Heaven and Earth

[Celeste Hayes]

Celeste Nightray had news. Well, she always had news. Especially where it concerned her kids. They weren't truly her children of course, but they were of her blood. The Nightray blood. Whether she had given birth to them or not, was completely irrelevant as far as the young mother was concerned. She loved them all dearly anyway and she would always let them know it. Still, she now had a baby of her own. Her child. A child that she loved very much and always would. Though she would never put him first over her other children. There was of course as always another issue. She was not given the permission of her elders to have such a child, but she did not care. The lack of their concern for her or any of her missives gave her reason to believe that she no longer wanted anything to do with them. Smiling to herself as she pulled her tiny offspring into her arms, Celeste pulled her child close and nuzzled him with her nose. She cared not if he was accepted from her family. She had yet to tell them. The only people to know about this was Austiin as well as Austiin's smallest daughter. She was now going to attempt to break the happiest of her news to her children. She knew that at first they may be shocked, that they may think she is playing some kind of joke. She was bringing her creation with her as proof of her sincerity. Austiin would be joining her later, when she would then announce her second bit of news, which she was sure would be received less favourably then the news of her motherhood. Celeste did not care. This was what she wanted. This was her purpose in life. Those that wished for her to live her life through others be damned. She loved this child. She always would.

Entering the living room, Celeste immediately turned her body away from her children, covering the body of her child with her own. She did not wish to reveal anything to them at present. She kissed his head and played with his hair. Soon, she turned to her family and presented her child. Addressing each of her children in turn, Celeste held her child up for inspection. "This is my child. My offspring. The child i carried within my body for nine months." She told them. Her main concern was for her second eldest, Liam. He did not often take kindly to change, especially something of a nature such as this. She turned to her eldest son and nodded slightly to him. "Liam, you are my life. This you know, but now you are not the only person I must attend too. You have known for many years about the rest of my attentions. I love you always, but I can no longer be your only concern. You are seventeen, you are a man and it is time for you to be so." She was done with her explanations. She would leave them to do what they would.
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[Liam Nightray]

Liam Nightray was a busy person. At least, he said himself that he was a busy person. He had more 'important' things to do than just sit on their living room, tolerate his younger cousins' idiotic tendencies, and wait for his eccentric aunt to arrive. He would have left already if it wasn't his aunt who had called for this so called 'family meeting'. No. It wasn't because he loved her, for he had no need for such useless feeling. What he felt for her wasn't as superficial as that emotion. What they had was something that he wouldn't dare describe nor say. Not to anyone, especially not to her. He rather die that to let her know that despite his rudeness and constant proclamations of his dislikes and his disapproval of her actions and, he respected her. Celeste was his aunt, his guardian, and though she would never be able to replace his real mother, she was important and special enough that he would gladly kill anyone who dared to lay a finger on her or touch a strand of her hair, though of course, he knew that the older woman was crazy and strong enough to protect herself.

Loudly closing the book that he was reading, the seventeen year old turned his attention to his younger cousin. He couldn't for the life of him, tell Arianna's brothers apart, but this obnoxious and loud behavior could screamed the boy's name to him. "Shut it!," he said sharply, glaring at the boy before opting to resume reading to make use of the time that he was clearly wasting by spending it with his cousins and waiting for his aunt to show up. Where was that woman anyway? She wouldn't be able to blame him should he get fed up with waiting and leave. It was her fault, at least, he did show up. He tried.

His eyebrows pulled down inwards as he heard yet another noise. He didn't need to look to know who was the culprit, and he had enough. Merlin he had enough. He had enough of waiting and he had enough of the noise. He slammed his book shut and threw it towards the younger. He didn't care if it was a good book, it made a good weapon too. He was about to proceed and make his point when he heard the door open and entered was the familiar red and that beautiful face (though again, he rather die than admit that). There was something wrong though. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but his aunt looked different. He hadn't seen her for months, but surely, a person couldn't change this much in such a period of time. He couldn't see her face anymore though as she quickly turned her body away from them as she entered the room. This was definitely wrong.

His previous plan to give his cousin a piece of his mind already forgotten, the Slytherin narrowed his eyes as he observed his aunt. What was she doing? He knew she was crazy but surely, she wasn't that crazy. What was she hiding anyway? He was about to approach her when she turned around and announced that dumbest news that he had ever heard. A child? Her child? That couldn't be true. He knew his aunt, she had always been a constant in his life. Just always there, acting as his and his cousin's mother. Taking them as her own children. Never, did it crossed his mind that this day would come. His aunt was young, crazy, or so he says, yes, but beautiful. Even he noticed that, but the fact that some other people would see that and take advantage of her never did cross his mind. He didn't even think that she wanted to have a child of her own. Weren't they enough?

