Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
November 23, 1976 – Serena PoV
Once the four of us woke up, we finished our morning ablutions and got ready for the day. Bella demanded that we spend more time with my bubbles again.
"It's still amazing that we've spent more than a full day in a single night," Lucius said. I shrugged.
"It's a handy tool, I use it to train or learn things." I said simply, and he nodded.
"Okay, seal me already," Bella interrupted as she stood in front of me.
"Are you sure, Bella?" Narcissa asked worriedly.
"I am, I want this." Bella said firmly. I made a face.
"You sure, that's what you want, Bella." I sighed tiredly, watching Narcissa freeze.
"Bella?" she asked, looking at me before smiling widely. "You're finally calling her Bella?" Narcissa asked, almost squealing in excitement. I rolled my eyes.
"I'm about to enslave her; it's not that weird that I call her by her nickname." I defended myself, Lucius snorted.
"You hate nicknames, you haven't let us call you anything other than Serena even though Evans could," Lucius said, and I made a face.
"Because it is improper." I replied.
"Never mind! Now, can I call you by a nickname?!" "Call me Cissy! " Narcissa said happily. I sighed.
"Let's get this over with. If you do, call me anything but Seri; too many memories of Lily." I said defeatedly, Narcissa squealed.
"Sera!" Narcissa said too quickly, as if she had already thought about it years ago, although knowing Narcissa, she had.
"Okay, let's get this over with. The seal will take 72 hours to take effect," I said, looking at Bellatrix.
"Wait, 72 hours, like what you told Lestrange?" Lucius asked, and I nodded with a shrug.
"If I was going to get rid of him, I might as well earn some extra credits; we Slytherins are nothing if not efficient," I said haughtily, the trio rolling their eyes in amusement.
"Are you sure there's no other way?" Narcissa asked, and I wrinkled my nose.
"There are, for example, a sincere declaration of love will get you marked instantly." The trio looked surprised. "Then there are several other methods I can buy, jewelry, shrouds, or hypnosis, to name a few. There are also some extras com -" I stopped and opened my eyes widely, quickly taking out my phone.
"What happened?" Bellatrix asked with a frown, but I ignored her and continued looking for the option I had just remembered, which I had forgotten about.
"Here it is! Signed and sealed, it allows me to create contracts and set binding terms. It costs 10 credits, but I can buy it immediately." I explained as I placed the benefit in front of them.
"That's fantastic! That means we can draw up a contract that protects both of us." Lucius said with a slight smile. "Anything that needs to be fulfilled?" he asked as he read over the phone once more, humming in consideration.
"I suppose there shouldn't be a time limit for it to count as capture, but I don't think there would be any problems with there being clauses to terminate the contract." I said, after thinking about it, before wrinkling my nose. "Though the mental manipulation part for loyalty and love may still be mandatory if it does count towards capturing you." I made a face, they replied.
"But it will still do, better than nothing." Narcissa said, and Lucius nodded.
"I'll start writing the terms down." He said simply, and with a thought, he changed the room of requirements and created a desk with several sheets of paper and quills on top. Lucius immediately sat down and began writing.
We all started throwing ideas around as Lucius sorted them out. There really wasn't much to demand or deny, so after an hour of discussion, Lucius finished two versions of the contracts.
The first one for Bella was quite simple and could be summarized as follows: she would join me as a partner, both romantic and sexual, for an indefinite period of time.
I can give her orders, but Bella was not obligated to comply with any of them.
Bella will be loyal to me and the rest of my entourage and everything that entails. This includes protecting them in the event of danger and avoiding harm with malicious intent.
I cannot sell/exchange/get rid of Bella for any reason; I can only undo the bond if she does not comply with any of the conditions established in this contract.
Bella can undo the bond whenever she wants.
I cannot modify Bella in any way without her explicit consent, whether it be her personality, appearance, abilities, or otherwise.
And lastly, and to my utter disgust, I can't take another mate romantically or sexually without Bella's explicit permission. At least I had gotten her to agree, without directly stating that I wasn't allowed another mate. Still, from the look she was giving me, I could practically tell she thought otherwise. I could only hope she would reconsider in the future. Really, the multiverse is enormous, and we would have all the time in the world if there were no setbacks. And I won't lie, a harem sounds good.
For Cissy and Lucius, the contract was almost the same, except that instead of being a partner, they would fall into the Family category, and the latter did not apply to them at all.
I had no issues with any of the terms outlined in the contract, so I signed it promptly. The trio looked at the contracts in front of them. Bellatrix was the first to sign quickly. Lucius and Cissy looked at each other for a few seconds before nodding and signing at the same time.
I quickly took out my phone and promptly sent the contracts to be processed by The Company's lawyers. To my surprise, it was almost instantaneous; all three were accepted.
----
Companions captured +36; sold +0 [66]
Bellatrix Black(T5) from Harry Potter
Narcissa Black(T5){ Familiar} from Harry Potter
Lucius Malfoy(T5){ Familiar} from Harry Potter
----
I looked up at the trio in front of me and saw them all shudder at the same time.
