New Chapter is up! Warning! Sexual themes at part IV!
"And should the sky be filled with fire and smoke, keep watching over my brothers' souls. If this to end in fire, then we should all burn together, watch the flames climb high into the night."
I See Fire, Ed Sheeran.
I
25, December, 1996
With the memory of what he had heard at the ball that Slughorn threw before the Christmas break, Harry tossed and turned on the bed, all night. He was in Ron's room since the twins were planning on staying for a couple of days. Of course, it had been Mrs Weasley's idea, since she was getting far too worried due the recent events. At least five people had dissapeared during the past to week and she was afraid that one of the family – counting Hermione and Harry himself as family – could be the next. The Ministry had made strict laws about traveling and even had created some sort of rules, such as to not leave the house after 5pm and always asking a very specific question before letting anyone in, all this in order to avoid any more chaos.
Unable to focus properly on his currently task, which was, basically setting the table for the Christmas supper. Countless times he let the forks fall and had to clean them before placing them on the right places. At least, he thought, he wasn't alone as Ron too was helping him, complaining that they could do it in less than seconds with magic.
"So.." the ginger boy spoke suddenly, slightly puzzled " Snape was offering to help the ferret...? Are you really sure that he was offering help to Malfoy?"
Harry hissed and looked around, checking if they were really alone, the last thing he needed was someone to ask him about how he found this out.
"If you ask that one more time I will shove this cauliflower's stalk..."
"I was just checking!" Ron cried out before looking around as well. They were alone in the kitchen, next to the sink and had started cleaning the cauliflowers for Mrs Weasley.
"Exactly! Snape was offering himself to help him! He said he had promised to Malfoy's mom to protect him, that he had made some sort of vow or something like that..."
"An Unbreakable Vow?!" Ron mused, astonished. "No...It can't be...are you sure?"
"Of course I am. What does that mean?"
"Well, one cannot break the Unbreakable Vow..." Ron explained lamely.
"Yeah, I've figured that on my own,as incredible as it seems." Harry sneered slightly " And what happens to the person that breaks the vow?"
"Death." The ginger answered simply. " Fred and George once tried to make me make a vow with them when I was five. I almost did, I was holding Fred's hand and all when dad found us." He told Harry, remembering the scene clearly with glistening eyes . " It was the only time I saw dad as mad as mum. Fred says that after that his left buttock was never the same again..."
"Uh, leaving Fred's left buttock aside..." Harry started, awkwardly before being interrupted by no one but the older ginger.
"Pardon?" Fred said, walking in and looking what they were doing. "Hey, George! Look at that! They are even using knifes and all! Bless them!" He mocked and even Harry chuckled, absent minded.
And Ron, as usual, started to complain, hoping these two months would pass quickly and so he'd be able to use magic at home, like all his other brothers.
II
Many would consider Christmas a time of happiness and love, when people got closer to their families and had a nice chitchat whilst enjoying a good amount of delicious food. Obviously, this was not the case of many families and, in special, the Malfoys.
The house – sorry, Manor – was enormous, way bigger than the avarage Manors yet smaller than the Black Manor. Not that it mattered, though, as only four people were spending the evening together, not happy and clearly not celebrating. These four people were Narcissa, Draco and Snape – that had been invited because he had no one else to spend the night with – and, as incredible as it might sound, Bellatrix.
The dark haired woman had a tired look on her face and, for the first time since the begining of the week, walked out of her room to have her meal alongside the other occupants of the house and their family seeing her, Snape raised an eyebrow slightly, taking in her appearance with a small nod that was almost – almost – missed by the raven haired woman.
With a small sneer, Bellatrix walked down the last couple of steps of the long mahogany staircase with a nonchalant look on her face as she passed by him. She wore her usual dark dress with the corset – something she always wore no matter what – and black combat boots that were by no means feminine. In fact, if Snape was honest with himself, the sight before him was far from delicate and subtle, the basic and common definitions of the gender in question. Bellatrix was one of the kind, he had to admit. She was the living proof that being a woman did not mean to be weak, quite the contrary, one would compare her fight skills almost as good as Dumbledore's or even the Dark Lord's himself. Everywhere she walked, she looked as if she was rulling the place.
