-forsaken place.

She knew in her heart that her father was dead, she could feel his absence on her soul every single day. But she refused to let his dream die. She would succeed where he had failed. She would purge the Wizarding World of everything that was wrong with it, with fire and blood if need be.

It grated on her that she needed the assistance of a weak boy with barely any magical abilities and his stupid bugs to do it. 

She shut her book with a loud SNAP and got to her feet. 

He’s a tool, she reminded herself, to be used and discarded. Using him doesn’t make me weak. 

She walked through the unkempt gardens that surrounded the creaky manor, making her way to the ramshackle beehouse behind the rows of greenhouses. Eugene Ottinger would be waiting for her. He had to be waiting for her, or he would be sorry. 

The pudgy boy jumped she pushed open the door with a flick of her wand. The old, rusted hinges creaked in protest but she ignored the jarring noise as she strode into the room, all of her attention fixed on the boy standing by the bee boxes.

“D-Delia,” he stammered and she was pleased to see his pupils constrict with fear.

She was the horror in the night, an eldritch deity to be revered and feared. She was glad at least someone in the school got it. 

“Is it ready?” Her normally dulcet voice was sharp and clipped. She saw no reason to induct someone as useless as the boy to her side, to soothe and flatter him into seeing the world the way she saw it. No one in the school was worthy, save one. 

“N-Nearly… you have to understand-”

“I have to understand?” She narrowed her eyes. “That sounds dangerously like an order, boy.”

“N-no. It’s just… nothing of this sort has ever been done before-”

“And?”

“It’s difficult!” Eugene cried out, throwing his hands up in despair. “I did what you asked but the effects wear off after some time. Making it permanent is simply not possible.”

“Is that it?”

“Y-yes?” Eugene slowly blinked behind his thick glasses, clearly confused by the question. “You asked me to make six hundred vials. I made them. But they won’t last long if you have to-”

“The efficacy,” Delphini interrupted impatiently. “How strong is it?”

“Complete control. The bees obeyed without question, every single time.”

“Even if you told them to dive into the pond and drown themselves?”

“Y-yes.” Eugene’s lower lip trembled. He bit back a sob when the blonde girl in front of him snarled and raised her wand. 

“Shut up.”

“Y-yes. They did that too. Every time. I’ve shown it to you twice now, please don’t ask me for another demonstration.”

“I told you to drown an entire colony.”

“I did that! Every single bee obeyed without question, I swear!” Eugene wrapped his arms protectively around the bee box closest to him. “This is my last untainted colony. Please.”

“And you’ve made six hundred vials?”

“Yes!” Eugene raised his arm and pointed to a tarp-covered pallet on the table. “I was up all night making the last batch. They’re all there. Just leave my bees alone, please.”

She reached out to pull the tarp aside, only to freeze at the sound of approaching footsteps.  

“I warned you not to tell anyone,” she snarled, raising her wand. With a flick, the door was shut. She murmured a quiet incantation to lock it. “I am going to drown every single bee in that box, Ottinger.”

“Please,” Eugene cried, unable to hold back his sobs. 

“Don’t worry. You won’t miss them for too long. You’ll join them soon enough.”

She had a decision to make.

She couldn’t leave with an untested, unfinished product, especially since she had no means to improve or fix it. 

My father let creatures serve him, she reminded herself. She smiled and unlocked the door, keeping her wand trained on it.

“Eugene, are you in here?” Wednesday pushed open the door to the apiary and walked into the semi-dark room.  “Enid keeps annoying me and I need to ask you some-” She paused, mistaking her friend’s disheveled appearance and the presence of Delia Strange for something else entirely. 

“And to think Enid thinks you’re avoiding me because I hurt your feelings.” Wednesday’s lips curved into a satisfied smirk. There were few things she loved in life more than being right. “I told her that was impossible. Guess I was right. You’d never be mad at me. You’re just too busy with the new girl to remember I exist.”

Delphini, who was staring at Wednesday with wide eyes, shook herself free of the spell the dark-haired goth seemed to cast on her every time they met.

“With him?!” She hissed, her raspy voice going from shocked to enraged within seconds. “With a Mudblood?”

“A what?” Wednesday quirked an eyebrow. “Eugene, I’m disappointed Enid didn’t teach you the basics. If you’re playing around with blood, make sure you’re clean or the wounds get infected.”

“I would never touch him,” Delphini growled, incandescent with rage. “He’s beneath me. He’s beneath existence.”

Wednesday’s good humor evaporated in an instant. 