"Everything okay?" I asked worriedly, and the three of them blinked several times.
"Yes... Only, I received a great deal of knowledge about spells, theory, and other disciplines, even non-magical ones." Bellatrix said with a frown.
"Same." Cissy said and Lucius nodded. I just nodded too.
"It's normal, typically the company sells companions when they are at their 'peak' of power. If someone captures them before that moment arrives, The Company simply downloads the missing abilities into them," I explained. They nodded in understanding. "Although I was wondering more about the mental controls." The trio frowned.
"I don't feel any different," Lucius said, wrinkling his nose. Narcissa nodded in agreement.
"I do." Bellatrix said, and we immediately looked at her, "I… I liked you, Sera, I won't lie, but I didn't love you, now… now I do." Bella sighed as she looked at me, "And it's pretty deep." She bit her lip.
"Everything okay?" Cissy asked worriedly, and Bella ran her hand through her hair, sighing as she nodded.
"Yeah, it was just… unexpected, but it's okay," she said, nodding in my direction. I sighed in relief.
"And you, Sera, I'm sure you liked each other before, you were dating and everything, but it's different that Bella loves you now and more because of a mental change." Lucius asked worriedly. I paused momentarily before nodding.
"Yeah… I won't say it's disappointing on some level, but it doesn't really bother me, after all, even if it's forced now… she chose to love me, it's… romantic to a point?" I smiled crookedly, and I wasn't lying. I gave Bellatrix the option to be family several times, but she refused and firmly decided to be a mate, even though she knew everything it entailed. Despite my assurances that she could get all the same benefits by just being family, she still stood her ground.
It was… flattering; not many times do you get to choose how you feel about other people. So, for her to choose to love me, even though the feeling of love that was generated was now 'fake', it still felt good. Narcissa smiled and nodded firmly.
"You're right! And I'm sure Bella liked you a lot before! It was only a matter of time before you were in love with each other!" Narcissa said happily and looked at Bellatrix expectantly. Bellatrix grimaced but nodded, making Narcissa smile even more.
"Okay, let's put that aside, now, give me a power." Bellatrix demanded, changing the subject immediately, she hummed.
"Something on your mind?" She wrinkled her nose, and I grimaced. "Tell me what you think, I know more than enough worlds and powers to have an idea of something that might suit what you want, you two as well." I said to Lucius and Narcissa. "Though… you might have to wait. I'm low on credits to spend, and I'd like to have some in reserve for emergencies."
"Shadows, darkness, or anything strong." Bellatrix said immediately, and I hummed lightly. Now, there were many options for those choices.
"There are... many options." Honestly, I wouldn't know where to start describing the skills... or I wouldn't have to. I took out my phone and manipulated it. Well, there were videos with all the skills of all the waifus and husbandos to capture. This would make it easier. "Okay, I'll show you some and tell me which type you want."
With that, I began to show them several users of shadows and darkness, and vaguely explained their abilities and the level of their powers. Although there were many, such as: Yami Sukehiro from Black Clover, the Nara clan from Naruto, Blackbeard from One Piece, Darkness Devil from Chainsaw Man, Nico di Angelo from the Riodanverse, Pride from Fullmetal Alchemist, Celty Sturluson from Durarara, Raven from Teen Titans, Pitch Black from Rise of the Guardians, Sung Jin-Woo from Solo Leveling, etc.
The trio looked at all the powers in amazement and were somewhat disturbed in some cases, such as the Darkness Devil, among others.
"Wait, repeat that one." Bellatrix said, stopping me as I was about to choose another character.
"Alucard from Hellsing?" I asked as the video returned to the beginning. "You know he's a vampire, right?" I asked as we rewatched his abilities.
"I want it." She said simply as she stared at the phone, I grimaced.
"Are you sure? He's not particularly strong; besides abusing his immortality, he doesn't have." I clarified in her direction, and she grimaced.
"Any other immortals then? Regenerative, you already said that you can make us long-lived." She asked, and I hummed, thinking that it wasn't a bad idea to make sure of that, as long as I had gold, I was practically immortal.
"A lot actually, there's a series, UQ Holder, that revolves around a group of people with different types of immortality." Bellatrix seemed interested now. "We'll have to watch a few series to get some context on everything before you decide. It'll also explain some things that I might leave out if I explain it from what I remember." Like Schrodinger in Hellsing, I didn't really want to get into that yet. "We'll look at other options too; there are many types of immortality, and we have time before I get enough credits to give you the power."
"And you?" I asked Narcissa and Lucius, who were looking strangely at Bellatrix; well, Lucius was looking at her strangely, while Narcissa seemed more resigned than anything else.
"Does… does it have to be something about fighting?" Lucius asked with a grimace, and Bellatrix snorted but didn't say anything. "I don't mind fighting if I have to, but… You saw the movies, even in the future, I was the one running things from the shadows. I like politics, all the intrigue and what it entails, or running a house. Is there something that can help me with that?" he asked, and I considered.
"There are… several intelligence-enhancing skills, but it all depends more on what you're specifically looking for." I grimaced.