Born to rule.
To not mention her looks that – even though her stay in Azkaban ruined her life – remained almost intact. Same as Narcissa, that barely had a wrinkle. There must be something about the Black women, he thought, taking a sip of his wine quietly heading towards a corner. He had met Druella Black in the past, in one of the many balls that the Blacks had at the Black Manor. Altough Narcissa was the spitting image of their mother, Bellatrix had the same features and curled hair of Madam Black. But her eyes... Those were Cygnus. The head of the Black family was tall and had silver hair when Snape, at the time still a student, met him, and possessed dark black eyes, like a night without star.
Noticing that the tall greasy haired man wouldn't stop looking at her, Bellatrix walked dangerously slow towards him, barely making a single soung as her feet touched the dark wooden floor, an annoyed look on her face as she grunted.
"What is it, Snivellus?"
"Bellatrix." He muttered back, nowhere fazed by her sudden approach. If she was someone else, he'd already have cursed the hell out of her for both interrupting his musings and calling him of that terrible nickname. But, as he knew that she wanted him to react, he simply spoke in a monotone voice, carrying a stoic expression as he raised his glass and took a sip. "Enjoying the evening?"
This seemed to have caught her out of guard as she studied his face for a couple of seconds, head tilting to the side slightly as if in deep thought. He wore the same outfit that he used at the Hogwarts winter ball, not even considering of buying a new one for the occasion.
After a bunch of seconds in silence, Bellatrix spoke again. " What are you doing here?" she raised an eyebrow and ordered the elf – what was its name again? Dibby? No, it was a new one...Wiggly? Oh, whatever – to bring her a glass of wine.
" I suppose your sister didn't tell you that I was comming tonight?" he asked, quietly finishing his glass.
"What do you think?" she spatted back at him. If she knew he was going to attend, she wouldn't have bothered to come downstairs.
"What of Rodolphus?" he ignored her snort and carried on. " I haven't seen him lately.."
As he mentioned her husband, Bella's face turned into a scow before she spoke "He is on a mission for our 'd know, if he trusted you..."
"Well, apparently..." Snape started, with a small smirk on his face "He doesn't trust you either as you clearly seem to not know much about the mission yourself." He shot back.
The evening carried on with an endless exchange of snarky comments from both parts untill Narcissa stopped them and forced them both to behave, snorting slightly in a very unlady like way, which caused Draco to chuckle quietly before stopping abruptly, due his mother's sharp look directed at him.
III
After hours of being made fun of and mocked by the twins, Ron was more than happy to sit on his usual chair to eat for two reasons, first being the one stated before and the second was the usual: he was starving!
He sat next to Harry, across from a very angry looking Ginny and the french beauty,Fleur. Bill and his Brothers were sitting on the side of each ones and Percy was nowhere to be found, apparently, he was busy at the Ministry. Mrs Weasley was bouncing around, carrying trays and flicking her want to get the last details ready. Nymphadora and Lupin would attend to the family dinner ans she was glad that the girl was comming.
It wasn't as if she didn't like Fleur, but the girl wasn't right for her son. Half veela, she was sure to be temperamental and tricky and, even though Bill knew what he was doing, Mrs Weasley's heart sank at the thought of him marrying the girl. They were rushing things due the oncoming war, she could tell. Not that she had any right to say a thing, after all, she and Arthur got married almost the same way and for the very same reason: they couldn't be sure if they'd live to see the tomorrow.
Back at that time, the First Wizard War was storming and she knew she wanted nothing but to be with her Arthur and he, in turn, felt pretty much the same. Over than twenty years together and after seven kids, the feeling stood still, as strong as ever.
Turning the radio on, Mrs Weasley heard her favourite singer in the christmas program, sing-songing the music. Arthur's cheek almost matched the red of his sparse hair when she pulled him to dance a little.
