“We want to talk to you two”, Hermione and Viktor shyly approached Harry and Lyra who were sitting at the dinner table.

“You look serious”, Harry noted.

“We want to transfer all our money into your Gringotts vault”, Viktor looked him in the eyes. “We talked and concluded that you have been taking care of us for years, not allowing us to spend any money, and when Lyra revealed that she’s earning money to provide for all our babies, we decided we don’t want to be assholes”, he smiled, as Hermione slapped his shoulder.

Lyra and Harry looked at each other, as if speaking wordlessly for a few breaths. Then Lyra nodded.

“We have a better idea, if you agree”, Harry smiled. “Lyra and I already discussed it, but we didn’t know how the two of you would feel about it. We considered formally merging our families into a joint House, under ancient law. It would be a Clan, of sorts, consisting of two nuclear families, and all children of the House would automatically inherit, but it would not prevent them from marrying children of the House who are not of their biological parents. The House would have a common treasury and all adult members would have right of access and use of funds without restrictions”.

Hermione and Viktor looked at each other and smiled. “That sounds awesome”, Viktor nodded.

“We need the name of the House for the official documents”, Lyra smiled.

“Since we are asking to merge with you, of course it would be your family name, Malfoy-Potter, and Harry will be the head of our House”, Viktor was adamant, and Hermione nodded firmly.

“We agree”, Lyra nodded in assent. “We will be known as Viktor and Hermione Krum of the House of Malfoy-Potter, and Harry and Lyra Malfoy-Potter. Let’s all go together to the Ministry and Gringotts tomorrow morning to do the paperwork”.

“Yay, we get to be family officially and I can sign it on the official documents”, Hermione beamed as Lyra embraced her. “Hello, sister”, she beamed back.

“Bros for real?”, Viktor offered a high five.

“Bros for real”, Harry slapped his hand and hugged him.

“Let’s notify the parents”, Harry nodded.

…

“It merely formalises the reality that existed for years. The four of them live together, raise their children together, and formalising the merger of their two families into one House was the most logical thing to do”, Minister Shacklebolt stated. “No, I suspect it will not affect their work at the Ministry, because they functioned as an extended family unit for years and this merely simplifies inheritance and finances and provides security for their children”.

We asked the Gringotts bank for comment regarding the state of their family vaults, but they declined to comment, citing banking secret. It is suspected that Viktor Krum earned around a quarter of a million Galleons during his Quidditch career, with sponsorships and other contracts, in addition to whatever amount he and his wife earned as Ministry officials during their careers, and this amount will be merged into the Malfoy-Potter vault, whose content is unknown, but is suspected to be of truly vast proportions: certainly no less than a million Galleons, containing the heritage of the Potter-Peverell line, the heritage of the Black family line, the heritage of the Lestrange family line, the dowry of Lyra Malfoy, as well as their vast personal earnings. Together with the wealth of the Malfoy family, which they are certain to inherit, they own without a doubt the largest fortune in the wizarding world.

“I’m glad you finally did it”, Andromeda put down the newspapers. “It makes things final and formal, and that’s good. How do you feel about it, now that it’s done? I mean, before you had your separate personal finances, and now it’s all merged together? Anyone feeling insecure or vulnerable about it?”, she asked and took another biscuit to soak in her tea.

“I feel the exact opposite of insecure or vulnerable”, Hermione beamed. “And as for our personal money, it just sat there and did nothing, since they never allowed us to spend it. Lyra would just deal with everything for us to the point where it felt unfair, and now everything is as it should be. She and Harry always treated their money as ours, and now our money is also theirs”.

“It merely gives Viktor and Hermione the rights they should have as our proper family members”, Lyra smiled, “And that makes me very happy. Also, it formalises the status of our children, which is something essential, considering how we raise them. It would make things very weird at school otherwise”.

“I thought about that”, Viktor nodded. “It immediately resolves all the questions people might have”.

“And it gives all your children equal dignity, which is important”, Andromeda nodded. “But I wonder, whether you considered including the Black family name into the name of the House?”, she wondered.