“I am a big fan of creative humiliation in the bedroom but you’ll take that back. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with Eugene.”

“You value him? You value that mutt?” Delphini cast a confused glance at the plump, terrified boy. How could someone with such a distinguished lineage consider a Mudblood a worthy companion? “Werewolves… Mudbloods… what is wrong with you? You are shaming your family name.”

“I tolerate them.” Wednesday’s voice was as cold as ice. “As for the family name, I’d be more than happy to trample it in the mud. A fitting punishment for parents as unbearable as mine.”

“I tolerate them as well. They have their uses. Together we can-”

“You didn’t let me finish,” Wednesday interjected. “I may not like their presence but they are my friends. The only person who gets to insult them is me and even that has limits. I’d never say anything that would truly hurt them. Not anymore. You will apologize to Eugene.”

“I-It’s fine, Wednesday,” Eugene mumbled. He hugged his bee box tightly and the bees emerged from within it, buzzing as they formed a protective barrier around him. 

“Their kind was meant to obey and serve,” Delphini hissed. She narrowed her eyes, her rage clouding her judgment. Everything she felt for Wednesday Addams was poisoned in an instant. It was a betrayal of the worst kind. 

“Eugene’s a good boy. He obeys the right people. Would you like an example?” Wednesday moved closer. Her hand disappeared into the pocket of her skirt and closed around her dagger. She didn’t know what was going on but she could sense something was very, very wrong. “Come here Eugene.”

“But… But my bees!”

“They’ll be alright.” Wednesday carefully extended her free hand toward her friend. “Come here.”

“She’s been killing them. These are the last ones left,” Eugene mumbled, hugging the box as tightly as he could.

“They’ll be fine. I promise. You know I never lie.”

Eugene nodded and carefully disentangled himself from the box. He pulled away from it and began walking towards Wednesday. He only made it halfway across the room before he slumped to the ground, stunned. 

“You picked the wrong person to bully,” Wednesday hissed, finally losing her composure. A quick glance at Eugene assured her he was alright and she turned her attention back to the enigmatic new girl. “The last person to threaten Eugene was a banshee. I carved out her vocal cords and nailed them to a tree.”

“He’s just a Mudblood. Unworthy. Unclean.” Delphini’s hand trembled as she raised her hand to point her wand at Wednesday’s head. “Don’t be a Blood Traitor. You and I, we can remake our world to be a better place.”

“I like the world just the way it is. Chaotic. Insane. And just a little murderous. Spare me the recruiting message.” Wednesday’s cold dark eyes silently mocked the insane girl. “I don’t know what a Mudblood is and I have no interest in finding out. Eugene will find his place in this world one day and I’ll be here to protect him until he does.” She moved closer, positioning herself between the girl and Eugene. “You might want to leave before I change my mind and make you regret what you did. I promised Enid I would go a week without doing anything that could get me expelled.”

“Give me your dagger.” If she would not listen, her fate would be the same as every other Blood Traitor, Delphini decided.

Death.

“Why?”

“It has the Themistolian curse on it, does it not? I have been studying the inscription.”

“Is that why you keep staring at me?”

“Yes,” Delphini lied. Her heart skipped a beat as Wednesday moved closer. “Give it to me.”

“Why?”

“The bees are bonded to the boy. I will use your dagger to kill him and seal the pact. The venom is useless until I do so.”

“See, I’m usually all for casual homicide but I’ve spent two years getting to know Eugene. I can’t let you kill him. I don’t have the energy to make another friend. What if the person I approach turns out to be as bad as Enid?”

They were wasting time she didn’t have. If Wednesday Addams would not listen to reason, she would die. But she decided to try one last time. “Give it to me and we can take our rightful place. We are better than them. We will rule them and the rest as Queens. Feared and admired by all.”

“A queen?” Wednesday scoffed. “Why would I want to be a queen? You want to give me what I want? Can you get me a man who isn’t clinically insane? One who can tie me to my bed and ravish me all night? They seem to be in rather short supply at the moment.”

“You would take a man over unlimited power?” Delphini asked after a minute of stunned silence. “A man?”

Wednesday shrugged. 

“You know who’ll be fun? That British wizard who’s been in the papers for the last three months. Harry Potter seems like the kind of man who has a bunch of inner demons he needs to confront. Those men are always such fun in bed,” Wednesday said with a Cheshire grin. 

“Don’t you dare speak his name!” Delphini screeched.