"Wait, there's going to be politics in the worlds we go to?" Narcissa asked, confused, and she hummed consideringly. Lucius grimaced as if he hadn't thought about it.
"It depends, I'm really in favor of choosing a world to stay in other than this one, unfortunately, this one... is going to be too small for us very quickly." I said honestly, "So it's very likely that there will be ample politics in that world. If we visit temporarily... although... we have plenty of time, so who knows." I shrugged; the trio considered it.
"We... are we going to be gone forever?" Narcissa asked with a grimace.
"Just because we're leaving doesn't mean we can't come back. I have to buy the corresponding benefits, but we'll be able to visit all the worlds we've visited without any problem whenever we want, so you can come every day if you want." I hurried to explain, and they sighed in relief.
"So… do you have any recommendations for me?" Lucius asked, and I hummed in consideration.
"Not really?" I grimaced. "I mean, everything you need can be obtained from talents, unless you want a superintelligence ability, but… I don't remember there being any that are solely geared towards politics." Lucius sighed.
"Then just choose -"
"Wait." I interrupted. "Tattletale." I said as I snapped my fingers, the trio looked confused. "Lisa Wilbourn from a novel called Worm, has a power called Negotiator, it's like Sherlock Holmes on steroids."
"Who is that?" Narcissa asked, confused, and I groaned in frustration. Purebloods.
"We'll be adding to the pile of shows and movies to watch, along with some Worm." I had to love the multiversal internet; there were entire series about novels that hadn't been adapted in my old world, so I took full advantage of that to watch some of the series I wanted, Worm and Mistborn being the first.
"Just tell us what it does," Bellatrix said impatiently.
"She can accurately infer and extrapolate an incredible amount of information from the smallest piece of data. She needs some information to get started, but from there her enhanced intuition fills in the gaps in her knowledge, allowing her to (among other things) crack computer passwords, profile, and 'cold read' the people around her. At the same time, make predictions about the most likely outcome of a given situation." I explained while licking my lips. "It's not a net improvement over intelligence, but it really is one of the best options."
"That... would be very useful," Lucius said with a frown. "I have... the memories and experiences of my... future self? And I can certainly think of several situations where that kind of power would have been useful to me." I nodded in his direction.
"Well, well, also... how about playing Muggle games? " I asked with a smile. Lucius blinked in confusion. I picked up my phone. "This thing allows you to communicate and play games with anyone from other worlds, so... you want to try your luck against super-intelligent people from other worlds?" I asked with a smile, 'If he didn't love Civilization or Crusader Kings, I would eat Aria.' Lucius's eyes sparkled, and he smiled.
"I want to do it." He said excitedly, and I nodded.
"It will take… a learning curve, but I'm sure you'll get the hang of it," I said simply. "But later, now, Narcissa." I looked at Narcissa, "Any ideas?" who was bouncing with excitement before visibly deflating.
"Uh... It's nothing special, but... could it involve clothes?" Narcissa asked shyly. "I like fashion." I stood still for several seconds before snorting amusedly.
"Is there a problem?" Bellatrix asked, frowning defensively for her sister. I shook myself and looked up at Narcissa's worried face.
"No, it's not that, I told them they could do anything, I don't want any of you to do things you don't want to," I said simply. "Actually, it's a lot easier to solve than Lucius' request, only…" I smirked at Narcissa. "… You blushed in lingerie, Cissy." Narcissa and Lucius blushed.
"Serena!" I chuckled, "Those aren't clothes!" Narcissa said with a pout.
"Well, there are a lot of options; now it depends on what you want to work with." I said simply, Narcissa looked confused. "Do you want something simple, flashy and fashionable, or something that can serve other purposes? Defensive forms, resistant to the elements, stat augmentation, and so on." Narcissa frowned slightly.
"Can I have all of that? I mean, I'll stick to simple and trendy, but if I can help you guys out in any way by making some serious clothes, that'll be great," Narcissa said, and I nodded in thought.
"The first thing I would tell you to look at is the Nui Nui no Mi, it is a fruit that grants you the ability to sew and unstitch things regardless of the material." I took out my phone and quickly looked up Leo's abilities from One Piece. "As you can see, it doesn't really matter what material you work with; you'll be able to sew it easily, including people." I said once the video ended, Narcissa seemed excited. "Or you could do this one, the choki choki no Mi, also another fruit, you can cut solid objects as if they were paper." I showed them the Inazuma video.
"Both, can't I get both?" Narcissa asked excitedly. I made a face.
"Unfortunately, no, these fruits are from the same world; they are called devil fruits. Ignore the name, they have some restrictions and weaknesses, which are cancelled thanks to The Company, but there is still the limitation of only one devil fruit at a time." Narcissa pouted. I rolled my eyes. "I will find a way to solve it; both would work for you." I sighed. Narcissa squealed as she hugged me.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"
"You're welcome." I hugged her back with one hand. It was good that they had found things they wanted to do besides fighting. I was grateful that they had agreed to follow me, and I was happy.