“We did, but we decided against it, because that House was tainted with its association with the Dark Arts and allegiance to Voldemort, and we decided to reclaim the good parts of its heritage. Its name merged into the Malfoy-Potter line from both sides – I inherited my mother’s blood and the Lestrange family inheritance, and Harry inherited the wealth and property from Sirius, as the last male family member”.

“What does Harry say?”, the older woman wondered. “I know he’s at work now but you probably talked”.

“He’s much happier now. Before, he thought Hermione and Viktor were not properly recognized as family, in a formal sense, and it troubled him because it reminded him of how he failed to properly recognize me at school. He now feels everything is as it should be, at last”, Lyra smiled. “Naming things with proper words in public matters”.

The Firebolt was a completely different beast from the Nimbus 2001 she rode at school. It’s not that the Nimbus wasn’t fast. It’s that the Firebolt isn’t trying to keep you alive, and that’s the main difference. The Firebolt will happily keep accelerating or cornering hard until you can no longer breathe, until you can’t see, until you pass out, and until you die. It has no safety features. It’s made for the professionals, and the assumption is that you know what you’re doing. She yearned for that at school, when Harry had it. She wondered if she could match him if she had it, but father said no. It’s unsafe, he said. She was fuming, but his word was final.

He was right. She had it now, and she gave it a proper spin, because she thought she knew what she was doing. As it proved, she was wrong. She watched Viktor and Harry perform insane manoeuvres trying to outwit each other, and she could barely follow. They were truly in a league of their own. She, on the other hand, was… wet.

It was a gloomy day, with something between fog and rain hanging in the air, and it was cold. She was freezing, she was wet, and it felt nothing like she imagined. She imagined the sense of freedom, power and flight she remembered from childhood. Now, she was just wet, cold and missed her four babies.

The golden snitch appeared right in front of her, and on reflex, she accelerated instantly and caught it in a blink of an eye. Yes, the Firebolt is amazing for that kind of stuff, she thought. Good for the boys, but I think I prefer just walking, running or playing hide-and-seek in the practice polygon. Doing risky things that could have her break her neck while babies are waiting for her at home and someone else is having fun with them… Am I getting old? Perhaps, but I like it that way, she thought as she accelerated to meet the guys. “Good game”, she smiled, showing them the snitch. “Let’s go home, I’m frozen on my broom and wet all the way through”.

They stopped and looked at each other. “That’s not possible!” “She cheated!”

“Yeah yeah, tell me more about it over hot tea”, she snickered. “Victory for Slytherin”.

…

“How?”, they just looked at her.

“I was cold, wet, bored, done with it and missing my four babies, waiting for one of you to catch it and put me out of my misery, when the snitch stopped right in front of me and I caught it on reflex”, she smiled. “And thank heavens for that. Weren’t you two cold and wet? We were in the same rain cloud, as far as I could tell”.

“We were, but we just ignore that”, Viktor replied and Harry nodded.

“You know, I thought I’d feel like a bird that’s been let out of the cage out there on the broom, but it was nothing like that. I tried it out for a few minutes, liked how fast it is, but I didn’t feel like doing anything risky because I had babies at home and I missed them, and soon I was just… wet and miserable”, she shrugged. “I think I got properly domesticated”.

“I think it’s something else”, Hermione smiled.

“What?”

“Sure, you did it for the thrill of it, but you mostly did it because it was a way of sharing a part of your life with Harry, when you weren’t talking”, she grinned wisely. “It was a way to participate in your chosen life. Now, you have your chosen life, and Quidditch is just being cold, wet, and injured”, she finished.

“You hate flying, so you’re hardly impartial”, her husband pointed out.

“She also might be right”, Lyra pointed out. “The best thing about Quidditch was doing something with Harry, something physical enough that I could both touch him and vent my frustrations with him by hammering him into a wall, or having him grab me and pull me off my broom. Later, as we started talking, it became something we bonded over – mostly comforted each other after our respective losses, and it felt like, well, a part of what we have now. But now, I don’t have any frustrations to vent, and Quidditch is just the other stuff – injuries, being rained on, flying into a seagull, and so on. It’s good that I tried it, but I might have grown out of it”.

“You know what’s the best part of it for me?”, Hermione grinned. “You always say four babies”.