“If you have a thing for him we can share. It’s better this way. Men get attached and want to talk, it’s exhausting.” Wednesday made a face. “You can take care of the talking and I’ll take care of the fucking.”

“A THING?!” Delphini bellowed.

“Yes. Quite right. Thing?” Wednesday looked up at the beams that supported the wooden roof. 

Thing dropped down from one and landed on top of Delphini’s head. Its jagged, cracked nails dug into her skin, leaving angry red gashes across her face as it dragged its fingers over her right eye.

Delphini screamed and flailed around. Her free hand moved to grab Thing to pull her away from her face but Thing dug his nails into her skin and held on for as long as he could. It took her several minutes to dislodge Thing and fling it against the wall behind her. 

Thing landed with a sickening CRUNCH but Wednesday resisted the impulse to check on her familiar. Thing was a tough creature and could take care of itself. She took advantage of the girl’s distracted state and lunged at her, dagger in hand. By the time she had pulled Thing off her and opened her eyes, Wednesday had her pinned against the wall with her dagger pressed against her throat.

“You wanted the dagger, didn’t you?” Wednesday asked sweetly. “Here it is.”

“You’re making a mistake,” Delphini growled. Her hands weakly clutched her wand. She twisted her wrist, ignoring the spasm of pain the action elicited. 

“No, you made a mistake,” Wednesday growled, showing emotion for the first time in their encounter. She narrowed her eyes and gently pressed the dagger into the girl’s skin, applying just enough pressure to draw blood. “I haven’t activated the curse yet. Revive-”

Delphini could feel the dagger sapping her magic. She channeled all the rage she felt at the betrayal and pushed the wand against Wednesday’s chest, shoving the girl away with a Bludgeoning Hex.

Wednesday stumbled away from her and tripped over Eugene’s prone body. She fell to the ground, losing her grip on her knife as she did so.

“I offered you the world,” Delphini growled, rubbing her neck with the back of her hand to wipe away the blood. 

“I don’t even know who you are,” Wednesday spat out.

“Give me the boy and I’ll let you live.” Delphini raised her wand, her earlier confusion replaced by stone-cold determination. If Wednesday Addams would not stand by her side, she would not stand at all.

“One question,” Wednesday smiled. She coughed and swallowed a mouthful of blood. “What’s your stance on werewolves?”

“I told you. They’re half-breeds, unworthy of existing in the civilized world.”

“Oh good. Because the feeling is mutual.”

“Wha-” 

Delphini crumpled to the ground before she could say anything else.

“Sorry!” Enid squeaked, setting the block of wood in her hands on the ground gingerly. She carefully stepped over the unconscious girl and ran to Wednesday.

“I got worried,” she said, kneeling next to her best friend. 

“For once in my life, I appreciate that,” Wednesday wheezed. She was finding it incredibly difficult to breathe. Her vision darkened and she slumped to the ground, unable to muster the energy to prop herself up anymore. She coughed weakly and wiped her mouth, holding her bloody hand up and studying it with fascination.

“Come on, let’s go. I need to get you to a doctor!”

“Eugene…” Wednesday said weakly. She rolled off the poor boy and landed on her chest and belly. A mistake. The remaining air was driven out of her chest and she coughed again, spewing blood onto the ground.

“I can’t revive him!”

“Dagger… nullifies magic…”

“You want me to stab Eugene?!”

“Nick…”

“Who is Nick?!”

“His skin… cut… his skin…”

“Oh. Oh, right. Uh, gimme a moment.”

Enid scrambled to grab the dagger. Once she had it in hand, she crawled over to Eugene and gently sliced his palm, wincing the entire time. 

“Sorry, Eugene!” Enid mumbled as the boy shot up from the ground and tried to get as far from Enid as possible.

“What’s going on?!”

“Might be dying…” Wednesday wheezed as she coughed up more blood. 

“Eugene, help me get her up. We need to get her to a doctor.”

Enid and Eugene each approached Wednesday from one side and looped their arms under her shoulders, gently and carefully pulling her to her feet. Enid glanced at the unconscious girl behind them as they began to limp out of the apiary.

“What about her?”

“Kill…”

“That seems a bit strong, Wednesday. Must we solve every problem with violence?” Enid muttered, chewing her lower lip worriedly. She couldn’t bring herself to look at her best friend. Wednesday was far too pale and the trickle of blood running down from the corner of her lips to her chin did not portend anything good. So all she could do was carry her to the manor as fast as she could and pray that the girl didn’t bleed out before they reached it.