With a sigh of relief when the singer stopped and Mrs Weasley turned the radion off with a flick of her wand, Fleur smiled awkwardly at Mr Weasley as Lupin walked in,after answering the question.
Dinner carried on as usual, many times Ron and his Brothers would engage in a small argument before Mrs Weasley shot them a look and then all was well. Harry felt happy, truly happy, for the first time since Sirius' death. The Weasleys – and his friends – were his family and he felt glad that he had them by his side in such difficult times. He and Ginny were awkward around each other, but he supposed it had something to do with Fleur.
Speaking of her, after a small, harmless, comment on how clumsy both Dora and Ron were, Mrs Weasley spoke out loud with Lupin.
"I invited our dear Tonks to come tonight." She said, making sure to show the family that she liked Tonks and rather wanted her to be the one joining in the family, not Fleur. "But she didn't accept. Have you seen her lately, Remus?"
"Uh, no,no. I haven't been around anyone lately..." he spoke quietly "Tonks has family to visit, doesn't she?"
"Hmmnn...Maybe. In fact, I had the impression that she was planning on spending the Christmas on her own as Ted and Andy are travelling." Molly said, looking at Lupin for a moment, who seemed slightly awkward when it came to talking about the mutual friend for some reason she still couldn't tell.
Sensing this as a change to change the topic, Harry asked something that he had been planning on asking him for such a long time.
"Tonks' Patronus changed." He commented "I didn't know this could happen. Why would a Patronus change?"
If Hermione was here, she'd know the answer, Harry thought for a moment, watching as Lupin took a bit too long to chew a piece of meat that he was eating and loudly gulped before answering.
"Sometimes...after a traumatic event...or emotional situations..eh..."
"It looked big and had four legs..." Harry commented, not noticing Remus strange look. " It seemed some sort of dog or..wolf.... Hey, couldn't this be due..."
"Arthur!" Mrs Weasley's voice interrupted Harry as she called out loud. "Percy! It's Percy!"
"What?" Mr Weasley asked before turning to look at the window and see his son walking towards the house, a letter in hands and a small frown on his face, avoiding the snow at all costs.
"Merry Christmas,mum." Percy smiled softly, after a painful moment of silence.
"Oh,Percy!" she grinned and gave him a bear hug.
After another moment of silence, Percy gave the letter to Harry.
"The new Minister, Rufus Scrimgeor, will be coming here next week to talk with you, Harry. He asked me to give you this."
Everyone else in the room was silent for a couple of seconds or more. What did the Minister want with Harry? The question was clearly showing on their faces as Harry took the letter and decided to open later, perhaps with Hermione there, so she could help him.
IV
It was almost funny to see what happened soon after the dinner. Snape took a glass or two of firewhisky and apparated back to his home before he had a chance to say goodbye to Bellatrix, who had stormed to her room, restless and angry. She wanted action, to spend that energy she had inside her body, she felt as if she'd die if she didn't do something to fix it.
Oh, Severus. How could she forget?
Apparating soon after him, she found herself on his doorstep, looking at it with disgust. Such a terrible place to live. Even though she wore her usual cloak hidding herself from the world, the man opened the door as he knew full well who had come after him. Bellatrix, as far as he knew, always got what she wanted,one way or another.
It didn't take long for the both to engage in a battle of control as soon as she stepped inside his house and he struggled to properly close the door without breaking the furious kiss they were sharing.
It didn't have a single drop of emotion on their actions, but it was still enough to the both get the release they wanted, needed. He personally despisted the woman and she hated him with passion, but still, they found themselves sharing heated kisses and naught touches as they headed to his room.
Used to take the upper hand, Bella managed to strip his clothes with ease and was already feeling the bulge of his dark trousers rubbing against her middle when someone called. Ignoring, Snape proceeded on getting rid of her cloak and was preparing himself to try and take off her corset before she slapped him, strongly,across the face and muttered.
"No." She hissed and pulled up her skirts, revealing the lack of undergarments to him. Understanding the action, he took off his trousers and was about to pull down his pants to thrust his hard member inside her mercilessly when a voice caught them out of guard. Greyback had just walked on Voldemort's two main Death Eaters when they were about to have a long and rough sex session.