Lyra stopped to think about it. “True. That’s how I feel about them. Don’t you?”

“I do”, Hermione nodded, “But it feels wonderful to hear you say it”, she smiled.

“One big reason why I’m always trying to make more money is that I have four children already and they will need dowries and homes and money, and we’re nowhere near done having babies”, she smiled. “If you think they will get neglected merely because they came out of your womb, you don’t know me very well”.

Hermione just hugged her.

“It felt so good, you know. When you introduced me to your Centaur friends as your wife. I know you did that many times before to many people, but this felt different. It’s as if it healed something that was broken when you didn’t claim me before, when you wouldn’t name our relationship. This went through it and healed it. I felt… chosen and acknowledged as a wife. It’s as if the feeling time-travelled into the past and healed me so that part of me doesn’t cry any more”, she cuddled into his chest and all but purred.

“I’m glad”, he smiled and kissed her head.

…

Lucius read the newspapers at the breakfast table and suddenly started laughing. “So that’s why you needed babysitting”. He laughed again.

“Four Aurors, led by the two spouses who jointly head the office, eradicated the Acromantula infestation from the Forbidden Forest, where it grew since the unfortunate incident where a breeding pair was released into the forest, and kept disrupting the ecological balance and threatening the students at Hogwarts. There was an open contract for dealing with the infestation, however since the Acromantulas tend to attack in swarms numbering hundreds, overwhelming a Wizard’s defences very quickly, it was considered impossible to deal with them, until five days ago, when Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy-Potter and Mr. and Mrs. Krum entered the forest and jointly killed the entire Acromantula population numbering 758. The Aurors in question were unavailable for comment, so we asked the Minister, who briefly confirmed the report and said that the Auror office is doing an excellent job. The price of Acromantula venom, used as an ingredient for numerous magical potions, quadrupled over the news, and is currently slowly rising.”

“Please, tell me you collected the venom”, he smiled at his daughter.

“But of course”, she winked.

“And please tell me you did not sell it all at the old price”, his smile widened.

“My father raised no fool”, she grinned.

“Good girl”, he laughed out loud. “How much?”

“Oh, it will end up being around four hundred thousand Galleons, eventually. I need to trickle the supply to maintain the high prices”, she giggled.

“I hope you appreciate what you got”, Lucius winked at Harry.

“Every second of every day”, he smiled and kissed his wife’s hand.

“The second dark species eradicated under the current leadership of the Auror office”, Arthur read as he, Molly and Narcissa joined them, carrying two babies with them. “Lucius, have you heard?”

“I was just reading the news”, Mr. Malfoy looked at him and smiled. “The mystery of many days of babysitting has been revealed”.

“Well, it’s for a good purpose”, Molly nodded. “Those spiders actually attacked the school during the battle, and it was about time someone dealt with them. But wasn’t that dangerous?”, she looked at Lyra and Harry. “They say there were over seven hundred of them and four of you. How did you even manage?”

“My genius wife, whose countless virtues include creating powerful wandless spells, created some new top secret weapons we wished to test in practice. This is why we first created a polygon on the outskirts of Malfoy Manor, where we set traps and surprises for each other, testing how we would deal with a worse version of what surprised Hermione, and then we tested ourselves against another thing we prepared for – being rushed by a vast number of powerful enemies all at once. As you can see, it worked”, he smiled. “Hermione and Lyra used magic from a distance, while Viktor and I took care that nothing came close to them, and since those spiders rely on the tactic of overwhelming the enemy with numbers, they quickly expended themselves against our defences”.

“You make it sound like dealing with Doxies”, Arthur frowned.

“Doxies would actually be more difficult, because they move in three dimensions, rather than two”, Lyra noted.

“Well, as the spiders piled up on top of each other, it kind of ended up being at least two and a half dimensions if not three”, Harry smiled.

“Fair”, she sipped her tea. “Also, all that exercise got me and Hermione in better physical shape than we’ve been for the last two years of being pregnant and breastfeeding. Can we join you and Viktor for your Quidditch matches? If our parents agree to more babysitting, that is?”, she looked around.