Wednesday Addams was too damn stubborn to die on anyone’s terms but her own, Enid reminded herself. They’d make it. They had to. After everything that had happened, she refused to believe this was how she’d lose her best friend. 

Wednesday shook her head in exasperation. She nodded at Eugene and mumbled ‘kill’ again.

“You want Eugene to kill her?!”

“I’m not really the killing sort, Wednesday,” Eugene mumbled. “I can hold her arms if you want?” he suggested, eager to be helpful to the girl he thought of as his older and extremely scary sister.

“No! You are not going to be culpable in a homicide, Eugene,” Enid said sternly. “You’re too young to go about helping Wednesday kill people.”

Wednesday coughed up more blood when she sighed. She gave up on trying to talk and focused all of her attention on staying conscious. She was fighting a losing battle and the darkness had taken hold of her long before they reached Nevermore’s manor.

                                                                               ---

Hogwarts, Present Day:

“Why are you naked, Wednesday Addams?”

Harry paused at the doorway of the bathroom, his cock stirring at the sight that greeted him. His girlfriend was lounging on his bed without a stitch of clothing covering her body. She had propped herself up on an elbow and turned so she was facing the bathroom, putting her entire body on display for him. Her slightly parted legs gave him a glimpse of the pink womanhood they guarded and he reluctantly forced his gaze to move upward. Which, it turned out, was a mistake since his eyes landed on her nipples, pebbled and stiff from the cold air and begging for his attention.

“It’s hot,” Wednesday said cheekily. She set the parchment in her hand on the bed and looked up at him with an impish smile. 

“It is not.”

“It might be tomorrow. Didn’t you hear Hermione? The unstable runes might overload and we might spontaneously combust. What happens when future you dies at the same time as past you?”

“I don’t know and we are not going to find out tomorrow. Put some clothes on.”

“You’re not wearing any either,” Wednesday pointed out. She made a show of licking her lips as she stared at his firm, scarred chest. 

“I am going to wear some as well.”

“Orrrrr.” Wednesday rolled the word over her tongue. “Neither of us wears any clothes.”

“We are supposed to be resting.”

“What if I promise to do all the work? A lap dance and a quickie. In and out, it’ll be over before you know it,” Wednesday bargained.

“You need the rest more than I do. You need to sleep.”

“You know what’s the easiest way to ensure I sleep all night? Fuck me into a coma.”

“You’re incorrigible,” Harry muttered. He flopped onto the bed with a grunt and pulled Wednesday against his chest. A quiet groan escaped his lips as she playfully wiggled her bum against his crotch.

“No quickie but I’ll be inside you until we fall asleep.”

“Do you want me to warm your cock on this cold night, sir?” Wednesday asked in an innocent voice.

“Yes,” Harry groaned, his cock twitching again. He ignored his pink cheeks and reached down to undo the towel around his waist, letting it fall to the bed.

“Deal.” Wednesday groaned quietly as she spread her legs and lowered herself on his manhood, letting the thick girth split her in two. Her stretched walls fluttered around Harry’s length as he impaled her and she was breathless by the time he was fully sheathed inside her even though she hadn’t moved an inch.

“What’s the letter? Harry asked, resting his chin on her shoulder.

“Oh, it’s from Eugene. He’s spending the year with his grandmother in Cornwall. Very happy,” Wednesday murmured, feeling a familiar warmth in her core. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the fullness that only Harry could give her.

“Who’s Eugene?”

“A friend.”

“You have friends?”

“I’ll have you know I have three.”

“Enid, Eugene, and Hermione. My, Miss Addams, I am impressed,” Harry teased, playfully pinching her stiff nipple. He rolled it between his fingers, enjoying the quiet, needy moans that escaped her lips. “How’d you manage to make a friend here if he doesn’t attend Hogwarts?”

“He attended Nevermore with Enid and me. He moved here with us to be with his grandmother because a crazy woman wanted to kill him. She homeschools him.”

“A crazy woman, you say?” Harry whispered after a minute of silence.

Wednesday’s eyes flew open and she tensed in Harry’s arms.

“Fuck.”

Notes:

I loved writing this chapter so much because I rarely get to give a villain a cool backstory. After all, there's only so much you can do with Voldemort or Umbridge. This story really gave me the freedom to go wild so I decided to dedicate a chapter to exploring it and it turned out more fun than what I had expected! The next chapter is going to be even more fun, what with two Harrys but only one Wednesday because of time turner shenanigans. Anyone excited for that as much as I am?