"I should've listened to Wormital." He smirked, looking at the couple pressed on the bookshelf.
Snape's face burned and he was thankful that he had his back for the werewolf or else he wouldn't be able to look at him for a few weeks. Bellatrix, in turn, looked not impressed and simply looked at the man, her legs still tightly wrapped on Snape's waist.
"You have two seconds to say what the hell you are doing here before I curse you till you turn into a puppy. A very demented puppy." She hissed huskly, both mad and aroused but still pointing her wand at him. Snape moved to try and recompose himself, but Bella's iron grip on him warned him that he was only leaving this position when she wanted.
And that seemed to not be soon.
No one in their right minds would dare to speak with Fenrir that way. Heck, not even Snape dared such a thing! But Bella was something else...Taking a couple of steps back – one wouldn't mess with Bellatrix Lestrange, she was insane! – he spoke quietly " Fancy a late night barbecue of traitors?"
The smirk on her face was enough to tell her answer and suddely she was on her feet, pulling down the many layers of skirts and leaving Snape with a trobbing erection to deal on his own.
V
After dinner, Hermione said her usual goodbyes to her parentes and was about to leave when the small fireplace turned green suddenly and Nymphadora appeared.
"Tonks!" Hermione smiled and hugged her. " Merry Christmas!"
Nympadora smiled and returned the hug. Her hair that was usually a gum shade of pink was now brownish and she seemed tired and even sad.
"Hi Mione." She tried to smile. " These must be your parents I presume?"
"Uh, yes..."
"Jean and Wilfred Granger at your service." Jean said, offering her hand for a smiled awkwardly before Dora introduced herself.
"I'm Nymphadora Tonks, Hermione's friend. It's nice to meet you."
After a good moment of unsure silence, in which Jean offered a cuppa for Dora but she in turn declined, Hermione asked.
"Uh, Tonks, what are you doing here? I mean, I apppreciate you coming here but I thought you already were at the Burrow...?"
"Eh, no... I—actually... I wasn't even going there tonight but...you know, since the Ministry is having these rules and all... well, I thought of going with you, just to make sure you get there safe and say hi to everybody..." she commented sheepishly.
"O-Oh, right." Hermione nodded, knowing that her parents would want an explanation on these "rules" that Tonks spoke. During the Christmas Break she hadn't had the courage to bring herself to tell them the situation that the Wizarding World was in at the moment.
Almost a war, she thought darkly.
After saying their goodbyes, Tonks and a very tired looking Hermione headed to the fireplace, taking the floo poder and saying out loud "The Burrow". The sight that they had been expecting – the ginger family and friends sitting around the table and eating, loudly chatting – was far from happening as, when they stepped out of Molly's fireplace, they heard a noise that reminded Hermione of some sort of bomb.
As they hurried outside to see whatever the hell happened, Hermione's breath got caught in her throat due what she saw.
There was fire everywhere she looked. On the field around the house there was what looked like some kind of snake of fire and, before Hermione could tell which kind of spell it was and who had casted it, a dark smoke flew around, landing on the ground, in front of them and quickly turning into someone.
It was as if time had stopped for a few seconds as the girl's hazel eyes met the dark,crazy ones whilst dark curls flew on her face due the Wind and the fire.
Bellatrix.
The woman too seemed to have spotted Hermione, as she looked right into her, as if she could see the girl's soul. Harry suddenly stepped in front of Hermione and the spell seemed to be broken as she now saw everything moving faz, way too fast.
She heard him shout something she couldn't bring herself to understand and saw both him and Ginny heading towards the woman when their eyes locked and for a moment, a single moment, she could swear that she saw the raven haired loony smile a little before turning around and starting to run, yelling.
"I killed Sirius Black! I killed Sirius Black! I killed Sirius Black!" she shrieked loudly as she made her way towards the field, her onyx hair mixing itself with the darkness of the night, making the insane witch look even more scary.