“Oh, it would be our pleasure”, Molly beamed, and the others agreed with her. “As long as you stay safe, of course. Will Hermione be going with you?”

“She can pretend to cheer, and read a book”, Arthur laughed.

“That’s actually likely”, Lyra smiled. “She’ll get on a broom if it has air conditioning, autopilot and reading lights, but that’s as far as you can push her”.

“You haven’t been flying properly for years. Will you manage? I hear those boys are flying rough”, Lucius looked at her.

“I used to be quite good back in the day”, Lyra smiled. “I’m not on their level exactly, but I used to win against Harry every now and then”.

“And I have bruises and scars to prove it”, he smiled and kissed her hand.

“I miss flying. Babies are wonderful and I adore them, but I miss being fast and in the air”, she sighed.

“That, my fellow bug exterminators, will be highly profitable”, Lyra brought a tray with sandwiches from the kitchen, smiling gleefully.

“Oh?”, Harry and Hermione looked at her inquisitively, while Viktor grabbed a sandwich with ham and cheese.

“The total yield was much above my expectations. There were more spiders than I expected, and at least half of them were mature specimens, born before the war. Also, the critical thing with venom harvest is time; it dries quickly after death and you guys used the accelerated time spell to get it over with more quickly, which accidentally produced yield only ten percent under the theoretical maximum: 850 pints overall, or 483 litres, safely stored in magical, unbreakable casks”.

“Woah”, Harry grabbed his forehead. “Professor Slughorn mentioned that the venom is a hundred Galleons per pint. That would make this worth…”

“85000 Galleons”, Hermione saved him.

“Wrong”, Lyra’s smile acquired the look of a stock market shark. “It would be 85000 Galleons at pre-extinction prices. I might have made it slip, during my visits to St. Mungo, Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley, that the species is extinct in Britain, and the only sources in existence are imports from Borneo, and, well, me”, she pointed at herself and curtsied elegantly.

“You didn’t sell it yet, did you?”, Hermione smiled appreciatively.

“No chance. Stored as it is, it will keep forever, and since we’re not actually pressed for cash, it will stay in that magically protected vault in the attic as our long term trust fund, to be sold on demand, as the market prices spike. I sold a few pints to each regular customer, to prove that I control the supply, at old prices. However, as the news broke, the price quadrupled, and it’s currently holding steady at 400 Galleons per pint”, Lyra grinned, resembling a Goblin banker.

“Wait, that would be… over 300000 Galleons”, Hermione’s eyes went wide.

“Somewhat more, but yes. However, I expect prices to rise further”, Lyra nodded, as Harry and Hermione looked at each other.

“Wouldn’t you give St. Mungo a discount? After all, they are a hospital?”, Hermione’s eyes softened.

“Sure I would; as much as they gave me for our childbirth and visitation bill”, Lyra grinned. “I’ll give them 25% off if they ask nicely”.

“Devious”, Viktor made a villain impression with his eyebrows.

Lyra shrugged. “Shrewd businesswoman”, and blew him a kiss.

“Slytherin”, Harry and Hermione looked at each other and said it at the same time, breaking into laughter.

“What about the Ministry contract?”, Harry wondered.

“I visited the clerk. There was some enormous and ridiculous sum for the general public, but for the Aurors, it’s a bonus amounting to two years pay for each of us. Since all four of us together get around 11000 Galleons a year, this was 22000 Galleons, and I made arrangements for it to be paid out immediately”, she shrugged.

“If I’m getting this correctly, you just made a business deal that amounts to the content of Harry’s Gringotts vault prior to Sirius leaving him the Black family fortune?”, Hermione wanted to make sure.

“Somewhat less, I think, but close enough”, she assented.

“Thank heavens you’re managing our money, because girl, you’re the best”, Hermione was amazed.

“You should see my dad. Guess where I learned it all”, Lyra winked.

“Hello, Hagrid”, Harry smiled at the large, burly man. “I’m sorry we didn’t visit sooner”.

It was the morning of their third day of practice, and all their muscles were sore. Potions did help, though.

“’arry, my dear boy, I’m so glad to see yer!”, the man crushed him with a bear hug. “And ‘ermione, too”, he hugged her as well.