Liam frowned and glared at the despicable thing on his aunt's arms. His aunt had been tainted. He might not have any experience, but he was old enough to know what must have occurred for her to have this thing with her. It wasn't like she could just produce a kid with a spell, though that would have been better. Whoever that man was, he would kill him. This kid was a product of his aunt's betrayal, not that she really betrayed him, for she was young and free to do whatever she wanted. She was a woman, and she wasn't his real mother, she was free to have a kid of her own. But Liam felt too betrayed and angry to see reason.

Liam ignored his aunt's words. It felt too much like her telling him that he had been replaced. And Merlin, he had been replaced! "Who did this?," he asked, inwardly seething at the sight before him. He was only seconds away from screaming bloody murder. Whoever that filthy man was, he better show up or Liam would search for him himself. He demands an explanation. And it better be a good one.​

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[Arianna Zhefarovich]

Arianna Nightray was nervous and she actually had good reason to be. It was only mere weeks ago that she had found out that she was with a child and to be honest, she was quite happy about it, but scared all the same. There were a lot of things that had to be worried about to be honest. For one thing, the father was Jeremiah Raven. He was only the worst enemy of her most loved cousin, Liam Nightray. And not to mention that he had also gotten Ai Edogawa pregnant only a few months before her. And that was only the cherry on top of everything that needed to be worried about. The ones that followed would probably be about family matters. She knew that the Ravens were a Pureblood family and she was a Pureblood, though her existence had been kept a secret all those years and so she had been wondering how Miah's parents had taken the news. And she hadn't told her own family yet as she would much rather prefer to have the father of the child right beside her when she informs her surrogate mother, her brothers and beloved cousin. But the most Ria worried about was her health. She had never had the very best of health, and with her pregnancy well under way, she tended to worry on whether the child would inherit her health capacity and even more so, if her body can even handle the strain of the pregnancy. Thoughts of the former Gryffindor were cut short as the noise escalated within the room.

Currently, Arianna was seated beside Liam as they waited for their aunt after they had been called to a sudden family meeting. She did not have any idea though on what this whole thing was about considering that she had not seen the woman for very long recently as she always seemed to be busy about one thing or the other. But Ria knew that this was not her business to pry upon. Besides, she had her own matters to worry about right now. The noise was not lessening at all and Ria had already started the countdown in her head as to when Liam would be attacking her brother for his obnoxiousness and loudness. Three, two, one, zero, the female thought and as if on cue, a resounding thwack resounded in the air which was Liam throwing his book towards her brother. If Ria was in her proper mind, she would have stopped them, but seeing as she too might get hit, she'd rather not risk her baby. Suddenly though, the noise had been reduced to mere whispers and Arianna had decided to now pay attention on what was going on. Shaking her head out of her reverie, she was just in time to see Madame Red turning around and showing them an infant that had captured the former Gryffindor's eyes, attention and heart.

"Auntie, he's beautiful! Congratulations!" Arianna exclaimed as she walked over to her aunt and gave the woman a hug and took a good look at the baby. Her aunt looked so happy and Ria had to wonder if she was going to be this happy when she gets to see the little one living inside her too. The child would make a wonderful addition to their family! Though there was one person they had to worry about first. One whom she was sure would not take this at all too lightly. Liam had stayed silent for a good while though as Ria looked at him, she could see just how much control he was putting into this. She could see just how much he felt betrayed by all of this. And so she walked up to him and rubbed his back. She couldn't agree with him more though. She was fine with having the baby. But she was not okay with having the father around. No one was taking Aunt Celeste from them. Arianna could only sigh though at her tense cousin, and so, she stepped behind him and encased him in a bear hug as much as she could, thankful for the shoes that gave her a bit of leverage. Her cousin definitely needed a hug despite anything he said or thought that he did not need. "Calm down a little. We can deal with the father of the child accordingly very soon," she whispered to him as she hugged him in hopes that he would not scream at her or hit her anywhere near her midsection. When Ria was sure her cousin was calmer than before, she gave Liam a quick kiss on the cheek for good measure. Now that was something she had not done to the boy since they were children. She hoped he did not mind.
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