In a blink of an eye, both Harry and Ginny started to run after the crazy woman, wands in hand. As Harry passed through her, Hermione could feel the aura of fury that envolved his entire body as he hissed at her and runned, Ginny following right after.
"Ginny, no!" Hermione shouted at the same time Bellatrix yelled:
"Are ya comin' to get me?!"
Letting a maniac laugh escape from her lips, Bellatrix runned, from time to time throwing spells at those who were following her. Soon, the house was getting far from them and her laugh became nothing but a sinistre echo thundering inside Hermione's mind, making the girl shiver slightly before she started to run.
Suddenly there was other two clouds of smoke moving each time faster and for a moment Hermione thought they were some sort of bomb, before she saw what they turned into. Death Eaters.
She now understood what they were planning.
If they crossed the limits of the defense Shields, they'd be helpless.
Tonks soon followed and reached Bellatrix easily,engaging in a duel. From where Hermione stood, she could see that Tonks had the upper hand – or so she thought at the time – and saw how Bellatrix casted shield after shield, not having time enough to cast an attack, or at least it was what seemed.
Even though she moved with grace and didn't even need to speak to cast her spells, the fire and the light of the spells made her look even more creepy than before.
" Hermione,stay back!" she yelled and attacked Bellatrix "Give up, Lestrange!" Dora hissed.
With a smirk – that Hermione could swear it was shot towards her – Bellatrix flicked her wand quickly and sent Nymphadora flying backwards, showing a small amount of what she knew to do.
Ron and Lupin were dueling with two masked Death Eaters and Ron seemed to be struggling against the evil wizard, that was ready to strike her friend. Being slightly faster, she turned quickly – what insane idea! Give her back to Bellatrix Lestrange! – and threw the first spell that appeared on her mind towards the masked man: Expelliarmus. Remembering of the words of Miranda Goshawk – a spellbok writer – Hermione turned again to face Bellatrix, her bushy brown hair flying behind her as she practically could hear the quote in her mind " The Disarming Charm lies at the heat of a good dueling technique... It allows the duelista to rebound na opponent's spell in the hope that the rebounded spell will strike the oponente and leave him vulnerable to further attack."
After turning at the woman, Hermione gasped as she seemed to have gotten slightly closer, yet she was still a few steps away from her. She looked at him with amusement.
"Well, well, well..." she grinned, taking another step closer "If it isn't the muddywhore!"
Even though shaky, Hermione drew out her wand, raising it ready to attack her. She was possessed by fear and anger. Even though she knew she was no match for Bellatrix, the hate she possessed towards her was burning. She had killed Sirius! Tortured Neville's parents! To not mention that she represented everything Hermione ever despised: a cretinous bitch that believed to be better than the other just because of her blood.
"S-Stay back!" she warned
"Or what?" Bellatrix smirked, taking another step towards the girl.
A cold wind passed through them and Hermione shivered slightly, was it for fear or cold, she couldn't exactly tell.
"I-I'm warning you!" Hermione said, trying to take a step back but noticing that she couldn't. The wind surrounded them and she thought that it was about to become some kind of hurricane. Bellatrix seemed to notice that too as she stopped taunting Hermione and looked up, a small frown on her face.
It got faster and faster and Bellatrix looked down at Hermione, snarling as she closed the distance between them and gripped the girl's shirt "What did you do, you filth mudblood?"
"N-Nothing!" Hermione struggled against the older witch in panic but her struggles were useless as Bellatrix's grip was like iron. Gripping Bellatrix's wrists, Hermione tried to stay away from her but, in the moment their skin touched, she felt as if she had an eletric wave passing through her body.
Wide eyed, Bellatrix let go of the girl, taking a couple of steps back, apparently shocked with whatever had happened. The wind suddenly stopped and the voices of Hermione's friends started to reach their ears.
Time to go, Bella thought before turning into smoke and flying towards the starry night, only stopping to set the house on fire,Greyback, Rockwood and the other two followed her shortly after, leaving the skirmish at the burrow behind.
So, as you must have noticed that this story is taking a whole new turn... well, I can only hope that you are enjoying :)
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