He was more careful with Lyra and Viktor. “’allo to you two”, he smiled. “I ‘aven’t seen yer since the weddings”.

“I’m sorry about that”, Lyra beamed at the large man as she approached to embrace him. “We had a broken society to heal and four babies to make between the four of us, but that’s no excuse”.

“Well it sounds like a proper one from wher’ I’m standin’”, he laughed. “Come right in, have some butterbeer and rock cakes, I made some last night”.

…

“Here’s the thing, Hagrid. I know you’re attached to them, but those big spiders Aragog spawned are a menace. There’s a contract at the Ministry out for their eradication, and it’s our job to do it since we’re Aurors. I just wanted to let you know so that you’d be prepared, and see how you might feel about it”, Harry looked at him softly.

“Arr, they’re a menace alright”, Hagrid nodded. “Nothin’ like poor ol’ Aragog. Tried to eat me, and fought for that Voldemort bastard, pardon my language. Almost as bad as the Dementors, for sure. And they’re spreadin’ in the woods, eatin’ boars and deer and everything else. Scaring Hippogriffs and Unicorns and other critters. Good that we have the Centaurs who keep shootin’ arrows at ’em, or there’d be no end to ’em”, he grumped. “The sooner ye get rid of ‘em the better, I’d say”.

…

“It should be around here”, Hermione’s eyes were slightly glazed over, as she followed her tracking spell. “Oh, here they are”, she winced.

Harry took Lyra by the hand and came forward. “Hello, Magorian”. He looked deeper into the woods and nodded. “Firenze, Bane, Ronan. It is our honour to be in your presence”, he bowed.

“Harry Potter”, the leader of the Centaurs came out to meet him. “We meet again, and you have grown”.

“I wanted to introduce you to my wife, Lyra”, he proudly smiled at his bride. “You already met Hermione, and this is her husband and my dear friend, Viktor”, he pointed, and they all bowed.

“It is strangely pleasing to meet you”, Magorian bowed back seriously. “And I see that none of you carry wands”, he looked at the rest of his herd. “How peculiar”.

“Capricornus sent vanguards, and yet it is barely the time of the Water-bearer”, Ronan mused. “And four of them”.

Firenze nodded. “Indeed”.

Lyra beamed at them. “I like the way you think”. She closed her eyes, and all around the clearing bright flowers sprouted, glowing with ethereal light. The rest of them took the hint. Harry closed his eyes next, making the lines of white light show on the trees, as they took their life from the earth, and reach all the way to the tiny branches, exploding with thousands of tiny points of light. Viktor smiled and made hundreds of glowing lights in the air, that made subtle wind chime sounds, and his wife took his hands, closed her eyes and rifts opened in space around them, glowing with heavenly light and music of the spheres.

The entire place was bright with sacred magic and light, and the Centaurs looked in awe.

…

“Since this forest is under your stewardship, we wanted to ask your permission before we did anything else”, Harry nodded at Magorian first, and then the others. “The Acromantulas, the big spiders, are a great nuisance. They attack people, animals and magical beings, they multiply and they are vile. We intend to destroy them. With your permission, we would like to do this now”, he bowed.

“We appreciate your respect, Harry Potter”, the chestnut-bodied Centaur with black hair bowed back. “The great spiders are indeed a revolting pest and a dark evil in the forest, and we have been reducing their numbers to some measure, but there are few of us, and many of them. If you offer to destroy them, that would be to our greatest satisfaction”, he nodded.

…

“Now, here’s the thing. They are very sensitive to fire, and that would be the easiest way to destroy them. However, there are two issues with that. First, it’s a forest, and we don’t want to burn it down. Second, I want to harvest their venom, because it’s rare and precious, and after we have dealt with them it’s going to become even more so. This means money, and money means we get to leave more to our children. So, let’s think about this”, Lyra addressed them as they approached the darkest part of the forest and Firenze left them.

“Several things come to mind”, Viktor rubbed his chin. “I guess a spatial crush would be an overkill and also destroy their mandibles and venom glands. But that cooking spell of yours, targeting the body. That should do it.”

“Also, something like Sectumsempra, or Petrificus Totalus, followed by harvesting the venom and then Incendio”, Harry nodded. “But by all means, if you find yourselves overwhelmed, just burn them down. I wouldn’t use Avada Kedavra because it’s almost as harmful to the caster as it is to the target”.

Hermione nodded in assent. “Also, we want to practice Festino, Tranquillo, Pax, Zona stasis and Lux Propria. Effugio if we need to”.

“Girls, you cast the perimeter spells, keep them away from us. Control the time. Keep yourselves on a safe distance so that you are calm and have strategic control. Viktor and I will deal with the stragglers, exceptions, the unexpected, and immediate protection if something breaks through”, Harry laid out the law.

They all nodded. “Yes boss”.

“Here they come”, Harry pointed at the dark shadows.

…

“Are there more?”, Viktor panted.

“Let me cast a spell”, his wife nodded and closed her eyes. “There are nests with eggs that magically resonate with the species. A few adults guarding them. One bigger than others. We seem to have nailed almost all of them”, she smiled.

“Excellent. Let’s harvest the venom into standard flasks with unbreakable charms, and store them in our holding bags”, Lyra conjured a bottle and started collecting the venom.

“It’s going to be a long day”, Viktor frowned.

“Bro, Festino is a thing”, Harry clapped his shoulder and turned into a blur.

Viktor slapped himself. “Stupid”, and blurred out.

…

“Phinneas, can you hear me?”, Harry spoke into the medallion Hermione made.

“Loud and clear, boss”.

“Do you see the visual?”

“Yes. It’s slightly dark, but I can see all of you and a lot of dead Acromantulas, if I’m not wrong”

“Correct. Seven hundred and fifty eight, by Hermione’s counting spell, plus the eggs and the nests”, Harry confirmed.

“Woah. You’ve been busy”

“You can say that again. I just wanted to report the status. We harvested the venom for personal use and we’ll now leave and report to the Centaurs who control the forest. Please send a team of three to our location now, for collecting evidence and controlled burn of the bodies, because we can’t risk there being some eggs in there”.

“Gotcha.”

Three Aurors apparated with a crack.

“Hello boys; we did our part and we’ll be leaving them to you now”, Harry grinned.

“Son of a bitch”, one Auror cursed, looking at a huge ring of dead car-sized spiders, hundreds of meters across.

“Imagine what it would be like to live in that forest with those around”, the other nodded in assent.

“Let’s record this for evidence and get out of here, this place is giving me the creeps”, the third one got to work.

“Cleanup is going to be some work, but can you imagine having to kill all of them?”, the first one noted.

“The bosses sure earn their pay”, the second one shrugged and got to work recording the scene.

…

“Seven hundred and fifty eight, by Hermione’s count, plus eggs. We killed all of them and our detection spells do not register other specimens of that species within a hundred kilometre radius, which means the forest is clean and safe”, Harry reported to Magorian. The clearing was still bathing in subtle lights and sounds.

The Centaurs looked at each other. “This is an astonishing feat, Harry Potter. You have our gratitude for dealing with those horrid pests”.

Magorian looked to the distance. “Oh”.

Harry turned around to see Unicorns coming into the clearing, slowly and shyly, obviously coming to greet them; girls first, but then they approached him and Viktor as well, allowing to be petted like common horses.

“Amazing”, Firenze spoke.

“Maybe it’s a sign of a deeper alliance between Wizards and nature”, Hermione wondered.

“No”, Ronan waved his head. “You are Wizards no longer”.

The four looked at each other, not understanding. “What, then?”, Lyra wondered.

“Infant Gods”, Ronan bowed.

“I told you you’re a Goddess”, Hermione smiled at Lyra.

“No”, Bane spoke. “Four, not one”.

“Capricornus visited the realm of the Water-bearer”, Ronan nodded.

“We salute you”, Magorian lifted his bow high, and others joined him.

…

“What happened to you guys?”, Harry looked at the Weasleys and the Malfoys sprawled in exhaustion on all available surfaces, covered in sleeping babies.

“Hush”, Molly put a finger to her lips. “They are finally asleep”.

“We are too old for this”, Lucius whispered tiredly.

Hermione snickered. “I’ll bring tea”.